Walking on the wild side.....more or less

While zipping along through one of the small towns of NH

you really couldn't miss this Roman Catholic Church.

It was BIG, it was GOTHIC, it was BEAUTIFUL!

 It was tough to get it all in even with 18mm. 

 And I totally couldn't resist black and white.

Queue the scary music.

 And then we took a walk and came across wildlife.

The mallard duck was flying.

 And then he was swimming.

 And then there was this poser. 

I have 131843834938413 pix of him, but this was the best.

Going to go somewhere and do something today!

Can't wait.

Have a Blessed & Happy Easter!

April LO tag at Moments is a total blast....

It's like that old TV show where the celebs would

whisper a message in someone's ear and it would 

get passed on the next til the end.

And at the end, the message is nothing like the original.

So here's my verision when I got tagged,

which was verision eleventy-ten. LOL!!!

This is O playing at the SHORE (totally diff than the beach) 

because it was in NJ. lol!!

Cosmo Cricket - swim :)

My pal April (see below)

Has a fun, funky style  and a quirky sense of humor.

She came up with the A3C challenge over on her blog.

The challenge, for the month of April was to do an artistic journal everyday in the month of April.

I don't seem to be grasping the artistic.

My pages look like my scrapbook pages.

Which defeats the whole point.

 Or does it?

 Sigh.

 I just can't seem to break out of the box.

However, it doesn't stop me from trying. 

Regardless of the whole break out thing.

I've been having a good time with the project.

Hop on over to April's blog

for a more artistic bent.

Over at Moments there's some challenges

going on and this challenge was one little word.

And that word is "best".

As soon as I heard it I knew I had to do a LO

about my virtual pal April.

We started out together on a now defunct scrapping site.

We started yahoo-ing, then phone calls, then web cam!!

I love technology.

We have been best buds, ever since over the internet.

(And we are so NOT counting the years) LMAO!

We virtual scrap and chat, taking each other to ridiculous heights.

It's never dull and the results are sometimes beyond what we ever thought possible.

The other challenge was to use OLD paper. That diecut paper

is Autumn Leaves. We're not mentioning the date on 

that either. LOL!!!

Creative cafe paper, Colorbok, QK stardust and Office Depot tag.

Basic grey chipboard. AND glimmer mist.

I neeeed more glimmer mist colors.

The dance...

captured on film. By yours truly.

It would be an understatement to say that I'm beyond thrilled

to get these shots.

For once, okay maybe twice,

I was in the right place at the right time.

Lara is a professional dancer and she choreographed

"the dance."

I thought it romantic and wonderful.

So I showcased it in the wedding album I did for Mike and Lara.

This one's for ME.

Over at the Moments they have Fast Track Fridays

were the put up a sketch, in this case Page Maps, and

you have a few hours to get it done. 

Virtual scrapping with some lovely ladies.

It's a fun time.

Creative Imaginations die cut paper, Imaginese flower, Prima bling, QK katie and emily. noteworthy, 7 gypsies turns, MM brads and alpha

I'm proud to be a DT member at

Moments

and I'm thrilled to do the Heritage challenge.

THIS IS MY FIRST CHALLENGE!!

For those of you that know me, you know all things Heritagy and Ancestry

are dear to my heart.

(Also I managed to inadvertently do the color challenge as well)

Go Me!

The challenge is to find a recipe/food tradition and OLD photos to go with (new ones can be done in a pinch. or old photos that have no bearing) - its all good. And what type of event, i.e. family reunion, that the recipe was used for and whose it was. Write about the memories of that when you were a kidlet. it can go back as far as your history takes. 

Journaling: Aunt Toot and Uncle Norm lived in the country and it was here that the family reunion/father's day picnic was held. Each family brought a covered ih to share of course; Aunt Toot's was her BBQ or nowadays called sloppy joes. I recently made it and it brought back such wonderful memories of those reunions. I had also forgotten how delicious it was. It is now in my arsenal of covered dishes.


jillybean soup, april's grandma's lace, michaels ribbon

Rolling around in the sand

with a Portuguese Man'O War drew a crowd for sure.

 He was amazing!

 And a work of art.

Most important thing to remember is 

DON'T TOUCH!!!

To read more about this bad boy and see more photos

go here!

Continuing the Melbourne Tour....

Rustic broken windows in buildings.

What is NOT to love.

These were 2nd or maybe 3rd story and that is a palm tree

adding cool green to balance out the rustic.

And this preset which I hit by accident and love the result

is.........................Holywood.

It's all about the saturation. I love it.

 This sigh was in the 905 coffee shop where I had a refreshing

Iced Mocha.

I almost spewed my precious coffee. lmao....its perfect.

And this lil dude just made me laugh.

Melbourne Historical District

Traveling with Dh means I get to run around in places and do what I want.

There were all kinds of cool shops to hang out in

and take pictures.

I did make a purchase in Betty's Antique Shop

and this is where I took the cool photos.

 I learned this "brownify" technique from hanging out at the Aperture Blog.

I'm still on REAL BIG learning curve and Thomas is very informative.

 And he actually allows you to download his preset. And I'm proud to say

I have them ALL.

 OH? My purchase. I bought one of those old timey flower stands

to hold up my lo's and cards to take pictures of them. 

Creatively.

We are headed to Jupiter today.

Check out my hubpages

about our backyard wildlife!

Fast Track Friday over at Moments

and its all about the sketch.

This is my version which was fun to do.

My O being so sweet and adorable.

You just wanna smooch him all over.

He's On an Easter Hunt. 

A mission. 

I have No clue what he's looking for.

Bo Bunny,basic grey flowers, tech tues bunnies, qk lemonade & cosmo alphas, noteworthy ribbon.

Went to the Tampa Performing Arts Center to see

The Jersey Boys again. It was just as awsome this time

as it was off broadway.

If you'd like to read more, please 

go here.

Caught......

at playing the challenges at Moments.

This was my pal April's challenge. To find a photo that had

a humorous bent to it, and tell the story behind it.

Without further ado: 

except that is old deja vu paper.

Journaling: Caught in the parking lot in Starbuck’s by mamarazzi!! This is Shane, who’s my totally enthusiastic about life child changing into his new clothes in the car. As a joke, I waved my camera around as we laughed and giggled, little did he know I actually hit the button. It really didn’t surprise me that he was changing in the car, only that he waited from the mall to Starbucks  Because he gets so excited about anything new,  I had to wait until the day before school started to buy new clothes and supplies. He would put on the clothes and use the supplies the minute we were home.

It drove me crazy. 

So here we are taking Shane shopping

on Christmas Eve for new clothes and

shoes, and he can’t wait to get home 

before he puts them on. 

You have to love the way he appreciates new things.

Newly Hatched..

the title courtesy of my pal April.

I wanted something different.

My baby albums have become somewhat cookie cutter.

And I felt the need to break out.

She said don't mess with a good thing.

So I sort of did. Kept it sort of the same but made it more playful.

Which was totally a blast.

All Lillybee designs paper except for some bazzill.

QK and punches. OMG. I used punches I forgot I had. AND QK for 

that matter. Oh and a Sissix swirl. I love swirls.

Oh and the overhanging embellies on the mat. 

Pix can be slid under them. 

I have a Fancy Pants transparency over the first page

to protect the birds. And I don't remember who

made the swirly thing under the birds.

And another manic Monday at Moments (4.4)

with my pal April!

It appears our mojo is sucked out by the sun by day.

But come nightfall....

we rock the patterned paper and challenges.

 So above is a photo of me and the kids in my dad's pool.

It's not a great picture but zero in on Shane's 

smile and the way he's just laying so

casually on my arm.

Which is odd because I am NEVER casual in the water.

I don't swim worth mentioning and tried to NOT

pass that on to the kidlets. Did a great job

they swim like fishes!

(Use your strips/scraps challenge)
Cosmo Cricket which is 6x12 why? because that's all of the paper
I had and it was perfect for the photo, QK holiday)

And my lil ConMan. He's just so sweet and the spitting

image of his dad. Which absolutely

amazes and astounds me.
Sassafrass lass and thickers.

(Oh really a scraplift challenge from Moments of Pam)

Stalking wildlife in the back yard....

takes keen eyes and steady hand

sheer dumb luck!

It's hard sneaking around on crunchy leaves,

even with sneaky ninja super powers.

Tom was driving them crazy with birdcalls from the PC. 

It was a hoot watching them trying to figure that one out.

They'd come closer. They'd listen. They'd fly off.

 So above are a male cardinal and a mocking bird. I thought it was a

blue jay but we looked it up. Mockingbird.

And butterflies. Can't resist chasing them bad boys down.

Many more came and went. I added the teleconverter lens to 

my repertoire of stalking methods. I forgot you need

to manually focus, which made me slower than 

usual. Fancy that. 

I need to hire some posers.

Hey scrappers! If you're looking for a new board to hang out..

in -  Scrapping the Moments is looking for YOU!! We have a great time, and the fun, lovely and creative ladies are looking for more friends to hang with.  Hop on over and sign up and in your intro tell them Maddawg sent ya!

YOU.....COULD WIN a $25 gift certification to A Cherry on Top and ME TOO.