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Creativity Boot Camp: Heavy Metal

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My first thought when I read the prompt was the heavy metal rock bands, but since I know nothing whatsoever about them, that was out. I’m a day behind getting this posted because it rained all day yesterday, but late in the day I ran out to Home Depot since I thought I might find some heavy metal there. I did, but it took until today to get the photos organized for the post.

HeavyMetalHDw 

On my way home, it stopped raining and I had to drive by an ongoing construction project near our house. All the workers had gone home, so I parked the car in a nearby medical center parking lot and hopped out to see what I might find. I took a lot of photos, but ended up deciding on these three, all taken of the same piece of equipment.

HeavyMetalCollagew 

I used the Colorize action on the last of the photos.

But my favorite photos are of this little red wagon that was “parked” alongside the road. It’s obviously being used by the crews to haul cement or some such substance. Not exactly heavy metal, but I like it anyway.

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The first photo was simply sharpened, the middle photo is the Seventies action (again), and the last one is the Pioneer Woman’s Heartland action. I increased the contrast on the last one after I ran the action.

Got to say, I’d never have taken any of these without the prompt!

Multilayered: Take Two

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Part 1:

The prompt for Creativity Bootcamp today was multilayered. After a bit of consideration I decided to photograph the roses blooming right outside our dining room door. My first inclination was to play with light today, so I started taking a photo every hour or so. I had to take a break for a dermatologist appointment and while I was driving had another idea:  to show how the multilayered rose unfolds. So here is the triptych I came up with. I tried a few actions, but decided I liked the simply sharpened photos the best.

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Part 2:

Last night I finished a layout for the vacation album that was an “out of the box” design for me, but one that I see frequently on blogs and admire. When I finished I was quite pleased with the final product. This morning during my coffee/blog browsing hour I came across Layle Koncar’s article at Ella Publishing. She’d read a pamphlet about decorating that suggested three things to consider when mixing patterns. Layle boiled it down to this:

  1. Have an odd number of patterns
  2. Include a solid
  3. Include a stripe

I was curious and checked. Indeed, that’s exactly what I had. Perhaps that was why I liked it so much. See what you think:

In&OutLO

Cardstock: American Craft; patterned paper from scrap drawer; chipboard embellishment: “Mama Razzi” (BoBunny); pin: unknown (purchased at a stationery store in Ithaca a couple of years ago); digital frame: “Framed no. 3” (two shutter sisters)

It fits the multilayered prompt as well. A bit of serendipity.

Weekly Gratitude X 2

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With all the excitement of Creativity Bootcamp, and trying to get the California photos scrapped I’m late again in posting my Weekly Gratitude pages. Here are the last two weeks:

WeeklyGratitude5.29 

WeeklyGratitude6.5

Creativity Boot Camp Day 2

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Today’s prompt is picnic. Merriam-Webster defines picnic as “an outing with food usually provided by members of the group and eaten in the open.” For this prompt, I set up a still-life outside, tried  various settings, played with different apertures, and took about 40 photos from different perspectives. These are the two I liked the best. Both were taken with my 50mm. lens at f 4.0; 1/100; ISO 400. The diptych frame is from Katie Pertiet’s Vintage Storyboard Frames. I used a new (to me) action on both photos from Noel Joy called “Picture Pop.”

  
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Have To Have

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We spent one day in California in Pescadero and Half Moon Bay. One of our favorite shops in Half Moon Bay was the “Have to Have It” shop. We spent a lot of time there, but didn’t buy anything. Since we’ve come home, Matt and I have decided we should have bought one of the flying pig sculptures for our garden. If I ever go back, I think I will pick out a small one and ship it home. I’m partial to the red one and the blue one.

HalfToHave2pg
Patterned paper: Basics (Basic Grey), Quite Contrary (MME), & Bitty Dot Basics (PTI), cardstock: Rustic White (PTI), chipboard circle (Scenic Route); chipboard wings (unknown); Vintage Calendar Tag (Elle’s Studio)


HaveToHavep1 


HaveToHavep2

Creativity Boot Camp Day 1

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Today’s prompt for Creativity Bootcamp was “Ivory” and the piano keyboard was the first thing that came to mind. One thing I decided to do with this class is to play with some new techniques. Today I used a photo mask for the first time and played with some of the Pioneer Woman Actions.

IvoryDSMask
Define and Sharpen Action; Katie Pertiet “Stamped Blocks No. 7”

Ivory70sMask
Seventies Action

IvoryVintageMask
Vintage Action

Love is in the Air

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We’re off this evening to the wedding of one of our long-time friend’s daughters. I sent the gift to their home in Colorado, but made a card to take to the wedding.

WeddingCard 

Cardstock: American Craft & Aqua Mist (PTI); embossed cardstock: Creative Imaginations; dies: Beautiful Blooms (PTI); ribbon: Paper Source; gems: Memory Box; stick pin: Making Memories

And the inside of the card:

InsideWedding

Dies: Nestabilities Label 4 & Beautiful Blooms (PTI); sentiment: Delightful Dahlias (PTI)

A daughter of another dear friend got engaged a few weeks ago. Tracy was able to get to the party, but I had tickets to the RPO so missed it. I made this card to send to them.

4x4Congrats 

Cardstock: Dark Chocolate and Lemon Tart (PTI); patterned paper:  Letter Box (American Craft); die: Flower Layers 3 (Sizzix); embossing folder: Swiss Dots (Cuttlebug; Flair Badge: American Craft

About six weeks ago, I got an email from Tamron announcing a two-hour workshop “Eleven Secrets to Improve Your Photographs” at our local photography store. Since I own two Tamron lenses and the cost was minimal, I decided to sign up. The class was this morning, and although the first half of the material was familiar to me, I picked up enough tips to compensate both my time and the cost of the workshop. I also got a chance to try out the 60mm 2.0 macro lens that is on my wish list. The most helpful information for me was about lighting, filters, and using your flash. I have a lot of things I want to try out, and hopefully, I’ll be able to incorporate them into the projects  for Creativity Bootcamp. The workshop pretty much solidified my choice of medium to photography. I’m looking forward to the first session tomorrow.

Creativity Boot Camp

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Creativity Boot Camp starts this weekend. I first saw a reference to it on Mel’s blog and signed up. I’m both curious about it and looking forward to it. It’s designed so that you can participate in a variety of mediums, although it appears that it will be best to choose one. I’ve decided to wait until the first prompt on Sunday to decide whether to use photography (most likely) or scrapbooking.  It’s free and you can check it out here.

A Productive Day is Always a Good Day

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Some days I seem to get so much more done than others. Yesterday was a good day.

I paid bills. I balanced my checkbook.

We visited the garden. Sad to say the slugs are eating our beans and ate all the lettuce seedlings. 

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The tomatoes, peppers, squash, and cucumbers are doing well.

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Zucchini Blossom

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First Tomato

I went to the dentist to have my temporary crown removed and the permanent one put on. The crown didn’t fit as well as the dentist wanted, so it had to go back to the lab, so I have yet one more dental appointment next week.

I cleaned my desk.

I worked on the daily crossword.

I made 15 gift card holders. June 13th is Advisor Appreciation Sunday, and I am the chair of the Youth Ministry Committee. We are blessed with a dedicated Youth Ministry Director as well as advisors for the junior and senior highs in our church.

GiftCardHolders

All made from scraps in my scrap files.

I made a scrapbook layout.

CornHoleLO

Core’dinations (Jenni Bowlin) cardstock, sanded lightly; black cardstock from scraps; patterned paper: Bitty Box Basics (PTI); Jenni Bowlin Banner Stickers in red and black.

I took Matt to dinner at The Tap and Mallet since Tracy had a dinner-time meeting at church. We finished the crossword puzzle while we enjoyed our beers.

I ironed curtains and got them rehung. Ironed a few other pieces as well.

I read blogs and was surprised to find one of my Weekly Gratitude pages featured on the Weekly Gratitude blog. I had no idea they ever checked my blog.

I read some more of Making Toast, the library book which I just picked up two days ago. It is wonderful, but a real emotional roller coaster.

Maybe today will be just as good!

Team-up Thursday: Signs

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This week’s prompt was Signs. I took my photo in Davis, CA in March at a UC Davis Facilities parking lot. Nancy’s was taken in Hawaii during one of her vacations there. We don’t ever talk about the photos ahead of time so it’s funny how they go together this week:  Stop, Watch Out, Coconuts May Fall! Other folks in the group interpreted the prompt much less literally posting photos of the first signs of summer, for example.

Signs

CKC Cards

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I took two classes with Making Memories on using the Slice at the Creating Keepsakes Convention last month. We didn’t finish any of the cards in the class. We just created the different components. I much prefer that so I can put my own spin on the cards when I get home. The cards below are from the Slice 101 class. I didn’t learn a lot in this class, but I enjoyed it and won a new cartridge which was really nice. They also gave a cartridge away to everyone in the class, so I came home with two new ones. I learned a lot more in the Tips and Techniques class. That was a layout class, and I’m not sure I’ll ever put the layout together, but will probably use pieces of it on layouts in the future. In that class we learned how to emboss, cut shadow and mirror designs, and how to trouble-shoot some potential problems. 

The first two cards used the Flutter line from Making Memories and the Vintage Findings Design Card.

Butterfly1 

Butterfly2 

Butterfly3D

These cute baby cards use Making Memories’ Pitter Patter line which just came out & the Baby and Animal Cracker Design Cards.

BabyBoy 

BabyGirl

More Vacation Layouts

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I’m still working on layouts for our California trip in March. I want to get it finished this month. Here are two more:

PrincessLO
Patterned paper: Penny Lane & Bohemia (MME); cardstock: Worldwin Light Pink; Glitter paper (American Craft); stamp: crown (Inkadinkado); tags: Spellbinders Standard Tags; rickrack die (PTI); gems and ribbon from stash

Here’s a two-pager I pieced together as best I could. This paper is definitely much busier than what I usually choose, but Disney seems to draw me to brighter and busier layouts.

DisneyIntro2pg
Patterned paper: Creative Imaginations; cardstock: Worldwin Medium Red & Summer Sunrise (PTI); 3-D embellishments: Creative Imagination

Papertrey Challenge #2 and 2S4Y Challenge

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First of all, Happy Memorial Day Weekend! I am always grateful for the sacrifice of men and women in the military that has assured our freedom for over 200 years. I do not take the freedoms we have in our country for granted, but do not often take the time for express my gratitude.

I’ve been working on another Papertrey Ink challenge this weekend as well as the one for the Pixies. This one was posted on the forum, and it was too good to pass up. It was a challenge to ink up all the stamps you own, but have never used. I knew I had a few, but there were more than I thought. I’ve ended up with a new stash of cards, however, and relieved some guilt in the process. The first card is also a card for today’s challenge at 2Sketches4You.

Here’s the sketch:

Sketch56 

And here’s my card:

BeautifulBlooms

I used my Beautiful Blooms 2 set for this card. The beautiful border is Basic Grey’s new “ribbon doilies” tapes. We used some of this on a layout in a class I took at CKC a week ago. It’s self-adhesive and comes in a package with three different designs. The cardstock is Summer Sunrise & the buttons are from my stash.

The next set I used was the Fillable Frames #1. I thought I’d  get a lot of use from this set, and I’m sure I’m correct now that I’ve inked it up for this card:

HappyHappyBD
Cardstock: Pure Poppy (PTI); patterned paper: Early Bird (Cosmo Cricket); ribbon: Pure Poppy (PTI); Ripe Avocado button (PTI); button twine (PTI)

“Fly Away” is the next set. Like “Fillable Frames” it was a very affordable $5 and I love the little banner and sentiments that go in it. I bought just one piece of this cute patterned paper at CKC with this card in mind.

FlyAway

Cardstock:  Lemon Tart & Pure Poppy (PTI), patterned paper “Let’s Roll, Fly High” (Imaginisce)

Take Three Summer was the next set. I have lots of ideas for this set and this is a super simple, quick to make card. I’m not sure I’d use the Raspberry Fizz next time, I think the Hibiscus might look better.

Take3Summer
See above; ribbon & rickrack from stash.

One of the things I learned this weekend is that stamping backgrounds is not my forte. I love the color combination of Ripe Avocado, Spring Moss, and Raspberry Fizz. I’ve had this “Guide Lines Two” for awhile and probably haven’t used it because I’m not comfortable with making backgrounds. I do have a list of other possibilities so perhaps it will see more use soon.

GuideLines
Cardstock: Spring Moss, Raspberry Fizz, Select White, & Ripe Avocado (PTI), rhinestones from stash; stamps: Guide Lines Two & Giga Guide Lines

And last, “Outline Alphabet.” I bought this set more for sentiments and scrapbook pages, but have seen a similar design several places and thought I’d give it a trip. Lining up the letters for the block takes the longest; after that the card goes quickly.

Hi
Cardstock: Hawaiian Shores & Select White (PTI); patterned paper: Green Boutique (PTI), Copic markers

Sad to say, I still have two sets left to use:  Fillable Frames #4 and Baby Button Bits, but with gardening and enjoying the holiday weekend, I simply ran out of time!

Papertrey Pixies Challenge

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A month or so ago, I joined a group of 15 women on the Papertrey Ink forum. We have our own blog, and this month was our first challenge which was to stamp a background paper. I almost never stamp on a scrapbook layout although one of the women in this group does it regularly, and very well. I recently purchased “A Little Argyle” stamp set and thought it would be the perfect photo mat for this picture of Matt on his birthday, wearing his favorite argyle sweater. Nothing like putting it off until the very last day of May!

Matt@27
Patterned paper: Basics (Basic Grey); letter stickers: Basics (Basic Grey) & Times (Prima Marketing), stamps: A Little Argyle (PTI); photo mat: Gretel (Cosmo Cricket)

Happy Anniversary

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Today is Sarah and Adam’s fourth anniversary. It seems so hard to believe that their wedding was really four years ago. It was a beautiful day in every way. Here’s one of my favorite “out-takes.” The best part is four years later, they’re still having just as much fun with one another!

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And here’s the card I sent them. I hope they’ve received it before they see it here. It’s also the first card for a challenge on the Papertrey Ink forum to use stamp sets you own, but have never inked up. This uses the 2009 Anniversary Set which arrived over a month ago!

S&AAnniversarycard
Cardstock: Ripe Avocado (PTI); patterned paper: Quite Contrary (MME); stamps: Round and Round (PTI); mat stack 1 die (PTI), ribbon from stash, rhinestones (Kaisercraft)