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LOAD 2013: Days 1-3

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I have quite a few projects to share, but I thought I'd start with one of the most recent ones: LOAD. I participated last February and completed 29 layouts in 29 days. There's something about this commitment that gets me to my photos and back into scrapbooking. I have two drawers of photos waiting for attention so there's no shortage of material.  

Day One's prompt was to create a scrapbook with no words. This turned out to be easier than I thought. Adam took a photo of Caleb on each month with the iPad which read, "I am ___ months old." Only the first month and his first birthday were missing the iPad. Since he was born on December 30, 2011, all the photos were taken in 2012. I'm happy to have these photos all in one spot!

Caleb2012_LOAD1

The second prompt was scrap a perfect day. That was easy. I've scrapped about this weekend before, but I don't think this photo of me with my kids has been the focus of a page. The journaling card that says "Mother's Day" pulls out to reveal the journaling.

Mother's Day_ LOAD2

Yesterday's prompt was to focus on something that was important but overlooked. I didn't have anything in mind, so starting hunting through the small photos I have tucked in an envelope in my photo drawers. I came across these five photos taken in the winter and decided to do a page about how under-appreciated winter's beauty is.

Winter_LOAD3

I'm quite sure I'll deviate from the prompts as the month rolls along, but the first few days have been fun.

Pick Your Precious #2

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This is Storytelling Sunday at From High in the Sky, and the second installment of Pick Your Precious. When I first read Sian's idea for her third year of storytelling, I immediately thought of my mother's thimble.

Thimble&Thread

I was twenty years old and in college when my mother passed away. I can truthfully say I didn’t really know her. I have memories, of course, but we never talked as adults to one another, and I would give anything to have an hour or two with her to ask some burning questions. 

But I do know she was a remarkable lady who worked full-time as a math teacher when most moms stayed at home. She ran a big house, cooked, and gardened. She was a wonderful seamstress. She was also color-blind which is unusual for a woman. Two colors she could not distinguish at all were browns and greens. I can remember from an early age being called into my parents’ bedroom to tell her which thread matched the fabric she wanted to use.

I grew up in Ohio farm country, and all the kids belonged to 4-H. Most of them were raising animals. We lived in town, but I belonged to a 4-H sewing club, and my mother was a wonderful teacher. When she passed away she didn’t leave a lot of jewelry or other items that I could hold onto. But she did leave her sterling silver thimble. I use it every time I sew, and it’s a precious reminder of one connection I have with my mom.

I'm not sure where one would go to buy a sterling silver timble these days. The only ones I ever see are inexpensive ones at JoAnn's or Michael's. I thought I'd leave you with a shot of the beautiful detail on my mother's thimble.

ThimbleDetail

 

January Art Journal & Pass The Book

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I've had this book far too long, but I thoroughly enjoyed it, and have a page of typed notes and sketches of ideas I found within its pages. You can see some of my post-its here. So it's time to pass it along.

PassTheBookw

 You can read about Pass the Book here. If you're interested in taking a look at this one, leave me a comment, and on Monday night I'll pick a recipient. I've been interested in art journaling for a long time, but haven't done anything with it in years. Sarah and I took an art journaling class together years ago, but I'm not even sure where mine is at this point. This book, however, and a couple of books I purchased this summer have renewed my interest. Since I'm not doing a monthly layout of my Capture Your 365 photos this year, I decided I'd start an art journal and recap my months there. I'll probably add other pages as well. 

JournalPocketClose

I started by using my water color crayons to create a background, and then stamped on top of them with a texture stamp. I typed up the recap of the month and inserted it into a vellum envelope. The date stickers are from the Simple Stories Snap! line, and the wood veneer arrow from Studio Calico. I printed three photos from our trip to Florida on Epson Project paper and tore around the edges.

Page1

The photo in the middle of the page was altered with an action in the new Photoshop Elements 11. I'd read mixed reviews about this upgrade, but received a copy of it for Christmas, and like it very much! I've spent a fair amount of time playing around with it, and think it is the most user friendly yet. This page shows more stamping, some hand-drawn dots, a bit of Washi tape, and another wood veneer piece.

Page2

Since we drove to Florida in January and flew home, I added the car on the first page, and the airplane on the second. Here's a look at the two pages together.

TwoPageSpread

Here's the monthy recap:

It was an unusual January for us. The month got off to a great start with the 50th Anniversary Party for the Presbytery at the Planetarium. All of us involved in the planning were greatly relieved by its huge success. 

As soon as it was over, Tracy & I hit the road for Florida. We drove Ellie’s packed van to her and then flew home. Our road trip to Florida couldn’t have been better. We visited with Susan & Eric in Delaware, Carole and Gordon in North Carolina, and Betty in Stuart, FL. We made quick stops in Atlantic Beach, St. Augustine, and Ponce’s Inlet on our way to Stuart. 

After two nights with Betty, we drove across to Ft. Myers Beach where Ellie is staying for 3 months with her friends, Dick & Caroline. They are avid birders, and I spent a lot of time photographing birds which they kindly identified for me. All of us spent a wonderful morning at the wildlife refuge on Sanibel Island. Another highlight was a trip to Naples to the Naple’s Art Gallery–a beautiful place with two fascinating exhibits: one on women painters and one by blind photographers.

Once we got home, we had the usual busy schedule with meetings, volunteer commitments, and social events. 

I finished two books: "The Plan", and "The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry"; saw one movie, “The Life of Pi”; & enjoyed GeVa’s “Next to Normal” (powerful!). We had dinner with Tina & Bill, Cathy & Bob, Jill & Tom, Betsy & Skylar, & entertained  our book group.

Despite being away, I finished 16 cards & 1 layout, & started three online classes (The History Project, A Flash of Brilliance, & Inspired), as well as an 8 week course at the Community Darkroom on Photoshop.

For a first attempt I'm pretty happy with these pages. I actually had another two-page spread done in a different journal, but decided the pages were not heavy enough to handle the different medias I want to explore, so yesterday I took it apart and started over in this journal that has 140# watercolor paper.  Should be a bit more sturdy.

Don't forget to leave a comment if you'd like a chance to read the book!