Echoes of Summer: Relax - You're Here

(Another installment in a continuing series about summer vacations on Lake Winnipesaukee in NH.)

Even now, as the flakes have begun to fly here in the northeast and the time for twinkling holiday lights and the jolly old elf has nearly arrived, the seemingly endless days of summer still call. Although snow is the preferred weather phenomenon in my house, nothing compares to the paradise we call our summer home.

It is truly a paradise found. Heaven on earth. The place where relaxing is required and comes as naturally as breathing, where water, bubbles, sunsets, books, naps, and boats are the only news of note and where giggling and laughing are heard much more than anything except, perhaps, for the sounds of silence.

Even long after our week or two has passed, we can revisit those days simply by opening a scrapbook. We do it often during those dark winter days to relive the light.  

These layouts are some of the title pages of those scrapbooks. Each year seems to take up two volumes and NH always begins the second. Opening a book to see water, mountains and endless sky can always brighten the darkest of the long winter nights.

And those nights are looming ahead even as the lights of the holidays begin to decorate the neighborhood and my own house as well.

Although it takes six hours to drive from New Jersey to New Hampshire, the trip does not really begin until this tree comes into view.  It marks the intersection where our street meets the main road. It had been a tradition in and around the lake to nail a sign to the tree at the end of the street, but that tradition seems to have died out everywhere but here. It provides visitors with an easy landmark and provides those of us lucky enough to have our name on the tree the notice that we had arrived and that we can relax because we are, at last, here.

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Layout Notes:

Paradise Found

I did not keep track of the supplies for this list, but I can see that I was using up a bunch of older embellishments when I put this together.  The chipboard pieces all came from the same kit by Deja Views.  The large flower is from Prima, stamped with a swirl acrylic stamp from a forgotten source. The two metal letters are from Making Memories.  The source for everything else is long forgotten.

NH

Once again, there is no record of the source of the supplies in the this layout and I cannot place a single thing here.  The text on the large photograph is courtesy of Photoshop Elements.

At Last

The dragonfly was handmade with wire, a bead, plastic packaging and Ranger Alcohol Inks. The photographs are HDR - High Dynamic Range, edited in Photomatix Essentials.

Supplies: cardstock - Bazzill, Coredinations; tape - Tim Holtz with Ranger Distress Stain for color; stencil - Tim Holtz; modelling paste - mixture of Liquitex Basic Modeling Paste, Golden Gel Medium Glas Bead Gel, Dreamweaver Translucent Embossing Paste and Fold Art Acrylic Paint with US Artquest Mica Delights sprinkled on top; paint - Folk Art; dragonfly - wire (unknown), bead (Fire Mountain Beads and Gems), plastic packaging (on wings), Ranger Alcohol Inks (on wings); chipboard letters - Maya Road; Diamond Glaze; mosaic tiles - unknown; word bands - K and Company; brads - Tim Holtz Mini Brads.

Escape 

Supplies: cardstock - Bazzill; patterned paper - unknown; border - Cricut; chipboard letters - Basic Grey; paint (on chipboard letters) -  Plaid; paint pen - Viva Paint: metal - Vintaj; metal embossing plates - Vintaj; embossing powder - Ranger Melt Art Ultra Thick Embossing Powder, Hampton Art, A la Mode; metal glaze - Vintaj Glaze Metal Sealer; stamp - Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous; ink - Ranger Embossing Ink; marker - Y&C Gel Extreme, sticker letters - Authentique.