Playing Crib with Dad

MyMemories Blog is having a *#1 Dad Challenge*. My dad passed away in 1984 (6 years after this photo was taken). I really don't have many photos of Dad and I together. It's kind of sad really. He had his problems, but he tried his best, worked hard all his life, having two jobs much of the time, yet when we were little he taught all three of us kids to love nature and animals, sports and games, reading and journaling. He passed away 6 weeks before he was due to receive his first Old Age Security cheque at the age of 65. I rememeber that he had been really looking forward to getting that first cheque. RIP Dad.

I used a kit called 'Remember' (Word Art World by Jennifer), and this week's swap freebie wordart. The cribbage board and cards are from Dreamsfulfilled.

Cute as a Bug

These photos of my adorably cute grand-nephew Hayden were taken a few days ago by my niece Shannon. I think the pics are awesome and as soon as I saw what Hayden was wearing I knew I had the perfect kit for this.

I used 'Boys Only' (collab by Marie H Designs and Craft-tastrophic) ... I loved it so much I bought the bundle. I know I'll be using this kit over and over.

Blue hearts (Viola Moni) & blue buckle (Digi Cyber Scraps), from May's 'A Royal Wedding Blog Train'). Bugs from 'Bug Detective' (MDF).

Waking Up is Hard to Do!

This is my youngest grand-nephew Tyler. He was born on April 28, six weeks premature. A week ago we had a large family get together on the weekend that was Tyler's original expected due date. He's now the size of a newborn :)

I took all of these pics within about 2 minutes. My sister-in-law was holding Tyler and we were talking to him trying to see if he'd open his eyes, lol. Great Aunties are allowed to wake up their great-nephews while they are sleeping .... 'cause we can always pass them back to their Mommy if they protest too much, lol.

I made this page today and I used a kit (now retired) called 'Oh Boy' (by A Work In Progress"). I love the colours in this, and although it is not a baby kit, it went really well with my pics.

I decided to do a photo effect on the last picture, and added a border to it and angled it, just make that photo stand out a bit from the rest, in a slightly unexpected way. The photo effect was done in PaintShop Pro X4, and is called the 'Vignette Effect'.

Fishy Fone

Another page with pics from my sister Lil and her hubby Peter's little fishing trip yesterday.

Once again I used a freebie kit called 'Gone Fishing" (by snackpackgu). Love, love, love this kit! Thanks Debra! And thanks to Lil for sharing her photos with me. I loved making these pages.

I made up my own quote to suit this page (oh, and the cell phone ellie). Peter had bought a waterproof cell phone case. He read somewhere that you should never go out on a boat without a cell phone these days. He bought it and then put something in it and let it soak all day in water to see if it really was waterproof and it is! Lil never leaves home without her cell phone, so she was happy :))

Peter Gets Hooked!

My sister Lil and her hubby Peter went fishing today. Lil caught 9 or 10 fish and Peter caught about 8. They were little and they threw them all back. But Lil did catch something else ... Peters baseball cap! She hooked it right off his head. As soon as she told me that I KNEW I had the perfect kit and begged her to send me photos, and she did. Soooo fun!

I used a freebie kit called 'Gone Fishing" (by snackpackgu). It's a fabulous kit with incredibly cute graphics. I edited the element of the boy and girl fishing (the one at the top where the girl has snagged the boy's cap. The original had them sitting on a dock so I removed that part and tried to match the colour of Lil and Peter's canoe. And I repainted the clothing and the hair on both the boy and the girl to match Lil and Peter were wearing :)) I'll email Debra (the designer) and let her know. I don't think she'll mind.

I also used some items from a mini kit called 'Love of Fishing (by Karen's Scraps and Graphics). Such nice stuff!

Designers are amazingly generous!!

Doing it 4 Digi

(The imaged above is from Wendy Tunison on SNP, made with her 'Start Now' kit.)
I just signed up for the "Doing it 4 Digi Weight Loss Challenge" on the Scraps N Pieces forum. It will be a 6-month challenge in a private forum on SNP, starting July 1st.

I need to halt the steady increase in weight that's been going on for the last 8 months (coincidently it began as soon as I started doing digital scrapbooking and joined Facebook, lol). I shouldn't laugh. Seriously, I've gained a whopping 25 pounds since November 2011. I'm at my highest weight ever in the 60 years I've been on this planet.

If there is a way to combine weight LOSS with digital scrapbooking... I'm all for it! I'll be happy not to have to go back to Weight Watchers. (I'd rather spend my money on digi supplies, lol).

So my goal with be to lose 25 pounds just to get back to the weight I was 8 months ago. Even then I was at the maximum weight according to my Weight Watchers limit. But if I can lose 25 pounds, and still scrap, I'll be more than happy :))

*** First Blog Post ***

Today I decided to start a blog as a place to post my digital scrapbooking pages. I simply chose a pre-made blog template. I'm not sure if this is the one for me, but as I find my way around this new Blogger format I'll likely customize it or at least make my own header. :)

The plan is to post my previous scrap pages, from the most recent, working my way backwards, and add new scrap pages as I create them. I like that I can change the date for the blog post to reflect the day the scrap page was created. For now, this is just an experiment/work in progress :))

Thought for today:
"Everything in your world begins with a thought. So use your thoughts to give everything a powerful, positive beginning." -- Ralph Marston

Here's to new beginnings!
Cheers ~ Arlene