First Peony: Layout for Scrap Africa DT

Hi there! Here in Finland, this is the time of the year when we are welcoming the crisp cold mornings, scent of apples and first falling leaves. At Scrap Africa, however, we have a mood board that still reminds of summer. A perfect time to scrap your favourite garden or nature photos from this season, or anything this mood board inspires you to make, of course!



I planted my first peonies in 2012 at our summer cottage, and they have bloomed very scantily so far. From what I've heard, peonies are not difficult to grow per se, but they do demand some patience from the gardener. They can take many years to grow large enough roots to be able to bloom fully. So I'm not worried yet, even though just three of my five plants have bloomed at all and only with one flower each!



This is what the mood board looks like:



I'm also joining the following challenges with my layout:

Memuaris: Sketch Challenge #21



Scrapki-Wycwaniowo: Autumn Love



Crafty Life Challenges: Anything Goes and



We Love 2 Create: Challenge #21, Anything Creative/Mixed Media Goes



In Finland, our school year starts early, mid-August or even a few days before. So now it's already time for a short autumn break, and we'll get to spend a long weekend at our cottage again. I love it in the fall season, too, and can't wait to see what it looks like!



Thank you for your visit and have a nice week!

Wonderful Things: Layout for Scrap Africa DT

Hi! It's sketch challenge time again at Scrap Africa, and here's the layout I created.



I love this sketch, with the photos and embellishments clustered in opposite corners.



Finding photos that are suitable to be cut into circles is a fun challenge. There has to be enough empty space on each side of your focal image, so that your focus fits in the center. Don't worry, it's absolutely not expected that you should take the sketches so literally - photos in all shapes are fine!

But I'm enjoying my experiments with photos in different shapes at the moment, whether they be circles, squares or completely something else. I don't think I ever tried cropping triangular photos, but maybe I should!



I was also inspired by the 7 Dots Studio September/October Challenge: Frames. I thought of many different ways to frame the photos, from layering papers to ribbon and microbeads. In the end, I also added heat embossed chipboard corners to frame the whole layout, kind of.





For my layout, I used two patterned papers from the 9th Wave collection from 7 Dots Studio, and alpha stickers from two sets in the All I Ever line.



Do pop in at the Scrap Africa blog and see the gorgeous pieces the DT members and Guest Designers did - and participate in the challenge yourself, of course!



Thanks for your visit and have a nice week!

Happy October with First Halloween ATCs

Hello you, and happy October! Yes, the month of harvest and Halloween and frosty mornings is here again, and I love it.



The challenge blog at Viva Las VegaStamps! got in the Halloween mood early and this is their September Spooky Challenge! (I'm counting on the time zones, so it'll still be September in Las Vegas at the time I'm posting this.)



Halloween is not traditionally celebrated in Finland and perhaps due to that, I own zero Halloween stamps. I had to use my imagination, but luckily the few Viva Las VegaStamps! ladies that I have proved very versatile.

I also love the green colour palette, not so typically Halloween, but a perfect background for these witch mother and daughter ATCs. The witch hats are cut from images from the Graphics Fairy.

Any other autumn lovers out there?