Two Lanes of Freedom

During our annual February vacation, we chose 2 of the best weather days to travel to nearby Virginia.  On Wednesday, we traveled Skyline Drive, which rides the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains for 105 miles through Shenandoah National Park.  On the winding path along the mountain tops, there are 75 overlooks with spectacular views of the surrounding valley.  The speed limit is 35 mph due to curves and wildlife.  We had the road to ourselves most of the trip!

The title of my layout is the lead song from Tim McGraw's new album
"Two Lanes of Freedom".
"No red lights or stop signs for miles, 
Just swaying trees, and that smile.
God's smiling down from that sky blue ceiling.  
He made these old country roads for driving and dreaming.
Mine's coming true here with you on two lanes of freedom."

"Two hearts.  Where you wanna go?"

View and Giveaway Winner

When we arrived at the motel in Strasburg, Virginia, it poured down the rain.  We settled in and rested.  When the sun came out, the air was clear.  It was a perfect time for us to walk up the 6 story lookout and enjoy the view of the Blue Ridge Mountains and valley.  One of the battles of the Civil War, Hupp's Hill, was fought here.

February 2013

Thank you to all who comment and support my creative efforts.   The winner of my giveaway is Tamika.  Her blog is "This is Me!".  Tamika makes layouts of family and friends and makes beautiful cards!  I hope Tamika gets something she's been wanting!

Have a great week!

Breathtaking, Purposeful Clutter & A Giveaway!

Our trip across Skyline Drive, on the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains, was awesome.  Bob says I'll have to do a double truck (a 2-page layout), as we got so many great pictures.

The crocheted corner is from a store on Virginia's Rt. 11. . . the store used to be a Stagecoach House and advertised their goods as "purposeful clutter".  Here is Chris' old M & M machine. . . that I've now given a purpose to store my buttons:

 Bob took off the saxophone and added some buttons:

 Isn't it awesome?

Finally, our annual February vacation is almost over and I will giveaway a $25 Scrapbook.com gift certificate to a follower on Sunday.  Please leave a comment below and on any other posts I may make.  I've had 199 followers for several months and just a few days ago broke 200!  If you post my giveaway or blog on yours, I'll give you another chance to win (just let me know in your comment).  Thanks for the continual support!

Real Life in Pictures & a Giveaway!

For my Mom's birthday last August, I filled a scrapbook storage box with pictures, papers & embellishments in hopes she would make some pages.  She is so creative and full of stories.  Her age slows her down.  

Mom tells me she ready to scrap.  She wants to talk about the hardships in old age and about people she knew.  I wish she'd stick with the later.  I know my elder parents have lots of challenges, but they do the best they can and I don't want them to hurt in any way.

This is the picture I took I few weeks ago.  My Dad is telling me about the their health issues.  He has his right hand on her leg and is talking about her arthritis.  Note her cane in the foreground.  Dad will be 91 this year;  Mom will be 88.  

The 5 words I used to describe them in my journaling are:  Olden, Couplet, Faithful, Nurturing and Mindful.  They are all those things.  They still like to take care of their kids, they are so devoted to each other and they are aware of everything that goes on.  I love them with all my heart.

 I modeled my pleated paper after a page by MajaDesign.

Finally, we are taking our annual February vacation and I will giveaway a $25 Scrapbook.com gift certificate to a follower next Sunday.  Please leave a comment below and on any posts I make this week.  I've had 199 followers for several months and just yesterday broke 200!  If you post my giveaway or blog on yours, I'll give you another chance to win (just let me know in your comment).  Thanks for the continual support!

Remember 1987 & Winter Giveaway

As Greg's birthday approaches, I look back to 1987 when he was a baby:

We were married 11 years before we had a child.  I thought we knew everything.  Turned out I was quite the novice.  I remember calling my Mom to ask her if all babies cried.  I recall wondering if I'd ever sleep again.

I also remember the warmth of the early spring sun on my back and baby in arms when we walked down the hill to get the mail.  I remember the smiles on the grandparents' faces when they held them for the first time.

I remember how I couldn't wait to see my baby at the end of a work day (much like the thrill of seeing them today after many days apart) .  I remember how my love for Bob grew when we became a family.  I remember the amazement that we made these babies. 

I modeled the typography for the journaling after this Valentine I gave to Bob!

Finally, we are taking our annual February vacation and I will giveaway a $25 Scrapbook.com gift certificate to a follower next Sunday.  Please leave a comment below and on any posts I make this week.  I've had 199 followers for several months and would like to break 200.  If you post my giveaway or blog on yours, I'll give you another chance to win (just let me know in your comment).  Thanks for the continual support!

 

Dear Little Baby

Our oldest son Greg will be 26 years old next week.  This is a page of him at 5 months old.  The song is a lullaby I sang to him:

"I've a dear little baby he has eyes of bright blue
He can open and shut them and he smiles at me too.
In the morning I dress him and we go out to play
But I love best to rock him at the close of the day!"

Happy Valentine's Day!

Eden Church Rd.

We had a blue sky and much of the snow melted on Saturday, so we picked up our cameras and ventured close to town on the muddy "Eden Church Road".

Eden Church was built in 1840 but it was the school and "Cook House" that got my attention.  Eden School closed c1970 and the students moved to Easton School.

The school exterior made great backgrounds for portraits.

Rising to the Occasion

The poem is from "My Book of Funny Valentines" I read to Greg and baby Chris in 1993.  It goes like this:

A Skyscraper Rises to the Occasion
I gaze upon you,
floor by floor,
and thank my stars 
that you're next door.

At dawn each day
we rise and climb.
Let's stand here
for the rest of time.

I keep the book in my box of Valentine decorations and knew this one would be something fun to work with.

Bob went right along with me when we posed for pictures to go with my layout!

I thank my lucky stars for that!
 

Love Lines (Hybrid tutorial)

My layout marking Chris' first 18 years of life is published in this month's Scrapbooking.com.  I loved when the editor wrote "A lot of love went into this layout".

To mark Chris' birthday, I gathered pictures of him from each of his first 18 years. Since I've always kept photo albums, this was a time-consuming but enjoyable process. I was going to name this page "Line Up," but knowing that Chris has made so many friends in his life and his birthday is close to Valentine's Day, I decided to name it "Love Lines" instead.

I started twice to make this as a digital layout, but just didn't like it. So 80 square knots, 76 pop dots and 12 eyelets later, I finished this hybrid layout! The journaling reads:

"Each year of your life you've made friends who love you and the love lines surrounding you are many. No one will ever love you more than your Mom and Dad."  

Step !:  I made the black top and bottom borders with a digital cutter mask, copying and pasting the row evenly along the top and bottom of a 12 X 12 inch canvas. I printed two of these on white cardstock for the left and right pages.

Step 2:  I planned the placement of each picture, sized and printed on paper to which I added a black fill. I cut each picture slightly bigger to add the black "frame." 

Step 3: Once the position of each photo was planned, I machine sewed a wide zigzag stitch in red thread from the black border square to the spot the where picture would be placed. As in sewing, I pulled the thread on each end of the row of stitches to the underside and tied the threads in a knot. 

Step 4: To give the layout dimension, I used pop dots to adhere the pictures.

Step 5:  After adding the alphas, tabs and plates, heart stickers and journaling, I dabbed a bit of black paint onto the background. 

Chris will be 20 tomorrow.  Tonight I'm picking him up to shopping for a dress shirt he'll wear to the party his friends are giving!

 

Always

Last night when Chris called he asked for me when Bob answered the phone.  Our oldest son Greg used to do that too.  Bob told me later if we'd had a daughter, they would have asked to speak to their Dad. Funny how that is.

I've heard it said that a child always needs their Mom.  I'm certain I've always needed my Mom and Dad.  Even more, as our children grown older (Chris will be 20 this Friday), I know we've always needed them.  I think it's time to call my Mom.........

I was inspired by Connie Mercer at Crafty Goodies to use the Jenni Bowlin "Salvage" paper.

 

Social Climber

Both our boys were born in February and I'll be scrapping some old pictures of them to celebrate their birthdays.  Here's Chris in 1993, smiling and happy to pose for me and camera.  Today-almost 20-he still has that outgoing personality.  My Mom says he could be President.

The frame and journaling block are from a digital set by Carina Gardner.  After I cut it out, I pleated the rays to add fun and dimension:

The clothes and pins were shared via snail mail by a fellow scrapper.

If you ever see any embellishments on my pages you'd like, I'd be glad to share . . .