Kill a kit, an 8.5 X 11 travel layout and a final moan and groan about winter ;)

Happy Sunday to you all!  I hope you are having a lovely one.  I am staying indoors today - really this winter is just dragging on and it is really time for it to just go away LOL. Yesterday, we were around the freezing mark and had a precipitation cocktail - snow, freezing rain, rain and wind (let's not forget wind!!).  This morning??  it is beautifully sunny (yay) and .... wait for it .... minus a gazillion!  Ok, well that may be a slight exaggeration, but it is minus 16 deg C ... #sodonewithwinter. On the upside, I am staying in my pyjamas, watching tennis and scrapping ALL day :).

I wanted to pop in and share the last layout made with the January mega kit I put together from the Scraptastic October and January kits and add-ons, as well a little bits from my stash.  I got 21 layouts out of that kit and I think I did it justice.  Here is the paper I have left:  

I added that piece of Shimelle pattern paper to my February kit and put the cardstock back into my stash.  As far as the embellishments go, I had just a few bits left and they all coordinate quite will with the February Counting Stars kit so I just added them in there :).

So on to the layout :

I really am enjoying the 8.5 X 11 format lately and, if you recall  my goals for this year, I wanted to make at least one a month.  Well that is one goal I have shattered - I have made 6 so far this year.  This one is not my favourite - it was a lot nicer in my head LOL, but it's done and in the book: 

I almost forgot about this page.  As I was sorting through the bits and bobs left in my kit, I came across a mini page kit I had put together to scrap this photo!!  I tried to channel my inner Tracy (mercytiara) and Jenny (jenny  box) and layered quite heavily behind the photo.  I also popped up some of the layers, in some corners.  It is hard to see on the photo but that is one aspect of this layout that I like.  

The supplies: Every thing on this layout came from the mega kit with very few exceptions.  The yellow letter stickers for the word "buddy" in the title are from Chickaniddy (Scrumptious), and were left over from a previous kit.  The puffy stickers are from my stash (they are "Oh what fun" from Evalicious).  I love puffy stickers, they are my new addiction in the making :),

The story:  The Berlin Buddy Bears are an integral part of Berlin's cityscape and these lovely, colourful and whimsical sculptures can be found all over the City.  They started as an artistic event in 2001.  The goal was to bring art into the streets of Berlin and since the bear is the city's heraldic animal, it was chosen.  In June of that same year, there were over 100 of these sculptures all over the city.  They are quite the tourist attraction.  They now also travel the world on exhibition.

Well, there you have it.  One lovely kit done and another waiting in the wings.  I am so lucky.  Thanks for visiting with me today!! I hope you get some scrappy time today.  Hugs and I will be back soon with the first couple of layouts from the February Counting Stars kit. xo 

12 X 12 Travel layout (11/150-2015) - Canal Love (Venice)

Happy Sunday to all!  I hope you had, are having or will have a wonderful day depending on where in the world you are - I hope you are warm, or cool, as the case may be LOL.  As for us, here in Quebec, Canada, we are still in the deep freeze.  It is the coldest winter in over 20 years according to the experts.  On Friday, the maximum for the day was minus 23 deg C!!! Hmmmm 'nuff said. 

I wanted to pop in today with my final layout for the portion of my trip that I spent in Venice.  This one is aptly called "Canal Love".  It is also for a challenge over on the Victoria Marie Facebook Group.  If you are not a member of the group yet, head on over there; it is a really fun place to be.  A great group of scrappers, tons of inspiration and motivation,  fun challenges and well Victoria is just a hoot and more - her posts crack me up!! 

I love Canal cities and towns - they are so beautiful and lovely to walk around.  I spent 2 or 3 days just walking around Venice; discovering almost every corner.  I also enjoy going off the beaten track so I deliberately allowed myself to get lost and wind up in residential areas where peoples' boats were tied up outside their door.  I don't have great balance when it comes to standing in moving vehicles (of any kind), or vehicles that are not on a firm footing, or ground LOL.  So I would probably wind up in the water as often as I would go through the entrance if I lived there LOL.   There is something so very calming about strolling around canal streets.  I do hope to get back there one day.  If you have been to Venice, I would love to see any pages you might have made and read about your discoveries, likes and dislikes!

The supplies are entirely from the "mega" kit I prepared from the January Scraptastic kit and add-on (This must be the place), together with the October TLN kit and the October main and add-on (Heart It Races).  

The only items I added from my stash are the enamel dots and black gems (the latter are from BoBunny). 

This was the 11th layout I made with this kit.  I have made two more layouts since and still have enough for about 4 more.  With scraps, I might even it make it to 20 !!

So there you have, a quick visit today, with the ramblings somewhat in check LOL.  Thanks for being here :) Have a great scrappy day and I will be back with another page, and post, on Thursday. 

12 X 12 Travel layout using Scraptastic kits and a little story :)

Happy Sunday to all!  I hope you are having, or had, an amazing day, or evening!  Hope that cover everyone LOL.  We are still in the deep-freeze in Quebec, Canada.  Our winter started quite late but it has been so so very cold since the first of the year.  We are setting records often and actually had the dubious honour of being the coldest place on earth on Thursday, January 8th!!!  The themometer seems to be stuck in the minus 20's C. I have become a master of layers, but the upside is that it is too cold to snow so we are having a very easy winter from that point of view.

I have gone back to making a few travel pages to try and stay warm LOL, so today we are revisiting Innsbruck, the capital of the Tyrol region in western Austria.  I visited  in the summer mind!  

I originally started this page with the intention of following a sketch for the weekend challenge over on the Victoria Marie Facebook Group.  But in the end, this page took on a life of its own and in no way, shape or form resembles the sketch I had chosen - absolutely nothing except for the double matting of the photo.  So back to the grindstone on that challenge !!!  But I really love how this page turned out; it is one of my favourites this month.

The product:  After finishing all my Christmas presents, I had used bits from the September, October and November Scraptastic kits but still had lots left over.  I made quite an attempt at killing the September one but then the January "This must be the Place" kit arrived and it was love at first sight.  Not wanting to leave October's kit behind (it is so beautiful), I created a mega-kit for this month - it consists of the remainder of the October Heart It races kit and add-on, the October TLN kit and January's kit and add-on)  I hope to get 20 or more layout from this mega kit and am loving it.  Those two months complement each so much that half the time I really don't know  what comes from which. Therefore, I have not really added much from my own stash.  In this case, all the supplies come from my mega kit with the just a couple of exceptions :

• The background paper is from Stampin' Up in Basic Grey with vanilla polka dots
• I used a few brads from my stash, as well as enamel dots and shapes.

I am getting a lot more comfortable using vellum and just love the effect on this page.

The story:  I visited Innsbruck and Igles fairly early on in the one-year sabbatical trip - in August of 2005.  It is so beautiful!  When we arrived, there was big convention in town so hardly a room to be found.  The tourist office eventually found us a lovely pensione, at quite an altitude and  at quite an uphill trek LOL.  This particular pensione was actually closed but the landlady (then in her late seventies, early eighties I think) still lived there with her daughter, grand-children, two dogs and three cats.  Every once in a while they would take in tourists, as long as it was for a week or more, and as long as it was not a group!.  Well, what a gem of a find.  The landlady was just so lovely as well.  She did not speak English, nor French and my German is more than atrocious but we still managed to communicate.  I spent a couple of evenings watching her sew and do the most lovely needle work I have every seen - embroidered table cloths, sheets and pillow cases that were stunning.  My room was amazingly comfortable and breakfast each morning a real treat.  There was also a lovely terrasse - the photo in the picture is the view I had sitting on that terrasse while sipping a glass of wine, or drinking coffee.  As the journaling says : "Priceless".  Unfortunately, that lovely lady would not allow her picture to be taken - she felt she was too old and no longer photo worth --- what a shame, as she was quite lovely.  It was obvious from the photos in the dining room that the pensione had once been THE place to be - there were photos of a much younger her and her husband in the pensione, or on the ski slopes,  with many celebrities, Olympic althletes and politicians.  One of the most beautiful two weeks of my trip (and such a getting into shape two weeks too LOL, lots of hiking which I loved).

So there you have, you have made it to the end of another of my long and winding blog posts - thanks so much !!  I will be back soon to report on how I made out with my goals for January.  Until then stay warm, or cool, as the case may be!  Cheers xo

11th and final layout with the Scraptastic August Boys of Summer Kit :) :)

Good morning and happy Saturday to you all!  I hope you are having a great day so far!!  I have a fair amount on my plate today - making bread (well OK, the machine makes it but still ... LOL), making chili,  getting some December Documented stuff done, planning out the layouts than I will make to give as Christmas gifts (more about that in another post); and tonight is my work Christmas party!

So I thought I would quickly pop in and post my last layout with the Boys of Summer kit. Remember when I posted the first layout and I was a little afraid that I would have trouble with this kit since it was so "little boy" specific?... Well, I guess I got over that LOL.  I am so happy that I really got a lot out of this kit and was able to adapt many of the die-cuts.

Without further ado: 

See what I mean about adapting the die-cuts!!!  If you are thinking "that die-cut has nothing whatsoever to do with that page" ... you are right LOL.  But I decided to use it simply because the critter is making the same goofy face I am on the photo and his arms are spread out like mine!  Reason enough I say, plus the colours match!

The supplies:  I was really down to scraps for this layout.  The background cardstock is from my stash as I did not have a single piece of 12X12, cardstock or paper, left.  

• The burlap stickers were left over from the Either Way kit, as were a couple of the other stickers
• I am not sure if the hello wood veneer was from this kit or a left over from another, but the spread you wings was from my stash
• The little gold circular pieces were left over from those totally yummy gold thickers we got with the Either Way kit
• I used Glimmer Mist on the corners

The story:  There is no real story to this one. It is an everyday photo from my year-long backpacking trip to Europe.  I spent two weeks in Sevilla, Spain in November of 2005 and loved every minute of it.  I have shared quite a few pages from this portion of the trip already.  On this photo, I simply wanted to show the size of the tree.  If you know me a little, you know I am a nature lover and yes I admit, somewhat of a tree-hugger ;).  This tree was not in a park or anything;  just there along a wide-alley walkway, in the center of town.  The only other place I have seen trees this size was in the California Redwoods area!!!

So there you have it, just a quick visit from me today... For once, I am sparing you from my usual ramblings LOL, but never fear, it is a short respite.  I will be back, ramblings and all shortly; maybe even tomorrow if I can get my DD act together.  

Thanks for stopping by as always and have a wonderful scrap-filled day.  Hugs xo

A couple more layouts with the July Scraptastic Kit ... some travel, some cookin' :) :)

Happy Sunday to all !  It is a rainy one here so far.  But that's ok, the temperatures are back up to seasonal and I had a day indoors planned anyway - chores, cooking, scrapping and a little tennis watching.  And, lot of kitty cuddles :) :)

Hope you are having a great Sunday, doing what you like best and doing it with those you love most!!!  Have a couple of chuckles while you are at it !

Here are the 7th and 8th layouts I made with the July Either Way Kit.  I actually have 10 layouts completed and still have quite a bit of the kit and add-on left.  It may be a record breaking month - I think I might get 14 or 15 layouts.  Woot woot!!

For, the first layout, we are back to a travel theme.  Let me take you back to Amsterdam for a stroll along "Canal Street" ... 

The supplies:  Everything on this layout comes from the kit, or add-on, with very few exceptions :

• The "hello" die-cut comes from the Simple Stories 6 X 6 Good Day Sunshine paper pad.
• I used Dear Lizzy Foam thickers for the word "canal" in the title, and MME stickers for the word Amsterdam.  I used October Afternoon's Daily Flash for the year - 2005
• the airplane puffy stickers was the very last in the set from Amy Tangerine.

This layout came together quite quickly for me.  It is the first time I put a title sideways on a layout and I quite like the outcome.  The inspiration for this came from nicolejones911 - she does it quite a lot and I always love the way it looks on her layouts.

The story:  There really isn't any great big story with this one.  It is meant to convey how I love wandering the canal streets of Amsterdam.  It is such a pretty city.  And, to me, Amsterdam is a city to stroll - not walk, not run, not rush - but wander, and stroll, on foot or on a bicycle :)

Now let's wander back to this summer :

I thought I was quite clever with this title LOL :).

The supplies:  Again, everything came from the kit, with just a couple of items from my stash add-on:

• The doily is from my stash and I used Tattered Angel's glimmer mist, in Italian Sunset to colour it.  The colour is a little more peach, than the coral in the papers and embellishments but I still like the effect since the photo has lots of golden, peach, orange and reddish tones.
• I used my one inch circle punch to punch out the viewfinders from the Good Day Sunshine 6 X 6 paper pad
• The the subtitle uses MME word and alpha stickers.

The story:  This page will go in my summer garden/vacation album and is meant to record part of my vacation routine.  I just love stir-frying - it is so fast, healthy, yummy and it's the fastest clean-up around :) :).  It became an integral part of my vacation routine:  a long walk followed by garden work in the morning, garden salad for lunch, lazy afternoon under a tree, harvesting, reading, or scrapping.  And then a lovely stir fry for supper, again using garden fresh veggies.  I would add shrimp, or scallops, or tofu, or beans and voila ... Clean-up took all of 5 minutes and then I could settle in for an evening of You Tube or tennis watching, as well as puppy and kitty cuddles!!!  Bliss

So there you have - you have made to the end again!  Thanks so much.  Hugs xoxo

Got my head in the clouds - 12 X 12 layout with the July Scraptastic Kit

Happy Thursday everyone !!!  It is a rainy one here and the weather has turned slightly cooler .... autumn is around the corner but so far September has been lovely so I won't complain :).  I am off on Thursdays, as well as weekends.  I try and get most of the chores, and errands, out of the way on Thursdays to free up more fun time on the weekends.  Sometimes it works; but sometimes I play a little hooky on Thursdays too.  Some scrapping time is so good for the soul is it not ?

I have really been enjoying the July Either Way kit from Scraptastic.  The colour scheme is right up my alley and the papers are just beautiful,  It is a varied and versatile kit!  I have also been playing along with some of the challenges over on the Scraptastic blog and the layout I want to share with you today was made in response to a challenge to use a monochromatic colour scheme.

When I saw the cloud paper in the kit, I knew immediately which photos I wanted to scrap!  I am really quite proud of this layout, if I may say so myself heehee !

It is quite a simple page design as I wanted the cloud paper to stand out, it is central to the theme and subject of this layout.

The supplies:   All of the paper and cardstock are from the kit, as is the wood veneer.  My original intention was to use markers to colour the continents on the wood veneer but in the end I inked up the entire piece.  I wish I had stuck to my original idea... but, oh well, I still like it :)

• The camera stickers, the bow, the vellum flower piece and the tags are from previous Scraptstic kits (although the tags may be from this one; I can't quite remember).
• The aqua chipboard hearts and stars are from the Studio Calico essentials line
• The washi tape is from my stash and i actually think it is from a RAK I got last year from Lisa and Sandra (Maggie Mylow and Oh Snap Gonzo on You Tube)
• The foam Thickers are from Dear Lizzy and the alpha stickers are from the October Afternoon Daily Flash collection (I really love the Daily Flash alphas - they are my favourites right now).
• The enamel dots, flair and puffy sticker are from my stash.  The latter is from Amy Tangerine and was the last on the sheet.... yay for using up entire sheets, or sets of embellishments !!!

The story:  these photos were taken on the flight back home after my one-year backpacking trip (there are several posts and layouts about this trip and several more to come :)).  I felt that the mood of the photos matched the cloud paper and the monochromatic colour scheme.  It was a bittersweet day, one filled with mixed emotions.  On the one hand, I was happy to be reuniting with friends and family after a year apart, but on the other hand I was sad to be leaving many new friends behind.  I so loved that trip and the lifestyle it allowed me to have for a whole year.  A year as a nomad, with all my belongings on my back.  I worked when the budget required it (I am fortunate to have my Irish citizenship and well as my Canadian one) or when something interesting came along. I visited 21 countries in that year.  I saw some amazing things and places, met some fantastic local people everywhere I went, but also made great friends amongst fellow travelers.  I discovered so many interesting foods, music, culture, art, history, nature, flora,  animals ..... I could go on and on.  I could write a book.  I could, and probably will, fill many scrapbooking albums as well as many journals.  I cherish all of the memories, good and bad (there were few of those), funny, hilarious and life enriching.  All of that made for a very full heart and a lot of thinking on the  flight home.  I felt those two photos depicted that very well.

So there you have it !  Thanks so much for joining me today, as always.  I appreciate your lovely comments, likes and shares.  The scrapping community is such a great one and I value each and every one of you my friends.  Hugs xoxo

I will be back soon !  Until then, be well!

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

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

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

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   

Two more travel layouts with the Scraptastic Daylight Kit for May 2014

Well hello there, welcome and happy Saturday !  It is a glorious day here so it looks like we will be able to plant the garden next weekend as planned.  Meanwhile, it is still a little too wet to get out there today, but I accomplished the next best thing:  buying the seeds, YAY !  On Thursday, we will buy the plants and then we should be off to the races :).  I hope the sun is shining wherever you are.

Today, I want to share the second and third layouts I did with the Scraptastic Daylight kit for May 2014.  But, first let me just say that I don't think I have ever done 3 layouts in one week - ever.  I am just so happy with the kit and am very glad I decided to subscribe. Getting the kit and putting together an add-on from my stash, is really the best of both worlds.  I get new goodies every month without breaking the bank and I use up some of my great and voluminous stash :).

So we are still in Europe, still scrapping the photos from my 2005-2006 year-long backpacking trip and I am still enjoying it.  i hope you are too.

Here is the first of two layouts today :

I used my augmented kit entirely for this page, with the exception of the doily (can't believe that I forgot to add doilies to this kit !).  As I mentioned in the previous post, I used the Weathered Wood Distress ink to ink all the edges and I find that it really complements the kit wonderfully. 

The story behind this page:  While I was visiting some very good friends in Madrid in September 2005, I spent a jam-packed day visiting Segovia.  Located about an hours + drive north from Madrid, Segovia is a small city of no more than 55,000 inhabitants but it sure packs a lot of history and landmarks!  Of course the famous aqueduct,  the Alcazar and its beautiful gardens (more about all of these in future posts), but also one of the most beautiful and famous cathedrals in Europe.  The Catedral de Santa Maria is located right in Plaza Mayor, the main square of the city as can be seen in the first photo.  It was built between 1525 and 1577 in a late Gothic style. It is massive and beautiful inside and out.

For my next layout, we are off further north - all the way to Amsterdam :

I love this layout !  It is really a far cry from my normal style and nowhere close to what I had as an idea when I started the page.  Actually, I just started with the photo and the mats around it.  The page then took on a life of its own.  I think I was influenced by a couple of pages on the Scraptastic facebook page as well as a couple of videos on You Tube (one by Sandra (ohsnapgonzo) and another by Gina (Gina Beth). The idea for the ampersand came from KittyScrapper (Nancy Sinclair)  I am really proud of this page LOL (I even researched the Dutch words for Bye and thanks - the title of the page).

The story behind this page :  Well there really isn't much of a story to this one.  it will be the last page in the Amsterdam portion of my trip.  The picture is simply one of me going into the train station in Amsterdam after an amazing 10-day visit in July 2005.  I really loved Amsterdam, so much so, that I actually went back in May 2006 just before coming back home.

As always, thanks so much for sticking with me to the end of this post.  Have a great weekend and I'll be back soon with another layout - I am on a roll with this kit!

First Scraptastic Layout - 12 X 12, using the Daylight Kit

Good morning and happy Thursday to all !  I hope the sun is shining wherever your are.  We have had a lot of cold and wet weather so far this Spring and are having trouble getting out to play in the garden.  Planting is now scheduled for next week (sigh ...) but I should be out there getting things ready on Saturday (hope springs eternal LOL) !

Meanwhile, I am off today and the sun is shining and it should stay out all day (small wonders LOL).  It is also Roland Garros time, one of the four grand slam tennis championships; this one from Paris, France.  So I am keeping a keen eye on what is going on there.  For the first time in the history of ATP tennis, there is a Canadian in the top ten men's ranking - Milos Raonic from Ontario is No. 8 in the world and safely through to the third round.  On the women's side, we are making history as well.   Montrealer Genie Bouchard is no. 18 in the world and is also safely through to Round 3. Yay !!  

So on to the layout ...  Even though this is just the first layout, I already know that I am loving the Scraptastic kit.  It made this layout come together much faster but with just as much fun.  I did not get the kit to make my scrapping experience faster - I am a slow scrapper and don't mind - I do it for fun and enjoy every second.  But I was finding that a lot of my time was spent choosing my supplies, going back and forth, dilly-dallying ... you get the picture LOL.  And getting the kit, and then assembling my own add-on was a fun process as well as  eliminating much of the dilly-dallying.  To see my kit, with the list of supplies I added from my stash, check-out my previous blog post here : 
 http://lifescrapsbymoira.blogspot.ca/2014/05/my-first-scraptastic-kit-daylight-kit.html.

Hereis the layout :

I am really happy with the outcome.  I went back into my stash for just a couple of things:

• Tim Holtz Layering Stencil - Harlequin
• Tim Holtz Distress ink in Weathered wood.  I think this will be my go to ink for this kit.  I used for the stenciling but also to ink my edges, for more definition.  I am already half way through the second layout and also used this ink for edging.

The story behind this layout:  We are still in Romania, still in Brasov as we have been for the last couple of layouts.  Every morning, coming out of our pensione, we would turn towards town to go exploring.  One morning, after about a week, I decided to turn in the opposite direction.  It didn't look as if there was anywhere to go from there, just forest, brush and minimal plant life.  But off I went anyway.  Well, 2 km later I wound up at this oh so lovely look-out point with the most beautiful views of Brasov and its surroundings.  It was evidently well known to all but I since it was full of people - tourists and locals alike.  It was a small park, with benches to just sit and contemplate the city.  I am so happy I went the "Other" way.  A layout, showing the gorgeious view will follow soon and will be the facing page to this one in my album.

As always, thanks for stopping by.  Don't hesitate to leave a comment if you have any questions, or just want to say hi!  Have a wonderful day and I will be back soon with Layout No. 2 from the Daylight Kit.

12 X 12 Layout - From here to there - Nazare, Portugal, Feb 2006

Well hello there and happy Sunday !!  I have had a weekend like I love them :)  Nothing on the calendar - a ME weekend.  Of course, there are always chores but when they are done, I got to go for a walk, do some cooking for the week, and scrap while watching the semis and finals of the ATP and WTA Tennis tournaments in Rome, Italy.  Love it !!!

I got a couple of layouts done - yay me!  Since Tuesdae's challenge, I have been on a "scrapping my passions" kick and today's layout is no different. Another travel layout; this time I am taking you to Nazare in Portugal.  It is a lovely little fishing village on the Atlantic coast and I spent a relaxing, sun and sand filled week there in February 2006 (still part of my year-long backpacking trip).  I visited a few places in Portugal and loved most of them - Porto, Figueras da Foz, Tomar and Nazare.  I didn't however enjoy the capital Lisbon quite as much (more about that in a future post LOL).

So, here is the layout :

The top photo is one I took just outside our little pensione; if you enlarge it you will notice that at the end of the street, you see just a touch of blue - blue ocean. The bottom photo is the beach at the end of the street.  Hence the title "From here to there, ahh!"

Nazare was another discovery, it was not on the agenda.  We went there on the recommendation of friends we met in Tomar and, I am so happy we did.  It is a lovely, very traditional village.  In parts of it, I swear time stood still since the 50's.  All along the ocean front, there are old-fashioned nets strung here and there with fish drying in the sun.  Many of the elderly ladies still dress in  traditional garb.  My one regret is that I did not get pictures of some of these lovely ladies. Since I did not speak enough of the language to converse freely with them, I was not able to ask their permission for a photo and, I felt it disrespectful to just take photos without asking.

The supplies :

• The background and layering patterned papers :  My Mind's Eye (MME) The Sweetest Thing and Simple Stories Vintage Bliss.  The heart paper is a 4 X 6 from the Citrus Twist April PL  Kit as is the "Bliss" die cut (I fussy cut it from the 4 X 6).
• I used Mister Huey's custard mist on the doily
• I used all sorts of bits and pieces form my die cut bowl plus some stickers from Jillibean Soup's cold cucumber soup collection
• I used the DIY shop cork stickers. I was quite disappointed with these, they are so thin, that I actually broke, or tore, as many as I put on the layout :(
• The alphas :  Lily Bee, Daily Flash Mason jar, and some very old Thickers from my stash
• The wood veneer are again from Studio Calico and I used Stampin' Up Baja Breeze ink on them.
• A few enamel dots from MME and rhinestones from Queen & Co. complete the page.

So there you have it!  Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely Sunday afternoon.  I hope the sun is shining whereever you are. 

Layout in response to Roni Sue Scrapper's 550+ You Tube subbies challenge

Good morning and happy Thursday!!  I have Thursdays off, as well as my weekends - yup down to 4 days a week and I hope that by the end of the year, I will be able to go down to working 3 days a week LOL.  Thursdays, I try and get all the errands and chores out of the way so that I can take full advantage of my weekends.  Sometimes, it actually works.  Sometimes, like this morning, I play before I get to the chores :)

I am here this morning to share my layout in response to Roni Sue Scrapper's 550+ You Tube subbies challenge (as of this morning, she is actually at 601 subbies - yay Roni !!).  Now I am sure you already know Roni but if by any chance you are new to scrapbooking, or to the You Tube community and don't know her, then run on over to her channel right now (Roni Sue Scrapper).  She is such a nice lady.  I really wanted to participate in this challenge because Roni is definitely a champion supporter.  She participates in every challenge, comments on layouts, promotes everyone's channels, follows us all on our blogs and makes fantastic layouts, and process videos, to boot.

Roni also made her challenge super easy but fun :

• Be a subbie
• Make a layout - the layout can be anything really but you have to tell the story behind it. That is it really.  But you can get extra entries ...
• Make a 4 X 6 card, decorate the front anyway you want and, on the back put your You Tube name, birthdate and a list of the things you love (they don't all have to be scrappy related).  Mail the card to her.

Isn't that fun!

If you recall, on NSD, I made three layouts and mentioned that I would be choosing one for Tuesdae Hubbard's challenge (see previous post) and one for Roni's challege.  In the comments Roni left me on my layouts, she mentioned that she liked seeing travel layouts as she had not had the opportunity to travel as much as she would like.  So, a travel layout it is  Roni!!!

The story :  There are actually a couple of stories that go with this layout, or rather my travels in Romania.  Firstly, how I managed to go to Romania is interesting.  Romania was not on the itinerary of my year-long European backpacking trip.  But at certain times of the year, destinations can be difficult to get to because of tourists, vacation etc...  Little did I suspect that In May, after a second visit to Vienna, Austria, I could not book a train or bus to any of the destinations I wanted to go to next.  I had checked out of my pensione, was at the bus terminal with my pack on my back and traveling with a friend.  We were at the ticket counter, and every place we tried to buy a ticket for, we could not get one.  Full, full, and full ... so eventually I just said:  OK where can we go?  The answer was Brasov, Romania.  So there you go ... off to Brasov we went!!!  The bus trip was quite the experience (but I will keep that for another time LOL).  Twenty four hours later we were in Brasov, sort of stranded as we knew nothing of the town (other than the fact Dracula's Castle is a mere 20 or so km away), didn't speak the language, had no guidebook and the tourism office was closed.  LOL.  I eventually found an internet cafe, went online and found a  little pensione walking distance from downtown Brasov.  It was lovely, only about 2-3 km from town, but it really felt like being in the country.  The hosts were such a nice couple.  We would mime and draw to communicate LOL (I picked up a few strategic words in Romanian as they did in English).  We spent a wonderful week in Brasov.  I loved every minute of it.  It was quite the culture shock but such a great experience at the same time.  The people from the pensione took us to Dracula's castle for a full day.  On the day we went, even the weather cooperated to make it an "eerie" atmosphere LOL.  

Oh my, I do go on!!!  You are still here ... boy oh boy, thanks so much.  

The supplies: 

• The background cardstock is from the Citrus Twist September 2013 kit 
• The patterned paper is from the Authentique Strong Collection
• I used Studio Calico wood veneer, My Mind's Eye enamel dots, strong twine from Stampin' Up (coastal cabana I think) and Simple Stories Urban Traveller stickers.
• The alphas are from the October Afternoon Daily Flash collection - Nightfall and Mason Jar
• I also used two different size scalloped circle punches and Tim Holtz Tea Dye Distress Ink.

So there you have it.  Thanks again for being here and a big thank-you to Roni for hosting such a fun challenge, and for being such a big support to all of us !!!  Roni, I will be working on my card later today :)

Cheers and I will be back on the weekend

Fun day in Segovia - layout scraplifted from Kitty Scrapper (Nancy Sinclair)

Happy Thursday everyone :) .  Hope this finds you well and happy.  We are having rain, rain  and more rain this week although the temperatures are finally climbing a little (16 deg. C today LOL).  

I have a pretty good schedule this week.  I am off today, and since it is raining, I got the chores out of the way early so I could scrap the rest of the day away.  I do work tomorrow, but hopefully only a half day because I have a crop with my local scrap buddies tomorrow evening.  Then, Saturday is NSD ... yay !  I plan to scrap all day, check in with Big Picture Classes and Two Peas, but more importantly, with our Facebook groups and my You Tube friends!  What are your NSD plans ?  I would love to know, and see your projects.

Speaking of projects, on to today's layout.  I borrowed this page design from Nancy (Kitty Scrapper on You Tube), more specifically her Process Video No. 61 called "Pull the damn lever".  She had me in stitches, as usual LOL.  I have done a few layouts in this type of style recently and am really enjoying it.  I think I am even getting the hang of the small clusters.  What do you think ?

I mixed a few different textures this time :  patterned paper, washi tape, cork, wood veneer, mist and gems.  I am happy with the outcome.

Here is the full layout :

Sorry, the picture quality is not great.  I used some vellum on this layout, something I don't do very often as I never know how to put it on, where, or how to stick it down LOL.  But it worked this time and I may start using it more.  You never know, I may even graduate to those lovely transparencies in my stash, yup the ones that keep staring at me.  Oh you have some of those too?  Let's try then and use them on a layout on NSD shall we?

The supplies :

• The background patterned paper is from My Mind's Eye The Sweetest Thing (again from the lovely RAK I got from Sue Hiles (shiles728 on You Tube).
• For layering I used an Stampin' Up scrap (the purple and cream paper), as well as the 6 X 6 paper pad from My Mind's Eye Indie Chic saffron.
• I used two alphas on this one : The  Thickers are Cecily in gold, and the October Afternoon are  Daily Flash Bonfire.
• The washi is also from the October Afternoon Daily Flash collection
• The wood veneer is from Studio Calico
• Finally, I used two mists :  Tattered Angels Coffee Shop and Mister Huey's Custard

Well, there you have it.  Thanks for stopping by today and I will be back on the weekend with some of my NSD projects. See you then :)