Peaceful this week

Cliff and I are finding out a bit of what it will be like to be "empty nesters" this week. Jeremy of course is in Idaho on his mission but this week Jason went to Youth Conference in Salt Lake. So it's just Cliff, me and our new little doggy Riley. It's nice...but wierd all at the same time. I was looking to find a picture I could add to this post that somehow expressed "peace and quiet" and this is what I came up with....Jeremy took this amazing sunset photo in Idaho and I thought it was perfect.

While I am posting photos, here is a layout I did for the Summer of Scraplove Challenge over at Scraplove. It's been a real challenge for me...I love all things scrappy but I know where I am comfortable and I usually don't stray too far from my comfort zone....well every week now I have been stepping out of my comfort zone to meet these wonderful challenges. Last week I had to do a layout with mostly transparencies and a song title.....the song title part wasn't a problem...I use song titles all the time but a mostly transparent layout was WAY out of my comfort zone! Once I figured out what I was going to do it all came together and I was so glad I had stepped out to try something new. This weeks challenge was well even more of a challenge for me....after teaching scrapbook classes for several years I got really burned out on doing "projects" I would much rather do a layout than a mini book or some piece of altered art...well this week we had to do something that wasn't a scrapbook page, something to display in our homes....my first thought was "I don't THINK so! I'll just skip this week's challenge" After I decided this I went and took a nap and just as I am drifting off to sleep I remember that I have a 12x12 canvas that I could use...and oh I could use some of that older "collage" paper that I have from a few years ago....and I bet I can come up with some cool embellishments......VOILA! I got up from my nap and started to create.......I had everything laid out before the evening was over. Long story short......I guess I CAN step out of my comfort zone once and a while and when I do....look what I can come up with!