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.