The school that I taught at was steeped in tradition. The last day of classes was no exception. The buses were lined up around the circle with signs in the windows celebrating the beginning of summer vacation. Every teacher, staff member, and even community people arranged themselves around the circle to wave goodbye to all the students. For 22 years I stood on the sidewalk in front of this school and watched the children stream out of the building and load the buses. It was a joyous occasion for all. Teachers looking forward to relaxing, students glad that there was no more school (for a bit). It was also a time of tears. I always felt a little sad to see the end and to say goodbye to the students that had touched my life so much throughout the year. I was proud of the accomplishments that they had made and knew that they were destined for great things. As the buses drove away they honked the horns, children hung out the windows waving and teachers cheered them on. The horns continued to honk at every stop along the way as the children were taken home. Bus horns could be heard for miles. I miss that wonderful tradition, the comradeship that was felt that day.

Anna Aspnes
Artplay Palette Learn (paper, transfers, buttons, label word) (on sale 8.26.15) Artplay Palette Learn
School WordArt 1 (on sale 8.26.15) School WordArt 1
Artplay Palette Studious ( paper, buttons, butterfly) Artplay Palette Studious
Artplay Palette Scholarly (transfer, brush) Artplay Palette Scholarly
Artplay Palette Viaggio (overlay) Artplay Palette Viaggio
FotoBlendz Overlays 3 FotoBlendz Overlays 3
Magic Sparkles 2 Magic Sparkles 2
Urban Stitchez 10 Urban Stitchez 10
Urban Stitchez 11 Urban Stitchez 11
MultiMedia School 1 MultiMedia School 1
FadedWords Memories 1 FadedWords Memories 1
School WordTransfers 1 School WordTransfers 1
NoteBook 2 NoteBook 2

The Process
A solid paper from AP Studious was selected for the base of the page. Three masks from FotoBlendz Overlays 3 were layered on the page (2 vertical at the edges and 1 horizontal in the middle). An artsy paper from AP Learn was clipped to the left vertical fotoblendz, duplicated with the blending mode changed to color burn and the graph paper from AP Learn, duplicated with the blending mode changed to multiply, was clipped to right vertical fotoblendz. The photo was clipped to the horizontal fotoblendz (blending mode of the mask was changed to color burn to allow some of the texture to show through the photo. A transfer from AP Learn was layered on the right side over the fotoblendz mask. The journaling was added with a brush from NoteBook 2 framing it (blending mode changed to soft light and duplicated. MultiMedia School 1_4 (typewriter) was placed below the journaling. Brushes, stitchez, word art, magic sparkles, embellishments and an overlay were added to complete the page.
Thank you for looking.