Hello Bolette

I very rarely create pages on both sides of a paper these days, but those from 49 & Market are impressively thick, heavier weight than many brands of cardstock, so I didn't hesitate when I noticed that the back of the last page would make a good basis for the next.

This one's an introduction to the ship we cruised on, Fred. Olsen's Bolette which was previously Holland America's Amsterdam and had been refurbished during the cruising shutdown. We sailed on her second voyage and it's unlikely to be the last; we greatly prefer her to Boudicca, the ship she replaced.

I took both photos from atop the White Cliffs of Dover, one of the ship and one of the whole harbour. It's actually quite hard to see Bolette in the bottom photo so I added a small vellum sticker with an arrow pointing at her. I double-matted my pair of photos, with the back layer offset to hold a column of ephemera pieces.

I cut the word 'Bolette' on my Silhouette, and gave it an offset for increased stability as I layered it over the bottom photo. The word 'Hello' gave me more trouble as placing it horizontally gave me trapped space between the two words. I tried a few sizes and fonts of letter stickers before realising that I could curve the word around the 'l' in Bolette.

Supplies

Paper - 49 & Market Vintage Artistry Sky/Coral, 49 & Market Vintage Artistry Anywhere

Letters - Heidi Swapp

Ephemera - 49 & Market

Sticker - Studio Calico

Glitter Tape - The Works

Gems - Love to Craft

Ink - Memento

Tools

Silhouette Portrait

Scottish Seacation

I often don't make the title page of a holiday album until near the end, but this time it's the first one to be done. I've long had the idea of using a map to show where we sailed, possibly in conjunction with a few highlight photos, but in the end it was just the map that I used.

I printed the map from our cruise operator at the right size to mat it on a 6x8 paper with a black and white border similar to those on a nautical chart. By chance, this made the top part the perfect size to frame with one of the ephemera pieces.

I used one of the Vintage Artistry Sky papers as my background, and stencilled a large compass on it before adding my map, tucking a paper strip and a tab on the right side and a quote at the top. I cut one word each of my title on my Big Shot and my Silhouette and layered them over the empty space on my map.

Supplies

Paper - 49 & Market Vintage Artistry Sky, 49 & Market Vintage Artistry Anywhere

Ephemera - 49 & Market

Numbers - Studio Calico

Vellum Sticker - Studio Calico

Washi Tape - Stampin' Up!

Glitter Tape - The Works

Star Gems - Papermania

Ink - Memento

Mist - Mister Huey's

Tools

Silhouette Portrait

Big Shot

The Works Alphabet Dies

Hobbycraft Heart Punch

A New Project - Cruise Scotland 2021

Our cruise to Scotland last month was only a short one and I haven't decided yet whether it will get its own album or be included with the 2021 album. Whichever way it goes I will be basing the pages around 49 and Market's Vintage Artistry Anywhere Collection.

I have the 6x8 paper pack, the ephemera and the washi stickers, but only five of the 12x12 papers as I intend to augment them with the remains of my Vintage Artistry in Color Collectors Edition. That collection had papers in sky blue, sage green and coral and the plainer papers coordinate well with Anywhere. 

The Collectors Edition pack also included washi tape and ephemera, some of which will work with a travel theme (though I don't expect to use the leaves).

Stepping away from 49 and Market, I bought a few sheets of matching cardstock  and went through my stash for other papers (Crate Paper, My Mind's Eye, Heidi Swapp and Simple Stories). I've added in cork arrows and geo-tags and cork-effect stars from Studio Calico along with map print epoxy arrows from Freckled Fawn.

I haven't bought any letter stickers, but I do have a newish set of small letter dies and my Silhouette for larger words. I like a repeating motif and will pull in my trusty compass stamp and a new (to me) compass mask. Finally, I have a few washi tapes, some starry sequins, an assortment of ends of sticker sheets and a couple of part packs of October Afternoon tidbits (from the Travel Girl and Treasure Map collections).

As always, I'm open to adding more pieces to this selection and when I do that I will keep the new pieces with the rest in order to repeat them across the album.

A Different Mayflower

A few months ago I made an additional page for my 2019 album in order to fill in a gap in the story of our daughter's university choice (Yes to University of Sussex). That created a gap in the album which I'm returning to fill now. 

There were a couple of candidates for subjects that I hadn't previously scrapped, and I chose a photo of a steam engine called Mayflower. I had read something on line a few days earlier about her being driven along our local line en route to the Bluebell Railway in Sussex and I turned out early one Saturday to see her go past.

I picked my way through my scraps box for vintage/distressed papers in soft blues, rusty reds and muted browns (based off of the stripy paper to the left of my photo) and cut them into strips which I lined up across the page. I then tucked a mix of ephemera and die-cut labels in among the strips, making the cluster on the right larger than the one on the left.

Supplies

Paper - The Robin's Nest, Bo Bunny, My Mind's Eye

Letters - Prima, Making Memories

Word Stickers - Tim Holtz

Ephemera - Unknown

Epoxy Star - Freckled Fawn

Gems - 

Ink - Memento

Tools

Big Shot

Dovecraft Label Die

The Works Patterned Circle Die

Fiskars Apron Lace Border Punch

Fiskars Postage Stamp Border Punch

The Two Towers

My final page from Dungeness, and the Two Towers of my title are the old and new lighthouses there. My photos are just smaller than 4x5 and I placed them in opposite corners on separate stacks of paper layers. The bottom layer of each stack is a navy L-shaped piece to echo the large paper square on the first page I made from this day (Listen Very Carefully).

I've mostly journalled on paper strips for this series of pages, but I originally used a journalling card for the first page and I've brought that back here too. My title repeats three styles of letter stickers that I'd previously used, and my embellishment clusters make use of scraps topped with epoxy arrows in two sizes.

Supplies

Paper - Heidi Swapp Wanderlust

Letters - American Crafts, Teresa Collins, Simple Stories

Arrows - Heidi Swapp

Glitter Tape - The Works

Enamel Dots - Freckled Fawn

Tools

Big Shot

Dovecraft Label Die

Dovecraft Star Die

Hobbycraft Star Punch

X-Cut Circle Punch

Birthday Lunch at The Pilot

Next page from Dungeness now, with our pub lunch. I printed four photos at 3x4 and matted them in a block. I have a growing pile of scraps now from the first three pages and those pieces determined the paper layers behind that photo block.

I repeated two of the letter styles that I've used on the other pages, and found a peel-off 'Birthday' to fit between the L and h of 'Lunch'.

Supplies

Paper - Heidi Swapp Wanderlust

Letters - American Crafts, Teresa Collins

Peel-Off - Anita's Glitterations

Word Stickers - Tim Holtz

Glitter Tape - The Works

Epoxy Stars - Latech

Tools

Big Shot & Dovecraft Label Die

Childhood Memories

I'm still in Dungeness for this page, which features engines from the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch narrow gauge railway. We used to visit the railway regularly when I was a child, and I've taken my son there too, so seeing the engines again made me get a bit nostalgic.

I've been using a four-colour palette for these pages, so I picked one pattern in each colour for a quadrants page this time and stacked my photos up in a column with scraps and branding strips tucked under the edge. 

Supplies

Cardstock - UK Crafts

Paper - Heidi Swapp Wanderlust

Letters - American Crafts, Teresa Collins

Word Stickers - Teresa Collins

Tab Die-Cut - Pink Paislee/Paige Evans

Epoxy Stars - Latech

Glitter Tape - The Works

Tools

Big Shot & Dovecraft Label Die

Discover Dungeness

Before we went away, I'd embarked on a series of pages for a day walk around Dungeness in Kent. I'm making them out of order so this one comes before the last one I shared and is a double page overview of the day.

The '-ness' part of Dungeness means headland, the area is sort of V-shaped with the sea on the two sides of the V, and it's mostly covered in shingle which was very hard on the legs.

I started these pages with a colour palette of yellow ochre, magenta and navy from Heidi Swapp's Wanderlust collection, and I've added aqua into the mix for this one. I've used a slightly odd positioning for my title, splitting it across two places and running the words in different directions, but they fit so well where they are and I don't mind if they are read as title and embellishment instead.

Supplies

Paper - Heidi Swapp Wanderlust

Letters - American Crafts/Amy Tangerine

Word Sticker - Heidi Swapp

Phrase Sticker - Tim Holtz

Tab Die-Cut - Pink Paislee/Paige Evans

Washi Tape - Hobbycraft?

Enamel Dots - Freckled Fawn, Altenew, Pretty My Page

Tools

Woodware Scalloped Circle Punch

Summer Photography Scavenger Hunt - Cruising Finds

Sorry for blog silence; we've been on holiday and I hadn't got sufficient posts prepared to cover the gap.

It's September now, which means another month of the Summer Photography Scavenger Hunt organised by Mary-Lou at Patio Postcards is over. There's no link-up this time but I thought I'd share my holiday finds. 

3. Something to Represent Home, but not the Building

Our 'home' was a cruise ship, Fred. Olsen's Bolette.

4. Head in the Clouds

If I've identified it correctly, this is Meall Meadhonach with its head literally in the clouds.

5. The Art of the Fold
Napkins at dinner.

7. What's in Bloom

Orchids in The Oriental Room

8. Window Views

Early morning off Orkney.

11. The Shape of Round/Circular
Signage outside The Crow's Nest bar

17. An Exit

Doors out onto the Promenade Deck

19. Steps, but Who's Counting

One of the staircases onboard; we always use the stairs rather than the lifts.

Alt. A - Covid Safety

We all (passengers and crew) had to wear 'TraceSafe' devices so that contacts could be traced if anyone fell ill; also masks when moving around inside the ship.

Alt. B - A Local Landmark

The Old Man of Hoy

Alt. C - A Beautiful Landscape Photo

Our trip was quite cloudy, so the best photos are of Dover as we departed.

I was on nine finds at the end of June, and I have eleven here but some are duplicates. Overall, I am on 17 of 23 now (including a couple of unblogged August finds that weren't from the cruise).

The hunt runs until the end of the month, and you can find Mary-Lou's original post with the full list of items here.