random reflections

Blog Update & 52/50 Week 13

First off, Happy Easter! I hope you've had a wonderful holiday. After days of sunshine and warm weather, we awoke to much cooler temperatures and a steady rain. It cancelled the Easter egg hunt in the church yard, but one was held in the Celebration Center. Caleb gathered about eight eggs before he lost interest. 

If you're reading this in a reader, hop over to see the new blog design. Random Reflections has been in need of an update for quite some time, but I’m always reluctant to mess around with it for fear I’ll do permanent damage. So I signed up for Jessica Sprague’s “Bloom Your Blog” course. Like every class I've taken with her, it was wonderful. Lots of great information, clearly presented on both videos and pdfs. 

One of the first things I decided I wanted was a two-column blog instead of a three column one. It turns out that to have the dimensions I wanted I would need to upgrade to the next level at Typepad which I’m not yet willing to do. Typepad offers a variety of premade themes, and I found one that I liked a lot except for the overlay on the banner. Once again, in order to eliminate it, I’d have to upgrade. Thanks to Adam, I was able to get a new banner designed that works with it, and I think I'll be able to use other photos as well. Along with quite a bit of frustration, I’ve learned a lot and have more confidence about how to make changes on the blog. It doesn’t pay to let it go for so long.

I deleted a few items from the sidebar that were outdated, and updated my Photo-a-Day blog. That’s another frustration as it clips the photos, so if you want to see the whole photo, you need to click on the sidebar photo within that album. But it’s a great place to keep my Project 365. If I get time, I’ll get January and February up as well. 

Next on the agenda is to get some social media buttons up and add a signature for the blog posts. I thought they might be done by now, but we were on a road trip yesterday to Crater Lake (more about that later), and we’re having a guest for Easter dinner tonight. Hopefully, I’ll get it done tomorrow. For now I need to get my link up for my 52/50 Project. Here are the contenders---Caleb again---but, sadly, this will be the last week as we’ll be headed home on Wednesday.

I loved this reflection of Caleb in the sliding glass door, watching his dad work on the patio.

Concentrating.

At North Mountain Park wearing Dad's sunglasses.

At the top of the slide.

And this week's pick for 52/50 posted on Kent Weakley's Project 52 post.

February Art Journal

The day before we left for Oregon, I managed to finish the art journal pages for February. I have to admit, I find mixed media work a bit daunting. I'm never sure quite how any of it will end up and since I'm working in a spiral journal, it is what it is---no ripping out and starting over. 

I did start out with a general idea of what I wanted to do, but it did end up somewhat differently than I planned. Even the quote changed as I worked on the pages. I started out with a water wash on the pages and then used a set of Inktense Pencils Sarah gave me for Christmas. It worked best to take the color from the tips of the pencils with a brush and then apply the color to the pages. I had two shades of red/pink and blended them together.

The dotted stencil was a piece of cardstock in which I'd die cut a circle border to test a die from Simon Says. I used a dabber and some Tim Holtz Distress ink in pink.

The hearts were also the negative cut from Simon Says dies which I filled with several layers of Gesso and then painted over them with some metallic paints that I've had forever. The LOVE stencil were stencils I picked up for a dollar or so at A.C. Moore's after watching the first video of  the "Use Your Words" class Rinda linked me up to, and the tiny stickers are from a set by Making Memories that have long been in my stash.

I did some doodling around the edges of the hearts and hand drew the stems and leaves. You can see the metallic paints better in this photo.

When Mary and I were in Buffalo I purchased enough vellum envelopes for each month's summary.

I used stamps from Papertrey Ink's "Love Lives Here" for the houses, and the small hearts scattered on the two pages. The arrow stamp is from Studio Calico and I swiped one of the Papertrey tea dye pads around the edges of the papers.

Here's the recap for February:

February started out with a trip to Buffalo for a card making class and lunch at Pano’s to celebrate Mary’s birthday. The first week was devoted to getting materials ready, setting up, and overseeing Church Leadership Development Day which went off well despite the heaviest snow of the season.

We met with Cheryl to start planning our overseas trip this spring, had a lively book group centered on Creating a Mind by Ray Kurtzweil, played duplicate at the Lenio’s, attended concert at the Eastman Theater, and a very powerful play, “Next to Normal” at Geva. We had meals with Dick & Eileen, Bill & Beryl, and Jill & Tom,

We didn’t do as much entertaining since we went on The Plan, an elimination diet, early in the month. It takes a lot of time and is slow-going, but overall we’ve majorly changed our eating habits. Both of us have lost a few pounds, and I’m finally seeing some improvement with a Eustachian tube dysfunction that’s caused some considerable discomfort for the last six months. I think we’re committed to staying on The Plan except when we eat out. 

I received quite an honor this month. One of my photos from a Camera Rochester competition was shown at Image City. Much to my surprise, it was chose as one of five “Gallery Picks.” This is the third time I’ve exhibited there through Camera Rochester, but I never expected to be singled out by the Image City staff.

I did a lot of reading for our upcoming trip and finished “Happier at Home,” but am still not finding the time I want for reading. I did complete LOAD--29 layouts this month as well as fourteen cards. 

I'm not as happy with this month's pages as I was with last month's pages, but I'm glad to be playing with some of my art supplies that have lanquished for quite a few years.

52/50: Week 12 - Caleb, Of Course

This week has flown by even though we haven't done much besides just hang out with Sarah, Adam, and Caleb. I almost missed the fact that today is the last day to post this week's 52/50 project. I actually have taken a few (very few) photos of some flowers and the park, but most of them have been of Caleb, of course. So here are a few from this week and the pick for the 52/50 Project on Kent Weakley's P52.

We took Caleb to a new park, and he was thrilled to find a slide short enough for him to come down by himself. He did it over and over.

It's about simple pleasures. Caleb has a little stool, and he loves to use it to climb up and sit on his toy chest. Sometimes he takes a toy or a book with him.

For a fifteen month old, Caleb has a wonderful attention span, and Legos seem to hold his attention the longest of all.

I have many more photos of Sarah with Caleb since she's home with him all day (and she spent three weeks with us in the fall.) I was so happy to get this one of Caleb with his dad!

I'm not sure why, but this turned out to be my favorite of the week. I think it has to do with the photo/heart connection that Rinda posts each month for Kat's monthly project. Those big brown eyes just melt my heart. I'll be posting this one on the P52 post.

Hope you've had a great week! The weather here was simply beautiful today--sunny and warm. Tracy and I ran an errand after church and walked the length of main street in Ashland. We didn't even need our coats. It's still hovering around freezing in Rochester, and there's still snow on the ground. I'm hoping Spring will show up there before we get home!

CASE Study Challenge #133

When this week's CASE Study challenge appeared in my blog reader this week, I knew I had the perfect card for it. I made a few cards before we left for our trip to post while we were away, and this is one of them. Here's the inspiration piece:

Here's my card. It's amazing to me how many of the elements are the same:  bike, sunshine, clouds, and even the striped paper. I cut this from a chevron pattern much like the inspiration piece. 

As soon as I saw the Memory Box die of the bicycle, I knew I wanted it. It's taken me awhile to put it to use, however. The patterned papers are from a Studio Calico kit, and the chipboard clouds are also Studio Calico. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink's set by the same name:  Enjoy the Ride. The Pure Poppy cardstock and button are also from Papertrey Ink.

 

52/50: Week 11: Caleb

The next couple of weeks are likely to be photos of Caleb. We arrived in Medford, OR just a bit behind schedule which was a miracle since both of our preceding flights were significantly delayed. We had to move to make both of our connections. We got here, but they took our carry-on bags in Philadelphia, and they didn't arrive until the next day. We're glad to be here. It's spring--daffodils are out, fruit trees are flowering, and it's in the 50's. It was snowing when we left Rochester.

So here are five photos from our first day in Oregon. Caleb has a terrible cough and cold, but still manages to be pretty happy despite it. But he's definitely not his usual outgoing self!

One of the only advantages of not feeling well is that Caleb is willing to sit still and just be. Hardly ever the case on a normal day.

Love those long eyelashes. Why is it that guys get them? Matt has beautiful, full eyelashes too.

And my pick for the 52/50 project, although both of two preceding ones were serious candidates.

I'm posting this on Ken Weakley's P52/Sweet Shot post. You can find lots of great photos there every week.

 

Color Blocked and Colour Q

Thanks to Cassandra, I woke up this morning to find out I'd been named the Colour Queen for last week's challenge. That was a nice surprise! Today I'm back with another ColourQ Challenge as well as the latest challenge for CAS-ual Friday: use color blocks. The two challenges went together perfectly.

I've been wanting to try die cutting a word from strips of cardstock for awhile. I've seen it popping up all over the card design blogs. It wasn't as easy as it looks. Next time I think I'd do it a bit differently, but I do like the effect.

I needed to get a thank you note in the mail before we leave. One of my friends goes to the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra concerts with another friend. Louise couldn't go last Thursday and offered me her ticket. It was a fabulous concert, and I wanted to send her a gift certificate and note since she wouldn't let me pay for the ticket.

I started by cutting strips of New Leaf, Simply Chartruese, Smoky Shadow, and True Black. I adhered them to a piece of copy paper, and then die cut the "thanks" from a Memory Box die. Next time, I'd apply a lot more adhesive to the copy paper before I did the die cutting. Getting it apart and onto the card took longer than it should have. The card is one I purchased from Impress a long time ago--Saavy, I think. Then I added a few gems since I liked the gem in the ColourQ inspiration piece.

Very windy and snowy here right now. Enough already!

Three Simple Cards

I have three simple cards for you---typically my favorite kind. Two of these were made during the mad month of February between all those layouts, and there wasn't time to post them. The first one is another card made mostly with the Simon Says March card kit---my favorite of the bunch.

Two of the flower stamps and the papers came from the kit. I added the sentiment from Paper Smooches' Sentiment Samper, and another enamel dot by MME. I'm going to need to find some more of those.

It would be hard to be more simple than this card. I stamped one line from a block stamp from Sentiment Signs (PTI) on the striped paper and added a gem from A Muse. Here's the inside, done the same way:

Nothing like the inside being more elaborate than the front. The recipient really liked this card though!

One of my favorite dies by Memory Box, some patterned paper, cardstock, a bit of twine, and more enamel dots.

We're madly getting ready for two big trips. The first is to Oregon to visit Sarah, Adam, and Caleb. We'll be gone nearly three weeks, and although I expect to blog occasionally it will be much less frequently and I may not get as many comments made on your blogs while we're away. Then in May we're going on our first international trip. It's very exciting, but also a bit overwhelming. I'll fill you in when it gets closer. Both are taking lots of time, and I do have a couple of creative projects I need to finish (start). I'm quickly running out of time.

52/50: Week 10 - Day Trip to Canada

After another gray, dreary week in western New York, we were thrilled to have a sunny day for our trip to Niagara-on-the-Lake. It was still cool, but not nearly as cold as it's been. 

We've been going to Niagara-on-the-Lake to the Shaw Festival with our friends, Mike and Karen, for over 15 years now. A few years ago, we started going twice-once in March to buy the tickets and again in October for a weekend away at a bed and breakfast. This year we bought tickets for Guys and Dolls, and Tracy and I bought another set for a July performance of Enchanted April when we'll be going up just for the day with another couple.

I took my DSLR and the 50mm lens in hopes of getting some fresh photos for the 52/20 project.

Love the flags at the Jackson Trigg Winery

The lines and color at Southbrook attracted me.

The pun on this jam was too cute; I love the tag, too!

I'd love to have these clocks to display on my mantle.

This was a first, and it made all of us laugh! Too bad Tracy and I qualify!

Shadows always interest me . . .

 . . . as do reflections. My favorite kind of self-portrait.

Here's the photo for 52/50 this week. At Southbrook they had a huge jar filled with stones. I like this perspective, and like the black and white conversion as well.

You'll find lots of  photo inspiration at Kent's P52.

Another Bit 'O Green

I don't usually post more than one card for a challenge, but here's another one for Simon Says' Bit 'O Green Challenge. 

We have a St. Patrick's Day birthday in our house, so this is the perfect color for a birthday card. The sentiment came from the stamp set included in the January card kit from Simon Says. and the patterned paper was in the scrap folder. I hand-cut the smaller sentiment and bumped it out a bit with 3-D tape.

We're off this morning with our friends to Niagara-on-the-Lake. We'll purchase tickets for a show at the Shaw Festival for our annual fall weekend there, have lunch at The Irish Harp, and most likely, visit a couple of our favorite wineries. It will be good to be away for a day, and the forecast is for sunshine and warmer temperatures! Yay!

Yay! It's Your Birthday

I got a card made yesterday just in time for the latest Retro Sketch Challenge. It also fits the current Simon Says Challenge for "A Bit 'O Green." 

The sketch is so similar to several cards I've made in the past, and the card comes together so quickly. I didn't set a timer, but it probably would make the 10 minute challenges I see around the web.

Here's my take on it. Once again I reached for the new Papertrey Ink set, Stylish Sentiments: Birthday. This is clearly going to be a favorite set.

 

I started with a piece of Rustic Cream cardstock (PTI) and added three strips from the Very Vintage Double Dots paper pad by BoBunny I picked up in Buffalo last month. The pads were tucked into a revolving rack at the back of the store, and I'm so glad I found them. A little ink distressing on the edges, and it was done.