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The Farmer’s Market: Hybrid Scrapping

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We’ve always loved farmer’s markets and have enjoyed ones in Oakland, CA, Princeton, NJ, and Ithaca, NY. The last three years, we’ve had a very nice one right here in Brighton at the high school. We rarely miss a Sunday from late May to the end of October. Two weeks ago I took a group of photos and popped them into a template by Paislee Press. I added a digital paper by Alexa and then printed it out and adhered it to a piece of patterned paper by My Mind’s Eye.

Farmer'sMarketLO

I printed the journaling on an Avery tag and added (once again) a Flair button. If every layout I made came together so quickly, I’d have a lot more pages in my albums!

Friends

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One of the nicest things about traveling is getting to spend time with old friends. We’ve been friends with Dan for nearly 15 years now. He and his wife, Nikki, kindly invite us to stay with them whenever we’re in Denver. Dan’s brother, Steve, is also a good friend and had just moved to Denver the week before we arrived. We all went out to dinner the last night before we headed home, and I just love this photo of Matt and his (our) friends.

FriendsLO

The inspiration for the layout came from a layout I saw on the Simple Scrapper Blog by Jean Manis.

FriendsTitle

I started with some patterned paper by MME and then found some coordinating patterned paper by the same company but in different collections. Once again, there’s a Flair button and some Washi tape (I see a pattern here). The tiny word sticker came from a very old Making Memories sheet that I stained with some Papertrey Tea Dye ink. The journaling card from Cosmo Cricket has also been in the stash for a long time. The American Craft Thickers are newer, arriving in a Studio Calico kit not long ago as did the tiny arrow that’s part of a new Amy Tangerine collection.

Take Twelve: August

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I intended to spend yesterday making cards since I missed World Card Making Day while I was in Canada. But instead, I got busy scrapbooking and finished a three layouts. I started with my August Take Twelve photos. I’ve already posted September’s but August 12th was right at the beginning of our summer road trip, and the project seemed to get put on the back burner.

Take12August

Thanks to Melissa I finally got a shot of two pages together, although it’s still not quite right. You can click on the image to make it a bit larger. (The background papers are BoBunny Dark Denim Dots, and the yellow border is from Amy Tangerine’s Sketchbook series. The American Craft Thickers (Eric) are the perfect blue, and came in a Studio Calico kit. I used a photo template by Kitty Designs to organize the photos and do the journaling.)

Take12Journaling1

TakeTwelveJournaling2

September Recap

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September was a long month for us, and I’m quite sure I would have rarely picked up a camera if it weren’t for the Capture 365 project. But every month it helps me capture our activities, and gives me an opportunity to summarize what I’ve done during the month. Somewhat like the Month in Numbers that many of you do (and I love.)

SeptLO

I raided my stash of Studio Calico kits (I have bits and pieces left from several months) for the materials on this layout. I found the Flair button and the woodgrain paper first and then worked from there. You can also see some Washi tape! (The patterned papers are Studio Calico, My Mind’s Eye, and American Crafts; the clip is also My Mind’s Eye and the wood veneer camera -colored with the Chai Tea ink pad by Papertrey- is by Studio Calico. I cut the title with my Silhouette.)

Here’s a better look at the monthly photos:

SeptemberPOTDCalendarw
And the journaling:

SeptLOJournaling

September’s was a hard month here. Bill has been in the hospital and rehab the whole month, and decided at the end of the month that he was ready to go. He waited for Marcy to come home from her trip, and now he’s resting and being given comfort care. Ellie is still living here, and her life is such a roller-coaster of emotion. She supports Bill, but is devastated at the thought of losing him. The insurance has finally been settled for the B&B, so she’s had to deal with the loss of her home and possessions all over again. Tracy and I do what we can to support her as does the rest of the local family. It was a long month.

Tracy and I did get away one weekend to the Adirondacks. Tracy and Bob backpacked for two days, and Cathy and I “camped out” in Lake Placid at the Lake View Motel overlooking Mirror Lake. We had a lovely time, eating at favorite and new-to-us restaurants and doing a bit of shopping. We also made a road trip to Buffalo with our book group.

With everything going on here, keeping up with a photo-a-day was much harder. I resorted to a lot of plant photos, but honestly, if it weren’t for this project, I probably wouldn’t have picked up the camera at all.

I finished two books:  The Violinist’s Thumb (for book group) and A Wedding in Haiti. I learned quite a bit from the first one, and loved the second one as I have everything by Julia Alvarez. I completed seven cards and four layouts. I also joined a study group at church where we’re reading the Psalms through a process developed in the 1600’s by an archbishop in England. I’m fascinated by the reading, and enjoying the small group discussion as well as the staff worship service that follows our group each Tuesday.

 My social life didn’t suffer:  lunches with Marie, Jane, Maureen, and Tina; duplicate bridge at Jack & Cathy’s (we won for the first time in over a year!); and dinner with Susan. My volunteer commitments were really heavy this month for all three Presbytery committees. A dinner with the Children’s Agenda was a highlight.

We’re off to Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario for the weekend with our good friends, Karen and Mike. We have tickets to see the musical “Ragtime” and dinner reservations at one of our favorite restaurants. We’ll visit a few wineries and wander through the town. The four of us have been going each fall for nearly a dozen or more years and it’s always a great time.

June POTD

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It’s hard to believe it’s July already.  When I realized how busy we’d been in June, it’s no wonder the time goes flying by. I wanted to get this layout done before we leave tomorrow to spend a long weekend with my brother and attend my niece’s wedding on Friday. 

JuneLO

The journaling on the homemade tag reads:

June, like most months, was busy with many commitments and social events. We saw “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” which we enjoyed, and GeVa’s production of “Company” which we loved. I went to a lecture by Stephen Johnson at The Eastman House, and attended a workshop on Speedlite flash attachments.

Matt was home for a long weekend over Father’s Day and we celebrated with dinner at The North Shore Grill. It was a perfect evening to sit on the deck overlooking Conesus Lake. Tracy and I had dinner for the first time at Zeppa Grill, and used our Groupon for dinner at The Wintonaire one night. We had dinner with Bill and Tina, Bob and Cathy, and Bill and Beryl. I lunched with Mary, Marie, Karen, and MaryEllen one afternoon, and had lunch with Jane, Sue Fay, and dinner with Karen. We went to Rod’s retirement dinner. 

I completed three books: “The Call,” “The Sisters Brothers,” and “Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake.” Although I didn’t manage a layout a day as I hoped, I did complete 10 layouts, a mini-album for our Oregon trip, and made (and sent) 20 cards.

I leased a new Forester. The only new feature on it is Blue Tooth, but I’m already in love with it. I have all my music on a flash drive and can listen to any of it by using the controls in the car. A phone call automatically comes in on the speaker, no need for an ear piece. 

The Triple Play Grant committee met and I completed the interviews and site visit for the grant application from Focus On The Children. Evaluating grant proposals is definitely a new challenge, but one I ended up enjoying.

Most of the supplies for the layout came in a Studio Calico kit. The patterned papers are from Studio Calico and Basic Grey. The scalloped border I cut with the medium scallop die from Papertrey Ink. The brad is Basic Grey and the star clip came in the kit and I’m not sure of the manufacturer. The alpha is from Paper Studio.

If you’re celebrating the Fourth of July, make it a safe one!

Coastal Oregon

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I haven’t given up on scrapping, but life is throwing a few curves right now and I’m busier than I expected. I’m hoping to get a few more pages done before the end of the month, but I’m happy with what’s gotten done. I don’t often do two-page layouts, but our trip up the Oregon coast was so fabulous, I wanted to include more than just one or two photos. Once I get more photos printed, I’ll put them in some divided page protectors behind this layout. That’s worked great in the past.

Oregon2pgs

Here’s a better look at each page separately.

OregonLeft

OregonRight

The journaling reads: 

You would think we would have been better prepared for the beautiful Oregon coast since we’ve driven up much of California’s coast. But we were truly amazed by the stunning Oregon coast. Sunny, blue skies, and relatively warm temperatures made for perfect sightseeing. We started in Bandon on Tuesday afternoon and drove as far as Cannon Beach for lunch on Thursday. Seen here the lighthouses at Yaquina Bay, Yaquina Head, and Hecata Head (covered in mesh for repairs,) crashing waves along the coast near Yachats, the view from Cape Perpetua Information Center, fog lifting outside Reedsport, and the beach at Bandon.

I used some old (but still favorite) grid papers from Scenic Route, two journaling circles from Studio Calico, and two stickers from an old Deja View Travel Sticker sheet. The alpha is a gray Studio Calico which I just love. This is probably as CAS a layout as there is!

LOAD: Days 5 & 6

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I’ve been doing a pretty good job of staying on top of my self-imposed LOAD project this month, but not such a good job of getting them posted. We’ve been busy in the yard and garden which badly needed our attention. This weekend I’ll probaby have to take a break from LOAD as I’m involved in a focus group that meets Friday night and all day Saturday. In addition, Matt is coming home for a long weekend. I’m always happy to have him here, even though most of his time will be spent with Betsy and Skylar.

So here are two more layouts. Days 7 & 8 are a travel journal I completed about our recent trip to Oregon. I have the photos taken, but not edited for the blog. Soon . . .

WashingtonWeekend6.5

I wanted to get a layout done about our weekend in Washinton, D.C. I started with a photo template by Kitty Designs. Since there were a lot of photos, I kept the rest of the layout pretty simple–just some journaling and a tag from Ormolu and two flags from Basic Grey. The chipboard alpha is one of my favorites from the Amy Tangerine line by American Craft.

The journaling reads:

The impetus for the weekend get-away was an exhibition of Annie Leibovitz’s photographs entitled, “Pilgrimage,” which was showing at the Smithsonian American Museum. No photographs were allowed at the exhibit. The photographs filled just two or three rooms, but were so interesting especially since they were such a departure from her usual portraits. I’d like to own the exhibit book someday.

 The weekend turned out perfectly: gorgeous weather and not too many crowds. I had plenty of time to capture photos of the Washington monuments. The last time we were there, I took a whole roll of photos without realizing I had no film in my camera! I’ve been waiting for another opportunity for over 20 years. The icing on the cake was meeting up with Susan and Eric whom we hadn’t seen in nine years.

 from top to bottom, left to right: Jefferson Memorial, Martin Luther King Memorial, Pentagon Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Capitol Building from the Old Post Office tower, the Supreme Court, the fountain at the  World War II Memorial, one of the fountains at the FDR Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, the C&O Canal in Georgetown

The next layout has been in a file “to scrap” for over a year, and was a lot of fun to make.

OreoCows6.6

The patterned paper is Echo Park’s “Dots and Things,” and the cardstock thickers are from American Craft. I’d forgotten I had them in my stash, but was delighted to find a black and white polka-dotted alpha. I also had an old Making Memories brad with black and white polka-dots. I made the cow embellishments with the die from On the Farm by Papertrey Ink.

OreoCowsJournaling

The most important part of this journaling points out how Tracy goes to great lengths for me to get a photograph. This is not out of character at all, and often it is he who asks if he’d like me to pull over so I can take a picture. Before he pointed them out in Massachusetts, I’d never heard of Oreo cows.

LOAD: Days 3 & 4

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Here are the latest layouts of the grandchildren. 🙂 

SoHappyLO
Patterned paper:  “Pink Quatrafoil” (both sides) Style Essential (Echo Park), “Green Flourish,” Style Essential (Echo Park), and “Metropolitan” (American Craft) for the title; Silhouette, Stamps: Lawn Fawn and Papertrey Ink; punch:  Knock-out heart scallop (American Craft); Flower: unknown from stash.

We bought this hat for Skylar in the gift shop of the International Rose Garden in Portland. Her middle name is Rose, so we knew we wanted to find something for her there. This was perfect, and I do think she’s pretty cute in it.

JollyJumperLO
 

Patterned paper: “Everyday Moments” (Teresa Collins); Cardstock:  Neenah Solar White; Alpha: Puffy (American Craft); stickers: Pebbles.

One of Tracy’s first jobs when we arrived in Oregon was to hang Caleb’s new jumper. The jumper was a huge hit, and provides Caleb with a much needed way to burn off some excess energy! The journaling reads:

Today’s version is called “Mighty Muscle Builder,” but in Sarah and Matt’s baby days it was the “Jolly Jumper.” I much prefer the older name, and it certainly suits Caleb as he is definitely a jolly jumper. From the moment Tracy hung it up, Caleb has loved it. None of the photos here really capture his joy, but we have several videos that do. Furthermore, I think it helps tire him out. Since he’s a fussy sleeper, anything that contributes to a good night’s sleep is wonderful.


April POTD

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I’ve managed to take a photo a day for four months now. Some days it was pretty late by the time I got to it, but lots of times the prompt from Capture Your 365 has sent me out with my camera to explore new views and new techniques. I’m dedicated to sticking with it this year. I managed to carve out a few minutes to scrap the April layout before we leave.

AprilPOTMlayout

Patterned paper:  Teresa Collins; cardstock:  Bazzil; dotted paper, ribbon and tag from stash; sticker:  Echo Park

The journaling on the tag reads:

The weather in April was dreary and chilly, but the days flew by. 

 It was a photo intensive month. A RPEG photo shoot at Artisan Works, and a four day trip to Washington, D.C. and Frederick, MD. I also worked on my Sense of Place class and took a group of photos of Rochester icons. Matt was here for a weekend and so there are lots of family photos, too, although Skylar won the place for the POTD! A photo of mine that won a prize at Camera Rochester is hanging in the current Image City exhibit this month.

In addition to starting Sense of Place, I finally finished Finding Your Photo Flow, and now have a beginning work flow that incorporates Lightroom. Lots left to do to get the older photos into LR. Other classes this month were Kerry Bradford’s “Getting to Know You” (Silhouette), “Black & White Photography” here with Cole Thompson, and a card making class, “A Cut Above.” All were excellent! I still have work to do with both Kerry’s class and the card class.

 I finished four books this month: The Marriage Plot, Mrs. Kimble, Photographing Washington, D.C., and Wild. Tracy and I saw one movie: Salmon Fishing in the Yemen.

 Shawn Wallace was the April speaker at Arts & Lectures, and I enjoyed a panel discussion with the Magnum Photographers at the Eastman House followed by a viewing of their House of Cards exhibit at the Visual Studies workshop.

We spent Easter with the family at Randy and Susan’s and lunched with Dan and Jeannie. We enjoyed dinner with our book group and I had dinner with Mona and Jessie, and lunch with Barb & Ev, and Jane.

My OLW for this year is Balance, and I did a pretty good job this month, although scrapbooking took a back seat again to photography and card making, and I’ve yet to institute the daily practice with Copics. 

I didn’t add the information to the tag but for the numbers record, I made 18 cards and 2 layouts. Most of the cards are already sent or in envelopes to be mailed in May.

Two Layouts

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I’m keeping up with my goal of a layout every week. Here’s what I ended up doing with my Take Twelve photos.

TakeTwelveMarch

Everything on the layout is from a Studio Calico kit, all but the flower from the March Story Teller kit.

The next one is an almost finished layout. I left some room for more journaling since it’s an old photo and I know I have more to say—just have to figure out exactly when it was taken. For years, we’ve taken photos on the front steps. Often they are “good-bye” photos–off to school, off to camp, off somewhere. I’m not so sure about this one though.

When I was cleaning last week I found a whole set of layouts I did in a Technique Tuesday class at the Creating Keepsakes Convention last May. Then I was going through the photo file looking for something else and came upon this photo which seemed just perfect for this layout. I have three more layouts, but haven’t seen the right photos for them yet.

PorchPhoto

Ten on the Tenth

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I pinned this SMASH book entry awhile ago, and thought it would make a good layout for Ten on the Tenth. 

CurrentlyR

It gave me an excuse to break out the March Studio Calico kit. I really like the new Studio Calico “Classic Calico” alphabet. I had to use both fonts for the numbers since I needed two “ones.” I stamped the words with Papertrey Ink’s “Simple Alphabet,” definitely the most time consuming part of the layout. The patterned paper is Crate Paper’s Story Teller as is the border I cut apart. The die cut for the date and the buttons are Papertrey Ink, and the date is from the Studio Calico exclusive date stamp. I love these date stamps, but don’t find them very user-friendly. Here’s the journaling which may be a bit difficult to read. I’ve never mastered how to get my photos to enlarge in TypePad when you click on them.

  1. WATCHING:  NCAA basketball-men’s and women’s
  2. EATING:  mostly whole, fresh foods
  3. DRINKING:  lots of hot tea-Tazo “Joy” and “Organic Darjeeling”
  4. WEARING:  bright colors in hopes of bringing on Spring
  5. FEELING:  the anticipation of upcoming trips to Washington, D.C. and Oregon
  6. WEATHER:  a roller coaster–down to Winter, up to Spring, and back again
  7. WANTING:  some family time; 8 more weeks
  8. NEEDING:  more creative mojo
  9. ENJOYING:  planning a summer vacation with Sarah, Adam, and Caleb
  10. LEARNING:  lots about my iPhone apps

I’m linking this to Shimelle’s Ten Things.

10-things

February Recap Layouts

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I’ve kept up with Capture 365+1 for two months now, and I think I can safely say it’s become a habit. There have been a couple of days that the iPhone has come to the rescue at the last minute, but most days getting a photo based on Katrina’s prompt or our daily activities (my preference) is on my mind as I go about my day. Here’s the layout with Ali Edward’s calendar template. I decided to do my  “by the numbers” for February on the hidden tag. I like having the tag where I can write on both sides.

2.12POTD

2.12POTDJournaling

The patterned papers are Fancy Pants (“Love Bird”) and old Scenic Route that I just can’t part with when I purge. I also used the Papertrey Ink heart border die and Paper Studio alphas.

I’m linking the next layout to a Month of Photos at Simple As That. I decided to put the collage on a layout too, and make February a two-page event, even though they don’t use the same papers.

Month_in_photos_buttonWEB

FEBcollage

All the photos here spoke to the month for me:  the fire at the B&B, Valentine’s Day, hanging out at home, the first serious snow of the winter, my trip to the Memorial Art Gallery (actually there was a second trip the following week) and our Sunday brunch diner. 

 

Opportunities and More L.O.A.D.

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I’m done with L.O.A.D. but there are still a few layouts to share here over the next couple of days. Before I get to that, there are some opportunities to share with you as well. Many of you also know Deb at Paper Turtle, but in case you don’t you should add her to your list of blogs! Happy, optomistic, a great photographer of the every day, Deb is one of the most creative ladies I know. She recently took up crocheting and has an adorable prize up for grabs here.

And many of us enjoyed Rinda’s photographic scavenger hunt over the summer. This morning I got an email from PaperCoterie who has developed one for the month of March. The theme is “Play” and it looks like fun. If you’re into iPhone apps, there’s a hashtag for Instagram if that’s how you’d like to play along, although any kind of camera is fine. There are some great prizes as well. I’m not sure I’ll manage every day’s prompt, but I’m definitely going to participate. The details are here.

So here are some more scrapbooking pages:

LOAD_2.25Chickens

This is a story I’ve wanted to tell for a long time. In fact, I wrote most of the journaling in 2008 and stuck it in a folder. All the supplies are from Cosmo Cricket–three different lines.

My grandfather raised chickens. There were chicken coops behind the house, and a special coop for incubating eggs. His primary purpose in raising the chickens was to show them at the fair. In my grandparent’s dining room the china cabinet had no china–just trophies my grandfather had won for his prize chickens. 

But showing chickens is not what I remember. I remember feeding the chickens and helping collect the eggs. It took me awhile to be comfortable moving a hen off her nest, but I remember picking up the warm eggs and putting them carefully in a basket. The chickens themselves made me nervous. I was not a particularly brave child, and I was amazed to find this photograph of me holding a chicken. I recently told Matt about it, and he got a good laugh just thinking about it. 

I remember Saturday afternoons when Grandpa would choose a chicken for Sunday’s dinner. He had a long log that lay on the ground outside a few of the coops and a clothesline that was strung above it. He would hold the chicken by its legs, whack its head on the log to knock it out, and chop off its head with an axe. The whole process took just a few seconds. Then he hung the chicken up by its legs. The chicken flung around for a few seconds and blood dripped on the ground. I don’t remember watching him clean the chickens, but I do remember helping pick the feathers out, and singeing the pin feathers off with a match. My grandmother died when I was in the third grade, but I remember helping her in the kitchen on Sunday to cook the chicken dinner which was always served with mashed potatoes and gravy. My guess is that was the best chicken I ever ate, although it was so long ago, the tastes have disappeared. 

LOAD_2.26TooCute

I found this photo of Caleb on Face Book last week, and it cracked me up. It’s just like my SIL, Adam, to take his iPad and prop Caleb up next to it. My favorite photo of the bunch, though, is this one.

Calebw

He’s getting so big. He goes for his two month check-up tomorrow and I’ll be interested to see how much he’s grown. Only nine more weeks until we head out to Oregon again. Whenever we do Face Time, I just want to reach through the screen and grab ahold of him!

I’ll be back soon with the last three layouts for L.O.A.D. Today I’m hoping to get some serious cardmaking done!

Project 64: Red Orange and more LOAD

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Project64

Last week’s color at Project 64 was Red Orange. It was much easier to find that Orchid, although I was delighted to find my one and only orchid photo as last week’s pick. The number of folks still posting has dwindled since the beginning of the New Year, but by my count there are only 8 weeks left, including this one. LIke L.O.A.D. I am somewhat amazed to find I have kept up with this project every week for 58 weeks!

Before we left on a road trip last spring, I made little cards for each color so I could carry them with me. I take each one out the day the new color is revealed, and lay it on my desk. One night I looked down and there was the card laying next to a file folder. Perfect match:

Folderw

But the photo I’m linking up is this macro shot of one of the flowers in a beautiful bouquet I was given. It was a great excuse to get out the tripod and the macro lens again.

Flower2w

Today is the last day of February and my 29th layout is done (but not photographed). I’m relieved to be finished. It’s taken a lot of time, and I have other projects that need my attention. I’m getting a tutorial on Lightroom this afternoon which, hopefully, will clear up the difficulties I have getting my catalog organized. I’ve also started purging and cleaning in my studio (again), and want to clear out a lot of old stuff. My anniversary package from Papertrey arrived yesterday, and I’m anxious to get back to some card making. Nonetheless, L.O.A.D. fulfilled one 2012 goal:  get back to scrapbooking. Now my goal is one layout a week, which after one-a-day seems pretty reasonable. So here are three more:

LOAD_2.22Ordination

I’m pretty sure this is another Ali E. template, but I forgot to write it down. When we were in California in November, Adam was ordained as a Presbyterian minister. All the photos were taken by Ron Tripp, a member of the congregation Adam served in Livermore, and a wonderful photographer. The template took up so much room, I ended up making a circle embellishment from a tiny Basic Grey alpha with the title on it. The cross came from an Amy Tangerine alpha.

LOAD_2.23Shower

I made a scrapbook album for Sarah after her baby shower, but never scrapped any of the photos of all our wonderful friends and family who were there. Once again, no room for a title, so the photo of the cake will have to do. I hid the journaling behind the photo.

LOAD_2.24FirstFriends

This layout came from a prompt about neighborhood friends. The journaling reads:

Freddy Samples was one of my first friends, and one of two that I remember from my  years in Kansas.  There are several photos of us together, but I love this one in our cowboy/cowgirl outfits. Toy guns were definitely banned later in my childhood, so this outfit is amusing. I do see that Freddy has a toy gun in his hand, but I do not. 

Cathy (I wish I could be sure of her last name) was a close friend later during my elementary school years. I loved to go to her house because her family had a television and mine did not. Despite the fact that we were friends for quite a few years, and I visited her in her new home in New Orleans when I was in fifth grade, I cannot find any photos of the two of us.

 

More L.O.A.D.: Days 13-15

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I am frankly amazed that I’ve managed to keep up with this project, and I must admit, I’m enjoying it quite a bit. Reading, doing the lessons in Photo Flow, and starting a daily practice with Copic markers, however, have taken a back seat. I keep up with all my commitments (which have been pretty heavy recently), but scrapping definitely takes me a LOT longer than cardmaking! Here are three more:

LOAD_2.13

This might be the simplest layout ever, but it’s one of my favorites so far. (The mat is straight IRL; for some reason I couldn’t get the scan to straighten out.) The prompt was about earlier hobbies, and I don’t think I’ve ever scrapped about starting out with sewing. I had some articles and several other photos I could have used, but went with this one from a Project 64 prompt and one simple embellishment from Pink Paislee. The journaling reads:

I started sewing when I was ten years old and joined a 4-H club. Long before I was a 

  • a cardmaker
  • scrapbooker
  • photographer
  • cook, or 
  • gardener

My mother taught me how to sew. She was a wonderful seamstress, but she was also colorblind so from a very early age, I can remember helping her match the thread to the fabric. I sewed for many years, and  made winter coats, suits, my prom dresses, both men’s and women’s shirts, and lots of kids’ clothes. About 15 years ago, I realized it cost more to buy the fabric and notions than it did to buy the garment. Now my sewing machine is used primarily for papercrafting, but occasionally I break it out for curtains, or to turn up a hem.

LOAD_2.14Take12Feb

I wanted to get my Take Twelve photos scrapped. I used a template from the Ella Publishing kit Take Twelve, and cut it out by hand to add to the layout. The patterned paper is old Jillibean, the cardstock American Craft and BoBunny dotted. The only embellishment is an acrylic “button” from my stash with a camera cut from a Hambly transparency layered on top. Journaling:

We woke up to the first major snow of the year. I haven’t missed it! The walk into church was beautiful, but the drive was slippery. We did stop for breakfast at the South Wedge Diner. The Youth Presbytery Worship Service ended up being cancelled, but the roads were clear enough for us to get to dinner at Lynn’s. It was good to see Sharon, Jeff, and Barb, and dinner at Lynn’s is always excellent. I spent the afternoon working on L.O.A.D.  and going through more of the  family photos Dane gave me last summer. I also found an old recipe book, published in 1894 with notes and recipe cards from my great-aunts inside. The bright and cheerful tulips are an antidote to the gray skies in western New York in the winter. I made a German Chocolate cake for dinner on Saturday night and took the rest to Lynn’s today. Love my Happiness Project calendar!

LOAD_2.15LoveLasts

This layout came directly from the day’s prompt: Love Lasts:  what love of yours has endured the passage of time. I knew I had this cute photo of me at 15 months, and decided to make my own background paper with a photo of the bookshelves in our bedroom. The embellishments are both stamps from “All Booked Up” by Papertrey Ink. The journaling reads: 

My love of reading started at an early age. I am exactly 15 months old in this photo, and I’m sure I’m modeling what I saw every day. My parents gave me books every year for Christmas until I was an adult myself. I remember how disappointed I was, at 40, the year my father didn’t include a book in his gifts to me. We are surrounded by books in this house, and now I have quite a collection on my Kindle as well. I never tire of reading a good book.