All that awesome was a treat - Layout No. 1 with the Scraptastic Boys of Summer Kit

Well, hello there and welcome !  I am always so glad when you take the time to stop by and there have been more and more of you doing so;  so I am doubly grateful.

I have started using the August Scraptastic Kit, the Boys of Summer Kit. I got the main kit and the add-on.  I must say that when I chose the kit, I was not really sure.  The colours are what convinced me to choose this one and in all honesty, the other kit was just too themey for me (it was the Celebration kit, a birthday themed kit).  But then this kit seemed geared to boys, young boys.  I don't have boys (except for the four-legged kind) and the "boys" in my family, and extended family, are either adults, young adults, or babies.  None of them are "gamey" types either.  I was sceptical .... BUT I was worried for nothing.  I loooove this kit so far. I have made 4 layouts and am not having trouble at all using all the fun stuff.  I got the extra wood veneer, from all the kits,  so that helps (the ones that are really geared toward games have been put in a give-away pile, but that still leaves me plenty to play with).  We also got a lovely gift of very useable flair and I bought extra flair.  Some of the die-cuts may need altering but all in all I am really happy with the kit.  Yay !

Here is the first layout I made :

What I did that was new to me :  I incorporated one of the large die-cuts into my title.  I love it and this is an example of "altering" the die-cut.  The bottom half of the die-cut is under the photo block.  The words continue with "in such a little kid".  That part was not useable for me.  The top part made an awesome beginning to my title and then I just continued using colourful little stickers from the Fancy Pants sticker sheet !  What do you think?

The supplies:  Since this is the first layout with the kit, everything on the page comes from the kit with very few exceptions.  I had a partial pack of the Fancy Pants Be Different 6 X 6 paper pad in my stash so added that to my homemade add-on since quite a bit of that collection is in the kit.  I used two sheets of the 6 X 6 pad for layering, the star and polka dot papers to the left and right of the photos.  The only other items from my own add-on are:

• the star wood veneer which came in one of my last Simon Says Stamp card kits,
• the gems which are from Bo Bunny (and part of the 10 embellishment packs I put aside for the October challenge over on our nicolejones911 Facebook group)
• The brads are from My Mind's Eye Lost and found 3 (Oliver) and also part of my challenge pack.

The story:  Planting garlic in our climate can be tricky.  It is a bulb so should be planted in the fall at the same time as tulips and other bulbs.  Some years are easier than others...The temperature needs to be cold enough that the plant will not sprout but not too cold to shock the bulb, or to make working the earth difficult.  It is often a very narrow window.  In 2012, we totally missed the window.  It was a terribly rainy autumn and then turned bitterly cold ... on days we thought we could plant, it poured!  I had read somewhere that there was a variety that could be planted in the spring.  So we had a fallback - phfewww!!! We diligently planted the garlic in the spring of 2013.  And, you ask?  MONUMENTAL FAIL!!! no garlic, not a one, nada.  As if that weren't enough, we missed the window again in the fall of 2013.  At that point, we just gave up.  But for some reason, we did not touch the area that had been planted in the spring when we planted the rest of the garden this year!  And .... drum roll .... LO AND BEHOLD...look what 2014 brought us!  A total surprise, a total treat - the best garlic EVER lol.  

So there you have the story of the garlic :).  What about this year?  It is shaping up to be a difficult one again .... it is 22 deg C today and has been all week!  But we almost planted last weekend because we had had a ground frost two weeks earlier.  The plan now is to plant on the 25th.  I will keep you posted (I know you just can't wait to know LOL).

Have a wonderful rest of the week and I will be back on the weekend with another layout and another silly story ! Hugs xo

Have cage, will travel, 12 X 12 scrapbook layout with the Scraptastic July 2014 Either Way Kit

Happy Sunday to you and thanks for stopping by!  It is Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada and a beautiful one it is.  The sun is shining bright today, the colours are absolutely gorgeous and the temperature is pleasant.  We had a family day yesterday - watching the Shanghai Tennis Masters semis, having brunch and generally catching up with each other.  I love those days!!  How about you?  what are you up to this weekend?  Any scrappy time?

I am bringing you the 14th and final layout done with my July Scraptastic Kit.   I so loved playing with this kit and as you will see later in this post, I think I did it proud - there are litterally just some tiny scraps left.  Here it is :

What I did that was new to me :  I mixed upper and lower case letters in the word "travel" in the title and I love how it looks.  I have seen many of you do this but never have - not for any specific reason, just because I didn't think of it or because I had all the letters I need in one case!  But I think it certainly adds interest to the title and now I wish I had done the first part of the title that way as well.  There is always a next time :) :)

The supplies:  I was down to bits and pieces of patterned paper so I used vanilla cardstock as my background (something else I don't do very often but love the look of on this one).  Everything is from the kit, with the following exceptions :

• The floral wood-grain paper is from the 6 X 6 Good day sunshine paper pad, from Simple Stories.  I had that paper pad in my stash and since a lot of this paper was in the other main kit for July, I made it part of my stash add-on.  The "Hello" die-cut also comes from that paper pad.
• The pink chipboard stars and camera are from Studio Calico Essentials
• The gold stickers are from Maggie Holmes and came in my June Citrus Twist PL kit
• I used Dear Lizzy Thickers for the word "will" in the title
• Finally, the bow was left over from the June kit.

The story:  Most cats don't like cages.  Not so with Chopin and Sophie (she is my sister's younger cat and Chopin's girlfriend.  She is also the kitty in the picture).  They love playing in and around the cage.  When we go visit, Sophie always comes over to the cage to nose kiss with Chopin before I let him out. When I do let him out, Miss Sophie goes into the cage and settles in for a few minutes LOL.  They then often play - one will go inside the cage and the other will be on the outside, on top of the cage and they play through the side openings. They also play chase and I gather that when one runs into the cage, it is a time out??  Oh and, the cage makes for a really cool obstacle when running - they jump over it, or run around it LOL.  Neither Chopin, nor Sophie, ever complain when being put in the cage but they are both travel snobs - they complain all the way in my sister's little car but not a peep out of either when we use my BIL's big truck !!!

So there you have it ... the story of the cage!!!  

And now, here are the only bits left of the Either Way Kit :

I can hardly believe all that is left on the Gold Thicker sheets because I used them on many titles - wow!!!  I can also see a few of the die cuts that will fit perfectly with the Boys of Summer kit.  The sticker sheet is part of the 10 items I want to use up in October (the challenge over on the nicolejones911 facebook group).  So I call this kit killed, done and dusted !!

My next post will be the first layout with the August kit, Boys of Summer.  

Have a wonderful end to the weekend and I will be back on Thursday with another layout and a few ramblings.  Hugs xoxo

Chatting with the neighbours - 12 X 12 layout with the July 2014 Scraptastic Either Way Kit

Hello there!  Welcome!  I am glad you stopped by.  How has your week been?  I am lucky this week since I have four days off.  It is the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, the fall colours are just brilliant and all in all it is crisp, fresh and rosy cheek weather out there.

This is the 13th layout with the July Either Way kit from Scraptastic.  I really enjoyed playing with this kit and used up pretty much every last bit of paper!!  For this layout, we are going back to my summer vacations :

What I did that was new for me:  I thought I would add a little feature to my posts.  I am so inspired by all of you - all my friends on facebook, You Tube and on your various blogs - that I have been trying new-to-me techniques, or placement, or embellishments on my pages.  On this page, I added some clear & black speech bubble stickers right on the photo.  I thought I was quite clever LOL, and that it fit right in with the title.  What do you think?

The supplies:  I was pretty much down to paper scraps for this one, but managed to get it done.  The Kraft cardstock is from my stash since I had already used up both sheets that came with the kit.  The items from my own stash add-on are:

• Wood veneer from a previous kit, or from one of my Citrus Twist PL kits.
• The enamel dots are from My Mind's Eye
• The mist is Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in Coffee Shop
• I used two alphas for the title :  the larger font is from Elle's Studio in Kraft (they may have come in this kit?? or if not they came in a previous one) and the smaller letter stickers have been in my stash for a couple of years now - they are from Glitz Design. Time to get them used up :)

The story : I called this one "Chatting with the neighbours" LOL.  Our little family house is right in the middle of country farmland so a lot of the neighbours are four-legged.  Our neighbour to the left has cows and horses!  Sometimes, it is the cows that are in the field adjacent to our house and sometimes it is the horses.  I love just sitting under a tree in the afternoon and watching the animals interact.  It is very relaxing and sometimes quite funny.  This summer, it was mainly the cows that were close and there were quite a few playful calves as well.  I walked up to the fence between the two properties and zoomed in a little for the photo.  They are not quite that close really when I am sitting under a shade tree facing the garden.

You made it to the end once again :) :)  Thanks so much and have a wonderful Friday and I will be back on Sunday with the last layout from this kit.
Hugs xoxo

12 X 12 layout - Ode to nappin', scrappin' and dreamin' ......

Well hello there and welcome!  I am so happy you are here.  The scrapping community is just so supportive, whether it be on You Tube, on the fun and inspiring groups we have on Facebook, on Instagram, and of course on our blogs!  Thank-you so much :)

I am still working with the Scraptastic July Kit - the Either Way kit.  It is almost done and dusted; just a couple more layouts.  When I am done with this kit, there sure won't be much left.  It was my favourite kit so far, but I think I am in for some beautiful kits to come; and I am getting anxious to get started with the August kit.  But before that, I want to share another kitty layout;  and, yes yet another one about the kitties and food LOL. It is the 11th layout with the Either Way Kit:

I had a lot of fun making this layout and I am pretty proud of the title :  "Ode to nappin', scrappin & dreamin' of catching yummy scallops" LOL.  I am enjoying coming up with out of the ordinary titles lately.  It is something that Nancy Sinclair (kittyscrapper on You Tube) does so well and she has inspired me to move away from the who-what-where titles once in a while.  

The supplies:  Pretty much everything on this layout comes from the kit, with very few exceptions :

• The biggest exception is the title :  I used 4 different alphas, all from my stash add-on :  Dear Lizzy foam thickers, Simple Stories Snap alphas, MME word stickers and alphas as well as October Afternoon Daily Flash mini alphas
• The washi tape comes from my August (or September) Citrus Twist PL kit
• Finally, the enamel dots are Dew Drops from Freckled Fawn.

I got the extra cardstock with the July kit and that definitely allowed me to get more layouts - I will finish with a total of 14.  That, I think, would make Nicole Jones (nicolejones911 on pretty much all social media) proud LOL.

The story:  There is not much of a story for this one.  Chopin just loves to lie on my scrap table when I am scrapping.  It helps that there are two quite hot lights shining on my work surface; and, since I am a cheapskate, I don't heat much in winter.  I believe in wearing socks and sweaters in the house, during the winter months, as opposed to shorts and sandals.  That was a constant disagreement between me and my ex-husband (that's a whole different story, with no layouts - so no fun :) :).  Anyway, back to this story ....  on this picture, Chopin is lounging and sleeping while I scrap about a special entree I made for my mom on Xmas. There are other times when he is not so quiet, and tries to "help" - he grabs die-cuts, wood veneer and just loves scraps as they "fly" of the paper trimmer. But plastic packaging has got to be the most fun - it makes noise as well.

Well, there you have it - a fun little bit of everyday scrappy fun from my house to yours!  Happy Sunday to all!  Talk to you soon :)

The proof is in the shrimp ! - 12 X 12 layout - July Scraptastic Kit

Happy Thursday to you !!!  It is a glorious day here - we are back to summer.  Such crazy weather this year.  Last week, there were a couple of mornings that I had to wear my winter scarf (and I even wore mitts one morning - yes, I did and yes I am a woosse LOL, but it did go down to 3 degrees C)!  Since Monday however, it has been sunny and getting warmer, by about two degrees each day.  The forecast calls for us getting back to 25-28 deg C this weekend.  I sure won't complain as we have a big garden weekend planned.  Lots of splitting and transplanting, harvesting the rest of the veg, and maybe planting the garlic (although it may actually be too warm for that).  How is the weather where you are?  What do you have planned for the weekend?  Any scrappy plans?  Please share.

I am back this time with another kitty layout.  It is the 9th layout with the July Either Way kit from Scraptastic :

Another title that I am proud of.  I find that the more I scrap, the more creative I become and the more fun I have.  Page designs and titles come a lot easier to me if I manage to scrap everyday - even if only for a few minutes.  I love that!

The supplies:  I used more product from my own add-on to create this page.  I used vanilla cardstock as the background; a first for me and I am really happy with the outcome. Other items that did not come with the kit include :

• I used Simple Stories alphas, Dear Lizzy thickers and October Afternoon Daily flash alphas for the title
• The viewfinders and dark brown woodgrain paper came from the Good Day Sunshine 6 X 6 pad from Simple Stories
• The cat wood veneer is from Studio Calico.  
• For the background stamping, I used a stamp from Stampin' Up (Gorgeous Grunge) and Soft Suede classic ink, also from Stampin' Up
• I used Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in Italian Sunset and Coffee Shop to splatter

The story:  As I have mentioned many times, I spent my vacation in the country; in the garden.  My sister and BIL went off touring Nova Scotia.  They brought Oliver, our family golden retriever with them, since they were camping in a quite luxurious tent trailer - if a tent trailer can be luxurious LOL.  This one has a king size bed, a fridge, a gas cooker as well as heating/airconditioning.  So I guess that qualifies as luxurious ?  Anyway, I had all three cats with me (my Chopin and their Sophie and Calli).  The picture is of Sophie.  She is actually Chopin's "girlfriend" - they are just adorable together (I have scrapped and blogged about a couple of layouts featuring them playing together).  Sophie is so tiny and she is also a very cuddly, mild-mannered and a very well-behaved girl.  That is until there is shrimp in the house, or should I say "shrimp in the plate" ...  I caught her in the act of trying to steal from my plate and when I put her down on the floor, she was literally tugging at my arm with her paw LOL.  So I sent a text message to my BIL telling him about it. He jokingly replied "I want proof".  So I snapped this picture and messaged it to him LOL!!!  

So there you have it!  That is my story for today.  I hope you have a wonderful weekend, spending time doing fun stuff with fun people.  Thanks for stopping by and spending your valuable time with me today.  Hugs xoxo 

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

1-2-3 Stretch - 12 X 12 Layout using the July Scraptastic Kit

Happy Thursday everyone!  I hope this finds you well and enjoying the day.  As I mentioned in my previous post, we were canning tomatoes over the weekend.  And, we were very productive indeed :) :)  We got  sixteen 500 ml jars and 11 one litre jars. On top of that, we got about twenty 500 ml jars of corn done as well.  So yay us!  This weekend, all the cats (3) are with me in town as my sister and best BIL have a Golden (Retriever) Rescue activity out of town.  Oliver of course goes with them.   I am promising myself a fun scrappy weekend.  Then back to the garden next weekend to plant the garlic and finish harvesting the carrots, beets, turnips, eggplants and peppers.

Today, I want to share the sixth layout I made with the July Either Way Kit from Scraptastic.  I am getting a lot of mileage out of this kit and add-on.  The colours and patterns are so lovely and luscious.  

We are back to a puppy layout - you may have noticed that my main scrappy subjects are the furkids, travel, the garden and its bounty, food and then some everyday moments.  I try to get a few layouts from each category done with every kit.  So, on to the layout :

I am so glad I got this photo; it was such a cute and spontaneous moment.  So often, these moments happen and for whatever reason I don't manage to get a photo.  Pets will not pose and certainly won't "stay" when you want to get a photo LOL.  But this one, just worked out beautifully !!!

The supplies: I chose the Either Way kit in July and am really happy with my choice.  But I was lucky to get the Simple Stories 6 X 6 Good Day Sunshine pad as part of my Citrus Twist PL kit, so I made it part of my stash add-on since that collection was the main focus of the other Scraptastic July Kit. 

• The majority of the items on this page are from the main kit and from the Good Day Sunshine 6 X 6 paper pad.
• I used a one inch circle punch to punch out the view finders and then also used a few pieces from the cut-apart sheets in that pad.
• the wood veneer, enamel dots and stickers are from the kit as are those beautiful gold glitter thickers.  I got so much use out of them - four titles so far!
• the gold stickers are from my stash add-on and I believe they came in a Citrus Twist PL kit and are from the Oh Darling collection.

The story :  The photo was taken the day we planted the garden this year.  Ron had strained his back during the week as he worked to prepare the earth for our planting endeavour.  So he had to wear a brace for a couple of weeks.  Our planting day was a full day of physical work - a lot of bending, crouching, being on our knees etc.  So at the end of the day, Ron laid down on the floor to "straighten out" his back.  Oliver thought this was such an interesting new game :).  He ran over to Ron and immediately laid down on his back as well!!!!  I am so happy I got this photo.

So there you have it.  Thanks for joining me again today and I plan on being back on the weekend with a couple more layouts.  Until then, be happy and have fun.  Hugs