Outside the Louvre

A very cold day at the beginning of April saw us sitting atop of an open top bus in Paris to see the sights.

We used the trip to take photographs of the city, including this one of outside the Louvre.

I made the banner using a stitched die set by Simon Says Stamp, the papers are from an 8x8" Parisian paper pack by Dovecraft.  Another Paris page done.

The Eiffel Tower

After looking at this page and the photos I still have not printed of our visit to Paris, I know that the Eiffel Tower deserves at least two more layouts!

The photos are of the iconic tower itself, and Kev and I standing at the very top. I couldn't believe how calm it was up there; hundreds of feet up in the air and almost no breath of wind!

I used a mix of stash on the page: some die cuts by MME; love themed word stickers by Ali Edwards; travel project life style card by Simple Stories (I cut up a couple of these to make the suitcases and flags) along with a triplet of metal embellishments.

I added these first to use them, but also as they were part of a challenge on UK Scrappers to add metal to layouts. After filling them with paper cut to sie and stickers saying you and me I filled them with Glossy Accents to make my own enamelled embellishments.

Metro

When I saw the railings around this Metro station on the Isle du Cite in Paris (a tourist hotspot, being around the corner from Notre Dame) I knew I wanted to scrapbook them.

I also knew I had the perfect papers for this Art Nouveau design in the Graphic 45 Artisan range from last year.

 Black cardstock makes the perfect foil for Graphic 45 paper, I added embellishments by cutting peacocks from the 12x12  papers, and cut apart sheets from the 8x8 pad.

The Eiffel tower comes from another set; World's Fair which (shame on me!) I had yet to use.

Finally, I used an old set of Sizzlit alphabet dies called Nouveau...I do think the title could stand out more, so may go back and recut it from black foam.

Pompidou

I have been sort of hoarding the papers from the Shimelle Starshine paper range since buying them (as they are out of stock almost everywhere), but have decided that I really do need to make inroads into them.

 This page about the Pompidou centre in Paris, such an interesting building with all the services, including the escalators, on the outside; leaving plenty of room for the exhibitions inside.

I absolutely love this large chevron paper...now I have used it I think I might need another piece! The banners, card, camera and globe are all cut from 12x12 papers.

I also added a little piece of the heart vellum I had left from the True Stories range...only a tiny piece of this left now, and some Nuvo glitter cyrtsal drops in navy to finish off.

Memories of the Louvre

I took these photos of the sumptuous interiors of the Louvre museum in Paris that Napoleon used for his state apartments while in the capital.

 As he felt that 'more was more' with interior decorating (or I assume he did looking at these rooms!), there was only one paper range that I thought would be appropriate.  The Anna Griffin 'Grace' range along with a 6x4 Amelie journalling card really set off the pictures.  I also used a little yellow from a Papermania floral range to back the photos and as a punched border to the roses paper.
Although the papers are very busy, the amount of detail on the photos still stand out.

To make the title I used two die cuts layered, and added a little brush script under the flag to match the rest of the font used on the layout.

I finished off with layered roses, some gold die-cuts and gold glitter Nuvo crystal drops.

The arc du Triomphe

I have, at last, got round to scrapbooking my Paris photos.

 This page was made using MME Jubilee papers and embellishments.
I made the title bunting using Docrafts essential banners, topped with the multi-coloured Thickers that match the Shimelle Starshine paper range.

I made the journalling block from a 3x2 travel card by Simple Stories, along with a small amount of stamping on top.

To finish off, I added glitter dots using Nuvo glittery crystal drops in navy blue.

Paris Mini Book Part 2.

Here is the second part of my book about our Easter trip to Paris.

If you are interested, materials used include:
Papermania All Aboard book, papers, stamps, stickers, ribbons, washi tape.
Papermania Mme Payraud alphabet stamps
Xcut scene die; Paris
Ali Edwards (Heart); stickers; clips and stamps
Paperchase puffy stickers; Paris, postcard.
Teresa Collins cut aparts; Memorabilia
Dovecrft; charm (Eiffel tower); Travel 12x12 papers
Other washi tape.

Paris mini book; Part 1

I printed off a lot of the photos taken in Paris, mostly in 3x2" size to fit a mini book, but a few others at 6x4" for full scrapbook pages later. I had picked up a Papermania 'All Aboard' travel journal a while back, and it proved perfect to make my book of memories.
As the book is quite long, I will only inflict part one on you today!

Part two in the next post (if you can stand it!)

Parisian churches

You can't visit Paris without seeing its famous churches, so on the last day of our visit we went along to both Notre Dame and Sacre Coeur.

Notre Dame is sited on the Isle de Cite, with a beautiful original Art Nouveau Metro station,

and still a few padlocks around the churchyard railings.

As it was Sunday and we went into Notre Dame, the cardinal no less had just begun Mass, so we decided to stay.  I had never heard mass said by a Cardinal before.

 Although I speak almost no french, I could join in with the service as it follows the same order as the mass in the UK.

Afterwards we had a look in and around the cathedral, Kev had fun with his backpack pretending to be Quasimodo!

In the afternoon  we hopped on the Metro heading to Sacre Coeur, with an amazing view of the city.

 By late afternoon when we got there it was extremely busy, so we only stayed a short time.
So finally we hopped on the Eurostar Premier service (meaning we were fed on the train) at around 6pm, and were home at just before 11pm.

Pompidou

The Pompidou centre in Paris is an incredible building, with all its services on the outside, leaving space for all the exhibitions inside.

I really loved the escalators in step-like tubes up the side of the walls.

Inside, fittingly, is a fabulous collection of modern art, I loved the 20th centrury pieces, not so keen on the 21st century work... too weird for my taste.

Later in the day we decided to visit Arc du Triomphe after dark!

 I must admit, climbing the 284 stairs was tiring, but I only needed a couple of brief rests on the way up!

 The view from the top was glorious, as it was raining, the reflection of the city lights from the roads made all the difference.

The Eiffel Tower could only be seen up to half way as the top was in the low clouds.
On returning to the ground, the eternal flame was lit over the tomb of the unknown soldier, in front of the view down the Champs Elysees to the Place de la Concorde.

Another landmark site visited in this great capital.