Creating with pink hibiscus

A creative techniques challenge called for creating our own mask with brushes. I chose a photo of my sister's large pink hibiscus. They are lovely even though pink (not my favorite color). I used brushes of my own and am very pleased with the result.

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Designer Credits:
-ArtPlay Palette Vintage Rose by Anna Aspnes
mask created with 3 of my own brushes (house, appleseed, grass)

Another Beautiful Iris

Yesterday's dedication of the Willott Iris Garden was extremely nice. It was a bit overcast but bright and never got as hot as expected. A large number of people, not just relatives, attended. My sister looked lovely and everyone was gratified. The iris society exhibit was then opened in the green house building. Though many iris were through blooming, there were still lots of gorgeous iris present as specimens and in the flower arrangements. One flower intrigued me in particular. I've used its photo in this week's AnnaLift.

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Designer Credits:
all by Anna Aspnes
-background, border, loopdaloop: ArtPlay Palette Family
-overlay: SkinnyLined Overlays No. 2
-glow: Warm Glows No. 1
-small brush: ArtPlay Palette Ablaze
fonts: baby dont worry bout it, Boopee

Iris Garden Dedication Today

The dedication of the memorial garden is in an hour. I made a page about it with photos from last week. The iris bloomed so early this year, I'm afraid it won't be as beautiful today. But it has been a lot of work by a lot of people to make it all come about. My BIL would be so pleased!

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Designer Credits:
-background, large brush: Oscraps Collab Tango
-FotoTransfers No. 1 by Anna Aspnes
-transfer, heart brush: ArtPlay Palette Family by Anna Aspnes
fonts: Cardinal, Dali, Dauphin, Liberation Sans Narrow, Boopee

A Portrait Series

Three different challenges this month have drawn me to scrap what amounts to a series of portraits. One was for a self-portrait, so you know who is in that one. The web inspiration challenge is based on a fantastic Life Magazine photo of Clark Gable seated in a car reading Gone With the Wind. I think that influenced a photo I took of Dick which then had to be used in my response. Third, I took a photo of my sister last month on her birthday and used it in the last week's AnnaLift. It was surprising to see them all together as it is not my usual style. So here we are.

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Designer Credits:
-papers, stamp, circular element: Oscraps Collab Winter Wonderland
-frame, flower, fern, tag: Santangles by Maya de Groot
fonts: Sybil Green, Freeport

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Designer Credits:
Recollection by Joanne Brisebois
fonts: Angel Tears, Hurry Up, 1942 report, CrayonE

Journaling reads:
We have furniture and jewelry, tools and kitchen items from the houses of grandparents, parents, even aunts and uncles. Many of them are things we really use. Sometimes it feels like living in a museum. Sometimes it is hard not to feel like another of the antiques! The lion's head rocking chair came from my maternal grandmother. My father had it and refinished it beautifully. Now it is mine.

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Designer Credits:
lift of "Last Days of Summer" by marnie333
designs by Anna Aspnes:
-paper: ArtPlay Palette Encapsulate
-photo mask and transfer used as photo mask: ArtPlay Palette Barren Sunrise
-transfers, frame (altered): ArtPlay Palette Ablaze
-stitching, clock: ArtPlay Palette No. 10
font: Hurry Up

Purple Fantasy: more flower "painting"

My daylily page was quite brightly colored, the dark iris (Night Ruler) was darkly intense though fanciful. Each was done with photos of flowers of one plant. Since I have so many iris photos from my sister's garden I decided to see what I could create with pictures of different flowers together. The result is very similar to the other iris one, but lighter and to me, more fanciful, even lacy. This is again done with erasure and blending. Goals include texture, depth, and especially, feelings of fantasy. My biggest fear is that I might fall off into something akin to cabbage rose wallpaper. Any comments more that welcome!

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Designer Credits:
-blue and patterned background papers from Creative Motives, July 2011 Artisan Guild Kit 
-green background paper from Twitterpated by Dee Bee Designs
-overlay paper from Black & White by Sue Cummings
-string, butterfly from I'm Like a Bird, Part 1 by Mel Designs and Thaliris
-yellow flower from I'm Still Loving You by chouk77
-blue brush from Dream a Little Dream by Digital Scrapper
-glitter from October Festivities, Part 6 by Melcrea

Simple Enjoyment of a Flower

Among my sister's flowers is this arresting, nearly white, lily(?) enclosed in a wire housing to protect it from browsing deer. I'm sure she's said what it is, but I don't remember, just enjoy seeing it.

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Designer Credits:
For the Birds by One Little Bird, plus
-photo mask, overlay wash, bird (recolored) from Twitterpated by Dee Bee Designs
-word art from Sweet & Simple by Sue Cummings
font: Bradley Hand ITC

Another Iris, Lovely Days

I love summer days with highs in the 70s! We've gone from needing a fan in the bedroom to putting a comforter back on the bed. I love it. We've both been dealing with medical issues, seemingly inconsequential, but annoying. Always I have genealogy to keep me busy and doing things with my sister too. Her tall bearded iris are winding down, the Siberians blooming well and Japanese still to come. I still have lots of photos and today I got a free, simple and elegant template that appealed to me for one of them.

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Designer Credits:
-template: Template 110613 by Dumpty
-background from Rachel Papers by LydiaK Designs
-purple paper from Bohemian August by Miss Crow's Magickal Emporium
-heart string from Primavera by Maya de Groot
font: Corbel

More In the Iris Garden

My sister's iris provide wonderful opportunity for photography and I've combined two for a challenge to use at least three creative techniques that have been discussed previously. It was quite fun and the iris, Sierra Rim, is another of those introduced by her and her late husband. Meanwhile, my sister returned late Saturday from Victoria, British Columbia, where she attended the annual convention of the American Iris Society. Sounds like she had a great time, but it involved a lot of travel. A missed flight meant her checked bag didn't make it with her. Hope it was really delivered Sunday afternoon as promised. So, here it is.

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Designer Credits:
LO with 4 techniques:
1. blending (on large photo)
2. artistic filter (colored edges) on large photo also
3. title work
4. clipping mask using
     border from Family Ties by Fei-fei's Stuff
     swirl from First Street by Miss Crow's Magickal Emporium
-papers and flower from Corinthia by Kitty Designs
fonts: Kunstler Script, Hurry Up, Kidnap, Impress BT

Iris in My Sister's Garden

I took photos of iris in my sister's garden on May 25th. None of the tall-bearded varieties were in bloom yet, so they were mostly standard dwarf and intermediate bearded. They are always so beautiful. The June challenges have given my the opportunity to scrap a few of the pictures.

On the left is a scraplift of one of the members and the right is a color challenge. Don't forget to click on the images to see them in a larger size.
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Designer Credits:
[LEFT]-lift of "Enjoy the Smell" by ViVre
-background from Stamp My Heart by Kitty Designs
-tattered text sheet from Sketchbook Artistry No. 1 by Sue Cummings
-gray paper, frame from Life Collab by Merkeley Designs
-butterflies (with chrome effect) from Life Collab by MaryPop Designs
-circle stamp from Corinthia by Kitty Designs
-trail from Trail It by Merkeley Designs
-button from First Street by Miss Crow's Magickal Emporium
-pearl tree from Winter Escape, Creations by tinamarie 
fonts: Chicago House, Minya Nouvelle
[RIGHT]-gray paper, gold paper, bird, scalloped border: Primavera by Maya de Groot
-floral paper, leaves: Corinthia by Kitty Designs
-circle design paper: My Playlist by Biograffiti
-white paper: Stamp My Heart by Kitty Designs
-journaling stamp: Rachel Stamps by LydiaK Designs
fonts: Mufferaw, Pea Anderson

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

80th Birthday

My sister had a lovely 80th birthday party on Sunday though her birthday wasn't until Tuesday. One of the collections of photos on display included an early picture of us and our brother. His son got a nice picture of the three of us again. This time my sister got to be the little one as she was sitting down. I think by looking closely you can see we still have a bit of the same look now as then. Amazing how time does fly!

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Designer Credits: Shabby Chic Rooms, Part 3 by Retro Designs
fonts: harrison, HansHand

ATC - The Wild Wood

Deb Ammerman created a Christmas ATC (Artist's Trading Card) today. They are usually cards 2.5 by 3.5 inches created to share. You can read more about them here: [link] We did many of them at Deco-Pages and it was nice to see a new one from Deb. I want to do one for the holiday in return. Before I got to that though, I was drawn to the edge of the Wild Wood wherein dwell some of the characters in Kenneth Grahame's Wind in the Willows. My sister bought me a copy of that book long before I could read it so that she could read it to me. I have always loved it too. I hope you will enjoy a little reminiscence of it.

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Designer Credits:
Edge of Wood: bird and tree by Miss vivi, rest by Jill creation
fonts: Celtic Hand, Switzerland Narrow

Long Ago at Niagara Falls

Another challenge this month was to scraplift a layout from Elisa's gallery (EHStudios). I did my version with an old family photo of my father, brother and sister at Niagara Falls.

The first time my parents took me to Niagara Falls we continued from there west across the Niagara Frontier crossing back from Canada to the U.S. near Port Huron. We went along the St. Clair River and Lake St. Clair and made a memorable stop at Greenfield Village, an historic reenactment village near Detroit, Michigan. I wonder if this earlier trip might have been in March of 1940. That would have been my parents' 10th anniversary of their eloping to Ripley, New York. Even if it wasn't quite then, it must have brought back those memories when they traveled the same route part of the way to Niagara Falls.
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Designer Credits: 
-scraplift of EHStudio: Something Wonderful
-gray paper, flower, swirl: ZuzanaH Designs - Let Love Be Your Energy
-floral paper (yellow, desaturated): Lydia Designs - Happy to Be Me
-background paper: Fei-fei's Stuff - Party On Blog Train
-brown paper (gold, desaturated): Lydia Designs - Party On
-striped and dotted papers: One Little Bird - Party On
-blue paper: Fei-fei's Stuff - Cool Bliss
-snowflake cut from blue paper
fonts: Girls are Weird, Staccato222 BT