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Projects

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Two projects on my "to do" list have been accomplished. The first you can see readily as I have created and posted a new banner on my blog—without any help! I have really avoided this task for weeks because I was afraid I would mess up the blog and not be able to recover it. The second project still needs a little work, I think. I created a watermark for my photos which you can almost see on the second photo below. It's pretty hard to read, so I need to adjust it a bit.

The adult ed class on external flashes was quite good. I now  understand all the buttons on the flash and what they do. I haven't had much time to play with it, but here are two photos. The first is with the on camera flash. You can see the glare on the mantle and the light is quite harsh. The second is with the external flash and is much more pleasing to my eye. I'm planning to get some more practice with people (we did a bit in class last night) before Thanksgiving, and hope that the family photos that night are better than usual.

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Goals

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Today's prompt for the blogging course was about setting goals. It was a timely topic. One of my goals for the last year and a half is to learn how to use the external flash Tracy gave me for Christmas two years ago. I've tried it a few times, but it all seemed overwhelming, and even with a book, I haven't put the necessary time into learning how to use it. With the holidays approaching, it would be very nice to have a good flash to use. So weeks ago I signed up for an adult ed class at a local school called "Abstract Flash and Lighting." It takes place tonight, so maybe by tomorrow I'll have some idea where to start.

Another goal I've had on my list is to learn how to round corners so I can switch the photos in my blog banner without relying on my son-in-law and his Photoshop skills. Just this morning Cathy Zielske posted a video using Photoshop Elements 8 demonstrating how to do this. No more excuses. I can figure this out! Hopefully, by the end of the week, there will be a new blog banner. (I also have to figure out how to change it!) Last night I managed to reorganize and clean up the side bar of the blog and add a Shelfari widget to the left column. It's too bad it takes a class to get me moving!!!

Sunday Drive

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It was a gorgeous day here in western New York—warm and sunny. After church we drove up to the boat yard to check on the sailboat. I knew our boat was a bit small when we take it out on Lake Ontario, but today I really understood how small. I had never been up there after all the boats had been put up on dry dock. Our boat looked like a toy! But the plastic Tracy covered the boat with has stayed in place so that was good. On our way home we drove through Durand Eastman Park, another beautiful park designed by Frederick Law Olmstead. It's still beautiful in November.

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Later this afternoon Tracy and Matt moved most of his furniture and belongings from our garage to an empty garage in Naples that Tracy's mom owns. There's still a bit of cleaning out to do, but we'll eventually be able to park in the garage this winter. While they were gone, I got a few more Christmas cards made–three of each design.

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It's hard to see in the photograph, but the trees all have a bit of glittery "snow" on them. The star has a tiny Hero Art rhinestone in the center. Both stamps are by Memory Box.

Autumn Decorations

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A few of the fall decorations around the house. We had friends for dinner and finally some sunshine so I managed to get three shots I was satisfied with. More later, perhaps.

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The dining room centerpiece.

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On the dry sink in the dining room.

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On the coffee table.

I wasn't happy with the shots of the mantle, so I'll try again tomorrow and add them here then. I'm trying to live up to my goal to post every day—maybe not such a good idea some days.

Neighborhood Walk

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We live just about a block from Highland Park. It was designed by Robert Law Olmstead and is the site of an annual Lilac Festival that draws thousands of visitors each May. When we went for a walk earlier this week, I was delighted to see these beautiful new signs on Goodman Ave.

Here are a few more shots (taken with my point and shoot) as we walked to the park and around the neighborhood.

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The Highland Park Reservoir

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There are still a few trees with most of the leaves still on the tree.

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I love the shape of this tree. There are several old trees in Highland Park that are just lovely.

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Tracy noticed the cool shadows along the sidewalk from the reservoir fence.

New “Toy” and a New Layout

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It's my version of a toy; I got Photoshop Elements 8 today. It took the better part of the afternoon to get some of my actions loaded in it correctly. I don't upgrade for every version of software, but PSE 8 has some new features worth having, this is the second update since I purchased my last version, and the rebate was still good until the end of October. I ordered it from Amazon just under the deadline. I've been playing with it and there are a few changes to the basics that will take some getting used to, but there are also a lot of new frames and photo effects that are fun to play with as well. I preordered The Missing Manual for PSE 8 for Mac, and it shipped today. That will be a big help in learning the new features.

I decided to try using a template for some photos I took a couple of weeks ago in Mendon Ponds. I used a Calendar/Album template but I have no idea where I found it, and there is no designer noted in the file. Figuring out the new printing commands took just as long as completing the template. Here's the layout:

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Patterned Paper: Cosmos Cricket; cardstock: Bazzil; flowers from a Studio Calico kit of many months ago; brad: Basic Grey; word stickers: Making Memories; alpha: Jillibean

Five Favorites

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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.

NaBloPoMo & Prompt 2

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Last night I discovered that it's National Blog Posting Month. I set a goal in January to do one blog entry a day. I haven't come close, but since I'm taking Shimelle's blogging class, it seems like a good opportunity to try to do it once a day for a month. Might not be as easy as it seems. Here's today's layout: three photos I've wanted to scrap since the summer. There's a back story, of course, but I kept this one clean and simple. 

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Blogging for Scrapbookers

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Not that I need another project. I can't keep up with what I want to do as it is, and I've barely started to work on the Ali Edwards Yesterday and Today class, but I did sign up for Shimelle's Blogging for Scrapbookers thinking I might get some new ideas for the blog and get motivated to do some scrapbooking as well. Today was the first prompt, and here is the first scrapbook page I've made since I finished our big Road Trip '09 scrapbook in September.

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Patterned papers: Studio Calico, CollagePress, Basic Grey; Chipboard letters: Basic Grey; Jenni Bowlin journaling page; buttons: Papertrey Ripe Avacado Vintage buttons, Sassafrass button.

Happy Halloween and A Walk in the Park

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Happy Halloween! It's a cold, wet, very windy and dark day here in western New York. I feel sorry for the little trick or treaters. It's going to be a chilly night.

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Earlier in the week, Tracy and I skipped going to Midtown to work out and went to Mendon Ponds. Unlike the last few days, it was a warm and sunny day and the walk around 100 Acre Pond was lovely. I'm sure many of the beautiful leaves are now on the ground.

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I took this photo for Sarah who said she was missing the colorful leaves of autumn in California. She spent last week in Malibu at a retreat center for a conference, so I have a hard time feeling too sorry for her. Especially on a dark, dreary day in Rochester. Adam posted some beautiful photos of the Pacific Ocean from the place they stayed on their way down.

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On the way around the pond, Tracy spotted this snake. He thought it was dead until it raised its head!

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It was a beautiful afternoon.

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Paper Amour Challenge

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On a recent trip to Buffalo with a friend I picked up a couple of Memory Box stamps. The samples the company had sent to the store were beautiful, so I googled "Memory Box" and found a number of blogs that feature the Memory Box stamps. I also found a contest on Paper Amour. 

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I love the collage look of this stamp. The moon was colored with Moonlight Smooch although it's hard to see the shimmer in the photo. The rest was colored with Copic markers. The patterned papers are all from a Halloween collection by Recollections that I picked up at Michaels. The card is also Memory Box and the ribbon is Orange Zest by Papertrey Ink.

Embellish the Cure

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Just under the wire for the Embellish the Cure Color Challenge.

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Here's my take on it. I was anxious to use one of the beautiful images on Papertrey's Giga Guidelines.

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Cardstock:  Smoky Shadow and Vintage Cream by Papertrey; Cuttlebug embossing folder; Nestabilities Label One; Hibiscus Burst ink and ribbon by Papertrey.

Hero Arts Simple Christmas

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I got inspired today after finishing my card for the Raspberry Suite Challenge and finished three quick and simple cards for the Hero Arts Simple Holiday challenge.

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I love this new embossing folder from Cuttlebug.

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Cardstock: Papertrey Pure Poppy and New Leaf, Neenah Solar White; Hero Arts stamps; snowflake punch; Stickles; pearl from stash.

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge 18

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I really enjoy the color challenges. Often they are colors I would never think of putting together, but I ususally end up with an interesting card. This one is no exception. Here are Dawn's colors:

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Since Papertrey's Vintage Cream was one of the colors, I printed the Raspberry Suite patterned paper samples on a piece of Vintage Cream cardstock and punched them with a 1.5 inch punch. The rest of the card is pretty straight forward. I used my new favorite, Smooch, to color in the leaves of the wreath.

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All Papertrey Ink: Kraft, New Leaf, Raspberry Suite, Dark Chocolate, and Vintage Cream cardstock; Rustic Branches and Signature Christmas stamps; gems from stash; Green Apple Smooch.

Weekend Away

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For the last ten years or so we've been going to Niagara-on-the-Lake in Ontario with good friends to see a play or two at The Shaw Festival. This weekend we saw Sunday in the Park with George, a Steven Sondheim musical which was extremely well-done, but a bit odd. As one of our friends said, you don't come out of it humming any tunes. The artistry of the play and the sets were wonderful. In addition to the play, we try to tour a few new wineries and always visit a few of our favorites.

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One favorite is Vineland, where we always purchase a few of their red wines to bring home. It's housed in a beautiful old church and their displays are always lovely. This year they were promoting a new vodka/wine blend. It didn't interest me at all but the display was beautiful.

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One of the new wineries we visited was Foreign Affair. It's also in a beautifully restored building. They are the only winery in North America to make wine by the Amarone method, where the grapes are laid out to dry for several months prior to pressing them. Most of their wines are quite expensive, but the Reisling is the best Reisling I have ever tasted. In addition to wonderful wines, their decor is lovely.

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The painting over the door was commissioned for them and is used as part of the label on each bottle. Superimposed on the landscape are animals of Canada–blending the Italian wine-making tradition with the grapes of Ontario. This display was on the table in the hall:

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Every year we stay at a wonderful B&B each year called The Cape House. The new owners, Peter and Louise, are delightful and breakfast is fabulous. Louise introduced us last year to a watercolor artist, Irene MacKenzie, whose work we love. We bought a print last year, and this year we commissioned Irene to do a watercolor of our house. Last year I fell in love with a print of a poinsettia. Lucky for me, Irene had one of them matted and framed, so I added another of her watercolors to my collection. I got a photo of our friends at Irene's on Sunday morning. Her beautiful home is her gallery.

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All in all, another great weekend away–and sadly, our last one for a while. We hope to go see Sarah and Adam late in March so we'll be saving up for that trip between now and then.