Where I've Been

We spent the last week at Paisano Baptist Encampment between Alpine and Marfa, in the Davis Mountains of West Texas. It was so lovely this year! They've had a good bit of rain in the last several weeks (and a few afternoon storms while we were there) so it was green and cool (not a day over 80). Anyway, I got a few layouts done, wrote some curriculum and attended some awesome worship services. The music was incredible. Kat sang a solo in one of the choir pieces and she and Jeff were in an ensemble that did a beautiful rendition of the New 23rd Psalm acapella. Here are some shots of the area.

This is the entrance to the camp grounds. The mountain in the background is Paisano Peak, the remnants of an anicent volcano.

This is our cabin. Please excuse the mess, we're doing some upgrades--like adding baseboards.

The view from our porch.

The Tabernacle where we have services. It is open sided and seats well over 1,000.

A panoramic view from the top of the largest rockpile in camp.

Looking the other direction.

The big rockpile, also known as Fatman's Misery, because...

of a crevice through the rocks that is a little hard to squeeze through.

And now for some things from off the campgound.

Cathedral Moountain seen from the Marfa Lights viewing site about 50 miles away.

The Serria Rica Mountains in Mexico. Over 100 miles away from where I was standing.

Well, I have a ton more pictures, but this post is long enough! I'll scan and sare the layouts I did later.

Windows

My friend Sherri asked to see how I display my antique window layouts in my home and since she lives in Canada and I live in Texas, she can't just come by and visit (although I'd love that).

So here they are. The first one is the one I did several years ago. It hangs in the back of our living room in my scrap area.

Next, the single pane window that I just use as a frame for one of my favorite senior pictures of Kat.

And last the collection window of Kat's senior pics (http://scrapsandsnippets.blogspot.com/2010_05_01_archive.html) It hangs above the sofa.

I have one more of these saved back for Archie's senior pics. It'll keep for a couple of years.

A Little Flower and Some Beauty

The next two senior layouts (I promise, I will do other layouts again someday!) are quick ones I did this morning while waiting for a friend to drop by.

A Little Flower uses some shots we took at a old, small, rural cemetary near here. Someone had made sure this cemetary was well-seeded with wildflowers and there were some gorgeous beds of irises as well. We got there just before sunset and got some nice shots. I'll do another layout with both kids' pictures from that trip soon. I've had these silk bluebonnet petals for years and decided they'd work well for this layout. The patterened paper I got in a gift exchange with a friend several years ago as well, so this layout is helping me use up some of that stash!

Inner Beauty is more senior photo shoot pictures. These are some of Dad's favorite shots. Kat loved the hat, so we built this outfit around it. The caboose is part of the local museum and the others are taken in a little run-down shack. She just looks so serene, peaceful and happy in these shots. They're simple, so a simple LO seemed ideal. The paper is from Me and My Big Ideas. The grey is all flocked so this is has a nice texture to it. I've had the chipboard tag for years (again, using up that stash!) It's from the old We R Memory Keepers Urban Window set. I think that may have been the first set of chipboard I bought. The key is from DCWV's Once Upon A Time set. The boarder is K&Company.

Giggle time

When your awesome cousin does your senior photos, you act yourself--in other words, you get silly. And that's what Kat did with Christa. These were just a few of the moments that made us all laugh. Little brother, Archie, was there for some of them and I'll add those later, but the tounge being stuck out is aimed at him.

This is Bazzil cardstock and Basic Grey paper. Lots of paper flowers and some nice bling along with a cardstock quote make for a fast simple layout. Not bad for a 10:00 pm scrapping session while watching Ace of Cakes, huh?

A Musical Moment

More beautiful photos from Christa Holland --->see her link at the right---->. Kat took her flute out to the farm for her senior photo shoot and was playing us Amazing Grace. She chose the quotation for this on herself and that inspired the title. The background paper is from DCWV Luxury Stack (gotta love those stacks!) and the rest are scraps from Fancy Pants,and the Old World Stack. Add in a silk flower, a Prima flower and an eyelet and that's it. The title is cut using the Songbird Cricut font and some music designed paper from Hobby Lobby.

Mean Scrapbook Mommy and Bad Band Mommy

There are times Kat just doesn't want to pose for the camera on demand. Her 18th birthday was one of those times, but we did it anyway. These were taken at the railroad tracks in downtown Abilene. The band pictures were taken all throughout the marching season. I didn't take all of these, in fact, I didn't take most of them. There were taken by various band parents who were kind enough to share with me. First the 18th birthday layout. This one uses Bazzil cardstock, and scraps including Basic Grey Phoebe, ProvoCraft Euro Vintage, DCWV, Me and My Big Ideas and Fancy Pants. Lots of ribbon scraps too. The sketch I used is the first one in this month's Page Maps.

The band LO uses DCWV's Music Stack (getting lots of good mileage out of that one!) and some Paper Studio paper along with Offray ribbon and some Sticko cardstock music stickers. I can't remember the brand of the letters, but they came from Hobby Lobby. The sketch is based on one I found at everything-about-scrapbooking.com This lady has some great sketches.

More Senior Album

This layout is a repeat of this one that I did for Gizzy's circle journal. We had so much fun photographing those outfits that we decided to add some of Kat's newer clothes too. And then I went to town with the embellishments. The pp is from the ablum kit we got at Hobby Lobby for her senior scrapbook. She loves these colors and fleur de lis desgins. It's K&Company, I believe. I kept some of the pre-designed pages to use and others to cut up and use, because, you know, I just can't handle following someone else's plan exactly. :)

The tags on the side we saved from clothes and accessories. Look closely at the two necklaces. Kat made those. The turquoise, brown and cream beaded one has an old earring of my mother's as the charm. The other one Kat coiled copper wire and attached it to a stone she had. I think both are beautiful.

The other stickers and jewels are K&Company and DCWV. The title is cut using the Paisley Cricut cartridge.

I think I may have come up with a complete, if unorthodox, solution for my stitching issues. I downloaded ArcSoft Scan-n-Stitch Deluxe and scanned and stitched each page. I couldn't get a satisfactory joint between the pages, so for that I went back to the Paint method. It worked. I'm sure there's an easier way, but I haven't found it yet.