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.