Famous Walls

If you don't already know I love to travel, I don't know who's blog you've been reading :) Since so many of my pages features this trip or that one. I love me some travel scrapbooking!

But my pages aren't always "We went", "I saw", "We did". I like to mix things up and tie places together sometimes. Like I did for this page that features some of the famous walls I've visited.

I used the June Scrapbook Circle kit (which is deliciously travel themed) and the You are Here add on and stuck with a navy/red/teal color scheme.

That middle tag is a cut file from The Cut Shoppe. I ended up flipping it around so that the tag part was on the other end.

Embellishing this page was really quick and easy, just three little clusters scattered around. Each one consisting of the country name + geo tag sticker + date label + enamel shape.

I finished the page and then thought it looked a tiny bit unfinished. So I went with my go to tilted design and adhered it to a sheet of kraft cardstock. The stitching and roughing up the edges really made it feel complete.

cheers & besos,

Timeline Video

Remember yesterday how I mentioned I was happy? Well this video will show you the reason why. It's all about overcoming obstacles when you scrapbook ;) Even small lovable furry ones!!

Introducing Mac (aka Macclesfield)!! 

I'm so smitten but sooo tired. She's not letting me get much sleep these days. But she makes me happy and that's so ok.

Do your pets love to get involved in you scrapbooking? 

cheers & besos,

China Timeline

Hey yall! Halfway through the week and it feels like it has been a long one. My social life has been super busy lately so also not getting a whole lot of rest. But I'm happy. So happy =) 

I'll share more about that later, but this morning I wanted to blog my first Hello Story layout. 

You only have until tonight to register for this class, so get on it! I'm like 99.9999% sure you won't be disappointed. Because Ali isn't a legend for nothing. She's the best! So inspiring, simply amazing.

Here's my first page, a double page layout that's pretty much a direct copy of one of Ali's class layouts. If there's anyone I have no qualms about directly copying, its Ali. Her clean and simple style is amazing and she adds just the right touches of design and texture. Ahh! I could gush on Ali all day, but back to my page.

It's pages 2-3 for my China/Thailand album. (See the cover page, another lift, here) It's an overview of where I went the two weeks I visited. And yes, I do recognize that Hong Kong is it's own separate entity. It was just easier for me to include it no this one page. So hope I don't offend anyone!

I used geotags & compasses in fitting with the travel theme and tons of my fave travel stamps; sets from Kelly Purkey, October Afternoon, Mama Elephant.

The rest is just the details. Love these plastic letters from Crate Paper's The Pier collection!

I mixed stamps and brads as my primary embellishments. The Simple Stories Urban Traveler set is absolutely fabulous!

I hand wrote all of my journaling and included some stamping in there as well.

The majority of the stamping was done with the Brilliance gold ink pad. LOVE!

And I added a really subtle background design to the white cardstock. I stamped in gray on a scratch sheet of paper and then used the inked October Afternoon stamp again for a very soft look. You can barely see the "See the world" sentiment but it's there!

I have a process video for this layout coming. And no worries, it's a very different kind of process video. All about overcoming obstacles when you scrapbook, not necessarily showing you how I made the page. Because believe me, you want to see Ali do it, not me! So sign up, won't ya?

Yall have a lovely day!!

cheers & besos,

Best Great Wall Memory

Hiya! Sharing a Shimelle sketch page today. I got to use an enlarged print with this one. It was my first time using my large format at home printer. Over Christmas, I got a Pixma iX6520 for super cheap. I like it so far, but learned that I need to print on glossy paper vs matte.

I also made this page for Simon Says Stamps "what are you known for" challenge. 

Here's how it's my style:

I love to mix pattern paper.

And also different size prints. 

Almost all of my pages have some kind of mist. 

For this one I used a mask and a mix of brown & gold ink. 

Lately, I've been using a ton of metallic. Love these as neutrals.

And speaking of neutrals, gray is undoubtedly my favorite neutral these days.

I also print my journaling on vellum a ton.

But I think the biggest component of my "style" is that I use color in my pages. Lots of color! And I pick my color choices based on my photos.

I love this page and it's story. It was an amazing experience in and of itself to visit the Great Wall. But for it to then start snowing! That just made it magical.

Here's a video I took when it started. I heard that a high school classmate used it in her middle school classroom. And that the kids thought it was very cool. =) Maybe I inspired one of them to travel the world!

cheers & besos,

Sketchbook 4| No.11

Do you have sensory memories? Like when you smell or taste something and instantly brings you back to a particular place & time in your life? I had that the other day, when I was eating dried kiwi of all things.

The first time I ever had dried kiwi, I was on a train in China. It was a snack I picked up for the ride from Xi'an to Shanghai and thank goodness I did because we had no idea how long that ride would actually take! I remember being so hungry when we finally made it to Shanghai, all of our kiwi now gone.

I discovered it again in my local grocery store and picked some up to snack on. I'd forgotten that I'd eaten it that first time in China. But the second I tasted it, it brought me back to here, to the exact place in that photo and I knew I had to scrap it.

This has to be one of the most simple layouts I've ever made. There aren't a lot of products and not much dimension. It also photographed terribly. But I love the memory I captured.

I used the 35mm kit + Ditto Letter Stamps + Orchard Mister Huey/Red Maya Mist & some Prima Fluid Edger Chalk ink (love this stuff, it's like butter!)

Journaling Reads: This is how I travel, 2nd, even 3rd class if need be. I know this could be someone else's nightmare, sleeping 2 ft away from a perfect stranger. But if it measn getting where I need or want to be, I'll do it. This was the mother of all train rides, from interior China (Xian) to the coast at Shanghai. It was least 13 hours, probably more. I felt safe and content in my little berth, the boys above me if I needed any help. Plus, it was a breeze compared to traveling 3rd class, sitting upright knee to knee on a crowded train. Some of my most vidi travel memories are from these Chinese trains. We got to experience the whole spectrum on this trip.

And because it's not wildly apparent, those black things down at the bottom are my knees. See! I'm in the photo too =)

Even though the page ended up not having anything to do with kiwi, it's what sparked the memory. Thank you kiwi, for helping me not to forget!

cheers & besos,

Perfect Polka Dot

I have succeeded. I have finally found the perfect polka dot paper. It's soft, it's neutral, it goes with everything! It's from the new Dear Lizzy line and it's called Sea Breeze.

Here are two layouts I made using Sea Breeze as a background:

A page from Xi'an, China, with 3 4x6 photos. I couldn't come up with a more clever photo design, what with 2 horizontal and 1 vertical photo. I think the grid worked out. I splashed some Pickle Mister Huey on the background, used the stamp that came with my Daydream Believer kit for my journaling. Which I also think would make a great frame for a photo strip, btw.

I added some twine, buttons, and those great butterfly embellishments as accents on the page.

I was channeling my inner Scrappy Jedi with this next layout. I love Melissa's layered style and all of the white space in her designs.

The page is about work, how I've finally filled in the big shoes I had to fill. After 1.5 years it's all come together. Figuring out the work environment, the sector, the government. And although I'll never be an expert on any of these things, at least I know now that I don't have to be. That no one expects us to have all of the answers at the top of our head. And that my friends, is a huge relief!

It's a bit hard to tell, but the shirt I'm wearing in this photo is purple. So I played with a purple/gold/silver/tan color scheme.

I did some splattering with Purple Maya Mist and layered small strips of paper, ribbon & stickers on the ends of the page.

See, perfect neutral right?! It can be dressed up, dressed down, the skies the limit! I will be purchasing more of it and it's cousin, Hazy Horizon, in the very near future.

Do you have a favorite neutral patterned paper? I'd love to see it! Link it up in the comments, won'tcha?

cheers & besos,

My Friend James

I've been digging into my China pics lately. Just scrapping a few here in there with no particular rhyme or reason.

These had me inspired the other day.

Mainly because in just a little over a month, I get to go visit this guy and several other of my old London roomies!!

I could not be more excited :)

So in honor of my upcoming trip, I thought I'd scrap these photos.

This is so quintessentially James. He's clever & quiet, well spoken, the smartest person I know. And above all else, fun!

And able to have a good time.

And make us all laugh.

And deliver perfectly a funny photo.

As to the page, I stamped a Studio Calico background stamp and embossed with white powder. Then just dug into my brad collection for brown, blue and orange brads. I thought the colors would go well with these photos, pulling the blues from his clothes and the orange from the background in the one (btw, check out the clearly confused Chinese guy in the background ^).

I also used a stamp set from Kelly Panacci (go buy it, seriously!) to embellish and a few bits of AC Amy Tangerine tape!

Again, I can't stress how excited I am to see him and my sweets Becky and Tom! It's D.C. or bust for me, come November 18 =)

xxbesos

If only you knew...

Soooo I'm really bad at blogging.

But a big fan of sharing!

The blog will go on, even with all of my little hiatuses.

But I have been scrapbooking! And I'm happy to share a page today :)

It features some truly beautiful product, the Crate Paper Random line. I LOVE this line!

It's just so pretty. It's the colors that do it, they're so vibrant and rich.

I'm calling this a hybrid page. But not because I printed the journaling.

It's a travel page, using photos from my day touring the Forbidden Palace. And part of the journaling is about that day...

But I couldn't stop looking at this cheeky grin on my face, and thinking if only you knew what was coming for you, when this whole Mountbatten adventure was over.

If only you knew...

"Look at you, with your silly grin and wantonly carefree attitude.

If only you knew...

If only you knew you were about to embark on some heavy times. Some very low points and then extreme hard times.

If only you knew you were about to lose a very important person in your life, so slowly and so wretchedly to cancer.

If only you knew you'd slip so far down into sadness and darkness that it was hard to think of the world as anything but gray and black.

If only you knew you'd try endlessly and fruitlessly to find work, a job, a career, a purpose.

If only you knew you'd become an Aunt and the world would burst forth anew.

If only you knew the low times don't last forever, if you have the willpower to make things changes.

If only you knew you'd get a job that would start you on your dream career, the one that let's you travel.

If only you knew that with time and patience and a little help from God, that any situation, however low or bad can somehow become your ideal, your dream."

xxbesos

Little Wild Goose Pagoda

I have a China page to share today.

It's one of those "sacrificial" layouts that I used to get some creativity going.

It's not my favorite, but it's another layout to add to my scrapbook and more photos actually scrapped so I'm very happy about that.

I loved the designs for Shimelle's June 2011 prompt for 4x6 photo love. But wasn't sure that I had 6 vertical photos of one "theme".

Then I printed me China photos...and was excited to see that I had just enough!

I had to do some tweaking, that photo of me in the middle was originally a landscape shot. But with the help of PSE, I cropped it down to a usable vertical image.

I added some stamped cardstock and patterned paper rectangles to the top and bottom of each photo, distressing the edges for some texture.

And added my journaling in strips.

"On a pretty fall day during the middle of our Chinese adventure, we walked out to see the Little Goose Pagoda inside of the Xi'an History Museum."

"Little? Hardly! It was flight after flight up and each one got narrower and shorter. Here is Patrick bent half way over as we found that his 6'3" frame wasn't exactly suited to China."

xxbesos

China...a la KP

Heyo! I've got some more inspiration for you. This time courtesy of my scrap crush, Kelly Purkey.

She's amazing, I promise.

Just look at this Thailand page she did!

It's vibrant, it's creative, it's SO KP!

What drew me in:

• Straight out the gate, it was the colors. I loved the varying blues and all of the bright patterns.
• It's a map! And a creative one at that =)
• Travel themed [check]
• Circle punched photos, I do that too! [Here, here & here too...]
• It's Thailand. I lived there. It has a special place in my heart
• And let's face it, it's by KP. I'd scraplift any page of hers!

And so on to my page...

I went for it with my China photos and will be using this as title page for my album.

I don't have Adobe Illustrator, so I had to improvise a bit. I free-handed the outline of China as best I could and cut it and the coordinating mask out.

It looks close enough to me :)

I just had to use the new Amy Tangerine for this too!

Circle punched all of my photos and pop dotted them off the page. I could have pop dotted all of the pieces like KP did, but I'm just too lazy!

And since the pieces felt a bit flat, I decided to add "stitching" in between them all to make them feel more cohesive.

Journaling Reads:

"China was one of the most amazing trips of my life. It was the first time I'd ever traveled alone and I could not have been more embraced by the people and the culture. James and Patrick joined me in Beijing and from there we traveled to Xi'an, Shanghai and then Hong Kong. It was an adventure for the history books."

And that's my page! I've been itching to try this map idea out, ever since Kelly posted it.

I'm working on some more inspiration posts to share very soon. Thanks for dropping by!

xxbesos