Thursday, January 7, 2016

Welcome 2016!

Good Morning everyone!  I hope you are all having a wonderful 2016 so far!  We have finally gotten some cold weather and it feels like winter now.  Our temp is 11 degrees this morning.

Today I would like to share a layout I made for two different challenges:

The first is the  Challenge YOUrself challenge.  We decided to make the challenge fun for the first one of the year, so it is an anything goes challenge, as long as you have YOU in the photo!


And secondly, because my friend, Heather, encouraged me to do so, I am entering my layout into the More Than Words challenge for this month, too!  What an amazing challenge site it is.  I LOVED seeing all of the design team's work and the entries so far this month, too.


I also want to share my layout at Art Journal Journey because this month's prompt is winter wonderland!  


And without further ado, here is my layout:



With some close ups:


Here is a close-up of the photo - we are twins, but have such different personalities at times:


I used this photo of  my twin sister and me . . . taken when we decorated our Christmas tree in December.  We have a tradition of "trimming the tree and decking the halls" with my sister and her husband every year, and it has become a beloved one in our family!  I feel that this pic really depicts my personality and how much I enjoy enjoying the magic of the Christmas season, especially with my wonderful family!!!  Karen and I dreamed of snow and having a White Christmas, but it wasn't it the cards.  But we did enjoy watching the movie:


We had temps into the 60's during December, thanks to El Niño:  


But no worries - Winter is here with a vengeance in January!  Brrrrrrrr . . . we are not accustomed to these cold temperatures yet.

And I would like to end by sharing a recent photo that I took.  This week's Our Beautiful World prompt is calm:

I took this photo at Jacobsburg Park which is 5 minutes from our home and converted it to black and white:


And here are two more; we haven't had snow, but you can see the frost that looks like snow in these photos:



Well, that's it for today!  Thanks so much for stopping by my blog.  Your visits mean very much to me.  I wish you a wonderful January and very happy 2016!

Hugs to you!

38 comments:

  1. Beautiful layout! Love the black background with all the white. So pretty.

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  2. This is wonderful Sharon! I adore the colour combo you've used. Have you seen our new More Than Words challenge yet? It also has the requirement of a selfie. Just sayin'!

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    1. here's the link..... http://morethanwordschallenge.blogspot.com.au/

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  3. GORGEOUS! LOVING those snowflakes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  4. Lovely calm photo!Happy New Year!AriadnefromGreece!

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  5. Amazing laout! The phot os wonderful - wonderful calmness!

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  6. Absolutely gorgeous, Sharon! Love that rich, dark background and your glittery flakes! So festive!

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  7. Happy New Year! I love your layout with all the layers under your photo.. and bbrrrrr.. that sounds cold... we are in the mid of summer here and the days and nights are so very warm at times.. and love the photo of the stream... what adventures a child could get up to there.. have a great day!

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  8. Love your page in beautiful basic black! And your photo is beautiful. January has started out cold for us here in NC. I'm not crazy about these temperatures, but I know we need a certain season of it. We are all doing well. The donkeys have a heated waterer so I don't have to chop ice off the other ones too often, and the chickens bundle up under the bushes. I always enjoy your art and your updates. Have a blessed rest of the day, my friend!

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  9. What a lovely layout Sharon, I just can't take my off all the pretty layers, lots of interest too, awesome work there!
    I love your photo too, sure is peaceful and calm, thanks for sharing with us at Our Beautiful World, it is always a pleasure to see you link up with us! : )

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  10. Lovely LO, Sharon! You always do the most creative work. The colors just pop against the black background.

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  11. This is a stunner of a page...saw it over at SY blog & thought so there....this just confirms it!!! LOVE the colours and the big snowflake & the frames. NICE one!!!

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  12. Hello Sharon! Happy New Year!! I can't believe we are on day 9 already, trying to slow this month down after the rush of December. We are feeling winter here too now, such a shock to wear winter coats and hat after the warm Christmas we had, lol. I always love reading about you and your sister, so wonderful that you get so much time with her and favorite traditions. Lovely layout and photo at the end, it does look peaceful and cold.
    I did watch The Middle and liked it so much, how nice that Susan made a friend!!! Hope all is well with you and your family, is Katie back to school? Stay warm friend. HUGS!!

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  13. Wonderful work, hanks so much for linking your lovely winter piece to Art Journal Journey, hugs, Valerie

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  14. Oh yes! Definitely calm! It's a wonderful photo! Thanks so much for sharing at OBW

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  15. ♥♥♥Thank you very much Sharon for linking to Art Journal Journey!
    That makes us happy!
    Happy weekend to you!
    oxo
    Susi

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  16. Gorgeous layout! I'm not a scrapper but I can't certainly appreciate your work!!
    Thanks for stopping by my blog.

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  17. I love the layout and how the dark background makes everything stand out. A great idea.. Fantastic photographs as well

    Thank you for joining us at Art Journal Journey

    Love Chrissie xx

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  18. beautiful page, made with love and meaning. A treasure. Enjoyed your post with the photographs. hugs, Donna

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  19. The Christmas scrapbook page of you and your twin sister is spectacular with all that layering and the splash of white and aqua. I also love your "calm" theme shots, especially the b&w version. Thanks for your visit and blessings!

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  20. oh, i haven´t been here for a while... wonderful scrapbook page for this theme at ajj. i wish you all the best for 2016:)

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  21. Fabulous Chrissy layout Sharon of you & your twin & I think you have shown that you sure love Christmas. Great colours too. Thanks so much for playing along with us at More Than Words. :)

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  22. Wonderful layout!! Love the twin selfie! Love your colors! All the best from MTW! :)

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  23. Your layout is beautiful and water is so calming and you've capture it wonderfully.

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  24. Hello from AJJ.
    Your Winter layout is wonderfully textured and layered and oh so lovely. It must be very special growing up with a twin.
    Happy January.

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  25. Great Layout! I loved the pictures from Jacobsburg Park!

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  26. What a fabulous wintery scrap/journal page. I love how you layered all the frames and that BIG snowflake too. Nice photos. The first one in black and white is stunning!

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  27. Oh, what beautiful photos! Thank you for sharing that and your wonderful pages. You'e so talented and I'm always wanting to scrap after visiting you :) HAPPY NEW YEAR to you and the girls!! xoxo

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  28. Love your layout of you and your sister...it must be so neat to have a twin. Your photos are beautiful as always.

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  29. Nice work. Thank you for playing! KareenBH for MTW

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  30. Love your layout and the park photos are beautiful. Winter is finally here too and we have our first snow!

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  31. Great work again, Sharon, I love your layout.
    I do like the way you have so many patterns and your photograph but have a lot of empty space too, that is very effective.

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  32. Such a WONDERFUL chrissy page...THANK YOU for joining us this month over @ More Than Words... ♥

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  33. A great LO Sharon and fantastic photos as always

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  34. Such a lovely page! Thank you for playing with us at More than Words!

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  35. Wonderful page with lots of winter elements against a bold dark background! Thank you for playing along with us at More Than Words!

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  36. Great to see you at More Than Words Sharon! Woohoo!

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  37. Nice black background!! Beautiful layout! Thank you for playing with us at More than Words!

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