New Family History Pages

This month we had a Theme Challenge for family history and a question we wish could be answered. I used a postcard I recently bought on eBay of the National Soldiers' Home in Milwaukee. It reminded me of a puzzling bit about the daughter of my 2nd great grandfather and his second wife.

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Designer Credits:
Zen & the Art of: Steam Machines by Maya de Groot
fonts: James Fajardo, France

I also wanted to use a beautiful photo of my grandmother with the new Oscraps Collaborative kit nOvel. I only knew her as an elderly lady and she often sat with a book.

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Designer Credits:
Oscraps Collab NOvel - coming very soon to the Oscraps shop!
font: Celtic Hand

From my husband's family I decided to use a photo, possibly from the 1950's, of his Aunt Alice and UncleAl. I had a wonderful time playing with elements to create the cluster from a tutorial just posted.

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Designer Credits:
Zen & the Art of: Steam Machines by Maya de Groot
cluster tutorial by Scrappie Irene
fonts: Lithograph, Minya Nouvelle

Last Days of Summer

September 12th and 13th were the last really warm days here. We made sure to get out for a little birding to soak it up. We encountered quite a few fall migrants in the process including a Hooded Warbler one day and Philadelphia Vireo the next. We saw numbers of Chipping Sparrows and Swainson's Thurshes. Lots of Gray Catbirds were enjoying the berries on pokeweed in Lake View. We didn't see much in a brief tour of the lakefront, but did see a Green Heron, Northern Shovelers and Blue-winged Teal. Lovely memories of warm days and passing birds.

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Designer Credits:
-background: 52 Inspirations {2012} Week 9 by Sue Cummings
-photo mask: 52 Inspirations {2012} Week 22 by Vicki Stegall
-stamp labels: 52 Inspirations {2012} Week 33 by Sue Cummings
-word art: 52 Inspirations {2012} Week 31 by Sue Cummings
-word art: 52 Inspirations {2012} Week 19 by Sue Cummings
-brushes: ArtPlay Viaggio BrushSet by Anna Aspnes
-brown button: Oscraps Collab nOvel
-gray button: Oscraps Collab Homespun
-bow: Sweater Weather by One Little Bird
font: EnviroD

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Designer Credits:
-template: September CopyCat Challenge No. 1 template by Elisa (EHStudios) based on "Sweet Moment" by Kym
-background: 52 Inspirations {2012} Week 31 by Sue Cummings
-frame: 52 Inspirations {2012} Week 23 by Sue Cummings
-gray flower, stitching: Reminisce by Leora Sanford
-yellow flower, patterned papers, paint: Oscraps Collab DandeliOn Days
fonts: Amapola, Lemon Chicken, Corbel

Old Bird Pictures in a New Look

I've recently scrapped new pages for old bird photos and an old drawing. The first is of an Ivory Gull in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1975. My BIL found this arctic species on Lake Erie on the 17th. My photos are from the 18th of December 1975. This is still one of my most special experiences. I've used the photos before, but really like this treatment a lot more.

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Design Credits:
Anna Aspnes
ArtPlay Palette Salty Living
-frames: APP Family
fonts: Koala, Earwig Factory, Engravers MT, Bradley Hand ITC, Cardinal

The next one is of a White-tailed Tropicbird where they nest in Puerto Rico, a photo Dick took in 1996. We've also seen them in Florida. We both think tropicbirds are so fabulous! I called it "poetry in flight."

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Designer Credits:
AnnaLift of 'untitled' by veer 
all Anna Aspnes
-background: ArtPlay Solids Viaggio
-photomask 1: ArtPlay Palette No. 1
-photomask 2: Original FotoBlendz No. 12
-brad: APP Viaggio
-spiral brush, dark brush, texture brush: APP Autumn Haze
-linear brush: APP Salty Living
font: Corbel

Most recently I was inspired by the eyes of a child in an inspiration page to use an old drawing. I settled on this favorite of a Red-headed Woodpecker from a page of them in an old sketchbook from 1984. I got to use this one as the basis of the cover illustration of a local bird publication.

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Designer Credits:
AnnaLift of ‘eyes’ by margeda
all Anna Aspnes:
-background: Layered Tissue Autumn Paperie No. 1
-frame: Torn FotoFrames No. 2
-elements: ArtPlay Palette Ablaze
fonts: KG Skinny Latte, Minya Nouvelle

Favorite Teachers

There's a special topic just now on school days. One question asked was about favorite teachers. I did pages for my top two favorites and just have to post them here as they went away with the former site.

Here is my current post: I've done pages for two favorites teachers. One was my 2nd grade teacher who was so kind but still got us to work. Then there was my math teacher who taught three of my four years of high school math. He encouraged me and pushed me to apply to a summer math program & I got in. It was wonderful. One other teacher stands out as special. She taught 9th grade general science. She made everything so very interesting.