Soaking it Up

I'm really enjoying scrapping through our trip to the US, remembering the sights and how we felt with the boys and dh. But this week's layouts especially was about soaking it up. But more on that later.

Just want to say a BIG thanks to all your feedback about how you organise! I had so much fun reading (especially Donna's !) and am slightly embarassed that some of you actually think of trying out my very non-digital way of organising.. lol... I stuck to it because I started before I was aware of any software, and also as Sara said, I like to thumb through it, and carry it with me around the house. To answer some one who actually asked me to elaborate, I copy the kit previews into a Word document, along with the name the kit is listed in my folder (when i download, I make sure I name it along with the designer's name so it is easier to give credit later). When I'm doing a layout, I flag out potential kits with a post-it (yeah!) and then go to my folders at one go to try them all out on the layout. Actually I'm so impressed by Donna and those who actually tag each kit and each item in each kit in ACDSee, I WISH I had that! I'm seriously interested in Christie's way of organising the previews in iphoto (I could probably do it in Bridge), then I could save lots of Ink!!
One last point, I am trying to cut down on my freebie downloading and kit buying - both for time sake and for organising sake .... it's not easy ! :>

Now about the layouts. This first one was very difficult to do. How do I give the right feeling to a layout of Ground Zero?? Dh gave me the idea of turning the photos black and white leaving a hint of color. What do you think?

But mostly doing this layout brought much thoughts. Here's the journaling for my layout:
We will never forget turning on CNN that night, and thinking is this a movie, hearing the unbelievable news, then watching as the second plane hit the towers, live. The boys were babies then, but we were determined that all of us visit Ground Zero.. When we got there, I remember thinking the place is so huge. It seemed so unreal that this is where it all happened, and now everything is going on around it, except for that gaping space. We read all the words at the temporary memorial, then proceeded to St Paul’s Chapel Church. How movingly and simply the human spirit is captured here. The victim’s photos, their family’s words, the badges of helpers, teddy bears donated, pews with marks that they slept on, paper cranes from japanese people,, including survivors of Hiroshima, and posters, caps, from all people over the world to say how they feel.. We savored every bit to keep in our hearts, the boys spent more time at the information booths. So glad we made it.
Credits: Background papers by Matahati Designs’ It’s a Charmed Life, (so sorry, I can’t recall which kit I got the overlay from !), word tags from Kasharonk’s Grunge City, swirls by Nkubo, metal charm and brads by Lisa Sisneros, flowers from Mary’s Scrapgalerie, vintage heart by Gina Cabrera, flower by Lisa Hankins.

This second layout is of random photos of us wondering in NYC. We were just soaking it in. Many times when we were there dh said to us, 'soak it in!' or 'suck it all in!' and Ryan would take a literal deep breath of the air and everything, so we won't forget....
Credits: background paper by Sarah Belle, orange heart and ring ribbon by Mira Designs, black alpha by Gina Marie, hanging tag by GG Digital Designs, floral swirl by Melanie Johnson

As usual, the templates for these layouts are available in the store here Thanks for looking!

Now I don't know why all these layouts turned out to be on black background! I'm just going through a phase I guess, lol. This one is self explanatory.
Credits: glittery letters by Emily Merritt Designs, squares overlay by Robyn England, background paper by Laren Reid, word art by Jackie Eckles

This template will be available in the store soon