Big Birding Day on the River

I don't know where the time has gone, but I've done lots of scrapbook pages since I posted here. One that just demanded to be done is from Sunday, March 9. We had a wonderful time and saw a quite uncommon bird. My pictures of this Pomarine Jaeger aren't good, but I got a number of them so put them together as documentation of this uncommonly cooperative bird and a special memory.

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Designer Credits:
-template: FotoWallet Album Template No. 1H by Anna Aspnes
-background ArtPlay Palette EnRoute by Anna Aspnes
fonts: Pea Beth, Probem Secretary Normal

Celebrate Winter Gulls on Icy Lake Erie

This page is another painting my photo. This is a January scene of gulls at a power plant warm water outflow. They gather there when the lake is freezing up. Unusual ones show up then.

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Designer Credits:
-background: ArtsyBlendz Snow Paperie No. 2
-brush: ArtPlay Palette No. 10
-brushes: ArtPlay Palette Sophistica
-word art, stars: Oscraps Collab Winter Wonderland
font: Vladimir Script

Winter Birding Along the Lake

The AnnaLift this week encouraged me to use a number of photos I took while we birded on a gray, slightly rainy afternoon on Friday in and around the harbor in Lorain. There were lots of gulls though we didn't see many of the unusual ones. Another attraction was the numbers of Common Mergansers. They are such handsome birds, but I didn't get any pictures of them, alas.

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Designer Credits:
all Anna Aspnes
-background (right), brush: ArtPlay Palette Sophistica 
-background (left): ArtPlay Palette Barren Sunrise
-blue patterned paper: ArtsyBlendz Snow Paperie
-flower: ArtPlay Palette Encapsulate
fonts: EwieD, Lithograph, Journal

Rare Gulls for another Digi Dare

This week the Digi Dares are celebrating a 5 year anniversary. Digi Dare #260 must feature 5 somethings with 5 papers, 5 colors, 5 fasteners and 5 fonts or alphas. I thought of the five rarest species of gulls to appear in the state of Ohio. Ivory, Heermann's, Ross's, and Black-tailed Gulls have each been documented once in the state. That once might be one day or a whole season. I know that is only four, but an uncommon gull here, the Sabine's once spent the winter. It was a bird of the year (or immature) and by January and February it had changed plumage in a process not seen in North America before as they winter far to the south. That is pretty rare too. The top photo is one I took of the Ivory Gull found by my BIL. The next too are Dick's photos. Ross's Gull is also affectionately known as "the pink one" as they have a pinkish cast. All we have to record it are my ID sketches. Last is a photo by a more fortunate birder who was MUCH closer to the current rare gull. My five "colors" are black, white, gray, brown, and pink in honor of "the pink one." This was lots of fun to work on.

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Designer Credits:
-brown, pink, white papers: Sweetness and Light by Retro Designs
-gray paper: Oscraps Collab Homespun
-black paper: All Hallow's Night: Designs by Leora Sanford
-prong, brown/white button, brad, pearl: ArtPlay Palette Barren Sunrise by Anna Aspnes
-black button, tape: ArtPlay Palette Sophistica by Anna Aspnes
-pink paint: little bits & pieces sampler by Sue Cummings
-frame, stitching: Early Bird by Deb Ammerman
-5 alpha: Serendipity by Jennifer Labre
fonts: Mufferaw, Pea Beth, Dry Goods Antique JL, Planet Benson 2, More Enchanted Prairie Dog, Impress BT

Welcome to July

I always remember July 1st as my mother's birthday. She would have been 101 today! The weather is beautiful, our house is getting painted (though they knocked off early today and won't be back until Tuesday), and there are scrapbook challenges for a new month. For some reason the color challenge to do a page predominantly yellow made me instantly think of a 40-year-old photo that I have always liked. In the parking lot at the beach on the Virginia shore I wanted to photograph a good-looking Laughing Gull. I threw out a potato chip to lure it closer. Suddenly the sky filled with a whole flock of them. Here is the picture of the first one in a very summery layout.

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Designer Credits:
-background paper from Solid and Understated Lite by TaylorMade Designs
-bright yellow and patterned papers, rick rack from Oscraps Collab TrOpical
-flower, swirl from Stamp My Heart by Kitty Designs
-floral brad from Sketchbook Artistry no. 1 by Sue Cummings
-staples from Sunrise Sunset by Fei-fei's Stuff
fonts: Sybil Green, Staccato222 BT, harrison, Boopee, Blue Highway

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

The Winter World of Gulls

We love looking at all the gulls and the fine points of telling them apart. They really do like hanging around on the ice! January 3rd was sunny and a bit chilly when we visited the lakefront. There wasn't much around, but the gulls were standing on what ice was nearby and lots of them on ice farther out. The Long-tailed Duck was easily seen and looking great, a male in winter plumage including his long tail. The small photo was from 2005 and we haven't seen any of the unusual gulls yet this year.
The large photo is blended and the small one cropped with a mask and some edges slightly erased. It was overly blue and I've altered the color balance. It is for a challenge using a photo within a photo.

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Designer Credits:
-background under large photo: Note to Self Add On by Biograffiti
-visible white background: Winter Escape by Tinamarie
-colorful paper, lace, label: First Street by Miss Crow's Magickal Emporium
-lined overlay: 5 grungy overlays by Miss Crow's Magickal Emporium
-photo mask based on matte from Bohemian August by Miss Crow's Magickal Emporium
fonts: iNked God, Biondi, Brisk

Bird Layouts Remembered

These are a few of the layouts I've done in the past from photographs my husband or I have taken of birds. Remember to click on the images to see them full size. The gull photograph is from Lake Erie in Cleveland, Ohio, in the winter. It was done with my own little kit, Hollywood Couture.