Postcards from Looe

I'm in Cornwall still with this page; the last one I shared was our holiday cottage on the edge of Looe, and this time I have three views of the town itself which I printed at 4x6 and stacked in a column. It's a variation on a page design that I've used many times before, but it's one where you can ring the changes and get different looks. On this occasion I used stamps and stencils on an 11" square of cream cardstock for my background, and matted it a multi-coloured 12x12.

That background was prompted by a plethora of similar National Scrapbooking Day challenges - Stashbusting wanted us to use either a stencil or two stamps while both Bramble Fox and Hey Little Magpie asked for stamping.

For the Love of Pretty Paper have 'Prompt a Day for the Month of May' and I've combined three here - stars, primary colours and stencils.

Supplies
Cardstock - Stampin' Up, Bazzill
Paper - My Mind's Eye
Letters - Creative Devotion, WHSmith
Cards - Project Life
Puffy Flowers - OneCanoeTwo
Washi Tape - Ebay
Ink - Hobbycraft, Ranger, Memento, Docrafts
Mist - Docrafts

Tools
Silhouette Portrait & Filmstrip Cut-File
That Special Touch Grid Mask
Heidi Swapp Stars Stencil
Dovecraft Butterfly Stamp
The Works Clear Stamp Set
Heidi Swapp Arrows Stamp
Studio Calico Stars Stamp
American Crafts/Shimelle Word Stamps

Pink Flamingo

Pink Flamingo was our holiday cottage for a week in Looe at Easter. I'm determined to keep my 2019 scrapbook up to date, so there will be more Cornish pages coming soon.

I based my page on a sketch originally from Page Maps which was set as a National Scrapbooking Day challenge by Hey Little Magpie. I replaced the large tags on the sketch with Project Life cards for an extra photo, title and journalling, but then used a column of small tags tucked into the side of those.

Of course, I've combined challenges again: Bramble Fox asked us to use die-cut pieces (my tags) on a page and Lottie Loves Paper set a 'This or That' challenge from which I used spotty paper, handwriting, enamel dots, word stickers and a camera.

Supplies
Paper - Crate Paper/Maggie Holmes Bloom, Kesi Art Kiss My Neon, Pink Paislee/Paige Evans, Laura Ashley
Letters - Tim Holtz, Creative Devotion
Cards - Project Life
Die-Cuts - OneCanoeTwo
Label Transparencies - Studio Calico
Word Stickers - Jillibean Soup
Cork - Studio Calico
Puffy Stickers - Paperchase
Enamel Dots - Doodlebug, Teresa Collins
Camera & Gems - Unknown
Ink - Hobbycraft
Mist - Mister Huey's

Tools
American Crafts Scallop Border Punch
Big Shot & Dovecraft Tag Die

Cousins

I've had this stars cut-file sitting on my desk for ages; I don't remember now which photos I cut it for or why I didn't use it, but it had been there long enough.

National Scrapbooking Day is always a good time for random photos and random supplies and I fulfilled three NSD challenges while creating a permanent home for my cut-file: The Cut Shoppe asked us to use any of their cut-files with torn paper; Bramble Fox just wanted to see plenty of stars on a page; UK Scrap Addicts asked for a large element for their 'Death Star' challenge from a Star Wars themed day. 

The original cut-file (Oh Little Star) was a 12" circle, but I have a Silhouette Portrait which can only cut 8" wide so I'd cut 2/3 of the circle, and now I positioned it to one side of the page and covered the cut edge with a torn strip of paper. I dived into the archives again for a single photo - me, my siblings and our cousins 35 years ago - which I layered up with patterned papers.

Finally, For the Love of Pretty Paper have 'A Prompt a Day for the Month of May' to get us using more of our supplies; the prompts can be combined so here I have Stars, No Flowers and Primary Colours for 3rd to 5th May.

Supplies
Paper - SEI Moravia, Simple Stories, Pink Paislee Indigo Bleu, 4Heures 37 Eiffel Avenue, Basic Grey
Vellum - American Crafts
Letters - American Crafts
Glitter Tape - Hobbycraft
Enamel Stars - Freckled Fawn
Washi Tape - Unknown
Gems - Papermania
Pearls - Scrapberry's
Ink - Hobbycraft
Mist - Docrafts

Tools
Silhouette Portrait & Oh Little Star Cut-File
Woodware Scalloped Circle Punch

Run Lanhydrock

The only way to get through all (or even most) of the National Scrapbooking Day challenges is by combining them, and I've ticked off no less than five with this page. I have my holiday photos now, and these were from us doing parkrun at Lanhydrock on the Easter weekend.

I started with a sketch from Quirky Kits (which I adapted for an extra photo) and made sure to select a good variety of patterns to fulfil the requirement for three or more different ones (spots, floral, check and stripes) in the Stashbusting group.

Three photos were enough to satisfy a multi-photo challenge at Hey Little Magpie and I used various word elements and a text print for a challenge from Bramble Fox. Finally, this was our first time running at Lanhydrock, which fits one of the options for the 'The First Order' challenge at UK Scrap Addicts.

Supplies
Cardstock - Unknown
Paper - American Crafts Shimelle, Simple Stories Homespun
Letters - American Crafts, Creative Devotion
Tag - American Crafts
Frame - Unknown
Die-Cut - Simple Stories Carpe Diem
Word Sticker - My Mind's Eye
Enamel Shapes - My Mind's Eye, American Crafts/Shimelle
Ink - Hobbycraft

Stars of the Show

by Jackie Ashton

National Scrapbooking "Day" kicked off on Friday in some groups, and the first page I made was for a scraplift challenge from Hey Little Magpie. The rays on Jackie's page reminded me of a yellow sunburst paper in my scraps box so I started from there, found a matching yellow scrap for the bottom part of the page and moved on to photos.

I didn't have my holiday photos at that point, so was choosing pictures from an old photo album; these dolphin photos were next to the parrots from my last page and suited the rays so were an easy pick. 

I combined two of the 'Prompts a Day for the Month of May' from For the Love of Pretty Paper in this page - Animals (2 May) and Stars (3 May) - and it was my wish to use stars for the page that lead to my title, carefully positioned to block out a stray head in the left photo. 

Using old photos here also worked perfectly for the first challenge from UK Scrap Addicts. All the challenges have a Star Wars theme and several options within them; for this page I used 1980s photos and a supply we no longer really use (rub-on lettering as part of my title) for the 'Return of the Jedi' challenge. 

Supplies
Cardstock - Bazzill, Craft Sensations
Paper - October Afternoon Summertime, Doodlebug, Basic Grey
Letters - Creative Devotion, WHSmith
Border Sticker - Fancy Pants
Journalling Card - Elle's Studio
Word Sticker - Crate Paper
Puffy Stars - Elle's Studio
Washi Tape - The Works
Mist - Cosmic Shimmer
Ink - Hobbycraft

Tools
Bracket Template
Silhouette Portrait
Hobbycraft Star Punch
Big Shot & Dovecraft Star Die

Pretty Polly

For the Love of Pretty Paper have kicked off the month of May with a 'Prompt a Day' Challenge leading up to a weekend frenzy of scrapbooking at the end of the month. There's no way that I can make a page a day, but the prompts are combinable so I'm starting off with Rainbow (1 May) and Animals (2 May). 

I've gone with old photos again, with photos of parrots which are certainly animals and they come in all colours of the rainbow. 

I decided on using mists for my rainbow but wasn't confident enough to use them directly on a page so I started by 'painting' a 4" strip of white cardstock with them. That strip sent me towards this month's scraplift challenge from GoGoGetaway, though my finished page didn't look that much like the original in the end, especially as I chose a black background to emphasise the other colours. 

Supplies
Cardstock - Core'dinations
Paper - Simple Stories Good Day Sunshine
Letters - American Crafts
Glitter Tape - Hobbycraft
Embellishments - Various Unknown
Puffy Stickers - MRI, Jillibean Soup, Paperchase
Enamel Dots - Echo Park, Teresa Collins
Mists - Docrafts, Mister Huey's, Maya Road

Tools
Craft Creatives Flower Punch

Summer Photography Hunt

It feels like Spring has barely arrived here, and already it's time for this year's Summer Photography Scavenger Hunt. This annual event is now run by Mary-Lou at Patio Postcards, and she's brought the start date forward to 1 May this year. 

To quote Mary-Lou herself: "There's some easy searches, some thinking outside of the box challenges & some that may require an open eye to find." Once again, there are 20 items and 2 alternatives on the list:

1. An Outdoor Clock
2. Single & Pretty
3. Repetition
4. Blurred Vision
5. The Word Summer
6. An Umbrella, open or closed
7. A Curving Path
8. Shells
9. A Bridge
10. Something Made of Stone
11. Fish
12. Something Crooked
13. Two Colours of The Rainbow in Any Combination
14. A Handwritten Sign
15. A Broken Chair/Bench/Stool
16. An Out of Season Treat Being Enjoyed
17. A Sail
18. Something That Should Be Found In Pairs 
19. A Funny or Meaningful Bumper Sticker
20. A Favourite Seasonal Scent

Alternates: 
A:  Bird or Bee House
B:  Fresh Local Produce

The closing date of 30 September hasn't changed so this year's hunt will run for a full five months. I'm not sure how I feel about the extended time frame but we'll see how it goes as the event unfolds. Feel free to hop over to Patio Postcards, pledge your interest and join in with the hunt. Our first link-up will be on 14 June, so I'll be back then to share my progress.