Blessed Season

Created with the Blue Rhapsody Bundle, available at the Digital Scrapbooking Studio

Trust a Witch

It's that time of year...Halloween is near. The season of the Witch. They have been persecuted and misunderstood throughout the centuries, yet they strive on. They were the village Doctors, the counselors, the shamans, the teachers. They were important parts of community life, offering help and healing to anyone in need.

This time of the year they seem to be everywhere, only to fade into the shadows the rest of the year. But, they're always here, even in this day and age, working, learning, teaching, healing.

I hope you all have a safe and Happy Halloween!

This layout was created with the Mummy-sh {Bundle}, a collab from Aimee Harrison Designs Studio, ADB Designs, Mad Genius Designs, and The Urban Fairy.

Autumn Garden

My big, ongoing project for this year has been my patio garden. We live on the second floor of a two story building, just our apartment up here, and five single car garages below us. Part of our place includes a 12' x 12' patio, and this Spring I decided to start my own patio container garden up here.

In the spring I grew a few edible veggies, mostly leaf lettuces and also some heirloom carrots. Everything else has been flowers. I chose my plants to draw in native bees, butterflies, and other beneficial insects. I also have a bird feeding station out there that is frequented by the neighborhood Goldfinches, Scrub Jays, Mourning Doves, House Sparrows, Oak Titmouse, and the occasional California Towhee.

Now that Autumn is upon us, I know my garden will start to fade a bit. I have made sure to include plants that will be beautiful year round, but the splendor of Summer's blooms will fall prey to the wind and rain that will start soon enough. I'm OK with that. I love the seasons, and all that they bring. I enjoy watching the changes that happen, I find beauty in the dried blooms, the seed heads, and the fading leaves. I also look forward to the renewed growth that will follow next Spring.

For now, here's my tribute to my Autumn Garden. I created it with the Blustery Day Collection from Aimee Harrison. It's a beautiful kit full of natural elements that fit perfectly along side my garden!

 

Family is everywhere

I've been living here in California for 13 years as of September 27th. While I love it here, my very best girlfriends are still back in Ohio. Occasionally I get to missin' them something awful, and when I do, I digiscrap pictures of them and their families.

With Fall in full swing for most folks in the Northern Hemisphere, my thoughts turn to leaves, cool air, and bonfires with those girlfriends. Since they're not here, and we can't make that happen, I got to work. A couple of weeks ago, my friend Renita posted this photo from several years ago on Facebook. It's her and her two oldest kids, looking great. I fell in love with it! When this kit came along, I knew it was a perfect match!

When this kit came along, I knew it was a perfect match! The kit is a collaboration between Aimee Harrison and ScrappyCocoa and it's called Autumn Sunset. The warm fall colors really speak to me, and that touch of plum just put it over the top!

Now I'm not missing them all quite so badly!

Summer??

Is it just me or did Summer just fly by? This is the first weekend of Fall, and I, for one, am so happy! I love this time of the year. The days may be shorter, but the cooling temperatures speak to me in so many ways.

Anyway.

Summer. Yes, Summer. I'm just getting around to scrapping my Summer photos, along with a few photos for family and friends. It seems that everyone ends up at the beach for at least one day during the Summertime. I'm lucky enough to live just a short drive from the Central California coast, and we take advantage of it as often as we can.

I have good friends and family that live in the lovely, landlocked state of Ohio. They took their little girl for her first trip to the Atlantic Seaboard this Summer, and it was an instant hit. Even Teddy got in on the sun!

The kit I used for this fun layout is called Fisherman's Wharf by the lovely Aimee Harrison.

One in a million

I'll keep this short but sweet. My family is one in a million.

Created with the One In a Million Collection, a collaboration between Aimee Harrison and Snickerdoodle Designs.

Beachside

The lovely Aimee Harrison is at it again with her new Beachside Collection! It's perfect for those Summer beach photos.

All of those great weather worn colors and textures sparked my creativity, and I was off. One of my dear friends has a beautiful teenage daughter who just happened to be on vacation on the East Coast. I kept it simple to show off the oh so cool photo without overwhelming it.

Now I need to head to the beach to get some of my own photos to play with this great collection!

Spring Way Back

Not too long ago my father in law sent us some old photos that he had taken before my husband and his siblings were born. One of the photos caught my eye. It's a picture of my husband's cousins, sitting in the yard, enjoying a Spring day.

It was a perfect pairing with the Daffodil Daydreams Collection from Aimee Harrison Design Studios. Daffodils have always been one of my favorite flowers, they embody Spring perfectly....dontcha think??

News and a Moon

Sorry for the absence here. Hm. Does anyone even read here?? Well, just in case....March was busy! I did scrap, but just couldn't sit down long enough to post much! Don't ya just hate it when that happens??

I have some news. I mentioned it up there in the title of this post, did ya see it?? Recently, one of my favorite designers, Aimee Harrison, had a CT call and I decided to give it a shot. Honestly, I didn't figure I'd get on her CT...after all, I'm still a rookie compared to lots of digiscrappers out there. But I wanted to try. Long story short, I am now a member of the Aimee Harrison Design Studio Creative Team!

My first outing on my new CT was with an amazing collection called Moonlit Nights. All I had to do was see the title and I KNEW I would love it. Look at it, it's amazing. The collection has sparkly glitters and TWO great alphas. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be coming back to this collection again and again.

For my first LO with this kit, I went in a little bit of an art journal direction. One of my favorite "quotes" immediately popped in to my head as I was opening up the kit and poured over the elements. Moons and stars and glitter....I was in heaven!

I'm going to print this one out and add a bit of extra sparkle to it then hang it in my art room to inspire me during my jewelry creating time!