Discover the Midland Ice Caves

Happy Scrappy New Year ! Another year is upon us and it's time for me to set scrapbooking goals.

Goal # 1 - Spend less than $75.00, which should be easily accomplished.

Goal # 2 - Create at least 4 layouts using nothing but scraps. At the end of the year, ditching scraps I didn't use. I'm tired of looking at them.

Goal # 3 - Continue using stamps on every layout, and my Silhouette on as many as possible. 

My first layout of 2020 is for the Scrap-Our-Stash "Bingo" challenge. http://scrapourstash.blogspot.com

I chose the fourth row across: 4+pattern paper, brad, stamp, doily, use a punch.

A stamp was used under the title work, a alphabet stamps set was used for the word M"idland", and one for the "here's the story" tag. 

Brads were used on the "seize the day" washi tape, and a doily as embellishment. You can see the punched border above the strip of washi tape. There are 6 pattern papers. 

Finally, the journaling attached to the back of my layout reads;

On New Year’s Day, Dave suggested we ask Dan, Geneviève and the kids to go see the Midland Ice Caves, a local attraction none of us had ever been to.

We all set out after lunch.  There was a steady flow of people who, like us, thought it was the perfect day for this activity, many with children and family pet. I had considered bringing Maggie but knew she could not handle the long walk. It gave us a chance to talk and laugh with Victor and Violet, Geneviève and Dan.

After a half-hour walk, uphill, through famers’ fields and wood trails, we reached our destination. We were all really impressed at the sight of the wall of thick ice, affixed to a steep rock outcropping, before us.  There was a tricky walk to get down to the base of the frozen waterfall. Luckily, there were anchored ropes to hold on to. The kids bypassed the ropes and simply slid down the hill on their bums. Once at the bottom, we could see the openings in the ice where you accessed the caves in behind. The kids loved going in and out of the caves, climbing back up the hill and sliding down. They had a great time. After an hour or so we hit the trail for the walk back to our vehicles.

We really enjoyed our afternoon discovering the Midland Ice Caves. We will be back. 

 Thank you for having a look, and for any comment you may care to leave.

Until next time, À la prochaine,
Jacynthe 😊

GARDEN HELPER

It's time for the Pick-A-Side challenge over at the Scrap our Stash blog.

I chose the right-hand side for my layout.

I must say that I really struggled with this one. Not so much with the sketch as with the papers I selected for my base. I rarely work on a plain coloured background. I've had that sheet of green paper in my stash forever and really wanted to use it, or lose it. It took me days to find what pattern papers would go with it, and with my photos. I changed my mind dozens of times before I settled for this colour combination.

I followed the sketch by having a strip of pattern paper close to the left-hand of the layout, used two photos to mimic the vertical one, and a horizontal photo with two tags behind it. 

We also had to include scallop edging embellishment(s) which I did with the little round card and the jute ribbon under the photo. 

There's lots of OLD stash on here. That watering can cut-out is so old, I don't even know what company made it. 

It's not my best work but I'm glad I finished it. 

The photos are of my Grand-daughter working away with her Grand-Papa picking carrots.

That's it for now.

Thank you for stopping by and for any comment you may care to leave.

Until next time, À la prochaine,

Jacynthe😊

Minecraft Obsession

It's time for another fun challenge over at http://scrapourstash.blogspot.com/

Here's what we get to play with this month.

My layout:

The challenge called for the colour ORANGE. There is lots of it on my layout.
For CASPER:
Corner rounder, Alphabet stamps, Splat, Polka dots, Eyelets, Recollection pattern papers.

I stayed fairly true to the sketch, using three photos, paper strips under the photo blocks, a tag under the upper photo, and a small embellishments spanning the two small photos.

Here are a few close-ups.

The Splat is a Silhouette cut file. The Alphabet stamp is one of my favorite stamp set. The scrabble letters were cut from a sheet of pattern paper that I've had in my stash for years. I've also used my Fastenator stapler to hold down the ribbon, and three eyelets as a bit of an embellishment.


Finally, the journaling. My grand-kids are somewhat obsessed with Minecraft.

That's it for now.
Thank you for stopping by to take a look. I appreciate you doing so.

À la prochaine, Until next time,

Jacynthe 😊

11/1/2019  - My layout was chosen Top 3 💟

You make my heart happy

A new COLD CASE file is up at http://csichallenge.blogspot.com/

It's an opportunity to dig through your stash and use up those old items you just had to have when they hit the stores. For me it was OLD Heidi Swapp ghost letters, letter stickers, and some left over strips of pattern papers. I've also set a personal goal of using stamps on every one of my layouts. There a three different ones on my layout; a Tim Holtz text stamps, a Stampin' Up heart, and the pretty butterfly one. 

I drew inspiration from the black vertical lines of the skirt to sew strips of left over pattern papers on my background, and to machine stitch the edges of the papers.  The flowery paper that frames the layout was one of those "use it or lose it" papers. I find that this is a nice way to get rid of papers I wouldn't otherwise use.

One of the items Debbi suggested was an envelope. This one was plain white. I tried placing my title on it but something was missing. A text Tim Holtz stamp and some machine stitching made a big difference.

A Silhouette cut file behind the photo, and one for the leaves, adds visual interest. Those flowers have been in my stash forever. The phrase was cut from a 6 x 6 paper pad. It goes along with my journaling about my rescue dog, Maggie.

Finally, the journaling on the tag in the envelope.

That's it for now. I hope you'll join us for any one of three challenges posted every month. I would love to see how you solved the case(s).

Thank you for dropping by.

À la prochaine, Until next time,

Jacynthe 😊

LET'S GO

I'm back after a bit of a break. Once again, I played along with my favorite scrapbooking challenge at CSI. http://csichallenge.blogspot.com

I loved the colours and was able to use a lot of the clues.

I used all five colours with the addition of navy blue which complimented my photos better than black.

From The Evidence list I have;
Floral pattern, Stripes, Travel themed elements, Hot Air balloon, Clouds, Flowers, Leaves, Doilies, Hearts, Brush font lettering, Ribbons, and a Bow. 

From the Testimony prompts I chose Presentation: Write your journaling on a label.

Some close-up shots.

Flowers, Leaves, Travel themed elements, Doilies, and Heart.

First time ever using clouds on a layout. I've always loved the look but was never able to make them "fit" my style. I'm happy with how it turned out.

The journaling card is a cut file from my Silhouette. It fit the Hot Air Balloon evidence. I hate how I messed up the word "exploring". Since no one really looks at my layouts except me, I did not bother setting up my Silhouette to cut another card.

I enjoyed putting this layout together.  I hope my mojo stays a while so that I can use up more of my stash.

Thank you for stopping by and for any comment you may care to leave.

À la prochaine, Until next time,

Jacynthe 😉

Sally & Maggie

I'm always up for a "Use your old stash" challenge. I want to use what I have before I call it quits with scrapbooking. So, here's the challenge from my favorite, CSI.

The first things that caught my eye were the colours and, to me, the wintery scene. I knew right away what photos to scrap; my dogs wearing their red and black winter coats on a nice December day.

I've had this piece of grey with white polka dots in my stash for a while. It matches the one in the scene perfectly. Everything on this layout is at least a year old, and some I've had for years like the Tim Holtz film strip and vintage cards. I even used my Fastenator (remember those) to hold down the ribbon on the tag.
The one thing missing is flowers. I rarely create a page without flowers but, for some reason, I could not make flowers work on this one.

Close-ups;

These photos of Maggie (staffie mix) and Sally (mini dachshund) were taken by Ashley Vinet Photography as part of a fund raising effort for Hearts of the North.
*Hearts of the North is a dog rescue organization. I adopted both Maggie and Sally from them.

That's it for now. Thank you for stopping by.

À la prochaine, Until next time,

Jacynthe😊

Fun Family Outing

A new year is upon us. Things are changing so fast. I realize that "blogging" has become less and less popular. Even though I expect very few people to visit my blog, I will still post my layouts here even if it's only as a record of my work for me to look through.

I've signed up to be on one of two teams at 2 Peas Refugees. Each month different challenges are posted and points are added up for every challenge met. At the end of each month, the points are tallied and the winning team gets bragging rights.

I will try to copy and post the comments I get on my layouts here.

So here's my first post of 2019.

All papers are from 12 x 12 Recollection paper pads.

Challenges/ Points:
#3 - Use rectangular photos     1 point
#10 - Ribbons or Washi (ribbon)     1 point
#12 - Pretty Patterns - make a layout using only patterns including the background     1 point
#19 - A Fun Outing     1 point
#30 - Use your stamps - (butterfly stamp)     1 point
#31 - Multi-photo layout     1 point
#37 - Journaler's Badge     1 point
#43 - Don't Fall Behind - scrap some of those autumn photos     1 point
#45 - Tie One On - use string, twine or Baker's twine     1 point
#57 - Tie it up with ribbon and bows - (on tag)     1 point
#58 - Stitched up - use machine or hand stitching     1 point

Total - 11 points

That's it for now.

À la prochaine, Until next time,

Jacynthe 😊