March: An Uncertain Dance Into Spring

Using bird photos from last year I've put together a 2-page spread evincing my feeling about the month of March and the back and forth nature of its getting to Spring. Hope you enjoy!

Here are the left and right pages separately in you want a closer look.

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Designer Credits:
8 ArtPlay Palettes by Anna Aspnes

• paper: Friends 
• brush: Destiny 
• brush, postage stamp, 2 transfers: Spring Due 
• branch, sparkle overlay: Sparkle 
• gold paint, transfer: For the Record 
• word, 2 transfers: Lush 
• brush, flower, transfer: Natural Instinct 
• button, 2 artstrokes, transfer, folded paper: Remember 

fonts: Artistamp Medium, FreekTure, Ultima Campagnoli

March 2011 Revisited (Project 12)

Even though it is the end of April, I've only just finished my pages for the month of March. With everything turning green now, I needed to really think about my photos to remember what March felt like. I tried a different approach to the design with feature photos on one side and a template for a lot of little ones facing it. I think for this month of back and forth weather it worked well.

Here are the separate pages that you can click on see larger:

If the journaling is too small to read, here it is again: We had lots of snow in March but it took turns with nice days that led to spring blooms although the daffodils only made it to the bud stage. At least the snow never lasted long. I had the usual in genealogy meetings but we didn't get out birding very much. We did see spring arrivals on the lake and really enjoyed a lot of singing Fox Sparrows. Every Monday I was happy to attend class in collage journaling with a super pair of classmates. I spent a lot of time during ten of these days on the birthday celebration of a digital scrapbooking site. The last day of March found me at the state genealogical conference, a favorite time of the year.
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Designer Credits:
-background: Family Tree by Joanne Brisebois
-mat (also used as mask), word art: Sketchbook Artistry no. 1 by Sue Cummings
-template for right side: taylored page no. 7 by TaylorMade Designs
-some papers, border, bird (recolored): Primavera by Maya de Groot
-some papers, clouds: Home Sweet Home by Maya de Groot
-some papers: i remember you by Biograffiti
-dark blue paper: Ohana by Biograffiti
fonts: Girls are Weird, Dawn Castle, Lithograph

January 2011 Review (Project 12 again)

I wasn't sure I'd keep up with the monthly pages again in 2011, but I've managed to put together a double page spread for January despite its having been somewhat of a lost month for me with the weather and, especially, a nasty cold. Here is the text from the page:

I don't know if January 2011 is better depicted with drifts of snow or heaps of used tissues from my cold. Either way I think of mounds of white, snow and ice. Actually we began the year with a few warmer days and we got out birding. Soon I wasn't going anywhere I didn't have to, even missing genealogy meetings in mid month. We saw my sister off to California for a little winter respite on the 11th driving in more snow than was really comfortable. One day we saw that our hibiscus was infested with little critters that turned out to be whiteflies. We tried a silly sounding trick that actually worked - spreading Vicks or Vaseline on bright orange cardboard and shooing them into flight when they went to the goo and stuck there. We had a treat when Elaine learned her Christmas present to us had never arrived and instead she sent us some yummy German-style goodies. On the 29th we went to dinner with new friends to share photos of Mexico with them and another couple. We baked a lemon cake like the one my father-in-law had for his birthdays. It was good and everyone enjoyed it. The evening was delightful, so nice to be with people with such similar interests! As our hosts are also artists, I made a collage card to send with our thanks and appreciation. One different photo here shows an old wedding dress in the window of a cleaners. It is next to the audiologist to whom I take my sister and it always intrigues me.

 Remember to click on the images to see them larger. Here are the pages separately:

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Designer Credits:

-kit: The Gift by Fei-fei’s Stuff

-date tag: itty bitty dates no. 7 by Biograffiti

-white alpha: First Street by Miss Crow’s Magickal Emporium

fonts: Mufferaw (text), Lithograph, baby don’t worry bout it (tag)

More Ice from December

The ice formations along the lake in December were so incredible. I have more photos than I had scrapped, so decided to use some for another double page layout with sort of a positive/negative image look. I'm not sure about it, in fact, redid it once, but I do like the photos. Here at the end of January it just keeps snowing a little every day (at least we didn't get socked like the DC and NYC areas!) I am so looking forward to something other than the two months of constant white.

The images will look better if you click on them to see the larger version.

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Designer Credits: 
-patterned paper and fabrics, buttons, screw, alpha: First Street by Miss Crow's Magickal Emporium
-pale papers: Stamp My Heart by Kitty Designs
fonts: Angel Tears, Brisk

My Grandparents Golden Again

I have created a number of pages with photos from the celebration of my grandparents' golden anniversary in 1946. It seems to fascinate me and though I was there, I was not yet two and remember nothing of it, not even the house where they then lived. I hope Dick and I make it the seven plus years to reach this milestone ourselves! Meanwhile, continuing with the double page challenge, I think the very first one I ever did was on this anniversary, so I wanted to try it again. This has one "new" item, their marriage record from the book in the courthouse. I used fewer photos but could see doing more pages with some of the others. Maybe one of these days...

Click on the images to see the pages larger, especially to read the documents on the right hand page.

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Designer Credits: Sunrise.Sunset by Fei-fei's Stuff
fonts: Snell BT and Snell Bold BT

Another Winter Day

It wasn't so cold today and I am feeling better, so we stopped by my sister's house to check on things and water the plants. Everything was fine and I took pictures of things in the snow. We saw lots of tracks there of rabbit, squirrel, deer, etc. but none were as sharp as the one in the tiny photo which was at our house, likely a local cat. I'm not too keen on using tiny photos, but went with that aspect of the freebie template. The result is another two-page spread for the Fei-fei's Stuff Designer Spotlight Challenge. I first posted it left and right per the template, but decided I had to reverse them like this:

As always, remember to click on the images to see them larger. If you look at the individual pages, you should be able to read the text easily.

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Designer Credits: all Fei-fei's Stuff:
-template: Outlined No. 4
-photo corners and circles recolored from the template
-papers, stems: Like Home
-plant drawings: Profiles No. 2
fonts: Elric, Bank Gothic Medium BT, Amapola, Tahoma

December 2010 Review (Project 12)

I've completed my Project 12 pages for 2010! Each month I've done a 2-page spread to capture moments and thoughts for that month. Each one looks pretty different. November was very pleasant, but winter hit on December 1. Other than a three-day respite and the very end of the month we spent all of the time (day and night) below freezing with snow on the ground. The first thirty days averaged 6.5 below the average for December even though the year as a whole was quite warm. The weather was offset by many pleasant happenings. Don't forget to click on the image to see it in a larger format.

 You can see the individual pages and even read the text by clicking on them below.

Last month Helen hoped I wouldn't need too much white for these December pages, but that hope was in vain. The new year, however, started in the 50s and we were out birding in the rain. The only snow or ice around at the moment is where it was piled up. The temperature is falling though, so winter will soon return.  Thank you all for your support and comments during 2010 on my monthly pages here and at Deco-Pages.
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Designer Credits:
kit: Winter Escape by tinamarie
month/year plate: Jennifer Rassi
dates: Bohemian August by Miss Crow's Magickal Emporium
fonts: Blue Highway Linocut, Kristen ITC

November 2010 Review (Project 12)

At Deco-Pages Jennifer Rassi started us on a Project 12 for the year and I've done a two-page spread for each month this year. I'm not about to quit with only two months left, so here is my review of November, a much quieter month than October. Don't forget to click on the image to see it in a larger format.

You can see the individual pages and even read the text by clicking on them below.

Yesterday's newspaper was interested in the fact that our official measurement of snow (and all the local weather data) has no measurable snow since March 25th. They did acknowledge that places other than the airport had snow in November though. We'll see if the white stuff outside our house today made it into the gauges there! As I said in the November pages, I'm not ready for winter or the holidays!

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Designer Credits:

Retro Designs: Heart of Gold plus
-month/year plate by Jennifer Rassi
-alpha by Becky Casey from Aug. 2006 Color Challenge
fonts: Cottage, Comic Sans MS, Switzerland Narrow, baby dont worry bout it!