Fishy Face

Here's the other Granddaughter caught making one of her notorious Fishy Faces. All supplies from Cottage Arts.

Off To Wonderland

This just kept growing! I started with this picture of Pyper at her recent soccer game. I used lots of bits and pieces from kits at Cottage Arts. Check my gallery posting there for a complete list.

Hush

This is Evie my Great-Great Niece
(she is pretty Great huh)
Supplies from Cottage Arts.

Puppy Pal

A few weeks ago Amber had to make the hard decision to put Raine to sleep. Raine was adopted from a shelter in AZ soon after Amber moved there over 10 years ago now. She was her constant companion yielding just love and demanding nothing more. She saw her through tears and laughter and the addition of another Kitty - Katie and a pooch named Mushu. Raine always knew she ruled the roost no matter what they thought. I thought this kit from Cottage Arts called Puppy Love Page Pak would be just perfect to tell this story. (And on another note it was featured as a Gallery Standout today at Digi Shop Talk!)

Spring Flowers

I was trying out the new tutorials at Cottage Arts for Masks and Gradients. Even though I use a lot of masks and sometimes gradients I find that I always learn something new when reading through tuts. You can find them here if you are interested. If you're interested in the supplies I used check them out here.

Here's my technique for achieving this look - The photo was enlarged to fill the whole page, placed above the Photo Mask 3 and duplicated. The top layer was blended to luminosity, the layer directly above the mask to screen. I added a layer above with the Blanc De Noir Paper 09 adding a Gradient Map of Magenta/Yellow (included with PS CS3 - Color Harmonies 2) Opacity set to 99% Fill set to 43%, a mask was added and the center brushed out with a soft brush

Sissy and Me

All supplies for this from Cottage Arts. This is Carol and I when we were both a tad younger!

Adventure - Featured in Scrap Street Magazine

This page is being featured on page 35 of the May edition of Scrap Street Magazine, which is a free E-Zine, check it out here.

Supplies: Digital Kit: Life’s Journey by Swissaroo at Scrap Street Fonts: Myraid Pro, Minion Pro.

Journaling: My roots come from Europe, my Great Grandparents were from England and Germany, my dream would be to visit where my heritage began, to walk the land, smell the flowers and get a feel for them. If it had not been for an adventurous young man in his early teens that set off on a Merchant ship from England to Canada in the early 1900's to join his brothers, I may never have been. That was my Grandfather Fred, sailing from England to St Josephs Island, Canada. Later he would meet my Grandmother Clara and together they would begin a family in the Eastern part of Washington and Oregon. Eventually my family ended up in SW Washington a far distance from the lands in which my blood began. I look at me today and wonder if I would have had the nerve to leave my family behind, knowing in my heart of hearts I would never see them again for lands so far away. It was lives full of long days and hard work to carve out homes for themselves. I wish I had known my Grandfather, to be able to hear his stories of home and family, to get a sense of me.

My Grandmother Clara (Kiehl) came from Kiel Germany. I do not know as much about them, but when Amber was in High School she had the opportunity to stay with a German family and they in turn took her to visit her Ancestors area. I have seen pictures of the beauty here, much like my Pacific Northwest and I hope that perhaps someday I will be able to see it firsthand as well.

Design notes: The shapes of the continents made great photo masks for the pictures of my family

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!

Living Tree

Here are my four Grandkids and the 5th that's on her way. All supplies used from Cottage Arts, check out hte gallery link for a complete list.