Thank you, Karen

The nine hours of class and practice under Karen Russell's tutalage has really paid off for me as shown in this photo. I now know how to adjust my white balance for the lighting. I now know how to adjust my ISO and aperture so I get a good expose most of the time (still practicing this one). And I can get catch lights in my little Eli's eyes. She had just finished eating (and smearing herself) with a peanut butter English muffin. What a sweetie she is! And I'm now able to catch those special moments. So, a big thank you, Karen.

Scrapping Old Photos

Since I'm an alumni of Library of Memories, I have joined an on-line group that receives a weekly challenge and has a gallery for us to post our layouts. So, when the challenge was to scrap a school related photo, it was a good time to go through some of the older photos and try to find a 'first day of school' photo. While I remember taking them most years, I couldn't find very many of them. This was the best of the lot. I think I'll add some journaling at the bottom right about how Sara loved having these photos taken and Eric hated it and only did it because I asked. Perhaps that's why there are so few.....he left early on the first day.

Backpack Love

I've had this photo of Sara on my scrapbook desk for a couple months. I must have taken it out for something and then not used it. In any case, when I printed out the photo of Eli, I had an inspiration. Two little girls, two backpacks. Mother/daughter. Definitely fodder for a layout.
These papers came in a kit from Cocoa Daisy sometime this summer. Yesterday I was doing some organizing in my craft room and found the kit. These papers were perfect for the photos. The rest went together rather easily. I love when that happens.

Tutu Cute

It's been quite a while since I've done any scrapbooking. The summer seems to be centered on the garden, not indoor activities.

But, I did a bit of straightening up in my craft room yesterday and found this sheet of Hambly paper and it seemed perfect for this photo of my grand-daughter, Eliana. The other supplies were part of a kit from Cocoa Daisy and were perfect with the photo.

Eli has a neighbor who is just crazy about her, and frequently stops by with little gifts. This particular weekend I was visiting when Gramma Linda delivered this swimsuit. We had to try it on her immediately to see if it fit. Eli was only too happy to show off in her tutu suit.

It's not hard to create layouts with such a cutie to be the main attraction. :)

Better later than Never

It was a vacation for both of us. Sara had just graduated from high school and I was recently divorced. It was 1993. WOW, that was 17 years ago. So why is this album just being finished? Good question.

That crazy photo on the top of the first page? I did that at a CM party in about 1994. It was the first I'd heard about scrapbooking. I was intrigued, but couldn't afford to even think about buying any supplies. Sara was in college and I was working three jobs, and she was working one to help pay for the wonderful school she was attending. So the page about the Hawaii vacation sat in amongst the photos, waiting for me to do something with it.

Life got seriously in the way during the next few years. Fast forward to 2000 and another CM party. I created another crazy page about a trip to Alaska. This time I had the time and money to get started with the basics. In no time at all I was hooked. Completely.

The photos of this trip languished in a box along with other poor quality photos while I scrapped tons of other ones that were more recent and much more fun to use. The thought of creating lots of pages with them was daunting. Then along came Stacy Julian and her fast photo two up album scrapbooking. Ah... a perfect solution to my quandry of what to do with these photos. Finding the negatives and developing another non-heart cropped photo of Sara and me was out of the question....so it was cut from the page and mounted like all the other photos. The circle photo of our first view of the ocean received the same treatment.

This album is not my finest work, but all the photos are in one place where they can be enjoyed and where the story has been told. DONE!

Something is eating my Canna

One morning last week this canna leaf with its trail of perfectly round holes greeted me as I started my watering rounds. I'd never seen anything like it. So, I jokingly sent the photo to my daughter with a note that said that one of Eric Carle's hungry caterpillars had been eating through my canna. For those of you who have never read the book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, you are missing a treat. It's a favorite with both my children and my grandchild....and me, as well.

The mystery of what was eating my canna remained until yesterday as I was browsing through an old gardening magazine when I read about the Canna Leaf Rollers. The Calpodes ethlius or Geshna cannalis leave "a line of holes along an open leaf, as if it were attacked by a hole puncher." Mystery solved. Now I just need to remember to remove all the foliage in the fall so the darn things don't overwinter and attack the canna again next year.