More Italy - Sorrento

I've been having great fun trying out different cut files with my Cameo. Here's a double page layout with some more photos from another trip to Italy - this time Naples and the Amalfi Coast. The script font on the left is 'Bonjour', by Nicky Laatz, which I found on Creative Market a wonderful site for fonts, graphics and more!

Explore Venice

I Italy is definitely one of my favourite places to visit and I've been enjoying reliving some of this memories while working with some older photos from travels in the early 19902. Here's a layout featuring some photos from Venice. And I even managed to include a photo of a postcard I sent home at the time.

Story Kit layouts revisited

I've been enjoying my Story kit subscription, although I haven't done anything with the last few kits yet - too many other projects on the go. But here's a look at a layout using the 'Craft' kit from a few months ago.

I was very pleased to get a craft project from my little niece - a cute handmade penguin. I thought it would be fun to turn it into a layout and made a penguin of my own to accompany it!

Silhouette Cameo - cropping background shapes

I love the 12x12 cutting capabilities of my Cameo, but I mostly scrap A4 or 8 1/2 x 11 and was having a hard time finding background cutting files that would work well. Yes, there are a few available in the Silhouette Design Store, or from other sellers, but I also have a lot of 12x12 backgrounds and wasn't sure how to make them work.

Thanks to Vanessa's blog, I came across a great video tutorial on how to crop backgrounds in Silhouette Studio. The example involved making a PL card, but the technique is the same no matter what size you want to work with.

Check out the video here.

And here are a couple of screenshots of my crop in progress:

Hello Florence

I've been to Florence three times and it' still one of my favourite destinations. Lots of fun memories redoing these old photos - it really was a trip of a lifetime, just as my journaling says ;)

Let's be adventurous

Here's another layout from my travel album - reliving a journey through the Canadian Rockies and along the Icefields Parkway. Seems like another life!

Story kit layouts revisited

I've been a  bit slack using my Story Kits from Ali Edwards just recently - my excuse is that I've been concentrating on my travel album and lots of cards. But here's a layout from the 'Craft' kit a few months ago.

Going back and looking at these will hopefully get me motivated again. They are great kits if anyone is considering signing up!

Wonders of the Cameo

I've just taken delivery of a new Silhouette Cameo. My old Cricut was on the way out, and when I saw the Cameo on sale on Amazon, I didn't hesitate!

I'm getting to grips with all the machine can do, and have been on the hunt for cut files. Here's a great circle file posted by Geralyn Sy a while ago - perfect for my travel album and a page about Italy:

And here's a close up of the cut which I backed with patterned paper:

You can find the cut file at the end of Gernlyn's blog post here.

Tell a story

I've been subscribing to Ali Edwards' Story Kits this year, and trying to get better at telling the stories, rather than just minimising the journaling. Here's another layout from my European travel album - the story of a day trip with my favourite aunt.

The beginning

I've mentioned that I'm working on an album documenting my travels in the early 1990s. It's been a lot of fun reliving those days.  And I'm enjoying using product rather than hoarding it!

Here's a double spread from my Canada trip which started my love of travelling ;)

Go - Madrid

I'm making good progress with my 90's layouts. I've got such a lot of use from Studio Calico's world stamps - here's the Europe stamp in action, paired with a card from Ali Edwards' Go Story kit. The alpha stamp is SC's Wes stamp, which I'm using for most of my titles.

Cardstock challenge

I use a lot of white cardstock for my scrapbook layouts. Patterned paper also gets a look-in, but I rarely use coloured cardstock these days. So I thought I'd challenge myself to use something other than white for a background for these pics from Toledo, Spain. I quite like the effect, but don't think grey will be displacing white just yet!

Way back when - 90s album

One of my big projects for this year is going through several photo albums of the time I spent in the UK and Europe in the early 90s and scrapping the best photos and scanning remainder so I have a digital record of everything.

it's fun to relive a lot of experiences from those times - I'm so grateful for all the opportunities I had to travel and meet new people, see all sorts of amazing places. Here's one of my recent layouts - a spread from a holiday in Portugal.

Story Kit layouts

Loving my sub to Ali Edwards' Story Kit. Lots of interesting themes and the educational content and inspiration is great.

Here's a recent layout using the 'Heart' kit - recalling some special times in Austria:

My Project Life 6x8

Fast forward to July. Some fun cards in the Studio Calico kits this month - like the July kit out. It's winter here, but I can dream about summer!

Along the Thames

Still working on my travel album from the UK. This turned out to be one of my favourite layouts. Managed to find some free Photo Booth templates for Photoshop Elements which made putting together these photos super easy.

My Project Life 6x8

And here's the last spread from June. Lots of fin colours and patterns this month.

My Project Life 6x8

Here are another couple of spreads from my album. Still using my Studio Calico kits here, although I'm planning on a different approach for next year - more about that later ;)

My Project Life 6x8

Not sure where the year is going, but I'm keeping up to day with my album. Here's a spread from June, again using my Studio Calico kits.  I recently started a subscription with Ali Edwards' Story Kits and am really impressed with the kits so far. Will share some layouts soon:

Wallace Collection

I haven't been to the Wallace Collection in years - probably about 20 to be exact! This time I went back and spent a few happy hours enjoying the collection. Definitely worth seeing.