Scrap Around The World - August Mood Board

I have to admit I am a total sucker for the beautiful teal in the first photo and could not resist doing a page with that colour, featuring the arch window in the background and adding the sepia tones from the from the middle bottom picture.

This family are the generation before me; my mothers siblings and their mother, my beautiful Grandmother. Grandma came from Ireland with her parents and two brothers as a twelve year old, she married Grandad in her later twenties and had two boys and a girl, two boys and a girl who were always known as Section A and Section B. My eldest uncle is on the top right and suffered badly from epilepsy so could not be left alone and did not marry until late in life; he and the tallest one in the middle who had his own family of  six were given the family farm when Grandad died and the two ran it together until a few years ago when the elder retired and the younger was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. The youngest uncle on the left was a serving member of the police force until retirement and had a family of three.

The uncle seated on the right is almost profoundly deaf after a shooting accident in his teens and has a family of eight children, he most like our beautiful grandmother; my aunt in the middle was a nurse with a family of three as was my mother on the left with her family of four. Grandma was always proudest when asked 'How many children do you have?' 'Six' she would reply. 'How many grandchildren do you have?' 'Twenty four.' 'How many great grandchildren?' 'Thirty two.' 'How many great, great grandchildren?' 'Three!' This beautiful lady died eleven years ago at the age of ninety four and the family has continued to add  to her family since that time; she would absolutely love to be surrounded by her family as she is in this photo; everyone together.

Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes.

Once Upon a Sketch - The Men in our Lives

Once Upon a Sketch for August has offered me a very easy subject; just try stopping me talk about the men in my life! I was incredibly blessed to be chosen to be the life partner to the man on my right in this photo. Regular visitors will know that we met at a monastery and have been together since we were in our teens. We were blessed again, again, again and again when each of our boys arrived.  They have grown into such fine young men each with a family of their own and we are now blessed with an additional six little boys and a little girl.

This photo was taken at our second son's wedding; the only one who had all his brother's in his wedding party. It was a very hot day and had rained a little during the ceremony; the boys were struggling to remain in their suit jackets but the photo shoot was not complete. Here they are sharing a joke whilst waiting for a family photo to be taken; I am surrounded by the men in my life and I love each and every one of them. My journaling is on the back
Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes.

 

Kreative Koncepts #27 - Colour Challenge

 I love the colours that Kreative Koncepts have issued but wasn't sure that I could come up with a photo appropriate for it; I found this one amongst my photo stash.  It is interesting that we all chose to wear grey and black so I could add any colour without being concerned with clashes. I have also used a past Sketchabilities sketch.

This is a photo of my husband and I with my middle sister at her daughter's wedding in Sydney. The venue was my sisters Officer's mess, an old fort with views of the Sydney Harbour so the views with the setting sun were stunning. I don't normally wear make-up but managed to look quite reasonable in this photo but I think my sister looked absolutely stunning that evening. She wore a two piece top and skirt with a flare from the hip with lovely black shoes which she changed to ballet slippers for the dancing. She has such a flair with clothing and always looks so lovely. She did her daughter and the rest of her family proud and this is a precious memory.
Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes.

Scrap the Girls - Texture Paste and Paint

After having blogged last month that I do not use multimedia well I found that Scrap the Girls have asked us to use texture paste and paint! I must admit that I am not entirely happy with this page, especially the yellow, paint tinted mask but I am resolved to use it anyway.

This is our only granddaughter, she is surrounded by four uncles and six male cousins; her Mum and Dad met on a road crew in the outback when working on a major road link between our remote state and the rest of Australia so it is of little surprise to see that they had found some hi viz work gear complete with her name embroidered, little work boots and work socks that repeat the pink and navy of the shirt. We had gone to help complete some paving and the little miss was determined to help shovel the sand and, with a tiny pair of work gloves, carry some bricks. 

I have completed a second page as I love the connection between our 'hi viz miss' and her Pop; we had stopped for a tea break and Pop had plonked himself down on a stack of bricks and crossed his legs whilst drinking his coffee, seconds later the little miss has stacked some bricks beside him, grabbed her drink and after checking Pops position, crossed her legs in the same way and taken a drink. 'Hard work Pop, hard work!' said the little miss. 

Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes.

Once Upon a Sketch - Numbers

Another great sketch and subject from Once Upon A Sketch; numbers. I have a huge stash of photos so just went through them all and found this, quietly waiting to be scrapped; it is my first family, our family of 5. Our mother, a nurse and siblings taken in the mid 60's. Our eldest brother was in high school and a member of the Army cadets; he later went on to join the reserve army and the police force and served both well for over 25 years. I am the one at the back with long hair; I met the love of my life only a few years later; he loved my long hair which finally got cut the year my eldest son was born, my next sister is the one with dark wavy hair wearing her holy communion dress who went on to join the defense forces and after having her family went to work at a bank and our baby sister, the little blonde at the front who is now a nurse living, saving and healing lives in the USA.

I chose the quote carefully: 'The only way of finding the limits of the possible is by going beyond them into the impossible.' We didn't have a lot when we were kids but we were taught one thing; we did not need to be defined by where or how we lived, by what we didn't have and our future was only limited by ourselves and our imagination. Our family of 5 have successful careers, beautiful families of our own and enough of everything else; we made what was considered by our peers to be impossible, possible!

Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes.

Sketchabilities 118

Sketchabilities always comes up with such lovely sketches that encourage you to use a lot of texture and be really creative; unfortunately I did not seem to get that gene and I find my pages left wanting... the solution is to not even try but to complete a page that makes me happy, after all, apart from family I am who I am doing this for! I am also challenging myself to use my scrap stash and scraps of which this page has many!

There are not a lot of photos of me with or without the grandchildren; I am usually the one running around taking happy snaps and often have to hand the camera to a family member and ask them to take a photo of me or they don't think of it! This is our youngest grandson at only a couple of months; his parents had dropped in to see me at work and I got to have a cuddle. I had to hand my phone to my son and ask for a photo to be taken! I must have printed it and then forgotten about it; I was looking for my photo stash for this challenge and found it; I am so happy I did. it is a simple page but I am happy with it. Our little one and I.

Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes.

Scrap Around the World

My husband recently commented that I rarely scrap 'things' so I have completed this page with the challenge from him... to scrap a 'thing' instead of a person!
The quote used in this months Scrap Around the World mood board resonated with me; it was a mantra something like this that got me through the dark days; the colours are some of my favourites but the image of the dandelion seeds blowing in the wind is a lovely image so I decided to focus on that. I love this image I found on Google; a butterfly (in Irish mythology it represents the souls of the dead come to visit) and the dandelion, a beautiful combination of colour,  imagery and personal belief.
I know we used to pick dandelions as kids and make wishes... mine were probably for something like a horse or the latest fashion article or a little bit more money, but as we grow our wishes change. Although I rarely take the time to pick and blow a dandelion these days my wishes and prayers are for the good health and safety of our children, grandchildren, family and friends; if I can't have all of them safe and healthy I wish and pray for the strength to cope with whatever life brings... and a little bit more money! No matter how dark the background or how dark the days, our wishes and prayers are being carried on the wind.
Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes.

Let's Get Shabby - 56: Transparency

This will be the last page for June; I am pretty happy with what I have completed this month and Let's Get Shabby offered me one final opportunity to complete yet another page. The acrylic photo overlay has been in my stash for ages and to be honest I don't even recall were I got it from but I have finally used it; I love the flourishes but the birds across the bottom are just beautiful.
These photos were sent to me by my sister in the USA a year or so ago; she knew that they would be very precious to me and remind me of this special moment; this is our eldest son at her wedding, he was two and a half. She chose to be married at 6.30am on a cold June morning and we were able to have our little ones come with us. A friend had made a little wedding favour for him to give my sister after the ceremony and the photographer caught this lovely moment when he went up to the altar to give it to her. He had a wonderful time playing with it during the ceremony but had been so good throughout. I love that no matter how well he was dressed, his little shirt tail still managed to escape; such a little cutie.

Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes.

Life Paper Scrapbook - June Mood Board

I am not sure how I found so much time to play this month but have really enjoyed the challenges and catching up on so many pages; I was looking for another challenge and chose the June Mood Board from Life Paper Scrapbook to complete another page for the USA November 2012 album. Obviously the colours were  an inspiration but I also took inspiration from the travel and photography.

I have always wanted to see Monument Valley, the Mesa Verde and Grand Canyon and this trip ticked all the boxes for that. Our only entertainment as children was a fortnightly trip to the cinemas and I was a big fan of the John Wayne westerns. The images on the big screen don't seem quite so real and you often wonder if they are just painted backdrops. It was so awesome to stand on the balcony of our hotel room and look out and see how very real these monuments are. We had a lovely American Indian take us on the back country tour and was more than happy to point out the different vistas and explain the tribal ways to us. We came across some wild horses watering at a creek bed; no-one else around, just us, our guide and these horses backed by incredible scenery.
Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes

Life Paper Scrapbook - June Sketch

I am on a roll this month and am getting quite a few challenges done; none of them are winners but they are helping to complete my children and grandchildren's albums and that is a good thing. Life Paper Scrapbook has offered this sketch and I am hoping to get the mood board done before the end of the month too! This is one of those pages where you wish you had bought that Splash mask when you saw it; I don't trust myself with actual paint!

This is our 4th grandson; his mum is an early childhood teacher and tries to expose him to a variety of experiences. For one of his birthdays he received this little kitchen and play food to go in it. Other members of the family bought him pots and pans, plates and cutlery etc. I found this lovely little chefs hat, apron and gloves and he looked quite the part all dressed up. He has since realised that if he takes the plastic sink out he can fit in the cupboard underneath to hide and gave his mum quote a fright when she couldn't find him one day!

Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes.

 

Sketchabilities # 117

I just missed the deadline for Sketchabilities number 116 but am on a roll this month and was able to complete number 117. I may have scrapped this photo or one similar some time ago but I love the softness of the photo and the way my husband and I are totally connected with each other. We had been married for 23 years at this time and although there are always going to be bumpy bits to any marriage we have always worked together to stay together.

I have always been a fan of wisteria and it was growing wild in this park; it made such a wonderful background for the photos. Sadly it was cut back and poisoned some time later and the park has lost its romance. Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes.

 

Scrap Around the World - June

The Scrap Around the World challenge totally freaked me out when I first saw it; all I could see was YELLOW and I really struggle with yellow. I don't think I have ever owned or given anyone anything that is yellow. I took a deep breath and read the challenge script and realised it wasn't about yellow at all. The inspiration I have taken from this challenge is 'black and white with one' and I have chosen deep red and the word LOVE written just the way it is represented, the pencils also inspired the banner.

This is my niece/god daughter and I on her wedding day. She organised a very interesting wedding theme which I have spoken about previously and had the photo booth at the back of the reception hall with different articles for dressing up. I have not liked photos of myself for many years after a very beautiful french colleague made some very hurtful comments about any photo of me that she saw; it shattered my confidence and with age advancing I have become more reticent. My niece appreciated the effort we went to to get to her wedding on the other side of Australia and wanted a photo with me so I couldn't disappoint her; these are the result. The second copy of each photo taken was glued into an album and we wrote our wedding wishes for her and her husband next to it. It was a lovely and fun night. It is also her birthday this month; happy birthday beautiful girl! Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes.

123 Get Scrappy - June

123 Get Scrappy have posed the following tic-tac-toe challenge and I have chosen the first line down; Pearls, Wood grain, Pearls. I have been wanting to complete a page using this photo of my siblings for some time but haven't found the right challenge or papers to do so; the added issue is that I am also trying to use my stash and only allowed myself one sheet of new paper, in this case the piece I used in the background.
This photo is of myself (in pale blue) and my siblings; an older brother and two younger sisters. It is difficult for us to get together; our middle sister (the one with dark hair) was posted in the Eastern States for 20 years, my youngest sister has lived in the USA for 15 years and our brother was in the Northern Territory for many years. I am the only one who has stayed close to home with the same address for all that time. This photo was taken many years ago on one of the few opportunities we have had together. We usually head south to Katanning to visit our maternal families and to pay our respects to our grandparents, great grandparents and other family members at the local cemetery. This time we chose to head north to a monastery town of New Norcia which just happens to be where  my wonderful husband and I met. I don't think we have been together since that day so many years ago. Together and remembering that Families are forever, love it!
Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave.

Once Upon A Sketch - The Best Things in Life aren't Things

Once Upon a Sketch has asked us to focus on what is most important in our lives and it is not things, they are not possessions. For me it has always been these four young men; our four sons. They are my life and they along with my husband are what my life and everything I do is about. This photo was taken in 2001 and is the first of the many photos taken that day and successive photo shoots that have been organised approximately every five years since this one. I don't know what we did right but these four young men, at this time in their teens, have turned into the most wonderful adults, all married, all with families of their own and all successfully employed in their own fields. I am constantly grateful that we got them to this stage without too much worry and very few moments of concern. We are truly blessed; they are the best things in my life and they are not things, they are 'my four sons'.

Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes.

Let's Get Shabby - Double

Let's Get Shabby have asked us for a double; it doesn't matter what we double provided there is two of something... I almost always complete a double page as they are almost all for one of the children's albums so this challenge was easy for me. These photos were taken at the 2013 family photo shoot; three of our four son's (one was with us in spirit) and their Dad. One thing I have learned being the mother of four sons is that they don't 'hug' much, they do an odd close handshake or pat each other on the back but often their love is shown through the fun 'rough housing'. Here they were supposed to hug their Dad and it ended up with this stack's-on and the wonderful photographer, captured not only the moment but also the joy and love they share.

Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes.

123 Challenge - June

123 Challenge caught my attention this month as the colour Blue is a favourite, Together is what my family is about and masking is something I like to try although I am still well short of being artistic with it!

This is a matching page of another challenge I completed this month from Once Upon a Sketch: the best things in life aren't things. This photo was taken the same day in a small creek side park near our home. We always have our family photos taken outside in natural settings as that very much speaks for the type of family we are. The boys loved being in the bush and were very fit from the many walks, camping, wood chopping and campfire picnics we used to take them on. There were so many different aspects for us to use on this day and so many photos of us together, in groups and individual photos. I was grateful to be given all the negatives by the photographer 12 years after this photo was taken.  Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes.

Sketchabilities - 116

Sketchabilities always provide us with a multi-layered sketch and I have always struggled with layering so I make my best attempt. I am sure I have spoken of these photos before; my four sons from the 2009 family photo shoot and sadly, the last one of them all together. They gotten together the night before and planned to wear the atypical Aussie young man casual wear; denim shorts, navy blue singlet, thongs (flip flops for those outside Australia), and dark sunnies. They arrived and exited their all wheel drive vehicles together and waited for my reaction. It was a really cold morning but after laughing (to their relief) I made them stay in those cloths long enough for these wonderful and treasured photos to be taken before changing into their jeans, shirts and shoes for the rest of the photos to be taken. Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes.

 

Scrap the Girls - June

I don't think to play with the challenges at Scrap the Girls often but was on a roll this month with completed challenges to decided to see what was on offer. The colours and challenge were interesting so I based this page on the inspiration from the new banner; the deep pink, and the word 'banner'.

This is our only granddaughter; 'Now and then life' sends you a little curve ball just to keep you interested; we didn't think we would every have a little female born to our family! These photos were also taken at our recent family photo shoot. She was a little shy that day and there were not as many photos taken of her as I had expected; the others all have her with apple juice on her face! I love the little cloche hat and the black patent leather boots!

Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes.

Scrap the Boys - June

Scrap the Boys have noted the use of the smaller sized photos is growing and have challenged us to use a photo greater than 6x4; this one is a 5x7. This photo is of our second eldest son dressed in a lovely suit and cravat as groomsman for his eldest brothers wedding 10 years ago. I have always made sure even as little ones that they were well presented and our sons have always been careful dressers, they enjoy clothing and don't mind shopping for clothes. I must tell you though; my heart just melts and tears well up when I see my sons in suits for each others weddings. I adore them in a suit. They are all tall from 6'2" to this one at 6'4", they have broad shoulders and trim wait with long legs and have the great bone structure from their Dad. They are a handsome bunch!

Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes.

CSI 123 Angel Fire Inspiration

I don't get to play with the CSI Challenges often as I don't scrap until Friday night and the challenge is almost finished. I just loved the inspiration this week and made sure I made the time to get it done. The colours were the first attraction but I love the ethereal suggestion in the face and the softened dragon in the background.

I love butterflies and in the past 5 years they have become more important; Irish legend tells us that butterflies are the souls of the dead come back to visit us. I found after losing my son that if I was having a bad day I was sure to see an orange and black butterfly, sometimes totally out of place for the expected. I was walking through my city one day in an area that is all concrete and brick building, busy roads and railways with very little parkland; I was feeling low and struggling with my day and out of nowhere one of these butterflies flew close to my head and almost lit on my shoulder and then totally disappeared. Legend or not, it's visit lifted my spirits and got me through the day. It is not the first time it has happened and I truly hope it is not the last!

Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes.

The image is from Google Images.

Sketchabilities #115

 I don't often have the opportunity of completing two Sketchabilities challenges in a row and even less so close together. This sketch appeared as I was completing my previous challenge post and was perfect to complete a second page about our little birthday boy. This little fellow has two older brothers and follows a miscarriage so is our 'rainbow baby'. Please see the previous post for an explanation. This little chap has boundless energy and doesn't see that lacking 6 and 7 years on his brothers should stop him being able to do just what they do! He is a bundle of energy raring to go and will take on any challenge. He was given this little bouncy toy only minutes early by his uncle and aunt and mastered the challenge and thoroughly enjoyed bouncing through his party. He has certainly brought a lot of joy to his family.
Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes.

Scrap the Boys - May Challenge

Scrap the Boys has challenged us to a grunge/messy page this month; I went through the multitude of boy photos I have and decided to scrap a 'baby grunge' page! I don't do mixed media well so simply threw everything I could at this page to see if I could pull it off in a cute baby way.

This is our youngest grandson celebrating his 1st birthday. He was born two years after his parents lost a child at 20 weeks gestation and is therefore their 'rainbow baby'; a 'rainbow baby' is a baby that is born following a miscarriage or still birth. In the real world, a beautiful and bright rainbow follows a storm and gives hope of things getting better. The rainbow is more appreciated having just experienced the storm in comparison. The storm (pregnancy loss) has already happened and nothing can change that experience. Storm-clouds might still be overhead as the family continue to cope with the loss, but something colourful and bright has emerged from the darkness and misery.

The party decorations were all brightly coloured and the cake, made by a friend who supported the family through the loss was layered in all colours of the rainbow. It was a beautiful celebration for this little one.

Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes.

 

Page inspired by Celmascrap.over-blog

Sketchabilities #114

I have had a day off work and enjoyed a pyjama day just scrap booking so I have been able to complete several challenges today; the sketch from Sketchabilites was perfect to finish a couple of pages of our granddaughters 2nd birthday party. I didn't want this photo on the first page as she has tomato sauce on her face but it was too cute not to be included and the colours were so bright; it is the same photo used twice. I don't have a lot of pink in my stash so really had to search for the few pieces of paper I have used here. She is a little cutie and can be such a little lady when she is dressed up but a bit of a tomboy as well; probably the influence of her many male cousins.

Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes.

Dusty Attic - May Challenge

Another great sketch from Nadia for the Dusty Attic Blog and Audrey Underwood. The only criteria is to use the sketch and Dusty Attic embellishments.

This is another photo from the photo shoot from June 2013; all the girls! Many regular visitors will know that I have a husband, four sons and six grandsons. The little girl in this photo is our only granddaughter so far and she is pictured with her Nan (me) her Mum (in white) and her three aunts, my daughters-in-law. We couldn't resist the opportunity to have a photo of just the girls.

I have used a DA scroll #10, DA alpha's, both glimmer misted and a couple of their lovely white blossoms all of which came from my stash. Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave.

123 Challenge - May

Another 'back to basics' page; I was really pleased to see that 123 Challenge is back and with a new owner; I have missed these challenges. This months challenge is Green, Time and Journaling; I do not like my own handwriting so haven't written much but it is there!
The photos are from the 2013 family photo shoot and this is our second grandson; he has quite a character and loves to pull funny faces. I am a bit particular when it comes to the family photo shoots we have done every five years and our sons and DILs know that I don't like them messing about too much; the little ones haven't caught on yet! I can remember standing there and saying 'next time can I have a lovely smile?' and he delivered. I have decided to make this a double layout for his album.
My page is inspired by layouts I have found on the 'So Major' digital website. Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes.