Lent, today and yesterday!

I have spent week 1 of Lent reflecting. Rather than giving something up this year, I was planning on adding in. I haven't been exercising as much as I should and my goal was to add more exercise. Along came the sinus infection. I will get to it next week I am sure. In the meantime I have been doing lots of introspection and reflecting.

I remembered this photograph of my dad when he was probably about 2 years old. It was taken in front of his house or his grandmothers house on Whitsuntide. My understanding was that each church got their respective congregations together all dressed in white to parade through the streets. What a celebration of the Holy Spirit! In today's world where we are influenced so much by non-spiritual activities, wouldn't it be amazing to see this show of faith? In today's world we march and walk for many "causes". What about the indwelling of the Holy Spirit? Isn't that cause for celebration too? Just something to ponder....

My layout was created with Graphic 45, Prima and Crafty Secret Products. I do all of my cutting by hand. I love getting out my melamine dinner plates for circle shapes. I trace them, cut them and distress the edges using scissors. (The ultimate thrifty crafter - don't call me cheap!. For the photo corners, I used old brass pieces. I took the tarnish off of them using steel wool. I used dimensional tape to secure some of the flowers and the journaling strips. I generally use tacky craft glue for the flowers, since they seem to stay put better for me! I hope this picture lasts another 80 years to show my descendants some of our family traditions.

Have a peaceful weekend!

Looking forward and back

I am my late Aunt Phyllis' niece. When I was about 10 I remember she bought this wonderful antique doll house and refinished it. What I remember was taking off layers of old wall paper to reveal the real structure underneath. She also got me started on collecting antique pottery from England. Perhaps it is just getting older or perhaps it is really a big part of me. I love heritage and vintage scrapbooking and arts.

I treasure each family photograph. My dad came to the United States from England when he was 21 years old, with my grandparents. They had a limit of the weight of items they could bring. So they chose to bring clothes and necessities as we all would rather than photographs and papers. In fact, I remember my dad telling of them burning old papers and photographs before they left England. This has always made me very sad. I love the few wonderful photographs that they did keep.

My two latest layouts feature the new Graphic 45 lines. The "On the Boardwalk" line was just perfect for this picture (circa early 1940s) of my dad, his cousin Nora, my Grandma Margaret and my Great Aunt Lily. This picture was taken at Blackpool, England. They look as if they are really enjoying themselves! I miss all of these people very much.

The second layout is of me at my wedding in 1998. I love the "Romance" line for this layout.

I am anxious to get my heritage album together. There are some cute photos still left to restore. Look for more in the future!

Create It Green February Sketches

I was lucky enough to have two sketches used by the CIG DT for February inspiration. I am thrilled with what they did! Check out the CIG Blog and what the team did! Thanks ladies!
Here is the card that I made and the sketch too!





For my green items, I chose a circle from the inside of an Amond Roca can. I inked it using mustard colored ink from Technique Tuesday. I also used some more of those lovely Prima packaging for the background! This card is on its way to James and Noriko the lovely couple that bought my dad's house last August. I have a little acrylic album that features the house being built that is finally completed! Hope that they will like it!

Sketches: Creatively Yours Card Sketch #2 Up today!

It is almost Valentines Day! I used this great sketch by Ann at Sketches: Creatively Yours to make my Valentine for my DH. Now hopefully he won't check out my blog! LOL! I hope you all have a wonderful Valentines Day with those you love! If you still need a card - MAKE ONE! and check out the sketch!

Fabulous Favorites

I am loving taking my time on LOs these days! I have had lots of fun using up some of my stash, although there is lots more to go! Just dropping by with a few of my new favorites.
We went to the PDX International Auto Show and man they had some fabulous classics! I used some Graphic 45 and voile you have a classic car LO!
Thanks for taking a peek! Also for you sketch fans, I have a sketch this week on the Tally Scrapper Blog. Check it out! I would love to see your LO!

Not One to Complain

For years my mom and dad didn't have a dishwasher. In fact not once in their over 40 years of marriage did they own one! They did a lot of talking while washing, with my moms hands in the dishpan and my dad in charge of the towel. Many problems of how to deal with a teenager, I am sure were solved over that dish sink.
When we moved into our house, I noticed that there was no dishwasher. Thus this layout about being the dishwasher. It was for a challenge at Tally Scrapper to design around your least favorite chore. This is it! It would be bathrooms, but DH is in charge of that one!