ART 2010

This 2 page layout is a showcase for my best art from the fall, which I photographed. I took a watercolour class with Kathy Rath while recovering from hip surgery. Having the time off work gave me the opportunity to finish an unfinished portrait my dad had sketched of my neice Natasha. It fell into place very quickly, almost by divine intervention. I felt almost equally as inspired painting the portrait of John Lennon. My confidence with paints is coming along , and I am proud of my art. Sorry for some reason I could not get the first page to post straight up and down... having attempted twice I decided to post sideways with an apology. Its a shame.

december 25: time for each other

Getting Christmas Day scrapbooked was so satisfying. This year, with a 19 year old and a 17 year old, we waited until 4 pm to take pictures and thereby had the opportunity for several poses from the two, who due to age and other lifestyle choices are not good for photos in the morning , or while opening gifts. So this year I just put the camera away, and enjoyed WATCHING them open gifts, and it was really great not to have to document the event, but to be in the event.

I got these papers from Basic Grey, Jovial, at Lasting Impressions. The neat thing about the papers, was that I fell in love with them a few months ago while browsing the Basic Grey papers online. The Jovial papers had just the nicest blend of vivid Christmas elements. So I was happy to match the cardstock stickers and papers with my photos.

As you can see, I left a nice spot for the journalling... the J word, as the ladies at Lasting Impressions referred to it. Being concise and evoking memories... not a simple task! what I usually do is pen a few sentences on a rough draft and then carefully edit and copy down... its a good idea in my case to do this sooner rather than later so that the memory doesnt fade!

I can describe our day :

11 am. breakfast: peameal bacon and eggs with waffles

12 am. opening stockings and gifts : I got a Susan Boyle CD, scented home and bath and beauty products, earrings, La Senza goodies, and a long awaited Latte machine

I gave the kids some gifts to unwrap, and also some cash rolled up with tissue paper and tinsel and stuffed into mini gift bags and mini stockings and hung on the tree

1 pm. movies on TV

4 pm . photo shoot

6 pm. turkey dinner with all the fixings

7 pm. watching a movie

9 pm. walking the dogs

10 pm. to bed for the grown ups

Time for Each Other... December 25... how fast it goes!

Kerlovich Family Christmas

We hosted our family Christmas on December 19. It was a good excuse for me to tidy up and decorate the basement rooms. Attacking the cobwebs with my new Dyson attachment was as fulfilling as hanging the lights and garlands . Blue LED light branches were the big hit amidst the more usual odds and ends in my Christmas array. Most of my family has to drive a good distance in order to visit so it is a treat when we can all be together at the same time. I had my crafting tables set up as a bar and snack area and made large 2 stars out of ice and sprigs as well as a shrimp tree which proved to be impressive for those who had not seen it before! Bobs cheese star was certainly a unique and artistic touch. The theme for this years Family Christmas was performance! Those of us who were able to contributed by reciting poetry, singing, doing magic tricks, doing a short skit, or playing a musical instrument. It proved to be an enjoyable afternoon and the meal was a hit too.
So I cant wait for next year!
As for the layout, with 20 people in my home, I had over 2 dozen photos printed to feature on this 2 page layout. I printed most of them wallet size (2x3) to cram them onto the page. I was overwhelmed by the number of pictures I wanted to include to tell the story, but quickly became ruthless in order to get on with the actual layout.
If I was better at digital layouts I might have found a better solution. I used a group picture as a large focal point, and selected what I could out of the rest. I used papers purchased on sale at the Town Scrapper and some gold metallic paper. I will journal this week by hand.