Pioneer Park

Pioneer Park, in Fairbanks, AK, is a municipal park that is frequented by locals and tourists alike.  The locals take their kids on a nice sunny day and enjoy the playgrounds with their children.  The tourists enjoy visiting the old log homesteads that have been moved to the park and offer a glimpse of life in the far north during the very early 1900's.  There's a great air museum that Dick and I always enjoy.

The day these pictures were taken turned out to be a rare warm sunny day for the summer.  When we arrived in Fairbanks a couple of days earlier, it was cold and raining.  We were delighted when the sun greeted us on this day!  I am calling home to let everyone know we arrived safely in the photo below.

Below is the sketch I used for this DT project for  Sketches: Creatively Yours .  It's sketch 04-11, all I did was flip it from left to right.   There are other examples of this great sketch on the S:CY blog and I hope you'll visit, try the sketch and link it so we can see your work!

Patterned paper: BasicGrey Curio Camelia, Upholstery,
Letter stickers: Curio collection
Stickers: Curio Collection
Flowers: pink flower is layered stickers from Curio, white flower is cut out from the Camelia pp and layered
Ink: ColorBox black, distress black soot
Other: beige lace from Lace Heaven, velvet pleated ribbon Recollections

Home; Wilderness

These pictures sure brought back some memories as these are pictures of the first house that
Dick and I bought in the Washington DC metro area.  We got married while living there and it was from this house that we moved to Alaska.  We remodeled our first kitchen in this house and went on to remodel 2 more kitchens in other houses that we have owned.    Dick is quite the handyman and there's nothing he can't do, well, except cook. 

Journal:  February 1992


Dick and I spent a lot of time searching for our first home. He wanted a nice garage, I wanted a nice kitchen. “They” wanted a lot of money! We were making our home in the Washington DC area where real estate was just so expensive. After much searching, we found this home that met our needs and our budget.

Dick signed all the necessary paperwork at closing for me as I gave him a power of attorney. I was in Florida packing and finalizing everything with my office. I was changing jobs but not employer.

We were moving from Florida, me from Pompano Beach and Dick from Palm Bay. After a very long drive, I got to our new home first and discovered a really sweet note from Dick welcoming me home. Next to the note were two new champagne glasses. I looked in the refrigerator and there was champagne for us to celebrate our love, our new house, and our new life.

I ordered a pizza for delivery and Dick arrived around the same time as the pizza. By this time it was probably 9 pm and there was no way we were going to start unpacking. So we sat on the floor in the dining room, ate our pizza and toasted our new beginning.

We still have the champagne glasses and they are very special to us. In fact, I got them out last year when we celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary.

I used bits and pieces of left over Swirlydoos kits for this layout and a few things from my stash.

Cardstock: Cricut Greens and Black
Patterned paper: Webster’s pages - Life’s Potrait and Hollywood (vellum over pp), Prima matting, 7 Gypsies burgundy piece, MME small brown patterned strips
Letter stickers: Pink Paislee Expressions Licorice
Chipboard: Dusty Attic corner scrolls #2 DA0464, vintage key DA0392, vine DA0459
Flowers: Prima large flowers, small unknown
Ink: Distress black soot, Glimmer Glam Tinsel Town, Bronze UTEE, Glimmer Mist Tattered Rose, Distress stain vintage photo

Chipboard scrolls were first covered with bronze UTEE but I left areas uncovered. Then stained with Distress vintage photo and then coated with Glimmer Glam Tinsel Town. Key is coated with bronze UTEE
*****************************************************************************

Here's a layout that I did for the Words and Perspectives at the Just Perspective blog.  This is a picture I took on our honeymoon in Alaska in Denali National Park.  It was already fall there and in fact it snowed a couple days after we left and they had to bring people camped in the park out in a convoy led by snow plows.  It was a freak storm that dumped 2' of snow at the park and caught everyone by surprise.

Journal:    I love the wilderness of Alaska, it feeds my imagination and its vistas are a feast for my eyes. I love to drive the few roads that pass through this scenic wonder, for who knows what I may see? In the spring, I keep a watchful eye for a moose with her newborn calf or perhaps a goose or duck shepherding her flock across the road. If she is frightened, she will shoo her flock into the brush and she will feint injury by dragging her wing, hoping to divert my attention from her babies. In the fall, I keep watch for the majestic Bull Moose with the velvet rubbed from his antlers; he is searching for a mate.


I have seen the beautiful trumpeter swan with her mate and cygnets gently floating in a pristine lake with water as clear as glass. Once I sat for hours and watched two beavers hard at work engineering a dam so that they would have a pond where they could build a lodge and store their winter food supply. I have seen bear cubs playing with each other as only children do. Their mother was watching from a nearby post and when she called them with a quiet woof, they responded immediately. Ah, but then, there was the time I saw Mama bear smack her cub “upside the head” because he was being a bit too rambunctious! I guess kids will be kids, no matter the species.

There are places I go in the wilderness that were once covered by glaciers, and even today, receding glaciers are visible in the distance. I wonder what it was like in the glacial age, how did any living creature survive the constant cold? I wonder what lies under the glacier and as the glacier continues to recede, what secrets will unfold for scientists to study.
More than anything, the wilderness is God’s country. It is there that I see and feel the wonder of our earth and experience the simple pleasures of observing so many creatures quietly going about the business of living in the wild. My eyes feast upon the wide-open vistas and the dark forests, the glacial valleys, the snow covered peaks, all this natural beauty that surrounds me and my heart just sings.
***

You can probably tell that I really love Alaska, if there is anywhere else like it on the earth, I haven't been there yet but I'd like to go!
Supplies:

BasicGrey Curio Collection

• Linen – base pp
• Textile – solid yellow
• Ophelia – yellow print
• Victoria – Orange square
• Chiffonier – small print circle
• Diecut stickers & letters

Core’dinations green cardstock
Tattered Angels
• Glimer Chips Tattered Traveler – compass
• Bingo Card Travel

Prima metal flower mix #4
Prima e. black pearls and crystals
Distress ink – wild honey and black soot

Thanks for visiting!  I really appreciate the comments that you leave!

Time Passes

Here's the newest sketch at  Sketches: Creatively Yours and I used it to do this layout for the DT.  There are some great interpretations of this sketch, hope you'll check it out!

 I used the gorgeous Bo Bunny Gabrielle papers and the clock and leafy vine are Dusty Attic. The vine is painted with acrylic paints and then glazed with Diamond Glaze.  The circle part of the clock is inked with Distress brushed corduroy.  The outer swirls are painted with gold Perfect Pearls.  The pink flowers are some that I made and the other 3 are Prima.  I also used a new Prima mask on the inner square.  TFL!!

Supplies:
Patterned paper: Bo Bunny Gabrielle collection -Base paper - Stripe
Fairest, Unwritten, cutouts for journal card and picture frame
Letter stickers: Thickers – Salutations fabric
Chipboard: Dusty AtticVines DA 0486; Vintage Clock DA0261
Flowers: Prima The Roosevelt Collection Deland
Ribbons/Lace: Lace Heaven stretch lace
Ink: Distress Brushed Corduroy,black soot, Victorian velvet; ColorBox Chestnut Roan
Glimmer mist – Crème de Rouge
Other: Clock painted with Perfect Pearls perfect gold and inked with Brushed Corduroy
Unknown: Acrylic paints to paint chipboard, leaves covered with Diamond Glaze

Being 40

My RR entry for the Swirly Divas at Swirlydoos is a scraplift of Denise who scraplifted Rae.  This page goes along with the other page I did of my 40th birthday.  In so many ways, it seems that was just yesterday but in realtiy it was nearly 20 yrs ago.  WOW.  Dick's daughter just had her 40th birthday, that kind of puts it in perspective!  Again, I used the Prima Moulin Rouge pps for this, I made the purple flowers.  The spray is from Prima.  TFL!!

Family - Get Picky Sketch #7 Challenge

I did this LO for the sketch challenge at Get Picky using my April Swirlydoos kit.  It's a great sketch and easy to work with!  Check it out here.

The April Swirlydoos kit was full of the Bo Bunny Gabrielle line of papers and they are so perfect for vintage LOs.   Loved doing this page as I love the pictures, the girls all look so pretty.  Its kind of fun to see everyone so dressed up and just knowing that this is how they always looked for the most part! 

I was out in my yard today and saw that the camelias were blooming so I thought I'd try to replicate them.  This is my first attempt, I think I can do better !  I need a different center - I feel a major shopping trip coming on!

I so love Dusty Attic chipboard.  Those aqua swirly leaves are Dusty Attic that I have painted with acrylic paints and then with Diamond Glaze. 



Supplies:
Cardstock: Bazzill Birchtone Dark; Bazzill coral medium

Patterned paper: Bo Bunny Gabrielle Collection Promenade, Romance; Crafter’s Workshop Enchanted Compliments Moonlight Aqua
Letter stickers: Thickers Salutation
Chipboard: Dusty Attic DA0506 Foliage
Flowers: handmade from CS
Ink: Colorbox chestnut roan
Other: MM aqua oval pearls; Bo Bunny Gabrielle Trinkets; Prima Lace; pearlescent water color paint, acrylic paints, Diamond Glaze on chopboard
Unknown: Swirlydoos acrylic spray & pink flowers

Thanks for stopping by!

Escape Kitty and Chena - the continuing saga...

When last we saw Kitty and Chena they were literally nose to nose with Mr Moose and in the snow.  See this great page that my friend Jennifer, Jrabs, did. (You really should visit her gallery, she is incredibly talented!!) But now the snows have melted and the girls have made it to Alaska!!!  Chena peemailed this photo recently and I just had to scrap it.  Don't they look soo  cute?!!  I think Chena must have stopped somewhere and had her hair done 'cause look at that cute little bow in her hair.  Wonder if Kitty put it there for her?

I made all the flowers using the Tattered Floral Alterations die and a tiny daisy die for the centers.  The paper is a mix of Bo Bunny Gabrielle and Websters Life Story.  I did this layout for a challenge at Swirlydoos to use unusual papers and mine are the travel journal which is embossed and inked aluminum foil and next to it, the brown with lace is dampened paper towels embossed and then dried.  Thanks to my friend Colleen for that idea.  It was a fun challenge!!

When I turned 40....

Ah, here I am, a very youthful 40, divorced, very much in love with my current husband.  Life couldn't have been much better than it was on my 40th birthday and I'm happy to say that it still is wonderful.  Oh, I have a few more aches and pains but still life is good!

I really worked the Dusty Attic chipboard on this layout.  We are having a chipboard contest at Swirlydoos.  I may enter this one, I just haven't decided yet!!  The frame chipboard is painted black and then painted over with silver translucent glass paint and then a thick coat of Crackle Accents.  Then the swirls on the frame are heat-embossed with marcasite embossing powder.  The swirls on either side of the frame are really neat, they are two piece.  The bottom layer has  been painted with Shimmerz pearl grammie berry .  Then the top layer has also been heat embossed with marcasite powder.  I guess I was in a blingy mood as I also added alot of burgundy stickles and bisque liquid pearls as well as lots of rhinestones.  I made the light pink flowers and actually made my own mist for the first time by using 2 colors of alcohol ink mixed with water and some perfect pearls.  I think it turned out rather well for the first time!  The papers are from Prima's Moulin Rouge line - I have found them hard to work with but I am pleased with this result.

Dusty Attic shout out!!

I was so honored that I won the sketch challenge at Dusty Attic with this LO, that I wanted to show you the wonderful prize package I got in the mail the other day from Dusty Attic.

Just look at all that awesome chipboard and that frame in the back!!  Dusty Attic has the best chipboard, it is laser cut and has the most perfect details!!  Thank you Dusty Attic!!



Style - March Swirlydoos RR entry

Yikes, time has been flying!  I didn't do many LOs in March but the few that I did do were for various things and couldn't be shown at the time I completed them.  Anyway, I did this one of Mom and Dad sometime in March.  I love the photo though it was badly damaged.  I repaired it as best I could in PSE and it looks ok.  I think it is what is called a "walking" photo which was a popular photo style back then.   I know this only because my Swirly sister Joyce had a wonder ful walking picture and educated us about them.  I have to remembe to ask Mom and Dad where this picture was taken.  I wonder if it was in Europe as that's where many walking pictures were taken.

So I used the new Prima Moulin Rouge collection for this and I love how it turned out.  Must say that I've had a hard time with those papers - just hasn't worked to well for me, but I do love this.   Because this is a scraplift of the person in front of me in the Round Robin, I got out the sewing machine and did the stitching.  I so don't like to sew!!  However, I do think its a very effective look on a layout and I really should do it more often!!

Reality - Just Perspective

I have another layout posted at the Just Perspective blog.  I did this LO a month ago and have been impatiently waiting to share it with everyone because I just love it so much.  Perhaps its the colors or the subject or the photos...I dont' know.  I just really love this layout, its one of my favorites!  I used 7 Gypsies papers for this and have to laugh that when some of us at Swirlydoos were previewing this new CHA release, we commented that we weren't so sure about this paper, I have to say now that I love it!!

Unfortunately the journal that is posted at Just Perspective is not the journal that goes with the layout.  Bummer, I posted the correct journal in the comments section, hopefully Sue will see that and fix it.

The journal says, "Dick and I are dreamers; we spend so much time letting our imaginations wander the globe pursuing new adventures. Our dreams drive our marriage, and together as a team, we make our dreams reality. We fell in love with Alaska on our honeymoon in September of 1992, and after we came home, we spent many Friday evenings sitting on the deck dreaming of living in the far northwest. On February 13, 1995, Dick began the long drive to Alaska to begin a job at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. I stayed behind to sell our house in Virginia and joined him in May. The logistics of moving from Virginia to Alaska would be overwhelming for some people, but not us, our love of adventure and our quest to fulfill our dream provided the impetus to work through all the problems inherent in a task of that magnitude.

Over the 18 years that we have been married, we have traveled all over the United States and Canada, remodeled parts of three houses and built another. We have moved to Alaska, Colorado, and North Carolina. Soon we will both retire and that is yet another dream fulfilled. However, retiring spawns more dreams; there are more roads to travel, and more realities to find. "

Supplies:

7 Gypsies

• Abundance – base pp
• Life is Good – red w/words
• Metal heart – Dangles
• Round metal photo turn
BasicGrey Max and Whiskers letters
G45 – Domestic Goddess Happy Homemaker red print circle
Flowers made with Alterations Tattered Flowers diecut, used Life is Good pp
G45 – Curtain Call for black print leaves
Recollections black lace
Tim Holtz Visual Artistry Collection “live the life you’ve imagined” and “Umbrella Man” stamps
AMM Wisdom Stickers Dream
Unknown – feathers, small wine roses, black netting
Distress ink – black soot, fired brick, antique linen
Tim Holtz Salvage stickers – tickets
Tattered Angels Bingo Card – Outdoors

Thanks for stopping by!  I appreciate the comments you leave!

Mother & Daughter

It's reveal day at Sketches: Creatively Yours and it was so fun to see my layout as I did this layout several weeks ago and had just about forgotten what it looked like!  I hope you'll take a minute and check out what the rest of the DT did with Ali's great sketch!  AND I hope you'll use the sketch and post a link at Sketches: Creatively Yours as Ali is going to have a ribbon PAK for some lucky person!!   Go check it out!!

I did this LO using some of my favorite G45 papers from the Domestic Goddess, Fashionista, Playtimes Past, and Le Cirque collections. These colors are so bold and rich!  Oh and that beautiful chipboard dress form is from Dusty Attic, isn't it awesome?  I don't usually roll my Mom's hair but her hairdresser was gone for some reason so she asked me to do it.  Yikes, I really don't do hair but I managed to get the job done.  Dick snapped this photo when we weren't looking, he's sneaky like that.



Rainbow

I hope you will check out this blog, Just Perspective, where my layout, Rainbow, is being featured today.  Throughout April, Sue is featuring layouts hoping to  "inspire visitors through a journey of scrapbooking art, words and perspectives. It brings together the voices of scrapbookers from all walks of life, and from all over the world."

There's a lot of symbolism in this LO, the gates are painted with Perfect Pearls and that angel I've had forever, it came from my good friend Pam and was just perfect for this LO.  The journal says: 

"Sometimes when I look at a rainbow, I dwell on one very important facet of my life and that is my love of animals and the dogs that have given me their unconditional love. I think of the Rainbow Bridge and believe with all my heart that it must exist. For, what is a rainbow, but a symbol of hopes and dreams living in your heart?

How could there be a heaven without animals? I can only imagine what a joyous occasion it will be when my fur-friends and I are reunited. I can see my sweet Chili, healed from the autoimmune diseases that took her from me much too early in her life. I can feel Brandy’s soft fur and I know she will very gently hold my hand in her mouth, because that’s what Labs do. Tiffany, my Yorkie, will be spinning in frantic, but happy, circles as she did so many times when she was excited. Jezebel, my Rhodesian Ridgeback, will lie down beside me and allow me to use her hip as a pillow for my head.
Rainbows make me smile, for they remind me of the many fur-friends that have enriched my life. Each was a beloved member of my family and each will always owns a special place in my heart."

I know that all of you with fur-friends can relate to this LO.  You know, it's not my favorite LO, but it is one that is filled with love.  Chili has been on my mind alot lately as next week will be the first anniversary of her death.  I do miss her, but it was her time, I could not keep her anymore as she was too sick so I did what I had to do.  Tough, but it is the last gift we give our fur friends.

The Saga Continues! Chena and Escape Kitty

My good friend Jennifer, (Jrabs), has a beautiful cat, Escape Kitty, who was longing to escape the confines of her home!  Well she and Chena cooked up this scheme to steal the motorhome and make their way to Alaska and those two rogues are now on the road!!  They are BFF's now but Jennifer says Chena will get tired of Kitty's complaining about the snow and cold 'cause Kitty doesn't like to have cold feets!!  Well so far no problems.  Chena pee-mailed this photo to me, aren't they sweet snuggled up together?

Check out the (mis)adventures of Chena and Escape Kitty here at Jennifer's gallery.  Jen has done a series of LOs on Kitty's adventures and you can find out why Kitty wanted to escape in the first place!

This month Escape Kitty is hosting a challenge at Scrapbook.com to scrap your friends and family.  Come join in the fun, here at Scrapbook.com.  This is my entry, Chena and her new BFF, Escape Kitty.

I did this LO using the gorgeous April kit from Swirlydoos that features Bo Bunny's Gabrielle collection.  It is really pretty!   The burlap, lace, mosaic tiles, letters and "Together..." tag are from my stash, the rest is from the kit.  I made the flowers with cardstock that was in the kit (sprayed with glimmer mist from my stash) and the leaves are some that LisaG has posted for us to use at SD's,  thanks Lisa!

Supplies:

Cardstock: Bazzill white for flowers

Patterned paper: back piece Gabrielle dot; circle & fussy cut piece Unwritten
Letter stickers: Sticko Nostalgiques
Stickers: Karen Foster Adventure Awaits “Together is the…”
Flowers: Handmade using Alterations Tattered florals die, white CS sprayed withCreme de Rouge Glimmer Mist; Vines from Swirlydoos
Ink: Distress Victorian Velvet, Faded Jeans, Tumbled Glass, Pumice Stone, Cats Eye Chestnut Roan
Other: Liquid Pearls Bisque; Lace Heaven brown lace; Gabrielle metal butterfly trinkets;
Unknown: Mosaic tiles from Michaels, rhinestones; burlap

Sketches: Creatively Yours - Frost Heaves

Happy April's Fools Day!  Ah, there's nothing foolish going on in my world today, but there are several exciting things to see!  Sketches:  Creatively Yours  is back online with a new design team after a 6 month hiatus.  Be sure to check out the sketch and maybe try your hand at it!   All of the DT's sketch interpretations are posted and they are great!  Below is my take on the sketch.

Journal:   Frost heaves, they are a part of traveling in Alaska and can do some awful damage to your vehicle if you're not paying attention!  When we drove to Alaska in 1995, we encountered a lot of road construction along the way. At times, we would have to wait for 30 minutes or more for the “Follow Me” truck to lead us through the maze of construction equipment. There were a couple of construction zones where we were driving on roadbed consisting of baseball size rocks. Mom and Dad also came through this kind of construction when they visited us in 1996; they cracked the windshield, headlights and incurred much paint chipping from the flying gravel on their just about new Honda Accord. For this trip, we decided we would be prepared, both having been scouts and all that! Dick built a substantial shield to protect our Jeep from the flying rocks. We encountered almost no road construction the entire trip and what little we did encounter consisted of nicely graded gravel roadbed that was actually better than the paved roads. But, oh my, let me tell you about frost heaves.

Frost heaves occur when a road is built over permafrost, which is permanently frozen ground. When the surface is paved, it causes the earth beneath the roadbed to heat up, thus melting the permafrost and turning into a Jell-O like consistency. The melting causes the road bed to “heave” creating a highway that is much like a roller coaster with dips that can be as much as a foot. It heaves from side to side as well as front to back. Imagine cruising along at 55 mph and hitting this, you will be AIRBORNE! We just heard about several people who broke their tow bars between their motorhomes and tow vehicle because they were unaware of the seriousness of frost heaves. We thought the frost heaves were much worse on this trip than before and that is because the road is older now. Frost heaves are a way of life up here and engineers are still trying to devise a road construction method that will preserve the permafrost. We drove over several different experimental sections of highway illustrating the engineers’ dedication to this problem.

Supplies:

BasicGrey Curio Collection:

Base pp –Heirloom
Yellow – Textile
Print – Upholstery
Letters, diecut green print trim strip
Arrow – Paper Studio
Distress black soot ink
Bazzill – Orange CS mats
Ribbon – Cosmo Cricket “the Boyfriend”
Buttons,- unknown
Martha Stewart punch around the page punch

And another exciting thing today is the debut of the Words and Perspective series at the Just Perspective blogspot.  Check out my post below for more information.

Words and Perspective

I love journaling, I love telling the story! I was thrilled to receive an email inviting me to participate in this project, Words and Perspective. I have created 3 layouts  utilizing the words REALITY, WILDERNESS and RAINBOW and through my layouts and journaling, I have told the story of why these words are significant for me. My layouts will be showcased sometime during the series that runs here April 1 through April 30th and will feature something new each day.  Be sure to check it out everyday!