random reflections

Celebrating Blog Friendship

Welcome to the Blog Hop Party for the "Blogging for Scrapbookers" reunion! You may have arrived here from Maya’s blog "Chronicles." If not, you can start at the beginning by going to Lizzie’s blog “Lizzie Made.” Thanks to Jo and Lizzie for organizing this reunion. I’m looking forward to visiting everyone’s blogs.

I wrote my first blog post in June of 2005. My daughter, Sarah, had brought home her new boyfriend (and husband-to-be) who was an avid and popular blogger. He had encouraged Sarah to start a blog, and helped me set one up while he was visiting.  Here’s what I wrote about starting a blog on that first post:

So why start my own blog? I'm hoping it will encourage me to be more reflective about my life, attend to the daily instances of grace in my life, and to record significant events in my life. Stamping and scrapbooking have made me so much more attentive to design, light, and color; perhaps blogging will make me more attentive to journaling which I find so much more difficult.

Over time, things have changed a bit. Photography wasn’t even mentioned in that post because it wasn’t until March of 2007 that I took the BPS “Photography 101” online class that stimulated my interest in photography. I started categorizing my posts a year or so ago, and Typepad shows a visual representation on my sidebar of the frequency of each category. My most frequent posts are to share my passion for cardmaking, then photography, and then scrapbooking. Sprinkled in among those three hobbies are family excursions and events.

But it wasn’t until last year, while I was enrolled in Shimelle’s online class, “Blogging for Scrapbookers,” that I found an online community. And truly, that has been the very best thing about starting a blog. I have friends who just don’t understand the time I spend online, nor do they think online friendships amount to much. It is their loss!  The blogging community is a truly supportive one—supportive of creative endeavors, family celebrations and tragedies, challenges, and accomplishments.  I have learned so much as part of this community: from new vocabulary and cultural traditions in different countries to techniques I can use in my papercrafting. This post would be forever long if I tried to list them all. So in gratitude for all the many lessons learned and kindnesses extended, here’s to our very special blogging community.

Cardstock: Summer Sunrise & Kraft (Papertrey) ;patterned paper: Distressed Dots (Papertrey); stamps: Take Three: Summer; Friends To the End & Framed (Papertrey), Friendship Definition (Hero Arts); rhinestones: Kaiser

“P” is your letter for “secret” phrase, and now you’re off to Melissa’s “Daily Life—Bits & Pieces!” Enjoy the rest of the tour!

 

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.

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.

I've Been Tagged

I've been tagged by Mindy, one of the Design Team members at Scrap-Mart. She likens these tagging adventures to the chain letters of the past. I much prefer blogging.

Ten Things That Make Me Happy

1. Family Time. There's not much that means more to me than spending time with my husband and kids. I never get enough of it. Even though Tracy and I are both retired, we're really busy with our own projects and need to make time for ourselves. When everyone's together, it's the best! 
   
2. A Good Book. I love to read and a book that grabs my attention and makes me think is one of the great pleasures in life.
3. Travel. Although I hate to fly, I love to travel. I never get tired of seeing new places. We were on the road for 29 days last summer, and I loved every minute of it. I love the anticipation of trips almost as much as the trip itself. We're tentatively planning a cruise to Alaska in 2011 with very good friends and I'm already excited.
   
4. Good Friends. I am truly blessed with good friends, and enjoy all the time I get to spend with them.
5. Learning New Things. I think this is one reason why I loved teaching. I was always learning something new. Now it's my hobbies that keep me on my toes!
6. Creating. I never had an opportunity as a child to take an art lesson. We didn't even have art classes in my school, so I never considered myself the least bit creative until I started sewing as a teenager (for 4-H) and stamping as an adult. If I could go back and choose my career again, I think I'd choose graphic arts, even though I loved my teaching job.
7. Photography. Of all my hobbies, photography has done more to change how I see the world than anything else. I'm so much more observant, and examining the great photographs on sites like Pioneer Woman help me develop a more critical eye. It's another career I'd love to have had.
8. Sunshine. We don't always get a lot of it here in the northeast so I am really appreciative of it when it's here. I love my house, but it's surrounded by trees, and has old windows. If we ever downsize, big windows and a sunny location will be #1 on my list.
9. Flowers. I love them inside and out, from the grocery store or the florist. I'd have them on my table every day if I could afford it.
10. Good Food and Cooking. I love to eat out, and I love to cook. I'm always collecting new recipes, and I read cookbooks like a novels.

Five Random Facts

1. I was a clumsy child, and very unathletic. Nonetheless, I played on the varsity field hockey team my junior year in high school. Even more amazing, I actually got playing time. (But I definitely did not love it.)
2. I was painfully shy as a child. Friends who have only known me since college find it hard to believe, but I was so shy I hid under tables to avoid meeting new people who came to our house to visit.
3. My freshman RA was sure I'd be the one kid on the floor who wouldn't make it. She never told me at the time, of course, but many years later she was asked to witness our wills in our lawyer's office. We hadn't seen each other in years, and she told me then. I not only lasted, I flourished!
4. I love to organize. The first time I was in The Container Store, I thought I'd "died and gone to heaven!" It's a good thing there isn't one around here. I'd be broke.
5. I'm terribly afraid of heights. I have a hard time on a step-ladder, and hate most amusement park rides. 

So the deal is to tag five others. All of these women I've met through blogging and the internet. I've loved getting to know them through their art and their blogs. I hope they'll play along.

1. Joni
2. Rhona
3. Amy
4. Rinda
5. Mel

Morning Inspiration

 
 

A favorite photo from last June in our backyard which is now covered with snow!
  

I've been thinking about Photo a Day again, and having mixed feelings about it. I get overwhelmed by the number of photos, and although I got off to a great start in 2009, I wasn't able to keep up with the recording/scrapping part of the deal. I have the photos, but after June, they never got posted or put up on my Photo a Day blog. In November, I started using Shuttercal, and I do like that alternative. Finally I decided I'd do a favorite photo a week, since I was pretty sure I'd take a few photos every week. Over the weekend I downloaded a "freebie" from Designer Digitals by Katrina Kennedy. I took a great online course with her through Get It Scrapped last spring. It's a 17 page booklet with over 400 ideas for photos, and great suggestions for how to keep track of your photos. I decided I'll give it another go after all. You need to register at Designer Digitals to access the book, but they send links each week for free digital templates, brushes, etc. so registering is a good thing. I've also purchased quite a few templates from them as well.

Project 365 and Shuttercal

Photojojo sent me an email this weekend about Shuttercal.com. It's a free site where you can upload your daily photos to a calendar. Then, if you wish, you can have each month's photos printed in a cool square format.

I signed up, and it's very easy to use. One thing I like is photos don't need to be resized before uploading. I have a Photo a Day blog (on the sidebar) which sadly needs much updating. I started working on in early in September but didn't get back to it. So why move to Shuttercal? I wanted to try it out because I think I'd love having the photos printed next year. (If I decided to take this one again.) And it's renewed motivation to get the daily photos processed.

Five Favorites

One option in today's prompt from Shimelle was to post some links to favorite sites on the internet. I use Bloglines to subscribe to a long list of blogs that I enjoy. Some days there are lots of posts to read; some days I only skim the blogs; other days there isn't as much action. I get a lot (if not most) of my inspiration from blogs now. It's cut down on the number of idea books I buy, and I'm seriously thinking about letting a couple magazine subscriptions go.

My first favorite is a site I learned from Jessica Sprague during a class on her site. (A list of great class sites might be next.) It's vi.sualize.us. This is where I save and tag all the cards, photographs, and scrapbook pages I see on the internet that I love or where there is a detail, perhaps, that I'd like to use on a card or a scrapbook page. The tags work really well, so if I'm looking for a birthday card idea, I search "birthday" and all the birthday cards I've saved show up. As I've added to my pages I've gotten better at the tagging. I think I have over 200 pages of ideas. Some day I'll clean some of them out, but it hasn't gotten overwhelming yet.

The next two sites are blogs hosted by card makers who I really admire. Debbie Olsen's cards are exquisite and the details are wonderful. She also posts tutorials on coloring with Copic markers which I am trying to learn how to use effectively. Nicole Heady is one of the owners of Papertrey Ink, my very favorite source for stamps, paper, ribbon, and buttons. Nicole has a superb sense of style, and I love almost all of her creations.

The last two sites are photography sites. I've been following The Shutter Sisters for well over a year now. Now only is the photography inspiring, so is the writing. It's also a good source for information. Words to Shoot By is a new site for me, but I love the idea of taking one word and finding images to fit it. I also love the way they use triptychs to showcase the photos. I'm off to check out some links posted by my classmates.