Monday, June 30, 2008

week 5 - June 08 - Challenge

Challenge Requirements:
1. Use the given alpha freebie on your layout.
2. Use type as a design element on your layout.




Credits:
Paper: Corina Nielson
Alpha: Scarlett Heels
Paradise Swirl: O'Scrap
Font: CK Ali's-writing.


Not sure if this is what they meant . . . but this is what they got . . .

Sunday, June 29, 2008

packing my old kit bag . . .

and heading to Savannah. Not quite yet but reservations made. It is time once again to get out of Dodge and sate a little wanderlust. We have been there before . . . on the fly . . . a quick place to lay our bodies before heading on. This time we will spend a night or two . . . meander . . . eat . . . explore . . . soak up the differences. Frank travels, I think, for the pure sense of exploration . . I, to freeze little moments in time . . . and in memory - my camera packed . . . everyone has a different reason . . . running to . . . running from . . . the temptation of a new palette . . . it doesn't matter why . . . just enough to go

Thursday, June 26, 2008

ink and glue . . .

sometimes you just have to go back to your roots and get your fingers all grubby once again.











After I got part way into it I realized it would have been a lot more effective had I covered in entirely with photos instead of layering them on paper. Sigh . . .

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

I am so excited . . .

I can barely stand myself. I signed up for Candice Stringham's Oh Shoot! photography course over at JessicaSprague.com - Home. It starts Monday and I am about to burst. Imagine the possibilities of taking my camera off auto. Six glorious weeks of education. Finally demystifying the elusive F-stops . . . making sense of apertures . . . . I am giddy with excitement I tell you . . GIDDY!!!! All these years, all these photos and now finally CONTROL will be at my finger tips. I can't remember when I have looked forward to something so much . . . and yes there is trepidation but I can do this, I know I can. The only down side . . . neither Katie nor Kel will be in the class with me. Sigh.

That's me tippy tapping around the room, down the stairs and out the door. Tippy tap, tippy tap, into the distance.

Monday, June 23, 2008

dork moment #2 . . .

so last night after dinner, Jackie washed the pots and pans while I loaded the dishwasher. Nice to have help. This morning I started to unload the dishwasher and noticed one bowl had a small leaf of rappini still stuck to it, and as I continued to unload, I muttered something about the inability of the old machine to do a really good job anymore. The bottom unloaded, I was halfway through the top when I noticed a coffee cup that still had stains in it. Hum. But it wasn't until I picked up the still oily basting brush that I realize it wasn't my old machine at all. It is me. I had never turned on the dishwasher and had just put dirty dishes away, all over the kitchen. ACK. So since it was impossible to sort clean from dirty, if I even remotely thought there was a possibility of having used something the night before, back in the dishwasher it went. Between that and my two glaring typos: one having to do with a recipe that called for 3 gloves of garlic . . . , the other about working for a pedestrian, (thanks Kelli), I think it is time to get new glasses. Sigh.

summer yummy . . .

. . . bruchetta!!! My favorite . . . chilled and served on little toasted slices of stick bread. Oh my! I can hardly wait for it 'settle' so I can gorge . . .

3 diced ripe tomatoes
1/2 cup olive oil
1 cup chopped fresh basil
3 cloves grated fresh garlic (I stuck an extra one in . . . garlic freak that I am)
salt and pepper to taste.
grated Locatelli
balsamic vinegar

Make it early in the day, stash in a covered glass bowl in the fridge, stirring occasionally. Serve over rounds of stick bread drizzled with olive oil and broiled until brown. Sprinkle finished rounds with grated Locatelli and a dribble of balsamic vinegar. Very, very good. I promise.

And now for my dork entry of the day. I figured since I was already sweaty from the gym and it was early in the day and cooler, it would be a good time to flush those pesky downspouts. The first six went well. I was a little shocked how much came out of a couple of them but hey, they had had all winter to collect their goodies. But, then comes #7. I climb up the ladder, insert the hose and scrabble back down to round the corner and see if it is flowing. Nothing. So down on my hands and knees I insert one rubber gloved hand up the spout and start pulling out gobs of icky rotten stuff. Meanwhile because that spout is so packed, the gutter is now overflowing all over the place. Digging farther up the spout, I figure if I actually jam the hose down the spout it might loosen some of the clog. Wishful thinking on my part. Back to digging. Having hit the curve in the piping I have to actually flatten myself out on the ground to get my arm up there. And don't you know, as soon as I get my arm in almost up to my shoulder, the water pressure frees the clog and in one fell swoosh, out comes the clog. So there I am with a clean downspout but covered in water and leaves and other nasty little objects I would prefer not to inspect. Nuff said.

Sunday, June 22, 2008

meanderings . . .

the drought is finally over . . . not so the water tables are back up to speed but enough so the afternoons rains have finally begun again bringing sweet relief to the burnt out grasses, thirsty flowers and sagging brush. Time to drag out the ladder and clean the gutters once again of their winter stash. In the end, I was covered a film of black sludge composed of disintegrated leaves damp from the rain the day before, mixed with roof grit, and moss. Disgusting. But I was proud of my efforts until that days rain proved that although I had cleaned the gutters, the downspouts were still packed and not flowing. Tomorrow will have to be good enough.

So this morning after doing the weekly shopping and being dismayed that it cost $184.00 and change to feed the two of us for seven days . . . when did the price of fruits, veggies, cheese and chicken get so high? . . . I still remember my mother feeding a family of four for $25 a week . . . Sigh. Anyway, I unpacked and deposited myself on a deck chair to finish my newest summer TMBC (you'll have to ask) read and attack the Sunday crossword puzzle.

Warm and fuzzy, I crawled back into bed to catch up on some missing sleep. The phone had other ideas. My brother and sister-in-law are coming to help us devour our Sunday dinner of roast chicken, stuffing, gravy, garlic mashed potatoes, fried rappini, hot rolls and butter and cranberry sauce. She is bringing something ooey gooey for dessert. Yumm-O.

I just seem to be in a rut . . . like the heat . . . simmering, shimmering low over the ground wilting, waning, washing out the sparks of life. Letharic like the cats in late afternoon, I can't seem to rouse. Summer has settled in with its aroma of hot asphalt, musty pond edges leading to disappearing waters, garbage rotting in the trash cans waiting for pick up. Desultory days following one after another. It is time, I think, to pack a bag and hit the road.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

June Week 3 . . .

The challenge was to use a specified template and papers/embellishments from your stash that you rarely use. Man I stink at using templates. I got so lost trying to match papers to squares to do my clipping masks that I gave up and cut the squares individually and used a grid to line them up. I have sooooooo far to go in this process.


Template # 42 by Timmounette
Papers by Amy Teets/Sun Porch
Circles by v.vv
Font: Heidis

Monday, June 16, 2008

and so . . .

I had to play with the new photos . . .



Credits:
Paper: Digital Scrap Spirit
Mask: Katie Pertiet
Font: Heidis



5:30 a.m.

Katie and I crawled out of our nice comfy beds and headed to the ocean via The Loop. I know, I know, what is The Loop, you ask? The Loop is the local nickname for a route that runs up the inter coastal, through the tidal basin and back down the other side of the barrier island. It is stunning to say the least. Canopied much of the way by huge ancient oaks . . . a narrow lane that wanders from the protection of the woods and bursts suddenly into the open space of the basin, buffeted by the winds . . . it twists and turns and meanders along the water's edge. At one point it is but a few block from the ocean. It is a glorious place. Well worth the early morning rise.






back to the big two Oh . . .

Saturday we: Frank, Katie, Stephanie, Kaity, Michael, Jackie, Joe, Stacie, Stacey, David, Scotty, Scott, Dylan and I, gathered to celebrate Katie's big TWO OH. How time flies. I cheated and ordered from Olive Garden. They cook better than I do . . . much better. And for dessert, rather than a standard cake, Katie wanted her favorite Key Lime Pie . . . another yummy not from my kitchen.




and just in case some were not fans of KLP, I whipped up this little goodie:



not!!!

Why am I concentrating on food you ask . . . because that is what this crew does best! Enjoy.

p.s. All photos were taken by Katie with her new 50mm lens. Happy Birthday Bean!

my quirky child . . .

takes quirky pictures . . . love 'em!!



Friday, June 13, 2008

our favorite fish joint . . .

Friday night usually means dinner out in this neck of the woods and since Katie is home for her birthday, it was her choice. Not surprisingly, she opted for one of our favorite waterfront dives . You know the type . . . great seafood served on wax paper in plastic baskets . . . beer by the bucket . . . rolls of paper towels . . . everything but the kitchen sink nailed to the walls . . . valet parking . . . gotta love it.


Our favorite place to sit is on the back deck. It slopes enough to make one a little queasy but the view is stunning . . .

Katie went down on the beach while waiting for our food. I, in the meantime, scoped out the local ambiance . . .




Since I am of the 'scoff down your food while it's still hot' philosophy, it was my turn to head to the beach. Katie had warned me of about the jelly fish . . .

Nasty as they are, I think them quite beautiful. And then there was the seaweed . . .
Not sure where the fisherman was but he couldn't be far . . .
and now a little known fact. Frank and I were married, bare foot on the beach, just a bit north and chowed down after the tiny ceremony with his best man . . . who married us . . . my best friend and her husband and of course a then, seven year old Katie. The old place has changed a lot since then, the 2005 canes darn near destroyed it.
Back upstairs while Frank finished his clams, oysters, spicy shrimp and crab legs . . . Katie and I were still playing with our cameras . . .
I'm not showing the shot she took of me taking her picture. Although it was pretty cool since you could see her face in my lens, the shot also made my hands look like they had been taken right out of the Seinfeld episode: Man Hands. Obviously, I opted to delete it. We headed home happily stuffed and overflowing. It was a good night.

lookie . . lookie

my ticker just hit 10,000 hits. Aside from 9,752 of them being mine . . . someone out there is reading. Hooray!!!

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

The warm challenge . . .

This week's challenge in Spraground is to create a layout focusing on a "warm" photograph.


Credits:
Paper: MMereda
Frame: Katie Pertiet
Swirls: Fei
Fonts: Grunged Alpha by Katie Pertiet and CK Ali's-writing.

Monday, June 9, 2008

Mirrored Letters . . .

I'm bored . . . it's official. And so rather than do all the things on my to-do list . . . none of which have much appeal or let's face it, they wouldn't be on the list to begin with . . . so I hauled out my April copy of CK and decided to try Jessica's tutorial on mirrored letters.




Credits:
Fonts: AL Scratched & Copperplate Gothic Bold
Papers, Ribbon and Flowers: Katie Pertiet
Staples: SG Eternal Love Kit

stunning . . .

my friend Kelli is an amazing woman with a camera . . . fearless . . defined . . funky. She finally . . . emphasis on finally . . . posted her shots from Ireland. I say finally because she has now returned from Tuscany and, I was STILL dying to see the goods . . . . I'm not above pressuring my friends in time of crisis. Check it out!!!! Ireland 2008 and while you're at it . . . browse this little gem Crigler Weston Photography. Amazing stuff. Amazing photographer.

p.s. See that shot of the red pump!?!?! It's hanging in my black/white/red kitchen. Is that not PERFECT!!

Paula, this is all your fault . . .

I was culinarily bored yesterday and got loose in the kitchen . . . . yes, after years of using my oven as a flower stand, Maria, I finally learned to cook . . . then after Frank's heart attack, I learned to re-cook . . . going the low fat routine. So I tried a new recipe for chicken picata. Can't say it was outstanding but at least it was different and paired with garlic mashed potatoes and marinated green beans, it was pretty darn good. But . . . she says with the emphasis on but . . . dessert was to die for . . . and with forty pounds of butter and nine bags of sugar, it was down right decadent. And yes, we occasionally cheat. Admittedly, Frank is more trustworthy then I in that department . . . . or why he loses weight while I absorb it . . . so almost two hours later, out pops this steaming hot apple crisp overflowing with delicious apple, cinnamon, and nutmeg goodness topped with an incredible brown sugar and oatmeal confection. The only thing that would have been better would have been a dollop of real vanilla ice cream.

Yep, we indulged. Then looking back at the pan, I realized we had enough to feed an army. Now normally, I would have traipsed across the circle to Paula's . . . but she and Dave had the audacity to move. So now what? Not Jim and Nancy . . . I like her too much to stick this under her diabetic little nose. David and Tracey were not home. I thought about taking it to the newbies who now occupy Paula's nest but I didn't think a welcoming dessert should have one portion twice removed. And not Taco and Linda.

I IM-ed Katie in hopes it might induce her to come home but she just told me to stop torturing her and logged off.

So in the fridge it sits . . . still tempting . . . like the Sirens calling to Odysseus. Paula, this is all your fault.

Saturday, June 7, 2008

masks are marvelous . . .

You know for someone who resisted shopping on the net for years, I am making up for lost time. Last night I wandered around a favorite haunt: http://www.designerdigitals.com/ and did some major damage. I'm into doodles lately and when I saw some leaves Katie Pertiet had designed that were doodle-like, I was dead. And then I discovered the wonder of them. They could be used as masks!!!!! In other words, I can use any paper in my entire stock to make those leaves, not just the solid green that they came in. Jessica Sprague I bow to you. You have enabled a monster.


Credits:
Paper: Charity Kit by Digital Scrap Spirit
Font: CK ali's hand writing
Grunged Up Alpha by Katie Pertiet
Frame: Filmed Alpha by Katie Pertiet
Leaves: Stamped and stitched Leaves by Katie Pertiet.

Friday, June 6, 2008

more Addison . . .

For Addison's birthday, Frank and I gave him a one person "boat" to play with since he is constantly in the pool. His mom was nice enough to email me some shots she took of him honking around. He is such a neat little kid.


Credits: Paper and frame by O'Scraps Moonrise on Waikikki, Swirls by Fei, Font: Bleeding Cowboy

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Happy Birthday Spraground . . .

Today, Jessica's site is officially one year old. Dubbed Spraground by some of the founding users, it has been a warm home and learning places for a lot of us who are fascinated with all things digi. Jessica and her husband Jared have revamped the site and it is amazing. So if you are looking for a really neat place to hang out: JessicaSprague.com. Grow Your Skills.

They have weekly challenges over at Spraground. This week's was to use Jess's PhotoShop Friday lesson: Filling Type with Patterned Paper and the theme was Everyday.



Since Addison is in the pool everyday, I figured this counted.
Credits: Swirl by Jessica Sprague, all other papers and elements by Michelle Coleman

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

sometimes things just break . . .

like when you reach back to turn on the lamp and it comes apart in your hand . . . or when you go to the dentist for a routine cleaning and they find you broke both a tooth and a filling and three hours later you have four support pins, a medicated filling and a temporary cap . . . or when you walk upstairs and slide across the hard wood floor that is mysteriously puddled with water . . . only to find that it is coming from the attic since the a/c handler's drop pan overflowed . . .

I'm just not sure why these things have to happen in threes and why all in the same day, but I am going to assume that tomorrow will be a better day and this is just a temporary glitch to remind me that generally, life is darn good.

Signed, she, who is hiding under the sheets in case the sky decides to fall tonight.