November at Scrapabilly #3

Back again for my last shares with the November Scrapabilly Kit des Monats featuring Jen Hadfield for Pebbles, Warm & Cozy collection. I loved the neutrality of all the papers with the rose gold elements. It really did make me feel all warm and cosy and ready to bunk down for the winter. Love this time of year!

For my last two pages, I decided to head back to 2007 and touch on two more snippets of my Yukon adventure story. The papers had that rough and ready feel to them and seemed perfect.

I scrap lifted myself for this sunburst effect page because I wanted to showcase as many of the papers as possible on one page. It's quite a lot of work to do and the stitching is fiddly but I adore the results and will no doubt make more versions of this design.

I really wanted to find a way to use this pocket page card with the photo realistic design. Not always easy but this seemed an ideal page. And again, there's that long title made possible by the added in mini alpha.

An off the page cluster with a hint of dimension was all this page needed to feel finished. The stitching along the sunbursts is the main embellishment and with all that detail, I wanted to be careful not to over decorate.

Finally, here's a page about our daily breakfasts while we were on the road.

Imperfect photos make for a perfect story and I'm so happy to have captured this little - even the hand grabbing the last blueberry pancake with a plastic fork makes me remember these days with longing! (yes, when it was our turn for breakfast or food, we went with the disposable options to limit the tidy up work - lazy but true)

I really went to town with the sprays for this one and ended up ironing the paper to get it relatively flat again. I don't do this sort of wet technique very often but I like the effect here.

The layout uses up a lot of scraps and last bits of washi tape with which I cut out some stars to scatter - subtle but there.

Another of the photo realistic pocket cards seemed to find just the right place on this page. It was a great relaxed start to our day - every second morning!

I picked out several elements out of the die cut pack which supported my theme but didn't overpower the overall design.

It was lovely to see you here today. If you'd like your own kit to work with, you can find the kit here on the Scrapabilly site. Don't forget to check out the Design Team gallery here while you're there. I love looking at the gallery to see all the different ideas we've come up with. You can also find the Schnick Schnack Sack (embellishments) and the Pretty Planner Pack kits and galleries there too. So much to discover and so much inspiration to be had.

I'm hoping to get back soon to share my Simple Scrapper November makes so come back soon.

It's as if they planned this month just for me!

I know that you know that I love autumn. I tell you all the time. So when I saw the list of challenges for this month at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge, I was happy, happy, happy!

First off we had our favourite stamps and I knew my trusty maple leaf would be the one. Now comes inspiration from autumn photos.

While I was putting my kit together, I knew that I wanted to make some more Yukon layouts and I had photos like this one below in my mind. I knew that I wanted to have sumptuous tree photos included and this was just what I needed.

So for the mini challenge #2 "Be inspired by fall foliage" was a no brainer. This photo jumped out at me and my Engineer Creek layout was born.

Look at those colours, look at the brilliance of that golden hue, look at how unreal these leaves seem to be. That was exactly what we got at Engineer Creek and it was somewhat spectacular! Sunset, when the setting sun hit the top of the trees was all the more amazing. I am still living off those memories!

I think I could do this challenge a dozen times and still not get bored! Why not give it a try?

Don't forget to share your creations with us over at the Counterfeit site (here), we love to see where these prompts take you.

Inspired by stamps

I hope I'm not alone when I say that I have a small collection of stamps (I don't consider myself a stamper at all really) but even then, I don't use them very often.

I think that it will take too long to get them out, pick out a colour, fish out the acrylic block, practice the stamping and then risk my whole project by getting the stamping wrong!

But it doesn't have to be that way. And every time I'm challenged or inspired to use my stamps, I remember how much fun it can be.

So the latest Counterfeit Kit Challenge mini challenge is perfect to blow the dust off your favourite stamp and get going!

"Pick ONE stamp (not the whole set) to inspire you and use on your project. You can use more than one stamp, but your inspiration one should be prominent.  You will tell me which stamp it was on your blog and how it inspired you."

With my November kit, Dempster, being such an autumn inspired kit and with my intention to capture some more of my Yukon memories, I went with a tried and tested leaf stamp to guide my design. In fact I saw the end result in my head before I even opened up my stamp drawer and knew exactly how I would use the stamp to make a leafy border.

The leaf is part of a pack of four that I picked up when I was making my monster Nova Scotia album back at the beginning of my scrapbooking adventure.

I didn't know anything about stamping back then and just picked up a set to add some detail to my pages.

In fact, the set has four leaves in it

 ... but the truth is I hardly ever use the others, reaching for the maple every time.

It's a really good quality stamp and the detail is so lovely that it's hard to go wrong with it.

The connection between the leaf, the maple, Canada, my kit and my travels all come together in this page and it turned out pretty close to the picture I had in my mind which is always a surprise and a delight.

"And to think I was worried there wouldn't be enough trees"

I used a whole range of different distress ink colours, stamping the leaf three times in each and then fussy cutting them out to form a layered and scattered border across the centre.

I tucked in a lot of pretty pearls, some funky wooden toadstools and a scatter of buttons to add some more dimension.

And of course the star of the show is the photo. I really was worried that there would be few trees on our travels through the Yukon and NWT but even though they definitely got smaller the further north we travelled, there were more than enough to keep me smiling. I might have more tree photos than anything else in fact!

Glad to have captured another little piece of the puzzle that is our adventure. One day I will bring all these pages together to see how full a story I've told!

Where do you want to go?

As mentioned last week, I sometimes get commissions from The Scrapbook Magazine that make me scratch my head and draw an initial blank. These are always interesting to create as they really get the grey matter working.

Then again, there are times when I almost punch the air with joy when I get an email with a certain subject matter as I know immediately what I'll scrap. One of the recent designer galleries was entitled "Favourite Places" and it found me grinning from ear to ear.

No one who's been reading my blog for any length of time will be surprised to know that my favourite place and somewhere that I ALWAYS want to go is Canada!

The only problem I had here was to choose the design and only one single gorgeous photo. that took some time but I was happy with the end result. Any layout featuring photos from our Canada adventures makes me smile just looking at it.

What subject matters make you smile?

Oh, and not to forget my American friends... 

Happy Independence Day!

ETA: And of course, a belated but heartfelt Happy Canada Day (for the 1st July) to my Candadian friends!

Yes, I am still alive!

Yes, I got back safe and sound from the Yukon although it feels like a lifetime ago and since then, have just been on the run. We hit the ground running when we got back on 14th with Ralph going immediately into the office and then working the whole weekend. I travelled out to Birmingham the following weekend to catch up with my mum and my sister - more of that later - and the weekend just gone, I went to London with Manuela for a girlie weekend! It was her birthday present from back in the summer for her "special" birthday and I decided she needed more "pink" in her life so we had a lot of fun and plenty of pink champagne! But of course, it has felt a bit rushed and my work weeks have been pretty short as I travelled out both times on the Friday. And now this week is also a short one because tomorrow (3rd) is a Bank Holiday for Reunification Day and we are travelling to the south of Germany to visit one of Ralph's friends on Friday - it's all go, go, go!

I need to write up the trip from my notes and get all the stories down for when I finally get the photos sorted and printed out. Such a lot of work as there are nearly 6,000 photos in total if you add up my camera, Ralph's and Helga's. Don't worry, I will not be boring anyone with them! Ralph has been working through them and so far has reduced the number to around 2,000 I think. We will only be boring people with maybe the top 100 so never fear. But of the few that I have managed to see, there are some stunners. I will try to post a few as and when.

The Yukon was such a surprise for me and I fell in LOVE with the place. I mean head over heels. Really. It is such an incredible place, I just do not know how I will ever be able to put these feelings into words and explain to anyone just how fantastic it was and all the amazing, wonderful experiences we had while we were there. The place is BIG and EMPTY and I found this really hard to get my head around. I am a big city girl, and here in Europe, it is hard to find areas that are really, truly empty. But over there, it is hard to find people or habitation. Such a wild, incredible place - it truly exceeded my wildest expectations and I am sad that I will never really be able to share that with anyone outside Ralph, Helga and Wolfgang who experienced it all with me. Words and photos will never be enough.

I just looked up some statistics on Wikipedia and they blow your mind.

Total area:
Yukon - 482,443 square km
Germany - 357,021 square km
UK - 244,820 square km

Total population:
Yukon - 30,989
Germany - 82,797,408
UK - 60,587,300

Population density:
Yukon - 0.065 / sq km
Germany - 230 / sq km
UK - 246 / sq km

I love statistics like this!

Yukon, here we come!

At last, I am finally getting a bit excited about our trip out to the Yukon which starts on Monday!

For those who do not know the details, we will fly direct to Whitehorse and then follow the road round Yukon, into Alaska for a day, then back into Yukon and might even take the road north to the Arctic Circle 66° - so exciting! We are hoping for good bear viewing (but not up close) and good weather without too many mosquitoes but I am just most looking forward to being back in Canada and seeing this part of the world that we have been so interested to see for so long.

As I just managed to finalise my mega album for last year's Canada trip, I thought I would try to be a bit ahead of the game and produce a mini-album to take along with me so that I can complete some of the journaling while I am there, making notes about destinations each day, highlights, main events etc. I have also left space for a 6" x 4" photo each day and that might remain blank until I get back, or I could fill it with postcards (although I am not so sure that there will be many available) or I am considering buying, and taking with me, a mini-photo printer so that I could print them out there and then each day. I think that could be really fun. We would have to use photos from my cameras as Ralph only shoots in RAW whereas I want RAW and a JPG. That way, I could just put the card in each evening and chose the best photo of the day. It could become a good routine and the album would be completed before I even got home which is the best thing of all! Of course, a mega album will follow, but I got so frustrated that we had nothing to show people from Nova Scotia as we just had too many photos and I was too slow to scrap the highlights!

I made the album super simple: 6x6 cardstock with BasicGrey Infuse papers to decorate. A double page for each day with a small pocket which already has a small journaling sheet ready to be completed opposite an area for the aforementioned photo. There is an area for an introduction and reflection as well as some raised pockets at the back for larger ephemera that needs to be kept. I can expand the album when I get back if necessary with extra pages or inserts which makes it really flexible. I have also included two full journaling pages for whatever comes into my mind at the time. The journal starts on Monday which is when we will travel down to Frankfurt airport for early check-in before staying at the airport hotel which is a really nice start to the holiday, and ends on our travel back day, the morning of which, I am hoping to find time to check out the two scrapbook shops I tracked down in Whitehorse! Life is SO good. I used Infuse fibres on the book rings which are just gorgeous and I used almost the whole pack!

I can't wait to start filling it. What do you think?

Can anything be more perfect than this moment?

Thursday 21st September

Spent the morning sitting out on the terrace, both immersed in our own thoughts and activities – not sure what R is up to but there is a lot of frowning, face screwing up and note taking... A poem? A diary? No doubt I will find out soon enough. It was another glorious day weather-wise. Bluest of blue skies and not a cloud in the sky. It was a great start to the day and this holiday has lived up to every single expectation we had. We are totally relaxed and chilled and you can see the weight literally lifting off R’s shoulders. It is really wonderful to see.

This afternoon, we finally managed to do the Middle Head trail which leads from the hotel along the peninsular right to the end where there is nothing but cliffs and ocean. The trail is really very beautiful, one minute in deepest forest and the next out in blinding sunshine walking along a precarious cliff edge where 50 metres below, white surf crashes down on the rocks. Exhilarating. The nature here was very varied with lots of small flowering plants, loads of insects and a myriad of trees. We saw an eagle soaring high above us although once again, could not quite catch it on film – but you have to believe me! The sky started on the horizon with the palest of grey blues and it gradually darkened as it rises above us to the deepest, clearest “sky” blue, while the ocean was a mix of white, green, blue, turquoise and, at the furthest horizon, dark, dark blue-black. Clouds were forming off the mountains and were white as snow, scudding across the sky, carried along by the strong breeze that was blowing both off the sea and from the mountains behind us.

The end of the trail really feels like the end of the world. I could see Cape Smokey to my right and Ingonish to my left – both pieces of land sort of encompassing the peninsular, both forming perfect bays, but at the same time, if you just look out there is nothing but deep, menacing water for as far as you can see – all the way to the most perfectly curved horizon. Can a day get more perfect than this? Time seems to stand still while were are sitting there watching the angry waves crashing onto the vast rocks below. This never-ending motion has been going on since the dawn of time – millions and millions of years. In and out, wearing away at the rocks, creating sand, washing up debris, providing food and shelter for untold millions of fish and water life. Makes you think....

We definitely had the best of the weather. By the time we were back at the hotel, the dark black clouds were rushing over the mountains and the perfect blue sky was gone. Rain arrived, just for a short time, but it could not spoil what was a really wonderful day, finished in the bar once again listening to the local musician and both of us absorbed in our own thoughts and activities.

Folk songs and sea shanties!

Wednesday 20th September - Just sittin' and thinkin'

Another misty morning made us think that the weather was probably not going to improve all that much for the rest of the day. Therefore, still not really recovered from the mixed experiences of the previous day, we settled in for a quiet day based at the hotel.

We had a really nice morning with R checking out his photos and making notes, and I read, took some photos, blogged a bit, finished up my journalling notes and generally just chilled out, totally! It was so nice to have time to just sit and think. We hardly exchanged a word but were both content and satisfied. This has been such a wonderful holiday so far and it was great to have a bit of time to contemplate it all.

The rest of the day was a bit jumbled as we tried to go for a walk but it started raining so we raided the gift shop, spent some regular time on Ingonish Beach chasing waves, sighted another eagle, and sat on the hotel grounds just soaking in the atmosphere and feeling the wind in our hair.

It is really hard to describe the weather here - it is typical sea wind but it is SO warm. It is not really a chilling wind nor is it penetrating, it is really refreshing. The air this day almost tropical – guess that must be the damp in air coupled with the mild temperatures.

The evening was quiet as it has been the whole week – we sat drinking cocktails, G&Ts, cognac etc, listening to the musician play typical Cape Breton sea shanties, Irish and Scottish songs and a bit of country and western thrown in for good measure. Not something I would want to listen to all the time (or maybe ever again outside the holiday), but it was fitting for the holiday and I have really enjoyed it. I have even been known to sing along a little (in my head of course!!!).

NEVER underestimate the kindness of strangers

Tuesday 19th September - waterfalls, petrol and wildlife

Up and out of the hotel by 9.10 which is really getting very bizarre. But the weather was pretty terrible and we figured that this might be the day to go across the island to the Whisky distillery. The clouds were depressing and low – misty, wet and dark – so a few hours driving over the north of the island along the Cabot Trail seemed like a good idea.

We stopped off at a few places along the way and with each stop, the weather seemed to be improving. The clouds started to lift off the mountain a little, just wisps clinging to the trees here and there, blue skies were peeping through and the green of the trees started to show again.

By the time we reached the MacIntosh Brook waterfalls, the weather was really much better and it was bright and almost clear. A 2km walk along to the falls was worth it with the sun glinting down on the water and the whole place was so pretty. We stayed there a long time – at least a hour or more – with R taking lots of photos and me just sitting, looking, contemplating life and the universe! As far as wildlife goes, we saw a snake which made us jump a mile and loads of these gorgeous squirrels – don’t know exactly what they are. Are they chipmunks? I need to look that up.

Past Wreck Cove Point where we had yet another fabulous view of the ocean (if you don’t like trees and water then this is NOT the place for you!!!!), and onto Corney Brook falls. This was an 8km round trip hike which was quite some effort with the camel loads of photographic equipment that R insists on taking with him (and me!!!). We walked through some simply stunning forests and along the brook with the constant babbling of the water as company. Walking along the path, I once again realised just where we were and checked with R that we had a "bear plan". We decided that ours consists of talking at a reasonable level so that any local bears could hear us and would keep away, and in the unlikely event of coming across a bear on our path, stopping, stooping low to show no aggression, and backing off slowly and calmly (yeah right!). Sounded like a plan, even if it was rather a terrifying one! I kept my fingers crossed that we would not have to put our plan into action! Luckily for us, the only wildlife we came across were the squirrels, mosquitoes and a frog – so all ok there!

At the falls, which were really nice but not as beautiful as MacIntosh Brook, I dropped R's lens cap into over the edge of the cliff! So, not only is R missing a cap, but there is now some hideous plastic there in the wilderness which will never decompose and will remain a reminder of the townies that passed by and sullied the pristine wilderness! I have been so careful not to drop a single scrap of anything and am really cross with myself.

Yet again, R felt the need to strip off to his boxers and jump in the water – I just hoped that nobody else came along to see him in all his glory!

On the way driving back over the mountain, I suddenly heard a beep that I had not heard before and then, horror of horrors, we realised that the petrol tank was almost empty – and we were in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE!!!!! How stupid can we be? We had both completely forgotten that we need to be careful of the tank and we had no idea where the nearest petrol station/pump was. We have since found out that it was at least a 30 minute drive which we would never have made, but at this point we both freaked out and R pulled over into a parking area at the entrance to Benjies Lake walk. (The photo shows just how bleak and remote this place was!) He flagged down a few cars to ask if anyone had a spare fuel can but nobody did – I was silently (or maybe not so silently) panicking!!! And then, a couple came back and offered to drive R into the nearest city to fetch some. I am talking that 30 minute drive I mentioned earlier – and then of course, 30 mins back! Talk about lovely, lovely people. They were a really young couple and R found out that they had just got married last Saturday and they were on their honeymoon. She told me that she just could not have gone on their hike without offering us help first! I was totally overwhelmed by their generosity.

We carried on our way and counted our blessings over and over that we had chanced upon such wonderful strangers.

On our way home, still shaken and definitely stirred, we stopped off at Lone Shieling which features the oldest believed maple trees in Canada (350 years old) and our final stop being Beulach Ben falls for the final waterfalls of R’s series. We had to travel along a rather precarious 2km unpaved road which I was convinced we would never make back again! But the falls were a bit of a disappointment.

Firstly the light was not good but also, there was not really enough water. I am sure that they must be considerably better after a good rainfall but compared with being spoilt with the others, this was a bit of a let-down. However, the power of nature was there to be seen. Huge rocks that have seen millions of years roll by, huge tree trunks which must have been carried down by the water and forests on either side of us which were dense and forbidding. In fact, it made me really nervous. I could swear that I could hear voices whispering to me in the sound of the water. I found myself turning around to see who was behind me but there was nothing. It was really eerie and the sun was so low that the light coming into the forest was almost non-existent. I could have been convinced at that moment of the mystical properties of the forest.

By the time we made our way back along the road, it was really dusk and then suddenly there was movement from my right.... And at that moment a creature came out of the forest on the right, crossed diagonally in front of us and carried on into the forest on our left. No, not a bear.... It was a WOLF!!!!!! Absolutely unmistakable. The form of the head, the body, the colour of the body, the black bushy tail and the movement. I was completely speechless. I know that of ALL the wild animals to be found here, you are least likely to see a wolf! I found myself shaking – with fear and excitement. We were in the car, so there was nothing really to be scared of, but at the same time, we are talking about a wolf here!!!!! Talk about a privileged experience. I still cannot believe it really but it is true!

We spent an obligatory 10 mins on Ingonish Beach in the dark, watching the stars, listening to the sea and counted our blessings on meeting kind strangers and experiencing some of the best Canada has to offer.