Woo-hoo! Happy National Scrapbook Day!

Seafood findings from Summer 2011 Vacation

I don't honestly know if NSD counts in Canada, too, but any excuse for a posting, right?

SO, there hasn't been much activity on my sad little blog, as I was a sad little person for about 10 days with a bacterial infection. So much worse than a virus! But all better now, thanks to antibiotics, and raring to go back to paper-crafting activities.

Here is yet another lay-out from our vacation last summer, illustrating what I consider to be the real purpose of scrapbooking: preserving and commemorating great moments in personal history. To that end, the "decorating" does not have to be excessive. This is a pretty simple lay-out, featuring the photos above all, with a generous dose of journalling to confirm the who/where/what/why. Enlargements of the picture sometimes create enough detail. 

The main focus on this page was the excellent fish&chips place we discovered, so that receives a little extra attention with the addition of a photo-mat and twine border:

Simplicity aside, I did have fun with the title and embellishment on this page.

The punny title was created by first die-cutting the letters (this is Sizzix "Chunkedelic" font, sadly retired, but probably available on Ebay), then running them through an embossing folder, then high-lighting them with an ink pad to emphasize the embossing. You have to die-cut first and emboss second; the dies will flatten during the embossing process if you try it in the reverse order.

This yummy little image comes from the Cricut cartridge called "Go Canada!"  It is a paper-pieced poutine--how funny! It was NOT the most intuitive thing I've ever tried--figuring out the optimal size, the orientation in which it would be cut on the mat, the correct pressure for the different paper types I used...a LOT of trial and error. BUT what a perfect companion to the EXCELLENT fries made with PEI potatoes, which you know were in the ground the day before they were cooked...so fresh!

Couple of final photos showing the individual pages, so you can see the details in the photos, all the better to plan your next summer trip to "The Island..."

Hope your day features some scrapbooking!

Enjoy!