Honoring Bishop Baraga

I’m not Catholic, nor a religious person, but I couldn’t help but to be curious about the final resting place of Bishop Baraga in Marquette, Michigan. The Bishop, a Roman Catholic missionary to the Upper Peninsula, chose the site for St. Peter’s Cathedral way back in 1853.

Baraga taught the Ojibway Indians, while protecting their rights and learning from them at the same time. He even put together a dictionary of their language.

Baraga served throughout the UP, often traveling between communities on snow shoes during the harsh winters. He died in Marquette and is buried in St. Peter’s Cathedral, where a beautiful room with stained-glass windows show some of the works that he did.

To record our visit, and some of the beautiful details of the cathedral, I created this page. The one at the top is the left side, with a pocket to hold the pamphlet from the church. The page above is the right side. I used the arch die repeatedly across the two pages … repeating elements makes for an attractive layout, but it also helps the two pages blend into one layout.

All About the Coffee

Desperate for good coffee during a retreat, my friends and I drove into the neighboring town to a quaint, but busy, coffee shop. I had a pour over (I admit, I thought it was a new thing … lol) and it was the most amazing cup of coffee ever!

I was so in love, we went back the next day and I was able to create a page about my favorite treat. I used Medium Coffee Grid Paper and papers from Creative Memories. I also created a little pocket to hold tags that told of my journey. And, of course, a video that shows you to do it!

Ducks doing the Wave

This was a fun little page I made following an encounter with the ducks of the Fenton Mill Pond and Shiawassee River. I couldn’t believe they came running toward me — before I got some of the chicken’s meal worms out of the back seat — and ate right out of my hand. Feeding ducks is so much safer than feeding chickens … ducks have a soft bite and don’t try to eat your finger in the process.

I used the new Wave Border Set from Mosaic Moments to create the journaling spaces on the page. Here’s the video to show you how …

This post is sponsored by Mosaic Moments.

Magic Hour in Williamsburg

Matt and I traveled to Williamsburg, Virginia over Memorial Day weekend for a class with Tami Potter, creator of Mosaic Moments. Budget and time constraints kept the trip shorter than I imagined, but we still enjoyed three amazing days immersed in history.

One of the highlights of our trip was Magic Hour. Magic Hour is that time just before sunset when the lighting is soft and warm. It makes colors pop and everything look spectacular in photos. Kevin and Tami Potter took us on a little tour of some of Tami’s favorite gardens in the historic district and provided photo tips for us along the way.

Since Magic Hour occurs after most of the buildings in Williamsburg are closed, there were few people wandering about and our group practically had the city to ourselves! We went into places that we did not realize were open to the public, learned some tidbits of history from fellow members of our group, and got some amazing photos. It was one of those evenings I never wanted to end.

This is one layout I did showing just a few of the photos Matt and I took …. I wanted to keep the map and tips Tami gave us, so I included it in a pocket on the page. The layering on the pocket was inspired by Matt and the use of a totally different die set — the Postage Stamp Set. I was talking to him about the dies and bouncing ideas off of him for a video. He was thinking literally and thought I should create an envelope and put the stamp on it … I started thinking about how to make the flap and it evolved into this pocket …

I love how it turned out … and it is super easy to create. I made a video to show you how to do it …

 

 

This post is sponsored by Mosaic Moments.

Adding Pattern Paper

It is easy to use cardstock and photos to create beautiful mosaic pages using the Mosaic Moments system. But, pattern paper can also be used to enhance your pages.

On this page, part of my sister’s trip to Africa, I had random pictures of animals she saw on the game drive. I didn’t really have enough for a page and they didn’t really go together. So I used pattern paper to fill in all of the spaces and create a cohesive design.

Here’s the coordinating page …

I love how the paper becomes part of the story, and not just an accent on a page. It ties all of the photos together, yet lets each one talk on its own.

What do you think?

Flowers for Fiona

Fiona is a beautiful hippo born premature at the Cincinnati Zoo and I have been following her progress through social media since shortly after her birth. Fiona has required an enormous of amount of care, as any premature baby would, and there were many times she was almost lost. Several fundraisers have been created to help pay for Fiona’s care, including purchasing the Team Fiona shirt I am wearing in this page.

Happily, Fiona is doing well at nearly 400 pounds, has been reintroduced to her mother and is even occasionally on display for short periods of time.  Once she is out and about all of the time, I plan to make the 6-hour drive each way to meet her in person.

For me, being on Fiona’s team was so important that I thought I should record some of her memories on a scrapbook page. And, since Fiona is so special to me, I went all out and cut the flowers from wool felt, adding another layer of texture and dimension to the page.

I made a video to show you how I did it … you can watch it here …

This post is sponsored by Mosaic Moments.

Stars and Stripes Forever

I thought we should be a bit patriotic today, so I brought back this classic page from 2014 … This one was cut by hand, but you could do the same thing with the dies …
By the way, this is still one of my favorite pages of all time and it still lives in my sample book!

 

 

I captured the moments from our Fourth of July celebration on this Mosaic Moments layout.

Hop over to Journella to see how I created it and cheer me on!

I Love Chickens

If you hang around me for more than 30 seconds, you will discover my love of poultry — especially chickens and turkeys.

I raise both in my backyard and any morning that does not have me running to work will find me outside watching them play while I enjoy my coffee, check my email and, on days like today, post to my blog. I always have a camera with me whenever I’m outside, although it usually just my iPhone, so I always have plenty of pictures of my beloved babies to share.

On this page, I opted to grab a few of my recent favorites to create a page all about my love of chickens. I used Chili Pepper Grid Paper, which is a little bit of an orange red. I used two different heart die sets from Mosaic Moments, but I “repurposed” one of them to make it look like I used three different sets.

And, of course, I made a video to show you how I did it …

Thanks for watching!

This post is sponsored by Mosaic Moments.

African Graphics

 

My sister went on a trip to Africa last fall and I get to make the scrapbook showing all of her adventures.

This meal was her favorite, but she only had a couple of photos to remember it by, which left plenty of space for embellishments. I took my inspiration from the colorful plate and wall decor and used the new In the Corner Die Set from Mosaic Moments.

Here’s a video to show you how I did it …

This post is sponsored by Mosaic Moments.

Stripping the Kayak

I learned to kayak so I could get closer to nature — ducks, swans and turtles, in particular. So, I always have a camera with me when I go. While I haven’t had the courage to take my Cannon out on the water yet, I do bring my iPhone along for the ride.

For this page, I compiled some of the pictures I took, as well as some my husband took of me, into a panorama of sorts. It’s a great technique that is easy with Mosaic Moments.

Naturally, I made a video to show you how to do it …

This post is sponsored by Mosaic Moments.