random reflections

Team-up Thursday

My friend, Nancy, and I decided to participate in the Team-up Thursday photography challenges hosted on Mental Inventory. I'm not quite sure how I ended up there a few weeks ago, but I've been reading the blog for awhile. Once Nancy got home from vacation, I proposed getting together and posting on their Flickr group. For now, we're following along with the challenge posted on the blog, but evidently we can choose our own word as well. This week's word was fruit. Here's our diptych, mine on the left and Nancy's funky organic banana on the right.

Photography Questions

Rinda posted some questions about wildflower shots on her blog. Last summer I had the same problems with fields of wildflowers that she had this weekend. The flowers were beautiful, but I couldn't capture the overall look of it. Individual flower shots were more successful. (Also true for Rinda who has a beautiful shot on her blog.) I remember reading up on it when I got home, and today I looked in two of my "go-to" photography books (Brian Peterson's Digital Photography Field Guide & Tom Ang's How To Photography Absolutely Everything) to see what I could find. Neither book had great explanations, but I could tell from looking at the photos that they were taken either at ground level or just above. My neighbor's front yard is filled with dandelions and wildflowers so I went over to see what I could do. I'm not totally pleased with the outcome, but they are certainly better than anything I took last summer. For the first two photos, I was laying on my stomach at the same level as the flowers. I'm not sure why I couldn't get more of the flowers in sharp focus. I tried changing my aperture, but it made very little difference.

 

The next two I took on my knees looking down on top of the flowers. I prefer these shots.

 

 

I'd welcome any ideas you have for taking this kind of shot.

Try another . . .

It turns out Cheri isn't a stamper and never meant to put herself in the drawing, so when Tracy came home from helping friends move this afternoon, he drew another name: 

Shelly, I'm off to email you, but if you read this first send your address, and I'll get the stamps off to you.

And the Winner is . . .

I've sent you an email; let me know your address and I'll get the stamps right out to you. Thanks to everyone who played along.

Scrapping California

I took time yesterday to get some more pages done for our recent trip to California. I think I would have liked to have done more with digital templates, but since I had the photos printed I'm trying to use them. Like our album for the cross-country trip last summer, there will be layout pages, and pages of just photos. I'm hoping to find a red, three-ring album at Hobby Lobby tomorrow.

 

All the papers and embellishments are My Minds Eye; American Craft thickers "Rockabye-leaf"

American Craft cardstock; Queen & Co. patterned paper, SEI alpha stickers (my favorites!)

Patterned paper, report card & alphabet stickers: Jillibean; I hand-cut the key.

I think I have finally figured out how to post these so you can make them bigger by clicking on the images.

Weekly Gratitude and a Giveaway

I went a slightly different route this week with my Weekly Gratitude page. When I originally made my album I created enough pages for a year. Then when I restarted the project this year, I started using the digital templates Karen Grunberg created. I decided I need to use some of the other pages as well, and I didn't have any photograph in mind for this week's entry. Here's a look at the album:

And this week's page:

Thanks, again, Sharyn. Sorry it took me so long to get this done. I'm hoping that all the updates to the blog albums will be done by the end of the week.

Yesterday I got my April order from Papertrey Ink and received an extra of the 2009 Anniversary set they give to customers who buy a given amount. The fact that I got more than one tells me I need to get a grip on my ordering. Nonetheless, this is a lovely set and one you cannot purchase. I thought it would be fun to give it away. I will happily send it anywhere, so don't let your location stop you from entering! I'll pick a name from the comments on Tuesday morning, so leave a comment by midnight Monday if you'd like to have a chance to win this. Here's a look at the stamps it includes:

And you can see examples of cards in the PTI gallery.

Auburn and Skaneateles

One of my volunteer jobs for the past two years has been to chair the Youth Ministry Committee at my church. This is my second round at this post, and it has been quite different since I no longer have kids in the program. The new Youth Director and I have become quite good friends, and when she said she was going on a scouting trip to check out sites for the upcoming Mission and Music trip for youth in June, I volunteered to come along. We had a fabulous day. It was warm and sunny, and we spent the better part of the day at two beautiful lakes: Owasco Lake in Auburn and Skaneateles Lake in Skaneateles. The only other time I've been to Auburn was this winter to visit the Seward House and Tiffany Chapel. (It's the second page on this post where I was catching up with my Christmas Journal.)  I had no idea there were such beautiful parks there as well. 

Emerson Park on Owasco Lake:

 

   

 

Jane and I were surprised (but pleased) to see this memorial to the women who fought in WW II.

On our way out of town we found a second park and these cute ducks were willing to have their picture taken. I love the markings on the female. Sometimes the females are so dull, but not this one.

And in Skaneateles:

 

We had a fabulous lunch at the Bluewater Grill:  scallop and corn chowder with a grilled smoked turkey and asparagus panini. They were perfect together and just delicious.

The Episcopal church sits right on the lake. It's a beautiful building.

 

The red doors were my favorite.

Our kids will be staying at the Presbyterian church across the street. The sanctuary is stunning. The afternoon sun was streaming through their stained glass windows.

I especially liked this one.

 

Skaneatlees has wonderful shops as well, so after lunch we spent some time browsing (and buying). I was too interested in the shopping to remember to take photos!

Picture Spring

I've been organizing both in my study and on the computer today, and finally got the photos I've taken for Picture Spring edited, posted, and printed for my album. I'm still missing photos for three prompts: "A Heart-shaped World," "New Point of View," and "Flirting with Flare." I actually took photos for two of those prompts but want to redo them. Finding a heart shape in nature is proving a bit challenging. I should go look at the gallery and see what others have found. So here are the photos and prompts I uploaded today:

April 9:  Everyday Beauty  This one had me stumped for some time, but when I was sweeping the kitchen floor recently, I saw this. I love my red kitchen chairs.

April 16:  Out of the Shadows

 

April 17:  Punchy Patterns (About the only punchy patterns I own are my Vera Bradley purses. This is my newest one which makes me very happy.)

April 18:  Appreciation--the grass at your feet

 

April 19:  Hidden Messages--this is hardly hidden. It's hanging on my inspiration board over my desk. I love the "Keep calm and carry on" message and design and this is a similar design. The message is a good one to remember.

April 21: Daily Rounds   I took several photos for this one, but decided on the balls I saw at a flea market.

 

April 22:  Burst of Color  Hard to beat these lively tulips. I wish they were in my yard, but I found them in the park.

Copics & Prisma

Saturday my friend and I drove to Buffalo to take a class on using Copic markers with Prisma colored pencils. I've been using Copics for about a year now after taking a Copic Certification class last February. I've had Prisma pencils for years. It never occurred to me to put the two together. The instructor was quite knowledgeable, but had a tendency to want to "do it for you." Nonetheless I learned quite a bit. We completed two of three cards she had planned, and I have most of the coloring done for the third, but am waiting for an order with new Copic markers to arrive before I finish it. The images the instructor chose are very different from the stamps I use and own, but they were great practice vehicles.

 

I have no idea who the manufacturer of this stamp is. If anyone knows, please leave a comment.

I actually really like this image. I changed the ribbon on the card when I got home. These are October Afternoon papers, but again, I don't know who makes the image. I was quite pleased with how these came out. The basic coloring was done with Copic markers. Then we added very small highlights with the Prisma pencils and blended them with Gamsol.

Yesterday I tried this technique on one of my new Papertrey Ink stamps, Delightful Dahlia. I think over time, I will get better at this and will enjoy blending these two mediums together in an image.

Cardstock: PTI Spring Rain, Select White; Cuttlebug embossing folder: Swiss Dots; sentiment: PTI Mega Mixed Messages; ribbon: Offray; ink: Brilliance.

Patterned paper: A Muse; Quickutz embossing folder: Vine Label; sentiment: PTI Mega Mixed Messages

Weekly Gratitude