Keepsakes

 I have historically attended the Great American Scrapbook Convention in Chantilly, Virginia.  Bob and I always made a vacation of the trip, visiting historical sites along the way.  This year GASC did not come to the area.  

The nearest scrapbook convention was the Creating Keepsakes one in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  It was a time Bob could not take off.  My local scrapbook friend and I planned the trip, and when she had to cancel.......I ventured out alone.  I met up the night before with a life long friend since first grade in nearby by Marietta.  That was special.

The highlight of the expo was meeting these 2 talented ladies again.  Jenni & Jared Bowlin are genuine and hard working.  They travel from their Nashville home and even bring collectible memorabilia to sell.  Carolee McMullin is a talented tole painter whose talents extend into the scrapbook and now fashion industry.  Her four daughters are the Adornit girls, whose fashions are so fun.  They do their own modeling and advertising.  I laughed when a senior scrapbook customer was loving one of their purses and said, "I didn't come here for this".  Carolee replied, "but you came here to have fun!"  The lady bought the purse!  Here I am in the fun top I got there.

Here's a picture of the Bowlins:

 and the spotlight logo:

 Lancaster is a neat city, with plenty of beautiful country nearby.  I made a few photo stops but mostly checked out places Bob and I could travel to together. 
 

Food for the Soul. . . Summer

Summer is my favorite season.  I love the sun, flowers, summer produce and showers to keep things green and growing.  Even when I'm at work, I'll eat my lunch and my morning orange on a picnic table outside.  I grew some sunflowers in a container this summer, but the one that's the prettiest grew from bird seed that fell from the winter feeders.  

The frame and sunflowers were from a digital kit.  I colored the flowers, printed on beige cardstock and cut around.

Any scrapbook friends going to Creating Keepsakes Lancaster, I will be there Friday morning.  Private message me if you'd like to meet!
 

Monument

Bob described the Easton Mill as a "monument" to mid-19th century construction techniques.  This was my favorite of his 2-day photo shoots at this historic Morgantown site.  He was waiting in his car for the curator to arrive and took the shot through the window on a rainy day. July 1013

I added my journaling to a digital tag, printed & cut it out and adhered to a muslin bag. . . my "flour" sack!

Some stamping and a few stickers:

Here's Bob and his published picture story.  And by the way, he has lots of assignments throughout his work day and any breaking news......his work is not usually a leisurely one.

 

Metamorphosis

James J. Hill,  a Canadian American Railroad Executive, built the Great Northern Railway.  The Hill mansion in St. Paul was home to the eleven family members and even more servants.  The electrical and mechanical systems were way ahead of their time.  There was a pipe organ, a museum, a classroom, a stage for the children's' plays and a hallway of sewing machines to make costumes.  The kitchen, laundry and furnace areas were remarkable.

I found my spot in the history of the Hill House. 

I was in charge of the meal service, planning 6 meals a day, first for the 14 servants, then for the 11 family members. 

   I planned the grocery list and detailed the expenses.

I planned the meal service for the family

and elegant affairs.

Bob was Axel, the man with the Smith & Wesson pistol, who kept the house and family secure.  Chris was James Hill's son, also named James, who'd take over the family business after his Dad was gone.  I could see Michelle behind the sewing machine or designing the elaborate heating system.  Greg was the system designer.

There was no haunting here, but a family who made the best of everything.

The paper overlays for my characters were part of a Metamorphosis game I found in the Fort Snelling store.  It was an 18th century English game of changing identity, complete with paper overlays and one generic portraits.

The costumes are not representative of the mansion periods, but I could picture the Hill children in these!
 

Reveille

The card is a sound card that plays the Marine wake up call (the Reveille).  For years, he woke us up blowing this tune (longer than he was in the Marines, I bet!)  Dad's 91st Birthday
July 9, 2013

I tried a little background Rachael Funnell stamping!

Not Stuck in Still Life

When the Dominion Post photographers got new cameras, they were told they'd have to shoot videos for the web site along with stills for print publication.  Not an easy task!

On July 4th, Bob's day off, he practiced his videography at the community events we attended and produced visual clips that were unique and striking. He had to tell his subjects to "keep moving" and when the subjects said "Hi Bob", that had to be bleeped out!

His July 4th video post with background music to "God Bless America" played by the community band can be found on dominionpost.com.

The old movie frames behind my still pictures are digital frames I printed on kraft paper before cutting and adhering.

No License Required

The sign at the Park's Fishing Pond read "Catch and Release-No License Required".  It was cooler at Chestnut Ridge Park on the 4th of July, so we spent some time there walking around the pretty pond and walking onto the woodsy path.  I heard several toads jump and even saw a furry creature go into a burrough.  We found lots of neat things to photograph, including each other.

The pretty floral tape is from Studio G and the digital tag is Echo Park:

I loved the pretty patterned paper in shades of green and fussy cut some to overlap my "jungle" picture of Bob:

The crowned heart is from Michaels.

Family First

My Mom and Dad live in the neighboring state of Maryland and I visit every few weeks.  Each visit, I try to bring a layout I can hang in a revolving display on top their TV.  This one has a picture from the last visit when my Dad's first cousin Bernice (they are both in their 90s) and her niece Gerry went with me. 

Journaling: "When I apologized to my distant cousin Gerry about her missing church to visit my parents, she replied, "Family First".  Mom and Dad both love to talk, especially with those who share memories."  2013

Mad Scientist

This is our oldest son Greg on the campus of University of Minnesota where he is a Fellow.

He calls himself the "Mad Scientist".  This year Greg presented at the International Conference of Software Engineers in California and he got a bonus for student reviews of the class he taught on campus.  Not too shabby for a boy from West Virginia.

It's satisfying when I am able to piece together borders, title strips, tape and small pieces of paper to get such a neat background.

 Happy Independence Day!

Perfect

Last week when Bob was on assignment at Tygart's Lake, he recalled a time some 40 years ago when we took carryout there and had a "picnic".  We were young college students with not much money, so those KFC Chicken and Slaw combos were treasures. . . as was our special time together.  No pictures, probably due to not having much money and the fact we carried cameras with black and white film we developed ourselves.

So we both spontaneously planned a similar adventure in present time.  This time I baked the chicken and he packed the side dishes.  We stopped at a local bakery and got a loaf of fresh baked bread and went to Morris Park in nearby Fairmont, West Virginia.  Everything was perfect:  the meal, the park, the pavilion, weather and certainly the company.  And this time I have pictures!

The penny on the layout is from 1973, the year we met:

The wooden mushroom embellishments are Recollections from Michaels:

Here's a closeup of our meal:

The mesclun mix and tomato are from my container garden.  The chicken is baked with Mrs. Dash seasoning.  The 7 Grain Bread is from New Day Bakery and was still warm!  I post meal pictures on the West Virginia Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Facebook page routinely.  Like the page if you'd like to see more.