Mini Album: Sweden - Part I

Welcome back!

So over the summer last year my oldest friend growing up, Adam, came to visit me here in Sweden (finally - yeah!).  I had toyed with the idea of making him a mini album of the trip for his Christmas gift and then got busy with work.  As the holidays suddenly landed on top of me, I found a great set of Simple Stories travel themed SNAP! products at the local craft shop; they were even rather masculine colours.  I hemmed and hawed over whether I should buy them, for fear that I wouldn't get the album done in time but I just couldn't resist so I bought them anyway.

And then I dragged my feet in starting the album.  I mean, I really dragged my feet.  The second from last weekend before I was set to fly out, I finally ordered the photos.  Then I fretted over whether they would arrive in enough time for me to actually put together the album.  They did - but only just.  I whipped up this puppy in two days straight!

The album is divided into five chapters and today I'll share with you the first chapter, which features general sight seeing around Malmö, Sweden.  And apologies for the photos - due to having left this project so late to create, I had to photograph it away from home before handing it over so there are weird reflections and stuff that couldn't be helped at the time.

Cover

I love this photo of us together:

Chapter 1

Itinerary

I marked Toronto and Malmö on this world map:

World Map

For these journaling cards, I filled in two and left one with space for writing blank for Adam to fill in himself.

Journaling Cards

Accent cards

Some photo enlargements of special sights nearby:

Turning Torso

Öresundsbro

And a panoramic of the bridge with a really pretty sunset:

Panoramic

Paddling on the canal

Touring Stortorget

I added a journaling card for a top ten list and a little envelope for tucking away saved tickets:

Top ten & ephemera envelope

Sights of Stortorget

Sights around Malmö

Malmöhus Museum

Whew!  That's all for today; be sure to come back for the remaining chapters.

Pinspiration Sunday

Hello, everyone.  It's been one of those grey, dreary and rainy Sundays, which has meant Oskar and I have curled up in bed and I've been busy, busy, busy online.  That should translate to more to share here on the blog shortly.  Now, go grab your hot beverage of choice and come join me in snuggling up for some photo goodies.

Currently:

* watching - Restoration House Nightmare
* reading - McCall's Quick Quilts - Nov/Dec. issue
* eating - toast and peanut butter
* drinking - water
* wearing - PJs
* weather - rainy, 7C
* feeling - peckish
* wanting - to stay curled up at home
* needing - to start making my Christmas cards
* planning - to finally buy new trousers tomorrow (I hope)
* thinking - I should have bought groceries today...
* loving - having ordered a new box of goodies from 2Peas!
* enjoying - a quiet afternoon at home

And now on to the pins...

Scrappy Chevron Picnic Quilt

Super simple quilt of chevrons and rectangular blocks.  Lovely, cheery colours, although I question using white for a picnic quilt.  ;)

Basting Tutorial: 1x3" Boards

Are you (like me) short on space to lay out quilts for basting?  This might be something you want to have a go with, then - basting using two 1x3" boards, which can be set up on a kitchen table.  No more crawling around on your knees or aching back.

Embroidery Panel

How gorgeous is this rainbow on black embroidery panel?  It makes me think of some celestial nebula.

Journaling on Self-Portrait Pages

Tips from 2Peas Garden Girl, Jill Sprout, on journaling about yourself; a topic that many scrapbookers find challenging but is - IMO - so important.

Freckled Fawn Flair

Freckled Fawn is now stocking their own flair and boy, are they cute!  Four sets to choose from currently, each set contains two flair.

Freckled Fawn Cork Frames

Can't get enough cork on your scrapbook pages?  Check out these cute stamped frames?  I might need this set for my next up-coming birthday.  :)

Recolour Staples

Such a simple but great idea for recolouring staples instead of buying pricier coloured versions.  Keep this in mind for your Christmas cards and layouts this year!

Cello Tape Photo Transfers

I still need to try this technique - works for any magazine pictures and certain types of printed pictures.

Poppy Tones

And in honour of Remembrance Day tomorrow, I'm sharing this beautiful poppy-inspired colour palette.  My most heart-felt thanks and appreciation to all of those who have served; to those who possess the strength that I do not.

Who Knew

Whew!  Work week done - hello, weekend!  I'm looking forward to another crafty weekend but I still have one more LO from last Sunday to share with you.  Remember how a week ago I posted this photo?

A photo badge of my childhood self, my mum and my granny from the '80s.  Unsurprisingly, many people commented that I simply had to scrapbook this little treasure and I couldn't agree more.  So I pulled out my new Hello Again collection by Carta Bella and got to work and here is the final product:

I have to admit, I was channeling Glitter Girl's episode #85: It's All Hunky Dorey for this LO. Like Glitter Girl, I used the same background paper because it's my absolute favourite in the whole collection.  I liked the idea of using the pop of black and great typography for contrast.  I also added that lovely map print from Webster's Pages, which ties in with the journaling.  And I couldn't resist including a View Master slide reel to re-inforce the '80s timeline.

I've been steadily working my way through my bag of Basic Grey Knee Highs and Bow Ties chipboard pieces but hadn't yet used any of the circles.  I was so thrilled to find this largest one was orange with tiny pink dots and worked really well with the other papers.  The extra large scallop die cut is from OA's Woodland Park pack.

The journaling card was part of the Hello Again cut-apart sheet and the glasses with the 'looking back' is from my favourite KI Memories stamp set - just so perfect for this LO.  And I took great cheeky pleasure at throwing in the 'be awesome' chipboard.  I used my first puffy sticker geotag here and a 2Peas star-shaped paper clip.  I added my estimate for the date - 1984.  I'm really happy with this LO and now I really can't wait to get scans of more childhood photos.  I'll have to see about doing that when I'm back home visiting my parents over the winter holidays.

In other news, last night I stopped into the big craft chain store here in Sweden, Panduro Hobby, and was super excited to discover a bunch of new scrapbooking goodies on offer:

That's right - the Simple Stories Snap! line!  And it doesn't appear to just be bits and pieces this time, either but - dare I say? - full line!  The binders, inserts, page protectors, papers, envelopes, journaling cards, etc.  I just picked up the 6x6 paper pad and one of the 3x4 journaling card packs for now but then I realised that this will be perfect to make a special birthday gift for a friend so clearly I'm going to need to go back and get more supplies for that project.  So exciting!

And check out this phrase and date roller stamp - love it!  This is a Panduro Hobby own brand stamp and it's in English, which is awesome.  I really like the variety of phrases, from the simple 'date' to several that will be perfect for travel themes and some fun symbols and pictures (totally love the little cutlery set for Thursday dinner photos).

All right, that's all I've got for now.  Check back later this weekend for more.

Flashback to the '80s

So with the impending bathroom renovation on the horizon, I had to spend some time this week shifting things out of kitchen and bathroom cabinets and moving things out of the foyer.  It's amazing what you will find doing these sorts of things.

I've had a large box sitting relatively untouched in my foyer since moving into my flat that I started sorting through in the hopes of getting rid of most of it.  Turns out there was a lot more in there than I had remembered (always the way, right?) and then a small treasure I didn't even know I still had:

This is an old photo badge (AKA flair) of myself - probably around age 7 - and my mum and granny, taken at Canada's Wonderland back in the '80s.  I can't believe I still have this.  Furthermore, I can't think for the life of me why I brought it to Sweden; but I do find myself sitting starring at it time and again.

I don't yet have any old photos scanned from my childhood so this discovery has excited me at the possibility of scrapping my younger self.  I'll keep you posted on the layout.

Oh, and last week I shared a link to fotor.com, a website that allows you to make photo collages for free.  Well, I received my latest photo order, including several collages made using their site, two of which were enlarged to 15x20cm and they look great - everything retained the original photo quality so I'm pleased and will continue to use them again.

In an Octopus' Garden

I've been working on getting back into a regular scrapping routine since having returned to work recently.  It's not been easy - especially the work; but we won't get into that.  But I do have another new LO to share with you today; this time returning to my Barcelona holiday photos.

In an Octopus' Garden

I am totally in love with these CP retro slide frames.  Not only do they look great and are a great eye-catching feature on a page but I love just how quick and easy they can make a page come together.  I also especially like that these chipboards have a smooth texture, unlike many of the matte/pixelated chipboards used by many companies.

I started by blotting some blue and green spray mists onto my cardstock base, then sprinkled on more blue, green and some white mist and stamped some 'bubble' shapes around the page.  There was a dicey moment when my acrylic block somehow flew out of my hand and landed stamp-side down in the upper right-hand corner but I just rolled with it.

For the title, I reached into my basket of current supplies and just grabbed the first thing that called out to me - Amy Tan's vellum sticker alphas from Yes, Please.  I decided to mix things up and use the orange letters, since there were pops of orange in several of the photos and I liked the idea of using a complimentary colour palette.  I knew I also wanted to use this cute wave border strip so layered it up in the title along with the circular letter stickers and I really like the effect.

I took my time fussing cutting this little octopus from FP's Down by the Shore.  Got to use a new SC cork embellishment and added another pop of orange and some enamel dots.

I've had these adorable fish buttons for a while now, just waiting for the perfect project and when I saw the little fish paper in Down by the Shore, it inspired me to use them here (even though I didn't use that paper on the LO in the end).  A few white enamel dots add some textured air bubbles to each fish.

And I was so thrilled when I discovered that yes, I did have bright orange enamel dots and sprinkled a few in the topmost cluster, along with a piece of flair from a package I hadn't yet broken into.

To finish everything off, I decided to back the page up with some distressed orange watercolour paper, do a little machine sewing around two of the corners and really distress the inner border for some depth and interest.  I also think the distressed edge gives a little impression of an old 'message in a bottle' feeling.

August Haul & Amsterdam Title Page

Well, I'm happy to say that the first week of classes is over and it's the weekend!  Time for a much-needed rest and a return to crafty goodness.  I have two things to share with you today - the first is a video of my August 2Peas box of goodies (AKA the 'haul' video) and the second is a layout using several of these new supplies - yeah!  So, let's get started, shall we?

My latest purchase has focused on two collections: The Pier by Crate Paper and Hello Again by Carta Bella with a mix of embellishments that will compliment both of these collections and easily be rolled into my existing stash.

Note: My apologies for some of the funky shadows - everything looked fine when I was setting up and of course during filming huge clouds rolled in and blocked out the natural light.  And a freight train chose to pass by half way through, too - the unpredictability of living on an active railway.

And now a new layout using some of these fun, new supplies.  This is a title page to go into my travel album for my Netherlands chapter.

Amsterdam

It features a photo enlargement from Keukenhof Gardens and I chose the large, rainbow chevron paper from The Pier to compliment and draw out the beautiful colours of the flowers in the photo.  I also used the Kensei chipboard Thickers for the title and layered them on top of my photo in some white space.

I wanted to keep the embellishments somewhat simple so as not to detract from the photo but I just couldn't resist clustering in some slide frames.  I backed each of them with coloured paper and layered up stickers, flair and a cork arrow.  I also used a few more of my Amy Tan Yes, Please vellum stickers - the tree was just too perfect for this LO and I loved how perfectly the 'delightful' sticker fit into the frame and paired it with a 'memories' phrase sticker, which leads nicely into the title further along the page.

And that's it - just keeping it simple today.  I feel like I've been out of my scrapping routine for some time now am feeling a little rusty so this was a nice warm up to get back into the groove.  Expect more soon.