LOAD218 – Days 3 & 4

Interesting, during the week, it's really easy to get my layouts done and make a corresponding blog post. On the weekends, there never seems to be a spare moment. This past weekend was no different. Between Sean's rugby, Sunny's baby shower and my dad's fractured hip, my weekend was jammed packed. Day 3 I'm not sure I even remember the prompts to share with you. But let's start with day 3, shall we? Pike's Peak in Colorado was my subject today. I think the prompt had something to do with … [Read more...]

LOAD517 – Day 5 – Hiking Yosemite

"Magic mirror on the wall! What would you like the mirror to tell you about yourself?"  I'd like the mirror to tell me that I  am a great hiker.  And, that I am a very athletic person... And that I can hike up to Vernal Fall Bridge. My mirror does not say that. Today, I used a map of the Yosemite Valley Shuttle System as the main patterned paper for my layout.  I love using maps in my layouts.  They tell so much about a story.  A map gives a layout information that maybe you wouldn't have … [Read more...]

LOAD517 – Day 4 – It’s my lucky day

I decided that I would scrap our October vacation, so today's prompt didn't really work for me.  "Tell a story about your childhood adventures in singing, dancing, acting, dress-up, or other ways you were the “center of attention”. Use tiny elements on your layout!"  Yeah, I'm not really in the mood to talk about my childhood...  Besides, I've got great stories I want to tell about the National Parks in California that we visited. I immediately thought about this Hambly overlay I had stashed … [Read more...]

LOAD517 – Day 3 – capturing stars

Today, we were given the best prompt, "All the words! Tell a big story with lots of words in the journaling OR tell the story of a sound or quote you often hear."  Woo hoo!  Journaling!  I love journaling!  I knew the perfect story.  Death Valley. When we first got to the park, it was dark.  There was no moon, just million of stars.  I knew that I wanted to try to capture the stars.  I took a picture of, well, nothing.  Of course I couldn't photograph those stars with my phone. Last year I … [Read more...]

LOAD517 – Day 2 – resist

Our prompt for day two of LOAD was, "no words! Embrace the silence of the silent films."  FYI, the whole point of scrapbooking is the words!  I mean really, it's virtually impossible for me not to have a word or two on my page.  But, when I thought about it, the perfect place to scrapbook without words is Manzanar.  I was looking for something ethereal, but broken.  I had a specialty piece of paper that is more fabric than paper.  I had a piece of scrap that looked like old wood.  I wanted … [Read more...]

Finding God at Iona Abbey

John and I are not particularly religious people, but we can appreciate religious artifacts, and lord knows we love a ruin. When we arrived on Iona, we were hungry for lunch, and knew that we really only had time to visit the Abbey. So, we walked through the Nunnery, and then had lunch... One the way to the Abbey was the first of many tall Celtic crosses. I was amazed at how beautiful it was. We stopped to take a picture. It really is amazing that this still stands, and is still so … [Read more...]

Flat Tire Adventure

Right after Sean fell into Loch Ness, we found the Waterfall Cafe and decided to have lunch.  Then, we decided to visit the falls right across the road, Foyers Falls.  At some point after lunch, it was pointed out to us that we had a flat tire.  Wow.  I had thought it looked low at the stop before, but I thought nothing of it. So, we called the service, and waited.  What a great place to have to wait.  They had all kinds of games to play, and the falls were beautiful.  The falls were down … [Read more...]

Underpants?!

It is amazing what kids cling to.  It really is.  There are days when I hear "butt" or you said "butt" or you said "bootie" for no less than 4 hours a day.  To say that my son is infatuated with the human body would be a understatement.  Based upon experiences with his friends, I believe this is absolutely normal 7 year old boy behaviour. So when we went to Edinburgh Castle, I played devils advocate.  I suggested to Sean that not only are the guards wearing skirts...  They are not wearing, … [Read more...]

Our Loch Ness Adventure

Sometimes there are stories that you are sure that you have told... And then you have realized that you have not. I knew I talked about this story on Facebook recently. It was all about how inappropriate I was this day. We had decided that this was a day to just look around Loch Ness, and see what it was about. We said, should we go left or right. From where we were, we chose left. Left as we soon found out was a slower road, with less traffic and fewer tourist traps. Great … [Read more...]

Climbing the Lions at Nelson’s Column

Picking stories to scrapbook from our trip has been tough. There are so many to choose from, and there are so many types.  There are big stories, like jumping from 11 meters, and little stories like this one...  This day was so busy.  We visited the Memorial to the London Fire in the morning.  Hopped on the off and off bus.  Visited the biggest bookstore in London.  Walked to the National Portrait Gallery (where the two paintings I wanted to see were NOT there).  Got back on the off and on bus … [Read more...]