Beautiful Burst of Autumn

Oh this day--September 29th, Autumn burst forth along the shadowed hillsides on our route from Springville to Green River Utah on Route 6. This highway climbs steeply to 7200+ feet, then winds to the desert buttes and mesas of the Canyonlands areas of Utah. The climb was about 35mph for most of 20 miles, but the glory of the autumn colors and the new vistas at every turn were stunning. The foreground of this photo was still deep in the firstlight of morning, as the sun washed the new day on the mountains and valleys behind. Tonight we are in Grand Junction, CO, and planning a fun "family-reunion" type weekend with our dear cousins here.
We spent two days in the Springville/Provo UT area just catching up! I didn't scrap this page (no time to) but it stands alone catching the beautiful color splash of autumn in Utah.

Along the Forgotten Trail

"There is something about a trail that stimulates one's imagination; the very earth that the Corps of Discovery walked and rode---can forever hold their presence. "(George Touchette)

On September 24th we traveled along WA Hwy #12 which follows the "Forgotten Trail" of Lewis and Clark. When they returned to Missouri after their historic trek, their route was quite different from their route out. All along this Forgotten trail are interesting markers, capturing some of the notes they journaled. The journaling on the return trip was sketchy and less frequent--so the various stops along part of the Forgotten trail reflected hardships they faced there. In their day--the "soils are extreamely fertile"--with rolling hills covered with "quamash"--today there is wheat as far as the eye can see on these same fertile fields two hundred years later. These are two pages from my trip log from around the Dayton area of Eastern WA.

Sept 24th, we ended our day's trip in Clarkston WA, where we visited friends and enjoyed fantastic weather, and moved on on the 25th to Cascade, Idaho.

I 90 Columbia River Bridge

This gorgeous shot of the Bridge carrying Hwy 90 traffic across the Columbia River, near Vantage, WA was the gateway to new vistas and adventures at the start of our trip.

Richland Washington--and Horn Rapids

Our FIRST day---and oh my WHAT A BEAUTIFUL MORNING! OH WHAT A BEAUTIFUL DAY! We traveled on the ferry, over the Cascades through Snoqualmie Pass, down to the Columbia River Gorge, and along the Gorge toward Richland and the tri-cities area. This was a route we hadn't ever traveled. When we ended the 259 mile first day of our 2006 excursion---we were at Horn Rapids at an absolutely gorgeous brand-new R. V. park that backed up to acres and acres of ripe corn.

Glorious Autumn and bountiful harvests of apples filled the Columbia Gorge today. Thousands of apple trees bearing heavily were being harvested, and along the way the Vintners were busy harvesting grapes for the famous wines that come from this area.

The background photo is of the wide field snapped over the tops of the acres of ripening corn, the foreground photos are the spent corn blossoms, and the corn along the hybrid stalks---perfect--beautiful C O R N!

The Tribute

As I came aboard as Forum Moderator, and Instructor for Scrapper's Guide Live!--I had to pause and reflect how much the MANY faces of the digiscrapping world have molded my life, and changed me,--pushed me to learn,--encouraged me to succeed, and shared my triumphs and my tragedies as together we brought memories to the digital page. SO this layout is a tribute and a thank you to every designer, and every site that have meant so much to me for three years. Names are embossed in papers, and throughout the background of all of you! (though they do not show up here.) The Papers here are by Alma Townsend, Misty Cato, Kim Liddiard, and Kashiabean. The peweter banner is by Rina Kroes and is very special to me, and the font is Douglas Hand.

In this layout, superimposed over my portrait is a little story of sweet significance to me this day shared by an 80+ year old, very special student and friend named Joyce who has given meaning to to the word care, and the strength to to the word share, since I met her five years ago . I feel richly blessed and bathed in the warmth of a new and exciting venture as I strive to fullfill the goal--to educate and to serve! And I embrace, and thank, Linda Sattgast for the opportunity to do both!

Just up the road from my home is a field, with two
horses in it. From a distance, each looks like every other horse.
But if you stop your car, or are walking by, you will notice something
quite amazing. Looking into the eyes of one horse will disclose that he
is blind.
His owner has chosen not to have him put down, but has made a good
home for him. This alone is amazing.

If nearby and listening, you will hear the sound of a
bell. Looking around for the source of the sound, you
will see that it comes from the smaller horse in the
field. Attached to her halter is a small bell. It lets
her blind friend know where she is, so he can follow
her.

As you stand and watch these two friends, you'll see
how she is always checking on him, and that he will
listen for her bell and then slowly walk to where she
is, trusting that she will not lead him astray. When
she returns to the shelter of the barn each evening,
she stops occasionally and looks back, making sure her
friend isn't too far behind to hear the bell.

Like the owners of these two horses, God does not
throw us away just because we are not perfect or because we have
problems or
challenges. He watches over us and even brings others
into our lives to help us when we are in need.
Sometime s we are the blind horse being guided by the
little ringing bell of those who God places in our
lives. Other times we are the guide horse, helping
others see.

Good friends are like this ........... You don't always
see them, but you know they are always there. Please
listen for my bell and I'll listen for yours. "Be
kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is
fighting some kind of battle."

Walking on Clouds

What a wonderful day---working hard all day--but really enjoying each minute! As we came home from dinner, I grabbed the camera and shot this magnificent 'Anvil' looming somewhere over Everett area many miles from us. As the setting sun bathed it in glory--this Levinson quotation fit the scene. When you click this link, it will take you to my favorite spot for Quotations and Journaling "stuff" on the Internet


A pessimist only sees the dark side of the clouds, and mopes; a philosopher sees both sides and shrugs; an optimist doesn't see the clouds at all--he's walking on them.

Seasoned (or Maturity!)

OOHHHHH I got so excited about this one. Pictures I took last spring of these apple blossoms--and today the apples on the same branch!

Digiscrappers, I used elements from A is For Apple, by Karen Aicken --featured in Sept Premier Scrapper's Guide as the featured designer. It's a gorgeous kit and it was FREE! I've already used it a dozen times.
The lo was inspired by a template that Alma Townsend did at Scrap Habit--but I was too late to get the one she designed, so this is a modification, but the vertical papers were fun to build.

The quotation in the apple is the same St. Basil Quote I used in "Nested" (I like it a lot!)
“A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love.”

Nested

I was so amazed to see this incredibly large, and meticulously created bird's nest nestled in the crook of the branches of one of the peach trees. With the fruit so full and beautiful now around this nest, I can only envision how fantastic the bird's window on the world was when the tree was in full bloom and she was there. I got some amazing pictures of this nest and the tree as I harvested the last of this year's HUGE crop!

Digiscrappers, this is today's template challenge from Alma at the Scrap Habit (and posted there) that I used for this layout. The journaling simply tells about the tree--but in the scalloped border, I scrapped St. Basil's quote--which I plan to spend some time on with some word art for the next one!
“A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love.”

Patriot's Day

This post card is stamped and ready to mail to our troops (of course stamps go on the other side of a post card, usually.) This one is the yellow ribbon "Support our Troops" over a red white and blue starred heart. The image is from a photo by Allan Tannenbaum, and depicts the Towers of Light, Statue of Liberty and the NY skyline. The border text is done with Artistamp font and reads We Shall Always remember"--the font I used for today, Patriot's Day, September 11, 2006, is Ministry Script.

I got the idea from the Support our Troops post card website that xerox sponsors at Let's Say Thanks to our troops.

A sewing project

So-- SEW!
How can making something like this be different from scrapping. Arms at the same height, hands just as busy, and adding elements for hours! --and then either liking it--or trashing it!

LOL

This project will be a table mat, a place mat, or a table runner (if I make some more of them) This uses an absolutely exquisite delicate Venetian trim that's 1/4 inch wide and applied with a double needle (or by hand--which I consider a four letter word and don't do!) This lovely trim has a "gimp" thread that you can pull to make the circle or arc that you often see in Battenburg lace. And when you draw up that thread, the circle is flat, without any puckers and lovely. When it has been applied, you run a complimentary color of embroidery floss, or pearl cotton weaving it under and over the one thread wide little "x's" that is in the middle of this tape, and boy --are they hard to see!

I got onto this when I visited the Sewing Expo in Victoria, Canada last March, and will look for (and then post) the website of the designer who I watched there for demonstrate it. (by hand--yuk!)

I just "steam a seamed" those applique pieces onto my background fabric and then had at the trim. I LOVE the way this turned out and hope to do some more with it.

A Journey of a Thousand Miles

One of my very favorite pictures is of the Oosterdam's grand staircase that winds down and down to an enchanting lounge three stories below this landing. I think that the architecture in this picture is absolutely amazing and this photo caught the lines and angles just like I wanted it to. We were on the Oosterdam July 1-8, on a Cruise to Alaska aboard this elegant Holland America Cruise Lines.

Digiscrappers, I was working with out-of-bounds techniques catching the texture of the carpet in added-on "ribbon" for it, and then I used the liquefy tool to warp the carpet a little bit, controlled the drop shadow on the main image and the carpet out-of-bounds, erased the frame that was over the carpet area. Then I typed in the Journaling quotation challenge: "A journey of a thousand miles, begins with a single step." (Lao-Tzu) The font I used was Jugend and I warped the text to fit into one of the rounds.

The journey was 1262 miles--and each step was an adventure and a glorious one. What a good time we had on my high school's 50th reunion cruise.

The Backlot

This scraps such a fun memory. My cyber-sis and I went (with hubbies) for the most fabulous day, January 6, 2005--to Disney's California Adventure. We both took loads of pictures, but this one came straight to mind when I saw Alma's template challenge for today. These were the stars of the Backlot--props scattered behind sets and scenes with lost attention to what they once had been.

Even though I wasn't wild about the template, the Jester and his spikes fit just like I wanted them to on this background. I did the background with Misty Cato's Inspired to Scrap (Sept) kit called "You're a Star"

Only As Much As I Dream, Can I Be!

Digiscrappers, Alma's Template 09-07-06 was used to scrap this photo of Mount Rainier. The journaling reads:
"Only as high as I reach can I grow, only as far as I seek can I go, only as deep as I look can I see, only as much as I dream can I be." Quoting Karen Ravn.

The font I used is Cantaneo BT. I was working with metallic effects (Linda Sattgast Premier Sept) and layer styles, gradients, and creating the illusion of glass (Linda Sattgast December, 2005 Premier when I did this one. I also used chalked edges (Linda Sattgast July Premier) So this one was a skills workout for me! Enjoy!

The Bridge to Adventure

Digiscrappers, today my project used two beautiful papers from two different Scrapper's Guide Designers. The beige and brown papers are by Cottage arts in the CD called Simply Recreation, (see below for that link) and the word art "I see before me a world of adventure--I am ready to embrace it"-- is from that CD as well.

The exquisite mossy green background paper here is by Jenny Binder of Heirloom Scrapbooks in a very large kit available for free at Scrapper's Guide when you download THE SAMPLE of one of Linda Sattgast's Premier Newsletters. This Free Introductory Newsletter, gives you an idea of what is LOADED in the Premier Membership subscription.

This free download contains 51 separate elements, and an alphabet set, and is called Raspberry Cream.

This photo is of an old stone bridge near Mt. Ranier, WA. The layout was a template challenge for Sept 6th by Alma Townsend of The Scrap Habit.

And we're about to embark, for sure--on a great new adventure!

Something that's JUST PRISS

And you'll only see it here, because today is the day that I thought this up. The huge popularity of templates right now gave me a springboard to a new idea. I'm calling this a Scrap Matte, and it is developed to be a new way to do a "template"--using PS' Paste Into Selection options. As you paste into each selected area of the Matte, this quick easy process builds layers for you that you can then adjust and manage to suit your liking. So here is my first Scrap Matte, and a finished layout beside it.

Here's How!--And don't forget you saw it first on Pssequimages' Photopossibilties!

Scrap Mattes

Scrap Mattes are a simple way to create an individual scrapbook page. Simply open up the scrap matte (duplicate it so you can work on a copy of the matte) and then open the papers and photos you intend to use.

Select your first paper, and ctrl/cmd+a to select it then ctrl/cmd+c to copy,

Then within your scrap matte, use the magic wand to select a section of the scrap matte. Then use Edit, Paste Into (Ctrl+Alt+V), to fill in that section of your scrap map. Continue for all sections of the template matte, always bouncing back to the scrap matte to choose the next area.

Now choose the layer that contains the scrap matte, and change the layer style to suit your layout.

Save and you’re done! Don’t forget to give it a different file name (very important, do NOT copy over your scrap matte!)

This particular layout scraps a quotation William Cullen Bryant quotation, "Autumn the year's last, loveliest smile." The photos are from the Sol Duc area of Western Washington captured last autumn, and the background papers are from Rina Kroes Grandpa's Cabin Kit, slightly recolored (orange).
I'm hoping to play with this new idea and create and post some scrap mattes for you to capture and enjoy playing with in the next couple of weeks.

Now remember, I haven't posted a Scrap Matte for you to play with today--just posted the idea and an example of the technique and how it works! SO! Be looking for the "REAL THING" in just a few days!

Everything's Just Peachy

Our peach trees are just producing bushel after bushel of peaches this year---the most "bountiful" harvest that I cannot begin to keep up with! But this little fella had a blast when he picked them up off the ground--something I don't find quite as much fun!

Digiscrappers, on this lo I was practicing using a metallic surface on 'charm' type letters. It's the Hurshey font which is wide enough to assume some special styles, other fonts that would be good with this are freshman, goudy stout, bookman and some of the other broad fonts.

Linda Sattgast has described how to make metallic charms and use a gorgeous collection of metal layer styles in the Sept Premier Scrapper's Guide. I also was working on modifying a tutorial by Dave Cross (NAPP) 'Creating a Sketch' using some unconventional blend modes and blurs to get the effect you want....then I recolored the little boy back into the photo. It was a lot of fun and interesting to try, but I still like my own method of 'sketching'---that tutorial's over at The Photography Experience.

First Day of School

I am SO happy and pleased with the results on this particular layout, and have chosen this one to be the day that I present Pssequimages' Photopossibilities blog to you. This lo is done with a template challenge at the Scrap Habit on 8-28 by Alma Townsend.

I used elements from 'A is for Apple', a huge kit by Karen Aicken who is September's Featured Designer at Scrapper's Guide. (She's affiliated with e-scapeandscrap too). The gold charms are part of the September Premiere member downloads and were created by Linda Sattgast. Other Elements I used here are available exclusively to Premier Members at Linda Sattgast's Scrapper's Guide.

Check that premier membership out at http://www.scrappersguide.com

Perfect Silence

I scrapped this photo taken in the High Country of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in CA for my cousin who took the picture.


Digiscrappers, I used Rina Kroes Grandpa's Cabin elements for the backgrounds,( http://rinakroes.blogspot.com/) and Rauch font for the lettering. I was working on some possibilities for alternative kinds of frames and this image suited itself to looking through the papers to the beautiful serene scene in the photo.

And the First Day Really Happened

First Day--Second Grade--and it really happened.


Digiscrappers, on this layout I used a set of charm letters that were designed by Michelle Pieters of gottapixel.net. There is more text on the checkered circle (her name, teacher's name, school, location, etc) on the one I printed for her. The black geometric frame is by Pyrna.