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Even I've heard of Gordie Howe, and I don't follow hockey. What an amazing sight to see the construction. I love those bridges with the angled cables. Our newest has that, too, at the Tappan Zee (now Cuomo) over the Hudson.

Using my son Steve's Rainbow again. This time within Cassel's Crochet Lace Frame she gave us some time ago.

I have other things to do but they are things I don't really want to do, so....I'm playing with PSP! Major procrastinator here. At the Windsor (Ontario) and Detroit (Michigan) border which is the Detroit River, there has been both a bridge and a tunnel for nearly 100 years. The Ambassador Bridge until quite recently was owned by an private citizen who made lots of money over the decades with his toll booths, gas pumps, and duty-free shops. That bridge was completed in 1929 and took two years to build. In 2015, the new bridge plans began. They decided to call it the Gordie Howe (for a famous hockey player from Detroit). Its progress has been well documented online and it has been amazing to watch as they brought the two spans (Canada side and US) together in the middle. But it has taken so long that I began to worry I might never live to see it or use it! (It's about 1/2 hr or so from where I live.) The bottom right photo taken in Windsor by a photographer (Mark Hewer) shows the view of the bridge from a main artery road in that city, posted on FB. There are fabulous views of both bridges now when you visit Windsor, especially at the riverfront. I used a Cass Template (from Lab 12-11) b/c the photo spots were so nicely framed and ready. The background has several layers of papers all blended. The pix come from online.

The new Tappan Zee bridge is beautiful. It's also very long, three miles. (And, of course I've heard of Gordie Howe. Yes, I'm that old.)

Week 45 I was in such a hurry I ripped the darned sticker. I think the tutorial is called Torn Photo. It's a quick and easy one too. Gradient background, nice and light for a change, with a little texture on it.

I've been to Canada using both the bridge and the tunnel. And, I've also crossed at Sarnia. On one of my trips, I was a passenger and was able to get a photo of the US and Canadian flags that were displayed right next to each other. I think it was when we were coming off the bridge on the Canadian side. Two of my friends and I were on our way to a scrapbooking retreat at the Elm Hurst Inn in Ingersoll, Ontario. Beautiful place! I went to a retreat there 3 different years (2007 - 2009).

The background photo and the the St Clare statue with tree are mine.

It is well-known that journaling your thoughts is a path to healing from the trauma of grief. We grieve for many losses, not just death. 🤗

Our New York State governor at the time the bridge was updated was Andrew Cuomo and his father, Mario, was a 3-time governor and well-known in politics. The bridge was re-named for Mario, but there's a lot of push-back as many liked the old name and disliked Mario. Photo is a drone photo of the Mario Cuomo Bridge over the Hudson River between Nyack and Tarrytown July 26, 2019, Peter Carl and John Meore/The Journal News.

I think it might be an interesting twist to choose another month of the year (even if it is a "boring" month) to do something similar. It could be a personal challenge, in a way.

I've met people from all over the country through these retreats. The ones I went to were all organized by different people that were members of a scrapping forum. It sort of started when people in the same area would get together and evolved into much larger gatherings. I was a paper scrapper when I first went but became digital not long after. I've been to retreats in several different states along with the one in Ingersoll. A lot of the ScrapShare (the forum that is now defunct) retreats are no longer being held but some still are on a smaller scale. One of my friends from there still goes to retreats several times a year. In fact, she was at one 9 days ago when her husband passed away unexpectedly.

It also is a way to just document my daily life even though it is boring! But it also kind of forces me to not wallow in the depression but to get out and do things if weather is OK and to think outside the box about the photos I take each day. It has been interesting to look back and see how different each December has been since 2017. I've included screen shots of news headlines some years as well, especially in 2020. I first learned about it at The Lily Pad. Their designers design kits around a theme every year and they have a sub-forum with different challenges and tips on completing the project. Some people only do 25 days ending with Christmas. Some people do 6x8 layouts, some do full 12x12 layouts, others do Project Life type of layouts. Some people do something like the Project 52 some of you are completing here this year, with just 1 photo to reference each day.

Beautiful! I love Art Deco ever since as a small child I stayed at my uncle's farm and that is how my wealthy aunt decorated the house. I was in awe!

What a good idea; reminds me of an Advent Calendar. I'll have to see what will work for me.

I too feel it keenly since my Mom passed in 1985, though it wasn't around Christmas time, the season was so special in our family and now everyone's gone of my generation and earlier. I'm not sure I'm up to doing Santa stuff with the greats. Do still love the music, though.🎵🎄

@Julie Magerka I'm not a fan of Taylor Swift, but I love your layout. That background is marvelous and everything just flows together.

I am in also. Could not do the one last year due to eye issues and am looking forward to try again.

WEEK 45 - fallen leaves left for pollinators and other insects to over-winter

I also do it in October.... to document the colors of fall!

I wasn't even aware of such a thing as a scrapbooking retreat! Sounds like a fun time.

I completely agree with you. The perspective and framing is wonderful! @Corrie Kinkel

I have always loved that kind of perspective as is shown in this photo with the poles and wires.

Week 46 I used Effects> photo effects> Time Machine>Early color. The frame doesn't have transparency on the outside of the scalloped edged, I wonder why. I had to do some selecting to delete them. I'll be asking that question in the next Q&A, how I can use that effect but have transparency past the outer edge of the frame. Wish it also put the frame on another layer, I was able to select and do it, but I'm sure I did everything the long hard way. Still I like the effect. I used an art deco background with a another color above and used a blend mode. Picked an Art Deco font.

Your project to document the month is a wonderful idea. It's something all those family members you've lost would be proud of. They are with you, in your heart and your memories.

I'm also not a fan but my cousin's daughter/granddaughter are huge fans. Allison and Caroline flew to Los Angles (from Orlando) to see her in August 2023. Then in June of 2024, Allison, her husband (Dennis), son (Luke) and Caroline saw her in Lyon, France. They did make a vacation out of that trip going to Chamonix and then some time in the Swiss Alps as well (they had been in Paris and Nice the summer before). Then apparently Allison and Caroline saw her again in Miami last month. I just can't see spending that kind of money on any concert. But if it makes them happy...

Listening to him singing Back Home in Indiana at the Indianapolis 500 every year was such a treat. It just isn't the same these days.

I love the old Christmas music best. the ones you mentioned and Bing Crosby, Andy Williams, Frank Sinatra, Doris Day, and Vince Guaraldi (Charlie Brown - one my all time favorites) and so many more. My parents has the Time-Life Album set. It is a special memory I have when my mom would play them for me.

I'm not a fan of her, but this is a stunning layout! She has been to the Netherlands this year on het Eras tour and the Swift mania was gigantic.

I just couldn't resist this one! She is in the news cycle all this month in this part of the world (Toronto area), with her first concert happening on Thursday night past. She is doing six sold-out performances for 50K happy fans each night. Ticket prices are unbelievable, some as high as thousands of Can dollars. I am not a Swiftie, but I can appreciate her many talents (including her financial acumen) and the coverage about her is better to hear about than other things going on. I just played with it and had fun! Lots of blending and masks.

I actually worked for a retailer at a Scrapbook retreat 4 yrs in a row. I wasnt a scrapbooker or a PSP person (but I was a papermaker and bookbinder - paper is paper, not matter what you do with it).

Sterkte Jannette! Deze workshop komt nog wel een keertje, maar ik snap dat het soms fijn kan zijn om even aan de situatie te kunnen "ontsnappen".

Hoi Jannette, ik hoop dat je met Google Translate begrijpt wat ik bedoel. Het spijt me om te horen over je man, ik bid dat hij zal verbeteren. Ik kijk ernaar uit om te zien wat je kunt doen in deze workshop. Tijd doorbrengen met je man en bezoekers is een prioriteit, ik weet zeker dat Carole deze workshop nog een keer zal doen, als je hem niet kunt voltooien. Hi Jannette, using Google Translate, I hope you get the gist of what I am saying. I'm sorry to hear about your husband, I pray he will improve. I am looking forward to seeing what you can do in this workshop. Spending time with your husband and visitors is a priority, I am sure Carole will do this workshop again sometime, if you're unable to complete.

Ik zal het gaan proberen. Ik heb er vorige keer veel van geleerd. Ik kan niet beloven elke dag in te kunnen leveren. Mijn echtgenoot is ernstig ziek en hij is zwak heeft ook veel rust nodig. Daarom wil ik zoveel mogelijk bij hem zijn. Ook krijgen we vaak visite voor het geval dat hij ons plotseling ontvalt.

A couple of weeks ago I came along this plant and with the sun on the silvery seedpods the seeds were shining through. I used all the elements in the DIY image but I rearranged them to my liking. Three of the rectangles have a part of the same photo and the fourth has the text about this Honesty or Judaspenning in Dutch. As it is about silver. I colored the leaves in silver with some noise. For a decoration on the 4th rectangle I used cass-Decostitches3 which I was very lucky to win but hadn't used yet due to working on my calendars. The font for the text is Franklin Gothic Book and the background is again made by using some of Anna Aspness goodies. There are some seeds scattered on the background and those are by Sheila Reid.

So they replaced the wonderful name of Tappan Zee with Cuomo? Why? The name was both Native American and Dutch. Pretty spectacular photo!

😄 Gosh, Suz, that vessel is gorgeous! (What is it? 😉)

Thanks Julie. It will never get easier since both my parents are gone and I have no spouse or children of my own. The last 6 weeks of the year has been hard for the family since 1971 when my mom's mother (the glue in her family) passed away the day after Thanksgiving (Nov 26). Three years before Mom passed, my dad's mother passed away the Monday before Thanksgiving and we buried her the day after Thanksgiving, Two years later my mom's father died the beginning of December then Mom the next year. Too much death in my family during that time period. I have found ways to keep the depression away during the month. I keep busy by scrapping or working on jigsaw puzzles. I've also done a project since 2017 called "Document Your December". I take photos every day and do 31 layouts of what my month was like. Yep, even got a photo of me in a hospital bed in last year's layouts!

I really understand how you feel Rene. After my mother died, holidays were very difficult for such a long time. I hope it gets better for you over time.

He's a tolerant man.

Wow Corrie! This is stunning.

Sad face, because of the climate change. we just had our first real snowfall, about 1 month late. a week ago it was 17 Celsius, the next day, below zero.

Wasn't his spectacular voice a revelation when all we knew was a "hayseed character" from TV?

I couldn't resist. This is my favorite of the AI pictures I did of that Caboose Lake photo. Used Cass' Shaped Text script on the Bahira text, which I had duplicated and inner bevelled. I added shadows to all.

The weather this week is a repetition of the weeks before, foggy and gray! The best place to take a photo where you can see this, is the railway crossing in our small station. I have to cross the tracks almost daily because the shops, pool, library are all on the opposite side from where we live. The only color in this photo comes from the trees that still have their leaves.

The Snowberry bush, is a low growing native bush. The flowers are quite insignificantly tiny, yet produce an abundance of food for pollinators. The berries start out black, then turn to white, to sustain small creatures throughout the winter months. The Snowberry Sphynx moth caterpillars feed on the leaves. Photo taken on Wednesday.

I enjoyed this workshop last time so much that I'm thinking perhaps I could create an ALPHA using my own creations here...

Hi everyone, I am in, too. I'm a typography addict, so looking forward to this workshop. It is a long time since I had a good play with fonts.

Week 44 - Sun Nov 10 - Mendocino (CA) Halloween - Photo by (Grandma) Debbie Lennox | Family= Dad, Will; Mom, Lucy; Magic, Age 4; Raja, Age 1. Font=Witch Mystery

Week 45 Fuchsias in bloom at the start of November! It has been so mild here in England that these flowers have kept on going. I usually lose them with the first frosts in October – last year it was on the 3rd. Amazing to still have the colour in the garden.