Scraps of Darkness for Reveal Day

 Escape Kitty- Great Great Granny Kitty

This was created using the Scraps Of Darkness sketch design by suepup, Charlotte Jenkins. 

You can see the whole crazy write-up here in Escape Kitty's blog.  Yeah, she's a blogger and a traveler.  

It tells of the long genealogy of Escape Kitty going back to the Mayflower, rumor has it.  The short version:  Kitty family landed in America. Fast forward to Great Great Grand Kitty in her youth. She was certainly adventurous, traveling about the country hopping rides on stage coaches (as seen in the photo), trains, horseback and whatnot to cross the big land. This photo was taken before she started her kitten family. The resemblance to Escape Kitty is remarkable, don'tcha think? 

I used a doily from the Wilton cake decorating section at my local craft store. The used Tim Holtz Wild Honey on it and finished it with Tim Holtz Vintage Photo.  Very appropriate for this real vintage layout (wink).     

Here is a close up of the details in Granny's adventure. The broach is a clearance find in the jewelry section at my craft store. 

Alone - Alzheimer's Disease

We were on the Naples Pier in Florida one evening taking our walk. The evening was clear, warm, beautiful and perfect. As we were leaving I took this photo. It was a sad image for me. The older lady in the photo was there waiting for the sun to set, waiting for twilight. All alone – out of focus. 

This is what memory loss is like to me. This is what Alzheimer's Disease is like. The chicken wire is the separation and inability to break through the mind. 

My father-in-law suffers from this devastating monster of a disease. He is all alone in his mind. I can no longer see the real person he was. He is fuzzy, blurry and completely out of focus. He is in his twilight and sunset days and he is alone while the world around him is beautiful, sunny and thrives. 

Thoughts and prayers for all you who have first hand experience with this dreadful disease. I am saddened and sorry 

Flowers, Shells, Waves, Dusty Attic, Etc:

• Flowers - Prima that I accented with white puffy paint for sea foam. 
• Dusty Attic - Chicken wire with blue beads sewn on.
• Waves - blue tissue paper layered with modpodge.  The second layer of waves was inked with Tim Holtz Broken China.   I added some puffy paint on the top for more sea foam. 
• Shells -  shells are from the Naples beach.  I sift through the beach looking for the perfect shells to take home and scrap.

This year I had 8 lbs of sand and shells to move, causing my luggage to be overweight.  The fee for overweight luggage is $40.    No way is my sand and shell collection worth $40, so I did what all women would do........had my husband carry the loot in his carry-on.  hahahahaha. 

Oh my husband is a great sport - and I am a muscular wimp.  8lbs is a lot when I am toting my 15 lb camera bag and its assemblage of accessories and batteries and whatnot. 

    

Peaceful Me - Scraps Of Darkness

This was created for the Skeletons in the Closet Challenge over at Scraps Of Darkness to scrap the inner you. The Sept. Kit is a jaw dropper. Come check us out.
http://www.scrapsofdarkness.com/

A photo of me from Florida, July 2011. Thanks to some photo editing with Florabella, I was able to achieve this chocolaty black and white edit.

My background paper is a piece of test scrap paper I have had for about a year - misting and spraying and inking over and over on it. It was a rich grunge color and perfect to express the inner me - kind of ragged, disjointed, yet happy and at peace.

The really great part? I used the chippy that I received from the Dusty Attic prize pack. "The Peaceful Heart finds Beauty in all things". So perfect. Thanks Dusty Attic and thanks to you for looking.
Oh - the circle I used was the Dusty Attic circle spacers from the Large Dusty Attic clock faces. Another cool unexpected little bonus from the fine folks at Dusty Attic.

Window Shopper 

This is a photo I took in Oct 2009 inside an antique shop. This pretty glass was in the window asking me to buy it and take it home. Well, I looked at the little price tag hanging off the side and quickly decided I'd rather just take a photograph. 

I am NOT a wealthy scrapper. 

This was created using the Sept. Scraps Of Darkness kit for the sketch challenge at Dusty Attic. I used the sketch by Michelle Grant - she is amazing and so inspirational.