A Virtual Blog Hop . . .

Good Morning Everyone and Happy Memorial Day to those of you who live in the United States. ♥

I would like to thank all of the men and women who are serving/have served our country, from the bottom of my heart.  We owe our freedom to you. ♥ 

At the Korean War Memorial at Washington, DC.

♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥

And I am very excited this morning because my talented friend, Michelle LaPoint Rydelle, asked me to participate in a virtual blog hop last week! ♥  What fun, I thought, when I got her e-mail.  I am honored to accept her invitation.  This virtual blog hop involves something a little different from the usual blog hops that I have participated in, so naturally I was happy to think about and answer the following questions:

1)  What am I working on now?

I am working on a special page that I am making for Anne.  It involves some water color and mixed media techniques that I love working with when I have the time:

It's not done yet, but I have a good start on it . . .

I am also designing a page for the next Challenge YOUrself competition.  This challenge site involves using a photo with YOU in it! Here is the description:

 " Hey you! The one who likes to snap hundreds of pictures of everyone else. Yes, you know who you are! It's time to start getting in front of the camera and scrapping memories that include YOU in the photo! Join us once a month and challenge YOUrself!"

I can't tell you how much I enjoy working on this team, not only because the owner and members are awesome, but because it challenges me every single time to use a photo with ME in it.  Hard for me to do!!  Here is a sneak peak of my latest page - not finished yet:

 . . .and I am in the process of continually working on my art journal that I started last year.

Here are some of my older pages:

 

I am also enjoying taking a photography class right now and am loving everything that I am learning about taking and editing photos.  Here are some of my recent shots:

Katie:

Kita:

Anne:

Anne and Katie:

and a beautiful flower:

2) How does my work differ from others?

I think my work and pages are different because I have a unique style all my own.  I love to try different techniques on my pages, and especially love to involve music is some way - like using lyrics to a favorite song of photo that reflect music and my mood.  I also have become very interested in photography and love using a special photo as the basis for my page.

3) Why do I create what I do?

Simply because I love to!  I find myself going through "withdrawal" and getting cranky when I don't have time to get to my scrap room to create.  I also do it because I want to preserve the memories for my children and their children and so on!!!!

4) How does my creative process work?

I really have not thought about it.  I usually start with a photo and go from there.  I have an idea in my head of what I would like to create, but sometimes my page turns out completely different than what I thought it was going to be.  I also love to use sketches and challenges for inspiration!

Well, that's it!  I hope you enjoyed reading a little bit about me!

Now on to the fun part:  I asked three friends to participate with me:

Tanya Ham:

She's a happily married mom to 3 adorable furry and four-legged kids. She loves to travel, create, and laugh. She's been keeping photo books with stickers and writing since she was very young, essentially "scrapbooking" before modern scrapbooking became what it is today.  She adores her 5 nephews and 1 glittery princess of a niece. She is very passionate about dog rescue, OU Football, OKC Thunder Basketball and UFC (she fully admits to being a TV yeller). Most summer weekends are spent at the lake, and her favorite vacation spot is LasVegas!

Cindy deRosier:

Cindy deRosier taught 4th and 5th graders for eleven years before becoming a stay-at-home mom in 2006. Now that her son is in school, she works from home during the school day as a freelance writer and designer in the craft industry. She blogs five times a week, sharing her scrapbook layouts, kids' crafts ideas, recipes, and other creative endeavors at www.cindyderosier.com. 

Lynn Lefevre:

Lynn lives in a small town in Northern Ontario Canada. She has been scrapbooking for 12 years and most of her layouts are centered around her husband and two daughters. She recently began a scrapbooking challenge blog called "Challenge YOUrself" where the goal is to encourage scrapbookers to include themselves in their layouts.

And the virtual blog hop continues . . . 

Thanks so much, as always, for stopping by my blog today. ♥  I hope you enjoy visiting Tanya's, Cindy's and Lynn's blogs next week, too!  ♥  And visiting Michelle's blog post from last week, too! ♥