My Hands - My Perceived Weakness

[written Sunday, August 2, 2009]

Last day of staycation. Went on a bike ride along C&O Canal yesterday stopping at Dickerson Recreation Center along the Potomac River. Dirt splattered onto our legs with each pedal and bugs smacked against our heads, announcing their arrival with a buzz. But we were in the heart of nature, near where the Confederate Army crossed the Potomac River during the Civil War. The terrain is flat flanked by the canal on one side and the river on the other. We picnicked at Dickerson Recreation Center and watched White's Ferry make its routine crossing a few times before biking back to our car.

From there, melancholy crept in. The thought of returning to work is almost unbearable. Soon autumn will be upon us again and with it the rush of back-to-school activities and holidays and, ugh, winter. By the time you read this, that dreaded season may well be over.

This may be the last page of the Biltmore scrapbook I complete for a while, but I'm happy with my progress this week.

I've got most of this page worked out already. I selected a couple of 6 x 6 background papers that resemble Victorian wallpaper to arrange in checker formation behind my pictures. I also know I want to use a "Rest & Relaxation" rub-on in the center of the page.

For the journaling, I plan to cut strips of beige cardstock to flank the pictures. But right now, I adhere everything with tape runner. As I'm trying to line up the papers with the edge of the page and with each other in the center, I silently curse because my very unsteady hand won't cooperate. When I'm old and decrepit, I'll have tremors. You heard it here first.

Wiggly, wobbly hands is my chief weakness from my vantage point. They contribute to camera shake and many an error when handling delicate embellishments like alphabet stickers and tiny wands with stars. Fortunately, the digital age has been my saving grace. Gladly, the shake doesn't negatively contribute to vigorously moving a popsicle stick back and forth over a rub-on, which I proceed to do now onto a piece of beige cardstock. I add this to the center.

Ink color is the only real decision I'm faced with before completing this page. I consider three shades of pink before reasoning that black would coordinate with the R & R title. I lay beige cardstock under the first picture I'm going to caption, then mark with a pencil where I"m planning to cut. The mark is a guide for me when I write so I don't scrawl beyond the cutting point.

I set the captions on the page where I plan to adhere them. I don't adhere immediately because of my commitment-phobic tendencies. Read how I conquered this. Sometimes this works to my advantage, like today. I initially write vertically for the top right and bottom left photos but don't like it, so I rewrite captions on smaller squares, then adhere with tape runner right on photos. Since all my paper, adhesive and ink is acid- and lignin-free, this is safe for my photos. The result is a smidge more whimsical.



The next page is very easy. I mimic the layout and color scheme from page five posted under Biltmore Rewind. I trim the background paper to fit, which consists of drawings of caddy, overdressed women gossiping over afternoon tea - perfect for this page of us eating breakfast on the Biltmore Inn patio. Using a few purple and green photo mats from the Everyday Storybox, I charge three of the pictures. I crop the picture of our waitress, and trim a section off a green photo mat for the background. I cut a strip of purple to charge a vellum accent, which reads: "Friends are the sunshine of life." I write about the pictures on a purple journaling box using a lime-green colored fine-tip pen. I adhere all with tape runner and frosted splits, which are for the vellum.

Next episode: Bike ride on Biltmore Estate