random reflections

52/50: Weeks 5 & 6

Last week I had only one photo to post for my 52/50 project. Although almost all my photos are taken with the 50mm lens right now, most of them have been of crafting projects or for reminders of our daily lives here. This week (Week 6) I took a short break and went to Powder Mills Park. We finally had a bright, sunny afternoon, but it was still so cold I couldn't stay out for very long. I debated a while between the third and fourth photos, but am linking the last one to Kent's P52, probably because it focuses on the blue sky we see so little of in the winter.

This is the pond next to the Fish Hatchery.

Loved the shadow of the tree next to the pond across the road from the Fish Hatchery.

I'm always a sucker for reflections.

The blue sky and the composition made this photo win out for the week.

And here's last week's photo:

We don't have any pets, but our neighbor's frequently cross out patio.

An Honor & LOAD: Days 4-6

Yesterday I had the great honor of being featured at Sian's From High in the Sky. If you don't know her blog, hop over for great stories and wonderful scrapbooking. Sian is an absolute genius at putting embellishments together!

I created one layout for her post about the birds we spied while in Florida. Since I haven't shared it here, I'll include it now.

I made an envelope to hold the journaling as well as the birding checklist from the wildlife refuge where we recorded the birds we spotted.

The scrapbooking is chugging right along---one layout a day! Saturday will be my first challenge as I have to be a Church Leadership Development Day nearly all day, and we may be going out with friends at night. Hopefully something will come to me quickly.

Day Four's prompt was to scrap a goal. I've already scrapped my intentions for 2013. On the same morning I received the prompt I also got an email from Rebecca Cooper from Simple As That that included a template for her monthly photo recaps. Right then, I decided how I'd share my Capture Your 365 photos this year. I'll be using one of Rebecca's templates (she has four) and I'll choose some of my favorites as well as the photos that represent significant happenings. My journaling will stay in my art journal which I started here. So, finally, here's a look at January's favorites:

Most of the photos are from our trip to Florida last month, but I included one of a frosty window in Rochester (such a contrast) and the photo of my OLW-"DO" for 2013. 

Day Five's prompt was Scrap Your Honey. That was easy. I found a photo from our cruise to Alaska two years ago when we celebrated our 38th wedding anniversary. Should have scrapped that one a long time ago.

I had the perfect stamps as embellishments. The camera is from Shutterbug Special (PTI), and the title "We Just Click" is from the one stamp set I picked up last weekend in Buffalo by My Favorite Things. 

Day Six was to scrap a photo you've put off scrapping. The photos for my last month recap layout for 2012 has been laying on my table since early January. It's good to have it done.

The tag pulls out with a summary of the month's activities:

As always, December was a busy month. We started the season by getting our tree up and lighting the first Advent Candle for the chapel worship service.

I spent more time than usual with a camera in my hand since I took the Twelve Days of Christmas class with Cheryl Johnson. It got me out of the house and I took some more creative photos of our decorations this year.

The best part about the holiday is always family, and this year Matt was home for five fabulous days. We saw lots of him, and got some great time with Betsy and Skylar as well. The whole family was here for Christmas dinner--18 strong this year. It was filled with laughter and great fun. 

We had more snow this month than we did in all of 2011, but it didn’t interfere with our social life. We saw “Lincoln” with Mary & Jim and had dinner afterwards, entertained the bridge group, had Bill & Anne for lunch after the church Advent music service, & had Karen, Mike, and Nancy for dinner. I had meals with Nancy (and a trip to MAG & Image City), with Jane at the Gate House Cafe, with Marie in Honeoye Falls, with Barb & Ev at the new Brewery cafe, with Sue at Biaggio’s, and with Karen & Deb at Veneto’s. Matt & I had lunch at T.R.A.T.A. No wonder I have trouble losing that last 5 pounds! We ended the year at a lovely New Year’s Eve gathering at Dan and Jeannie’s.

I made 16 cards (not counting the 75 hand-made cards I mailed for Christmas), nine bookmarks, & completed my seventh Christmas Journal. That was all the scrapbooking I could manage! Although I did read, it appears I didn’t finish any books this month.

Off to read today's prompt. We're anticipating another big winter storm tomorrow. I'm hoping it doesn't interfere with our church conference on Saturday. Every year we seem to have significant snow, but we've never had to cancel. This year one of the speakers is coming from Albany and staying with us. I hope he has safe travels.

Birthday Treats

One of my best friends just had a big birthday.

She's also a card-maker, an artist, and generally crafty lady. She does not, however, like to drive and avoids all "big roads." One of our favorite places to go is a stamp store in Buffalo. It has a great selection of product, and offers a wide selection of classes. I decided that giving her a trip to Buffalo, class and lunch at our favorite Greek restaurant there, would be a good gift.

She chose the Memory Box Surprise class, and we went on Saturday. The new Memory Box products were nearly all dies so the cards we made were heavy on die-cutting. As always we had a great time, learned a couple of new techniques, and had a lovely day together. After lunch, we made a quick stop at Penzy's Spices which we do not have here in Rochester. All in all, a great gift (you have to love a gift that gives to you as well as the recipient.) 

The first card we made was all die cuts. The original card had clusters of flowers, but it was too busy for me, so I kept it a bit simpler.

The next card involved a lot of detail. The little bee (there were supposed to be two) was so difficult to glue together I decided one was enough. The second one was even smaller. If I'd had my sticker maker with me, it would have been much easier. To the original card design I added some yellow pearls and glittered the bee's wings when I got home.

I really like this next card. It's cute and was very easy to put together. I don't think I'd use the window die enough to justify buying it, but it was fun to play with it.

The last card was the simplest. We "watercolored" the strip of paper using one of the sprays, but applied it with a brush. Then we sprayed the piece with "Pearl" giving it a shimmery look. Finally the stamping was done.

Not only did we have a good time, it's nice to have a few cards in the box awaiting the right occasion.

CAS(e) This Sketch

It's early, but I have a busy morning with Bible study followed preparing the study packets for our Church Leadership Development Day on Saturday. I'm just in under the wire for this since the link closes at noon.

Here's the sketch:

And like yesterday's card, I followed it very closely. Another valentine, as well. I love this die and stamp set from Simon Says which arrived just yesterday afternoon. It was perfect for this.

Cardstock: Vintage Cream (PTI) & Bazzill Prismatic Red; patterned paper "Love You" (MME); dies: You (Simon Says), Countdown Banners (PTI) & Spellbinders Nested Hearts; sentiment: "You" (Simon Says)

I neglected to take photos of the draw for Pass the Book, but the winner is Alexa. I have your address so I'll get it in the mail in the next day or two. Hope you enjoy it!

Retro Sketch #49

This is the second week when the Retro Sketch was perfect for a valentine. This time I followed the sketch totally, and I love the love of the punched hearts with the patterned paper behind them.

Cardstock:  Bazzill; patterned paper: Fancy Pants "The Good Life" and BoBunny "Bold & Bright Double Dots"; heart punch; Double-ended banner (PTI); sentiment: Savvy stamps

Alexa wondered if I made more than one valentine. I think there are seven or eight on the list this year. I have three done now. 

 

LOAD 2013: Days 1-3

I have quite a few projects to share, but I thought I'd start with one of the most recent ones: LOAD. I participated last February and completed 29 layouts in 29 days. There's something about this commitment that gets me to my photos and back into scrapbooking. I have two drawers of photos waiting for attention so there's no shortage of material.  

Day One's prompt was to create a scrapbook with no words. This turned out to be easier than I thought. Adam took a photo of Caleb on each month with the iPad which read, "I am ___ months old." Only the first month and his first birthday were missing the iPad. Since he was born on December 30, 2011, all the photos were taken in 2012. I'm happy to have these photos all in one spot!

The second prompt was scrap a perfect day. That was easy. I've scrapped about this weekend before, but I don't think this photo of me with my kids has been the focus of a page. The journaling card that says "Mother's Day" pulls out to reveal the journaling.

Yesterday's prompt was to focus on something that was important but overlooked. I didn't have anything in mind, so starting hunting through the small photos I have tucked in an envelope in my photo drawers. I came across these five photos taken in the winter and decided to do a page about how under-appreciated winter's beauty is.

I'm quite sure I'll deviate from the prompts as the month rolls along, but the first few days have been fun.

Pick Your Precious #2

This is Storytelling Sunday at From High in the Sky, and the second installment of Pick Your Precious. When I first read Sian's idea for her third year of storytelling, I immediately thought of my mother's thimble.

I was twenty years old and in college when my mother passed away. I can truthfully say I didn’t really know her. I have memories, of course, but we never talked as adults to one another, and I would give anything to have an hour or two with her to ask some burning questions. 

But I do know she was a remarkable lady who worked full-time as a math teacher when most moms stayed at home. She ran a big house, cooked, and gardened. She was a wonderful seamstress. She was also color-blind which is unusual for a woman. Two colors she could not distinguish at all were browns and greens. I can remember from an early age being called into my parents’ bedroom to tell her which thread matched the fabric she wanted to use.

I grew up in Ohio farm country, and all the kids belonged to 4-H. Most of them were raising animals. We lived in town, but I belonged to a 4-H sewing club, and my mother was a wonderful teacher. When she passed away she didn’t leave a lot of jewelry or other items that I could hold onto. But she did leave her sterling silver thimble. I use it every time I sew, and it’s a precious reminder of one connection I have with my mom.

I'm not sure where one would go to buy a sterling silver timble these days. The only ones I ever see are inexpensive ones at JoAnn's or Michael's. I thought I'd leave you with a shot of the beautiful detail on my mother's thimble.

 

January Art Journal & Pass The Book

I've had this book far too long, but I thoroughly enjoyed it, and have a page of typed notes and sketches of ideas I found within its pages. You can see some of my post-its here. So it's time to pass it along.

 You can read about Pass the Book here. If you're interested in taking a look at this one, leave me a comment, and on Monday night I'll pick a recipient. I've been interested in art journaling for a long time, but haven't done anything with it in years. Sarah and I took an art journaling class together years ago, but I'm not even sure where mine is at this point. This book, however, and a couple of books I purchased this summer have renewed my interest. Since I'm not doing a monthly layout of my Capture Your 365 photos this year, I decided I'd start an art journal and recap my months there. I'll probably add other pages as well. 

I started by using my water color crayons to create a background, and then stamped on top of them with a texture stamp. I typed up the recap of the month and inserted it into a vellum envelope. The date stickers are from the Simple Stories Snap! line, and the wood veneer arrow from Studio Calico. I printed three photos from our trip to Florida on Epson Project paper and tore around the edges.

The photo in the middle of the page was altered with an action in the new Photoshop Elements 11. I'd read mixed reviews about this upgrade, but received a copy of it for Christmas, and like it very much! I've spent a fair amount of time playing around with it, and think it is the most user friendly yet. This page shows more stamping, some hand-drawn dots, a bit of Washi tape, and another wood veneer piece.

Since we drove to Florida in January and flew home, I added the car on the first page, and the airplane on the second. Here's a look at the two pages together.

Here's the monthy recap:

It was an unusual January for us. The month got off to a great start with the 50th Anniversary Party for the Presbytery at the Planetarium. All of us involved in the planning were greatly relieved by its huge success. 

As soon as it was over, Tracy & I hit the road for Florida. We drove Ellie’s packed van to her and then flew home. Our road trip to Florida couldn’t have been better. We visited with Susan & Eric in Delaware, Carole and Gordon in North Carolina, and Betty in Stuart, FL. We made quick stops in Atlantic Beach, St. Augustine, and Ponce’s Inlet on our way to Stuart. 

After two nights with Betty, we drove across to Ft. Myers Beach where Ellie is staying for 3 months with her friends, Dick & Caroline. They are avid birders, and I spent a lot of time photographing birds which they kindly identified for me. All of us spent a wonderful morning at the wildlife refuge on Sanibel Island. Another highlight was a trip to Naples to the Naple’s Art Gallery--a beautiful place with two fascinating exhibits: one on women painters and one by blind photographers.

Once we got home, we had the usual busy schedule with meetings, volunteer commitments, and social events. 

I finished two books: "The Plan", and "The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry"; saw one movie, “The Life of Pi”; & enjoyed GeVa’s “Next to Normal” (powerful!). We had dinner with Tina & Bill, Cathy & Bob, Jill & Tom, Betsy & Skylar, & entertained  our book group.

Despite being away, I finished 16 cards & 1 layout, & started three online classes (The History Project, A Flash of Brilliance, & Inspired), as well as an 8 week course at the Community Darkroom on Photoshop.

For a first attempt I'm pretty happy with these pages. I actually had another two-page spread done in a different journal, but decided the pages were not heavy enough to handle the different medias I want to explore, so yesterday I took it apart and started over in this journal that has 140# watercolor paper.  Should be a bit more sturdy.

Don't forget to leave a comment if you'd like a chance to read the book!