Heritage pages and the beginning of Summer.

It is nearly the end of June and summer is upon us with all the hot weather and general yuckiness that goes along with it. It is not my favorite weather wise for sure because I seek refuge in the house not venturing out often. I would be happy with a year round spring/fall temperature.

I have been scrapping heritage photos lately. I have a huge box of pictures and decided to scrap the originals of these. I can't see reproducing these to scrap when I want to find a way to lessen the shear volume of pictures.

The first layout is one I did celebrating my love of dance. I used to take dance lessons and it is what I lived for on a Saturday morning. When I was not yet 4 we went on vacation to California and stayed with my Uncle Don, Aunt Julie, and cousins Scott and Mindy. We went to Disneyland, the beach and played with all the neighborhood children. In the b & w photos I am attempting to teach them all to dance but I first needed them to line up. I was little miss bossy pants and not successful. The only way they lined up was my mother asking them to so she could take a picture. The color photo is of me right before my recital. My mother sewed all my costumes and sewed on by hand each sequin one at a time. Very tedious work but really pretty.

The next layout is one of me in 1951, just a few weeks old. We spent our summers in the back yard under the huge shade tree in my grandmothers back yard. It was in the garden filled with lilacs, peonies, roses, daylilies, iris, and petunias. The eclectic mix of metal, wood, and wicker made a charming and magical place they and later me could escape the heat with a glass of ice tea or lemonade. They moved from that house when I was 8 or 9 and I missed the garden but know that it helped to fuel my love of gardening.

Have a great summer and stay cool!! I will be inside scrapping away and trying to get the heritage photos under control.

Missing in Action

I have been missing because of lots of craziness in my life the last month. Luckily I think it has come to an end and we can move on.

I have been busy creating layouts to use in black shadow box frames for the wall you face as you enter my home. I have a shelf that will go below the 4 picture grid that will be painted black also. The layouts are not matchy-matchy but coordinate in color and feel. Of course it helps that they are of the most adorable, loving, smart and charming grandchildren that anyone could ever want.

I based some of them on sketches from sketchabilities .

This sketch has resulted in this layout of my oldest granddaughter Lily

The hand stitching ( just too lazy to go get my sewing machine) layering of the hearts, enamel dots and rhinestones are some of my favorites.

Then I did a layout for Amelia that incorporates her more girly side with bows and enamel dots.

The day before I did some layouts of the grandsons. Aidens layout is also based on a sketch from sketchabilities.

The numbers down the left side were done using a foam stamp that I purchased more than 5 years ago from QVC from Lisa Bearnsen. I did not get rid of them in my purge because the images are timeless and the icons won' t go out of style. The wood veneer, brads, flair and enamel dots make me very happy.

Last but not least is Logans layout. It expresses what this kid is all about. From the old fashioned bicycle on the paper and the bicycle wood veneer to represent his constant on the move status, this kid moves through this world fearless.

I love working with the wood veneer from Trees to Treasure. I love that I can order the veneers I want for a custom order.

I have a lot more I want to scrap and photos to take. What I love about this hobby is the encouragement I receive from fellow scrappers on message boards and facebook and pinterest. It makes sharing a hobby globally such an awesome thing.