A bloomin' layout, some catch-up and a few ramblings - Happy Sunday!

Happy Sunday to all!  I hope you had a fun-filled, candy-filled and safe Halloween.  I saw the most amazing costumes as I was going though my Instagram feed yesterday.  Wow, scrapbookers are creative, and talented, on so many levels :) ...  I hope the weather cooperated for you.  It was a lovely day here, and the rain arrived only once the festivities were over. Phew!!  Today is dreary and rainy so what better day to get this blog back on track.

You may have noticed that my blog took most of the summer off LOL.  Our summers are so short here that we have to get out an play as much as possible.  I did scrapbook quite a bit though but just didn't get over here to blog about it.  If you are interested in seeing my gallery, head on over to my facebook page where I put all my layouts into albums : https://www.facebook.com/lifescrapsbymoira

I played with Shimelle's True Stories collection a lot over the summer.  I received quite a bit of it in my Scraptastic June Can't Go Home kit and then prepared my own add-on with the 6X6 paper pad, the sticker book, the wooden buttons (love them, should have bought a gazillion packs LOL).  I added some bright coloured cardstock from my stash and off I went.  I admit to being a little intimidated by the collection to start - it is so bright and the colours are almost primary.  I tend to scrap a more subdued colour scheme usually. But the True Stories collection is so fresh, summery and fun that I just had to give it a go. And I absolutely loved it!  I went through all my photos and decided to work with my photos from the Spanish portion of my backpacking trip - a great match with the collection.  Here is the latest layout made with the collection (which is one of the only ones not from my Spanish trip) :

You will notice that there is one full 6X6 sheet as a layering piece (the navy polka dot one) but the rest of the patterned paper were taken from scraps that were lying on my desk; just bits left from other layouts that needed to either be sorted and put away or used.  Making a layout is so much more fun that tidying don't you think?

i had no real plan for this page at the outset and just placed the larger pieces on the red cardstock and went from there, looking at the shapes I had and punches I could use.  I really wasn't sure about this page to start, but in the end I am happy with the outcome.  They can't all be our favourites, right?

Pretty much everything on the page is from the Shimelle True Stories collections, with few exceptions :

• The red cardstock is from Stampin' Up 
• The enamel dots are from Pebbles
• I used Mini Market, and Daily Flash, alphas in addition to the True Stories thickers
• I don't have white mist in my stash so I just water down some white acrylic paint and use a round paint brush to splatter it on.  I like the opacity of the paint

There really isn't a story to this layout.  It is a photo of some flowers that were still in full bloom on the 1st of October, after we had had a week of unseasonally cold temperatures.

So there you have it :) !  Before leaving you, let me just show you a few more layouts I made with this collection. 

Thanks for joining me today and I promise I will get back to regular postings, at least until next summer LOL.  Have a wonderful day, or evening, whereever you are.  Hugs xo