random reflections

Creativity Boot Camp: Fly

The truth is I hate to fly. My family will attest I am not at my best on the day of a flight. I fly because it gets me where I want to go, but I would much rather drive---even across the country. That, of course, is not often practical and is, in fact, as expensive as flying. One way I entertain myself as we take off is to take photos. Once we're in the air, I rely on compelling books (must be a page turner) and crossword puzzles.

The New York City Harbor in March.

I like the horizon and the deepening blue sky in this one taken over the Rockies on the same flight. 

 

There was an inspiring post on Write, Click, Scrapbook this week that I finally got around to reading this morning. Since I had a little time before I went to the retirement luncheon, I pulled the photos from my photo walk into a template and finished the layout this afternoon. I decided against any journaling, but put the class title and date of the photo walk on the back of the layout. It doesn't get much simpler than this.

Paper: Ambrosia (Basic Grey); chipboard letters: "Licorice" (Cosmo Cricket); chipboard camera: "Mama Razzi" (Bo Bunny); digital template: Pri Rocha Designs

Creativity Boot Camp: Fluid & Photo Walk

Here's my take on fluid:

It was a really nice day so I got to Park Ave. for a little photo walk. I took a lot of photos, but here are my favorites.

One of the first things I saw was this fence which reminded me of Charleston.

The windows on this old building had been covered with metal. It's now rusted, and I liked the contrast of the ivy.

This is Oxford Street and these are all magnolia trees which are stunning in the spring. I love the streets that have the malls down the middle. Our first house in the city had one, but not this nice.

This made me smile. It's in the window of an optician.

I loved the lines of this bench and the brick sidewalk.

I've never been in this deli, but it certainly appeals to me.

And last, I loved the reflection of the trees in the table tops.

Still Crafting

In between working on the prompts for Creativity Bootcamp, taking care of the garden, going to a wonderful photography show featuring local women photographers, volunteering, and the usual exercise classes and chores, I've managed to get some cards and layouts made. The first is a card for a friend who is retiring this year. There's a luncheon for her on Saturday. I'm hoping to get a set of thank you notes made to give to her as well.

This card was inspired by a card by Jennifer Buck featured on the Jillibean blog. All the products used on it are from Jillibean except the card base and the ribbon.

And another one because I had more paper on the desk to use.

Patterned paper: Old World Cabbage Stew (Jillibean); rickrack: Bean Stalks (Jillibean); sentiment: clear stamps (Jillibean); dies: Spellbinders cherry; embossing folders: Cuttlebug "Swiss Dots" & Sizzix "Birthday Set #2

And three more layouts for the California album:

All Pink Paislee "Starlight"

All "Mama Razzi" by BoBunny except for the stamp (which it looks like I'd better redo--a bit slanted, I fear)

And my favorite of the three is about our walk along the stream at the UC Davis Arboretum:

 

Patterned paper: Fruitcake (Basic Grey), Basics (Basic Grey) & "Today" (Scenic Route); cork alpha (unknown); Craft Paper alpha stickers (Colorbok); label stickers: Basics (Basic Grey); digital template: Cathy Z Layered Template No. 13

Creativity Boot Camp: Grow, Baby, Grow

Today's prompt was an easy one. 

Here's a shot of the first tomatoes in our garden:

 

Typically I take my point and shoot to the garden, but today I took my SLR with the Tamron 28-300mm lens. This was shot at 120mm; f 5.6; 1/200, ISO 100. The zoom on this lens really takes pretty decent macro shots. Close up you can even see the "hairs" on the tomato stems.

I was happy to see that the slugs seem to be gone, but found two snails attached to the new lettuce plants. We read in our organic gardening book that both coffee grounds and ashes repel slugs and snails so we took some of both and spread them around the perimeter of the bed. They warned not to use too many coffee grounds as they are quite acidic.

 

We also got a fence up around our plot today. You can see the tall "plants" beyond our plot. They are weeds! There are only three plots that haven't been claimed in the community garden and two of the three border ours. I'm hoping the mulch around the plot will help keep down the spread of weeds, but each time we go we need to dig out a few. If the plants have as deep a root system as our weeds, they will do well!

The only thing ready to pick were some tiny arugula leaves, two kinds of basil, and some cilantro. We used the Thai Basil in a shrimp and tomato pasta sauce tonight. It has a lighter flavor than the typical basil, but is quite nice.

Creativity Boot Camp: Heavy Metal

My first thought when I read the prompt was the heavy metal rock bands, but since I know nothing whatsoever about them, that was out. I'm a day behind getting this posted because it rained all day yesterday, but late in the day I ran out to Home Depot since I thought I might find some heavy metal there. I did, but it took until today to get the photos organized for the post.

 

On my way home, it stopped raining and I had to drive by an ongoing construction project near our house. All the workers had gone home, so I parked the car in a nearby medical center parking lot and hopped out to see what I might find. I took a lot of photos, but ended up deciding on these three, all taken of the same piece of equipment.

 

I used the Colorize action on the last of the photos.

But my favorite photos are of this little red wagon that was "parked" alongside the road. It's obviously being used by the crews to haul cement or some such substance. Not exactly heavy metal, but I like it anyway.

The first photo was simply sharpened, the middle photo is the Seventies action (again), and the last one is the Pioneer Woman's Heartland action. I increased the contrast on the last one after I ran the action.

Got to say, I'd never have taken any of these without the prompt!

Multilayered: Take Two

Part 1:

The prompt for Creativity Bootcamp today was multilayered. After a bit of consideration I decided to photograph the roses blooming right outside our dining room door. My first inclination was to play with light today, so I started taking a photo every hour or so. I had to take a break for a dermatologist appointment and while I was driving had another idea:  to show how the multilayered rose unfolds. So here is the triptych I came up with. I tried a few actions, but decided I liked the simply sharpened photos the best.

 

Part 2:

Last night I finished a layout for the vacation album that was an "out of the box" design for me, but one that I see frequently on blogs and admire. When I finished I was quite pleased with the final product. This morning during my coffee/blog browsing hour I came across Layle Koncar's article at Ella Publishing. She'd read a pamphlet about decorating that suggested three things to consider when mixing patterns. Layle boiled it down to this:

1. Have an odd number of patterns
2. Include a solid
3. Include a stripe

I was curious and checked. Indeed, that's exactly what I had. Perhaps that was why I liked it so much. See what you think:

Cardstock: American Craft; patterned paper from scrap drawer; chipboard embellishment: "Mama Razzi" (BoBunny); pin: unknown (purchased at a stationery store in Ithaca a couple of years ago); digital frame: "Framed no. 3" (two shutter sisters)

It fits the multilayered prompt as well. A bit of serendipity.

Weekly Gratitude X 2

With all the excitement of Creativity Bootcamp, and trying to get the California photos scrapped I'm late again in posting my Weekly Gratitude pages. Here are the last two weeks:

 

Creativity Boot Camp Day 2

Today's prompt is picnic. Merriam-Webster defines picnic as "an outing with food usually provided by members of the group and eaten in the open." For this prompt, I set up a still-life outside, tried  various settings, played with different apertures, and took about 40 photos from different perspectives. These are the two I liked the best. Both were taken with my 50mm. lens at f 4.0; 1/100; ISO 400. The diptych frame is from Katie Pertiet's Vintage Storyboard Frames. I used a new (to me) action on both photos from Noel Joy called "Picture Pop."

  

Have To Have

We spent one day in California in Pescadero and Half Moon Bay. One of our favorite shops in Half Moon Bay was the "Have to Have It" shop. We spent a lot of time there, but didn't buy anything. Since we've come home, Matt and I have decided we should have bought one of the flying pig sculptures for our garden. If I ever go back, I think I will pick out a small one and ship it home. I'm partial to the red one and the blue one.

Patterned paper: Basics (Basic Grey), Quite Contrary (MME), & Bitty Dot Basics (PTI), cardstock: Rustic White (PTI), chipboard circle (Scenic Route); chipboard wings (unknown); Vintage Calendar Tag (Elle's Studio)

 

Creativity Boot Camp Day 1

Today's prompt for Creativity Bootcamp was "Ivory" and the piano keyboard was the first thing that came to mind. One thing I decided to do with this class is to play with some new techniques. Today I used a photo mask for the first time and played with some of the Pioneer Woman Actions.

Define and Sharpen Action; Katie Pertiet "Stamped Blocks No. 7"

Seventies Action

Vintage Action