6th and 7th layouts with the June Scraptastic kit - 12 X 12 travel layouts

Good morning and welcome back !!!  I felt like getting back to making a couple of travel layouts since I had not done so in a while.   This time, it is off to France we go !  To Normandie, and Mont St Michel, more specifically.  It was during the earlier part of my one-year backpacking sabbatical trip that I visited Normandie - in September 2005.

I spent about 10 days in Normandie.  My step-father was a veteran, he had been part of some of the beach landings, and it was the 60th anniversary of the end of WWII so I really wanted to spend some time there.  There will be more layouts to come, of specific beaches but these first two are not of any of the beaches or WWII museums, or memorials, but rather of a day I spent at Mont St Michel.

It is not a double page spread - I have not done any recently.  I am not even sure that I could call them complentary pages?  The red and the cream may tie them together a bit, and of course the fact that I used the June Scraptastic kit (Best Day in my Life) for both gives some cohesiveness but other than that??  Oh well, I still think they will sit nicely  side by side in my album.

Here is the first of the two : 

Now, talk about touristy !!!  Mont St. Michel is certainly that.  Even in September, after the height of the season, it was still jam-packed with people.  It was not even a very nice day LOL.  There are actually people who live there - about 40 according to Wikipedia.   

The supplies on this page:    I used more supplies from my own add-on on this page than on the next one.  

• the heart pattern paper is from Simple Stories Homespun as is the strip above it.
• I also used some of the Amy Tangerine puffy stickers (they are almost killed - yay!)
• I did use the Heidi Swapp alphas that came with the kit but also added the Dear Lizzy Thickers and the October Afternoon mini market stickers in Red and Cream

The rest is from the kit.

The next layout is of stairs - I love taking photos of stairs like these; also of alleys in a lot of the older parts of European towns and cities, so you may have seen this type of layout before, particularly from the Spanish portion of the trip.

In this case, I wanted to document how Mont St Michel is built - a series of narrow stairs going off in all different directions.  It was quite easy to get lost, but since it is very small, I eventually wound up back where I started, or at least found my way again.

This layout is my favourite of the two.  How about you?

All the supplies on this page came from the kit with the exception of the brad which is from my stash, the "today" tab on the left of the picture is from the Simple Stories Homespun sticker sheet, and again the Amy Tangerine puffy stickers.  Some of the items may be leftovers from the May kit as well.

I am so enjoying my vacation!!! I have made 7 layouts in two weeks; that is definitely a record for me!!!  The more I scrap, the more fun I have :) :)

 Are you on vacation?  Have you had yours already and if so, what did you get up to?  Or are your vacations still something to look forward to?

So there you have it for today. As always, thanks for taking the time to visit.  Hugs xoxo

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Happy Monday and thanks for pointing me in the way of Bloglovin'.  I have joined and am following  many blogs that way ...yay!  One email per day and I know what a lot of you are up too LOL.

So, I am joining the bandwagon.  this may be an easier way for you to follow me :) :)

I will be back later this morning with a my 6th and 7th layouts using the Scraptastic June kit ... woot woot :)

5th Layout with the June Scraptastic Kit - Ruff Talk - 12 X 12 layout

And it's Friday !  Yay, double yay!  Oh wait, I am on vacation LOL, and loving every minute of it.  I am halfway through so still plenty of fun days left :) :).  Hope you are all having an amazing day !

Just popping in with a quick layout share today.

The background work:  I have been admiring the background stamping that Nancy Sinclair (Kittyscrapper on You Tube) does - she uses roller stamps, a couple of different ones, different colours of ink and some mist; and it always looks amazing as well as adding some fun texture without bulk.  So I decided to try a version of the same.  I don't have any roller stamps so I did some regular stamping with a background stamp that is just straight lines, but I stamped in all sorts of different directions (the criss-cross lines above).  Then on top of that I used a Time Holtz stencil and the new little round inking tool (looooove); and finally, I splattered with some Tattered Angels Italian Sunset Glimmer Mist.  I am quite proud of how this turned out.  What do you think? 

All of the supplies came from the Scraptastic Best Day in My Life kit with a couple of the leftovers from the May kit (that Capture wood veneer and the cork stars).  I also used a 3 X 4 card from the Simple Stories Dog collection (the copper and cream polka dots on either side of the photo).

The story :  My l'il sister and I live about an hour or so away from each other so we can't just pop in for a visit!  Neither one of us likes talking on the phone.  But we both enjoy Skype - it is like a visit.  We organise a little cocktail hour together, or share our Sunday morning coffee over Skype.  I always joke and ask to speak to Oliver, their Golden Retriever (well actually, I think of him as a family pet LOL).  Generally, whenever he hears my voice, he runs to the window, thinking that I am arriving.  But on this particular day, HE GOT IT !!! LOL.  My BBIL captured it on camera for me.  I just had to scrap it :)

As always, thanks for taking the time to visit.  I would love to read your comments  and if you feel like, hit the "Follow me on bloglovin' " button in the RH side-bar.

Have a lovely and sunny weekend everyone. Hugs xoxo

Layout in response to Kittyscrapper's 30th birthday

Hi there again !  It is so lovely to be on vacation and have time to scrap everyday.  Today, they are forecasting thundershowers for a good part of the day so I may just have a indoors day - scrapping and reading with a touch of Netflix at some point :).  Hope you are having a wonderful day, wherever you are and whatever you are doing.

Our You Tube friend Nancy Sinclair (Kittyscrapper on You Tube) turned 30 this month!!! Woot woot... happy birthday again Nancy.  She had a hat party for her birthday; everyone who went to the party had to wear a hat.  She posted some great photos.  I can't wait to see the layouts she will create with those photos.

Nancy has a challenge going on for her birthday!  The theme, you may have guessed, is 30!

The twist is that on a layout, we have to include 30 repetitions of one type of item (like my friend Ronisuescrapper did 30 stars, Ohsnapgonzo put 30 strips of washi tape ...).  The challenge is open until the 30th of July and there is also a bonus entry for a 4 X 6 card that is to be mailed to Nancy containing some words of wisdom regarding turning 30.  Go on over to You Tube to check out her video for the challenge and then search out the responses - they are all great.

I was going to "torture" Nancy and include 30 butterflies on my layout LOL (Nancy is over the whole butterfly thing) but then decided on hexagons.  Actually with what I brought with me  to scrap with on vacation, if not butterflies or circles (which I love but wanted to be a little more daring), then it was hexagons.

Then the choice of photo:  I don't watch TV, I watch You Tube and Netflix.  So often, when I get home from work, or after a day's chores on weekends, I love to sit and relax with a cocktail or a glass of wine and reward myself with a couple of You Tube process videos.  Nancy's videos are quite dangerous when consuming any type of beverage - she just cracks me up so I started sending her comments about my poor laptop, jumper and occasionally kitty, getting splashed with whatver I was drinking at the moment.  And that started a banter back and forth LOL.

So here you go Nancy :

Now, there are in fact 60 hexagons on this page.  The die cut to the right of the photo took up the required 30 all at once LOL, so I decided to double the pleasure, and therefore double the well-wishes to Nancy ! :)

As far as the page design goes, this one is way out of my comfort zone.  I have never used white as a background.  This is so not how this layout started in my head - I think my hands just took off.  I took some inspiration from Monica (Scrapsaturdays), when she talked about just using a whole package of ephemera on a layout, a little from Irit's (Irit Landgraf) latest layout (I am sorry Irit, you probably don't recognise that at all LOL) and little of Nancy's personality - bright, colourful, bold and fab!!!

Everything on this layout came from the June Scraptastic kit, except for the gold thickers which I took from the July kit!

Well there you have it!  Once again, thanks for stopping by and I'll be back soon.  Hugs xoxo 

A Scraptastic layout, my hands, Bloglovin' and a few ramblings

Hello there and welcome! Summer has settled in here - fast and furious - but I am not complaining.  It is such a short season.  Today is very muggy though so I was out in the garden at 7 this morning and back in by 9h30 LOL.  This afternoon, I will find a tree to sit under with a book and hope there is a little breeze.

A quick note:  I have added the Bloglovin' button to my sidebar so if you feel inclined to follow me, I would surely appreciate it.  I love Bloglovin' - it doesn't clog up my inbox, one email a day and I can see what is going on with my favourite blogs.

Have you all been watching the "Tag - I'm it" videos on YouTube  lately.  The series started by Tuesdae Hubbard and Robin Voak?  OMG what fun - great questions and answers.  It is so nice to put a face to a voice, and to hands LOL.  I have watched every single one so far and loved each and every one as well.  So if you haven't had a chance - get right on it, you will be so happy you did.  Now, as you know, I don't do videos yet (hopefully I will get the nerve up and do one before year-end - keep calling me on it LOL).  But in the meantime, Angie Chiazzese (please go and check her out on You Tube) mentioned me in her video. I was so thrilled and prancing around the house like a kid LOL. She asked that I put a picture of my hands somewhere, either on our Facebook group (nicolejones911) or on my blog.  So before I get to my layout for today, here are a couple of shots of my hand (only one LOL since I was taking the picture) working on the layout: 

By the way, that piece of paper that I am tucking in at the top, doesn't actually make on the layout.  Oh my, those are not the hands of a 20 year old - but they are mine, garden weary, broken nails due to garden chores,  a couple of age spots and all !!!

Now, here is the finished layout, my 3rd with the June Scraptastic kit :

Pretty much everything came from the kit on this layout, but a couple of the items were leftover from last month's kit.  The alphas are from my own add-on (Jillibean alpha beans and MME).  I am struggling a bit with the vellum pieces but they are so lovely !

What do you think of the pop of yellow?  I added the enamel dots after realising that the paper strips I put in the lower LH corner had some yellow but that there was no yellow elsewhere on the layout. I like the pop of brightness it adds.  Leave me your comments, I would love to read them :)

The pictures are of my Rosehip plant - one in the garden and then other with petals drying before I put them in oil.  I infuse the oil with the petals for about a month and then filter them out.  The resultant oil is an ingredient in my homemade face cream.  This oil is great for sensitive skin. I do the same thing later in the season with calendula petals (I will also post a photo on here when the time comes).  In the fall, I prepare a big batch of moisturiser for myself, my mom and my l'il sister.  Stay tuned !

Well that about sums it up for today.  Thanks for being here.

I am off for some lunch and then to find that tree I mentioned earlier.  Hugs

First two layouts with the Best Day in My Life Kit from Scraptastic

Happy Friday everyone !  What a glorious day it is here - sunshine, a slight breeze and not too muggy.  Perfect to be in the garden.  I have staked all the tomatoes, trained both the green beans and the borlotti beans, done some weeding and harvested a few goodies for lunch.  It is early days yet in my climate so the harvest is mainly lettuce, zucchini, a few cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and fresh herbs.  All the makings for a wonderful  lunchtime salad. Yum !

So, I have started in on the June kit, together with my own add-on.  I really hope to get about 20 layouts done during my vacation (which would be a record for me, for sure :) ).

Here is layout No. 1 - a silly but fun one for me:

What I used from the kit and add-on : 

•  the background cardstock is the AC Kraft - I love the colour, it is slightly lighter than the kraft I have in my stash
• MME Now and Then, Dorothy "Wild and Free" pattern paper
• Bits bobs from the Heidi Swapp Ephemera pack, and the HK alpha stickers
• I am not sure if the flair is from this month's kit or from last month's (I put the leftover flair with the new kit at the end of the month)
• enamel dots

What I used from my own "added-on" : 6X6 paper from Lemon Lush by Studio Calico, brads from my stash (I don't even know how long I have had them LOL), washi tape from Freckled Fawn and my stash, mist from Tatterd Angels, MME word stickers, twine from SU and enamel dots from BG and MME.

The story: There is not much of a story to this one.  A friend of mine is living in London at the moment and took a side trip up to Edinburgh (such a beautiful city, full of culture and art - love it!!).  She was walking around, popped into a shop and saw this plush toy sitting there.  Notice its nametag LOL.  She sent me a photo for fun and of course, I scrapped it!

The second layout is of a photo I took here.  We have bird feeders all over the yard and occasionally other "critters" help themselves LOL:

What I used from the kit: 

• The background cardstock was a leftover from the May kit.
• The pattern paper is from Alison Kreft Capture life "chevrons", a piece of 12 X 12 lime green from Lemon Lush (the B side of that beautiful butterfly paper).
• Some vellum pieces from Oh Darling
• Wood veneer
• The Heidi Swapp ephemera pack and a tag from the cut apart 4 X 6 card

What I added: Again, I used a sheet of the 6 X 6 Lemon Lush paper pad, Simple Stories Homespun "Heart & Home" pattern paper, bird wood veneer from SC, puffy stickers from Amy Tangerine, October Afternoon and Jillibean soup alphas and enamel dots.

The story:  The journaling on this page is more about photography and photo ops when I am in the country.  We have so much going on - the garden, squirrels, chipmunks, hummingbirds and all sorts of other birds in addition to the neighbouring farm animals.  I used to sit there and try and capture so much on my camera, but by the time I set up, the "moment had passed".  Everything happens so fast in nature LOL.  And of course, I am by no means a pro at photography.  So now I just love to sit and observe; listen to the sounds and every once in a while I get a really cute shot like this one!

So there you have it for today.  Off I go back out to enjoy the weather, and the garden, a little. Thanks so much for stopping by a sharing some of your precious time with me today.  I'll be back soon.  Hugs

My scraptastic June kit, vacations and summer :) :) YAY

Happy Tuesday everyone and welcome !  I am sorry that I have been MIA  the last couple of weeks.  But I am on vacation now, and really plan on making up for lost time!!!  As with every year, the two or three weeks before my vacation are rather intense at work - I tend to have to pull a few doubles and then I usually work about 11-12 days straight.  This year was no different.  That unfortunately leaves little time for scrapping, reading, tennis watching and blogging !!!

I did manage to watch some Wimbledon as our Canadians did an amazing job - wow semi-finals for both men's and women's; and then Genie Bouchard made the final - wow, double and triple wow !!! 

In preparing for my vacation, I decided that I would use the June Scraptastic kit - I got the Best Day of My Life kit and the add-on.  I put together a rather large add-on from my stash and the leftovers from the May Daylight kit (details below).  But then, on the Thursday before my vacation started - that would be last Thursday the 10th, my July kit arrived (I got the Either Way kit and add-on).  I had previously decided that I would leave the July kit for after my vacations; but then I opened the box!!!  What a quandry LOL.  How did I resolve it - well, I prepared a second add-on to that kit and brought both with me on vacation !!! So I think I have enough stuff to last me the month.  I do plan on scrapping a lot during my vacations - most evenings in fact.

I get up really early - tour the garden, come back in for coffee and a large breakfast and then on out to the garden for a good part of the morning.  I come in about 11 or so and stay indoors for lunch, a few chores, shower time and some playtime with the cats.  Then I head on back out to relax under a tree, gazing at the view, reading (I will post a couple of reviews shortly), watching tennis and just taking advantage of the peace and quiet.  Come the late afternoon, I am back indoors for a cocktail (yup it is vacations, right ? LOL), a garden dinner and scrappy time, accompanied by You Tube or Netflix.  I am a lucky girl am I not ???

Ok, well about that June kit; after all that is why you are here.

First, I took the left-over wood veneer, flair, exclusive die cuts and other embellis from the May kit, and added them to the June kit.  I then added a few fun things from my stash like ribbon and twine from Stampin' Up, enamel dots (I love enamel dots), brads and some washi tape 

A couple of highlights are the Studio Calico essentials chipboard shapes in the pink shades, the Amy Tangerine Puffy stickers, Freckled fawn washi and some really fun wood veneer from previous Scraptastic kits and my stash.  I pulled a couple Stampin' Up colours to go with this kit and added the inks, twine or ribbon, and markers.  I took Melon Mambo, Pool party, Bermuda Bay and two great neutrals - Crumb Cake (a kraft) and soft suede.  I also added a few mists from my stash - Mr. Huey's and Tattered Angels.

Then on to the papers and cardstock.  I did not add much in the way of either.  Since I got the main kit and add-on, I had quite a bit to choose from :

I added three sheet of pattern paper from Stampin' Up (pictured at the far left of the photo) and some journaling cards from a previous Citrus Twist PL kit.  As far as cardstock goes, I only added a couple of sheets of Kraft.

Alphas are probably the item that I added to the most:  some Dear Lizzy foam thickers, Alpha beans, Sn@p and some of the MME word stickers.  You can never have enough letter stickers or alphas can you ?

And finally I added the Sticker sheets from the Simple stories Homespun collection to the stickers sheets we got in the add-on.  The colours match so well and I tend to take garden photos as well as photos of food and preserves that I make from the garden harvest; so I also brought along the Paper pack from Simple Stories home spun collection

Wow ... I may have been away for a bit but I sure did go on today LOL.  As always thanks so much for sticking with me all the way through.  If you have any questions about a specific item that I may have added, please let me know in the comments below or over on one of our facebook groups :).  But as I make and post layouts, I will try and be quite specific about exactly what I use.

I will be back soon with the July kit (I did the same exercise) and also a note about some of the "basics" that I brought along.

Have a wonderful day wherever you are whatever your are doing!  Hugs xo