LOAD Wrap Up Layout, Video

(Note:  I have new class!  Two Page Terrific!  Info is at the bottom of this blog post.)

It's the last day of February and the last day of LOAD 214.  I've really enjoyed the challenges this month.  I did 17 layouts for LOAD!  Plus I did a couple of other layouts for my new class Two Page Terrific so it was a very busy month.

Many of my layouts have process videos.  There are a few that don't and I'll put those in a page share video a bit later on.

Today I have a layout that shows a thumbnail of the completed LOAD layouts.  I remember hearing this idea early on in the program - to do a page at the end to commemorate the work done this month.  I thought it was a wonderful idea.

My goals for LOAD were to try some new things, scrap childhood photos and use my stash. I put a good dent in all of those.  The challenges I most enjoyed and would never have tried on my own were an under 30 minute page and doing a page in only black and white.  That was a real stretch.  There are still a couple of challenges I didn't get to that I'd like to try.

I worked through a couple of paper collections clearing space for new stuff and made a dent in others.  Also I did quite a few childhood photos and told stories I hadn't even thought about.  I really love my pages from this month!  LOAD is a great scrapping experience and I urge you to give it a try sometime.  I'll have info on upcoming LOADS as they come along.

For the page, I created a reverse grid sketch.  I call it a reverse grid because most grids are in the middle of the page. For this one I have the title and journaling in the middle and the 1 1/2" grid on the outside edges.  It was a tedious sketch to create but it took a lot of the guess work out of creating the layout.

As you'll see from the video I made one change and that was to add more cardstock squares to the grid.

Watch at YouTube


Here's the sketch

Also, last call for the Anniversary Giveaway winner I drew last Friday - Shelley C, please contact me by this Saturday evening (Mar 1) about the prize.  (There isn't an e-mail linked to the comment.)  If I don't hear from Shelley, I'll draw another name and announce it on my next blog post.

Thanks for visiting!  If you haven't seen my new class info, please check it out here.  The class is called Two Page Terrific!  I'd love to have you join me as we find solutions to the challenges of creating a two pager.

Presenting... Two Page Terrific!

Do you create two page scrapbook layouts?  If so, I have a new class just for you!

In this class, I create 6 two page layouts start to finish and share 12 more layouts.  All are designed to answer some of the challenges that come up when creating a two pager including:

• How to stretch that ONE piece of the perfect pattern paper across two pages.
• What to do about the space between your pages in your album - the gutter.  Do you place elements across the two pages or keep things squarely on each side of the gutter?  We'll do both kinds of layouts in this class.
• Smoothly incorporate pocket pages along with your traditional 12x12 pages.
• Convert one page sketches to two pagers with an easy technique.
• Take a popular one page style like gridded pages and apply to a 2 pager

My classes and videos always have lots of extras!  In this class you'll also:

• Use your stamps. Do you have stamps gathering dust?  Get them out, dust them off and let's put them to work!
• Trim the cost.  Two page layouts don't have to be twice the cost.  By stretching many of your supplies through various techniques, you can keep your cost low and fill those albums with memories.
• Store and incorporate memorabilia on your pages.
• Print journaling on your background paper - even if you don't have a wide format printer.
• Create a photo collage in Photoshop Elements for adding even more photos to your two pagers.
• Learn tips to for machine stitching on your pages.

This class is filled with practical ideas you can put right to work on your pages.

So I hope you will join me for Two Page Terrific!  The class is self-paced so all the materials are ready to go.  You can join in and watch at your convenience.

The cost of this class is only $20 for over 2 hours of HD video plus 6 PDFs with sketches, supply lists and several extra tips.

To register for the class, head over to my Classes page by clicking here - Two Page Terrific Class

The Creative Cardstock class (on the sidebar) is also still available for $15 with tons of video and ideas.

Thanks for stopping by!

Boy, Sports themed page - Process Video

This should probably say 'sports themed without any sports specific product.'  My husband and I aren't sports fans.  We did watch a LOT of figure skating during the Olympics so much that I have dreamed about it.  We don't; however; watch basketball, baseball, racing etc so I have nothing at all sports related in my stash.

Dillon has been playing basketball for a few seasons and this year we received some photos.  These were a very small resolution so I had to print them small.  I used one of the sketches from my sketchbook that was originally designed for a single 4"x6" print.  It was also originally a title page so there wasn't a place for much journaling.  I put a pocket behind the photos here to hold the journaling.  There is a blank card there so my stepdaughter can write whatever she likes about the season or this specific game in which Dillon's free throw abilities were key.

I started this page on the LOAD challenge day when we were supposed to do a page without worrying about acid free product.  I don't know if the envelope here is acid free or not.  I do this quite often as I use memorabilia like brochures on my travel pages.  It doesn't bother me.   The library has books older than me and they are still fine so I figure my pages will certainly last my lifetime and beyond.

Then I got interrupted frequently getting this page done so here it finally is on the day we were to scraplift ourselves. Well, it certainly qualifies for that as I used on of my own sketches - just flipped around.

The faux stitching is with a white gel pen and I used a lot of stickers on this page which finishes off the Echo Park All about a Boy collection.

Here is the video at YouTube:


And the sketches are in this sketchbook.  Also, I'm putting the finishing touches on the new Two Page Terrific class which will be out later in the week. Everything is uploaded so it is mostly just administrative stuff now.  Stay tuned!

Altered Pattern Paper

I really stretched the LOAD prompt today - about 180 degrees.  We were supposed to focus on the future - a dream perhaps.  I went back to an old dream coming true.

I've blogged about this before but basically it is that I'd always thought I'd write a great novel some day.  That hasn't happened but I did publish a book - an e-book - recently.  Since this has been a dream forever, I thought it deserved a page. Here is the journaling:

Writing a book has been at the top of my bucket list for far longer than we called it a ‘bucket list.’  I’ve dreamed of writing a novel since I was in junior high.  However, it has been more of a wish and as I’ve gotten older, I realized my gifts were more with the visual arts.  Yet, finally I did publish a book!  A Year of Sketches was compiled from all of 2013’s scrapbook sketches.  I’m proud of my book even if it isn’t hundreds of pages of words.  If a picture is worth a thousand words, then I’ve got several books in this one!

I knew I was going to do a page on this photo a few weeks ago so I started prepping some papers.  I filmed my process but ended up deleting the video.  I wanted to show altering pattern paper with ink and mist.  My results were a bit spotty - literally. Some things worked and some didn't so I figured I'd do a video when I had a better handle on things.

The reason I was altering pattern paper was color.  I needed a blue I had none of in pattern paper.  I had some cardstock but it wasn't quite the color either.  I did have plenty of ink though that matched so I created these pieces and then today used them on my layout.

The paper in the lower right corner became part of the embellishment here.  The other papers were used as strips on the page.

I had a couple of good stickers.  One of them 'live your dreams' was brown and didn't go at all so I altered it, too using a technique from my upcoming Two Page Terrific class.  Hint:  No ink involved.

I also tapped into the Creative Cardstock class using some leftover embossed cardstock and giving it a bit of a lift for the rest of the background.  

The little rectangle of orange and white chevron peeking out is a sample of letterpress my friend Dani sent me.  The quality is just amazing.  I can see why she loves the technique.

So lots of techniques packed into this page to celebrate a past accomplishment.  Sorry, Lain.  I do have future dreams and I've already scrapped my 2014 goals.  So I went a bit off topic today.

Thanks for stopping by.  If you are interested in my e-book, you can find the info here.  I've gotten very good feedback on it so far.  Maybe I'll do another e-book in the future.

17 and Skinny

Last week I told you about my impending 50th birthday.  This week, I'm zipping back in time and zipping into some jeans that I doubt would go much past my knees today :-)

When I was in high school, I was carrying around about 20 extra pounds.  I tried various diets and I'd lose 5 lbs quickly, lose interest and then gain it back.  Finally at the end of my junior year, I decided I was going to lose weight.  I remember what the scales said then but I don't recall my goal weight.  I'm sure I went past it as I got really a bit too thin.  (I had a few people worried.)

I was convinced that if I lost the weight, I'd be a popular girl.  I wasn't completely unpopular just not a girl that got noticed by fellow students.  Well, I lost the weight and the popularity race.  People noticed I'd lost weight but it didn't make much difference.  Although I have to say, I looked darn good in my prom dress.

I lived at home during college and by then had a steady date.  I gained a few pounds over my college years and looked my best in that first year past college.  I've maintained a healthy weight most of my adult life although I'd love to see 5 to 7 lbs melt away before that next birthday.

This page is for a LOAD challenge to scrap about something other than what the photo represents.  I really don't know why the photo was taken.  It is very likely I was still 17 though it could have been right around my 18th birthday.  My weight was low but I was still wearing glasses.  I got contacts as my high school graduation gift.


For the layout I chose the new Homespun 6x6 papers from Simple Stories.  They match the shirt I was wearing and remind me of my grandmothers where the photo was taken.  I'm using some of the new die cuts and chipboard purchased recently from A Cherry on Top.  I wanted to try some different embellishments for me.  There is no wood veneer, brads, Washi or glazed brads on this layout.








Here is the video at YouTube:


And here is the sketch though you'll seen in the video that I've already modified it a bit:

Thanks for taking a trip down memory lane with me today!

Anniversary, New 2 Page Layout Class and Winner

5 Years of blogging!  Wow, in a way it doesn't seem that long and in other ways, it has become such an important part of my life I can't remember not updating my blog and reading so many other wonderful blogs.  So thank you for being part of my blogging world.

Also, today, I have a new class I'm so excited about!  This class will be available next Wednesday but I just couldn't wait to tell you about it.

Two Page Terrific

I know many of you like to make two page layouts.  Almost ALL my layouts used to be two pagers.  Now I don't make them as often but I certainly do when I have lots of photos, journaling and memorabilia.  Sometimes there is just more to say and show than will fit on one page.

Many scrappers like the look of a two page layout in their albums.  Yet, a two page layout has some different challenges than a one pager.  That's where this class comes in.

You'll learn many techniques for taming those two page troubles such as:

• How to stretch that ONE piece of the perfect pattern paper across two pages.
• What to do about the space between your pages in your album - the gutter.  Do you place elements across the two pages or keep things squarely on each side of the gutter?  We'll do both kinds of layouts in this class.
• Smoothly incorporate pocket pages along with your traditional 12x12 pages.
• Convert one page sketches to two pagers with an easy technique.
• Take a popular one page style like gridded pages and apply to a 2 pager

My videos and classes always have lots of extra tip and techniques.  Just some of the extra topics this time are:

• Using your stamps. Do you have stamps gathering dust?  Get them out, dust them off and let's put them to work!
• Trim the cost.  Two page layouts don't have to be twice the cost.  By stretching many of your supplies through various techniques, you can keep your cost low and fill those albums with memories.
• Store and incorporate memorabilia on your pages.
• Print journaling on your background paper - even if you don't have a wide format printer.
• Create a photo collage in Photoshop Elements for adding even more photos to your two pagers.
• Learn tips to for machine stitching on your pages.

This class is filled with practical ideas you can put right to work on your pages.  Class contains:  

Over 2 hours of HD video content

6 PDF's that include sketches for the six brand new 2 page layouts in the class.  Twelve additional two page layouts are shared during the lessons.

This self-paced class is $20 and will be available starting on Wednesday, February 26.  I'll post the class description again on Wednesday and give you an easy way to sign up.

So I hope you will join me to make your Two Page layouts Two Page Terrific!

To kick things off, I have this layout for you.  The photos are from my stepdaughter's wedding many years ago.  I scrapped her wedding pages at the time but had never gotten around to doing some pages for my own album about all the things my Mother and I did for her special day.  It was an honor to be asked to help.  There was a bit of a challenge matching her color scheme at the time and apparently there still is.

I didn't have matching background paper so I did my own background.  In the video I share how to create the background in one step using a stencil, paint and glaze.  I'll share the finished page with lots of memorabilia incorporated and more about what you can learn in this new class.  Of course in the class, I take each layout step by step from start to finish.

Watch at YouTube

And thank you for joining me for my 5th blog anniversary.  Now, what else do we have today?  Oh, yeah...

The winner of the Anniversary giveaway is...

Shelley C

Congratulations, Shelley!  Please send me an e-mail (address on the sidebar) so I can get you your prize.

Thanks to all of you for your wonderful comments!  I'm delighted to hear that so many of you are inspired by the videos and are doing a lot of scrapbooking.  Capturing our memories is so important. I look forward to many more years of blogging and creating videos.

New CHA Goodies

Yeah!  I finally got in some new CHA goodies.  Now, it isn't as though I haven't shopped this year.  The last 3 months of last year, I was very, very good.  Part of this was because I bought so much scrappy goodness on vacation in September and partially because our Internet was down for all of Thanksgiving so I couldn't shop on-line and take advantage of sales.

In January though I bought a lot of necessary items, cardstock, adhesive, printer ink.  Those don't really count, do they?

Finally, some CHA things I wanted came in and I just got the order in this week.  This is my first order with A Cherry On Top (http://www.acherryontop.com/).  I am very impressed with their selection, how fast the items shipped and how nicely they were packed. They have some sort of points program I've yet to explore but I got 1000 points because I gave them the e-mail of someone who referred me.  So that was nice.

Anyway, here are the goodies in this video - Simple Stories Homespun, Bo Bunny Modern Miss, lots of Prima chipboard and wood veneer, some flair and die cuts.  I'm trying to buy less paper and more embellishments this year.

Watch at YouTube


I'm trying to work through some old stash and LOAD is really helping with that so I hope to put these new things into layouts soon.

Thanks for visiting today.  Be sure to come back tomorrow for my blog anniversary and the giveaway winner (you have until 6 p.m. this evening to enter for the package on this post.

Getaway Day - Process Video

Ah, the luxury of sneaking off for a day of shopping!  Well, my husband knows where I am so I'm not sure who I'm sneaking off from but it sounds better if it is illicit.  It has been 2 or three years since I took a day to go to my favorite mall in Charlotte.  I had a lovely day of browsing stores and searching for the perfect drinking glasses.  Came up empty on that one, but I did find a couple of things I wanted.  Mostly I browse and just get a break from home which is especially nice in winter.

For the page, I'm doing a LOAD challenge to use something besides scrapbooking sources for inspiration.  My inspiration for the page is from the window at Anthropologie.  I loved their window and had snapped a photo of it.  The photo led me to some products from a Simon Says Stamp card kit with the What's Up! collection from Basic Grey.

I used one of the sketches from my sketch book to make this page go super fast.  There is a lot of stitching including some casual (very casual as I didn't have them premarked) swags at the top of the page.

I love these vellum die cuts that came with the kit.  They really go with that window display.

Here's the video at YouTube:


Thanks for stopping by today.  The sketch is part of the Sketches PDF.

(If you haven't already, enter my giveaway by clicking on this post and leaving a comment.)

An Anniversary Giveaway

This Friday, I'll celebrate my 5th anniversary of blogging!

Help me celebrate by leaving a comment on this post for your chance to win this prize pack. One winner will be drawn at random from the comments on this post.  Comment here by Thursday, February 20 at 6 p.m. ET for your chance to win. The winner will be announced here on the blog on Friday, February 21.

(I will e-mail the winner.  If you get an e-mail, be sure to confirm you are the winner before responding with address info by visiting this blog on Friday to see your name.)

The prize includes 2 6x6 paper pads from Simple Stories, chalkboard stickers, Heidi Swapp mistable butterflies and chipboard letters, enamel dots, 3 rolls of Washi, Maya Road chipboard frames, a date stamp and one of my favorite stencils.

Thank you so much for all your comments here and on YouTube.  I appreciate all of your support.  I'll have more layouts this month as I continue with LOAD.  Also I have a new class to announce soon!

What's next?

I did not want to do today's LOAD prompt.  It is Sunday.  Usually on Sunday's, I listen to my favorite music radio program and do mixed media, cards or some other crafty experimental thing.  In other words, I play even more than usual.

Today's prompt was to scrap about something difficult in your life.  That does not fit into my fun day plans.  So I did the best I could and made a mixed media page.  My topic is turning 50 in a couple of months.

The hard part was doing the journaling.  That is where I had to sit down and put into words the anxiety of this milestone.  So I typed and typed and typed.

A few years ago I remember hearing about a study that said that women were much happier in their 50's than in any other time in their life.  If you are one of those women, please let me know and tell me the secret.  Seriously.  Because I haven't met many of these women or at least I don't think I have.  Maybe we just all have a tendency to talk about problems and not share the joys but 50 something isn't sounding so good.  Hot flashes, expanding waistlines, thinning hair, all kinds of far more serious health problems, the challenges of caring for our aging parents, shrinking retirement accounts, etc. etc.  My Mother keeps me up to date on the 'sick, dead and dying' report as I call it.  She has taken to telling me about everyone she was ever remotely acquainted with that is in the hospital or has died.  She has turned into her Mother,  I do NOT want to do that!

As I went on and on in my journaling, I realized that most of my anxiety is because I'm happy NOW.  I don't want things to change as I fear these aforementioned problems happening to me.  I've already seen changes in my body I'm not too excited about. What's next?  (And thus the title for the page.)

And so I realized that I need a good dose of Franklin Roosevelt's most famous advice - "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."  So it wasn't such a bad prompt.  It made me think about something that has been nagging at me for awhile.  Hopefully, it will also make me appreciate.

And if you have advice for handling big birthdays, please share.  I'm all ears.  My eyesight and hearing haven't totally gone yet :-)

For the page, I used up a lot of number Thickers which I hardly ever use on the background.  The technque is from Celene Navarro from Two Peas.  In addition to mist as she suggested, I used some gelatos for more color.  Also I stampted and stenciled with black paint and a piece of drawer liner I got at the dollar store.

The black plastic snowflakes are back for embellishment.

Thanks for visiting today and going on a journey of a less than fun topic.

You are my Heart

Valentine's plans changed just a bit here but not too much.  It snowed for 24 hours ending about noon on Thursday.  We got a total of 6 inches which isn't that much but enough to shut N.C. down.  Fortunately although we live in one of if not THE smallest county in the state, we get our roads scraped pronto.  Our DOT does a fantastic job.  They passed my house as soon as the temperature got above freezing.  It hadn't even quit snowing yet.  Still, everything in town was closed so I couldn't get to the butcher shop for the ingredients for the Valentine lunch I had planned.

With a few modifications, we had lunch together on Friday and watched ice skating in the evening.  Holidays are usually low key affairs here.  We did pose for this quick photo on Thursday just after the snow ended.  I only took one as it was cold out there!

For the page, I'm using Webster's Pages Sprinkled with Love collection along with some of Allison Kreft's Recorded collection from last fall.  These blend together well.

The mixed media heart meets yesterday's LOAD prompt to use a product or material not meant for scrapbooking.  I mixed up some heavy gel from the art department of the craft store with Perfect Pearls to make my heart and also to draw the one around us.  I remembered these transparencies from My Mind's Eye so the gel is actually on that and not the photo.

The video shows the process for doing both of these and getting the heart border.

Watch at YouTube:


And I did a fresh sketch for this one:

Last year's sketches are available as a downloadable PDF here:  52 Sketches

Thanks for stopping by!  Hope you had a wonderful Valentine's Day and are thawing out from the recent weather.

Project Life Pages without PL Product

I just had a few photos from the last half of 2013 that didn't really fit anywhere.  We had a lot of events in the last half of the year so many of our photos are or will be on regular 12x12 pages.  So I thought I'd take these last few and do a couple of pocketed pages.

I'm trying to use up some older product and the Acorn Avenue Collection from Crate Paper was fall 2012 I think.  I've used quite a bit of the 12x12 but hardly touched the 6x6 pad.  I also have die cuts and stickers for this one.  For these two pages, I used almost exclusively this collection only adding a Two Peas paper clip, some lettering and a couple of brads to finish off the pages.

Since these are going to be by themselves in my album, I'm arranging the pages back to back with just one page protector rather than the traditional 2 page spread.

Here is a close up of the two 6" x 8" sections.  Please excuse my lousy photography.  They really are the same size in real life.

I put the title on 'my' side and more stickers on my husband's side of the page.  I divided the photos based more on which of us they were related more to rather than chronological.  I just realized I didn't put any dates on these.  They are just every day moments in the last 4 months of the year.

This is my 2nd blog post of the day because I wanted to get this one in for today's LOAD prompt.  We were challenged to journal in phrases - no complete sentences.  I used some phrases here but also some paragraphs.  Mainly, I wanted to get these pages done.  We are all snowed in so it was a good day to cross a project off my list.  And also, being snowed in, I just had to do a bit of shopping for some new scrapbooking stuff.  Now I feel slightly less guilty having used up some of my old stuff :-)

Here's the video at YouTube:


Thanks for stopping by today!  I'll soon have an anniversary giveaway for you to enter.

Sale-a-bration card

Stampin' Up! has their annual Sale-a-bration going on right now.  I've settled into ordering pretty much just twice per year - an order during SAB and an order when the new catalog comes out in the summer.  Mostly I get cardstock, dimensionals and envelopes.  I do always love getting a Sale-a-bration treat or two.

This year, I chose the Petal Parade stamp set and this pretty designer paper. All the patterns are pretty and they are all different.  I really appreciate when a company takes the time to create different designs for every side of every piece of their collection.  It makes mixing so much easier.

My card is heavily inspired from Mary Brown's card over at Splitcoaststampers.  I wasn't quite sure what to do with this stamp set but I found plenty of ideas there.

Hope you are warm and dry wherever you are.  Thanks for stopping by today!

Black and white with shades of gray

No, this isn't a black and white photo.  The page is really this color.

A couple of weeks ago, I challenged myself to do a page of all neutrals.  Today, I have an even greater challenge.  For LOAD today, we were encouraged to do a page in black and white.  That's tough for me as a color person.

My subject are the birds on our feeder in winter.  The photo on the left is of a Tow-hee, a beautiful bird in black and rust.  This was made 2 years ago as we haven't had any of those this winter.  The one on the right was taken just a few days ago.  And I think there are going to be more opportunities for taking snow photos this week.

For the page, I used gesso over a mask on the cardstock background.  I journaled with a white gel pen on some designer paper.  Normally, I use a white gel pen on cardstock.  It just glides beautifully on the designer paper.

The embellishments are some black printed plastic snowflakes I got in some blog candy a couple of years ago.  I wasn't sure what I would ever do with black snowflakes but they work here.  The rhinestone circle gave me a fit!  It has been ages since I applied on of these and apparently you should measure the diameter BEFORE you take it off the backing to get the circle round and in the right place.

Anyway, it worked out here in the video at YouTube:



Here's the new sketch for this page:

Last year's sketches are available by clicking on the link on the sidebar or here.

So I managed a page without color!  It was fun.  I don't think it will be my norm but nice to stretch the boundaries a bit.

Thanks for stopping by!

No Worries

Anyone who knows us knows that I'm the one who runs things around here.  This is no big secret.  It isn't that my husband doesn't get a say.  We make major decisions together and he makes his own business decisions, of course.  But when it comes to getting things done in the house, planning a trip or seeing to family matters, I'm the doer.  He's very laid back.

I'm also the worrier.  If there is a problem or even a potential problem, I'm the one who is going to check it out and fuss over it.  I often envy him his ability to just go with things.  He does have concerns but they never rule his life.  He's a happy, relaxed person.

So this background paper was perfect.  Actually he had a lot to do with the choices for this page and in that I'll say he was a bit uncomfortable.

Today's prompt for LOAD was to let someone else take over the control of your scrapbooking.  My way of doing that was to ask my husband to look through my Pages Pinterest board where I've pinned over 100 pages from various scrapbookers.  I pinnned pages where I liked the background, the subject, the way a particular embellishment was done.  He went through and chose three pages for these reasons:

A page by Sue Althouse using bright colors.  I liked Sue's page because she used Washi as a way to provide a backdrop over a busy paper for her titling.

Sarah Webb's page with a text background.  (The link is to my Pin - her original is out for publication.)

A page by Diane Payne with a distinctive half circle banner for journaling.

I scraplifted those ideas for the page above.  I started with these supplies including this text basked Bo Bunny paper that is perfect for my husband's laid back nature:

Here's Sue's idea of using Washi to give my journaling a place to rest:

A circle embellishment balances the page.  

My interpretation of the banner was more traditional than Diane's - her's is a technique I still want to try at some point, perhaps on a calmer background.

It was a fun page that came together really fast.  I didn't fuss over it too much.  Maybe he is rubbing off on my after all.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Journaling Only (Video)

My interpretation of today's LOAD challenge was to do a page with only journaling.  There are many times in my life where I have no photos.  My parents owned and operated a retail business that was open 65 hours a week and they had no employees so they were very busy.  Following me around and taking photos just wasn't part of the plan.  I remember getting a camera when I was in my early teens and I took some photos but I don't know what happened to them.  I wasn't very good at keeping up with things back then.  When I got to my 20's, I didn't do any better and so I don't have any photos of that time either.

Anyway there are plenty of stories to tell that either have to have a photo made now to make up or just go without.  The hammock we had in the yard is one of those.  The hammock is long gone but not my memory of the summer days.

Here's the journaling:

My dad hated that hammock.  It was stretched over a free-standing green metal frame in the yard.  He hated it because it was in his way mowing grass.  He would have to get off his mower, move it, mow and then repeat the process to put it back to wherever it was -usually near the pin oak closest to the shop.  But he set it up summer after summer when I was in elementary school because I used it.

I know where the hammock sat because I was so often in it.  I loved the hammock.  I would be enveloped in its thickly woven fabric and look up at the clouds just watching them pass.  I loved the patterns they made.  My thoughts were free.  We had a large wide but fairly shallow yard with the neighbor’s cows in a pasture behind. They mooed sometimes.  More often noise came from our tar and gravel road that connected two state highways and was a short cut to the elementary school.  Individual cars passed often some stopped at the shop open until 8 each evening.

Our yard provided plenty of places to lay in the hammock or the grass and watch the sky.  It was usually fragrant from being cut at least weekly.  I rode my green bike endlessly from the playhouse my grandfather built me up one gravel and grass driveway, across a short distance of road and down through the shop parking lot over and over again. I never rode on the grass. I’d pretend that 3 rounds of this was the distance to work and 4 rounds the distance from my make believe house to the store.  My imagination flew along with my long blondish brown hair.  I was and still am a good rider.

The flat space of yard in front of the shop was the best spot for croquet which I could play for hours by myself.  Occasionally, Daddy, and more rarely Mother, played with me.  She was Mama then before I got high minded in junior high school and changed it to Mother.

The neighbor’s youngest daughter, Pam, came over to play some.  She was the one who discovered the echo of our little valley that you got when you stood in front of the bird bath in the lowest point of the yard and yelled at the top of your lungs.  The sound bounced off the mountain right back to you.  Mostly we played at her house and sometimes we laid in her yard and watched the clouds over her house. 

I don’t remember exactly when Daddy stopped putting up the hammock.  It was before we got a cat – or rather a cat got us – because I remember laying under that tree petting the cat in the summer.  And I sure don’t believe I’d have ever gotten a cat into a hammock.

For the page, I used watercolors and paint to create the background.  Originally, I didn't do the sun but added it along the way as I needed some more color.

 The border along the bottom is two strips of paper pieced in the middle with several October Afternoon stickers and some stamping in between.

Here's the process video at YouTube:


Do you have a lot of photos of your childhood?  If you have children or a child in your life, take photos!  And print them and save them!  I beg you.  I so wish I could turn back time and get my lovely memories in print.

My YouTube channel hit 1900 subscribers today!  I'm very excited and grateful for all who watch. Thanks for stopping by today!