Simply a who, what, why, where, and when of Noah's 2nd birthday party. Elizabeth does birthday's up right. While I'm not 100% sure she made the birthday cake, I am 99% sure she did; because, she's talented like that.
I should have said somewhere that I can see Elizabeth when she was Noah's age, through the eyes of Noah, in a couple of these photos. I didn't realize it until just now, though.
Today I'm sharing another two-page, 6 x 8 from our trip to north Georgia. This story was from our first night, when we drove into Dahlonega, Georgia (about 18 miles from Amicalola Falls Lodge where we were staying) for dinner at a pizza joint on the square that had decent reviews on Trip Advisor, which is where I visit when we are planning any trip, jaunt, or vacation.
The photo provides the reminder. But, it is the story that gave us the laughter.
Told you it was funny.
The other day I was sharing this story with some friends and realized I hadn't documented it. I knew I wanted the whole story and not just a quick journal blurb recorded. So, I gave the story its full due. This was so much fun!
It's the rush of the water. It's the cool spray as the waters come crashing down the side of the mountain. It's the beauty before us. It's the exhilarating feeling because we hiked in to see, we were intentional about making an adventure to last a lifetime. It's Jeff by my side every step of the way, holding my hand, keeping me safe when I stumble, slowing down to my pace, yet encouraging me with every jaunt closer to our destination. It's feeling alive and excited at being afforded this opportunity to get away, to refresh, to bask in the beauty of the mountains of north Georgia, knowing with each scene before us that God is good.
Digitally: Another 2-page, 6 x 8 from our November 2017, birthday trip to Amicalola Falls. This one is a smattering of photos from our hike to the falls. I wanted to capture the feeling - and the fun - we had onto the pages. I think I did!
For our birthday trip (Jeff and I have birthdays only one day apart) in November, we stayed at Amicalola State Park and Lodge in north Georgia sharing the name with the Amicalola Falls.
Our first exploration when venturing out that first day was, of course, to the falls. From the top of the falls looking down we enjoyed the rushing white capped waters and were eager to see the waters breaking over the falls downward.
We discussed how we were going to do that. There were several options. Because of my 'disabilities' we chose the easiest of the options presented. Jeff went back up to the lodge and got the truck and came down to the overlook where we'd had our first look at the falls looking down and picked me up. Jeff is very accommodating and always looking out for me. We drove to the midway point and walked in, rather than taking the MANY steps down to the midway point. Walking in a half of a mile was much more doable than taking stairs - as far as my body is concerned.
I love this page, digitally, for two reasons: 1) it brings back good memories, and it's not a bad photo and, 2) I was inspired by the above advertisement I saw on Pinterest, and loved the design. You can see that I didn't completely 'copy' the page, but, in fact, was simply - inspired! When I added the digital brush, explore, the wrapped journaling worked well, I thought.
It's true.
When I get to the end of my life and I ask what have I done my prayer is the answer will be, 'you've done love!'
Don't you just love that endings are also beginnings?
These are stories already told.
Well - mostly.
There might be one ore two photos in there that I hadn't told a story, yet.
2017 was a good, hard year.
Jeff worked out of town half the year. Good - and hard.
Ashley and Brad moved to South Carolina, closer; so I can see my grandkids more. Good. And, hard because they are still hours away.
Ashley and I began studying the Bible together. Sooo good. And hard. Because anytime you really study the Word and let the Word take hold of you - well - it's hard.
We started pistol shooting. So good. But, it's not easy learning new skills.
John and Jarrod struggled with what to do, when to do it, why they are doing things. Hard. But, they both have driving licenses now. John enrolled in college. And, Jarrod has found a new direction.
I'm going to have to remember this 2-page, 12 x 12 layout come the end of 2018. I love it!
I have noticed when I post pages such as these - heavy on the photos - to the Facebook communities I'm apart of that have to do with scrapbooking, people rarely like or comment. I'm guessing because it isn't about the design or how I've used scrapbooking products it is, simply, because I'm sharing photos. Like a photo essay. And, unless they are A-mazing photos pages such as these are hoo-hum.
However, I love them!
Lately, I haven't been scrapbooking this way because I've been making smaller-sized spreads, usually 6 x 8 or Project Life spreads which are photo heavy but also scrapbooking product heavy, too. People want to see how you have used the product.
Well, I did use product on this page. I used Ali Edwards Design GO Story kit plus a digital template from Yin Dgs (Simply Yin). I didn't have as many photos I wanted to us as the template had (22) so I modified the template to suit my photos.
I had been remiss in scrapbooking our trip to Columbia, South Carolina with Ashley and crew, when we visited the Riverbanks Zoo back in October 2017.
It was a long day but a really good day too. I've captured the essence of the trip so I'm probably going to call it good and leave it at this 2-page spread.
I have several sets of photos of Ella and Noah to catch up on and these are from those sets. Elizabeth always rocks Halloween for the kids and this year was no different.
Noah was too cute as the Joker. Elizabeth said by the end of the evening he had no problem saying Trick or Treat and Happy Halloween to every house they stopped at. How cute is that!
I am having a blast, digitally speaking, with telling stories using the 6 x 8 size pages. While I can't get lots of photos on the pages, they are enough to tell the story. For these pages I used Ali Edwards' digital monthly kit for October.
Although we didn't have a white Christmas here in Savannah, I was thrilled to hear that Elizabeth, in Maryland, had some snow in early December. Hopefully, snow gear was on Noah's Christmas list because while the snow was perfect for snow ball fights, and angel wing making, Noah only was able to spend a short amount of time 'walking in a winter wonderland' because his hands and feet and legs were too cold.
I loved putting these pages together. I tried some new things with the snow. Hiding some house siding and fencing and a a tree and keeping the background all snow. I did it in Photoshop elements and it was a huge learning curve that I have nowhere near mastered but I'm satisfied with these pages how they turned out, anyways.
The white Christmas brush overlay on the picture above I created for a page in my December Daily album and it fit perfectly for this page that I decided to use it again. The brilliance of digital at its best.
There is absolutely zero doubt that my grandson is a cutie patootie. But, baby, it sure was cold outside. Besides, that overlay, digitally, I used Paislee Press templates and her Winter Vibes kit. I'm hoping I'll have the opportunity to use this kit for some of our own pages this winter as freezing rain and snow are in the forecast this week.
And that's a wrap! December Daily is completed. 25 December stories are in the book. I love my simple and clean album. My entire December Daily 2017 album can be found here.
I am super excited I finished this album. I finished my 30 Days of Thankful album. I finished my 52 Weeks of Giving album and I finished my 52 Gratitudes 2017 album. I read 100 of 100 books in 2017 and even though I didn't complete Project Life this year I've made a ton of pages, told a lot of Stories 2017
I kept the last two-page spread easy and clean. I used the overlay by Ali Edwards as well as an older template which I modified, of course.
Simple, sweet, tells the story of our day.
Definitely, a couple of my most favorite pages in my December Daily 2017 album. I used Sahlin Studio's papers which I have used here and there throughout the album for some cohesiveness; although, not all pages have these papers - nor color scheme, but, I love them none the less.
After a year of nourishing a heart of giving I knew I wanted to end the year strong, especially since the Christmas season should be about giving back, giving to others, serving, and being kind. Because isn't Jesus, and being a light to the world, the reason for the season, anyways.
I originally planned on a 'planner' sort of journal for each day of giving but I found this 12-square, 6 x 8 template and thought, 'Wow! That would be perfect for 24 days of giving leading up to Christmas.
I inserted the papers into the squares, added numbers to each square changing the opacity so words of giving could show through; added a few embellishment brushes or chipboard here and there and then mimicked the page for the second page.
Only 4 of the 24 days we didn't give purposefully, intentionally, joyfully, either because we weren't able, or we weren't in a position to give something. It struck me that we could make this a tradition and have December 1-24 be days of giving each year leading up to Christmas Day.
I'm very pleased with these pages, the 'new' tradition, the idea of giving and finishing my year of giving strong and the joy I've found in giving to others. I'll never forget where God has moved me this year.
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | |||||
| 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
| 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 |
| 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
| 31 |