Amazing Daily Harvest, 12 X 12 layout with my Scraptastic August Boys of Summer Kit

Happy Saturday!!!  Thanks for popping in to spend a few minutes with me today.  How is your weekend going?  I hope you have some time for fun this weekend.  In my neck of the woods, it is going to be indoor fun today because outdoors is pretty rainy and windy. Although, I think I saw the sun for a few minutes LOL. I am getting some laundry out of the way, will do some cooking and scrapping.  A nice "homey" day !!

I am forging ahead with the August kit and really enjoying it.  It is so colourful and fun :). This second layout is meant to be a companion page to the first (see my last post) one.  It is not a double page spread but it is complementary - the two pages will live side-by-side in my album.  Basically the same colour scheme but in a different order as well as some of the same multi-coloured die-cuts, stars and alphas.

Without further ado:

Just like on the previous layout, I integrated one of the die-cuts into my title but I did not really try anything else new-to-me on this page.  

I seem to have developed a slight addiction to arrows.  I have been using them a lot lately and loving them.  I bought a new SU punch with two sizes of arrows, and there are quite a few die-cuts and stickers with arrows in the kit. I guess that explains it in part.  I like how arrows can easily help bring the focus to where you want it and also act as an embellishment. I like staggering them and mixing them up with banner shapes as well.

The supplies:  I integrated a few things from my stash add-on :

• I used Jillibean Soup Alphabeans in Blue Corn Navy and October Afternoon Sticky key in Honey for the title.
• the multi-coloured polka dot paper layer behind the photo, is a 6X6 sheet from the Fancy Pants Be Different paper pad
• the  wood veneer are left over from a previous kit, and
• the enamel dots are from My Mind's Eye

The story:  This photo was taken during my vacation month in the country, in our garden.  It is a very relaxing and peaceful month with very simple pleasures!  In the morning, right after breakfast, I would go and work in the garden for a couple of hours - weeding, pruning if needed, dead-heading the flowers, adjusting and adding stakes;  whatever little chores needed doing.  I enjoyed working early in the day, before the heat set in (although we did not have a very hot summer this year).  Then, I hit the shower, and headed back out to sit in the garden and admire the view LOL.  Just before lunch was harvest time!!!  I really enjoyed this part of the day - walking around with my basket and harvesting whatever was available that particular morning.  I could then plan out that day's menu - lunch and dinner from the garden.  There is nothing like garden fresh meals and letting the garden bounty inspire you!

There you have it - another day in the garden.

Thanks for being here and have a wonderful day, whereever you are!  I will be back later in the week with layout number 3, which I promise is not the garden this time.  We could be back to the furkids though LOL...  Hugs, xoxo

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