Taylor-Made Day

One glorious day in July, 2004, Anna, Ben, Marie and our family of five made a trip to Taylor’s Falls. On the way there, we did an impromptu photo shoot by an old red caboose set amongst pine trees. We shot the ever-popular family picture along with many others. Some were quite silly --- surprise, surprise!

Once at the falls, I admired the scenery without getting too close to the edge, but I took photos of the others as they climbed around on the rocks. On the way home we spotted some sand sculptures, so we had another unplanned photo opportunity. What a perfect way to end the day --- for me, the photo nut, anyway!

Reflections of the Heart by Jen Reed: Collection Biggie, JIFF Plus Layout (butterfly); Paper Super Mini (background); template 122 by Lindsay Jane Designs

Sue

"POP!" Goes the Present

John loved his first birthday party. What little boy wouldn't? Cake, presents, attention, playing outside --- he had a blast! When he first saw his birthday cake, he tried to pick off the M&M’s, but fortunately we were able to stop him in time. His favorite present was a "popper", a toy that pops up beads in a clear plastic bubble as one pushes it along the ground. He didn't even put his popper down for pictures! He's holding it in two of the three photos on this page.

Joni Gray’s January 2012 ABC-Album posting bonus kit (background paper and stitching modified); gift (re-colored) by Jen Reed (All I Want for Christmas Tree and Gift Embellishments); sparkler element (modified) by Rena Designs (New Year at DC collab); photo mask (modified) by CNord @ Scrap N’ Art; Fonts: Teen Bold, Desyrel, Gorilla Heavy

The kit I used for the page above is the one I received from Joni Gray for doing her January ABC-Album Challenge. The letter this month is P, so I made a layout of "The Pure Pleasure of Pudding".


You can receive this cute kit, too! Just create a layout whose title starts with the letter P, and follow the rules (found here) for posting and linking your page at Bunny Cates' forum. Have fun!

Sue

The Pure Pleasure of Pudding

I love seeing my boys enjoy themselves. If they happen to be making a mess at the same time, that just gives me another photo opportunity! Here are a couple of examples.

Reflections of the Heart Collection Biggie by Jen Reed; Reflections of the Heart Jiff Plus (journal paper) by Jen Reed; Fonts: Pea Katie Jo, Quigley Wiggly; I submitted this layout to Joni Gray's January ABC-Album Challenge at Bunny Cates' forum.

Journaling:
Top - As they melt, frozen pudding pops work great as face paint, as John (4) and David (6) one day discovered. (1991)
Bottom - At a year old, Steven couldn't eat with a spoon very well, but he really enjoyed pudding, so I just took off his shirt and let him make a delicious mess. (1989)

Sue

Party for a One-Year-Old

The third time's the charm, right? I've already made a couple of pages (here and here) with this photo, but I was never quite pleased with the end product nor with the photo editing. Here is another try.

Materials by Jen @ Chaos Lounge (May 2010 KimB DSO Color Challenge kit - background); happy-scrap (Tendresse – glitter); Le digiscrap de yaya (Tendresse pastel – window); Syrin (stitching); Three Paper Peonies (birthday word art); Sky’s the Limit Scraps (August 2010 KimB DSO Color Challenge kit - present); Fonts: PreludeFLF Medium, Times New Roman

Journaling: Mom had me all dressed up for my first birthday. I did NOT have a Mohawk; I had cute little curls on the top of my head. Mom even made an incredible cake for me!

I promise the next layout will be not be made using this picture!

Sue

Always a Marine

When I first met my father-in-law, Lou Maravelas, he was over 60 years old, but he still had vivid memories from his time in the marines during WWII, 1941-1945. I plan to digiscrap a collection of his stories, and this will be the title page.

Unfortunately, the family cannot locate pictures from that era, so I will make do with older photos or materials off the internet. As I complete new pages, I'll share them with you. The stories are fascinating!

Military: Semper Fi Collection Mini by Jen Reed; Military: Semper Fi Paper Super Mini by Jen Reed; Military: Trinkets Embellishment Biggie by Jen Reed; old brass action by Atomic Cupcake; photo mask (modified) by Gunhild Storeide; Scraplifted from Scrap Simple Digital Layout Album Template Series 1 by Angie Briggs; Font: Square721 BT

Sue

We Three

I love when we three sisters get together and talk heart to heart. In October, 2011, we shared memories of Bill, Nancy's husband, who had just passed away. It was a very healing time.

My sisters are very special people and I am blessed they are in my life.

Reflections of the Heart Biggie by Jen Reed; Reflections of the Heart Embellishment Mini – Flower Clusters (bow) by Jen Reed; Reflections of the Heart Paper Mini (background) by Jen Reed; Reflections of the Heart JIF Plus 12x12 Layout (flower overlay) by Jen Reed; Rust Action by Atomic Cupcake; Fonts: Freebooter Script, Monotype Corsiva Italic

Sue

A Bit More Christmas

It's never too late for Christmas, is it? I had more fun photos to use from my Christmas in the hospital last month, so I turned my layout into two pages.

By the way, I am doing fine now, feeling good and gradually getting back into regular activities. Praise God for good health!

All I Want for Christmas Collection Biggie by Jen Reed; All I Want Tree and Gift Embellishments by Jen Reed; All I Want for Christmas Paper Mini by Jen Reed; template by Bunny Cates (modified to two pages); fonts: Arial Bold, Rockwell Bold

***********

Journaling: Christmas isn't very merry if you are in the hospital, so I was surprised when my family came into my hospital room bearing boxes and bags of gifts. It was Christmas Eve day, my 14th day in the hospital. What a special time! After they piled the presents on my bed, we read the Christmas story, and sang carols. Then came the unwrapping! I received another big gift later that night when I was released to go home.

Photo Notes:
Page 1: Harry, Kristine, John, Steven, David, Sue, Mom, Dad; Kristine and John asked Steven and David to be their groomsmen; This was a much more fun use for my hospital bed; Page 2: Dad tried to figure out how the gopher pillow worked while Mom looked on; Kristine and John; David was amused by the fireworks from Steven; Harry and Sue

***********

I'll post another page soon, but it WON'T be about Christmas this time! Ho, HO, HO!!!

Sue