Mama Fay's

We visited a wonderful jerk food shop in Aber last summer, and although it was full and we had to wait for our food, the delay was worth it.

I had jerk chicken with mango, the yellow/orange colour helped me choose my papers which were all bright papers and embellishments from Box of Crayons; these gave the page a tropical feel. 

I used a vertical design with punched notepaper border, chameleons and a puffy parrot.  The title is made from Box of Crayons letter tiles and the journalling block is cut from the 6x8 journalling book.

High Tide Sunset

Back in June, the sunset over the sea at high tide in Aberystwyth, it was great to see the waves crashing on the sea wall as the sun went down

Again I used Maggie Holmes Flourish papers and embellishments, the paper seemed perfect with a stormy like sea at the base and pink sky; just like the sunset.

I chose chipboard houses that reminded me of those on the seafront, along with gold foam Thickers, stickers from the American Crafts sticker books and enamel dots.

La Banera

We found a lovely new cocktail bar in Aber back in May, quiet with a good choice of drinks to choose from. 

The papers and embellishments used for this page are from the Maggie Holmes Flourish range.

The title letters are gold topped foam Thickers, a quick page as I used only one set of papers, so all the things I added to the layout were chosen easily.

Oh I do Like to be Beside the Seaside

This summer, I saw a few of these giant deckchairs at the coast; perfect for a holiday selfie.

I took two photos in different deckchairs, one of Kev and the other of Katie and Matthew just after their graduation.

 I think the papers are Project Life, the journalling card is one from PL too.  The bingo cards are cut from a 6x6 paper book. 

I made up the title from American Crafts sticker books and Paige Evans Thickers.  Added school themed washi tape, little star stickers and enamel dots finished the page.

Kyffin Williams

While in Wales in the early summer, we visited National Library of Wales next to the Aberystwyth University.  At the time, The welsh artist Kyffin Williams had a retrospective exhibition of his paintings.

I had never heard of the Williams, but he was one of the most important welsh 20th century artists.  I really enjoyed the exhibition, his sketches, textured paintings and landscapes.

The layout was made using a Kaisercraft school kit with embellishments from Shimelle's Box of Crayons range (ideal for the art theme) and again, stickers from the American Crafts books.  The title is die cut using a Sizzix script cut out die (Tim Holtz).  If you get the chance to see Williams works, I highly recommend them.

Sunset in Aberystwyth

As Aberystwyth is on the west coast, you can see amazing sunsets over the sea from the town. The angel war memorial silhouette stood out against the beautiful sky.

These photos were taken in June at the end of a beautiful half term.  Little did we know, the weather would be glorious from then on until early August.

The papers are from a bargain set I picked up at a craft fair, I really liked the colours with the photos.

I added a few stickers from my American Crafts sticker books and a sticker title to complete the layout.

Go By Steam

An unusual double layout today!

As I had so many photos of our ride on the Rheidol Valley steam train I filled the right hand page with the majority of them, and added the pictures of us on the left hand page.

It didn't need many papers as much of the layout is covered with photos, those I used are from the Maggie Holmes Carousel set along with an old Martha Stewart border punch.

The tickets are stamped, coloured with pencils (Muji) and die cut (Tim Holtz) and used on both pages.

I used another Tim Holtz die to cut the pockets that the tickets are held by, the pocket also has the original train ticket tucked behind it too. Great to use original ephemera on a layout...and to include so many photos!

The Libertine

We went to Wales last year and Katie took us to a lovely cocktail bar called The Libertine.  In the day, it is a lovely place to stop to read the paper, have a coffee (or cocktail) and relax.  It has a lovely Victorian feel of a gentleman's club, perfect to stop, sit and read the paper.

More Maggie Holmes papers, I really like the background as it's glittery.  The tickets are stamped and die cut using a new Tim Holtz, my daughter Katie helped me to colour them.

I used a jounalling pad by Ali Edwards, adding little strips of paper from the background to decorate it.

The title is partly an Amy Tan sticker (the) and the rest is in chipboard Thickers.

I used cut outs from the papers, Crate paper chipboard washi tape and sequins to complete the page; I even made use of an old border punch to make a scalloped edge to the papers, good to get old kit out.

Aberwystwyth Castle

This photo of Katie has been sitting in my Wales album for four years (when we took her off the University), and as she is about to graduate, I thought it was time to get it scrapped!

I'm sure the image of her holding up the collapsing wall of the building is a typical one or visitors to the castle, nevertheless I don't mind the cliche!

The papers are from the Maggie Holmes Carousel range.  I cut out tickets from a paper, the chipboard is from a Crate paper travel set. I'm still working my way through the American Crafts sticker books -they have been so handy- so lots of the word strips, dots and hearts stars are from the books.

I used a Tim Holtz die set to cut the script style title and added Thickers to finish it off.
Sequins completed the layout, a few more welsh pages to go!

Camera Obscura

I took a small kit along with on holiday in case the weather was not great, with some photos, limited tools, sticky and embellishments.

I managed to make three pages, this is the first about the Camera Obscura we visited in Aberystwyth. Most of the stash I used was from the Paige Evans Oh My Heart collection, this made the crafting quick and easy.

As the background was so heavily patterned, it didn't need too much in the way of embellishment.

And I think having less choice really did speed up my scrapping; maybe something I need to bear in ind in the future.

The Castle Hotel

When in Aberystwyth back in May, we stayed in a hotel above a pub.  The building had been recently refurbished and we had one of the best rooms in the place,  Up on the second floor, with a little circular window, our room was far enough from the pub below to be quiet, and positioned to get a lovely view of the sea.

I took a few photos of the Victorian pub, the orange bricks went really well with these Citiscape papers designed by Kelly Purkey for for Basic Grey.

I really loved the geometric grey and orange... so much so that I didn't use all of it!

I stamped the title using an old Tim Holtz alphabet (Circus I think) in Fired Brick ink by Altenew. The vintage look seemed perfect for the theme of the page.

 The embellishments are by a bargain set picked up in Hobbycraft. A bit of washi tape finished the page off.

Not More Cocktails!

Cocktails are so popular at the moment that I have taken many photos of them, and made more than one layout.

The current trend for all things tropical made for the ideal background for this page.  Most of the flowers are cut from Trimcraft Paradise Crush (I sent an afternoon sitting in front of the TV cutting out flowers, birds and butterflies!) and the papers are by Maggie Holmes and Trimcraft.

I loved the floral vellum added to the bottom of the page, it is one of those papers I preferred to just look at, not to use.

The title is a Dear Lizzy set picked up as a bargain from Hobbycraft.  Really pleased with how this one turned out.

Another Powis page

When we travelled to Wales back in May, we took along Kevin's mum and dad for the short break. It's been ages since we had a few days away with them; when the children were small they came along to Weymouth with us a few times. Seems so long ago now.

On this page, taking centre stage is the photo of John and Kathleen, with the gardens of Powis behind them. As the castle is high on a hill, the wisteria is much later coming into flower and so was still in full bloom.   Smelled gorgeous.

To make the page I used more really old stash, a set by WRMK that must be over 10 years old.

 The stamp is by Altenew, embellishments are partly chipboard some wooden ones and a few enamel dots to make it look more up to date.

Ancient Yew

On our recent trip to see Katie in Wales, we stopped off at Powis Castle on the way.  In the gardens were many amazing yew trees, knowing how slowly they grow I think they must have been extremely old.  Some were so ancient  that they had hidden shady dens inside.

The trees formed a strange lumpy hedge below the castle keep within the beautiful gardens.  I made use of some very old stash to make this layout...I love it when I make a dent into it.

The page formed the second of a two page layout, so I used similar papers to form a DLO. They were by Amy Butler, I think I bought them around 10 years ago!

Washi tape, wooden buttons, Thickers and enamel dots brought the layout more up to date.

The Old College

Aberystwyth University began its life in a gothic building on the seafront called The Old College.  It was originally built as a hotel, but was sold on to the University of Wales in 1872, later becoming Aberystwyth University.

The building is fabulous, now Grade 1 listed as an important example of gothic revival buildings created by the Victorians. It has suffered on the seafront, but lottery funding is allowing for its renovation.  Because of this, the building has not been open to the public during our recent visits.

I used Graphic 45 Halloween papers, the buildings do have a look of Hogwarts about them and the Halloween papers (especially the ones with the books upon them) seemed an ideal choice.

I cut the title from purple corrugated card using Tim Holtz dies, and most of the embellishments are cut from the papers.  Maybe renovation will be complete before Katie finishes Uni and we will get to have a look around inside.😉

Emily

Three years ago, Katie stared university in Aberystwyth and we took her down in the September of 2014.  It was a lovely warm weekend, with the real feel of an Indian summer, so we took a day to visit Barmouth before returning home.  To get to the seaside town, we had to take a ferry from the headland near Fairborne, to the harbour of the little seaside town.

The small ferryboat 'Emily' took us across the estuary, viewing the single track wooden Barmouth viaduct on our journey.

I used the lovely Anna Griffin Seafarer papers and embellishments to make the page along with another nautical rage by MME.

Nuvo drops in red and a few Thickers finished off the page.  Now Katie has one more year to go at university before graduating.  Not sure what she wants to go on and do then.

Powis Castle

On our way to Aberystwyth  during half term, we broke the journey with a visit to the National Trust house at Powis Castle.

The building is high on a hill overlooking the Severn Valley,  on a clear day you can see for miles; unfortunately when we visited the hills were shrouded in low cloud, so the view was not great.

 The terraced gardens under the castle were lovely, I took lots of photos so I think I will be making multi photo layouts.

I used more really old stash for this page, the papers were designed by Amy Butler, and must be around ten years old. I added Thickers, flowers cut from the papers and Nuvo drops in pink and transluscent crystal to make the page feel a little more up to date.  More Powis pages to come, as I have lots of photos to scrapbook.