Week 30

which had too many good photos to scrunch them all on one page.  After all, it is summer, and there is so much color, so much light, so much fun!

 

Kirkwood Wildflower Festival Part 1

Bless me, Mother Nature, for I have stayed away, it has been two years since my last wildflower festival.

Thank you for being patient with me and returning with a new season of beauty.

The first of probably several pages from our weekend at Kirkwood.  This is Frog Lake and some flowers on the way to Lake Winnemucca.

 

Credits:  Maya de Groots NEW Triple Play Template Set 4. Also Maya de Groot App-solute Basics, Primavera (flowers), Contrast (paint), Anna Aspnes Warm Glows and Multi Media Flowers No 2

Late Night Photo Book

I need coupons with no expiration dates! or maybe I really do need expiration dates in order to get things done. Ocean City photo book done, but it was a late night, and now I am tres tired. 

Click here to view this photo book larger

Click here to create your own Shutterfly photo book.

Tons of Templates from Simply Kelly

Tons of templates from Simply Kelly Designs, all put to perfect use finishing up the pictures from Ocean City.

First, Torn Template Set.  I don't know how these tears are created, but I do love them, looking so real and dimensional.  Also love the stacking on these templates, the location and shape of the text paths.  In fact, I think this makes a perfect cover for my Ocean City book.

And the next Torn Template, perfect for a back cover.

Next, 9 Photo Template No 2. I like this combination of a large photo and a set of small, perfect for telling a story, this one the story of Molly and her kites.

And finally, Curved Template. Because I had a perfect set of photos, I turned these 90 degrees.I like the way it looks like a film reel.

Week 29

... which was filled with all kinds of light!

Half Moon Bay

We headed up to Half Moon Bay to play golf and have dinner with the AC's advisor, the car packed with not only clubs but extra clothes, with a forecast of low 60's and drizzle, not at all unusual for the Northern California coast in the summer time.

When we got there around lunch time, it was chilly, but the clouds seemed to be sparse and breaking up.

Well, long story short, it turned out to be the most glorious sunny day!  The golf course personnel claimed it was the best day of the year in Half Moon Bay.

I might have to agree!

A couple of quick pages created to showcase Maya de Groot's new Triple Play templates. 

This first is of the Ritz-Carlton hotel on the bluff.  Also uses Maya de Groot's Travel Notes, Mermaids and Travels Treasure Box.

And a quick shot of the sunset through the window at the Ritz as we were having dinner.  Also uses Maya de Groot's Backpackers Set 3, Not So Basic Blacks [ link ], Fright Night, Cheerio and Contrast [ link ]

Jo La La

Last week was the Women's Invitational golf tournament at Silver Creek Valley Country Club, with the theme Passport to Paris, complete with an Eiffel Tower in the lobby. I could not resist having Jo and I have our pictures taken avec la tour!

This also gave me an opportunity to play with some of my many French-themed kits.

 

Credits: Anna Aspnes ArtPlay Palette Saffrom Villa, Original FotoBlendz No 5 and Warm Glows, Maya de Groot Ooh La La and Tagged Conversations, Oscraps Collab Parisian Holiday, Royanna French Flea Market alpha and elements

Fenwick Island & Fireworks

A couple more pages from Ocean City, of the Lighthouse at Fenwick Island and the fireworks as seen from the beach on the 4th of July. Both pages are done with Jen Maddocks Designs Quilt Templates 6.

 

Additional credits - Jen Maddocks Sand & Surf, Frames Templates and Patriotic Fun. Couple of additional brushes from Anna Aspnes ArtPlay Palette Find My Way 2.

Additional credits - Jen Maddocks Patriotic Fun and Enchanted (mask & frame). I love the way the journaling cards fit onto the quilt blocks.

More of the quilt templates

Power to the She - Tee Hee

I created this page for a July Cheery-O challenge to make a page based on an advertisement. You may also remember this Athleta ad was June's web inspiration challenge at Oscraps. Since then I have been looking for an opportunity to try to reproduce the ad, since I bought the bathing suit, and did so last week at the beach. This is totally tongue in cheek...you can see I was laughing too hard to try to make it a serious replica. But it had the intended effect...we had fun! 

Credits: Anna Aspnes ArtPlay Palette Seafoam, 12x12 Magic FotoBlendz Template 1A, Mini Palette Mint Winter, ArtPlay Palette Find My Way 2, Maya de Groot Mermaids (water and bathing beauty), Joanne Brisbois A La Plage (bathing beauty), Power to She word art by me, available for download from Box

Week 28

In which my plumeria bloomed, the hills glowed golden, we ate cinnamon pretzels and Jo came to eBay with me. 

 

The 500 Tickets!

One of the best stories from our Ocean City trip was Lily winning 500 tickets in the slot machine on the boardwalk.  I wasn't there, but this has got to be one of my favorite photos!

What are the odds??  And how cute is all this??

This is the story I thought of when I saw Simply Kelly's new Very Berry kit.  The colors were perfect, and even though Lily didn't win on a string of strawberries, I thought they would be a cute addition to the page.

Additional credits - Simply Kelly 3-Photo Template, Anna Aspnes ArtPlay Palette Strawberry Preserve and Numbered Overlays 

Here is the preview...wish I had berry-picking pictures.

One Kit Five (or More) Ways

For the Oscraps blog team, our next installment of One Kit 5 (or more) Ways, we chose Jenn Labre's

As I described last month, my scrapping process is to work through the photos of an event, mixing up kits for various challenges and Creative Team assignments. So my driver is my photos. Usually current photos. This is one of my favorite photos from my vacation at the beach for the 4th of July. I looked through this huge kit of Jenn's for dark and shiny things, and found plenty to support the mood of the moonlit beach.

I like to use a large photo, and just added a mask and some simple brushwork to blend the edges, adding lace, bling and sparkles to further soften and enhance. The background is a combination of four different papers to get a starry effect, but not too bold.

In keeping with the mood I used one of my favorite fonts, Pristina, backed by a tag from the kit. A shiny brad repeated in a triangle holds everything in place.

 So many wonderful things in this kit, perfect for Disney pages or tales of little princes and princesses.
 

To see what the rest of the Oscraps blog team have done with this kit, check out the Oscraps blog today.

Realxing in Ocean City

The theme for the web inspiration this month at Oscraps is 'relaxing'.

I don't think I need to say much more about this interpretation, except to say it was the first evening in Ocean City after a rather longer-than-expected trip.  It was hot, so the wine needed to be cold.  Since the last time we were there, more stores have gotten beer and wine licenses so it was a little easier to find a bottle of wine.  Of course it was California wine...cheap California wine...Sutter Home White Merlot, which I have never heard of.  It was good :-)

 

All credits Anna Aspnes at Oscraps:

• ArtPlay Palette Barren Sunrise (paper & elements)
• ArtPlay Palette Ablaze (frame)
• ArtPlay Palette Seafoam
• ArtPlay Palette Sunshine Bouquet
• ArtPlay Palette Encapsulate (clock, transfers, stitches) (with Dido Designs)
• Warm Glows No 1
• Wild Word Transfers
• ArtPlay Palette Find My Way 2 (loop)

Beachy Travel

I usually pay more attention to getting good pics of Mr AC & I at the beach, but somehow I didn't manage it this trip.  But there are a few, my favorite being this shadow one.

Maya de Groot's new Travel Notes was the perfect background for this picture. supplemented with a couple of cheesy self-portraits taken with my iPhone.

All credits Maya de Groot at Oscraps: Travel Notes, An Altered Treat, Terra Toni, Mermaids

Week 27

The week spent in Ocean City Md.   Cedric and Jo were along for the vacation.  It's funny I felt like I was not taking a lot of pictures, yet I look at these, know there are others like them, and see so many scrapbook pages I need to make!

 

This is Anna Aspnes Foto InSpired Layout No 1, modified to add additional pictures. Gnome from Hollywood's Whose My Gnome; Elements from Jen Maddocks Sand & Surf and No Pirates.

Beach Scrapping Continued

The beach journal I created for Molly was such a big hit, it warmed my heart to see her writing in it and reading it to us on the last day of the vacation.  

I decided to create a few more pages for her incorporating some pictures from the week I thought she would enjoy, combining them with simple hand-drawn elements from Maya de Groot's Zen and the Art of Animals, plus some simple pages with some room for her to write her remembrances of the days and events.

I love the freedom of expression of these simple journals.

It would be fun to make a coloring book of these images!

Beach Scrapping, Part 1

Perfect timing, new kits from Maya de Groot about Mermaids and Sea Animals are put to immediate use to scrap some of the pictures from the Ocean City vacation.

Week 26 - Jo, Dolly & I

Catching up the last week of June...Jo, Dolly, me and some flowers, ending with shadow pics on the beach at Ocean City.

 

Credits: Anna Aspnes FotoInspired Layout No 1, with elements from Anna Aspnes ArtPlay Palettes Seafoam, Wander and Girl Craze.

The Beach Journal

I heard that Molly likes to write, and so when contemplating a little gift for her, I decided to make a beach journal.

Unfortunately I didn't have the time to put a proper binding on it, but was able to whip up some cute and simple pages using Jen Maddocks Sand & Surf, Joanne Brisbois A La Plage and Anna Aspnes ArtPlay Palette Wander.  The lines are provided by Deena Rutter's Necessary Office Paper.

I duplicated several pages to give her at least 10 pages, cut them in half, punched holes and bound with ribbons.  Now I need to find some hole reinforcers to send her, since they started to tear a bit from frequent use.

I am happy to report the journal was a big hit.  She wrote in it every day and read it to us at the end of the trip, filled with insights and photos.

Dolly

I saw a cute crocheted doll on Pinterest and decided that would make a fun project to make for Lily.  I love crocheting with cotton thread, and even managed to find the ball of thread in the messy craft room closet.

Here is Dolly in progress, leaving the hardest part, the hair, for last.  I used up all the neutral cotton thread for the head and body, so used the variegated yellow and white for the legs.  Turns out yellow is Lily's favorite color so she liked the legs the best!

 And here she is with hair and a face, ready to go.

She had a detour in a bathroom at BWI Airport for a while, and it was touch and go as far as whether she would make it to Ocean City.  But the nice men of the Maryland transportation police came through, and she made it to her recipient, who promptly placed her in the boat under the coffee table :-)

Quick Lift

Quickly scrapping before leaving town, with photos of my Rose of Sharon against the most brilliant blue sky. All products from Anna Aspnes Designs.

Painted by the Sun

Last week was a hot one, and along with the heat came some brilliant sunsets. They scrapped so perfectly in this new template from Simply Kelly, Sunshine Templates.

Since we were headed out of town I only got to do one quick layout, but this will be a go-to set of templates for sunrises and sunsets!