10th (hmmm and 11th lol) layouts with the June Scraptastic kit - 12 X 12 layouts - travel themed

Happy Thursday to all !!!  I hope you are having a lovely day.  After all that rain yesterday, we woke up to a fall-weather type day today .... brrr!  jeans and sweaters as opposed to capris and sandals :).

I mentioned in my post yesterday that I would be back today with the 10th and final layout using the Best Day in my Life kit.  Well, lo and behold, I realised that I had another layout that I had not posted.  I put it up on my Instagram (mooreilly should you wish to follow), but forgot to blog about or put it up on my various facebook groups.  So I will tag it on to the bottom of this post.

But first, the layout I intended for today's post :

This was the very first time that I used a piece of black cardstock as a background.  And I love the results, so it will not be the last.  My original idea was to use the black and white chevron from the kit as a background but I found that nothing popped on the page so I changed my mind.  At this point, I was down to scraps of patterned paper.

The supplies:  I used a lot of the little scrap pieces of patterned paper as layering pieces as well as quite a few of the stickers from the sticker sheet,  but did use a little more from my own add-on than on any other layout this month :

• The black cardstock is from Stampin' Up
• The doily is from the rak I received from Nancy (kittyscrapper) earlier this year
• The wood veneer are from Studio Calico (potty people) and from the Citrus Twist July PL kit
• The alphas are October Afternoon Daily Flash in Nightfall; I also used MME word stickers
• And as usual, I am not sure which of the enamel dots are from the kit and which are from my stash (I suffer from a minor ... ahem.... addiction to enamel dots, and to wood veneer for that matter :)

The story:  The picture is not very clear because it was taken on a train, in a small overnight compartment.  There are shadows and also mirrors.  Before leaving on my backpacking trip, I bought a train pass valid for 6 months.  It was a steal compared to buying individual tickets once in Europe, and compared to any other mode of transport. The pass was valid for first-class train travel so on overnight journeys, I was entitled to a private compartment.  They are tiny, usually with a bunk type bed and a sink.  But on the train from Berlin to Amsterdam, I actually had a shower in my little compartment.  It was such a luxury. It was quite ingeniously made, like a sliding cylinder.  I could hardly move inside it but I loved it nonetheless!.

Here is the "found" 11th layout ... now I am really and truly done with this kit.  I will do a "kill" post on Saturday.  I really enjoyed working with this kit and have come to the conclusion that kits (well Scraptastic anyway) are definitely the way to go for me.  I will talk more about this in my "kill", or month in review post !

This layout is part of the Mont St-Michel, France mini series of layouts I did this month.  They are all about stairs lol .... I am kinda proud of the title on this one :

 You will notice that this layout uses my new found go-to design, with two 4 X 4 photos placed slightly askew on the page.  I used my last full sheet of patterned paper as the background.

Again, thanks so much for being here and I will "talk" to y'all on Saturday.  Hugs xoxo

9th layout with the June 2014 Scraptastic Kit - 12 X 12 - Funtime

Happy Wednesday all !!!  I hope you are having a wonderful day wherever you are and whatever you are doing.  It is pouring here today but the temperature is so very pleasantly cool, after a few really hot and muggy ones LOL.

I had a bit of a brutal return to work - 5 days, 50 hours. I love my job though and everything went really well, so I am a little tired but happy to have two days off. Then, back at work for a day before a weekend off.  Next week, my schedule should get back to normal - I work three 10 hour days Mon-Wed; then a short 5-6 hour day on Fridays !!  Not bad huh?

Today, I am having a nice, quiet day with some scrapping, some reading, some cooking and watching a bit of tennis.  No chores - I will think about those tomorrow LOL.

I want to share the 9th layout I made with my June Scraptastic kit - the Best Day of my Life kit :

Lately, I enjoy working with two 4 X 4 photos and putting them slightly askew on the page.  They are generally 4 X 6 photos that I crop although I am getting the hang of printing IG photos in that format on my photo printer at home - slowly but surely LOL.

You may also notice that this page design is similar to a couple of other layouts I made this month.  In fact, it is quickly becoming a favourite of mine and a go-to design.  My style has been greatly influenced lately by Nancy Sinclair (kittyscrapper on You Tube) and nicolejones911 (Nicole uses the same name on pretty much all social media), Tracy Banks (mercytiara on You Tube and Scraptastic); and, of course Shimelle remains a favourite of mine.  But there are so many great new You Tubers out there, it is a scrapper's paradise. By the way, if you have not joined Nicole Jones facebook group, head on over there right now - the inspiration and motivation are utterly amazing! 

The supplies :  I am already down to patterned paper scraps, but pretty much everything on the page does come from the kit and its add-on.  I used the cut apart sheet in several different areas for the layering.  The only things that come from my own add-on are :

• The chipboard hearts, camera and stars are from the Studio Calico Essentials line
• The alphas I used for the title are from Jillibean Soup's Alphabeans in Grapefruit pink
• There were some enamel dots in the add-on kit but I also added some from my own stash

The story:  My  l'il sister has two cats and I have one (of course, we also have our puppy Oliver, the subject of a couple of layouts this month as well).  One of her cats is very grumpy and does not like anyone except for my BIL; she barely tolerates my sister LOL.  So when I go spend time there with my cat, we never see her.  She stays upstairs and grumbles.  If anyone of us, or worse, my cat goes near her, she hisses!!  But Deb's other cat, Sophie and my Chopin just get along famously.  They love to play together; they play chase and wrestle.  But it always seems to start with Sophie washing Chopin's ears and head, hence the photos on this layout.  When we leave to come home, Chopin is exhausted and just sleeps for a couple of days, although he searches for Sophie.  And Sophie also seems at a loss for a couple of days after Chopin leaves :).  True kitty love LOL.

As always, thanks for stopping by and reading all the way through :).  I will be back tomorrow with the tenth and final layout made with the June kit. Hugs xoxo

8th layout with the June Scraptastic kit - 12 X 12 - My favourite martian

Good morning all !  I really hope you had a fabulous weekend.  Here in Canada, it was a long weekend - yay !  I got back home yesterday, after 3 weeks in the country playing in the garden, playing with the animals, reading under a shade tree, harvesting garden bounty, scrapping up a storm, cooking up a storm,  and sometimes just staring off into the distance LOL.  Such relaxation!!!

I am still on vacation until Friday, but this week is a bit of a transition week, getting ready for the return to work.  It is also the Masters 1000 ATP Tennis tournament in Toronto and the WTA women's International tournament in Montreal, so a big tennis watching and cheering week.  But I will definitely get some scrappy time in as well :).  And, I have a ton of photos to get printed from the vacation!

This morning, I wanted to pop in and show you my 8th layout with the Best Day of my Life kit - a fun layout about our dog Oliver :

The story : Gord and June (members of my extended family) bought a house recently.  The house had stood empty for a couple of months, so the grass in the backyard was almost knee high when my BIL Ron and Oliver got there to help Gord out the day he took possession.The yard is totally fenced in so we could leave Oliver off leash even though it was new surroundings for him.  Well, he went crazy running and playing in the tall grass - it was so high, we could hardly see him LOL.  When it was time for Ron to actually cut the grass (oh my what a job !!!!), Oliver went up on the deck to sit with Gord.  If you look closely, you can seen that his paws are all green !!

The supplies:  Everything on this layout came from the kit except a few very small items:

• I cut the yellow camera die cut at the top out of a piece from the Lemon Lush 6 X 6 paper pad
• The puffy stickers (the house on the bottom left and the balloons on the top right) came from the Amy Tangerine collection
• The little strip with the bones on the right hand side came from a 4 X 6 card in the SN@P dog set
• I am not sure if the flair is from this kit or a previous one, or maybe my Citrus Twist PL kit?
• the enamel dots could be from the kit or from my own add-on

I really love scrapping these fun little everyday moments and have been doing more of it lately.  Something I plan to continue.

As always, thanks for stopping by (I love getting up in the morning and checking out the view stats LOL - yup maybe I need a life LOL).  I appreciate all the time you take to visit me and if you have any questions or comments, please don't hesitate to leave them below.

Have a wonderful day, wherever you are and whatever you have on your plate today.  I hope you get at least a chuckle if not a full blown belly laugh.  Hugs xoxo

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

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