random reflections

SNAP: Day and Night

The last of the Nantucket SNAP collections, assuming I can come up with something original and interesting this week. There seems to be no end of the images from Nantucket that interest me. 

When I took the upper left photograph, I said to my daughter-in-law's sister, "This is for Maggie," and then explained how many of Maggie's photographs through the door, window, or arch I've enjoyed this year. If you were sitting on that deck you'd see the ocean beyond. The upper right photo is the Nantucket harbor where the ferries come in. I'm not sure of the name of the beach on the lower left, but we ate take-out pizzas on the beach that night, and stayed for the sunset. It was more remote than most, and we had to climb up and over some pretty high dunes. The lower right photo was also taken at the harbor, although in a different spot. The docks there were crowded with some beautiful, and very large, yachts and sailboats.

It's lovely here right now, though. We spent last night at dinner on the Genesee River across from the Rochester Yacht Club watching the sailboats go out to race on Lake Ontario. We sat over our dinner and coffee long enough that we were still there when the boats came in at dark. Because it was a Tuesday there were plenty of empty tables so we didn't have to rush. We know all too well, that these beautiful evenings when you can eat outdoors are soon to be few and far between!

Linking up with Helena for SNAP--a collection of three or four related photos.

Project Life Catch-up

Truthfully, I wasn't really sure I'd ever catch up with my monthly PL spreads. When we returned from vacation two weeks ago, I was eight months behind. But shortly after we returned, I read on a blog about a woman who prints her photos each month, and then goes back to finish the spread when she has time. It gave me an idea that has worked out well. Yesterday I finished all eight months of the PL spreads. All that's left to do is a bit of journaling and some embellishing. 

As I began to work, I came up with a process that worked really well for me. Since the pictures and words are what I focus on, I started with my Lightroom files. All my photos are uploaded to Lightroom and put in folders by month and year. Within those folders are events or categories. So for November 2015 I had 11 miscellaneous photos from various events like our church's Grocery Run, a folder with photos from Ella's birthday, and a folder with photos from Thanksgiving. For many months, I have as many as five folders filled with photos. How to choose?

Here are my notes from July, and the planning pages for June and July.

After going through the photos, I made a list of the ones I'd like to include. Because I use photo templates that allow me to get two, three, or as many as six photos in one 4X6 pocket, I have more latitude than I used to. Then I use the planning sheet on the clipboard to decide where the photos should go. The checkmarks indicate the photos that have been printed, and the circles ones I needed to do the next time I sat down to work.

Here's November 2015. 

I couldn't find a template I liked for the six Thanksgiving photos I wanted to use, so I made my own. The word art is Paislee Press, and the journaling card from Becky Higgins.

The calendar page I use for all my title cards is from Paislee Press. All the rest of the templates on this page are from Tracy Larsen's Simply White templates. By the time I journal on the templates, lots of the journaling is done. Today I added the brown card (Becky Higgins) and the gold leaf overlay (Pink Press Studio), the journaling with a sticker (Michaels) and some jelly stars (Gossamer Blue kit), as well as some die cuts (Papertrey Ink) and the #1 (AC Thickers) on one of the photo templates to finish off the page.

All that had to be done for this page, was to attach the 8.5 X 11 page to the 12 X 12 patterned paper by Echo Park, and add some brief journaling to the journaling card.

I've got to say, it feels good to be this far along, and you'll be seeing PL posts pretty regularly now. I even have a start on the August pages before August ends!

Summer Scavenger Hunt: August Edition

As I expected, I found quite a few of the items from the 2016 Summer Scavenger Hunt while we were on vacation. Some of them are duplicates of items I found earlier, but I couldn't resist adding them to the collection. All together I've found 20 of the 21 items, and both alternatives. I still need a photograph of twins (#17), but have two possibilities, and there are still a few weeks left before the official end of summer. 

So without further ado, here are this month's photos:

A skeleton (#3) - found at the Whaling Museum on Nantucket. Notice the difference in size between the skeleton and the whaling boat beneath it!

A book read during 2016 (#4) - I've read 31 books so far this year, 12 since the start of the scavenger hunt. This was one of the most recent ones. 

A porch (#5) - in 'Sconset, Nantucket

A camper (#6) - I was hoping to find a cuter one than I found in July, and here it was on the Thruway coming home from vacation. I'd love to see the insides.

Bicycles (#10) - I never tire of photographing bicycles. The last one is the one I rented in Nantucket,
parked at the weather station near Altar Rock, the second highest point on Nantucket.

Fresh produce (#11) - at our favorite farm market

A buffet of food (#14) - We went to the most amazing buffet on Sunday when we were in Nantucket. In addition to the dessert table and salads,there was a raw bar, and a table of hot entrees (all covered so not a very exciting photo).

A family gathering (#7) - here we are at the buffet on a porch overlooking Nantucket Harbor

A team logo (#15) - I'm auditing a class this fall at the University of Rochester. When we were there last week trying to find out about parking, I got this shot of their team's logo.

A map showing a trip taken during the time period (#16) 

 A photograph of you with a newspaper from the time period covered in the hunt (#21) - My least favorite item on the hunt every year! I picked up a copy
of the local paper in Nantucket. It was first published in 1821.

You can find the original post for the Summertime Photography Hunt right here.

 

SNAP: Views from the Cape and Nantucket

Only two of the three lighthouses on Nantucket are easily accessible. To reach the third, you need a special pass, which evidently is not that hard to get, but there wasn't enough time to follow through. I have multiple views of the other two; one near 'Sconset (upper left), and the other near the harbor in the town (bottom right.) The view through the door was taken at the Woods Hole Historical Society on the Cape which has a lovely collection of artifacts in a small museum, and this shed next door which houses a variety of boats and boating paraphernalia. The bottom left photo is of the oldest continuous working mill in the United States. We drove by it on Nantucket multiple times, but it wasn't until the last day that I finally got a photo of it. 

I'm linking up with Helena and other SNAP collectors today. I'm buried under a huge project which has turned my office/studio into a disaster area. Hopefully, I'll be done by the weekend and back in business again

5 in 5: August

Each month I like to participate in Sandie's 5 in 5 photography meme. I was quite sure I'd be able to come up with five photos in five minutes somewhere on Nantucket, and it proved easy to do. I finally chose these five from the village, Siasconset, commonly referred to as S'conset. On earlier trips to Nantucket, Matt had sent me photos taken with his phone, with the comment, "You'd love it here, Mom." And indeed, I did. The village is very small---a lovely market, a delicious sandwich shop, and a small cafe and wine shop. The rest of the village consists of quaint cottages, all shingled, all with beautiful flowers. Some of the cottages were built in the early 1700's and are still in excellent condition. Later in the day, after these photos were taken, several of us walked the Bluff Path, and I'll share some photos from there later. Along the bluff, overlooking the ocean, are much larger and more elaborate homes, equally beautiful. 

In the last photo, I love that you can look through the window and see the ocean beyond. It seems like a pretty idyllic place to spend a summer!

SNAP: Boats in the Harbor

We've just returned from ten days visiting Cape Cod, Nantucket, and Providence, Rhode Island. It's been years since we were on Cape Cod or in Providence, and we'd never visited Nantucket. Betsy grew up with summer vacations on Nantucket, and their family goes each summer. They've invited us every year for the last three years, but this was the first time we were able to join them. There'll be more SNAP collections, and probably a couple vacation posts once I finish editing the many photos we took. I cut the number in half yesterday, but still have a ways to go. 

Nantucket is simply beautiful, and the weather was hot and humid most of the days we were there. We spent a lot of time on the beach with the grandchildren, and had a wonderful time. There were lots of possible collections for SNAP, but this week I decided on four of the photographs of boats in the harbor. 

The upper left photo was taken in Woods Hole, MA, the rest on Nantucket in various places. Nantucket is sometimes known as the "Gray Lady" because it is frequently socked in by fog. There were only a couple of mornings when it was particularly thick, but the afternoon we drove out to Madaket it was also foggy as you can see in the upper right photo. 

Summer Cards

I have a couple of cards to share that shout summer to me. The first one was for a friend who has a pretty healthy dislike of flamingoes. Her brother regularly sent her flamingoes from all over the country when he was working, and once I had a "field of flamingoes" delivered to her yard that was a fund raiser for a local youth group. She responded with line of flamingoes up my sidewalk by the same group! So I couldn't resist this year when I found this die cut flamingo in a pack of Simple Stories dies for scrapbooking. It just had to be used for her birthday card. I found a cute set of paper napkins with a gold flamingo on them to go along with her other gifts. It's a good thing she has a sense of humor!

The die cut and stamped sentiments are from "Birthday Cheer" by Papertrey Ink. I added some rainstones (PTI), enamel dots, and (hard to see) some Wink of Stella glitter to liven it up.

The next card is unusual in that it has no stamping whatsoever. It's all die cuts.

I started with a piece of Simon Say's woodgrain paper, and die cut the "Garden Garland" from Limeade Ice, adding some detail with Copic markers. The pretty flowers are also part of the Garden Garland die. I finished them off with a few enamel dots for flower centers. The sentiment die, "Big Basics: Birthday," was cut from Summer Sunrise. As soon as I saw the Garden Garland die, I had several ideas for it so you are sure to see it again!

 

SNAP: The Flowers of Niagara-on-the-Lake

Every time we visit Niagara-on-the-Lake we are taken with the gorgeous flower displays along the main street. All of these photos were taken within one block. They'll be just as gorgeous in October when we return with our friends for our annual weekend away.

With all the dry weather we've had this summer, I can't imagine the amount of watering that must be done to maintain these displays. Try as we might, we can't keep our flowers looking this fresh all summer.

Linking up with Helena where you'll find more interesting sets of three to four related photos.

Retirement: On the Links

For one of our friends, and definitely for my brother, retirement means more golf! This is actually the second retirement for my brother. He worked for many years, retired, needed something to do, and started driving a school bus. He actually loved the job, but after seven years or so, he decided this year he'd had enough. So here are two cards, both made with Papertrey Ink's "On the Links" set.

For my brother's card, I used a white brad for the golf ball, and two cloud dies in addition to the stamps and dies of the set to create a little scene.

A die meant to create snow drifts served as a little slope leading up to the tee for the second card. The paper on the bottom is from "Black & White All Over," by Maile Belles.

I know for a fact that both these guys have put in a lot of time on the golf course this summer. And there'll be no need to quit come September!

August Birthdays

There were two special birthdays this week. The first was that of a friend who turned 80 on Monday. He certainly looks a lot younger that his age, and is quite the bridge player. We sang "Happy Birthday" to him on Friday night when we hosted our duplicate bridge group, but I failed to take any photos. Here's the card I made for him.

It's a design I first saw on Maile Belle's blog, and one that always seems appropriate for masculine cards. Here's another one of similar design I sent out awhile ago, but never posted.

Both cards use die cuts from Papertrey Ink's "Birthday Cheer" set. The top card is made with a patterned paper by Teresa Collins, and the bottom one with one of Maile Belle's "Black and White All Over" papers.

Yesterday was Sarah's birthday. It's the first year in quite a few that we weren't around to help celebrate in person. 

She's not one who likes particularly fussy cards, so I hope the scalloped card (Papertrey's Noted: A2 set of dies) wasn't too much for her. I used a stencil brush to add some color to watercolor paper, and then stamped the cupcake from Mama Elephant's "Carnival Cupcakes." The sentiment is from their "Carnival Toppers" set. I added some Glossy Accent to the cherry after coloring the image with Copic markers.

Although I've used the Papertrey set "Scene It: Celebration" several times, I'd never tried the banner. I stamped it, embossed the greeting, and then cut it out by hand. I love the ombre effect of the stamped banner.