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.