Beautiful Spectacles

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"When you do something noble and beautiful and nobody notices, don't be sad. For the sun every morning is a beautiful spectacle and yet most of the audience still sleeps."  John Lennon But fans of sky watching and nature do take the time to notice and share.  Click the link to Sky Watch Friday to follow what hundreds of bloggers from all over have found on their horizon.

Tim Holtz June tag project, lots of inking and misting and distressing

Whatevers – 1

Found photos of weddings, babies, or young people going off to war are often for sale at jumble stalls and antique centres.  Rich with details of fashion or landscapes that have changed and vintage automobiles, but sadly with no voice to tell their stories.  Do you ever wonder, who are these people and what is their story? 

Whatevers is a new challenge site hosted by 3 creative friends Cat Scanlon, Vicki Chrisman, Nat Kalbach,  to celebrate found photos and the stories that could be told.

My creation is Charles and Chelsea

Techniques: versamark stamping, over sprayed with stencils, more stamping, crackle paints and collage

Products: 

Luminarte Radiant Rain  Key Lime & Sunburst
Creative Imaginations ATCs

ScrapMatrix Window Frame
Helmar Crackle Medium
Prima forest leaves stencil

Their Story:

Childhood friends Charles and Chelsea grew up on the outskirts of a university town.  Their parents were professors and lecturers leading an exciting life, their home often hosted interesting afternoon teas full of debates about music or environmentalism but when the conversation lead to existentialism that was the clue for Charles and Chelsea to go out to play. 

Their playground was the fields and streams and bushland that surrounded their town, just perfect for budding environmentalists to explore, charting wildlife, flowers and flying insects.  But seasons change and so do lives, their parent’s contracts were up and new adventures beckoned. Places like Indo-China, Tibet, the jungles of Africa or the Amazon sounded so far away and very different from their quiet town with fields of buttercups but losing your best friend was too much to bear.

Tickets and goodbye afternoon teas were booked as that departure date loomed. Charles and Chelsea had to work hard at sitting still for the endless rounds of photographs in their Sunday best outfits and laughed the idea that they would become miniature cardboard cut outs posted on the mantel of friends houses.

Like all good friends, a pinky promise was made to stay pals forever, to document in creative journals their separate travels and write letters as often as they could so that it would become an adventure shared. 

That is my start with the Whatever’s and a reminder on why we scrapbook or journal the stories behind the photos.  Click the links ~ join the fun ~ and remember to tell your story.

Songs of nature

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"Every heart sings a song, incomplete, until another heart whispers back."  Plato and a perfect quote for photos of nature. Always so much to see and appreciate and all the sweeter when wildlife drops in to share the moment. Click the link to Sky Watch Friday to see what other bloggers from all over have found in their view of the sky to share this week.

Designing & Creating

"You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality."  Walt Disney   

Love a wild and open beach for a nice long walk but somethings are more fun shared.  Click the link to Sky Watch Friday to see what bloggers from all over have found in their sky to share with us this week.

Am super excited to share the news I have joined My Creative Classroom and hosting on line workshop for all kinds of new projects. This semester is shadow boxes with lots of techniques for backgrounds and construction tips.  Looking forward to lots of fun creative adventures and developing more workshops soon.

Today

"Today is only one day in all the days that will ever be. But what will happen in all the other days that ever come can depend on what you do today." Ernest Hemingway

click to enlarge the evening light over sand dunes

Fabulous crisp autumn evenings we are having and just perfect for spying some wonderful views of nature painting pretty skies for us to enjoy.  Click the link to Sky Watch Friday to see what bloggers from all over have found in their sky to share with us this week.

This week I attended a Trish Ladouceur workshop as part of her ArtsyAdventure down under tour.  I changed the project up a little because the Authentique paper was just too tempting, the poppies and gum leaves just perfect for an album celebrating family camping trips in the bush.   Trish kindly let us interview her for Australian Simply Cards magazine complete with instructions for some fabulous projects, that edition should be on the news stands soon.