Scenics & Detail

We had gorgeous weather Saturday and first drove to Cooper's Rock State Forest near Morgantown.  There were many spectators on the overlook.  From there, we took the old road-Rt. 73- to Bruceton Mills.  We turned at Collins Road and parked when we saw a beautiful pond with cattails, daffodils, pines and a fallen tree.  We ended at Bruceton Mills where the fishermen were out on the Big Sandy River.

Journaling:  When I asked Bob if he'd taken a picture of the cattail, he replied, "No I'm still doing my scenics".  (He hadn't gotten to the detail shots)  What a great day to taken the back road!
April 2013

Finally Spring

The colorful spring blossoms on the trees and ground may only last a week, so we made a mission to get out and absorb the beauty.

Photos are from 1) Friendship Hill 2) Ritter Park in Huntington where the robins were feasting on worms after a flash flood! 3) WVU Campus.  The ornamental pear trees at WVU Hospitals, where I work, were simply gorgeous. . . but only bloomed for a week.  We made a point of going there on a Saturday so that I could get pictures to add to my internet menu.  Our menus are public, so you can check it (& the photos) at:http://www.hsc.wvu.edu/cafeterias/HSC-Healthy-Cafe

This page is modeled after Kelly Goree's  "Our Day" in Creating Keepsakes magazine.

When I walk through the parking lot in the afternoon when I get off work, I make sure I stay off my phone, look at the beautiful blossoms, and absorb the sunshine!

Friendship

This layout was inspired by Mollie Deem's "1940" in the new Creating Keepsakes Magazine. Thanks Mollie for the lovely design and a chance to use some of those beautiful Basic Grey scraps! My blogging friend Rita Barakat is also published in this month's magazine!

Yesterday Bob and I went to a nearby park to photograph wildflowers.  The park is called "Friendship Hill".  This page is dedicated to him, my best friend forever!

 

Boomin'

When Chris arrived at Daytona Beach for Spring Break 2013, he said "This place is boomin'!"

I loved the "selfies" he shared of him with Ashlee, Sarah  & Bryan!  

Happy Friday!

Vintage Love

After my visit on Sunday, Mom and Dad sat outside and took in some of the lovely spring weather.  Here she was telling me that they still like to hold hands.  Life for them at the age of 90 and 87 has its' share of hardships. This is the picture I want to hold in my heart. . . still very much in love after 67 years of marriage. 

To the lovely Basic Grey paper, I smudged some darker chalk ink over heart masks:

 I added a few tiny buttons to the pretty digital Webster's Pages mask:

 
Thank you for letting me share this with you. . . I'm very thankful for these two!





 

By Fools Like Me

The plaque in the WVU Core Arboretum reads "Only God Can Make a Tree".  The tile of my layout comes from the same Joyce Kilmer poem "Poems are made by fools like me, but only God can make a tree".

The pictures were taken in March when the daffodils were first starting to bud.  The beautiful in-town arboretum is mostly old-growth forest on a steep hillside.  There are walking trails and 3 acres of lawn planted with specimen trees.   It was a great place to take the boys to work on science projects.  (I recall gathering and identifying acorns. . . by looking at the plaques by the individual trees).  The site is named after Professor Earl Lemley Core who convinced the University President to set the property aside for the study of biology and botany. 

For the tree mask I used a die cut I'd purchased from a Local Scrapbook Store.  I thought the verdigris embossing powder was a perfect touch for the watermark stamps:

What a difference a few weeks make..........wait till you see my pictures of the campus blossoms!   

Buckeye Road

On the first pretty Spring-like day of the season, Bob took me out Route 7 west to Buckeye Road.  A few miles out on Dunkhard Creek was this pretty scene.  March 2013

For detail photos, Bob often kneels down, then holds his camera low and takes a picture using a wide angle;

The photos offer an interesting perspective we can't always see:

The zig-zag stitching on my sewing machine was giving me fits, so I tried a different stitch I really liked:

Now to finish house cleaning so we can get out to see our local trees blooming!  Enjoy your day! 

Find New Roads

Saturday is the one day a week Bob and I have off together.  After meeting Chris for lunch, we usually take a drive and find something scenic to photograph.  On the job, Bob ventures all over the county and surrounding areas.  He's good about taking me to see some of these neat places I've never been before.

This past Saturday Bob started out a road in Preston County where he'd once been to a neat bridge and swimming "hole".  The road was so beat up, we had to turn around.  It was narrow and steep.  When we managed to turn around. . . we heard what sounded like water falls.

Bob said "I'm going down".  I did not hear him say "stay there".  It was so worth the 150-200 ft. hike to see these beautiful falls.  

Bull Run Falls, 2013. . . just 15 miles from home!

I sponged some paint onto the paper where the alphas were placed so that they would be more visible.

 I added these colorful charms around the journaling border:

Celestial stamps, patterned paper strips and a transparency complemented the large photo block:

 I think Bob scored big time finding these falls.  We would never be able to make it down and up the steep hill with the summer foliage.

Special Egg

It was a rainy Easter when we visited Mom and Dad so we hid the eggs inside for 7 year old Cale.  Each egg had a coin inside.  Bob placed a special coin in one egg-an Australian coin his Mom Maxine brought back when she and Bob's brother David attended the Sydney Olympics.

Cale's birthday was Friday-he turned 8!  He is the youngest son of my sister Amy and her husband Scott.

April, 2013

Eastertide (& a Polymer Clay Tutorial)

It wasn't a bad winter here in West Virginia, yet Spring has been long coming.  Bob took this picture just last week.  

The poem is called "Eastertide" by Gladys Harp.  Here's an excerpt:
    "The resurrection of lost dreams,
     of flowers, leaves and grass;
     The end of strife, the dawn of peace,
     that now has come to pass."

The "E" in the title is a polymer clay tile.

To create these neat embellishments, I roll a piece of polymer clay through the "pasta" machine that's designed specifically for clay.  It rolls the clay evenly and smoothly.  These machines are available at Michaels. . . a great use of the 40% off coupons!

Stamp the clay.  I used a chalk ink.

Cut around the stamped image.

Bake according to package instructions.  Mine was baked in the toaster oven for 35 minutes at 275 degrees (after I cooked dinner!).  Varnish.

Here's another quick tutorial:   It's a really easy way to make your own embellishments.  The excess clay can be stored in ziploc bags.

Our weather is warming up.  Tomorrow I'm taking my winter coat to the cleaner.

Borough

We had so much fun exploring the little borough of West Middlesex, Pa. on Good Friday, 2013.

This is what we did as a couple 40 years ago when we first met.  We take a drive, stop and explore. . . and take pictures.  It brings back great memories when I study our files and scrapbook some of the best pictures.

 

I like the pendants that I found in the mixed media section of Michaels:

 

  I finished the project with a little texture paste.