Left: Artsy Layered Template #148 https://www.oscraps.com/shop/Artsy-Layered-Template-No.-148.html
Right: FotoInspired Template FitPak2 https://www.oscraps.com/shop/FotoInspired-Template-Pack-No.-2H.html
Branch: Magic Rabbit Artplay Palette https://www.oscraps.com/shop/ArtPlay-Palette-Magic-Rabbit.html
Beaded Threads: Fabulous Word Art https://www.oscraps.com/shop/Fabulous-WordART-Mix-No.-1.html
Fasteners and Buttons: Archive Artplay Palette https://www.oscraps.com/shop/ArtPlay-Palette-Archive.html , L'Amour Artplay Palette https://www.oscraps.com/shop/ArtPlay-Palette-L-Amour.html , Riant Artplay Palette https://www.oscraps.com/shop/ArtPlay-Palette-Riant.html
Wood Word: Document Artplay Palette https://www.oscraps.com/shop/ArtPlay-Palette-Document.html
Ribbon: Rougir Artplay Palette https://www.oscraps.com/shop/ArtPlay-Palette-Rougir.html
Urban Stitchez: https://www.oscraps.com/shop/Stitching/
Internet photos: customs agent, cobblestones, flag
About our three days in St. Petersburg, Russia
Journaling: :The first thing I noticed after stepping into our mini-van on the other side of Russian customs (a KGB experience for sure), was the McDonalds coffee cup...and all of a sudden Russia didnt seem quite so foreign. We adored our tour guide and driver, Elena and Ilya, and would soon bond with the eight strangers who were joining us on our three-day whirlwind adventure into Russian history and culture. St. Petersburg is a huge city of gigantic contrasts, with unimaginable opulence--both past and current--existing side by side with the dingy remnants of Communism. When in Russia you see what Russia wants you to see, but Elena filled in the blanks with stories of her own and her familys lives under Communism. During our travels, we passed many of the grim prefab housing complexes built during that time; most Russians still live in these dilapidated buildings, in tiny three- or four-room apartments that are sold, not rented. Eventually we passed an actual McDonalds (spelled using the Cyrillic alphabet), and of course I snapped a picture. St. Peter and Pauls Fortress is a ubiquitous sight--wed catch glimpses of the golden spire as we motored around the city, back and forth across the rivers and canals. And there were SO many canals! The Russian Imperial Family was entirely preoccupied with Venice, with all things European really, and their city shows that--St. Petersburg was widely regarded as the Venice of the North. Given the labyrinth of waterways, the best views of many of the iconic structures were from the water, which we would appreciate on our boat ride during the last day of our visit. This was a good place to begin our tour, as Peter and Pauls is the birthplace of St. Petersburg, built for military fortification and then later used as a prison. The cathedral is the burial place of most of the Russian czars; the remains of Nicholas II (the last emperor) and his family were re-interred here on July 17, 1998, the 80th anniversary of their deaths.
Photoshop Elements 14
I worked on these two pages separately, then joined the two templates, separating them with Threadz running down the centerfold. I've been doing this a lot in this album, for more flexibility. To unite the pages, I also moved some of the paint from the template on the left to the right page. This was a weird spread because of the content, dictated by the way the pages are breaking in this album, so I used red to lead the eye and converted a few of the photos to black and white, giving one of them a bluish gradient fill layer just to perk it up a little.
