End of Summer...

Hi all, its Louise here. And finally the schools have reopened for the Autumn term... a day I've been counting down to for 4 years! All 3 boys are now in full time education!
And its no more child minding for me... back out into the big wide world of work.
We had a brilliant summer, taking the boys here there and everywhere, and one thing we learnt during the holidays is that Oliver is an adrenaline junkie! I took him to Alton Towers for his first experience on big rides, and he loved it! So much so that we then went to Drayton Manor and back to Alton Towers for more white knuckle adventures!
This month I chose to work with Bella Boulevard - Freestyle Sophisticates in a number of colours, Cosmo Cricket - Summer Love 8" Mini Deck, and Maya Road - Picture Perfect clear stamps. I also used a sheet of Crate Paper - Maggie Holmes - Click.
On our first visit to Alton Towers we went with a couple of friends and managed to ride a couple of the big rides with no queueing, as everybody headed straight for the new attraction first so we headed to the far end of the park first. I don't usually buy the ride photos, but when I saw Oliver's face on this one I just had to have it.

I stamped the names of the 'big' rides we had been on that day directly onto the black card using white ink. I used a mix of fonts from a number of stamp manufacturers... this was a good way to use some alpha stamps I've had for years and rarely use.

I used the Maya Road stamps with white embossing powder to create a photo mat in the corner of my LO. The white was really stark against the black card so I smudged some yellow and green ink on using my finger to make it less in your face.

It was touch and go whether Oliver was going to be tall enough for the white knuckle rides. On our height chart at home he measure 1.41m but there was a chance that the theme park measures would be different. When we went to go on nemesis, they measured him and he was only just tall enough to ride, but they gave him a pink band to wear so that he wouldn't have to be measured on each ride... of course I had to incorporate this onto the LO. I used a pen lid dipped in pink paint to stamp some random circles onto the LO to tie in with the pink band.

 

When we went to Drayton Manor, Oliver went on the G-Force and Shockwave roller coasters and loved them. At the end of the day just as we were about to leave, I asked him if he wanted to go on the free fall drop Apocalypse. I wasn't very well that day and was unable to ride anything, much to my annoyance, and his dad was on a ride with Thing 2, so I told Oliver to ask the girl in charge of the ride if it was ok for him to ride alone. We meant was it ok for him to go on without an adult, but she must have thought he meant he wanted to go up on his own... so she sent him up ON HIS OWN!!!

I couldn't believe it when he came down and I saw the photo! Every scrap bookers dream... a photo with no strangers on it, so of course we had to have it!

I wanted to echo the drop element of the ride on the LO, so used paper cut into narrow vertical strips, arrows and chevrons.

I also stamped the camera image going the page from dark to light, using black and grey inks. 

A stamped Polaroid frame was perfect to add journaling too, and the picture perfect stamps from the Maya Road set were used on a block cut from the Cosmo Mini Deck.

Not exactly white knuckle, but the following LO was created using the same papers and is the only photo I took of Things 2 & 3 on the day... I really was THAT poorly... lol!
In the background I used a Studio Calico mask with turquoise mist to break up the white area.

I used a couple of embellishments I had left over from ages ago, layered with a stamped images.

 

On our second visit to Alton Towers (just a me and Thing 1 day), we wanted to do the rides that we didn't do the first time round, either because they were broken down or the queue time was too long.

After Oblivion (I only ever remember how much I hate that ride once I'm strapped into it), and Rip Saw (which sounds like its going to break down with every creak and groan it makes), we got on Rita, the Queen of Speed.

And OMG!!! How fast is she!!! Another great photo of Oliver too... he does like these rides, honest!

 I kept the LO simple, with arrows, chevrons and a monochromatic strip of shades of grey going from light to dark. The wooden floorboard effect paper was just perfect as a base for this LO, with flashes of red used to pick out the colours from the photo.

The alpha thickers were originally pink, but a quick sand and a lick of black acrylic paint made them just perfect for this LO.

I used a Crafter's Workshop template to stipple white paint through, underlining with black pen once the paint had dried. This created a nice area of interest to add a punched circle, a couple of stripes of decorative tape and a stamped camera.
The ride we were most excited about going on was of course The Smiler... the worlds first 14 loop roller coaster!
We were lucky enough to get on it twice that day as the queue times were really short towards the end of the day when everyone heads over to the water rides!
I created a background on white card, first spraying some yellow mist, and splattering some yellow drops too.

 After this I gave the bottom a very light mist with pewter.

 Then used a bubble wrap stamp with yellow and orange ink.

 Before adding some more stamped images. I selected circular designs from stamps from my collection, to keep in with the Smiler images used on the ride.

I scanned the original ride photo to make it smaller, and created a collage of 4 photos of the ride taken at different angles whilst we were in the queue for it.

 I used a circle to draw faux stitches in grey, and used them as a guide to add my journaling.

The title was created using a selection of stamps and I used the 'smile' from the Maya Road set, just adding an 'r' onto the end.
The Smiler logo was cut from the theme park map we had, and layered with a camera image, which had a stamped image over the lens.

 

I had a lot of fun creating these LOs, and the Freestyle Sophisticates papers are perfect to use as a base for your LO, or to be cut into and stamped onto to. I hope I've inspired you to get scrapping your summer adventures.

 

Thanks for now

Louise

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