TN- Love this

The grands came down for a fun long (albeit)

short weekend and we had a great time.

We went to Myakka State Park, a fun

place to visit.

Lots of wildlife to see, trees to hug and 

Grandpop to photobomb.

A good time was had by all.

And, shazam!

A great photo with no goofy faces.

Win!

Studio Calico, Tim Holtz, die cuts.

Mojo can be a fickle creature...

As I've always known.

It comes and it goes on its whim.

However, it did pop back around so maybe a 

break is good every now and then.

 Punches and dodads along with a bit of watercolors

is going on here.

 Used up some strips of papers and a bit of washi tape.

 And then I had to find a photo and then the great

debate or where it should go.

That took a couple of days, moving things here and there.

The doily was a way to ground this whacked up

photo I found in the wayback box.

And then of course a title.

Kept it low key and it pretty much covers

the journaling too.

Studio Calico.

Using scrap strips

Still trying to use up some scraps.

And stickers - Basic Grey.

And it's perfect for the photo.

 Love all the fun layers.

I did change the strips from horizontal to vertical.

 I'm in the front getting this photo and Kevin

was on the side so he got Annie

trying to go for the rabbit ears and if you look

close so is Owen.

Poor grandpop had no clue. LOL.

All Basic Grey except the mist and enamel stars.

The chaos continues with paper from another kit

This was the best fun ever.

Seriously.

I didn't over think.

I didn't roll for "perfection."

I just had a good time.

This is older paper and I did want

the B side so I made

this an 8.5x11.

 I do love working is different sizes.

I did fussy cut out a couple

of the boats because they were so adorable

and fun to use as an embellie.

The transparencies were in a kit.

That's all I remember.

Those Heidi Swapp titles were the best

thing I picked up in awhile and they were totally on sale.

Love it.

Swimming in November.

Doesn't get anymore fun than that.

It was a beautiful sunny day - in the 80's and

the water was actually a little chilly

going in but warmed up.

I usually like my water in the 90's but I

was able to hop in and have a great time.
This is a fun, happy page.

Heat embossing, how could I forget?

I remember when heat bossing was really popular.

Um.....

moving right along.

I loved it of course and had all the bells and whistles

that have taken up space in my drawer

until today.

I loovveee the look.

I did get it everywhere because being the patient person

that I am I didn't wait for other things

to dry and the embossing powder stuck to other things.

Or I could say I planned it.

 The hearts are a Recollections stencil and I decided

that the kraft flower punch needed some pizzazz too and I

kept it the same in keeping with the sort of monochromatic theme

I have going on.

 Love the Shimelle and Studio Calico library stamps.

 In my die cut box I found a bunch of leaves that worked

along with that tag at the top.

So you'll notice I sort of had the lefthand design thing

going on and I sort of went diagonal.

BUT.

It worked and I love it too.

Watercolors, stamps and embossing powder

I didn't think of taking a photo of the paper until

you guessed it after I mussed it up some.

Its a 12x12 of a photograph of trees.

A forest of trees.

I wanted to make a "home" for a photo and embellishments

so I laid down some gesso and watercolors.

I added the dotted stamp with black ink and then brought

out the distressed embossing powder.

 I tend to forget about embossing powder - it does add a cool layer.

I also got to use my new tree die cut from Spellbinders.

Again its gotta lot of intricacy going on so I used wax paper in 

order to get the die out without losing limbs or leaves.

I also heard a suggestion that dryer sheets work too - I'll try it next time

and give you an updated. Unless you already tried it.

Then let me know.

 Scattered the trees about and then layered up with

goodies from the Paper Issues Swag Bag - from different months.

Love the tree with the banners.

  I did put the page and colors together with no photo in mind.

And then I had to make a custom size because silly me

I glued down those striped banners.

Therefore, the photo size is 3x1.75.

Which is a good thing because it was a small photo and

anything bigger would be really blurry and pixilated because

its a digital photo of the original.

I think it works rather well with a heritage photo.

That is a photo of my great great grandmother Mathilda Anderson

and my grandpop (her grandson) Bill Schneider.

I did the journaling between the embossed dots at the top and

I only know the players in the photo,

not a where (just guessing) nor a why.

Guessing the date is about 1920 - because grandpop looks about 20.

But I could be wrong.

Studio Calico, Paper Issues Swag Bag, Spellbinder die, Tim Holtz distress embossing powder.

Leaving busy paper - well busy

I wanted the numbers because its a birthday page and grandpop really

 needed more candles on his cupcakes.

However, because anticipation was high and the wait was long, its probably best

not setting the house on fire and making 2 littles wait.

It was the second celebration of grandpop's birthday while visiting in NJ.

And how fun was that.

Liz rocks the cupcakes and they didn't last long.

The page is busy but I feel those beigie/white arrows actually 

bring it down to a mild roar along with the matting

and border strips and washi tape.

The B&W photo also tends to bring in your focus as well

calming down all the busy-ness around it.

I'm totally impressed and you should be too that I worked in a journaling

sticker with a cupcake on it. 

I tend to have a hard time with stuff like that.

All Basic Grey except for the Studio Calico wooden arrows, word strips, the

recollections washi tape and

 I got to use some really really OLD BG alphas.

The 15th means Heritage Challenge!!!

is up with the rest of the challenges at Moments.

My challenge is find a loved one/ancestor that has a

"seemingly inconsequential malady."

Now a "seemingly inconsequential malady" can mean

that the person afflicted has adjusted to said "malady" and is

totally oblivous that a problem even exists.

Then there is the exploiter of "said malady" that either

knowingly or unknowingly played on this "malady with humerous results.

As you can see above, 

my grandfather is wearing a pink shirt.

Why?

Because he was colorblind and my gram

 picked out his clothes.