The Mezquita

The Mosque-cathedral of Córdoba (Spanish: Mezquita–catedral de Córdoba),  whose ecclesiastical name is the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption is the Catholic Christian cathedral of the Diocese of Córdoba dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. The structure is regarded as one of the most accomplished monuments of Moorish architecture. It originally was a Catholic Christian church built by the Visigoths, on the ruins of a Roman temple dedicated to Janus. When Muslims conquered Spain in 711, the church was first divided into Muslim and Christian halves. This sharing arrangement of the site lasted until 784, when the Christian half was purchased by the Caliph 'Abd al-Rahman I, who then proceeded to demolish the entire structure and build the grand mosque of Cordoba on its ground. After the Reconquista, it was converted to a Roman Catholic church. The best part of this story is that the Mosque was not destroyed but rather the Cathedral was built within.

I have seen similar pictures and was in awe but guess I never paid all that much attention to their location. I was dumbfounded when we walked into this church and could not stop capturing their beauty from ever angle possible. WOW!

Cordoba

Cordoba is located on the banks of the Guadalquivir river and flows under the ancient Roman Bridge. Surrounding the large old town are the Roman walls. The most important building and symbol of the city is the Great Mosque of Córdoba, also called The Mezquita, and is the current cathedral. 

La Mancha

Don Quixote has always been one of Rick's favorite books. We traveled through the countryside upon which Cervantes based this story. Photo ops abound.

Holy Toledo

Rumor has it that the phrase "Holy Toledo" comes from the fact that this small city held in close proximity Christian, Jewish and Muslim churches. The city is hilly and the streets are narrow and cobbled. It's age is delightful.

Spain Revisited: Madrid

For our travel book from our trip to Spain, I used Anna Aspnes templates but modified them slightly. A book such as this can be compiled quickly if the following steps are taken:

1. Choose a dozen papers and templates that work together and can be repeatedly used for the book.
2. Blurb requires 12.25 inch pages if you want full bleed. That's color all the way to the edge. So resize the digital background papers and the templates.
3. I like a slight vignette so I add this to the papers and save them that way.
4. I eliminate anything I do not want on the templates and resave them.
5. I add drop shadows to the templates and save them once again.
6. I select the fonts I want to use for the titles and text boxes and the colors I want them to be and then type some placeholder words.

Now I am ready to grab a template that has the requisite number of photos spots for the story being told, rename it so I don't lose my modified template file and begin dragging and dropping photos in.

A paper is selected to blend with the photos on the page. Journaling is added and on to the next page.

I like including maps of the journey.

I like these templates because there are so many spots for photos.

Notice the fonts are the same but the size varies to fit in the space allowed.

The Prado is amazing. So much wonderful art. I could have stayed there for a long time. Our trip included visiting the work of Spanish painters: Velazques, Goya and el Greco.

Clean Look with a Verticle Stack

Same template, two different looks. The first is one of a two page layout. Choosing th papers was already done as I simply duplicated them.  I loved the three photos here as Nick was uncertain about this birthday cake thing and his expression changes from one to the next.

In this case, there is a single story but three very different pictures to help tell it. I love them both.
And how easy templates make digi scrapbooking.

Three Photos, One embellishment and beautiful papers

A story doesn't need to have a lot of photos. In one of the early Millar reunions, there were not too many. Still the story is told. One large photo of the group with several in the supporting cast, showcase a few of the weeks activities.