My Paris Album, part 2

You can view Part 1 of my Paris album here.



As you can see, I kept most of these layouts pretty simple.









My biggest regret is not having better clothes and my hair done nicely for my photo beside the Seine. Ha!







My wonderful friend, Susan had brought me back the My Mind's Eye Lost & Found patterned paper from a trip to the States and I think I used up almost every scrap of it. It was just so perfect for these photos!

I loved how I could make it tie in even further with my photos.... like in this layout about taking the metro, I used a piece of pp that said "transporation" and "routes"...



... and on my final layout, about going home, this little bird with the cages just seemed perfect.



Thanks for looking!

My Paris Album, part 1

Now before you start to think that I am some sort of jet-setting, world traveller (ha! I so wish!), I need to explaing that this Paris album is made up of photos taken on our 6 hours layover in France, when we were coming back from DR Congo last February. By the time we took the train to Paris, we had about 2 hours to spend there.

Because these layouts are stored in the same album as my Congo layouts, I wanted them to have something in common with the Congo layouts, while at the same time, I wanted to display the vast contrast between the two countries. So, I decided to use kraft cardstock for it, but instead of the brightly coloured Pink Paislee and OA patterned paper that I used for my Congo layouts, I chose products from the My Mind's Eye Lost & Found collections (market street & union square).









For these two layouts, I used two sheets of the Market Street "Love" Beautiful Glittered paper and used the reverse side on both. Then on the next two layouts, I used a third sheet of it & used both sides.





Just like my Congo albums, I used some WRMK page protectors and slid in my photos and patterned paper with journaling.







For this layout, I used Challenge 16 on the MME blog to make it. This next layout is beside it in my album.



Thanks for looking!

My Congo Album, part 5

Finishing up the last of my layouts from my Congo album. You can click on the links to see Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 or Part 4.


A layout about the 3rd farm we visited. Probably my least favourite day of the trip. I got car sick from the long drive there and back and just found the whole time there kind of boring.


Some photos that I took as we drove by the Congo river in Kinshasa.


I wasn't feeling well the day we went to the artist market in Kinshasa, which was too bad, because otherwise it would have been a really fun time. The vendors were all calling: "Just looking! Just looking! Mommy! Come here to just look!" Too funny! I bought a carved black rhino for Jonah and some bracelets there.


After the market, we went to the zoo. It cost us $0.70 to get in and we paid for bottles of pop for $0.30. So we did get quite a bit of bang for our buck! The housing for the animals was quite sad, really. The highlight for me was being so close to the leopard-- he was gorgeous!




A layout I created with the pockets to document some of the fun little memories or "ways of the congolese."


(In case you're wondering what the pink stuff is at the top right hand corner, it's congolese toilet paper-- pink with the texture of crepe paper!)


A final page with thoughts on the trip as a whole and how it impacted me.

And that's it for the Congo!
Thanks for looking!

My Congo Album, part 4

Here's more of my Congo album. You can click on the links to see Part 1, Part 2 or Part 3.


I loved the colourful doors and details on the windows in Kikwit. These photos were taken at BTEDE and at our hostel.


I was totally fascinated by how the Congolese men, women & children carried things on their heads-- so amazing!


The next few layouts detail our experience at the Kikwit MB church...


... how I participated in the offering "dance", much to the delight of the congregation!


... and handing out more soccer balls from our Sunday school to theirs.


Some layouts detailing the food we experienced there...


... and some of the friends we made.


On our last evening in Kikwit, we took the BTEDE team out for supper along the Kwilu River.


On the Tuesday, back in Kinshasa, we drove to see another farm. Probably my worst day there. We travelled in the back of a closed in truck, but the seats were two benches that faced in. I think travelling at this angle, plus the heat made me feel carsick. However, the day was "saved" by the discovery of a Nando's in Kinshasa! For an hour or so, it felt like we were back in North America-- air conditionning, ice cold cokes, a pita stuffed with chicken, tomatoes and cucumbers and fries! Yum!

Thanks for looking!

My Congo Album, part 3

More layouts I made for my Congo album. Click here for Part 1 and here for Part 2.


We met a boy on the road walking a monkey on a leash. Ken talked me into holding him, saying that my kids would get a kick out it.


A layout about our interesting (and not always reliable) method of transportation in Kikwit.


A 2 page layout detailing our visit to the first of BTEDE's experimental farms.


Some photos I took in and around Kikwit. There was much less worry here about taking photographs, but we still put our cameras out of sight when we came to check points or saw soldiers/officers in the area.


I did a number of layouts about our experience at BTEDE's 2nd experimental farm. This one was in the rainforest.






I wanted to display the photos I'd taken of the beautiful children of the Congo...


... and of the beautiful flora there, too. The WRMK 9 pocket sleeves were perfect for this.


On the way back to Kikwit, we stopped for one of the team members to buy a phone card. While we were waiting, a vendor approached our truck to sell his wares. Talk about convenience! Who needs a drive-thru or internet ordering when you can get the vendors right up to your vehicle and buy without getting out? ;)

Thanks for looking!

My Congo Album, part 2

Continuing in showing the layouts I made for my Congo album. Click here for Part 1.


At the Bomoyi Ya Sika Orphanage. Bomoyi Ya Sika is Lingala for "Home of New Life."


An outdoor pub that we went to at the end of the day to cool off.


The scariest thing for me in the Congo was the cockroaches. They were huge! This guy was on my drapes in my room at the hostel and I couldn't go to sleep until Konrad and Dennis came and killed it! Shudder.


Our flight to Kikwit in back to back pages.




Our first stop in Kikwit was at Edgard's (the director of BTEDE) home. I was able to meet his wife and one of his sons.


The hostel where we stayed in Kikwit. I enjoyed it much better than M.P.H.


Some photos taken at BTEDE, which stands for Bureau Technique de Développement Endogènes , the organisation our church supports and the reason we went to the Congo.


Before I left for Congo, our Sunday school program (R.O.X.) raised money to buy soccer balls for the kids in the Congo. This is layout is about how I handed some out at the school in Kikwit.



Thanks for looking!