Listen Very Carefully

This is the first page I've made from five I have planned for a day trip to Dungeness in Kent that we did in June. I'm using papers from Heidi Swapp's Wanderlust collection for a colour palette of yellow ochre, magenta and navy.

Jean's Page

This page is for the sound mirrors at Denge, built in the 1920s and 1930s to pick up the sound of (enemy) aircraft crossing the channel. My title is taken from the sitcom 'Allo 'Allo!

I scraplifted a page by Jean Childs for a challenge at Dotty About Flair to lift another page in the group. I kept her square border and photo placement, but added a larger title and a journalling card to the other corners. My embellishment is different too, based around an acetate circle that I cut in two.

Supplies

Paper - Heidi Swapp Wanderlust

Letters - Simple Stories, Teresa Collins

Journalling Card - Project Life

Acetate - Studio Calico

Washi Tape - Hobbycraft

Tools

Big Shot

X-Cut Ticket Stubs Die

Dovecraft Star Die

Hobbycraft Star Punch

Hares About Town

I have a double page to share today, another for my 2021 album. Hares About Town is a charity sculpture trail, currently being held in Southend-on-Sea before the hares are auctioned in aid of Havens Hospices. I spent a few hours ticking off the ones on the sea-front and the town centre.

I used the July double sketch from Stick It Down, with a grid of hare photos on the right side. My photos didn't fill the full height of the page so I ran lines of washi tape across the top and bottom of the double page. 

I chose to kill off a 6x6 pad by using shorter paper strips than those on the sketch, 6" tall in the bottom part of the page, and shorter ones to fit the space above.

One of the statues was positioned against a painted background (under a railway bridge) with the name of the hunt and a hare illustration; that photo's on the left side of the page and doubles as my title. I squeezed in a couple more hares on tags which overlap the main, larger photo.

I cut viewfinder circles from one of the papers, and die-cut labels from a couple of others, and used them in three clusters with some stickers and enamel dots.

Supplies

Cardstock - UK Crafts, Bazzill

Paper - My Mind's Eye Now and Then

Washi Tape - Unknown

Stickers - Pink Paislee/Paige Evans, Crate Paper/Maggie Holmes

Enamel Dots - Studio Calico, Freckled Fawn, Altenew

Tools

Big Shot

X-Cut Tag Die

Dovecraft Label Die

"Bundled" Mini Book

I don't normally make mini-books unless I have a plan for filling/finishing them, but I recently saw a tutorial from Cal Summers in the Dotty About Flair Facebook group for an accordion mini-book that was too quick and easy to pass by.

Cal's original book was 6x8" in size, but I dropped down to 10x14cm so that I could use up the remainder of a 6x6" pad. Sorry for mixing my measurements, but my cutting mat is metric. I'm of an age that I can happily swap between the two as I was taught metric in school while using imperial in the real world.

My pad was from Authentique's Bundled collection, with papers in a mix of blues and brown with touches of orange and yellow. The accordion was easy to make, and it sits between chipboard covers which I covered in 8x8" papers from another collection.

I made a pocket inside the front cover

and decorated the pages with offcuts, arrows and cameras, these being 'safe' icons whatever photos I choose to put in the album later on. 

I only stuck the labels and circles down on one side, so that I can tuck photos under them later.

I used one of the larger scraps to make a lift-up flap on the final page.

This was quick, simple book to make, and you can easily add as many pages as you want as there's no spine. I'm rather happy to have 'killed off' the 6x6 pad too as while I still like the papers I've struggled to actually use them on 12x12 pages.

Supplies

Chipboard

Paper - Authentique Bundled, V&A

Washi Tape - Dovecraft

Tools

Big Shot

X-Cut Camera Dies

Dovecraft Label Die

Little B Arrow Die

Woodware Scalloped Circle Punch

Summer Photography Scavenger Hunt - July Finds

Today's the second check-in with this year's Summer Photography Scavenger Hunt, organised by Mary-Lou at Patio Postcards. This runs from 1st June to 30th September with 20 items to find and photograph; you can find the full list on her original blog post.

I found five of them in June, which put me on schedule at the time, but have fourr for July so I'm running behind now. I'm not bothered though as we have a few days away planned, and that should include some good scavenger hunting opportunities.

3. Something To Represent Home But Not The Building

I've gone with my keys here

6. Something That Makes You Laugh or Happy
This phone box made me smile, the smallest museum I've ever seen. You can't go inside, but there is an information panel to one side and buttons for audio commentary on the other. It doesn't quite fit the prompt but it's the best I have for now.

16. A Guilty Pleasure

Afternoon Tea (an anniversary present that was much delayed by Covid).

18. Upside Down, Right Side Up

This bottle was given to our son as a present, but it was designed for a pub optic.

I really need to spend some time outside this month (for What's in Bloom and Head in the Clouds). I have an idea for Steps and that's outside too, as will be the Delivery Truck and the Local Landmark.

Mary-Lou is hosting a link-up so if you pop over to her blog you'll find links to the other participants. And it's not too late for you to join in too.

Make Your Own Tent

If you're a regular reader here, you'll know that my husband enjoys hiking and wild camping. He's owned a variety of tents over the years but never the perfect tent, so he taught himself to sew and then made his own. This page captures the process from first computer design through various paper and cotton prototypes to the finished tent in use on Dartmoor.

I chose a split background for my page as neither paper seemed right on its own, and then worked with a strip of small photos, a column of journalling and some patterned paper strips behind my main photo.

Supplies
Paper - Simple Stories Simple Vintage Great Escape, DCWV Linen Closet, Crate Paper, My Mind's Eye
Letters - American Crafts, My Mind's Eye, Jo-Ann's

Word Stickers - Crate Paper/Maggie Holmes
Washi Tape - Pink Paislee/Paige Evans Turn the Page, Dovecraft

Enamel Dots - Eyelet Outlet, Simple Stories

Tools

Big Shot & Little B Arrow Die

It's Back

"It" is parkrun (a free weekly 5k run held in parks across the country) which resumed in England a couple of weeks ago after a 16 month break due to covid. We generally have a volunteer photographer to record each event so none of these photos are mine. I chose a panorama of the socially-distanced participants before the start and two smaller photos of my husband and me out on the course.

It was raining heavily when we arrived (but luckily it stopped for the run itself) so I chose a multi-coloured raindrop paper for my background and pulled colours from that one for my layers.

My page is a scraplift of one of my own for a Dotty About Flair challenge to do just that. I used two small portrait photos rather than one landscape this time and moved them to the opposite side to suit the direction we are running.

It's also an entry for the final challenge of the 'Journey of Change' cybercrop at For the Love of Pretty Paper, which was to document something that we never want to change. I don't want parkrun to stop again and normally attend every week. Running on my own just isn't the same.

Supplies

Cardstock - Bazzill

Paper - Cocoa Vanilla Studios Daydream, American Crafts/Amy Tangerine Late Afternoon, Pink Paislee/Paige Evans Turn the Page

Letters - Docrafts, October Afternoon

Stickers - Crate Paper/Maggie Holmes

Puffy Stars - Elle's Studio

Washi Tape - Little B

Tools

Big Shot

Dovecraft Label & Tag Dies