Salt Marsh Half Marathon

My husband's first race of the year was the Saltmarsh Half Marathon, and I went along as support crew, dropping him at the start, pausing twice to see him en route and picking him up at the end.

This page was built around one of the photos I took of a line of runners beside the river, which came out in soft focus and reminded me of a watercolour painting. I decided to print it on plain white cardstock which adds to the softness, and use it in place of patterned paper in the middle of this page. I then layered the before and during photos over the top and the finish photo with a journalling box over the bottom part.

Supplies: Paper - Mintay Golden Days, My Mind's Eye Miss Caroline, Basic Grey Urban Prairie, Shimelle Glitter Girl; Letters - Hip Kit Club, Echo Park?; Die-Cuts - Simple Stories, Pinkfresh Studio, October Afternoon; Enamel Stars - Latech

Away Nights

Another page for my 2025 album, and it's a round-up of the extra runs that our running club organised last summer, in country parks and open spaces across the area. I took part in six of them and double-matted each photo with papers from a 6x8 pad. I then butted them all up together to make a colourful panel in the centre of my page.

Supplies: Cardstock - Bazzill; Paper - Simple Stories Summer Snapshots; Letters - Rosie's Studio; Enamel Dots - Simple Stories

(Page 19 for 2026)

Grays 10k

I'm taking a short break from Norway to make a few pages for my 2025 album instead, aiming not to fall too far behind. 

First up is the Grays 10k which my husband ran in September. I printed four photos which fell into two pairs - during and after the race - so I kept them that way on the page.

My colour scheme started from the blue of my husband's vest and led to a mixture of three of Vicki Boutin's collections.

Supplies: Paper - Vicki Boutin Color Study, Vicki Boutin Fernwood, Vicki Boutin Sweet Rush; Letters - Fancy Pants; Journalling Cards - Project Life; Die-Cuts - Vicki Boutin; Washi Tape - Vicki Boutin; Puffy Stickers - Elle's Studio, Jen Hadfield

(Page 104 in my count for the year.)

On Yer Bike

We've recently come back from a cruise to Norway, but I want to catch up on my 2025 album before I start a new one for that trip. I've scrapped everything up to the end of April, but only a couple of events after that. However we have quite a quiet life now that the children have left home, and that means my backlog is only one double page and four singles.

I'm jumping to June, when my husband took part in the Thurrock Cycle Marathon. This was a community ride with a choice of seven miles, 21 miles or two laps of the 21 mile course to make 42 miles, so not a marathon at all despite its name. 

I printed four photos from the start area, arranged them in a grid with patterned paper, and took this opportunity to use up as many bicycle stickers and die-cuts as I sensibly could.

Supplies: Paper - Cocoa Vanilla Studio These Days, Cocoa Vanilla Studio Daydream; Letters - Doodlebug, Pretty Little Studio; Stickers - 49 & Market, Maggie Holmes; Die-Cut - Rosie's Studio; Puffy Shapes - Elle's Studio

(Page 79 for the year.)

Beer Fest Bands

Today I'm sharing my first DT page of the month for Twilight Crafts and Jenny Wren Cut-Files. I used three lines from cut-file 515 Scallops Strips as 'shelves' for my photos from Thurrock Beer Festival last month.

All the papers except the background were leftovers from my 2017 Nordic Cruise album which have been languishing in my scraps box since I finished it. The stripe caught my eye first and a quick rummage turned up the others to match.

Supplies: Paper - Reminisce Be Kind, Bo Bunny Early Bird, Echo Park Winter Park, Echo Park We Are Family; Letters - Pinkfresh Studio; Label Sticker - Heidi Swapp; Enamel Dots - Carta Bella, 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.

(Page 69 for the year.)

Pages for 2024

Pausing the cruise pages now, to catch up with the end of 2024. I have a few gaps to go back and fill in, but these pages cover most of November and December. Facebook group For the Love of Pretty Paper recently celebrated their tenth birthday with 10 challenges and I've covered a few here.

(The numbers are my page count for this year; I'm aiming to beat the 105 that I managed in 2024.)

1. Delicious Moments

My first DT page of the year for Twilight Crafts and Jenny Wren Cut-Files, which satisfied the 'Circle' challenge from FTLOPP. I cut two of Leaf Wreath and layered them up over a stamped circle of leaves. The photo is from our Christmas lunch in a local pub.

Supplies: Paper - 49 & Market, Kit 'n' Craft; Rub-Ons - 49 & Market; Gems - Papermania, Unknown Stars

2. Penguin Parade

Twelve photos from a penguin statue trail in London, perfect for the 'Repeat' challenge from FTLOPP as they are all basically the same shape. Having chosen a suitable background, I picked out an assortment of ancient stash to go with it.

Supplies: Paper - Echo Park Reflections Christmas, Fancy Pants Winterland, Heidi Swapp No Limits; Washi Tape - Dovecraft, Unknown; Puffy Stickers - MAMBI; Stars - Sheenanigans; Pearls - Mark Richards, The Hobby House; Paint - Golden

3. Christmas Lights
My second January DT page for Twilight Crafts and Jenny Wren Cut-Files uses an older cut-file, the word Christmas, as part of my title and I included machine-stitching for the 'Stitched' challenge from FTLOPP. The photos are from a Christmas Lights Run that one of the members of our running club organised.

Supplies: Cardstock - Bazzill, DCWV; Paper - Simple Stories Jingle all the Way, Carta Bella Hello Christmas; Letters - Studio Calico, We R Memory Keepers; Laser-Cut Baubles - 49 & Market; Sticker - Shimelle; Enamel Dots - Carta Bella

4. Parkrun Tourism 2024

I used to make a 12x12 pages in my annual albums for each parkrun we visited, but they were getting too numerous and duplicating the 8x8 pages in my parkrun album, so I've just done a single roundup page for 2024, using another Jenny Wren Cut-File - 2024 Stacked. Eleven photos for the '3 or More Photos' challenge from FTLOPP.

Supplies: Cardstock - Stampin' Up!; Paper - Sokai SO'BB, My Mind's Eye Jubilee, Simple Stories; Puffy Stars - Rosie's Studio 

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

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.

Pages for Annual Albums

I'm changing up my monthly posts to be posts on a theme, and losing the schedule so I'll post whenever I switch from one subject or album to another. Last week I shared ten 8x8 pages for my parkrun continued album, and now I'm turning my attention to the rest of the pages I've made recently, which have all been for my annual albums. I made most of these at the Twilight Weekend Crop mid-month, though few were completely finished then and I brought them home with notes about what else I needed to add or finish off, which has taken me until now.

47. Dave Gorman - Powerpoint to the People (2022)

I let the background paper do most of the work on this page, with a paper stack behind my photo and a scattering of paper circles, enamel dots and mist on the printed stripes.

Supplies: Paper - Heidi Swapp Hello Today; Enamel Dots - My Mind's Eye

48. Croppin' at the DAF Crop (2022)

A page from the last crop I went to before Twilight, with a title piece and crafty embellishments from JD3DPrint.

Supplies: Paige Evans Whimsical, Pinkfresh Studio The Best Day; Die-Cuts - Paige Evans; Stickers - Paige Evans #Stickerbook; Puffy Stars - Rosie's Studio

49. Follow the Otter (2022)

One of four pages from a weekend camping in Devon, for a walk from East Budleigh to Budleigh Salterton beside the River Otter.

Supplies: Cardstock - UK Crafts; Paper - Cocoa Vanilla Studio Storyteller; Stickers - Pinkfresh Studio, Maggie Holmes; Nuvo Dots

50. Basildon 10k (2024)

Turning to the current year, this was my husband's first organised 10k running event, on Easter Monday.

Supplies: Paper - Pinkfresh Studio Lovely Blooms, Amy Tangerine Brave+Bold, Vicki Boutin Fernwood; Letters - American Crafts; Stickers - Amy Tangerine, Tim Holtz; Enamel Dots - Simple Stories

51. The Odd Squad (2024)

That was our team name when we won the local Chamber of Commerce quiz. I used an older sketch from Scrap a Sketch for the page and bashed some ancient stash.

Supplies: Paper - October Afternoon Apple Cider, Bazzill Basics; Journal Cards - October Afternoon 9 to 5; Stickers - October Afternoon, Paige Evans; Puffy Stars - Bo Bunny; Enamel Dots - Twilight Crafts

April Pages

I have fewer pages to share this month as I've also made a mini-book and a selection of cards for a friend who is going through chemo. A group us of put together a box of cards and gifts so that she has something to open every day of her treatment.

I made her this book based on the "Bird Song" book by Cal Summers in her Paper Scissors Story Facebook group, though I adapted it in places, using techniques Cal has taught us from other books. 

These were my cards, the first two of which use Jenny Wren Cut-Files from Twilight Crafts and were my DT post this month.

Back to my scrapbooks, I've made all the Helsinki pages now for our Scandinavian cruise:

31. Supreme Court/Presidential Palace/Helsinki City Hall
My first page from Helsinki featuring a run of three public buildings. It had to be 12x12 as it's on the back of my subtitle page for the city.

Supplies: Cardstock - Craft UK, The Craft Place; Paper - Pinkfresh Studio Tourist Mode, Pinkfresh Studio Out and About, Pinkfresh Studio Life Right Now; Letters - Tim Holtz; Enamel Dots - Carta Bella

32. Parliament House/Central Station/Kamppi Chapel

Three more buildings, in a divided page protector this time, which is what I'm using most of the time in an attempt to include more photos in less space.

Supplies: Cardstock - Bazzill; Paper - Pinkfresh Studio Tourist Mode, Pinkfresh Studio Life Right Now, Pinkfresh Studio Out and About; Letters - Studio Calico, Elle's Studio, Doodlebug; Stickers - Pinkfresh Studio; Glitter Tape - Unknown; Enamel Dots - My Mind's Eye

33. The Rock Church

One of two things on my must-see list for Helsinki, the Rock Church is literally carved into the ground, and topped with a copper roof.

Supplies: Cardstock - Bazzill; Paper - Amy Tangerine Shine On, Pinkfresh Studio Tourist Mode; Letters - Pinkfresh Studio, Creative Devotion; Stickers - Pinkfresh Studio; Glitter Tape - Unknown; Enamel Dots - Pinkfresh Studio, My Mind's Eye

34. National Library of Finland

The other must-see, a veritable cathedral to books and reading, and free entry.

Supplies: Paper - Pinkfresh Studio Tourist Mode, Pinkfresh Studio Life Right Now; Letters - Heidi Swapp; Stickers - Pinkfresh Studio; Filmstrip - 49 and Market; Enamel Dots - Pinkfresh Studio

35. Helsinki Cathedral/Uspenski Cathedral

Finally, the real cathedrals, one Lutheran and one Orthodox.

Supplies: Paper - Pinkfresh Studio Tourist Mode; Letters - Shimelle; Stickers - Pinkfresh Studio; Acetate - 49 and Market; Glitter Tape - Unknown; Enamel Dots - 49 and Market

36. A Scandinavian Marathon

Jumping to the end of the album and another 12x12 page, my husband ran 10km in each capital city, and added a bit more to take him up to a marathon in four parts.

Supplies: Cardstock - Crafts UK; Paper - Pinkfresh Studio Tourist Mode, Pinkfresh Studio Life Right Now; Letters - Heidi Swapp; Stickers - Pinkfresh Studio, 49 and Market, 7 Gypsies; Enamel Dots - Pinkfresh Studio

I also made a single and a double for my 2021 album, and I'm sharing an earlier one now too as they fit together. These are all from my 50th birthday when we were still facing Covid restrictions, so the best celebration we could manage was a day at the coast:

37. Explore Walton-on-the-Naze

I actually made this one in February for a sketch challenge from Hey Little Magpie.

Supplies: All 49 & Market except the letters, which are Anita's Glitterations.

38. The Naze Tower

I tried to keep a similar style for this page.

Supplies: 49 & Market again, with letters from Anita's Glitterations and Creative Devotion.

39. & 40. Wander Around the Naze

And finally, a double for our walk around the Naze, a headland surrounded by water on three sides.

Supplies: More 49 & Market, with letters from American Crafts

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.

In the Park

I've reached Day 5 now in Scrap Squad's 12 Days of Summer Scraplifts. The original page by Ginny Hughes has a full page photo with an overlapping stack of ephemera. 

I didn't have such a large picture to hand so I lined up three photos in a column instead and picked out an ephemera pack from Amy Tangerine to go with them. I actually had another smaller photo which was the perfect size for a frame in the pack which I stacked up with an assortment of other pieces, puffy stickers and nuvo drops.

My page is wider than Ginny's so I had some empty space on the right of my photos. I kept it mostly clear but did add a few embellishments, my title and a journalling card.

Supplies

Paper - Paige Evans Whimsical

Letters - Maggies Holmes

Ephemera - Amy Tangerine Picnic in the Park

Puffy Stickers - Jillibean Soup, Freckled Fawn, Elle's Studio

Dots - Nuvo Drops

Boosted

I'm switching away from my Canary Islands album and back to my 2021 annual album for this page in order to do a challenge from Dotty About Flair which fitted these photos better. it was set by DT member Lisa and she asked us to use her sketch with at least two patterned papers, five circles and a 'more is more' approach to embellishing.

I used a couple of photos of our local community hospital for my page, to mark us having our Covid booster vaccines last December. I didn't take any photos on the day but in retrospect it seemed worth documenting along with some comments on the Omicron variant, so I went back and took the photos a few days later.

I don't buy lots of ephemera so the band of pieces on the sketch was going to be difficult for me. I planned to use a stripy paper for my background and something busier across the middle, but ended up with a grid and some tiles from Vicki Boutin's Storyteller collection which were much more subtle.

I moved the tag out from behind the photos on the sketch, to sit beside them and hold my journalling, and used a piece of branding strip as a shelf for my title to sit on. Following on from that I added another strip at the top of the page and moved the label clusters on the sketch from being central top and bottom to sitting on the strips. I think I failed on the 'more is more' as my embellishment is quite simple - flower stickers, die-cut leaves and labels and trios of enamel dots.

Supplies

Cardstock - Bazzill

Paper - American Crafts/Vicki Boutin Storyteller

Letters - American Crafts

Stickers - American Crafts/Vicki Boutin Storyteller

Washi Tape - American Crafts

Enamel Dots - Simple Stories, Stampin' Up!

Ink - Ranger

Mist - Mister Huey's

Spring Chicks

I'm back with another project for Twilight Crafts and Jenny Wren Cut-Files. This time I took the camera from the Hobbies Elements 2 set and used it as a large embellishment on my page.

I had four 3x4 photos of cygnets, goslings and coot chicks in our local nature park and I cut the camera at the same size to fit a rough grid. 

I backed the camera with patterned paper, picking colours from the photos. However, just taking my colours from the photos would have given me quite a dull page. I looked in my scraps box for colour inspiration and found a stripe and a green from the same collection. I then pulled orange, blue and brown papers to match the stripes. 

I layered torn strips on the right, matted my photos on the four colours and butted up four 3" strips on the left of the page. I then made up three embellishment clusters from punched and die-cut shapes using the same papers again.

Supplies

Paper - Make & Create Grunge Dreams, Scrap Within Reach, Simple Stories, Bo Bunny

Letters - Pinkfresh Studio

Word Stickers - Pretty Little Studio

Enamel Dots - Papermania, Freckled Fawn, Eyelet Outlet, Simple Stories

Ink - Memento

Paint - Golden

Tools

Silhouette Portrait

Woodware Postage Stamp Punch

Woodware Scalloped Circle Punch

Big Shot

X-Cut Camera Die

Dovecraft Label Die

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