Are You Keeping Busy?

[Vicki Robinson]

Tell me, are you intentionally doing anything right now to keep yourself grounded?

In the bizarro world we find ourselves living in right now, I realize I’m feeling extremely sentimental. I’m taking a lot of comfort looking through my digital scrapbook pages. Today my parents would have been married for 66 years - Mom has been gone for four years now. She was a paraplegic as the result of a car accident (drunk teenager hit her) and also had accident-related memory loss. One of the ”exercises" my Dad had her do was to write down various memories - that's her handwritten notes of how and when she met my Dad. I made her notes into a photoshop brush and added them, along with my favorite of their wedding photos, to this digital collage I made from scanned and extracted book spines, vintage pages, etc. I printed and framed it and sent to my Dad for his 85th birthday a couple of years ago.

I've actually fallen in love with this kind of collage made of scanned bits of stuff and might even try making a kit of them.

 

[Kythe]

How absolutely heartwarming. What a clever idea making a brush from the memories.

 

[taxed4ever]

So beautiful Vicki!! Love this so much! I have to try that with some of my Mom's handwriting and making it into a brush! You are so clever! I was thinking the other day that now might be a great time to start working on some handmade Christmas Gifts or even starting my next year Calendar. It would certainly be a good way to keep busy!

 

[Adryane]

Wonderful! Love love that it includes a scan of your mom's writing.

 

[felis]

Such a bittersweet memory, Vicki! Thank you for share it wit us this beautiful layout!

 

[AZK]

Scanning the handwriting is a wonderful idea. My mom did a lot of writing after she had her stroke, mostly recording family tree sort of information. I'll have to see if there's anything there that would work in a similar fashion.

 

[Danesa]

Vicki, that is a beautiful page. I know when you look at it the emotions must be stirred deeply. I have some old letters from my mom, from the 40s & 50s. I need to scan them and make brushes. (That would be a great tutorial!) *wink*wink

I've been keeping my mind busy, making junk journals, digital layouts, cards, working in my garden (on rare days its not raining.) Today, the sun is out and I'm going to just sit outside and soak up some fresh air, for awhile.

I hope everyone is staying safe & well.

Thank you, Vicki, for keeping us motivated & inspired, during this crazy time!

 

[CindaA]

That sounds really cool, Vicki! My mom got a tattoo on her wrist of my dad's handwriting "Love Jon" shortly after he passed away last fall.

I'm almost done with my 2017 scrapbook. I'm still teaching online in the mornings and am on call for a help desk in the evenings. My afternoons are kind of blah, but I've gotten out to a local metro park a few times now for a really good walk. It's beautiful to see everything beginning to bloom although it causes a bit of allergic reatctions for me. It's so weird having the four of us at home all of the time.