Bob's Top 55 on his 55th Birthday

Last year I made a page for Bob's birthday with "54 Reasons I Love You." This year I asked him to name his top 5 in 11 categories. Here are a few of his top 55 picks:

Famous people I've met: Leslie Nielson
Mentors: Ron Rittenhouse
Assignments: Stories with good endings
Authors: Steven Hunter
Politicians: Robert C. Byrd
Things I'm proudest of: Greg and Chris(tied of course)
TV Shows: Miami Vice
Movies: Heat
Pictures: Church hostage situation in St. Albans
Places I've been: Home--our retreat in the woods
Colleagues: Jason DeProspero

Looking at pages

It was such a pleasure for me to see my Dad sharing my scrapbook pages with my Uncle John at his 80th birthday party. My Mom pulled out a few pages from her book to bring to add to the occasion. That gives me even more reason to scrapbook and share family memories. I'm going to get Mom a ring binder to make it easier to pull out pages.

There is no time like the old

My Uncle John turned 80 years old this weekend. He is my Mother's younger brother. This past summer, my Mom and I visited with him and cousins to look at scrapbooks and photographs left by still another cousin who passed away this year. They shared many good memories. Here is one of the pages I made for them on this occasion. (Background photo 1933).

Then

I can't write a love song like the one by Brad Paisley, so I'll use his lyrics on this page about Bob (then) on our wedding day in 1976 and in 2009 on our 33rd wedding anniversary.

I borrowed Bob's camera to take this picture as he had a longer lens and I wanted that shallow depth of field. The late afternoon light as we walked the C & O Canal was gorgeous and seemed to match the copper color of the bridge in the background.

Digital frame: 2 Peas in a Bucket, Sande Krieger.

One Last Taste of Summer

I love working in the yard but really didn't do enough of that this year. So on this gorgeous September Sunday, I feasted my lens on the butterflies while they feasted on the flowers maybe one last time before heading south for the winter.

2009

Scrapbooking note: I love the combination of the Bo Bunny paper with the blue die cut Colorbox paper, but the swirls on the patterned paper were too big and would have been hidden by my picture. So I scanned the paper and sized it to make this digital image. Digital borders by Jen Allyson, 2 Peas in a Bucket.

Cindy & Bob self portrait in Fort barricks

Bob loved how the graphic elements blended together to create a nice couple portrait in this beautiful Fort Frederick museum.

Exploring the Frontier. . . Fort Frederick

It has become a tradition to travel to Hancock, Md. every labor day weekend around our wedding anniversary. While we want to devote most of our time concentrating on each other, we wanted to see something new. Fort Frederick is in Washington County, just 10 miles from our hotel. It was the nicest fort I'd ever been to . . . important in 3 early American wars.

In this photo I wanted to show the use of the Tim Holz "borderline" mask. Think they go well with the "fort" theme. I'm thinking about using them for a "Halloween" theme...the barbed wire mask might work too.

In the Spirit of the Day

"It was late afternoon on our 33rd wedding anniversary. As we sat on a bench by the C&O Canal, I contemplated the photo I wanted. Not the typical up close smiling wide angle, but rather a far away glimpse of a passionate embrace. Bob was game. . . and the shot was just what I had in mind."

This digital image was created using a free sampler pak "Barely There" designed by Michelle Shelveland and available for download on her Cottage Arts website.

Not So Perfect

I probably didn't spend enough time in my garden this summer, but I did take the time to photograph the beautiful swallowtail on the butterfly bush. The tail was missing a piece but was beautiful just the same. "None of us are perfect, but beautiful in the eyes of those who love us."

Scrapbook note: For the butterfly embellishments, I cut the butterfly out of other frames I took, creased them slightly and painted the photo with varnish.

Digital frames are from Cottage Arts and 2 Peas in a Bucket (Jen Allyson).

J. Henry Fiers

This heritage page features my Grandmother Marie with her parents and siblings. I thought Grandma looked like an angel, and made her Dad very happy putting her arm on his shoulder.

Journaling: "Henry Fier proudly poses with his family in the early 20th century. His petite wife Anna sits beside him. Left to right: John, Christopher, Marie, Adam, Henry, Henry, Anna, James, Carrie & Annie. C. 1914."

Congratulations Helen & Phil

My friend Helen married her childhood friend Phil on September 5, 2009--Bob & my 33rd wedding anniversary. Helen is a dietitian and scrapbook enthusiast. Wish I could have seen the beautiful wedding in St. Louis. Here is the one layout I created for her fabric album wedding present.

Foam & Digital Stamps

Donna Downey teaches classes on-line (for a price) on "how-to" create a fabric album. It seemed like there was a lot of painting. Here is a close-up of some stamps using acrylic paints as well as digital stamps.

Canvas Album Digital Detail & Sewing

I read on Donna Downey's website that you don't need to sew to create a fabric album, but I did add some sewing and digital imagery to this page.