Lifelong Friends

Here's my Mom with best friends Bob and Virgina. They lived right next door to my sister when she was first married, and became extra grandparents to their 3 children as they came along. Over the years the two couples became even closer as they traveled together in their RVs and spent many evenings playing cards, Daddy and Big Bob giving each other the business. We've always called them Big Bob and Nina, and even to this day that's who they are to me. Momma recently went to see them, Big Bob's been ill and even though Mom seldom leaves her apartment complex she went to visit. It seems funny not to have Daddy in the picture, but he's been gone 18 years this year, how is that possible I wonder?

The journaling on the page reads:
Friends are such amazing creatures. They always seem to know when you need them and show up with support and love without being asked. They make wonderful traveling companions, sharing good times, laughter and new sights. That is what you have always been to one another. Such good friends. For over 50 years you have gathered together for special days and everyday moments. Over shared coffee and home baked goodies, great conversations have been had. Together you've played card games and dice, laughed and chatted under RV awnings, sat around campfires, hunted beaches for washed up treasures, the list goes on and on. How special to count yourselves as friends, just like a flower garden, forever sharing blossoms of love with one another.

I used Joyce de Jonges newest kit Wildflowers from Digitals, filled the background with a soft cream color and added a texture from Tonja Grams Textures and Overlays Vol 3 which I had colored a soft green and lowered the opacity so it sat on the background but didn't scream out at you.

The font is one from Fonts for Peas, called Pea Alesa. This is the first time I've used their fonts, they are all free. It's a cool site, all the fonts are ones that people have submitted with their handwriting and then they are turned into fonts. I'm always looking for handwritten fonts and hit the jackpot when I found this site!

Posing For Me

I was on the computer this afternoon and this little guy landed on the shrubs in front of the window. I quickly opened the shades and grabbed my camera, of course by then he was gone. It wasn't long though before he came back for another look. He landed on the post and allowed me to snap great shots of him. I knew he was just what I'd been wanting with this kit of Joyce de Jonge's - Outside My Window at Digitals. I erased a little of the window to give him an Out of Bounds feel. The Scripture quote is free from Katie Mann at this months Scripture Challenge at Digitals.

Carol's Garden

My sister recently bought a new camera with a zoom on it and is sending me the most wonderful pictures of the birds and animals that visit her front and side yards (she lives in Washington State). I just had to use them with this new kit of Joyce de Jonge's called With All My Heart. Don't you just love the heart frame? So perfect for this type of photo.

My poem reads:
In my sister's garden lies a wondrous delight.
Little birds and animals come right within our sight.
Dancing on their little feet, scurrying all about,
Munching from the feeders day in and day out.
It's fun to watch them as they come, and take a picture or two
I want to reach out and tell them, I glad you came, thank you.

Dino Boy

Eddie at the Dinosaur exhibit at the Portland Zoo last summer. It's not hard to see I altered his photo just a tad using Joyce de Jonge's - Easter Eggztractions kit at Digitals.

Smell the Flowers

When Joyce (Joyce de Jonge) sent me an email and said she was trying out a new OOBs (Out of Bounds - meaning the photo, or part of it, pops out of the frame) I just couldn't wait to play. She has two eggs in her new Easter Eggztractions kit. Since I only had the eggs to work with I used her Sunshine kit to do the background and the overlay of the Easter Egg.

Little Thinker

This is my 3rd cousin Avery, isn't she a doll. I just connected with her Mommy on Facebook and as soon as I saw this photo had to have it!

I used a brand new kit Joyce de Jonge has just released at Digitals called Spring Romance.

When I was home in November my sister was taking me to visit Mom. We were just leaving her driveway when we spotted dear up the road. So Carol took off to see if I could get some photos, which I did. The bonus was that I also got this magnificent photo of the Hawk here. I was so happy when I got the photos from the Camera to the pc, thank goodness for my Zoom lens! I'd never have another camera without one.

Journaling Reads

I saw him glide through the air and land on the branches in the trees in front of us.
As I struggled to get my camera into position I was sure he’d take off.
But no, he waited and watched eyes alert and taking me and the rest of the scene in.
He sat majestically upon those branches surveying the land around him.
Beautiful fierce beak and eyes, such a magical creature coming forward from generations before.
He posed, in all his glory, and allowed me to take these photos.
To you I bow oh powerful Hawk, you are a predator in your world, but such a munificent creature you are in mine.

I used two of Joyce deJong's new kits at Digitals - Magic World and Magic World Vol 2 . I always think of this stately bird as coming from the medieval time. Joyce's kits were so perfect they had just the right coloring to give my photo that kind of feel. I blended a couple together to get the right shading for the background and was happy with the outcome.

Rogue River - Using Masking

Joyce de Jonge has just released this new kit called Paint Your Picture which allows you to lay your photo over a choice of masks and 'clip' them together to get this painted effect here, I just love how easy it was and the results. Joyce sells at Digitals, please check her out!


Here's the journaling on my page, I dated it because years from now when hopefully my 3rd or 4th generations (or later) to follow me will get a little feel for the financial turmoil our country is in right now:

In the summer of 2005 after we finished visiting the family in Washington we spent a few days before returning home to Fresno in Grants Pass Oregon. Staying right on the river our balcony overlooked the Rogue and we could watch the jet boats as they headed down the River. We took this ride ourselves, a little disappointed that we couldn't enjoy the white water trip since the water that summer was too low. But the scenery, the water, the beauty was worth the ride. This little community captured out hearts, I loved it because it was the Pacific Northwest, just a little warmer than up north in Washington. Paul loved it because it had water and green like the New England of his youth. If we hadn't already purchased our 'retirement' home in Utah this would have been the spot we seriously considered. Now economic times are on the fritz and we may have to leave this idea as a dream instead of a reality at least until the world becomes a more settled place to live and our money once again is worth something.
Written 10-7-2008

New Pages

Here are a few pages I've been working on the last few days. The first one is Zoie and Angi at the beach in summer 2000 using Joyce de Jonge's Fairy Dust kit.



The next is the day Mitch and Jeanett got married in 1998. Love the look on Derik's face. And it is Nicole in the pic not Beth, I have to change that on the final copy.
This was using Serendipity from Silvia Romeo at Digitals.




Next is my great-great niece, Alyssa when she was visiting Carol this summer and we happened to be there. I just loved this candid shot of her discovering her shadow. It's so much more fun when they don't know you have the camera in hand. I like the little saying I came up with. This is made using a brand new kit from Alessandra Designs at Digitals called Ethereal Fantasy. Such a wispy, soft, dreamy kit, I love it!





And last is Silvia's other new kit called Citrus Delight. This is Momma, they snapped this fast before she could object. Who would have known she'd look so cute in a hat. Aren't the colors in Silvia's kit perfect with the photo of Mom. What fun is Digital Scrapbooking!

Siletz Bay

Done for the Change It Up Challenge at Digitals - this month you were to incorporate a frame with your photo(s). This picture Angi took when they stayed in Lincoln City. This is one of my favorite spots maybe because it's right next to Mo's, lol. If you're not an Oregonian, or their neighbor, Mo's is famous for their clam chowder and seafood. Very homey and very yummy! Check it out if you're ever on the coast! I used a kit from Joyce deJonge Splender and it's accompanying Elements kit. These are at Digitals.

All I Want For Christmas

Here's Eddie with the after school day care Santa, I'm sure he's just telling him all the stuff he'd like. I just love those dimples, what a cutie, I know Grandma's always say that but I've sure been blessed to have the cutest Grandkids around!

I did this page for another challenge this month at Digitals this time you were given the Ad shown here on the left and you were to create a page using it for inspiration. This is the first time I've joined in on this challenge and it was good, really got me thinking, which is a good thing, lol. If you'd like to play click on the add and it will take you to the Forum information.

I used Wrapped a kit designed by Joyce deJonge at Digitals. I love Joyce's stuff and really liked this background paper she created, it's bumpy and makes me think of snow. It had these wonderful folds on it but they just wouldn't work trying to do the Challenge so I eliminated them and used just the BG paper instead.

Concentration!

I did this page for the January Sketchy Details Challenge at Digitals. I did decide to rotate the sketch and only use journaling on the one sideBut that's the beauty of using a sketch, it gives you fuel for ideas and allows you to change them to fit your need. Check it out.

Journaling reads:
What is it you see my little one that captures your attention so? Where does your mind wander to when you are so absorbed? Do you see imaginary lands and dragons of old? Or is it a spaceship headed off into the sky? No matter what has captured your attention on this day, it’s fine to be a little boy and just take time to play!

Kit is from Joyce deJonge at Digitals called Rough and Tough.

Tooting My Own Horn!

Stacey Kluczny at 3Scrapateers has asked to use my page Winters at Home in their next EZine issue (available December 1st). How exciting! It's so nice to have your peers like something that you enjoyed making. This pictures is so special, I didn't even realize I had it until I was recently scanning old photos into the pc and ran across it. This was taken out home on Bunker Hill. There are so few snowstorms like this one anymore. Dustings are more like it now. I just loved the pristine softness of the snow here and just the glimpse of the house. Always makes my heart feel happy to look at photos from home.

I have Joyce deJonge to thank for her Tenderness kit which I used here and Sue Jones for her Children's Word Art. Both Sue and Joyce sell thier wares at Digitals, please check them out they have someone wonderful items for sale.

Hearst Castle Bedrooms

Journaling Reads:
We took Tour One since we’d never visited the castle before. This was Casa Grande which houses 38 bedrooms 41 bathrooms and has over 60,000 square feet. I loved the ornate ceiling in this one bedroom and the wonderful antiques. The whole place was absolutely amazing as was the guest list of who’s who that stayed in these very rooms, Winston Churchill, Lindberg, Greta Garbo to name just a few.

I also discovered that PS CS2 has a built in photo-merge. I'd probably heard about it before but there is just so much stuff to learn and glean that I was surprised and delighted when
I stumbled upon it doing this page. I had taken this photo in one of the bedrooms. I originally took the lower part of the room because I couldn't get an angle to get the whole thing. But then upon looking up was so taken with the ceiling that I decided I must have a photo of that as well. When I started to scrap them I discovered neither really showed enough of the other to show what I wanted. That's when I started looking for a filter or something and discovered the photo-merge. I opened photo-merge, the two photos, said go and here is the end result, pretty cool huh? I left the funny edges because it just added character to the page.


Joyce deJonge just created this great kit for Fall called Joyce's Fall Garden, sorry Joyce I did it again. I'm sure she didn't have this in mind but the colors of her papers are so rich that they were the perfect choice for these photos. I also took her lariats from her Joyce's Mini Elements. Now that was an absolutely perfect find. Great kits, I'm sure I'll be using lots of the other stuff in them. Check out Joyce's designs at Digitals you'll sure be glad you did.

Little Gardeners

I did this for the Picture It Challenge for September at Digitals. You were to scrap any learning experience. It was perfect for these pictures of Zoie and Pyper learning how to plant their seeds, just like Mommy does.

Journaling Reads:

Your Mommy loves to work in the yard, feel the soil in her hands and watch her little plants become beautiful flowers. This year the two of you wanted to help as well. But it's much different with 4 little hands in the soil. Everything becomes giggles and laughter. I hope that you'll still love to watch the little seeds become flowers when you are your Mommy's age.

I used Joyce deJonge's new kit Joyce's Garden available at Digitals.

Grandma and Daddy

For the July Scraplift Challenge at Digitals I used inspiration from a fellow scrapper, Hutchie using her page Lainie I added the extra journaling tag so I could add some details this wasn't in the scraplifted page.

For my page I used a kit by Joyce deJonge My Little Star which is available at Digitals. I changed Joyce's kit by using the hue saturation to change the colors of the flowers to match the photo and page and changed the reeds and one set of flowers to blend mode of overlay to give the golden cast.
The font is Italianate

Now about the photo itself, it's another of my Heritage photos from my Grandma Coulter's collection. The Journaling reads:

Daddy was born in 1911 and he doesn't look more than a year or so old so that dates this photo and puts Grandma at around 16 or 17. How young and absolutely beautiful she was at that time. And I love that Daddy didn't want his picture taken, even then he had a mind of his own!

The hat is what makes this photo so priceless, Grandma has several photos from this era with these huge hats.

Layout of the Day at 3Scrapateers

You know when you are doing something you have a real passion about and watch it evolve from the blank screen into something you love it's such a great feeling inside. Then when your peers pick you and give you extra Kudos there's no better way to start the day! Thank you 3Scrapateeres for picking my page!

This layout just came together so well for me. I loved Joyce deJonge's kit Mexico I used. It worked just perfectly for these photos.

This is Aunty Lill and Uncle Ernie with Uncle Ernie's brother George, wife Clara and son George Jr. They took a road trip in 1916 (it was on the post card) from around LA to Mexico.

I look at these cars and wonder how long did this trip take??? Look at those tires and does it even have a windshield, it must have, but there are no windows, now that's truly open air!

Uncle Ernie loved to travel, to be adventurous and see new places. Aunty Lill must have loved it too she looks pretty happy in all the photos I see of them going somewhere.

These were some of the few Heritage photos I haven't tried to remove all the dust and cracks and stuff from age and wear. I did enchance the colors a little but I liked the vinage feel of the post cards. And that's another thing that always amazes me. Since I've been scrapping the Heritage Album I have found so many of the pictures taken in this early 1900 era were printed on post cards. Such a fun glimpse back into my family's time.