A couple of layouts, 2015 scrappy goals and just a little rambling LOL

Well hello there and happy Wednesday!!!  Finally, you say?  Of course, you would be right LOL... so happy happy New Year as well.  May I take a minute to wish you and yours a fantastic 2015 filled with health, happiness, fun, giggles and lots of scrappy time, or reading time, or gardening time ... or whatever floats your boat!!!

As many of you already know, I have a grueling work schedule from mid-December to mid-January - Christmas and New Year's is our busiest time of the year.  So no posting.  But I did quite a bit of scrapbooking anyway - often in 15 or 20 minute increments when I got home, or just before bed.  It is my sanity-saver and I also make a lot of Christmas presents.  I won't go back and post any of those layouts since I pretty much put them up on our various Facebook pages so you have probably seen them.  I was also honoured to be asked to be the Scraptastic member spotlight for December (see their blog on the 31st of December).

The main point to today's blog post is to set out my scrappy goals for 2015, explain them a little, challenge myself (and you if you so choose LOL) to stretch my creative limits a bit, to think outside the box and generally to have lots of fun this year in my scrap room (I know, I know some people are under the impression that it's my dining room - go figure!!!).

But, just before I get to that main point, here are a couple of my most recent layouts :

On to the goals :

The numbers :  I want to make 150 layouts this year, which translates to a little over 12 per month.  But, since I mentioned that I wanted to stretch my creative limits a little this year, they won't all be 12 X 12.  Within that 150, I want to make:

• At least 12 pocketed page 12 X 12 layouts as inserts into my normal 12 X 12 album.  I am not ready to jump on the "Project Life" bandwagon just yet, and frankly I don't think I have enough going on in my life to warrant it LOL, but I do want to get at least one spread a month done to document some of the everyday, but in particular what I read, the tennis I watch, the netflix movies or series I watch... None of these warrant 12X12 pages but I want them documented.
• I also want to try my hand at some 8½ X 11 pages, at least one a month.  Rory Vaillancourt, one of the Scraptastic DT members (kateroar on YouTube) scraps mainly in that format; her layouts, and videos, are awesome and inspiring. 

I also want to make 50 cards; my card stash is dwindling.  And, what better way to clean up the scraps after creating a page LOL

The product:  As you know, I joined Scraptastic last May and I love, love, love it!!!  I tried many ways of using the kit for the first few months and bought sometimes only a main, sometimes a main with a few extra bits, sometimes a main plus the add-on.  I sometimes added from my stash, other times not.  In late summer, I found the formula that worked for me (I did blog about it  here :   http://lifescrapsbymoira.blogspot.ca/2014/08/did-i-kill-june-scraptastic-kit-and.html ).  My strategy for this year is :

• I will buy a main kit plus an add-on every month, with the occasional additional flair, wood veneer, or the new acrylics.  I will also prepare a small add-on from my stash and then I will scrap away.  That brings me to 

My budget:  Yes, I do have to talk about it LOL !!!  My challenge to myself for the entire year is to not buy anything other than what I mentioned above. I have a stash the size of a small store and need to use it.  The exception of course will be basic tools, like adhesives, trimmer blades etc... and I will treat myself to  a birthday haul in October.

The combination Scraptastic kit, add-on and my stash is a winning one for me.  The other thing I love about getting a kit is that I do get my "new product fix"!  I am not as tempted to watch haul videos, new collection videos etc... because I know I will get lots of the great new goodies out there.  I will also get some really fun exclusives.

The kit is nicely coordinated so pulling product is so much easier.  The end result is that I have never scrapped as much as I do with the kit subscriptions.

Another big factor in my increased productivity and fun is:

My inspiration:  I am quite active on a couple of awesome, awesome, awesome (did I say awesome) facebook groups; mainly:

• nicolejones911
• victoria marie facebook group
• scraptastic member forum

These groups are amazing, full of talented, creative and fun scrapbookers sharing their layouts, their inspiration, their techniques, tips & tricks.  We encourage each other, we challenge each other, we have an amazingly fun time!!!

I am also an avid process video watcher and that community is the best as well.  It has grown leaps and bounds this year and there are so many talented scrappers showing us beautiful pages (I really wanted to post a top ten of that for you here, but when I reached top 30 and realised the list was not done; I decided against it LOL).  So hop on over to the FB groups and you will find that most You Tubers let us know on the group when they have posted a video.  There are new ones every day !!!

And finally, I want to increase my participation in challenges this year.  So my goals for that are :

• Do the nicolejones911 challenge every month
• Do at least one of the Victora Marie FB group challenges every week (if I can do both, yay me)
• do as many of the challenges run by my friends Ronisuescrapper, Megan and Jennifer as I can (at least two a month)
• participate in as many of the challenges as I can  issued by my favourite You Tubers
• Do the sketch challenge and the Pinterest challenge posted on the Scraptastic blog, as a minimum from their blog.

So there you have it - my 2015 Scrappy plan!!!  I did not make the goal of short blog posts because that, of course, would be a monumental fail.  Like always, thanks so much for sticking with me.  I hope to post every Thursday this year and one day on the weekend about twice a month (so six blog posts per month is the goal!!! :) :)

Have a wonderful scrappy week!!!  Check out the FB groups mentioned above, go have fun on You Tube ... join us!!!

... so just call me the salad queen - 12 X 12 layout with the July Scraptastic kit

Good morning sweet friends and happy Sunday.  I hope this finds you well.  It is a little brisk where I am this morning but the sun is glorious.  I have been MIA for a couple of weeks; it is a busy time in the garden and I am there at least every second weekend.  Last weekend, we harvested the onions, thinned out the carrots, beets and turnips and mapped out the transplanting that will need to be done at the end of the month.  Next weekend, we will be canning the tomatoes - yay !!  But oh my that is a chore and a half heehee; my back is already protesting just thinking about it :)

I have still managed to get a few layouts done (priorities of course !!).  

Scraptastic had a couple of fun challenges during August, as they do every month.  It was my first time participating in two of them and I really enjoyed it.  There was a challenge for a "long title" that really got me thinking but then I sort of fell into it,  

That die cut with the quote from Julia Child was just so perfect !!!  Don't you love it when that happens.  I used it to start my title and then just continued on from there.

The supplies:   Everything on this layout comes from the July Either Way kit, except :

• The coral alpha Thickers are from Dear Lizzy and the aqua alphas are from October Afternoon's Daily flash (Mason Jar).
• The acetate butterfly is from June's kit
• the vellum with the gold hearts that I use as a mat is from my stash
• The love paper clip is from Freckled Fawn but I can't remember where I got it - likely a previous kit.
• The ribbon is from Stampin' Up - it is a 3/8 inch taffeta in Crumb Cake (their kraft colour).

The story:  It is quite simple really - I loooooove salads, I could live on salads and if I may say so myself, I make great salads heehee.  My friends and family call me the Salad Queen, as I seem to just gather up stuff from the garden and the pantry,  and turn it into a salad.  I create recipes, I invent and improvise.  Whenever, we have a get together, I am always called upon to bring, or make, the salad.  Whenever I invite friends or family over, I am told that there has to be salad as part of the meal.  So it seems I have a label and one I will gladly take on :) :)

Enjoy your Sunday everyone and thanks for stopping by.  

First layout with the Either Way Scraptastic Kit (July 2014) - 12 X 12 travel related

Happy Thursday to all !  I hope you are having a fun and amazing day !  It is one of those cloudy, heavy, blah days here - feels like rain but so far, it has held off.  I am off on Thursdays and usually get a lot of the chores out of the way so that that my weekends are not all cleaning, cooking, washing etc....  but more garden fun, scrappy fun, tennis fun, photo fun and any other fun I can drum up!  How about you ?  How is your week shaping up?

I have broken into my July kit.  I must say that I was a little intimidated with this one at first... for just a bit.  The papers are so beautiful; the colour scheme is really right up my alley.  And with the touch of gold throughout, the kit felt a little regal. As I was sorting through my photos, I kept thinking they were not up to the standard of the kit LOL.  I felt I needed THE photo, just the perfect shot, the important photo .... you know the one that records that all important moment.  But truth be told, I don't actually have many of those photos (or those moments!!).  So, I just took the plunge and started.  And, I am sooooo loving this kit; truly!

My first layout is a scraplift of a layout by Tracy Banks (mercytiara on You Tube and a member of the Scraptastic Design Team).  She made her layout for the Bingo challenge during the 4th anniversary celebrations.  She mentioned that the L shape was one of her go-to designs and I just loved her layout.  So, to lessen the "awe" factor of this kit, I went with a scraplift of her lovely layout.  And I am so pleased with the outcome, This design will definitely become one of my go-to's as well.  I also find that I am enjoying scrapping 4X4 photos a lot recently.

My layout :

Since this is my first layout with this kit, there is very little from my own add-on, or from my stash.  Everything is from the kit except for :

• The October afternoon Mini Market alphas in mint and cream for part of the title
• The woodgrain photo mat and scalloped circle in the top RH cluster are from the 6X6 Simple Stories Good Day Sunshine paper pad
• The cork stars are from a previous kit (the May kit maybe?)

The scraplift is pretty much integral except that I journaled to the right of the photo as opposed to the top part of the L,  where Tracy had added speech bubbles for her journaling. 

The story:  This is one of those really great travel stories - well actually a story of how kind people can be.  In Feb. 2006, I was into the eighth month of my backpacking trip and was travelling with a friend in Porgugal.  We had spent a fantastic week in Porto and were on the train going back Lisbon.  We arrived at the Fatima station, and since my friend's uncle is a priest, he asked if we could get off there and visit for a bit, take photos for his uncle and go onto to Lisbon the next day.  So on the spur of the moment, we got off the train!!  Well, little did we know, the Fatima train station is 30+ km from the town of Fatima.  So there we were, in a station, in the middle of nowhere - there was a restaurant, a bar, a tourist office and a very long line of taxis just waiting to charge 50 euros or more to take unsuspecting tourists to the town LOL.  Well my friend, who is a little "hot blooded" was ranting, raving and using quite colourful language (in Canadian French).  I was laughing, which wasn't helping matters.  All of a sudden, we heard a French (from France) accent say "Eh les canadiens!!  Etes-vous perdus" (Hey are you Canadians lost?); hence the title of my layout.  This gentleman (Luis) had just returned from a work trip and was on the same train as us.  His wife (Marie-France)  was picking him up and they lived in a nearby town called Tomar.  To make a long story short, they took us to lunch, took us sightseeing in Tomar and absolutely insisted that we stay with them until we could go on our way the next day.  We went to the market, I cooked dinner, my friend bought some wine and we had a more than lovely evening.  They told us about a lovely fishing village called Nazare, so the next morning instead of getting back on the train for Lisbon, Luis and Marie-France took us to the bus station and we boarded the bus for Nazare where we spent another absolutely lovely week !!!

There is just a little bit of journaling on the front of the layout - I journaled the whole story on the back :)

Hmmm you know what?  The photo itself may be just one of my newfound friends, not the "life-changing, worthy" one I was searching for when I first looked at this kit; but boy the story sure is!

Thanks for joining me today and I'll be back on the weekend with the second layout!  Hugs xoxo

Did I kill the June Scraptastic Kit? and some thoughts going forward :)

Happy happy Sunday my friends !  I love nice quiet Sundays at home - cooking, scrapping, reading, cuddling with my kitty, watching tennis and going for a long walk early in the morning.  I don't get enough Sundays like that, but I sure take advantage of it when I get one.  Today is one of them!  Ahhhhh :).  I hope you are having a fabulous Sunday doing things you enjoy.

Well the "Best Day in my Life" kit is done and dusted I would say. I got 11 layouts total and I actually have one more in the works.  I started a layout of my kitty about two weeks ago and it is just not working for me - I scrapped a piece of cardstock trying to make my own background paper and then hating it. I did get the photo mounted on a bunch of layers but stalled again.  So I put that one to the side for the time being.  When it decides to cooperate with me, I will finish it :).  I really do not have much left - actually very few scraps of paper:

I could probably get a card or two and I may still do that.  I will cut the 3 X 4 cards apart and add them to my stash.

Although I feel I used the stickers quite a bit, I do still have a lot left over.  As for the die cut packages, I used a ton, and still have a ton :

I did not use that red alpha at all??  I was favouring smaller fonts this month, I guess.  But I will keep that sticker sheet close for the July kit because I think that alpha will work well with the Either Way Kit.

I struggled a bit with the vellum and acetate die cuts - but that is part of the fun of a kit - it pushes us to think out of our box; it pushes us out of our comfort zone.  And, although it looks like there is a lot left (and there is), I really did use them quite a bit but those packages were so darned packed - such value !!!

I ran out of the kit flair and  wood veneer early on, but I did have quite a bit in my own add-on so it was all good LOL.

In summary, after two months of working with the kit, having the third all ready to go (my own add-on is pulled) and the fourth on deck, I have a few thoughts to share :

• Scraptastic is definitely the way to go for me.  I love getting a kit and this one is so well put together.  I enjoy getting new goodies without breaking the bank.  Also, I used to spend a lot of time pulling product for each page and having the kit with my own little add-on has made that process so much easier.  I have never scrapped as much as I did in the last two months.  And I have never loved my pages more.  I spent a year, or so,  researching kits before making my final decision.  I may buy the odd Hip Kit here and there because they were a close second in my final analysis LOL.  But I cannot foresee ever stopping Scraptastic heehee :

• The best value for me is getting the main kit plus the add-on.  The first month, I got only the main kit and made my own add-on.  I got about 6 layouts but did not find that my add-on was enough (I don't have a large stash of die cuts, stickers and chipboard).  So in the second month, I did get the add-on but still made another add-on from my stash.  This time my add-on was mainly wood veneer, flair, enamel dots (I have a serious addiction) and washi, a couple of sticker sheets and some twine.  It worked a lot better.

• I pulled some of my own patterned paper and cardstock.  I did not wind up using the patterned paper (in the end, it just didn't go LOL) but did use all the extra cardstock I pulled.

• I felt I needed more of the kit wood veneer and flair

In July, I got the Either Way kit, add-on, and extra flair.  In August, I did the same thing, but added the extra wood veneer package.  I have a feeling I will be settling down to that.

In conclusion :  I have not shopped at all, other than glue and consumables.  I get new goodies and am using my own stash way more.  I scrap more and spend less time pulling product and overthinking.  Win, win, win !!!

Thanks so much for reading my ramblings all the way to the end.  I hope my thoughts may help if you are still in the evaluating process for a kit.  I will be back on Thursday with my July kit set-up and the first layout done with it.

Hugs xoxo

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

Travel with a twist layout - 12 X 12 using the May Scraptastic Kit

Well hello there and happy Sunday to you all !  Summer has definitely arrived here in Southern Quebec - it did keep us waiting a little this year, but it is here in full force now - it is about 30 deg C today, with bright sunshine.  Unfortunately, when it gets hot here, it also tends to get muggy - but oh well, it is such a short season, I won't complain !!

I thought I would pop in today with the 8th layout I did with the May Daylight kit from Scraptastic.  I have almost killed the kit I think LOL.  I will get one more layout in for sure, with scraps and bits of die cuts, but that is probably it.  But I really, really (did I say really?) enjoyed my first kit and am so happy I subscribed.  I am certainly scrapping more and spending less time choosing product.

So now... this layout gave me trouble.  I love the end result but it is nowhere close to the idea I had in my head when I started.  It all started with a layout my friend Roni did (Ronisuescrapper on You Tube - check her out, she does great layouts).  It was a grid type layout and I really find that I am loving them lately.  It seemed perfect timing to also do a grid type layout since I was starting to get into the scraps with my kit.  So I cut a few 3 X 4 cards out of the scraps with the intention of making 6 mini layouts on a cardstock background.  But then I got side-tracked by one of Nicole Jones layouts where she cuts up scraps and glues them to the page to create a background .... so, well here is the background piece I made : 

Now the photo I had selected for this layout was a 4 X 6 but once it was matted on a piece of  yellow-gold cardstock, I just couldn't find placement for it  on this background - no matter which way I turned the photo, or the background LOL.  So  off I went to get a series of small photos I had printed (mainly 2 X 2, or a little larger) from one of the Will Craft for Supplies Day in the Life days that I had participated in.  Well, the colours were all wrong - so that didn't work either.  So I had to change my idea completely.  I found three 4 X 6 photos that worked wonderfully with this background, so I cut them down into smaller pieces and made 5 photo blocks with them.  Here is the resultant layout :

Would you call that grid style ?  PL style?  Collage style?  I don't really know what to call it but in the end I actually like it LOL.

So, on to why I call this "Travel with a Twist" ...

The story behind this page:  My l'il sister and best BIL love travelling as much as I do and three years before I embarked on my one-year backpacking trip to Europe, they went on a 15 month sailing trip!  They took a sabbatical, sold the house and off they went.  They bought a small (really small for that kind of trip) sailboat - a 26 ft Tanzer (BTW, my BIL is 6 foot 5 LOL) and left from Valleyfield here in Quebec, did the intercoastal for part of the way through the States - went to Florida and then crossed to the Bahamas where they spent their 40th birthdays (that was in 2002).  In 2012, when they were turning 50, I asked them what kind of party they wanted.  They asked for a virtual return trip to the Bahamas.  So that is what we did - a full menu of Bahamian food (sweet potato salad, pigeon peas and rice, particular Caribbean coleslaw, tomato dip, Bahama Mamas of course), I decorated the house in Bahamian colours of turquoise and yellow, we had to wear those colours as well, played Bahamian music, I made little party favours .... the whole nine yards!!  We had a wonderul day and they were so happy.  Part of their present included a scrapbook layout of photos from when they were in the Bahamas.

Oh my, I do go on, and on, and on.  If you are still reading, my gosh thanks so much!!  I will be back during the week, with my last layout and a sort of kill the kit blog post.  I hope you have a wonderful Sunday and a great start to the week.  I must just take a minute to thank you all for the sweet comments.  You Tube, our Facebook groups and this blogging world are just amazing - well actually I think it is the Scrapbooking community that is just amazing.  I have made so many lovely friends here - thank-you so so much.

Hugs xoxo   

Scrapping some more of my "passions" with the Daylight Kit from Scraptastic

Happy Sunday to all !  What a glorious day here.  The sun is shining; it is lovely and warm, but not hot and muggy ... so all in all a YAY day.  I spent a lot of time outdoors yesterday so today will be more of an indoor day, but with all the windows open and the occasional few minutes sitting outside to take full advantage :)  Hope you have, or are having, a wonderful day!

I wanted to pop in today to share my 6th and 7th layouts using my augmented May Scraptastic Kit.  This time we are moving away from travel layouts for just a bit to focus on a couple of my other passions - my animals and the garden !!

The first layout is of my cat Chopin, relaxing and snoozing on my craft table.  It is one of his favourite spots.  There are two warm and bright lights above my table; and he seems to think that it is a kitty spa, or tanning salon LOL.  It also keeps him close in the event that any fun strips of paper fly of the paper trimmer, or any flowers, flair, wood veneer or buttons become all of a sudden within chasing and playing distance :) :).  You will also notice that is head is resting on the trimmer.  He loves to sleep with his head slightly elevated - at night my legs seem to be the perfect pillow.

I really like this layout, except for the misting that I decided to add at the last minute.  I should have left well enough along (sigh)... Because of the colour of the cardstock and the mist I used, it just looks dirty and stained.... oh well !

The next layout is going to be the final page in my 2013 garden album; the transition page to this year's !  I love spending time in the garden and once the chores (weeding, harvesting, transforming ....) are done, I love just sitting and gazing out at the view. It is so peaceful and relaxing.  This year I will have a little over 3 weeks there, from mid July to the 7th or 8th of August. 

So that's it for me today - I am working on another layout using some of the patterned paper scraps.  I am cutting them up in blocks a la Nicole Jones, or grid style, to create a background and then... well I have a couple of ideas.  I'll be sure to come back and show you the result.  There are a few cards in the making as well.

As always, thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful, restful Sunday.  Hugs xo