Graduation

This page has been a long time coming. It's a double that will finish my 2023 album and I first saw the sketch back in July but it's taken me until now to decide on papers and actually make the page.

The sketch comes from a Facebook group called 1 Sketch: 3 Ways where each month three ladies each make and share a page with a process video, all based on the same sketch. The sketch they chose for July originally came from Page Maps and I thought it would work well for the photos of our daughter's graduation from the University of Sussex.

I've had the mortar board print paper for years, having originally bought it for my own graduation (which I haven't scrapped yet). I chose to use it in place of the spotty paper in the sketch but struggled to find other papers to go with it, until I bought some papers and a sticker sheet from Echo Park Graduation in the January sale and picked out red from our daughter's hood as an accent colour.

Supplies: Paper - Echo Park Graduation, Sandylion Graduation Caps, Shimelle Head in the Clouds, Paige Evans Whimsical; Stickers - Echo Park, Tim Holtz

(Pages 20 & 21 for the year)

Summer Scraplifts with Scrap Squad - Part 1

The Scrap Squad group on Facebook generally post a scraplifting challenge once a week, but sometimes they do longer seasonal events and this month they ran '12 Days of Summer Scraplifts'. These series are great for getting me out of a scrapbooking rut and making some 'different' pages. 

I won't be doing them all, and I'm just sharing the first four today. Please follow the links over to the group if you want to see the original inspiration pages.

61 & 62. Getaway - Scotland (2023)

The first lift was a double page, which enabled me to make one of the last two pages for my 2023 album, a summary of our three week road trip around Scotland. I stuck to a single travel collection, trying to use up as many stickers and die-cuts as I could.

Supplies: Cardstock - The Craft Place; Paper - Photoplay Boarding Pass; Letters - Unknown; Stickers - Photoplay, Simple Stories; Die-Cuts - Photoplay; Enamel Dots - Carta Bella, Simple Stories

63. Easter Engines (2024)

The second page was based on a diagonal line of hexagons, and I've long thought about cutting up this hexagon patterned paper as I found it too busy to use whole. This was my chance, with two photos from the Bluebell Railway on Easter Sunday.

Supplies: Cardstock - Bazzill, DCWV; Paper - DCWV Linen Closet; Filmstrip - 49 & Market; Washi Tape - Stampin' Up!; Ticket & Puffy Sticker - Unknown; Enamel Dots - My Mind's Eye

64. Southend Half (2024)

Day 3's page featured a giant chevron, which I thought gave a sense of movement, well-suited to documenting my husband's first half marathon.

Supplies: Paper - Cocoa Vanilla Studio No Limits, Bo Bunny Little Wonders; Letters - American Crafts; Acetate Filmstrips - 49 & Market; Die-Cuts - 49 & Market; Star Stickers - Unknown; Enamel Dots - Carta Bella, Altenew

65. Out for the Count (2024)

I concentrated on the patterned border from Day 4's page, and used inks and stamps to create something similar. I went off-piste in the middle, replacing the original trio of photos with eight pictures from election night when we were involved in the local count. I used the Filmstrip cut-file from Twilight Crafts and Jenny Wren Cut-Files so this doubled up as my second DT page of the month.

Supplies: Cardstock - First Edition; Letters - American Crafts; Puffy Stars - Rosie's Studio; Acetate Filmstrip - 49 & Market; Washi Tape - American Crafts

Disclosure - I receive cut-files free of charge from Twilight Crafts as part of my DT role. All other supplies are my own.

February Pages

Time for my round-up of this month's pages. I started February with the intention of completing my 2023 annual album, but I had to edit and order another batch of photos first. That lead to me tackling the backlog in my 'Parkrun Continued' album while I waited for the prints to arrive. This album is 8x8 which gave me a quandary for page numbering this year. Should they count as whole pages when they are less work than their 12x12 brethren? I decided to count them as half-pages as their total surface area is 64 square inches while a 12x12 page is 144 square inches; less than half the surface area but they still need all the elements to be a finished page. Six parkrun pages later, and half-way through the month, I picked up the 2023 pages again (but still haven't quite finished the album).

12. Walking with The Snowman
Technically this was from the first weekend of 2024, but it's probably going in the 2023 album as it feels like it belongs with Christmas 2023.

Supplies: Cardstock - Papermania; Paper - Vicki Boutin Color Study, Pebbles Merry Merry; Letters - Doodlebug, EK Success; Wood Veneer Stars - Studio Calico; Paper Tape & Enamel Dots - Unknown

12.5 V25

My first February DT page for Twilight Crafts, using their Triangle Arrows Background cut-file to mark the 25th time we volunteered at our home parkrun.

Supplies: Cardstock - DCWV; Paper - 7 Dots Studio Illumination; Letters - American Crafts; Enamel Shapes - My Mind's Eye; Cut-File - Twilight Crafts

13. North Yorkshire Water Park

A spot of parkrun tourism, made using scraps.

Supplies: Cardstock - DCWV; Paper - My Mind's Eye Wild Asparagus; Letters - EK Success; Enamel Heart - Marianne Designs

13.5 Parke

Following a challenge in the Snap Scrap Repeat Facebook page to use a black background, mixed media, yellow, patterned paper and a heart.

Supplies: Paper - Craft Sensations Chalkboard, Make & Create Moments; Label Sticker - Tim Holtz; Journal Card & Washi Tape - Unknown; Enamel Heart - Marianne Designs

14. Killerton

More parkrun tourism and more scraps, using the February sketch from For the Love of Pretty Paper.

Supplies: Cardstock - Bazzill, Papermania; Paper - K & Co Studio K; Letters - October Afternoon; Gems - TPC Studio; Puffy Stickers - Unknown

14.5 We're Back!

Going back to 2021 and the first parkrun after Covid restrictions were lifted, with a tic-tac-toe challenge from Snap Scrap Repeat where I chose arrows, rainbow and green.

Supplies: Paper - Unknown Stripe; Numbers - Fancy Pants; Letters - Simple Stories; Border Sticker - Ruby Rock-It; Rainbow Die-Cut - Heidi Swapp

15. Milestones and Tourism

This is the opening page of my 'Parkrun Continued' album and uses the Bike and Tree cut-file (without the bike) from Twilight Crafts as the tree is a lot like the one in the parkrun logo.

Supplies: White Cardstock; Paper - Simple Stories, Unknown Green; Cut-File - Twilight Crafts

16. Slices of the Southern Upland Way

Documenting my husband's 6 day walk on one of Scotland's Great Trails.

Supplies: Paper - Pinkfresh Studio Good Times, Pinkfresh Studio Happy Holidays, Jen Hadfield Warm & Cozy, Maggie Holmes Chasing Dreams; Letters - October Afternoon; Word Sticker - Studio Calico; Enamel Dots - Carta Bella, My Mind's Eye 

17. Cruise Scandinavia

A summary page for our summer holiday (which has its own album too). This was my second DT page of the month for Twilight Crafts, using their Covid Memes Polaroid cut-file with the wording removed.

Supplies: White Cardstock; Paper - Studio Calico Heyday, Amy Tangerine Stay Sweet; Letters - American Crafts; Stickers - Tim Holtz, Studio Calico; Unknown Washi Tape; Pearls - Mark Richards; Cut-File - Twilight Crafts

18. & 19. South West Coast Path 11

A double page for the final instalment of my husband and father-in-law walking the 630 miles of the SWCP (which they started in 2008). 

Supplies: Cardstock - Bazzill, DCWV; Paper - Craft Creations, Flair Design; Letters - American Crafts, Glitz Design; Phrase Stickers - Tim Holtz; Pearls - Artoz; Enamel Dots - Freckled Fawn, My Mind's Eye, Carta Bella

I've also made a couple of cards, both based on this month's card sketch from Stick It Down,

and finally, a cute little box which I made following a video by Helen Ding for Hey Little Magpie.

Disclosure - I receive digital cut-files free of charge from Twilight Crafts as part of my DT role. All other supplies are my own.

January Pages

Well, I was stopping blogging, but I've decided on a monthly round-up post to record what I've made, all in one place and I'll be numbering the pages through the year to keep track of the total (counting doubles as two pages). Starting from the beginning of January, these all belong in my annual album for 2023:

1. Chartwell

Churchill's home in Kent

Supplies: Cardstock - The Craft Place; Paper Heidi Swapp Hello Today; Letters - Crate Paper; Enamel Dots - AC/Obed Marshall

2. A Flying Visit

A visit from my cousin who lives in the US, using a sketch from Stick It Down. 

Supplies: Glitter Cardstock - DCWV; Paper - Basic Grey, Craft ID Travel the World AC/Vicki Boutin Fernwood; Letters - American Crafts; Journal Card - Heidi Swapp; Stickers - Fancy Pants, American Crafts; Enamel Dots - Simple Stories, Ebay

3. Christmas Parkrun

DT page for Twilight Crafts using the Large Star in Sections Cut-File

Supplies: Cardstock - Craft Sensations; Paper - Simple Stories Very Merry, Fancy Pants Merry Little Christmas; Letters - Simple Stories; Stickers - American Crafts, Simple Stories; Enamel Dots - Simple Stories; Thread - DMC; Washi Tape - Little B; Cut-file - Twilight Crafts

4. & 5. Explore Antwerp

A weekend cruise to Antwerp for the Christmas markets, using another sketch from Stick It Down.

Supplies: Cardstock - Bazzill, American Crafts, DCWV, The Craft Place; Paper - 49 & Market Vintage Artistry Butter, 49 & Market Vintage Artistry Anywhere; Letters - October Afternoon; Die-Cuts - 49 & Market; Stickers - Fancy Pants, Freckled Fawn; Enamel Dots - Eyelet Outlet, Hey Little Magpie

6. Beatrix's Christening

I finally used up a 'starting point' page that I made back in 2018.

Supplies: Cardstock - American Crafts; Paper - Pebbles New Addition, AC Dear Lizzy Neapolitan; Letters - MAMBI; Stickers - Crate Paper/Maggie Holmes; Enamel Heart - Freckled Fawn

7. Ladies Who Lunch

I used the back of my Antwerp page because the pattern was too pretty to lose, and 49 & Market papers are thick enough for it to work.

Supplies: Paper - 49 and Market Vintage Artistry Butter; Letters - Tim Holtz; Ephemera - 49 and Market; Word Stickers - Tim Holtz; Washi - 49 and Market; Enamel Dots - 49 and Market

8. Summer Fun

Completing another 'starting point' page with photos from a summer barbecue.

Supplies: Cardstock - Bazzill, DCWV; Paper - AC Shimelle Sparkle City; Letters - American Crafts; Washi Tapes - AC Shimelle Sparkle City; Stickers - AC Shimelle Sparkle City

9. & 10. Morph in the City

Thirty-one photos on a double page for Morph's Epic Art Adventure, a sculpture trail in London.

Supplies: Paper - DCWV Romantic Life; Letters - American Crafts; Stickers - AC Paige Evans #Stickerbook; Die-Cut - 49 and Market 

11. Endurance

Recording my husband's epic 50km walking challenge using a sketch from Scrap a Sketch.

Supplies: Cardstock - Bazzill; Paper - Photoplay Paper Boarding Pass; Letters - American Crafts; Stickers - Photoplay Paper; Enamel Shapes - My Mind's Eye

Disclosure - I receive digital cut-files free of charge from Twilight Crafts as part of my DT role. All other supplies are my own.

Capture the Moments

I've sat on this page for a little while as I wanted to finish sharing all my Oslo pages first. This one is for my 2023 album and is a DT page that I made for Twilight Crafts and Jenny Wren Cut-Files.

I used their Circle of Circles cut in kraft cardstock with two photos of my daughter and papers from both Simple Stories and Vicki Boutin. The photos were taken on a walk we took together at the end of August, probably the last time we will do something like this for some time as she left home in September. The ephemera piece that says 'Capture the moments' made a good title.

Supplies
Cardstock - The Craft Place

Paper - Simple Stories Simple Vintage Lakeside, Vicki Boutin Fernwood

Ephemera - Vicki Boutin

Puffy Stickers - Vicki Boutin

Enamel Dots - Pretty My Page, Simple Stories

Ink - Ranger

Paint - Golden

Tools

Silhouette Portrait & Circle of Circles Cut-File

Hobbycraft Small Star Punch

Disclosure - I received the digital cut-file free of charge from Twilight Crafts. All other supplies are my own.

Beside the Sea

Finally, after more than two months and plenty of interruptions, I've reached the end of our Easter holiday in Devon. This was our last full day and we walked the stretch of the coastal path from Teignmouth to Dawlish Warren. I originally printed four 4x6 photos and two smaller ones for a double page, but it wasn't working for me so I jettisoned one 4x6 and dropped down to a single page.

I cropped the larger photos slightly and stacked them in an overlapping column with punched and torn strips tucked under the right hand side. Being my last page with these supplies, I tried to use up as many die-cuts as possible, running them down the left side of my photos. This includes two with my journalling and two as mats for my smaller photos, covering up wording that didn't match the story. I also added a couple to the paper strips on the right, tucking the yellow one under to hide a motif I didn't want.

I realised quite late on that I hadn't left a space for my title among all those die-cuts, so I ran it across the empty space on the top two photos.

Supplies
Paper - Amy Tangerine Shine On, Simple Stories Safe Travels
Letters - October Afternoon
Die-Cuts - Simple Stories
Puffy Cameras - Freckled Fawn
Enamel Dots - Simple Stories
Ink - Ranger

Tools

Fiskars Shape Cutter & Ovals Template

Where Can We Go Today?

Back to our Easter holiday now. We lost a couple of days to storms and then as the bad weather calmed down a bit we were struggling to find anywhere open to visitors, hence the title of this page. We ended up with a local wander which resulted in a three photo page.

I cropped all the photos and matted them on 4x6 papers, stacked up on the right of the page, then added paper scraps along the left edge. I made a multi-font title, aiming for each word to be about the same length. My journalling went on a cut-apart piece with a small cluster of embellishments alongside.

Supplies

Paper - Simple Stories Safe Travels, Amy Tangerine Shine On

Letters - Shimelle, Simple Stories, October Afternoon, Fancy Pants

Die-Cuts - Simple Stories

Puffy Camera - Freckled Fawn

Enamel Dots - Simple Stories

Ink - Ranger

Tools

Big Shot & Dovecraft Label Die

X-Cut Circle Punch

QuEx

Time now for my first DT page of the month for Twilight Crafts and Jenny Wren Cut-Files. I've used Star Bunting 1 with a bokeh print paper to document seeing the Queen Extravaganza (aka QuEx) earlier this year. QuEx are the official Queen tribute band, and this was the second time we've seen them live. 

I positioned the cut-file touching the top and left edges of the page, with a pair of 4x6 photos on the right. I  also chopped off a trio of stars that were hidden behind the photos and added them at the top as an extension of another line.

I had no wish to cover up any more of the paper or the cut-file with embellishments so my only addition was a scattering of pink and purple enamel stars.

Supplies
Cardstock - American Crafts, Craft Sensations, DCWV
Paper - Echo Park Capture Life

Letters - American Crafts, Jenni Bowlin

Enamel Stars - Paperchase, Latech

Paint - Golden

Tools

Silhouette Portrait & Star Bunting 1 Cut-File

Disclosure - I received the digital cut-file free of charge from Twilight Crafts. All other supplies are my own.

Bronze Age Geometry

This is the third of three pages documenting a walk we did on Easter Sunday. We're in Fernworthy Forest now where there is a plethora of Bronze Age remains. My photos are of a stone circle, a stone row, and us sitting on the edge of a hut, which I decided to mat in a large block with a journalling piece cut from one of the papers. I'd originally earmarked the aqua paper as my background, but it looked good as a mat for that block so I built an alternative 'half-and-half' background from two off-cuts, adding a couple of torn strips between them.

Supplies

Paper - Simple Stories Safe Travels, Amy Tangerine Shine On

Letters - Simple Stories, OneCanoeTwo

Stickers - Freckled Fawn, OneCanoeTwo

Washi Tape - Unknown

Enamel Dots - Simple Stories

Ink - Ranger

Tools

Big Shot & Little B Arrow Die

X-Cut Circle Punch

Moor Tors

I'm turning my back on the Scottish album for now, and returning to my 2023 album. Before we went away I was scrapping our previous holiday, a week in Devon in April, and last published the first page of three from a walk we did on Easter Sunday - Off We Go! In that post I described the start of the walk with photos of Fernworthy Reservoir. 

From there we moved onto Dartmoor and walked up to Thornworthy Tor. I printed a couple of 4x6 photos for this page and used a sketch from Shimelle Laine's Start with a Sketch class. The paper-pieced background is a repeat of something I did a few pages ago, so that repeats in this set of Devon pages. Looking back, I noticed that I used a filmstrip on the first page from this holiday, but not since, so I've made sure to repeat that too.

Supplies
Paper - Simple Stories Safe Travels, Crate Paper Sweet Story
Letters - The Robin's Nest
Die-Cuts - Simple Stories
Puffy Camera - Freckled Fawn

Washi Tape - Dovecraft

Enamel Dots - Simple Stories

Ink - Ranger

Tools
Silhouette Portrait & Filmstrip Cut-File

Big Shot & Little B Arrow Die

X-Cut Scalloped Border Punch

X-Cut Circle Punch

Off We Go!

I'm still in Devon today, with the first of three pages from a walk we did on Easter Sunday. I've chosen to do three single pages rather than a double as there were three distinct parts to the walk. The first was Fernworthy Reservoir, where we walked down one side and crossed the river below the dam.

I'd printed two 4x6 photos and went in search of a layout that wouldn't have me putting them together in a 8x6 block, which I do often and it gets repetitive. I hit upon Glitter Girl Adventure 59, where the photos are offset by the addition of a journalling card, and took it from there.

I had less journalling so went with patterned paper and a larger title on the left, while Shimelle's square icons became circles on my page.

Supplies

Paper - Simple Stories Safe Travels, Amy Tangerine Shine On

Letters - October Afternoon

Journalling Card - Unknown

Word Sticker - OneCanoeTwo

Puffy Stars - Elle's Studio

Washi Tape - Unknown

Enamel Dots - Simple Stories

Tools

Big Shot & Spellbinders Circle Die

On Meldon Hill

Three posts running for the same album and the same holiday! On Saturday afternoon we walked from our cottage to the town of Chagford, about three miles away, choosing a route that took us over Meldon Hill with its multitude of tors.

I printed six photos, five landscape 4x6s plus a smaller close-up, and went for a double page based on Shimelle Laine's 4x6 Photo Love class, but tweaked and updated.

Supplies
Paper - Simple Stories Safe Travels, Crate Paper Sweet Story
Letters - The Robin's Nest
Washi Tape - Hobbycraft
Stickers - OneCanoeTwo

Puffy Stars - Elle's Studio

Emamel Dots - Simple Stories

Ink - Ranger

Tools

Big Shot & Dovecraft Label Die

X-Cut Scalloped Border Punch

Run Parke

Page two of our Easter holiday now, and we headed to Parke (near Bovey Tracey) on Saturday morning for parkrun. I have three photos, and I used a sketch from GoGoGetway's April cybercrop for my layout.

My photos are larger than those in the sketch and take most of the width of the page, so I moved both my embellishments and my title. I also added a journalling card below the photos to hold a few notes from the day.

All my 12x12 parkrun tourism pages have similar titles, being 'Run' followed by the event name.

Supplies
Paper - Amy Tangerine Shine On, Simple Stories Safe Travels

Letters - American Crafts

Die-Cuts - Simple Stories

Stickers - OneCanoeTwo

Puffy Cameras - Freckled Fawn

Enamel Dots - Simple Stories

Ink - Ranger

Tools

Big Shot & X-Cut Bunting Die

X-Cut Scalloped Border Punch

Return to Devon

Sticking with my 2023 album, I've printed all the photos from our week in Devon last month and planned out 10 pages (counting doubles as two). I'll mostly be using Simple Stories Safe Travels but I only have nine 12x12 papers (plus the 6x8 pad, an ephemera pack and some enamel dots) so I'll be pulling in extra papers as I go, mostly for backgrounds. 

I've started at the beginning, with a single photo of our cottage and sketch #61 from Lisa Sikorski at Scrap a Sketch.

I kept pretty close to the sketch with the three paper strips, the filmstrip and a single landscape photo, but  I dropped the frame around the edge and moved the title. I just have one small embellishment cluster, but it does contains a couple of stickers from packs that I've pulled out to stash-bust.

Supplies

Cardstock - Stampin' Up!

Paper - Amy Tangerine Shine On, Simple Stories Safe Travels

Letters - Simple Stories

Puffy Camera - Freckled Fawn

Banner Sticker - OneCanoeTwo

Die-Cut - Simple Stories

Washi Tape - Unknown

Enamel Dots - Simple Stories

Ink - Ranger

Tools

Silhouette Cameo & Filmstrip Cut-File

Big Shot & Dovecraft Label Die

Grown Up?

I've decided to abandon my cruise album for now and concentrate on 2023 instead. I had done half the necessary pages at the end of March, but that's now just one of fourteen following a day out and a week's holiday in Devon.

I'm starting with that day out, a family affair where my Mum requested a photo of her grandchildren. They are all adults now (aged 18-27) but chose to pose on a climbing frame for this one.

I used Sketch #62 from Lisa Sikorski at Scrap a Sketch, which called for lots of smaller papers, so I pulled out the November 2021 'Just Add Cardstock' kit from ScrapMates which consists of A6 papers and smaller pieces. I cut the papers down further to give me twelve 2x2.5" rectangles as per the sketch and double matted my photo. 

I'm on a mission to use some old stash, particularly where I just have a few pieces left in a pack; I've used the last of the rub-ons from an old pack (2006) here, along with the end of a pack of black gems and my last acetate label.

My page also fits with Challenge 7 from Twilight's Easter cybercrop which was to create a page with a grid design and using only four colours including yellow.

Supplies

Paper - Crate Paper Peppermint, Simple Stories Simple Vintage Lemon Twist

Letters - American Crafts

Label - Studio Calico

Rub-Ons - Basic Grey

Butterflies - Prima

Puffy Sticker - Unknown

Gems - Unknown

Ink - Hobbycraft, Ranger

Share the Love

Having kept on top of my albums for 2019 and 2020, I didn't do so well in 2021 or 2022. We're in 2023 now and so far there are only two pages that need to be made, though that will change with the onset of spring. For now though, this is one page done, and the other will be a DT page that I will share next month.

Someone yarn-bombed the postbox near our railway station for Valentine's Day last month, and I've used the March sketch from For the Love of Pretty Paper which featured six circles. I used one for the photo, two with patterned paper, two balls of wool and a plain circle for journalling. Those balls of wool are part of the Hobbies Elements 1 cut-file from Twilight Crafts, and I backed them with mulberry paper to give a fluffy look. I added strips of washi tape, word stickers and lots of hearts. 

Supplies

Paper - Echo Park Capture Life, Dovecraft Spring Chic

Letters - Love to Craft, KaiserCraft

Stickers - Studio Calico, American Crafts/Shimelle

Washi Tape - American Crafts/Shimelle

Dots - Nuvo Drops

Ink - Ranger

Tools

Silhouette Portrait

Fiskars Shape Cutter & Circles Template

Disclosure - I received the digital cut-file free of charge from Twilight Crafts. All other supplies are my own.