memorykeeping:: December Daily-my why…

I do not think I have included a formal introduction page on any album I’ve done.  Honestly, it really never occurred to me since most of my albums are either from a vacation or a special event.  My general albums are arranged chronologically, at least until 2007 when I fell off the bandwagon and now I just stack layouts into albums haphazardly…but that is another blog post.  anyway  I thought it might be a nice introduction to talk about why I make these albums, so Inspired by Ali, I made up a “why” page.  I made this page digitally using Christmas themed digital paper for the background, then lowering the opacity by about 50% so its faint in the background.  I used Remington Noiseless as my font and made it bold to stand out.   It was looking a little plain so I added a bit of Christmas washi tape and a “joy” button. The finished page is on the right in this photo, it will be the back of the title page for the album.

DD2014-first two pages

The text reads:

We record the holidays:

To stop time even for just the instant it takes to record an image. That moment will never come again, but we can relive it over and over as an image.

To honor the past as we trim the tree, we talk about the ornaments we have, where we got them, who gave them to us, the family stories come alive. At gatherings, we share stories and old traditions and start new traditions.

To dream of the future this time of year gives us pause to reflect and dream about what we can make manifest in our lives for the coming year. Because time goes far far too quickly and we want to remember every little detail.

Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas 2014

I like it.

You can learn more about Ali (an awesome person and inspiring memory keeper) and her December Daily project HERE on her blog.

 

memorykeeping:: December Daily-beginnings and endings

This will be the 6th year I have kept a scrapbook album specifically about the holidays.  I have been inspired the last several years by Ali Edwards December Daily project.  You can learn more about Ali (an awesome person and inspiring memory keeper) and her December Daily project HERE on her blog.  I have included photos from my 2012 December Daily on my blog, that year was one of my favorites for ease and simplicity.  Hopefully if I get some time, I can get other years up to share.

This year I am once again participating in December memory keeping, I have decided to run my album from Thanksgiving to Christmas…and maybe to New Year’s, we’ll see.    I have been doing a lot of thinking about process lately and one place where I get hung up is on the beginning and ending of album projects.  I decided to solve the problem by doing the first and last page in one whack tonight and wanted to share them here with you…

DD2014-first two pages

The title page is on the left, the page behind it on the right.  Yes, the photo is crummy as it’s dark at 3:30 around here now and consequently, most projects are getting worked on in the dark!  I used some new paper that I picked up that I love…very vintage-ey…I colored it oh so slightly with colored pencil, tried some embossing on the tree in white and silver and used some new brads for the top, and number stickers for the bottom.  Simple. Easy. Done.

Back Page

The back page?  I saw a beautiful wood cutout at Absolutely Everything last weekend and knew it was going to be the focal point of the last page… I embossed it with silver embossing powder, picked out a piece of beautiful paper, attached one to the other and voila!  Last page.  Simple. Easy. Done.   (note…working with these die cuts is tough they are very fragile so handle them with great care so they don’t snap…like mine did!)

There now, that’s better!  Solved the beginning and ending bits quite nicely I think!  Looking forward to working on this project more in the coming week!  Hello the Holidays!

Do you have a Holiday project you’re working on?!  I’d love to hear about it!

 

 

 

Memory Keeping:: Week in the Life 2011

Oh the blog updating fun continues!!  Week in the Life 2011 is uploaded!  Hop over HERE and take a look!

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Memory Keeping:: Layout Shares !

I think the turning of the seasons is inspiring me to tidy up…last week the kitchen pantry closet…this week my blog ;-).  I realized that I have not posted any layouts from this year on my blog.  Last Sunday I did a big photo shoot of all memory keeping efforts on paper and I’ve been slowly going through and editing and uploading, so you’ll be seeing posts as I get different sections of the blog/website completed!  Today was Layouts 2014 Jan – Sept…I’ve highlighted one of my faves below but you can see the whole gallery HERE!

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Now, go make something!  I have a pot of chili to get on the stove.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works of Art  

Kit:  Designer Essentials Series 1:Stained  & Stained (Mini-kit:  Era)     Template:  Template Blends:  (Series #1) .

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Anticipation/Summer Fun

Background paper:  April Showers Bring May Flowers Kit-Paper 1    Green journal tag paper: Summer in Bloom Paper 1      Template:   Anatomy of a Page (Template set 1) – Template #1.  Frame:  Up-Lifting Frames 1,  Frame #2   Word art:  Anticipation kit  Summer Fun Sticker:  LFDD FreebieCollab with Katie Pertiet – Summers Here

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The Cure

Kit:  A Little Art Therapy    no template, my own page design.

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Easter Photo Shoot

Kit:  April Showers Bring May Flowers &  April Showers Bring May Flowers (addition kit)  Template….can’t remember where !

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Spencer Douglas Roe (Yay he graduated!!!!!)

Kit:  A Graduate and A Scholar   Template:  BPC Class-Sketch Solutions, template free with class (!)

Now… Desk is cleared to document more memories!!   Would love to see what you’ve been up to, please link to your own memory keeping projects!

 

 

Squam Art ::  The magic of Nicola Taylor

I really can’t tell you when I first learned of Nicola’s ethereal images, but they captured my imagination from the first time I saw them.  I had decided to go to the fall Squam Art Workshop partly for scheduling and partly because the workshop offerings were not really fiber-based (the June Squam offerings skew much more toward the fiber arts in general) but collage, and mixed media and jewelry making and photography.  Things that were not in my comfort zone.  At.  All.  Time to experience something new.

I was soooo excited to see that she was coming all the way over from North Yorkshire in  England to teach at Squam and I was fortunate enough to take a workshop with her.  “Finding your Inner Muse”.  Que the hand clapping and jumping up and down.  If that wasn’t enough, there were two of us in the Thursday class so we got to spend loads of time on our projects.

First up… Finding our muse.  We had brought/collected items that had some meaning for us, that we were drawn to….of course we had each brought many things, so we had to whittle them down to 6 (ok, 7 snuck one in ) write about each of them, create kind of a collage and then form a statement to guide our work.  (It was really much more in-depth and thoughtful, trust me this is the cliff-notes version)

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After lunch it was time to take the photos that evoked our muse.  Let me just say at the outset that I love to take pictures but I am in no way a professional photographer.  I couldn’t get my (just purchased and taken out of the package) remote shutter release to work, my camera was a little wonky on the tripod (which I had used several times before ) and my long lens decided to stop working… oh and did I mention that it started to rain…and Nicola had to tutor me on the proper way to fling fabric to make it look effortless

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…in the rain, when you’re on the dock in your bare feet and a nightgown and a prom dress rolled up underneath for a petticoat…It was fun anyway and Nicola and our helper and my classmate were lovely and encouraging and so so patient with everything…and I’m very happy with my images… just a little bit of magic and a whole lot of learning.

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When we were done with my photos, we worked on several photos of my classmate who was expecting her first baby and wasn’t sure she would ever have a photo of herself expecting.  We made the most beautiful photos for her and then we all had a good little weep.

Sublime.  Divine.  Nicola’s magic on the moors transferred to a lake in northern New Hampshire.  Thank you Nicola for your grace and generosity in sharing your work and yourself, it was a day I won’t soon forget  xo