A Wale of a Time

Sorry for the long absence on my blog. I was cruising around the UK with my family over the summer so I've been out of commission with my scrapbooking. But I did garner a lot of photo inspiration for future projects. Here is one of my favorite photos from my trip.

We took a self timed shot with the camera on the ground as we leaned forward. This is for a "Welcome to Wales" cover shot for the digital album I'm making for my family, so they'll have a record of the trip. 

For part of our trip, we stayed in a little town in SW Wales called Laugharne (rhymes with yarn). You've got to love that a town of fewer than 3,000 people has their own castle.

Along with a castle, Laugharne also housed poet, Dylan Thomas, during the last four years of his life. Our resort was really close to his former house and we walked by a few times. Near his house is a little shed that he used for writing purposes. My dad is peeking in the window.

Here is the interior view of Dylan Thomas' writing shed, set up as he would have had it set up. 

His house and shed overlook the Taf estuary and the views are just gorgeous. 

Our resort afforded the same views and I really felt like I was in Hawaii and not in Wales. The locals were ecstatic about the weather as they hadn't had a sunny summer for the past four years. I didn't have a chance to use the umbrellas and rain gear that I packed. 

Right outside our cabin was a red British phone booth. My hubby and I couldn't resist taking some photos there. 

I really enjoyed my time in Laugharne and traveling to some of the other towns in southern Wales.  It was a peaceful contrast to the second part of my trip which was spent in London. If you are considering a trip to the UK, I'd highly recommend Wales. Scrappy posts will soon be forthcoming. 

Thanks so much for stoppin' by,

We R Memory Guest Post - Oh Those Summer Nights

The News

I'm thrilled to share that I am a guest designer on We R Memory Keeper's blog today! Originally, my friend, Becky, told me to apply. I didn't know if I'd be chosen, but I still gave it a shot. Thanks Becky for encouraging me. 

The Materials

I received materials from We R Memory's new Country Livin' collection. For today's project, I had an idea to recreate a magical moment of country living. 

I went to Radio Shack and purchased a few additional components. 

The Process
I found a competent and supportive person to solder the pieces together for me. Thanks honey!

I cut some bugs on my Cameo and paper pieced them together.

I made some rolled flowers.

I hot glued the pieces together... and added some more finishing touches.

I really love how it turned out!

Be sure to check out today's post on We R Memory's blog.

I'm entering this in Five Simple Thing's Inspire Me Fridays #115 link party.

Thanks so much for flutterin' by,

Peeps Petite - ATC Trade

The Trade
My local scrapbook store, Pages from the Heart, hosted its first ATC trade last month and I thought I'd try it out. If you are not familiar with this concept, ATCs (artist trading cards) are miniature works of art around the size of a baseball card. Usually, a scrapper will make numerous versions of the same design and trade it with other scrappers to end up with varying designs.

The Rules
For the event, Pages created some guidelines for the participants.

1. The card is to be folded instead of a flat single layer card. 
2. The card is a standard ATC size of 2.5 x 3.5".
3. Use at least one stamp from Fun Stampers Journey. 
4. The theme is "thinking of you". 

My Card
I had heard about ATCs, but wasn't too familiar with them. One of the other participants was telling me that she'd make hundreds of the same design, and attend a show to trade them. Then she'd collect them in a special binder like baseball cards. I was glad that for my first trade I only had to make twelve. For my card, I made this gift card holder.

The Details
For one of my embellishments, I stamped some hearts on patterned paper. To make them more like an epoxy sticker, I added Journey Glaze, which is like Glossy Accents. I added some Stickles for some shine and Pearl Pen for a few small highlights.

I also cut some banners on my Cameo. Each banner was cut twice, the second time being a shadow.  I then stamped my sentiment on the banner.

I wanted some balloons to match the "celebrate" on my sentiment. Normally for just one card, I'd punch the balloons from patterned paper. Since I was making multiples, I punched the balloons on border stickers to streamline the process. 

I wanted a different fold that was the still the standard size so I used this die cut file from the Silhouette Store. The outer piece is an envelope which I decorated on the outside. When you open it, the inside has a pull out gift card holder. I placed the card recipe where the gift card would lie. 

Supplies

 Patterned Paper: Scenic Route (floral), Basic Grey (solid)

 Cardstock Sticker: Scenic Route (border strip)

 Stamps: Fun Stampers Journey: Little BIG Greetings 

     (sentiment), Hey Girl! (heart)

 Punch: Fiskars (balloon)

 Ink: Stampin’ Up

 Pens: Sakura (white, glitter)

 Pearl Pen: Viva Decor (cream)

 Glitter Glue: Stickles by Ranger (frosted lace)

 Glaze: Fun Stampers Journey

 Die Cut Machine: Silhouette Cameo

 Die Cut File: Silhouette #23969 

The Haul

These are the gorgeous cards I received in return.  

I wanted to point out that my friend Becky made this cutie. 

She has a dachshund of her own so I sent her Paper Made Bakery's June kit which had a dachshund stamp in it. She sent me this adorable card made from the kit.

Pages is hosting a Hugs trade once a month, called Peeps Petite. If you are in the Monrovia area, please join us. It will be on the first Wednesday of each month.  I also attended the second trade last week, so I'll be sure to post those cards soon, just as soon I return home from the UK.

Thanks so much for stoppin' by,

Wrigley Field Layout

The Layouts

A few days ago I shared my Chicago Bean layout. I made a companion page to that layout, so in the scrapbook the two pages would match as they have the same theme and color scheme, even though it isn't specifically a double paged layout. 

The Tour

Another highlight from the trip was a behind the scene tour we took of Wrigley Field. My hubby grew up in northwest Indiana and was always a Bears, Bulls and Cubs fan, but had never walked around the ballpark. The tour took us to the normally inaccessible places like the press box, dugout, clubroom/dressing rooms and the outskirts of the field. 

The Details

The first layout I made upon returning home was actually this Wrigley Field layout. 

I used the contents of my "Summer Fun" kit from Scrapbook & Cards Today's blog. It had the red and blue Cubs colors within the kit colors, and it made it easier to get started with the scrapping. I bought a Cubs keychain for the purpose of scrapping and incorporated it into the title. The softball was on a price tag, which I carefully pealed off and reused. 

I used some Elle's Studio Tidbits tags as functional embellishments. I grouped three of them under the title with my journaling included. 

I grouped a row of them at the top of the page as a sub-title. I stamped on some of the tags and added embellishments to others. I threaded them with a yellow cord to tie them together. 

Realistically, these are probably the only pages I'll make of my Chicago trip. In two days I'm off to Wales and London, so I'll be inundated by new photos and souvenirs to scrap. I'm really glad I got these two pages done in the interlude. 

The Challenges

I'm entering this in:

Life.Paper.Scrapbook. - June Color Challenge

Crafts and Me Challenges: Anything Goes
Through the Craftroom Door: Anything Goes
Make it Monday: #147 Anything Goes

Thanks so much for stoppin' by,