scrappassion

DARLING HARBOUR

The monthly challenge is up at Once Upon A...Sketch! This month it is Team A's turn to reveal their layouts.

 

 

Theme: "Its The Weekend!"

 What does your weekend look like? 

Maybe you work, or run around like crazy taking your kids to activities etc. Lunch with friends? Movies? Dinner? Or maybe you do all the exciting stuff like ...clean the house, tend to the garden , kinds birthday parties. You might like to tell us of an exciting weekend coming up, or a weekend past. Maybe a weekend getaway? Whatever it is that you want to tell us that has to do with the theme "Its The Weekend" we would love to hear it. 

Your layout must incorporate this theme and the sketch below. 

Please make sure that we see some sort of journalling on your layouts and please tell us where your journalling is . You are allowed to journal in any language but please tell us where on your page we will find your journalling. Remember journalling has to be a bit more than a title, or a generic comment. Hidden journalling is perfectly fine.

 

Here's my interpretation.

Instead of one photo I used 6 smaller ones of our weekend in Darling Harbour, Sydney this past January. Loved the place (loved the whole adventure in Australia!) and took a bunch of photos. My journaling is hidden on the tag underneath the last photo strip.

To create the background I swiped gesso with a credit card, added layers with book paper, patterned paper, notebook paper, Hambly transparency, washi tape, Glimmer mist, stamping, stitching and modeling paste with a stencil.

some close-ups

 

TFL  and thanks for any comment you may want to leave. They are always greatly appreciated!

MERRY X-MAS

                                            Case file #58 is open for investigation at CSI!

Absolutely gorgeous color scheme and the icing on the cake is Em Stafrace's beautiful sketch to follow.

 

 

 

Here's my interpretation

I took thsee photos this past Christmas in Wellington, New Zealand where we spent 4 weeks at our daughter's house. This was the first time in 4 years that we spent Christmas together as a family. The previous years the girls had been/lived alternatively in London, Japan and New Zealand so it was quite impossible for all of us to be together. "Christmas in flip-flops" was a bonus :) 

EVIDENCE

wood (buttons), metal (snowflake, brad and staples), eyelets, twine

JOURNALING

look at your picture and let your thoughts wander and just write about what comes to mind : I wrote about the importance of spending time (Christmas) together as a family

 

And here are some closeups

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

Case file # 49 at CSI is open for investigation!

 

 

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

EVIDENCE

numbers, stickers, baker's Twine

TESTIMONY

write 25 words about your topic

 

We spent 4 fabulous weeks in New Zealand in December of 2010 at our daughter's and her partner's house. Just looking at the photo brought so many wonderful memories to my mind. And I can't wait to experience it once again this Christmas with a bigger group (Valentina and Kristina's friend Francesca are joining us this time!) and for longer time. After spending 4 weeks in New Zealand, Franco and I will continue to Australia for two more weeks!

I wrote my 25 words/phrases following the stitching on the left side of the layout:

New Zealand, Christmas in flip flops, Evolve charm bracelet, summer in December, Wellington, Coromandel, whale watching in Kaikoura, zorbing in Rotorua, Hobbiton in MataMata, glow worms in Waitomo caves, beach house in Whangamata, Pohutukawa (also called the New Zealand Christmas tree), Havelock Greenshell mussles, interminable flight, card games with in-laws, Te Papa, South Island, Picton, Auckland, jade necklaces, Cathedral Cove, Paeroa, sheep, OrakeiKorako geothermal park, fern, Kia Ora, koru, Marlborough wine-tasting, cherry picking in Blenheim, Omaka Aviation Center

VISITING CHICAGO

The case file #47 is ready for you at CSI

 

and my interpretation

 

EVIDENCE

stripes, floral pattern and flourishes - tiny amount of each on the strip of paper at the bottom, gold metal accents

TESTIMONY

used inspiration words "visit" and "welcome" and journaled on the back of my layoutt about visiting Chicago 

"Since the second time I went to the United States back in 1977 - the first time I went as a foreign exchange student for a year in 1975-76 and all the Finnish students flew in and out of Detroit, MI - I've almost always landed in Chicago. For 30 years I flew into and out of O'Hare but never actually visited Chicago. That changed in 2007 when Franco, Andrea and I went for our combined "our 25th wedding anniversary - Franco's 50th birthday - Andrea's First Communion" trip to the United States. During the 5 week trip we visited SLC, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Indianapolis and Chicago. We actually stayed 3 days in Chicago which was wonderful. I fell in love with the city. It is a big city but not huge and I love that it has an easy access to the lakefront. We strolled through the Millennium Park taking the obligatory and fun photos in front of and under The Bean, a nickname for Cloud Gate,and happened to be in town for the Taste of Chicago (a food fair). We photographed the tallest building in the Western hemisphere, the Sears Tower, which changed its name to Willis Tower in 2009 but decided to go up the John Hancock Observatory to enjoy the 360 degree view of four states: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin and a view of the Lake Michigan. I also took a picture of Andrea "washing windows" at the Hancock building. We walked the Magnificent Mile and while the girls (I was with girl friends with whom I went to High School) went shopping, Franco and Andrea went to the movies. We also visited the Lego store which was the highlight for Andrea. The last day we enjoyed ice cream at the beach. In 2010 we visited the Navy Pier and took the Architectural cruise down the Chicago River and a couple of months ago I was back in Chicago - once again flying out of O'Hare - and had the best brunch ever in a newly opened French restaurant "Chez Moi" in N Halstead St near Lincoln Park. We were looking for Toast (too long a line outside) and Nookie Too (not really appealed to us) but ended up in this nice and welcoming restaurant and it was truly heavenly. Actually I just went and wrote a review for it :) Next time I'm in Chicago I want to go to see a show or a musical. Chicago is my kind of town!"

 

CRETE IN PHOTOS - PART 3

I'm so behind with all my holiday photos. Here's the third batch for Crete (still Mykonos and then Finland to edit and post and that's only for this summer. Don't care to think about all the other photos still to edit, blaah!!)

Spent a day - an EXTREMELY windy day, should have checked the weather forecast before going -at Elafonisi on the south-western corner of Crete. There's breathtaking scenery on the road to get there.

 

Lovely homemade products from garlic to capers to olives and of course the best olive oil in the world

The thyme honey of Crete is  yummy. And a glass of raki(tsikoudia)after a hefty meal is a must.

 

The Elafonisi Beach is gorgeous but due to the extremely windy day I could only get a couple of photos without endangering my photographic gear. (sand is even worse than water for your lenses)

In some light, the sand takes on a pink glow, said to be from corals. Elafonisi is protected by an EU environmental program.

And here we have a representative of the ever present goat population of the island

 

 

Saturday night we were invited to a street party where food and drinks were served as soon as we sat down. Franco had made friends with Dimitri (the smiling guy on the far right in the picture) a couple of days before - I always wonder how my Hubbs manages to make friends in a foreign country without speaking the language. This time when he told us that Dimitri had invited us to his party we were kind of skeptical but it turns out that the party was there right on the street and that we were shown a place at the table as soon as we turned the corner! We still aren't sure WHAT they were celebrating, there was a huge amphor from which a girl extracted slips of paper on which the participants had written something and when read aloud, it always resulted in roars of laughter. 

It was  lovely and definitely not your everyday tourist experience.

VACATION IN CRETE - part 1

I take too many pictures and then I never get to editing them so I'm always late in posting vacation photos. 

Here's the first batch of random photos of our first couple of days in Crete, mainly Kalives, where Franco, Andrea and I spent two weeks in June. 

    

   

    

 

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

Weekend in Milan in photos

Went with Hubs to Milan to spend the weekend with Valentina.

Here are some shots of a trip to Lago Maggiore, an aperitif (a buffet type of supper which is very "in") at Ciu's (a very "in" restaurant for these aperitifs) and a quick glance at Duomo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SPECIAL INVESTIGATOR AT CSI!

I was honored to be asked by Debbi Tehrani to be one of the April Special Investigatos at CSI. 

Just head over there and read my interview if you are interested:)

The case file #14 

This is my page

And how I solved it:

As my evidence I used ruffles sewn on the bottom of the page, wet media - gesso, acrylic paint and inks and I sanded the edges of the photo.

The journaling which is partially hidden in a pocket created behind the background paper and partially visible through the ripped paper reads:

"This is the story of how we ended up in Lisa Bearnson's backyard in Utah.
I met Lisa on a Mediterranean scrapbooking cruise back in 2006. Being the wonderful and friendly person she is, she invited all the participants to come and visit her, but I'm not sure she REALLY expected someone to come over from Italy.
I did.
The following summer Franco, Andrea and I spent a few wonderful days in Utah as Lisa's guests. She and her husband Steve pampered us so well that I went back the following summer when CKU was held in Provo, Utah.
Don't ever invite me light heartedly: I might just take up on your offer :) "

 

Here are some close-ups

Dreaming...

of a vacation.

Vacation/holidays is the theme for Feb 15 challenge at Once Upon a Sketch. Here's the sketch

And here is my take

I just love how it turned out even though quite differently from what I had in mind:)

The photo is of Andrea back in 2006 when we went to Crete for a week in September. He's dreaming of going back and that will happen next June.

I started out the layout doing some background work: glued book pages and gessoed them, then I used Crafters´Workshop stencil and modeling paste, distressed it with 3 different Distress inks. Added some watered down acrylic paint in splashes and circles, stitched some, stamped another circle with Staz-on since it went over the photo. I added travel themed stickers as my journaling and placed them on the upper right hand corner of the photo instead of the lower left as in the sketch.

I'm almost in the mood for packing!!!

Crafting in the Caribbean with Tim

Just random pictures and random thoughts in random order about the cruise:

 

- probably the best cruise ever craft-wise. Loved ALL of Tim's projects

- couldn't have hoped for a better travel/craft companion than Chiara (elsewhere known as Maria)

- the weather was gorgeous - just some clouds and some showers which were actually welcome

- liked the Royal Caribbean better this time (last time our waiter sucked!)

- loved room service (for breakfast)

 

- I still don't like eating at Windjammer

- love shopping onboard AND onshore

- I still like Carnival better

- impeccable organization as far as Tim's classes were concerned (as always)

- met Elsa and Roxie, my new best friends from Florida and Texas

- made 117 ATCs to trade

 

 

- very little interaction between the two groups probably due to different class times and our later dining time

- beautiful ports of call; hubs and I raided the stores:) Well, I raided, hubs strolled along.

- Portofino onboard was a fabulous surprise

- the ship's "house champagne" comes nowhere near Prosecco

- our waiters and cabin attendant were excellent

- didn't spend too much at Mario's Market place - speedy shopping at Michaels and Joann's prior to embarking may have had something to do with it;)

- took less photos this time but I am quite pleased with them

 

 

- Chiara and I had 8 evening wears - one for each night and one "just in case"

- got a head cold from the darn air-conditioning on at full blast - especially in the dining room

- the staff at Royal Caribbean deserves kudos - they sorted out problems for us that hadn't been taken care of beforehand and some that occured during the cruise

- better not put the key card close to iPhone or other electrical devices - learned that first hand

- I hardly ever eat desserts but couldn't resist all the yumminess 

- cool ice show - Franco didn't like the magician and his tricks...

- some ladies assaulted the Market Place as soon as the doors were opened. Geez what manners!

- bought the most beautiful carryon onboard - it pays to be nice to Hubs :)