Stamps Ahead

The final postcard challenge over at Junk Journal Ideas and Inspiration on Facebook. The theme   "Where flowers bloom, so does hope" . Here is my postcard My background is a napkin that I applied with a glue stick over a patterned paper. I have added an old French postage stamp; French Script stamp; and a small round stamp. I have also fussy cut a butterfly and small words and finished with an Eiffel Tour I found in my stash and a little bit of gold foil. I was singing "I love Paris in the Springtime" as I made this postcard and my hope is that one day I will return to Paris and hopefully in Spring when flowers are blooming. Thank you for looking, Margaret  I love Paris in the springtime. I love Paris in the fall. I love Paris in the winter when it drizzles, I love Paris in the summer when it sizzles. Cole Porter 1953 .

I have been on holidays (vacation to my USA friends/readers) in Europe and England for the past 6 weeks. The quote on this layout is appropriate.  Why? A week before we (my sister and I) were due to fly out to Paris, terrorism struck that beautiful city. Of course, we had some hesitation - should we go, what were are options if we pulled out, would our Trafalgar Tour still go ahead (it did) - more about that in later posts. In the end, we decided to go - take the chance and not let terrorism be the winner.  This photo was taken at sunset from one of the bridges over the Seine River near our hotel. Quite a special moment. The papers and most of the embellishments I have had in my stash for ages, I just gathered up everything that I thought would co-ordinate. Happy new year to all who read my blog, more layouts to come. Thank you for looking - and remember we only regret the chances we didn't take. Margaret :)

Bonjour - this layout is for a challenge over at Pixels and Paper . Why not join in you have until end of October to submit a layout. We were to be inspired by this photo and the criteria was anything goes but tell us how the photo inspired you: Big Ben in London is an iconic building just like the Eiffel Tour (yes that is right in French tower is tour).    I have kept my layout rather clean and simple. I took the photograph on my last visit to Paris, nearly 2 years ago.  I have had this photo where I could see it since then - why?  The colours, the trees, the iconic Eiffel Tour, and the statue of the man riding the horse just seems to say "I will return" or as the French would say J'y retournerai. The die-cut is from Die-namics.  Very shortly I will be taking off for another holiday that includes Paris and my camera is at the ready. Thank you for looking.   Margaret :) 

Here is a layout inspired by a challenge at Pixels and Paper Challenge blog .  Here is the challenge photo  We could interpret it in any way.  This was a timely challenge for me, as I had just booked a Christmas Market tour starting in Paris for later this year. My sister and I will have a few days in Paris (which just happens to be one of her favourite cities) pre-tour.  I last visited Paris in 2011.  The photograph on my layout was taken during that previous visit and it is looking towards the Eiffel Tour (Tower) from Montparnasser Tour (Tower).  The sun came out just as I was taking the photograph.  I was inspired by a digital layout at Scrapbook.com by Rain_dog who in turn lifted it from Oziem, according to the website, that layout had a small clock and Eiffel Tour embellishments - these are what sparked my imagination - thank you.  I first inked up and distressed the dotted DSP from Stampin'Up! which I then scrunched ...

We have just had a long weekend here in Australia (Queen's Birthday) and it was raining, raining and more rain and not to mention cold.  I spent the weekend decluttering my craft room and whilst I was in my scrapbooking papers I found this old kit from a store that is no longer operating. It would be many years old.  I loved the poppies and I just could not discard it every time I looked at it over the years.   Well, today I decided - use it!!!  These photos were taken at Tour (Tower) Montparnasse , in Paris.  From the 59th observation floor of the tower you get 360 degree beautiful views over the entire city of Paris.  It takes just 38 seconds to get to the top. It was very windy the day my sister and I went up, earlier this year, and it was overcast but at just the right time the sun came out over the Tour Eiffel (Eiffel Tower) and it made for a magical moment. One of the elements of this layout are the stitched an...

I found this sketch over at 4 X 6 sketch blog and it was just right for my photos of La Tour Eiffel. I used my camera software to change the photos to sepia. I love the simplicity of this layout. Thanks for looking. Edited - Oh no.....I made a spelling mistake on the layout - it should be La Tour Eiffel.....as soon as I realised I quickly ran to the layout page and changed it!!!!