Monthly Archives: May 2023

Craft Updates for the Week of May 21, 2023

Hello Creative Friends!

This is just a quick update to alert you to all the new pages I’ve posted or added substantial amounts of information to in the last few days.

New Scrapbooking Pages on Our Website This Week:

View of Avalon Harbor from Maiden Lane in Avalon, California, Santa Catalina Island

View of Avalon Harbor from Maiden Lane in Avalon, California, Santa Catalina Island

New Crochet Tutorial:

Basic V Stitch Crocheted in Rows

Basic V Stitch Crocheted in Rows


I just posted this step-by-step V stitch crochet tutorial that explains how to crochet a basic V stitch, plus how to crochet a fabric made up of rows of V stitches.

Thanks for dropping by my craft blog today. I appreciate your presence here, and I hope you found the ideas and inspiration you were looking for.


Best wishes,

Amy Solovay

International Scrapbooking Day Mood Board Challenge Entry

Explore Diamond Head, Oahu -- Hawaii Travel Themed Scrapbooking Layout

Explore Diamond Head, Oahu — Hawaii Travel Themed Scrapbooking Layout

I created this scrapbooking layout to enter in Art_Teacher’s International Scrapbooking Day 2023 Mood Board Challenge (now closed) over at A Cherry on Top Crafts. The challenge was to use the colors from the mood board, which are turquoise and purple, plus to choose 3 additional sources of inspiration.

I was inspired by the moon in the mood board photo #10 (used a large circle), the 5-petaled flowers in the mood board photo #1 at top left (used a 5-petaled flower), and the body of water in the mood board photo #3 (so I used a photo that also has a body of water in it).

Craft Supplies You’ll Need for Creating a Similar Scrapbooking Layout:

This is a one-photo layout, so you’ll need a photo to scrap.

  • Flower Embellishment: There are many ways to create flower embellishments you can use for this. You can buy ready-made flower embellishments from brands like Graphic 45 and Prima. You can also make your own paper flowers using stamps or dies. In this case, I ink blended some heavy cardstock using Pinkfresh Studio’s Mermaid Cove ink, and then used the inky cardstock for die-cutting my flower with the Layered Flowers die set by Waffle Flower Crafts.


  • Washi Tape — You can use any washi tape you happen to have. I used a washi tape by Jen Hadfield that is now discontinued, but there are many available washi tape designs that would give you excellent results in this project.


  • Border Designs: To make a project similar to the one pictured above, you’ll need two border designs that harmonize with each other but are not an exact match for each other. I used Pinkfresh Studio’s Lacey Edgers dies to create these, and I also used Decorative Scalloped Scissors by EK Success. There are many other possible ways to create borders that would work for this sort of project.


  • Cardstock and Patterned Papers: You’ll need a variety of patterned papers; if you are creating a Hawaii-themed or travel-themed layout, it would make sense to choose a tropical-themed or travel-themed paper collection to work with, but these are not your only choices. You can use basically any paper from any collection if you are careful to choose paper designs that harmonize with your photos. I used papers from the Simple Stories Coastal collection, which is now out of stock at every store where I usually buy scrapbooking supplies. I think Pinkfresh Studio’s Sunshine on My Mind Collection looks like an outstanding paper collection to use for scrapping summer vacation photos, but you have many choices to use for this purpose.


  • Alphabet Letter Dies: There are many different dies, stamps or letter stickers you could use for creating your page title. I used Altenew’s Simple Alphabet die set.


  • Pens or Markers: If you want to journal on your page, it would be nice to do your journaling with a pen in a color that coordinates beautifully with your layout. If you aren’t sure what kind of pen to get, I recommend using Sakura Gelly Rolls or Tombow’s Fudenokuke brush pens. I’ve used the Fudenosuke pens on this page.


  • 6″x8″ Scrapbooking Binder / Album and Page Protectors If you’re scrapping 6″x8″ pages like this one, you’ll want to have sheet protectors and an album to put them in. My layout is housed in a Sn@p! album by Simple Stories.


  • Stamps: The “Explore” stamp is by Citrus Twist Kits.

I am planning to add this page to my Hawaii travel-themed mini scrapbook album and also to our list of Hawaiian Travel and Vacation Scrapbook Ideas shortly. If travel-themed scrapbooking pages are of interest to you, I invite you to check them out.

Thanks so much for checking out my project. I appreciate your interest!

Craft Updates for the Week of May 7, 2023

Wondering what’s new around here? The following pages on our website have been recently added or updated:

New Pages on Our Website: We Invite You to Check ’em Out.

Recently Updated Pages on Our Craft Website: