Loch Broom and the Summer Isles

I'm nearing the end of my latest cruise album now so I've not many full 12x12 sheets left. With three photos printed for this page, I stuck a leftover half-sheet from another page (Welcome Aboard) onto basic white cardstock and stacked the photos in a column against it. I then punched a pile of 1" squares from scraps to fill the opposite side of the page.

I used my usual two fonts for my title and added small tile stickers too so I'm entering this page for a challenge at Scrap Our Stash where they asked us to use three or more types of alphas.

The space beside 'Summer Isles' was the perfect shape for this ephemera piece; I placed a geo-tag above the title, journalled below it and added a trio of star gems in the empty spaces.

Supplies

Paper - 49 & Market Vintage Artistry Anywhere

Letters - Jillibean Soup

Ephemera - 49 & Market Vintage Artistry Anywhere

Glitter Tape - The Works

Gems - Simply Creative

Ink - Ranger

Mist - Mister Huey's

Tools

Silhouette Portrait

Big Shot & The Works Alphabet Dies

Double Denim

Cybercrops always have me scrapping old photos so I have another page featuring my son and nephew as babies for one of the Cake Challenges to celebrate For the Love of Pretty Paper's fifth birthday. This one was Victoria Sponge, to use two circles, and I combined it with a scraplift from Scrap Our Stash as the combination of large and small circle jumped out at me from Lori's page (though I ignored the additional criterion to use mixed alphas).

I picked a 6x6 pad for all the layers and found a 12x12 to match for the background. I liked both sides and had nothing else similar so I cut out an 8" circle, turned it over and slotted it back into its own hole.

Supplies

Paper - My Mind's Eye 29th Street Market, Authentique Nestled

Letters - Basic Grey

Washi Tape - Unknown

Glitter Tape - The Works

Enamel Dots - Marianne Designs, Simple Stories, Echo Park

Ink - Ranger

Paint - Golden

Tools

Big Shot

Spellbinders Circle Die

Dovecraft Label Die

Dovecraft Tag Die

Hobbycraft Star Punch

Whatever Takes Your Fancy

I'm sharing a page with older photos today, made as part of February's GoGoGetaway cybercrop. The challenge was to scrapbook with something quirky and one of the suggestions was to use photos of quirkily dressed subjects. I found a trio of family pictures from a fancy dress barbecue tucked away in an old photo album and went from there.

I used half a sketch from February's Pick Your Side Sketch Challenge at Scrap Our Stash, the left side of their double page, and teamed it with red and green papers from my scraps box.

I auditioned various phrases incorporating the word 'fancy' for my title while I worked on this page before settling on this one. However the barbecue was an annual event so one of my rejected titles may still make an appearance later on.

Supplies

Cardstock - DCWV

Paper - Heidi Swapp Vintage Chic, Hot off the Press, Teresa Collins, Chatterbox

Letters - Jillibean Soup

Word Stickers - Tim Holtz

Enamel Shapes - Marianne Designs

Pearls - Scrapberry's

Flower, Chipboard - Unknown

Ink & Mist - Docrafts

Tools

Big Shot

Spellbinders Circle Dies

X-Cut Ticket Stubs Die

Dovecraft Label Die

Quickutz Label Die

Craft Creative Flower Punch

X-Cut Scalloped Border Punch

Through the Keyhole

Earlier this week I blogged my walk of Section 5 of the Capital Ring, and today I'm scrapping three photos of the view from Richmond Park to St Paul's Cathedral. When I printed them, I'd imagined lining them up across the page with borders above and below, but then Scrap Our Stash published a sketch challenge that had me rethinking that.

I've rotated the sketch and moved the row of photos nearer to the middle, which frees up space for two papers to make up the square in the background which as per the Snoopy cartoon. I've also used green embellishments with a star sticker, a label die-cut and some enamel dots.

Since I had three photos, I decided to combine this with a GoGoGetaway cybercrop challenge to use the 'Power of 3'. I have three photos, a three word title, three patterned papers, three arrow circles, three groups of three enamel dots, three pops of green in my clusters and I used a stamp with three smiley faces.

Supplies
Paper - Fancy Pants Winterland 
Letters - KaiserCraft
Sticker - Studio Calico
Die-Cut - October Afternoon
Enamel Dots - Echo Park, Simple Stories
Gems - Papermania
Ink - Ranger

Tools
Silhouette Portrait & SCT Circles Cut File
Big Shot & Dovecraft Label Die

Here We Go Again

I'm not feeling particularly motivated by my cruise photos at the moment so, rather than force myself to do those pages and potentially be dissatisfied with the results, I'm switching away for a while.

I'm combining a couple of stash challenges for this page, with photos from last weekend. For the last four years we've headed up to the Lake District each December for a black tie ball; it's fabulous excuse to break out our posh frocks and a great start to the Christmas season. 

First up was an Advent Calendar 'Grab Five' challenge in the For the Love of Pretty Paper Facebook group. One of the admin is opening a calendar envelope each day for six days and we have to use five stash items and a specific technique on a page. This week's items were sparkly washi tape, flair or similar, 6x6 papers, black letter stickers and mist, plus hand-sewing for the technique. I cut and stretched the 6x6 papers and substituted large brads for flair.


I'm also linking to this month's tic-tac-toe challenge at Scrap Our Stash. My original intention had been to do one of the diagonals - mist, holiday theme and sequins - but I forgot all about the sequins and used wood veneer stars instead. I was going to go back and add them, but then I realised that I had the middle row instead - journal card, holiday theme and something gold (doily, washi tape and mist).



Supplies
Cardstock - Papermania
Paper - Simple Stories Classic Christmas, Fancy Pants Merry Little Christmas
Letters - American Crafts Thickers
Word Stickers - American Crafts
Doily & Journal Card - Unknown
Washi Tape - Hobbycraft
Brads - Simple Stories
Enamel Dots - Simple Stories
Wood Veneer Stars - Studio Calico
Ink - Hobbycraft
Mist - Docrafts
Thread - DMC

Tools
X-Cut Circle Punch

Traditional Turf House

I'm switching over to Greenland for the next couple of pages in my cruise album. This one is from Ammasalik Museum, where they have reconstructed a traditional turf house of the type used as a winter home by the Inuit.

The page design comes from Shimelle's A Most Magical Scrapbook class once again, but this time I'm combining it with a Tic-Tac-Toe challenge from Scrap Our Stash. 

I picked the top row - plaid print, tab(s) and the colour brown. I'm making all the pages for this album on kraft cardstock (brown), the paper collection that I'm using has a plaid print and I have a tabs die that's a recurring item.

I filled my tab with a tiny wood veneer tree, and made a similar cluster across the page. With only two of this tree in my stash, I placed a slightly different one next to the title, and eventually decided that I needed a third 'proper' cluster at the foot of the journalling. With no more trees to hand I picked out an arrow instead.

Supplies
Cardstock - Craft Sensations
Paper - Photo Play Paper, We R Memory Keepers, Three Bugs in a Rug
Vellum - Crate Paper
Washi Tape - Various Unknown
Wood Veneer - Studio Calico, Creative Embellishments
Word Sticker - Tim Holtz
Enamel Dots - Echo Park, American Crafts/Shimelle, Doodlebug
Ink - Ranger
Mist - Docrafts

Tools
Fiskars Postage Stamp Border Punch
Big Shot & Quickutz Tabs Die
Woodware Scalloped Circle Punch
X-Cut Small Circle Punch

Amateur Photobomber

I love the start of a new album. I have lots of photos to scrapbook, and I'm not working in chronological order, so I can just pick and choose my pictures to suit any sketch challenge that takes my fancy. 

First up this month is one from Let's Get Sketchy, which I paired with a photo of our daughter, taken in Greenland. She was trying to photobomb me by jumping up into the bottom of the shot, but the result was a natural photo of her, probably better than one I'd have got if I asked her to pose for me.

I'm also linking up with the tic-tac-toe challenge at Scrap Our Stash where I've picked the bottom row - mini alphas, American Crafts (the larger letters) and die-cuts (both bought and cut by me).

I'm doing all of this album on kraft cardstock, so I need to brighten up the pages with lots of patterned paper. Hence I started this page by adding the large piece of spotty paper behind the main sketch elements. If I'd had a 'prettier' background then I'd have left it on show.

I extended the design to the right with a journalling box, and added an extra paper strip to act as a 'shelf' for the photo and journalling. No hot air balloons on this trip, but I've used them on the page anyway as they say 'carefree' to me and fitted the feel of the page. 

Supplies
Cardstock - Craft Sensations
Paper - Photo Play Boarding Pass, Echo Park Dots & Stripes Travel, Simple Stories, Pink Paislee
Letters - American Crafts, KaiserCraft
Balloon Sticker & Die-Cut - Photo Play Boarding Pass
Washi Tape - The Range
Word Stickers - Tim Holtz
Puffy Stickers - American Crafts/Shimelle, Jillibean Soup
Enamel Dots/Stars - American Crafts/Shimelle, Simple Stories
Ink - Ranger
Mist - Docrafts

Tools
Big Shot
X-Cut Travel Dies
X-Cut Camera Die

How Far?

I spent most of National Scrapbook Day (or should that be weekend) in the For the Love of Pretty Paper Facebook group, where the fun kicked off at 5pm on Friday. Our first challenge was an easy one - to make a layout with a spring or summer theme. Having come back from holiday a few weeks ago, I have loads of new spring photos to scrap; it might be hard to tell the season from some of them but I picked a set which included some adorable new lambs.

With no other restrictions, I went looking for a sketch and picked NSD Challenge #2 from Scrap Our Stash, which was to use this sketch from The Scrap Room and also to use flair on the page. I don't have much flair, but I found a cloud one which was a pretty good match for the cloud paper in a recent Quirky Kit.

I faffed for ages picking the other papers and then couldn't get them settled with the angles on the sketch. Eventually I straightened everything up and moved one of the circles to the bottom, and it all worked much better for me that way. 

The photos are from a walk to the local pub for Sunday lunch and the title refers to the length of that walk, which my husband claimed was three miles and it was actually four. Not much difference you might think, but it was hard for the shorter legs, injured ankle and general unfitness of some of our party.


Supplies
Cardstock - Bazzill
Paper - Pebbles, My Mind's Eye, Paper Adventures
Letters - American Crafts
Flair - Imagine That Papercrafts
Butterfly - Jillibean Soup
Enamel Dots - Teresa Collins, Freckled Fawn
Gems - ZVA Creative
Ink - Docrafts
Mist - Mister Huey's

Tools
Fiskars Shape Cutter & Circle Templates

"Who Am I?"

Back to my 2015 album today, and another page from December of that year. This one's from Boxing Day with photos of my dad and my children during an after-dinner game of Who Am I?

I'm playing along with the October 'Stash+Three' challenge at Scrap Our Stash, which is a sketch plus three stash elements from the lists; I used both die-cuts and Doodlebug gems for D, with the colours English Green and French Wine.

I'm also linking to Rochelle Spears' 'This or That' challenge where she has asked us to use Tags OR Tickets, not both; I chose tags

I had real trouble embellishing this page. I have a few remnants of Christmas collections plus individual sheets of paper, but hardly any Christmas embellishments. I had a dig through my colour drawers and pulled a few pieces together, but I can feel the need to shop before tackling Christmas 2016.

Supplies
Paper - Basic Grey Knee Highs, Echo Park Reflections Christmas, Echo Park This & That Christmas
Letters - American Crafts
Doily - Papermania
Die-Cuts - My Mind's Eye, K & Company
Sticker - Crate Paper DIY Shop
Labels - Pretty Little Studio
Stars - Paperchase
Gems - Doodlebug
Ink - Docrafts

Tools
Woodware Postage Stamp Punch
Amy Tangerine Date Stamp

Boytime

Today is National Scrapbook Day, but it's fast turning into a weekend or even longer. Scrap Our Stash and The ScrapRoom kicked off early with their combined challenges, so I've done my first NSD page already.

Scrap Our Stash asked us to used stash items from a list covering the letters S-T-A-S-H, and The ScrapRoom gave us a choice of five different sketches; I chose sketch 5 as the circle reminded me of a new cut file that I wanted to use.

My stash items are Staples, Tags, Arrows, Striped print and Hearts, and the choice of arrows satisfies Shimelle's latest weekly challenge too.   

I cut the 'Shattered Circle' background at just less than 8" wide which is all my Silhouette Portrait can manage, and backed each opening with patterned paper. Following the sketch exactly would have covered up too much of the circle so I used a single photo and reduced the size of the layers behind it. The photo is my dad, son and nephew many years ago. These boys are now adults, and my son voted for the first time this week.

Supplies
Cardstcok - DCWV Neutral Stack
Paper - Fancy Pants Little Sport
Letters - American Crafts
Chipboard Tags - Woodware
Gems - Unknown
Ink & Mist - Docrafts

Tools
Silhouette Portrait
Big Shot & Little B's Arrows Die
Woodware Scalloped Circle Punch
Amy Tangerine Heart Stamp
Stapler

Other
Shattered Circle Cut File from Just Nick

City Centre Landmarks

It's been a while since I joined in with the challenges at Scrap Our Stash. They changed format at the start of the year, and I haven't been able to fit the new challenges to the pages that I am making for my cruise album. However their latest Sketch+3 Challenge was perfect for me. 

The '+3' part is to use items from three lists alongside the sketch. These have been alphabetical so far, they've reached GHI and I've picked Graphic 45, Heidi Swapp and Ink. I've been mostly using Heidi Swapp's No Limits collection for this album, together with Graphic 45's Artisan Style in 6x6 and several other random papers that fit the colour palette. I've inked the edges of all my papers, inked the wood veneer triangles, and used ink again to stamp on the page.

As the title says, it's a few of the landmarks in the centre of Belfast - St Anne's Cathedral, the Albert Memorial Clock, City Hall and Buoys Park. My photos were different shapes and sizes, so I arranged them in a collage and filled the gaps with paper and stamping. 

Supplies
Cardstock - COlorset
Paper - Heidi Swapp No Limits, Graphic 45 Artisan Style, Fancy Pants Country Boutique
Letters - Pink Paislee Memorandum, American Crafts Shimelle
Wood Veneer - Heidi Swapp
Ink & Mist - Docrafts
Enamel Dot - Trimcraft

Tools
Big Shot & X-Cut Ticket Stubs Die
Hobbycraft Star Punch
Stampendous 'Travel Words' Stamp
Papermania 'All Aboard' Postmark Stamp

Where Next?

Have you heard of ScraptoberFest? Four scrapbook challenge blogs have teamed up to offer a four-part challenge for October. You can do them individually or combine all four to have a go at the Bonus prize.

I first saw ScraptoberFest on Scrap Our Stash, and their challenge was straightforward enough - use two different washi tapes.

Challenge YOUrself asked for a layout with YOU in the photo. At this point I was thinking that my entry would be another cruise page, but ...

My Scraps and More gave us a colour combination, and this was not going to work with the aqua, orange, cream and grey of my cruise album so far.

Finally, The Memory Nest gave us a sketch, a fairly simple sketch, so open to interpretation.

I focussed on the requirement for me to be in the photo, but I didn't really have any unscrapped that would fit both the sketch and the colour combination. However, we've been talking about our holidays (vacations) recently, and planning where we'd like to go next year and the following years and I decided to get my thoughts down on an 8x8 page.

My annual family albums and my holiday albums are all 12x12, but I sometimes make 8x8 pages which are more about thoughts and feelings, rather than the 12x12s that document our activities.

I used a photo of me in one of the photo spots on the sketch and used the other for my title.

I worked on white cardstock, matted on navy, and used several of my travel stamps to make the background. I've written the names of all the countries I've already visited around the edge of the page, and also written a little about some of the places I'd still like to visit. At the moment, I think we'll be returning to Austria next year, but after that, who knows?
   
Supplies
Cardstock - DCWV, Moments
Paper - Pink Paislee Snow Day, Echo Park This & That 
Letters - Hobbycraft
Doily - Dovecraft
Chipboard - My Mind's Eye Market Street
Washi Tape - Tesco, Trimcraft
Ink - Docrafts, Ink It Up!
Mist - Cosmic Shimmer

Tools
Stampendous Travel Words Stamps
Papermania All Aboard Postmark Stamp
Amy Tangerine Camera Stamp

Killybegs

I will need to make a lot of pages with 4x6 photos for my cruise album, so I've been bookmarking suitable sketches when I see them but don't have enough time to use them immediately. This page is based on one of the September sketches from ScrapMuch?

It also incorporates this month's Stash Challenge from Scrap Our Stash, one to create a layout using stash items for each of the letters of the word INKS. Mine are Inked edges, Notebook border and No Limits paper, the title Killybegs, Star Sticker and Stamping.

I used two photos of the town of Killybegs in the Republic of Ireland, the first stop on our cruise. The top one is the view from our ship's berth; the bottom one is a view across the bay as we walked into town.

I'm planning to make introductory pages like this for each of the towns/cities that we visited, to act as dividers in the album and to make it clear where each set of photos were taken. The stamped circle on the right isn't very clear, but it reads 'Entry Date'. I'll repeat this on each introductory page, and then I won't need to date all the intervening pages too.

Supplies
Cardstock - Colorset
Paper - Heidi Swapp No Limits, Colorbok Travel
Letters - American Crafts
Star Sticker - Studio Calico
Pearls - Mark Richards
Ink & Mist - Docrafts

Tools
Fiskars Postage Stamp Border Punch
American Crafts Notebook Border Punch
Woodware Scalloped Circle Punch
Fiskars Shape Cutter & Circles Template
Stampendous Travel Words Stamp
American Crafts Amy Tangerine Camera Stamp

Typical Teenager?

Back in the summer, we spent a weekend camping in the Peak District, and my daughter and I visited Lyme Park, which doubled as Pemberley in the BBC's adaptation of Pride and Prejudice.

We wandered through the grounds after visiting the house, and my daughter enjoyed climbing every suitable tree she could find. Obviously I took photos of her up each one, but at the top of this particular tree, she pulled out her phone and took a series of selfies. I envisioned scrapbooking my photo of her taking a selfie in the tree alongside her selfie photo, and last weekend I managed to raid her phone to retrieve her picture.

I used the latest sketch from Scrap Our Stash for my page. It came with the additional requirement of using three types of school supplies, which I've followed rather loosely; I have a paper clip, some sticky tape and notebook paper punched edges.

I used a leaf print paper from Basic Grey for my background, but although I bought several other sheets from the collection, most of them didn't actually work for this page. The arrow print is by Echo Park, and the colours are a perfect match.

Supplies
Paper - Basic Grey Mon Ami, Echo Park Boys Rule, My Mind's Eye Now & Then
Letters - October Afternoon
Stickers - American Crafts Shimelle True Stories, Anita's Glitterations
Paperclip - Doodlebug
Enamel Dots - Trimcraft, Simple Stories
Washi Tape - Unknown
Ink - Docrafts

Tools
American Crafts Notebook Border Punch

From This Day Forward

Two of the challenge blogs that I follow have got together for a combined challenge this month. Stuck?! Sketches provided the sketch and Scrap Our Stash added a stash challenge to use items representing each of the letters in the word LAYERS. I used the word Love (on the hearts paper), an Ampersand, the Year, Enamel dots, Red cardstock and Stitching on my page. 

I moved everything on the sketch down the page (and omitted the bottom part) as my photos are taller than the ones in the sketch. I decided to machine-stitch the circles with gold blending filament which turned out to be a bit of a mistake. The thread is so fine and snags so easily that it kept breaking as I stitched.

My photos are from a cousin's wedding earlier this summer. The couple's colour theme for the day was red and cream, so I used those colours for my page, with the addition of gold. My background is a lacy/doily print, but the detail's been lost in the photo below.

Supplies
Cardstock - Papermania
Paper - Crate Paper Story Teller, Paper Adventures Love Hearts
Border - Bazzill Just the Edge
Letters - Anita's Glitterations
Thread - Kreinik
Mesh & Peel-Off Stickers - Unknown
Flower Stickers - Kit 'n' Kraft
Heart - Hobbycraft
Enamel Dots - Simple Stories
Ink - Docrafts

Tools
Sewing Machine
X-Cut Corner Punch

Let's Go!

This page marks a first for me, the first time that I have completed all three Scrappy Friends challenges in one page. Brenda, Rochelle and Kelly join forces each month to set three interlinked challenges from which you can do one, two or all three in one page.

Brenda set a two-photo sketch but I replaced the smaller photo with a card from Simple Stories. This card set the colour scheme for my page, and also provided a 'home' for my main embellishment cluster.

Rochelle gave us a Tic-Tac-Toe challenge and I picked the middle column - anything that flies (the butterflies), a camera (or six cameras) and four or more patterned papers.

Finally, Kelly had a word challenge - to use one or more of a selection of summer words somewhere on the page. My photograph is of my daughter and her friends just before they went into a theme park, so I have the word 'Friends' on the heart and also in the journalling.

Finally, I'm linking up with this month's stash challenge at Scrap Our Stash, where the team asked us to create a page using items for each of the letters in the word PAPER. I have Punched shapes, Aqua letters, Prima butterflies, Enamel dots and a Round shape.

Supplies
Paper - Studio Calico Snippets, My Mind's Eye Record It
Cards - Simple Stories Good Day Sunshine
Letters - Studio Calico
Butterflies - Prima
Heart - Pretty Little Studio
Washi Tape - Trimcraft
Enamel Dots - Studio Calico, Doodlebug
Ink - Docrafts

Tools
Big Shot & Tabs Die
Fiskars Shape Cutter & Circles Template
Woodware Scalloped Circle Punch

Look!

I'm combining two challenges in one page today, with an old photo of my son in Padstow harbour. I have no idea what he was pointing at, but it was probably just a seagull. He's nearly four here, but 18 now; how time flies.

I used the latest sketch from Stuck?! Sketches, but I flipped it horizontally due to the way that my son is facing in the photo.

I'm also entering this month's stash challenge at Scrap Our Stash, where we have to use items that start with each of the letters of the word PHOTOS. I have chosen Punched circles, Hearts, Orange, Thickers, October Afternoon (washi tape) and Stitching. 

Supplies
Paper - Docrafts, My Mind's Eye Miss Caroline, MME Find Your Wings and Fly, MME Cut & Paste
Letters - American Crafts Thickers
Hearts - Pretty Little Studio
Washi Tape - October Afternoon
Ink - Ranger
Mist - Docrafts

Tools
Sewing Machine
Woodware Scalloped Circle Punch

Hope the Wind Doesn't Change!

We're well into June now, but I'm still working on May challenges. Sketch-n-Scrap celebrated their third birthday with a month of challenges, and some of them are open for another couple of weeks so there's still time to join in. 

I've made this page for DT member Leah's second challenge; she gave us this sketch and the requirement for three arrows on the page.

I'm combining it with the June stash challenge from Scrap Our Stash, who have asked for a page using stash beginning with each of the letters in the word BRADS. My items are: Brown letters, paper from the Ready Set Go collection, Arrows (obviously), Doodling and Stickers.

The photo is a selfie that my sister-in-law took of her and my father. I struggled for a title, until I thought of the old advice to children about not pulling faces in case the wind changes and you're stuck like that. All the papers (except the background) came from a 6x6 pad, and some of them required some creative cutting and piecing to make them look a bit larger.

Supplies
Paper - American Crafts Amy Tangerine Ready Set Go & Plus One
Letters - Basic Grey
Sticker - MAMBI Sticks
Gems - Papermania Dew Drops
Washi Tape - American Crafts DIY (Silver) plus Unknown Yellow
Mist - Mister Hueys
Ink - Ranger

Tools
Big Shot & Little B Arrow Die
Fiskars Apron Lace Border Punch
Woodware Scalloped Circle Punch
X-Cut Small Circle Punch