Parkrun Tourism 2025

Having finally finished my Norwegian cruise album, I'm turning to my 2025 annual album, aiming to complete it before 2026 draws my attention instead.

This is a round-up of our parkrun tourism for last year, when we ran seven courses other than our home event. I went with a grid of photos for this month's challenge from Hey Little Magpie, and an orange and blue colour scheme taken from the name signs.

I'm really glad to have cleared some older stash here too; that background is from 2017 and the stars 2018. There's no year on the letter stickers but I'm pretty sure they are even older. Much better to have them in my album than in my stash.

Supplies: Cardstock - Payper Box; Paper - Dear Lizzy Star Gazer, Vicki Boutin Sweet Rush; Letters - Stickopotamus; Puffy Stars - Bella Boulevard

(Page 15 for the year.)

Parkrun Pages with Jenny Wren Cut-Files

I'm sharing a couple of 8x8 pages for my parkrun album today, both made with Jenny Wren Cut-Files as my DT projects for Twilight Crafts this month.

I used Numbers Background on the first page to celebrate my husband's 200th parkrun in October. It's not an official milestone so a guy called Gary Davies made a t-shirt for his own 200th run and now he lends it out every week with everyone signing it after they've worn it. I cut the numbers from dull brown cardstock and backed all the openings with the same blue patterned paper.

Supplies: Cardstock - Bazzill; Paper - Kanban Industriana, Shimelle Glitter Girl; Letters - American Crafts; Stickers - Studio Calico, Jillibean Soup; Pearls - Scrapberry's

Secondly, I used Triangle and Squares Background to mark me running new PBs three times in September, after setting my previous best time way back in 2019. 

I flipped the cut-file over, filled three squares with photos and added my title to a fourth. I originally imagined journalling in the last box but I had too much to write so it ended up on strips on the right of the page.

Supplies: Cardstock - Unknown; Paper - Scrapbook Magazine Freebie; Letters - American Crafts, Violet Studio; Washi Tape - Shimelle; Enamel Dots - Carta Bella

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

(I count 8x8 pages as half-pages in my count for the year, which is now on five.)

Parkrun Pages

Now a couple of pages for my Parkrun Continued album, which is 8x8 in size. I try to use up my scraps on these pages so these both have two part backgrounds. I count them as half-pages so always share them in pairs to keep the page count even.

(The numbers are my page count for the year and I have now exceeded the 105 that I made last year.) 

105.5 Queen Elizabeth

We ran at Queen Elizabeth Country Park in July en route to Southampton for our Norwegian cruise. I had a 12" tall chevron shaped paper scrap which I cut down for the left side and paired with green spots.

Supplies: Paper - My Mind's Eye Wild Asparagus, Bo Bunny Little Wonders; Stickers - Crate Paper, October Afternoon; Enamel Shapes - Carta Bella, Cocoa Vanilla Studio

106. Happy Birthday Thurrock

Our home parkrun celebrated its 10th birthday in October, so I picked a photo of us all at the start line. I had a scrap of birthday paper which I decided to use, leading to a pink and navy colour scheme.

Supplies: Paper - Bo Bunny Little Wonders, DCWV?; Letters - American Crafts; Enamel Dots - Carta Bella; Cake - Unknown

More Parkrun Pages

I have a couple more parkrun pages to share today. These are both 8x8 and bring my parkrun album up to date. I'm making/sharing them in pairs to keep my page count for the year even as I count these as half-pages.

67.5 Thornbury

I ran at Thornbury on the weekend of the Twilight crop in May. My page is based on a challenge from Scrap Squad for their Birthday Cybercrop.

Supplies: Cardstock - DCWV; Paper - Pinkfresh Studio Life Right Now; Label Sticker - October Afternoon; Enamel Shapes - Shimelle

68. Orpington

We ran at Orpington last month to collect an 'O' for the parkrun alphabet challenge. All the papers on my page are from my scraps box, even that filmstrip piece.

Supplies: Cardstock - DCWV, Paper - Paige Evans Turn the Page, My Mind's Eye Miss Caroline, My Mind's Eye Just Splendid; Sticker - Teresa Collins; Washi Tape - Ebay; Enamel Shapes - My Mind's Eye, Altenew

Parkrun Pages

We've passed the half-way point of the year, which feels more than time to catch up with my parkrun album. This is on volume 3 now - the first was an album/journal which tracked my first year (2018) of parkrunning week by week as I moved from walking it, through mixed running/walking, to finally regularly running 5km. After that initial year, I've just recorded our milestones, tourist runs and other significant events: volume two covers 2019-2022 and volume three 2023 to date. These pages are 8x8 and I count them as half-pages in my page count for the year.

65.5 Basildon 500

We've done Basildon parkrun a few times as they generally meet on Christmas Day while our own Thurrock run is closed, and we went again in January to help celebrate their 500th event along with my sister and brother-in-law.

I used the Doodled Border cut-file from Twilight Crafts and Jenny Wren Cut-Files for my page, which is my first DT project of the month.

Supplies: Cardstock - DCWV, Paper - Pinkfresh Studio Escape the Ordinary; Die-Cuts - Pinkfresh Studio; Washi Tape - Vicki Boutin

66. Ingrebourne Hill

This new local parkrun started in December and immediately became our NENDY (nearest event not done yet); we gave it a few weeks to bed in before we visited in February. I started this page for an NSD challenge which combined a sketch and Grab 5 from Scrap a Sketch, but I've only just finished the journalling. The five items required were ribbon, ink, washi, stamps and blue.

Supplies: Paper - My Mind's Eye Vintage Charm, Simple Stories Awesome Boy, Washi Tape - Vicki Boutin

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

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.

Parkrun Pages with Scrap Squad - Part 2

Last post I shared four parkrun pages made with scraplifts from the 12 Days of Autumn event over in the Scrap Squad Facebook group and now I have another four to share. These bring my parkrun album up to date, which was one of the tasks I set myself to complete before I can start my cruise album.

84.5 250 Runs

I completed my 250th parkrun back in July and used the scraplift from Day 8 for this page. Ours is a two lap course so we often get two photos and I generally use the better one, but we had heavy showers that day. It was dry at the start so I risked running without a raincoat. Big mistake and having got soaked through I swapped my sodden shirt for my waterproof for the second lap. Hence I used both photos and printed them small as neither is very good but they contribute to the story.

Supplies: Paper - Kay Miller Designs Simple Pleasures; Letters - American Crafts; Phrase Stickers - Pretty Little Studio

85. Monsal Trail

Moving on to Day 9, and Monsal Trail parkrun which we ran in August while camping in the Peak District. The original had a circular cut-file, lots of stitching and some fussy-cut leaves, but mine is much simpler as I deliberately keep these 8x8 pages quite flat.

Supplies: Cardstock - DCWV; Paper - Docrafts Spring Chic; Making Memories Fresh Anthology; Enamel Dots - Simple Stories

85.5 150 Runs

My husband completed his 150th run this summer, and I've recorded that with Day 10's scraplift and lots of diamond shapes. The original page had a small landscape photo but I chose to crop mine to match the papers.

Supplies: Paper - Dovecraft, Pinkfresh Studio Let Your Heart Decide; Letters - Simple Stories; Washi Tape - Unknown; Enamel Dots - Hey Little Magpie

86. Y Promenad

You might have seen this photo before as I scrapped it recently for my 2024 album on a 12x12 double page as part of a weekend away in Wales. However, it also needs to go into my parkrun album so I went back to the scraplift from Day 4 as that was the only one left that I could make work with a 4x6 photo though I tweaked it so that it wouldn't look too much like South Woodham Ferrers/Day 7.

Supplies: Paper, Die-Cuts & Puffy Stickers - Vicki Boutin Fernwood; Washi Tape - Little B

Parkrun Pages with Scrap Squad - Part 1

I started bringing my parkrun album up to date when I came back from my holiday, and this coincided with the 12 Days of Autumn event in the Scrap Squad Facebook group, so I aimed to do as many of their scraplifts as possible with my parkrun photos. 

These are the first four and they are all 8"x8" so I count them as half-pages in my count for the year as they are roughly half the area of a 12"x12" page.

82.5 Blaise Castle

I started with Day 5, using two small photos offset diagonally with papers from a 6x6 pad. I ran here on the weekend of the Twilight crop back in May.

Supplies: Paper - Dovecraft, Pinkfresh Studio Life Right Now; Enamel Dots - My Mind's Eye

83. South Woodham Ferrers

Next was Day 7, a page with layers of paper across the the top and a single landscape photo. We did this one in August to tick off 'South' in the compass point challenge.

Supplies: Paper - Dovecraft, Vicki Boutin Storyteller; Sticker - Vicki Boutin

83.5 Jubilee

I then went back to Day 1, with three big tags and a single portrait photo from Jubilee parkrun in Spennymoor which we ran en route to our recent cruise.

Supplies: Paper - Dovecraft, Heidi Swapp Wanderlust; Stickers - My Mind's Eye, OneCanoeTwo; Nuvo Drops

84. Hoblingwell 

Then Day 6 with another portrait photo on a large banner. Hoblingwell gave us an H for the Alphabet Challenge.

Supplies: Paper - Fancy Pants Little Sprout, Bo Bunny Little Wonders, Maggie Holmes Chasing Dreams; Glitter Tape - The Works; Stickers - Jen Hadfield; Enamel Dots - Altenew, My Mind's Eye

Nomads on Tour

Things have been quiet around here as we've been away on a cruise round the Mediterranean, and then I had to create something to share with you. I'm itching to make a start on my cruise scrapbook but it will have to wait as I have a few things I want to do first, such as finishing my 2023 album and bringing both my parkrun album and my 2024 album up to date.

I'm starting with 2024 and a double page for a weekend in Wales last month. This was organised by a member of Thurrock Nomads, our local running group, with the aim of doing a parkrun on Saturday morning followed by a walk up Pen y Fan in the afternoon. I made both halves of the page using Jenny Wren cut-files from Twilight Crafts as my DT projects this month, with Picture Wheel on the left and Road Sign 2 on the right.

(These are pages 81 & 82 for my page count this year.)

Supplies

Paper - Make & Create Moments, My Mind's Eye Vintage Charm, Make & Create Grunge Dreams, My Mind's Eye Necessities

Letters - American Crafts, Paige Evans

Stickers - OneCanoeTwo, Paige Evans, Pretty Little Studio, 49 & Market

Die-Cuts - OneCanoeTwo

Enamel Dots - Altenew, Maggie Holmes

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.

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

Christmas Parkrun

Well, I managed two pages in a row for my cruise album, before diverting again. This diversion is for my latest DT page for Twilight Crafts. Debbie has been busy designing wreath cut-files recently, and I picked her Holly Wreath for a Christmas page.

I have a Silhouette Portrait so can only cut at 8" wide and I wanted a larger wreath so I cut it in two pieces and placed them 'back-to-back' on my page with my photo between the two parts.

I backed the holly berries and leaves in patterned paper, smooshed ink in matching colours onto my background paper to sit behind the cut-file and added dots of Nuvo drops around the wreath. I backed my photo on the same cardstock and papers and popped it up on a square of foam to sit above the cut-file.

Supplies
Cardstock - Stampin' Up!
Paper - Amy Tangerine Star Gazer, American Crafts Deck the Halls
Letters - American Crafts

Ephemera - Unknown 
Dots - Nuvo Drops
Ink - Ranger, Memento

Tools

Silhouette Portrait

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

Run Killerton

I've been concentrating on holiday photos this year, but a few recent challenges have caught my eye while being designs that don't suit that album. The first is a Scrap Squad scraplift from their cybercrop last weekend, the original page being by Nathalie DeSousa.

We spent a long weekend in Devon last summer and took part in Killerton parkrun on the Saturday. I've scrapped a couple of pages from this trip already, using the Storyteller collection from CVS, with white backgrounds and yellow ink so I pulled out the same supplies. 

I cut a 9" circle in my background cardstock here, smooshed yellow ink around the edge and backed the circle with overlapping strips of patterned paper. I chose just one photo, larger than those on the original page, double matted it and tucked in a row of cameras.  All my parkrun tourism pages have the same format of title, being the word 'Run' followed by the event name, so this is Run Killerton, which I placed on one of the plainer paper strips. I journalled around the edge of the circle and embellished with fussy-cut flowers and puffy hearts.

Supplies

Cardstock - UK Crafts

Paper - Cocoa Vanilla Studio Storyteller, Cocoa Vanilla Studio These Days

Letters - Rosie's Studio

Puffy Hearts - Cocoa Vanilla Studio

Ink - Ranger

Tools

Kreaxions Circle Cutter

50th Parkrun

I'm going back to the third of the Twelve Days of Summer Scraplifts now, as hosted by Scrap Squad on Facebook.

Part of the beauty of a scraplift is its adaptability; you can take as much or as little of the original as you want in order to inspire a new page, and this one's at the more minimal end of the scale. I started with the white cardstock background and coloured it with a hexagon background mask but after that I went my own way.

I had a 4x6 photo of my husband doing his 50th parkrun, which I matted and then ran my title down the side. My embellishment is simple and scattered rather than clustered.

Supplies

Cardstock - UK Crafts, Craft Sensations

Paper - My Mind's Eye

Letters - American Crafts

Flair - Unknown

Word Sticker - Tim Holtz

Puffy Stickers - Elle's Studio

Enamel Stars - Doodlebug

Ink - Hobbycraft, Ranger

Paint - Golden

Tools

Hexagon Mask

Big Shot & Little B Chevron Die

Run North Yorkshire Water Park

Today I'm sharing my latest DT page for Twilight Crafts and Jenny Wren Cut-Files. A few months ago I asked Debbie if she could make a compass, and she came up trumps with this design.

I'd imagined using it in a cruise album, but its first outing was something a bit different from that. We had a holiday in Yorkshire at Easter and did the parkrun at North Yorkshire Water Park on the Saturday. This formed part of the 'Compass Challenge' of completing four events with north, south, east and west in their names, so my compass was the perfect embellishment piece.

I split my page in two, using photos from before and during the run in the two halves, and repeating the large paper layers from one half as smaller pieces in the other. I cut my compass from black cardstock at about 4" across, backed just the centre sections with green, and nestled it against the top photo. All my 12x12 parkrun tourism pages have the title Run [Event Name] so I followed that with RUN on a ticket and the name on washi tape across the middle of the page.

Supplies

Cardstock - Bazzill, Craft Sensations

Paper - Simple Stories Hello Today, Pebbles Seen & Noted

Letters - American Crafts, Elle's Studio

Puffy Stickers - MAMBI

Enamel Dots - Simple Stories, Echo Park

Ink - Ranger

Tools

Silhouette Portrait

Big Shot & Dovecraft Label Die

Woodware Scalloped Circle Punch

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

Christmas Parkrun

I'm adding to my 2021 album today, with a page from parkrun on Christmas Day. There's nothing very Christmassy in the photos so I chose to emphasise the theme via my papers and the Hanging Baubles Strip from Jenny Wren Cut-Files for Twilight Crafts.

I cut the baubles strip from white cardstock, coloured it with a gold pen and backed it with red and green patterned papers, then cut it into three pieces. Two of them span the page either side of my photos and the third is a single bauble next to my title.

That title was made with letters from one of the first packs I ever bought, and I had to cut down a few letters; the r's used to be m's and the n was an h. I added a few snowflake stickers among the baubles and banner stickers below the photos.

Supplies
Paper - Carta Bella Hello Christmas

Letters - Papermania

Stickers - Carta Bella, MAMBI

Star Gems - Hobbycraft
Pearls - Kanban

Ink - Ranger

Tools

Silhouette Portrait

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

Spread the Parkrun Love

Well, I applied for the new DT at Let's Get Sketchy but I wasn't successful. However the sketch to use for DT submissions was also the first sketch of the new era, so I had a page ready and waiting for that when it was published at the start of the month.

We are in March now but we haven't done much yet this year and that makes keeping on top of the 2022 album quite straightforward. I have a single photo of a friend and me at parkrun taken by the photographer volunteer last month which I thought would suit the sketch well.

I picked Simple Stories Safe Travels papers from the colours in the photo and layered them in a similar way to the sketch. That big flower became my tree and I inked an old piece of filmstrip chipboard to run behind the photo (which I popped up on a piece of foam to give enough depth for the chipboard piece to sit neatly).

There's no place marked for journalling on the sketch so I popped mine on a card below the photo and moved the title across. I included the word 'love' for a challenge from Hey Little Magpie, but I would probably have used this wording anyway. My friend is a relative newcomer to parkrun and now loves it almost as much as we do.

Supplies

Cardstock - DCWV

Paper - Fancy Pants Off to School, Simple Stories Safe Travels

Letters - American Crafts

Chipboard - Creative Expressions

Tree Die-Cut - Quirky Kits

Phrase Sticker - Pretty Little Studio

Enamel Dots - Papermania, Simple Stories

Tools

X-Cut Circle Punch