A Few Cards

A quick post sharing the cards I've made in the last month or so. 

I'll kick off with one that I made using a Jenny Wren cut-file called Criss Cross Grid from Twilight Crafts which I backed with pieces from a 6x6 pad for my second DT post this month.

One based on the May card sketch from Stick It Down,

and another for June's sketch:

Then two for Sketch 'n' Scrap - this was card sketch #266,

followed by card sketch #267, where I made the happy discovery that this stamp fits nicely in this die.

Finally, I made a Thank You card with another Jenny Wren cut-file, this time I used one of the cakes from Cupcake Elements in an aperture card.

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

Brighton Belles

Today I'm sharing the first of my June pages for Twilight Crafts using a Jenny Wren cut-file. I've started making pages for my 2024 annual album now, including this one from a Sunday last month when I took my mum down to Brighton to visit my daughter.

I split my background up using the Large Circles Background cut-file in white cardstock layered over a floral paper at the bottom and a darker starry paper at the top. I printed two photos at 3x4 and built up a paper stack behind them over the join.

Supplies

Paper - Maggie Holmes Round Trip, Bo Bunny Little Wonders, Maggie Holmes Chasing Dreams, Amy Tangerine Shine On
Letters - Elle's Studio

Flowers - Docrafts
Enamel Dots - Carta Bella

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

(Page 52 for 2024)

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

Parkrun Pages

A change from the monthly round-up post. I made so many pages in May that  I'm going to split them by theme/album and I think I will do that in future too, posting as and when I switch rather at the month end. I also posted a Twilight Crafts DT page separately earlier this month, and I'll try to do that for future DT pages.

May started with National Scrapbooking Day, with  its multitude of challenges. For this I chose to work on my Parkrun Continued album as the 8x8 size makes for quicker pages than 12x12 (and each one counts as half a page for my page count for the year).

41.5 Return of the Matt
Marking my husband's return to parkrun; he did three when I started, then stopped and came back the following year. This page ticks off three challenges: a scraplift from Scrap Squad, cool colours for GoGo Getaway and border punches for Hey Little Magpie.

Supplies: Paper - Pebbles, Fancy Pants, My Mind's Eye, Studio Calico, October Afternoon; Letters - Fancy Pants, Echo Park?; Enamel Shapes - Marianne Designs

42. Cancelled

Back to March 2020 for this page as I wanted to document the "Covid pause" in my parkrun album. I took the colours from the cornonavirus ephemera, which matched another colour challenge from GoGo Getaway, and combined that with another scraplift from Scrap Squad and stitching for Hey Little Magpie.

Supplies: Cardstock - Bazzill; Paper - Unknown Background, Pinkfresh Studio Escape the Ordinary; Ephemera - Simple Stories Quarantine Life; Enamel Dots - My Mind's Eye, Hey Little Magpie; Thread - DMC

42.5 Shorne Woods

A spot of parkrun tourism back in 2022 when we visited our NENDY (Nearest Event Not Done Yet). Another Scrap Squad scraplift and warm colours for GoGo Getaway.

Supplies: Cardstock - Papermania; Watercolour Paper - Tesco; Paper - Amy Tangerine Late Afternoon;  Sticker - Crate Paper; Washi Tape - Vicki Boutin; Gems - KaiserCraft

43. Auldcathie District

The first of three Scottish parkruns on our road trip last year. I used sketch #117 from Scrap a Sketch with supplies from 49 and Market.

Supplies: Paper & Ephemera - 49 and Market; Enamel Shapes - We R Memory Keepers 

43.5 Kirkwall

We planned our trip to be in Orkney on the middle Saturday for Kirkwall parkrun as we're unlikely to ever return there.

Supplies: Paper, Washi & Stickers - Vicki Boutin Fernwood; Letters - Doodlebug;  Enamel Heart - Prima; Nuvo Drops

44. Ganavan Sands

The last of our Scottish parkruns. It was another Scrap Squad scraplift, using hexagons for Hey Little Magpie and a turquoise colour scheme for GoGo Getaway.

However, once the page was in the album, the monochrome colour scheme and lack of paper stuck out like a sore thumb compared to the ones around it, so I reworked it with some paper hexagons layered over the stamping. My papers were more green-turquoise than blue-turquoise so I had to jettison the arrows.

Supplies: Watercolour Paper - Tesco; Paper - My Mind's Eye Now and Then, DCWV Linen Closet; Butterfly - Studio Calico

44.5 100 Runs

This page was my second May DT page for Twilight Crafts, to mark my husband's 100th parkrun. I used the Layered Circles cut-file to frame the photo, cut from orange textured cardstock to match his shirt.

Supplies: Cardstock - The Payper Box; Paper - Scrapberry's Summer Joy, Studio Calico; Letters - Tim Holtz; Label, Hearts & Arrow - Unknown

45. 200 Runs

My unofficial milestone run from June last year; I'm closing in on 250 now which will officially earn me a shiny new green milestone t-shirt. I used a combined sketch and colour prompt from Scrap a Sketch for this page.

Supplies: Cardstock - DCWV; Papers - Maggie Holmes Gather, Carta Bella?, Studio Calico, Pink Paislee; Vellum; Letters - Fancy Pants; Flowers, Gems & Label Sticker - Unknown; Leaf Stickers - OneCanoeTwo; Enamel Dots - My Mind's Eye

45.5 Celebrate Every Milestone

This page was inspired by the free cut-file that Marie at Peartree Cut-Files released to mark 3000 Facebook group members. I hadn't been planning to document our 50 volunteers milestone, but this changed my mind.

Supplies: Cardstock - Bazzill; Paper - Studio Calico Snippets; Letters - American Crafts

46. Dartford

Eighteen months on from Shorne Woods, we visited our new NENDY at Dartford in January this year.

Supplies: Paper - Dovecraft Sugar & Spice, Sticker - My Mind's Eye; Nuvo Dots

All these pages mean that the album is now almost up-to-date. It's become two now though, so I need a new title page for the second volume and a page for Blaise Castle parkrun which I ran earlier this month.

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

Too Cute to Spook

My blog is evolving again, and is now less of a chore, so I've decided to split out my DT pages for Twilight Crafts into their own posts, unless the page is part of a set.

First up this month is a Hallowe'en page using a photo from 2003 that I recently acquired. The quality isn't great but it's all I have. 

I used the Too Cute to Spook 2 cut-file as my title, cutting the whole thing once and just the pumpkins a second time. I then doodled on the pumpkin pieces and layered them up over the base cut-file which I backed with a polka dot paper.

I don't generally buy Hallowe'en papers but I had a couple of sheets and some stickers in a mystery box so put them to use as my background here. I then layered the photo up with my last scraps of October Afternoon paper, which I originally bought for my Harry Potter Studio Tour album. Finally I punched a few circles, placed them in a line top and bottom,  and stitched them in place.

Supplies: Cardstock - Papermania; Paper - Pebbles Spooky, October Afternoon Witch Hazel; Puffy Stickers - Pebbles; Enamel Dots - Doodlebug, Eyelet Outlet

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 41 of 2024)

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.

March Pages

Happy Easter!

It's time for my March round-up of pages, and this month I've concentrated on my Scandinavian Cruise album from last year, which is a mixture of 12x12 pages and pocket pages. I'd done two ports out of six before Christmas so it was far from finished.

20. Bolette

I actually made this one in February, but it was to be my first March DT page for Twilight Crafts, using their Arrows Where Shall We Go? cut-file (with the wording removed). It will be the final page in the album and has a large pocket to hold our cruise log.

Supplies: Cardstock - DCWV, Craft UK, The Craft Place; Paper - Pinkfresh Studio Simply the Best, Pinkfresh Studio Tourist Route, Studio Calico South of Market; Letters - Pinkfresh Studio; Puffy Stickers - Pinkfresh Studio; Filmstrip - 49 and Market; Enamel Dots - My Mind's Eye

21. City of Roses and Ruins

This is Visby, on the Swedish island of Gotland, a walled medieval city with the ruins of about a dozen churches which were abandoned after the Reformation.

Supplies: Cardstock - Craft UK, Bazzill; Paper - Pinkfresh Studio Tourist Mode, Pinkfresh Studio Out & About, Pinkfresh Studio Life Right Now, Studio Calico South of the Market; Numbers - Jillibean Soup; Stickers - Pinkfresh Studio; Gloitter Tape - The Works;  Enamel Dots - Pinkfresh Studio, Freckled Fawn, My Mind's Eye

22. Drotten

The first church we visited. (The photos on the other side determined which style of page protector to use.)

Supplies: Cardstock - Bazzill; Paper - Pinkfresh Studio Tourist Mode, Pinkfresh Studio Out & About, Pinkfresh Studio Life Right Now; Washi Tape - Unknown; Enamel Dots - My Mind's Eye

23. St Lars

Another church - St Lars or St Lawrence. I titled the pages with the Swedish names but used English names in my journalling.

Supplies: Paper - Pinkfresh Studio Tourist Mode, Pinkfresh Studio Life Right Now; Letters - Pinkfresh Studio; Label - Tim Holtz; Puffy Stickers - Bella Boulevard, Pinkfresh Studio; Glitter Tape - The Works; Enamel Shapes - Doodlebug

24. St Clemens & St Nicolaus

Two more ruined churches share the next page.

Supplies: Paper - Pinkfresh Studio Tourist Mode, Pinkfresh Studio Life Right Now; Letters - Elle's Studio; Enamel Dots - Altenew, Hey Little Magpie

25. St Olaf / Botanical Garden

The last ruined church that I am recording, and a couple of photos of the Botanical Garden that it sits within.

Supplies: Cardstock - The Craft Place; Paper - Pinkfresh Studio Life Right Now, Pinkfresh Studio Simply the Best, Pinkfresh Studio Tourist Mode; Letters - Pinkfresh Studio; Glitter Tape - The Works; Enamel Dots - Pinkfresh Studio, My Mind's Eye

26. Sankta Maria Domkyrka

A page for Visby's Cathedral.

Supplies: Cardstock - Bazzill; Paper - Pinkfresh Studio Tourist Mode, Echo Park Capture Life; Washi Tape - Unknown; Enamel Shapes - Obed Marshall, Maggie Holmes, My Mind's Eye, Carta Bella

27. Visby Ringmur

The last page from Visby is our walk round the city wall.

Supplies: Paper - Pinkfresh Studio Tourist Mode, Pinkfresh Studio Brighter Days, Pinkfresh Studio Life Right Now; Puffy Stickers - Pinkfresh Studio; Label Stickers - Teresa Collins; Glitter Tape - The Works; Enamel Dots - Pinkfresh Studio

28. This Could be the Last Time

This was my second page of the month for Twilight Crafts, using their Bauble Border cut-file. I used two copies and flipped one design over to make a column of six baubles rather than the three on the original cut-file.

Supplies: Cardstock - DCWV; Paper - Ha-Pi Little Fox Un Conte Nordique; Enamel Dots - Simple Stories, Carta Bella

29. & 30. Freddie Mercury - A World of His Own

A double page from last summer when Sotheby's put on a public exhibition of Freddie Mercury's possessions, before they were auctioned. I used the double page sketch from Stick It Down.

Supplies: Cardstock - The Craft Place, American Crafts; Paper - Heidi Swapp Hello Today, Stampin' Up!; Washi Tape - Unknown; Enamel Dots - Papermania, Eyelet Outlet

Finally, I made a card for Mother's Day, also using the card sketch from Stick It Down.

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