Scrapbooking Trend and Two Color Challenges

I have been noticing a new digital scrapbooking trend with regard to kit designs.

However, before I share my observation, I want to share with you two new color challenges in the forum based off the new trends.


Link Join us in the form for the September Designer Color Palette Challenge. Create any small item or a whole kit and share it in this thread. Anyone can participate, designers and novices and people who just want to play. You can even wait for others to make and share something and then create a quick page with what they share.


Link This color challenge is not for designing, but rather for creating a layout utilizing this color palette. Go ahead and recolor the kits you already have in your stash.

A DESIGNING TREND

The above colors were created from grabbing colors from the below kits.

I believe this style to be a new trend in digital scrapbooking as seen in the below kits. It could be that after 5 years of digital scrapbooking my eyes are just looking for something new and fresh, but I really think this is a new style. I continually see new kits popping up in store advertisements with this style indicating a growing popularity.

After having used grungy or shabby papers and elements for so long, I really like the clean, simple feel of these kits. The textures on the papers are slight and soft. The patterns are small and simple. The color schemes are muted and soft, but neutral enough to go with any photos you may be working with. The small patterns and color schemes are perfect for keeping the photos the focal point of the layout.

Many of the elements are hand drawn and computer generated; there are fewer realistic photographed or scanned in elements.

I have recently scrapped with two of these kits (not shown here) and found myself revitalized by modern approach to designs. I want to try my hand at designing in this style too. How about you?



Link Paislee Press and Leora Sanford "Correspondence" Collab



Link Lauren Reid and Micheline Martin's "Ever Always" Collab



Link Ami Collofello & Sherrie Piegdon "Your Mother" Collab



Link Fei-Fie's Stuff "Family Ties" kit



Link Deca Design's "Memories" kit



Link One Little Bird's "Enlightened" Kit

Designer Class Shares

Here's a few new public shares in the Designer Class. (click here) Aren't they awesome?!!

I've been asked when I will be offering the class to begin again and I believe I'm going to shoot for mid October.

Make a Difference

A man was walking down the beach at sunset. As, he walked along, he saw another man in the distance. He noticed this man kept leaning down, picking up something and throwing it out into the water, again and again. As, he approached even closer, he noticed that the man was picking up starfish that had been washed up on the beach. He was throwing them back into the water, one by one.

Puzzled, he approached the man and said, "Good Evening. I was wondering what you are doing."

"I'm throwing these starfish back into the ocean. You see, it's low tide and all these starfish have been washed up onto the shore. If, I don't throw them back into the ocean, they'll die up here from lack of oxygen."

"But, there must be thousands of starfish on this beach. You can't possible get to all of them. And, don't you realize this is probably happening on hundreds of beaches all up and down this coast. Can't you see that you can't possibly make a difference?"

The man bent down and picked up yet another starfish, and threw it back into the ocean. With a smile he replied, "Made a difference to that one!!!"

Just remember, no matter how small the deed it really does makes a difference.
Make a difference today. Do something nice for someone else, letting them know somebody cares about them.

**********
Version # 2
Once upon a time there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work. One day he was walking along the shore. As he looked down the beach, he saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself to think of someone who would dance to the day. So he began to walk faster to catch up. As he got closer, he saw that it was a young man and the young man wasn't dancing, but instead he was reaching down to the shore, picking up something and very gently throwing it into the ocean.

As he got closer he called out, "Good morning! What are you doing?"

The young man paused, looked up and replied, "Throwing starfish in the ocean."

"I guess I should have asked, why are you throwing starfish in the ocean?"

"The sun is up, and the tide is going out, and if I don't throw them in they'll die."

"But, young man, don't you realize that there are miles and miles of beach, and starfish all along it. You can't possibly make a difference!"

The young man listened politely. Then bent down, picked up another starfish and threw it into the sea, past the breaking waves and said, "It made a difference for that one."

Author Unknown

The Red House (Louis Lorimier, Father of Cape Girardeau)

The Red House opened in Cape Girardeau during the Lewis & Clark Bicentennial celebration the weekend of November 21 through 23, 2003. I remember the line was too long to get in that day. Unfortunately, as a resident of Cape Girardeau, it is common to let the daily routines take over, forgetting what it available for us right here in our own City.

My husband and I did not go back until July 4th, 2010, when it was offered to visit historic places for free while getting a card stamped to enter a free drawing.

To see all of the photos, visit this link.


In addition to learning about Louis Lorimier, the Father of Cape Girardeau, and Meriwether Lewis and William Clark's visit to Cape Girardeau, The Red House is an Interpretive Center in which one learns about the way of life in the 1800's.


The Red House sits across the street from the historic Old St. Vincent's Church on Main Street in downtown Cape Girardeau, next to the flood wall.


The original location of The Red House was where the parking lot of the church now sits. Eventually, the Church became the owners of The Red House. Both the Red House and the Church were destroyed in the tornado of 1850, but only the Church was rebuilt.


Tour guides, dressed in period garb, are a wealth of information and more than ready to share and answer any questions.


This is a photo from inside The Red House.


The Red House is a two room house, with a entry hallway between the rooms. There are stairs that lead to the second floor, but guests are not taken upstairs.


This 1803 map is significant because it was the year (November 23, 1803) which Lewis and Clark and their Corps of Discovery visited Louis Lorimier at The Red House. After the expedition, four members of the Corps returned to Cape Girardeau (George Drouillard, Private Alexander Hamilton Willard, Sergeant John Ordway, and Private Reuben Field).



Outside The Red House are four flower gardens representing life in the 1800's: vegetable, flower, and two herb gardens. One of the herb gardens is a medicinal herb garden. These gardens are maintained by the Cape Girardeau Garden Club.


When first entering the building, a manequin dressed as Louis Lorimier is sure to set one off on a reflective learning adventure.

In Meriwether Lewis's journal entry of November 23, 1803, he describes Louis Lorimier as "a man about 5 F 8 I high, dark skin hair and [e]yes; he is remarkable for having once had a remarkable suit of hair, he was very cheerful & I took occasion to mention this to him he informed me that it was on[c] so long that it touched the grond when he stood erect-nor was it much less remarkable for it's thickness; this I could readily believe from it's present appearance, he is about 60 years of age and yet scarcely a grey ahir in his head; which reach now when cewed (the manner in which he dresses it) nearly as low as his knees, and it is proportionally thick; he appears yet quite active-this uncommon cue falls dow his back to whit it is kept close by means of a leather gerdle confined around his waist-this man agreeably to the custom of many of the Canadian Traders has taken to himself a wife from along the aborigines of the country his wife is a Shawnee woman, from her complesion is half blooded only. she is a very desent woman and if we may judge from her present appearance has been very handsome when young, she dresses after the Shawnee manner with a stroud leggings and mockinsons, differing however from them in her linin which seemed to be drawn beneath her girdle of her stroud, as also a short jacket with long sleeves over her linin with long sleeves more in the stile of the French Canadian women;. . ."
Exerpt from the University of Nebraska Press edition of The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, volume 2.



The guides tell a "supposed" story that Louis Lorimier once used his floor-length braided hair as a quirt when riding his horse.


Pierre Louis de Lorimier was born in France, but is characteristic of changing his allegance to survive the changing times. When the French suffered losses in the French and Indian War, he changed his allegiance to Britian.

In 1769, Louis was living in Ohio where he began establishing close relationships with the Shawnee and Delaware tribes while managing a trading post. During the American Revolution, his trading post was lost due to it's association with Indians in order to make the area safe for American expansion.

Lorimer and his native American friends relocated to what is present day Indiana, but continued to struggle. The appeal of settling into Spanish territory, Lorimer relocated again to Cape Girardeau in 1791.

Lorimer's allegence changed to Spain as he gathered Native American's to fight in a Franco-American threat (the threat passed without battle) and the Spanish government established a post in Cape Girardeau with Lorimier as commandant. Lorimier received a number of land grants as payment for his services. After the Spanish government changed its policy to allow Americans to settle, having earned the trust of Spain, Lorimier was able to recommend folks for land grants, hold court, take the census, and maintain the militia for Cape Girardeau.

It was during this period and following in which Lorimier began laying out the land for Cape Girardeau which is still in existence in the streets of the City.

In 1803, the ownership of Cape Girardeau was changed during the Louisiana Purchase from Spain to France to the United States. Once again, Lorimier's allegence changed. Lorimier was to remain in charge of the militia and the United States government appointed him judge of the Court of Common Pleas.



On November 23, 1893, Lewis and Clark visit Louis Lorimier at The Red House in Cape Girardeau and Lewis's lengthy journal entry is an interesting read.


Louis Lorimier donated the property where the current Common Pleas Courthouse stands. The street which runs behind the courthouse bears Lormier's name.


The Mississippi River Tales (flood wall) mural contained two graphics depicting Louis Lorimier. In this graphic you can quickly identify Louis Lorimier by his dark braided hair. According to his journals, when Meriwether Lewis first caught up with Louis Lormier, he was at a local horse race, being the one who would settle disputes. Meriwether Lewis is depicted behind the horse, along with his Corps of Discovery. Later that evening, Lewis dined with Louis and his wife Charlotte and their two daughters (as seen next to Louis Lorimier).


The above graphic represents 1793 on the mural. In 1793, Spanish officials in St. Louis named Louis Lorimier as Commandant of the Cape Girardeau District. Shortly thereafter, Louis Lorimier received land grants in Cape Girardeau. In 1806, Lorimier laid out the lot and street plans along the wide, flat riverfront. In 1808, the small riverfront village was incorporated as the town of Cape Girardeau.


At the end of the popular River of Tales mural, one cane see the Missouri Wall of Fame mural originally designed by Margaret Randol Dement in 1995, and restored in 2006.


At the end of the Wall of Fame, there is non-painted wall which causes one to miss the third mural which is located directly behind The Red House.



I never realized the value in this mural until now. The Red House mural is also the artwork of Margaret Randol Dement. This artwork is a view of the Mississippi River, with the Illinois land across the river, as a view by Louis Lorimier as he might have seen when stepping out onto his porch.


The Red House mural depicts a sunrise.


What a wonderful background Margaret Randel Dement created for The Red House.


An Eagle and geese are also painted on the mural.


Louis Lorimier's wife, Charlotte Pemanpieh Bougainville Lorimier, died in 1808. I am told that her body was taken up the Mississippi River, up Sloan Creek to the first bend, and then to what is now Lorimier Cemetery.

So, my husband and I went on an adventure! We love to follow the footstps of history. You can see where the Mississippi River and Sloan Creek meet at the Red Star Conservation Area (boat dock).


This photo is what we guesstimated might be the first bend in Sloan Creek which is near a small church along Big Bend Road. We noted how far away Lorimier Cemetery was from this location and wondered why they would have gone to so much effort to paddle and carry Lorimier's wife this distance when it was just as close by road from The Red House to Lorimier Cemetery. We imagined that it must have been for native ceremonial rituals.


Louis died on June 26, 1812 and is also buried in Lorimier Cemetery. Louis had an unsuccessful marriage with Marie Bertheaume after the death of Charlotte, in which he had one child. He was also survived by the seven children he had with Charolette.


You can see where vandals continue to break into Lorimier Cemetery, even climbing over barbed wire fencing.


Due to the disrespect of a few, the Cemetery is now closed to the public. It is a shame that one has to contact officials in order to visit the Cemetary.

Eyelets

Download



The Elements Class is kicking off! As always, whenever I make something new in the forum, I always share it for at least 24 hours on my blog. Therefore, I hope you enjoy this freebie! Otherwise, you can find it in the Subscriber Area. Watch for more elements to come in the near future!

The Elements Class will take us about various types of elements and encourage us to think outside the box in different ways to utilize that element. Classmates will inspire each other!

Here's my layout to kick off the inspiration.

I used the eyelet as the dot on a letter.


Credits: Paisley Press (Wishing Jar Kit and Picture + Words Kit)

Follow God to VBS

My dishes went unwashed today.
I didn't make the bed;
I took God's hand and followed him
To VBS instead.

Oh, yes, we went adventuring
The Children and I;
Exploring the whole Bible
For truths we can't deny.

My house was sure neglected,
I didn't sweep the stair;
In twenty years no one on earth
Will know, or even care.

But that I've helped a boy or girl
To noble adulthood grow,
In twenty years the whole wide world
May look, and see and know.

Tenderness of a Child's Heart

I saw him in the church building for the first time on Wednesday. He was in his mid-70's, with thinning silver hair and a neat brown suit.

Many times in the past I had invited him to come. Several other Christian friends had talked to him about the Lord and had tried to share the good news with him.

He was a well-respected, honest man with so many characteristics a Christian should have, but he had never put on Christ, nor entered the doors of the church.

"Have you ever been to a church service in your life?" I had asked him a few years ago. We had just finished a pleasant day of visiting and talking. He hesitated. Then with a bitter smile he told me of his childhood experience some fifty years ago.

He was one of many children in a large impoverished family. His parents had struggled to provide food, with little left for housing and clothing. When he was about ten, some neighbors invited him to worship with them. The Sunday School class had been very exciting!

He had never heard such songs and stories before! He had never heard anyone read from the Bible! After class was over, the teacher took him aside and said, "Son, please don't come again dressed as you are now. We want to look our best when we come into
God's house."

He stood in his ragged, unpatched overalls. Then looking at his dirty bare feet, he answered softly, "No, ma'am, I won't-ever." "And I never did," he said, abruptly ending our conversation.

There must have been other factors to have hardened him so, but this experience formed a significant part of the bitterness in his heart. I'm sure that Sunday School teacher meant well. But did she really understand the love of Christ? Had she studied and accepted the teachings found in the second chapter of James?

What if she had put her arms around the dirty, ragged little boy and said, "Son, I am so glad you are here, and I hope you will come every chance you get to hear more about Jesus."

I reflected on the awesome responsibility a teacher or pastor or a parent has to welcome little ones in His name. How far-reaching her influence was!

I prayed that I might be ever open to the tenderness of a child's heart, and that I might never fail to see beyond the appearance and behavior of a child to the eternal possibilities within.

Yes, I saw him in the church house for the first time on Wednesday. As I looked at that immaculately dressed old gentleman lying in his casket, I thought of the little boy of long ago. I could almost hear him say, "No, ma'am, I won't-ever." And I wept.

Author Unknown

The Wine Bus! & Thousands of Trees!

Okay, it's not really called "The Wine Bus," but that's what I've been calling it!



Hubby and I took a ride on the Vines 2 Wines Excursion and had a great time. I was afraid that I would get motion sickness and, well, I did. However, I was able to bear it out, burping twice, and enjoyed myself otherwise.



Our tour guides were Tom & Suzanne VanderFeen.

This photo was super dark as it had metered off the light in the window.
However, when I corrected it in Photoshop, it came out as this cool old-time grainy texture! I kind of like it! Do you?



What a great couple! Tom is fairly quiet, but he did have to keep his eye on the road! He was a good driver and I felt unworried. Suzanne is so welcoming and always seems to have an interesting topic to talk about.

I was worried about being at their descretion should this weak-bladdered lady need a stop, but they immediately informed us that they could stop at any time, making us know that this was our trip and they were there to support us and help to make our trip the best it could be.

Suzanne understood my fright of possible motion sickness and immediately offered up her front seat next to Tom should I need it to help me through the trip. When I requested to use my iPhone for overhead music of my choice, the plug was readily available.

Tom and Suzanne both hold down daytime jobs, so this business is a hobby turned dream come true! They dabble in growing grapes and making their own wine. They were both very helpful in giving us wine tasting tips to make us feel comfortable with what we were doing and, therefore, both experienced and inexperienced wine tasters can feel as if they fit right in.

THOUSAND OAKS WINERY



Our trip took us to Thousand Oaks Winery & Vineyard and I am certain to go back, most especially when the weather is cooler so that the light of the brick oven fire can warm the atmosphere. We want to go back on a Sunday afternoon when there is music to enjoy.




Thousand Oaks winery is dotted everywhere with Oak! I loved these handmade tables and stools inside the building.



Bob and Teresa Eachus are the owners of the winery. They are second generation owners and I just have to smile at the thought of a quality family business. Check out that oak countertop!



Thousand Oaks Winery is nestled down a country road in the middle of tens of thousands of Oak trees. The scenery is just beautiful! I was told that it is named "Thousand Oaks" because "Tens of Thousands of Oaks" was too long of a name!

As you approach, you see a beautiful, large lake to the left. Off in the distance you can see the family home. On the right is the wine tasting building with the wrap around porch as seen above.

On the side of the wine tasting building are the main doors where one enters.



Inside we were greeted with a wide variety of wine choices.



The wines in an iced bucket were a nice touch to make the tasting room shout out "country!" Although I didn't try the dry wines, every wine I tasted was supberb and it was difficult to choose which to buy. We bought the Traminette "Hope" which is a wine dear to their hearts as it honors their parents and has a photo of them on the label.

I couldn't deny the saying on the crafty country wreath which hung on the door!

We were given complimentary portabello mushrooms which were cooked in the brick oven! They were to-die-for and I couldn't get enough of them! I learned that the secret sauce was Andrea's Sauce which can be purchased at Schnucks and I'm headed there the first chance I get to try this on my own! I'm betting it won't taste the same without a brick oven!




Wood fired brick oven pizzas were a big hit! So delicious! I am just picturing in my head going back when the fall days roll in and sitting on the back patio watching him cook my pizza in the oven. I can feel the hospitality spilling all over! This August day was too warm to be outside much, so I certainly have to go back!

Here is a photo of the side bi-level patio which overlooks the lake.

I spied a firepit in the lower patio and can picture myself enjoying a warm fire on a cool day while sipping wine and listening to good music. Are you with me now?

There was wedding chairs set up around the lake as they were preparing for a wedding the next day. What a beautiful setting! I want to go sit on this deck and sip wine for a while.

From a distance, I thought there was a lot of algea in the lake, but when I got close up, I realized there were a zillion of these itty-bitty lilly-pad like petals floating in the water. I was told they were called "water shields." How adorable!

There is a bridge leading to the patio on the back of the building where the brick oven is located.

I understand that he is willing to teach others how to cook in a brick oven. Me, I just want to watch!



Here's a photo of the two of us in front of the brick oven. Um, yes! We do have matching wine t-shirts! Um, yes! I got wine!