Look at me! I'm scrapbooking!

It's been a while. After a wonderful marathon weekend retreat back in July where I made lots and lots of pages, I've done very little.  I made a few pages in August, but still haven't added the journaling, so they sit unfinished on my desk.

Enter Allison Davis' Sketch Support Class over at My Creative Classroom.  I've loved Allison's sketches for a while now, so signing up for the class was a no brainer.  Plus, some of my online friends from Scrap Central at iVillage were also signing up, which made it that much better.

Our first assignment was to create a layout based on the sketch using a "simple" approach where you follow the sketch exactly, and another layout where you use an "enhanced" or "extreme" method and use the sketch more as a jumping off point, but modify things as you see fit.

Here's my "simple" layout:

This one features Basic Grey "Hello Luscious" papers from a 6x6 pad...I covered up the seams with photos and embellishments...need to remember that!

And here's my "extreme" layout (I completely bypassed the "enhanced" method!)

This one uses quite old My Mind's Eye paper (anyone remember "Bohemia"?). Glad to use up some of my stash!

I love that I've got two completely different looking  layouts with just one sketch. If you're interested in the class, another session will be starting up in November.

10 on the 10th: Ireland Vacation!

I've been MIA lately, off enjoying my summer vacation. Now I'm back at work, back to a routine, so hopefully I'll be blogging a bit more regularly again. Shimelle's 10 on the 10th seems like a good way to jump back into the blogosphere! I present to you a recap of my recent trip to Ireland...

(Half of) Ireland in 10 days:

Day 1: Landed in Dublin one day late due to a cancelled flight; luggage missing; drove to Belfast.

Jet-lagged and sleep-deprived, but happy to be celebrating our 7th anniversary in Northern Ireland!

Day 2: Belfast to Portrush via the Antim Coast & Giants Causeway

Ken Harper, our fabulous tour guide of Falls Road and Shankhill Road, gave us an excellent overview of  The Troubles

Many of the newer murals focus on Civil Rights and Peace Movements

Soaking up the wonder of the Giant's Causeway. Second day, same clothes, still no luggage!

Day 3. Enjoyed another packed day in Northern Ireland, before heading to Letterkenny.

Carrick-a-rede

Patrick enjoys the free Bushmills Distillery whiskey sample!

Dunluce Castle

Day 4: Reunited with luggage! Day trip to Derry, the walled city.

Day 5: Woke up in the middle of the night with food poisoning (curse you, salad from Derry!). Slept half the day away, then managed a queasy drive from Letterkenny to Westport, my first time driving on the left side of the road! Slept some more, managed some won-ton soup for dinner, then back to bed!

The only pictures I managed to take this day were of our B&B in Westport!

Day 6. Feeling better! Drove from Westport to Galway via Connemara.

Connemara sheep were everywhere!

Doo Lough Pass

Kylemore Abbey

Galway nightlife

Day 7: Day trip to The Burren, Cliffs of Moher, and Galway Bay Coast

Poulnabrone Dolmen

Burren landscape

Cliffs of Moher

Photographing the South Galway Coast

Day 8: Galway to Newgrange, then on to Dublin

Knowth

Newgrange

Day 9. Spent the day exploring Dublin and visiting the Guinness Storehouse

Christ Church

St. Patrick's Cathedral

Day 10. Farewell Dublin! Spent our last Euros on airport souvenirs, then headed home to Connecticut and no electricity thanks to Hurricane Irene. Hopefully someday we'll get back to visit the southern half of the country!