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:

Trafalgar Square

Here's another layout from my London album - a nice afternoon at the National Gallery and time spent wandering around Trafalgar Square. Lots of tourists of course, and the obligatory piper.

Absolutely Fabulous

Or Ab-Fab if you don't have enough letters or space to form the full title! More Studio Calico kits in action here, plus some older paper from my stash.

Russell Square

Here's another layout from my UK album. Love the colours and Lisse Street kit was a perfect fit. Even found a spot for the squirrel!

Let's go!

Another couple of favourite layouts from my travel album. Street photography and editing with actions courtesy of A Beautiful Mess.  These are some more papers and embellishments from Studio Calico's Park Ave and Lisse Street kits. Love how all the colours worked together.

Streets of London

Time for another layout from my travel album.

Lots of favourite moments and places in London. Here are just a couple. I had some London themed paper but thought the colour wasn't quite right for the layout. The solution - to use some vellum on top - love the soft look. Other papers from Studio Calico's Lisse Street add-on kits and some old Stampin Up paper from my stash.

Dinner for five

Here's another of my favourite layouts from my travel album. This was a lovely dinner with friends. More of the Park Ave kit from Studio Calico in action.

Say yes.. to adventures

Another layout from a weekend away.  Paper from Studio Calico\s Piccadilly add-on (The Underground).

I've been trying most of my journaling because I'm really not that keen on my handwriting. Would love to improve it!

Weekend away

Here's another layout from my UK travel album. Fantastic weekend in a luxurious B & B - lovely for a treat.

I've been enjoying using some of my Studio Calico kits. I've got a lot of use from the Park Ave Scrapbook kit - the colours have worked very well for this album.

London calling

A Boden catalogue from last year turned out to be a very useful addition to my UK travel album. Combined with washi from my stash, and some embellishments from Studio Calico. I've been saving up some items that I thought would be useful for this album.

Chichester

Here's another layout from my UK travel album. This was a weekend I spent near Chichester - fabulous villages and one of those clear crisp English days:

UK travel album

I had a great trip to the UK in January and have finally been working on my travel album. Normally I end up using a lot of 'travel' themed products for these sorts of albums, but for this album I've tried a different approach and have mostly used regular product, especially some paper and embellishments from recent Studio Calico kits. Love how these pages turned out!

Here's the title page

And I just had to use this fabulous 'Everywhere' paper from SC.  It's actually 'scratch off' paper (country names can be revealed underneath the coating), although I couldn't bring myself to scratch it off in case I messed it up!

NYC wrap-up

Well here are another couple of layouts from NY to round off my time there. Not a big fan of modern art, but I felt I should visit the Guggenheim and MOMA. I was also following up some family roots in the city - trying to trace a great aunt  who lived there from the early 1900s. I've tracked her as fares 1940 wit the Federal Census and it was kind of fun to stand outside the apartment building where she once lived.

The Met

This was one of my favourite places in NYC. The Met is absolutely amazing. I think you could probably spend a week there and still not see everything. Great paintings, architecture and decorative items from all over the world. Here are just a few highlights.

The Lone Star state

After NYC I headed to Texas to spend a week with friends. Had a great time, including a trip to the fabulous Longhorn steak restaurant. Enough food on my plate to feed a whole family, but that seems to be par for the course!

Well-known sites

This time in NYC I had two trips up the Empire State (one at night and one during the day) and also went to the Top of the rock (Rockefeller Centre) to catch the view from there.

And on the right are some of the buildings that caught my eye on one of the bus trips we did. That was put on by the New York Road Runners just before the marathon. It's called 'Marathon by Coach' and follows the route from Staten Island at the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge through all 5 boroughs right to Central Park.

Morris-Jumel Mansion

I'd heard about the Morris-Jumel Mansion before I git to NY and always wondered what its significance was. The day I visited it was full of school parties which I think is a great sign. However, parts of the Mansion are in pretty poor repair and it needs substantial work to make it weather tight, replace areas of damp and damage etc. The adjoining Sylvan Terraces were a great find - beautifully restored row houses now part of an historic area.

9/11 Memorial

It was very moving to visit the 9/11 Memorial.

Last time I was in NYC, the site was just a hole surrounded by hoardings. I think the Memorial design chosen is very fitting and the site feels like a peaceful little haven in the middle of a busy and bustling city.

We were just slightly too early for the museum but the first new World Trade Center Building had just been topped off. There was some controversy over its height (all to do with whether the mast on top is a spire or antenna) but the Council on Tall Buildings confirmed it is a spire and at a symbolic 1776 feet, 1 WTC  is the tallest building in North America.

Green space

Well maybe more orange and yellow at this time of year! I'd forgotten how fabulous Central Park is and all the great spaces there. Of course in the autumn there are skiing rinks everywhere. Bit of a novelty for us.

The other great discovery was the High Line - a lineal park created from a disused railway line. It runs above the city and gives a unique perspective on NY lift. I recommend it highly (pun not intended) if you're going to be there:

Food glorious food

As I said on this layout, there was a bit of a food theme going on with several outings. So much on offer - bagels for breakfast, morning tea in a cafe in Little Italy, lunch in China Town and dinner at the Heartland Brewery before going up the Empire State Building.

It seems that Little Italy is getting smaller and Chinatown is getting larger - NYC is now home to the largest enclave of Chinese outside Asia.