I'm baaccckkk!

Hello again! It's been quite some time since my last post, over 18 months at least. Life got very complicated and busy. John required more and more assistance with daily life and in April 2014 he passed away. I'm not going into any details as those who know me well know the story.

I have been busy doing some travelling and I will post some of my pages for you to see here. In May and June 2014, I stayed with daughter Kirsten and her family in London, England. For the first three weeks I just took things easy and rested while the family was either at work or school. Truly, I needed that quiet time to recuperate. Then I became restless and needed something to do. Kirsten reminded me I had always wanted to go on a cruise and I did. Not alone though! Daughter Tiffany's friend, Dawn (98% daughter) flew over from Canada, on a moments notice, and we sailed away from Southampton aboard the Ruby Princess for a 12-night tour of The British Isles. It was amazing and I totally fell in love with Scotland. So much so that I'm planning another, longer visit this August with Kirsten, John, Owen, James and, hopefully, Tiffany.

Here are some of my pages I have completed for that trip.

Here we are at the Princess Terminal in Southampton. How excited we were. This was my very first cruise! And to be touring The British Isles, well, that was like a dream come true. I've always loved Britain and to finally be seeing some of it, well, ecstatic is a good descriptive word for how I felt.

First up is our first stop in Guernsey. What a beautiful place. The people were very friendly and the history of Guernsey, particularly during WWII is unbelievable. I thoroughly enjoyed our first port-of-call.

Next up was Cobh, pronounced Cove, in Ireland. It was rainy (not entirely unexpected), coolish and most enjoyable, even if we did get soaked to the skin.

I'll be back with more soon.

Bath time Buddies

James loves his bath time and even more so when joined by Cassie!

Jackson loses his first tooth!

What an occasion for any child when the first tooth comes out! It's scary and exciting all at the same time.
I am a member of The Daily Digi and each month for a nominal fee of $7.50 US, I can download $50.00 worth of digital kits for several designers, many of them well-known in the digi scrapping community. I created this page using Daydreamin' by Jump Start Designs. I also followed the tutorial in the March issue of Playbook, also part of the monthly goodies available to download.
Join now at www.dailydigi.com

My handsome grandsons!

They have faces only a Grandma could love! Really!

Some stuff!

Here are three layouts featuring my youngest grandchild, Victoria.

Artwork Extradinaire

Jackson and Ava love to play in my craft room and now that they are getting older, I've taught them to use my craft tools and enjoy much quality time with them creating stuff. Once they discovered my tape rolls, they went to town decorating the closet doors.

I can't wait for Owen and James to come for a visit in February so they can add their creations, too.

Hello, my name is Barb and I'm addicted

to many things. Here's my list:
iPad, iPhone, Motography, Instagram, mobile blogging to name just a few! You can "Follow Me" by tapping on the button to the right, or you can just watch the "real time" Instagram pics, also on the right. Easy prays!

Here's my IG birth certificate.


And here is a snapshot of the favourites chosen by followers like you.

Jackson & Ava and the Fall Fair

Not long ago these children visited Andrews Scenic Acres for some fun with their maternal grandparents. Looks like they had fun!

Welcome Victoria Cameron

Here's a little video of our newest granddaughter, Victoria, born on Sep 22, 2012 at 10:30 pm.

Isn't she beautiful!

On My Way Back to Creativity

At least, I hope so! It's been a very long time since I've had any interest in my hobby of scrapbooking and cardmaking. In recent weeks, there's been a change and it's for the better. As I sit here in my craft room, my beautiful granddaughter, Ava, is sitting next to me at her little table and creating something of her very own with cardstock and stickers. I'm sitting at my computer playing, too!

I downloaded these pictures from Facebook where Ava's mom posted them. Thankfully, her parents post pictures of the kids or I'd never have as many photos as I do. 




And, while I was busy creating, Ava was doing some creating of her own! Take a look..... 

Ava's new dress

Now a movie, hopefully.

If you're reading my blog......

I've switched to Google Chrome as my blog was no longer supported by my old browser. From my standpoint, there seem to be many changes and enhancements and I will have to familiarize myself with them before making my blog "pretty" again.

If you are viewing my blog in Google Chrome, I would like to draw your attention to the upper left corner, just under the blog name (Digi-Dallies). You will see several words as follows: Classic, Flipcard, Magazine, Mosaic, Sidebar,Snapshot and Timeline. Click on each label to see the different views you can have. So far, that's all I know about viewing my blog. As I learn more, I update you on what I know.

I do not know if my blog shows up in Windows - any version - or what. I guess I'll hear from my family if they can't see it anymore.

More later,
Barb

Good News!

Ava likes to stamp!! Here she is with the first two cards she has made, with a little help from Gram Gram. Tomorrow we are going to do more as she seems to like to stamp. Oh happy day! I couldn't wait to tell the world so, no fancy scrapbook page, just the photo.

Sassy Cheryl's Digi Stamps

Thanks to my friend, Sherri, I heard about a new-to-me digi stamp site called Sassy Cheryl's Digis. I found quite a few stamps that I had to have. Here's my first card.

I'm so glad that when I sold most of my stamping stuff that I retained the tools and lots of paper. Now that my interest in cardmaking has returned, I'm ready to go!

School Photos

Here's Owen's and James' school photos.  Aren't they gorgeous little fellows?

 I look at James' picture and see a boy who will try anything and everything, with no thought to scaring the wits out of his parents. Currently James is still in nursery school and is doing well, according to his last report. Well done, James!

When I look at Owen, I am truly amazed that he is reading already. The British system teaches phonetically and I love to hear him recite the alaphabet or sound out words. It is working like a charm and he is already texting his aunt and uncles.

Keep up the good work boys. Grandma is so very proud of you all.

Now all we have to do is get Ava into school and she will join the crowd!

What I've Learned in 2012!

Thanks to the Project 12: A Year in the Life of You, I've learned about two different types of photography. The first required layout for January was to do a layout using the "triptych" style. The definition of triptych, as presented in the Merriam-Webster online dictionary is as follows: something composed or presented in three parts or sections.  When I first read the description of a 'triptych' which has three elements to a photo, ie head, torso, feet, all I thought was that there was no wide-angle lens wide enough for my torso. Not wanting to really have myself photographed and taken apart like that, I decided to 'ham it up' as I usually do when I'm uncomfortable. Then I remembered my son's iPad takes photos and distorts them so much that they become hilarious. We had tears running down our cheeks on Christmas as each of the family was photographed that way. So, here is my assignment. I will do others, but they won't be of me, that's a certainty! For your personal enjoyment, may I present "Myself" to you.

Journalling:
In order to get a narrow waist, something totally foreign to me at any given stage of my life, save between ages 0 - 4 years, it was necessary for me to have my photograph taken using my son’s “iPad”. Now that amazing tablet can do strange things to a face; it can make it thinner, fatter, longer and all mushed up . Having always wanted to have an 18-inch waist, I forced my son to keep taking pics until I was satisfied with my torso. Only then did I realize what it did to my face! Who cares, I look skinny in the middle of my body. Unfortunately, this Beautiful, Magical Princess will have to get used to having a face like an alien, at least for this brief moment in time.

The second assignment was to use the "diptych". Definition: the art of putting two photos side by side to make a captivating composition. Typically, the photos when paired, will support each other and when combined create an entirely new feeling.

Here is my take on the diptych style of photography!

Journalling:
Yesterday I had the pleasure of taking Jackson and Ava to a terrific kid-space called Funmazing. They could run, jump, climb, slide and have a wonderful time. As is usually the case when kids are enjoying themselves, going to the bathroom is on the list of things-to-do. While watching Ava dance around while trying to tell me something, it occurred to me that a trip to the Necessary Room was now at the top of the list. After completing the task, Ava washed her hands and while drying them at the dryer (see photos) I wondered what the view of the dryer was like for a 3-year old. With January’s assignment 2 in mind, I whipped out my cell phone and snapped these two photos. Now that is one dedicated scrapper to take photos of the hand dryer in the ladies’ room! I hope whoever sees this page in the year 2050 will appreciate my efforts to leave a pictorial legacy for my family.

I'll just bet you can't wait to see what February's assignments will be, can you?

Hello, remember me?

The Christmas season has been busy this year, but it has come and gone and a New Year has begun. Since my last post, I've been sick and a little lax in scrapping. Here is one of Ava decorating the tree at our house. Truly, if it wasn't for her help, the only thing on the tree would have been the lights as it's a pre-lit tree. Watching her little face as she examined the ornaments as I unwrapped them was absolute inspiration to carry on.

Some of my most recent projects

I'm slowly getting back into stamping, crafting and digital creations. I haven't felt very inspired lately, but with Christmas approaching fast and all the goodies I'm seeing on other blogs....well, I'm trying. Here are some of the things I've made in recent weeks. Some have a purpose, some are things I did during a class and one very special card for my granddaughter.

Here is the frame created during the Mouse, Paper, Scissors - Give class by Jessica Sprague and Heidi Swapp.

 Next is a card and a bucket of golf balls for my brother. I really enjoyed making these as a surprise. I used my Silhouette for both Ava's card and Bob's golf balls.
 

This is Ava's birthday card. She was 3 years old on November 10th.

A Long Ago Barbara

It's funny how when I look at old photos of myself  I refer to myself as Barbara, yet when I see a current photo, I'm just Barb. I wonder why that is? Well, I'm sure I don't have enough money for therapy to find out, so I'll just accept that's the way it is!

Journalling reads:

This photo was in a box of photos that I’ve had since my Mom passed away in 2003. I was shocked, amazed and pleasantly surprised to find this photo of me taken at Christmas 1970. Today, at age 62, I can’t believe I was this pretty way back when. I suppose I’m finally seeing what other people in my family kept telling me, "Barbara, you’re a very pretty girl." Why was I unable to believe them at that time. I don’t know. Is it the plight of all young women to constantly be so critical of themselves that they can’t see what others see? Unfortunately, I believe it is the same today for young women as it has always been, we don’t believe in ourselves enough and that’s sad. I think of my daughters and wonder if they suffered the same insecurities as I did all those many years ago. My mother wasn’t an affectionate mother with hugs and verbal endearments and the like. I grew to understand that she also suffered from a lack of physical affection in her childhood. I tried really hard to change that. I allowed my house to gather dust bunnies under the couch, fingerprints on the fridge and beds to go unmade in favour of playing with my kids. I remember teaching my first born to say "I love you" because I was desparate to hear it. Finally, she said it to my Mom one day and it went like this, "I lub boo, Gramma". My mom actually had tears in her eyes and repeated it to Tiffany. It seemed that from then on, she was able to tell her grandkids she loved them. It wasn’t until she was in her 80s that she could say it to her children. But, better late than never, I say!



It's been a while, hasn't it?

Now that the weather is a little colder I want to scrap again. My creative mojo was definitely on summer vacation. I stopped by Jessica Sprague's site and saw the Scrapground challenge and decided it was just what I needed to get back into the swing of things.

Tiffany, this one is for you!

Kit:
Aussie Christmas - Digiridoo