A Day In The Life

Words simply cannot express the relief I feel after finishing this project. Holy Cow!!!! (I guess those would be a start). I woke up Friday at 5 AM with so many ideas racing thru my little 'over worked' brain. So I got up - poured some coffee, and got to work... The last "heritage" page was the O'Sullivans. I had some history that went back to Ireland, and the potato famine. So I made it a little more green. I used Crops2Dawn overlay of shamrocks for the first page - from her kit Bring on the Leprechauns... I just softened it somewhat. I like the feel of it. I used Creative Memories - Shabby Cottage Package for the overall layout.

*on a side note* I have linked the Creative Memories to my sister's page in CM. I think if anyone knows someone who would like to make memory books, but doesn't want to work too hard learning Photoshop, it is a great program to own. There is a free version, but it is so limiting. You can not add your own papers, and cannot save your papers. With the paid version, you can do both. I was able to use kits from my favorite designers and save my work. The thing is that with the free one, you have to order your book from them. With the paid version, you can print your own, or as I did, use a different book program to purchase it. I got 4 - 120 page books (11x11) for 55.00 each including shipping. With CM, a 20 page 8x8 is 60.00 - In these tough economic times, you gotta do the math. I love the program, but can't justify the expense of the books. As far as the program, it comes with very basic packages, but there are SEVERAL you can download free. It is like having SEVERAL Quick pages, but you can rearrange the elements. Trust me, I know... LOL! Just something to keep in mind if you are looking for the perfect gift. Check out my sis... thanks... OK, I am done advertising... now onto the rest of the reveal.

The O'Sullivans

Check out the younger Daniel in the lower right corner of the left side page... does he look a little like this guy? Or should I say... does this guy look a little like him?

One thing that was interesting through this process was the strength of the similarities in my families visual features. (strong gene pool)

OK, NEXT....

These are a series of group shots of us - I was #6 out of 7...

I used Crops2Dawn - You're a Star kit for the paper and Autumn Moments for the half torn edge overlay... YOU RAWK CROPPIE!!!! You will be seeing more of her stuff in posts to come. Go check her out! She is a great read, and pretty darned talented too... The wordart... Elegant Wordart (Bethany) for the family. The brothers and sisters had no TOU and is not named with the designers tag, so your guess is as good as mine... (I just spent an hour searching the web... and digi free, and I even know what date I downloaded it... so kudos to the designer, and sorry I cannot link to you) and the text is "girls are weird" from 1001 free fonts.

My brother was killed in an auto accident when he was 15. that is why the later shots have one less. In the black and white, my youngest brother was not here just yet. We are 7 children with an age range of 8 1/2 years from oldest to youngest. Can anyone say Catholic?

Each of my brothers and sisters got a side by side layout... The oldest is all about animals. She works for Best Friend's Animal Sanctuary in Utah. I made the cat plaque a long time ago for her to put on a memorial spot on the animals place in Angel's Rest at the sanctuary... I used Mel Haines Raining Cats and Dogs (a collab she did a while back with Vicki Parker) - they have a somewhat new store out there - Scrap That Idea - you should check it out... and a little piece from Cats and Daisies.

This is another of my sisters - this is all Barbara at Just Passing Through. (Grand Canyon - Old Barn) I just love her kits, and she is a really fine person as well... Stop in and say hello, and it should go without saying, but you really need to say thank you to any and ALL designers whenever you download a kit.

THIS IS MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE!!!! (below). I think that in light of the fact that it was one of the very last pages I did after several days of "psycho scrapping" - I NAILED it! This is from two more kits from Barbara - see above...this is from Cork Meets Plaid and Wood Meets Denim. I have all these silly things that I have saved in a file most of his life... so what better way to display them than a bulletin board. (and I am aware I spelled Bulletin wrong - DANG - I should use spell check ALWAYS!!!!

Of Coarse, I had to do some pages for me - I am "The Mom" after all... these are all Creative Memories Packages - Soft Baby Girl, and the text is all from 1001 Free Fonts.

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I used Barbara's (Just Passing Through) for this one as well... It is the Wood Meets Denim and it matches a page I did WAYYYY back when...

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The last layout for today is "All Me" With a little help from 1001 Free Fonts. We have gone to Washington DC on MANY occasions throughout our time in Pennsylvania. I used a blended photo of the White House for the background. Man oh man, we had so many great times there.

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I drove a bright orange VW Super Beetle for about 7 years. LOVED that car. His Name was "Syd" It is one of those cultural oddities... when you own an older bug - it is supposed to have a name. I had an 8-Ball on the gear shift - and a rainbow in the back window. That way I was always behind the 8-Ball with a Rainbow over my shoulder - kind of a "cosmic balance thing". OK, cut me some slack - it was mostly in my 20's. I was a bit of a "free spirit". So you might be wondering what the heck I am ranting about this for. In the pic below, you will see a photo my son took once, as a surprise to me. We were in DC for yet another July 4th celebration. (If you live close - crops... I am talking to you - and maybe Melanie too?) You have to do a July 4th there. It is the coolest thing ever, and I do not like crowds... OK back to the photo... he had gone to the Museum of American History with one of the people we were there with. He had the camera... and he saw what he called a "Syd-a-Saurus". The boy just cracks me up!!!! If you bring up the photo by clicking on it, you can see the literal sea of people in the photos. One year we even watched the fireworks while standing in the reflecting pool... probably would not do that again (again own it to youth... LOL)

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OK, so I am done for today. I will post more of the layouts over the next week or so. Thanks to those that encouraged me and believed I could do this. There were moments when I thought it might be 110... but as it turned out - it was the exact right number. Now I am off to say hello to y'all. I have been remiss in visiting. I have a lot of reading and hellos to catch up on. So until the next time...

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BE WELL and God Bless,

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eila