Deck The Halls

Alessandra Designs - Merry Xmas Kit at Digitals -- Font Curlz

Woo Hoo, It's the Digitals NSD Art Doll Challenge

Want to come have some fun??? How about create a new you, you doll face you! That's right join Beth Rimmer at Digitals for NSD and get the kit below to make your 'doll'. Click on the photo to go to the forum and get the low down, but hurry, tools for creating your doll will only be available until Midnight May 5th!


Want a little inspiration? Here I am, me and my Alter Ego!!!

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!

Just Like Brother

I used Michelle Pieters (Digitals) Gentle Whisper for this page. It was done for the iChallenge at Digitals where you were to have some sort of timeline. I thought the photos of the boy's diving accomplished my 3 second timeline!

Boy Dreamer

For the Designer Elements Challenge at Digitals using Beth Rimmers River of Dreams mini kit (freebie) from Challenge, Papers and Elements. This is Eddie extracted from a game of Sorry with his cousins, see the original photo below.

Pool Party

My Granddaughters, Zoie and Pyper always have a joint birthday party since their birthdays are only two weeks apart. This year they had it at a local pool. The pictures are all 4 of my Grandchildren! The splash on the right was snapped just as someone hit the pool. I used Michelle Pieters Garden of Dreams and Film Curls White - both from Digitals.

Fonts Lydian - Martina

Beach Doggy

OK this one was done for the Font Free 4 All Challenge this month at Digitals. You're given a choice of fonts to play with in your page. I chose Homework. The kit choice was the kicker though, Jen Maceyunas has these wonderful dog and cat kits and word art. Just perfect for my Grandpug, Mushu. The kit was No Bones About It and the word art (Wolf Wolf) was from Dog Quotables 3 .

Easter Sunday 1960

oh my the
memories this
photo brings back.
I remember the shoes,
white leather with very very pointed toes.
Gloves, hat and purse, I thought I was a
quite the little princess, such afashion
statement. And the bookcase behind me,
always filled with family photos, that’s my
Big Sissy in the photo behind me. On the
table is my Easter Basket, I wonder if this
was the year the ‘Easter Bunny’ hid them
behind the living room drapes. Such
wonderful childhood memories.

For the All in the Family Challenge this month at Digitals where you were to do a page of Easter Memories, this picture always comes to mind. I used Glenda Ketcham's Tattered Memories kit from Digitals.

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.

Utah Beauty - Four Seasons

My friend Beth Rimmer has been at it again. I just love her kits they always have a degree of tilt on them! This one has beautiful background papers but lots of bits of whimsy to use as well in the Keep Looking Up! Embellies kit. I wanted to use this quote which is from the Its Only Words Challenge at Digitals this month and Beth's kit along with my scenic view of Utah seemed to fit perfectly. The background is Road shot photo I took at Navajo Lake blended with two of the papers from Beth's Keep Looking Up! Papers kit. The word art is supplied free if you join the challenge, so get hopping and join in the fun!

My journaling reads:
Road trips have become a part of our retirement. Hunting out the well known spots, as well as the off the beaten track sights and scenery. It amazes us both at how much beauty and diversity are here in our own country. Beautiful skies, and landscapes just begging for my camera to hold them for others to see. These pictures were taken throughout the four seasons within 100 miles of our home.

Dixie Downs

I did this for the Ad Challenge at Digitals, you're to take this ad and interpret it into a page.
So here's my take on it.

I used a kit from Michelle Pieters called Garden of Dreams, it had just the right shades of brown and beige to accompany my photos. These were shot on Saturday at Dixie Downs which is a very small horsetrack in Hurricane, Utah. It was a fun experience and there's nothing like being up close to these magnificent animals! These were the trials for the races with a purse on the 18th. Apparently there are races in small towns like this around the state so if time permits we may venture on to explore another town and see another race.

Sorry!

While home visiting I had camera in hand most of the time. I just sat and took shot after shot as they played Sorry. What fun, I loved the pics of Pyper's hand and foot. Beth Rimmer's Fashionista! The Embellies and The Papers was just so perfect for this page of Pyper. I wanted to find the same font that is used on the game but settled for Ringbearer, close enough.

Don't Feed the Squirrels Martha!

Just having a little fun tonight with another new Action from Alessandra Designs called Mischievous Owl. I also used some bits from her new Country Home Kit, just released at Digitals. The photos are two I took last Sunday in Kolab Canyons. I've added them below so you can see how the squirrel was extracted. Extraction and masking is so much fun and opens up so many possiblities with your photos. If you haven't tried it please do, just remember to start small, go slow and have fun. And the undo button, it's there whenever something just doesn't look right. That's why I most often use a mask instead of the eraser, I can always paint something back in with a mask, once it's erased it's gone forever.

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.

Imagination

OK I started with Beth's new Our House and had to move on from there! These are 3 of the 4 Grandkids. The eldest, Zoie is in the tower, I used the Diffuse Glow Filter and extracted her. For the other two the little Angel with the arrow is the youngest Pyper, I superimposed the face and with the Dog is Eddie also superimposed.

I told Beth I thought this would be cool to attach to chipboard and have an easel back (leaving out some of the background and using the shapes of the buildings).

All kits are Beth Rimmer's at Digitals
Our House - ATCs Someday My Prince Will Come - Crown - Wings
The Game of Love - Angel (extracted from card and Pyper's face superimposed)
Chat Freebie - Child and Dog from a (superimposed with Eddie's face)
Pulp Fiction Embellies - Moon - Gold Flourish - Fools Rush In Embellies - Butterfly and paper 02 with paper 20 below (on this I used a gradient mask to give this effect). Check out my Digitals Gallery for the links to these other kits.

Reading with Gammy

Gammy will you read us a story?
Sure kids what would you like?
Pyper and Eddie snuggled up close and followed along with fingers on the words,
lips mimicking what Grandma was reading.
How soon you forget the simple joy of having little children.
Of having them come close to listen to your voice read from the page.
I’d forgotten this simple pleasure, it just made my heart swell,
gave me such a feeling of peace and contentment.
It’s wonderful,
reading the page and
having them so engrossed in what you are saying!

A new page with Eddie, Pyper and me taken in November. Cute little buggers aren't they? I used the same kit I did with Pyper's bowling page, Jen Maceyunas - Super-Dee-Dooper kit from Digitals.

Bowling!

Isn't this just too cute? Love the bottom photo where Pyper is clapping because she's so excited. I can't imagine that little thing tossing a bowling ball down the lane. This kit is so super adorable, perfect for my pics. It's Jen Maceyunas's Super-Dee-Dooper from Digitals. When I spotted it I really wanted it for Eddie but I'm still hunting for pics of his to work with, I'll find something though it's just too cute to pass up.

My Family; My Heritage

This page was chosen LOTD at Gotta Pixel!

I was looking for a page to work with Silvia Romeo's new kit Cherries Jubilee and stumbled upon this family photo in an old album of my Grandmothers. I know it's been there, but I just don't remember ever seeing it There aren't a lot of photos of the 5 of them so this is a precious addition to our family memories.

There is a lot of blending her between papers and photo to achieve this look.
Fonts Long Island - Dico Medium

I loved the quote, I searched family, heritage quotes online and ran across this one.

If you look deeply into the palm of your hand you will see your parents and all generations of your ancestors. All of them are alive in this moment. Each is present in your body. You are the continuation of each of these people. Thich Nhar Hanh