Perspective

I love downloading photos.

Well, let me rephrase that.  I love looking at the photos I’ve downloaded.  The actual downloading process is, frankly, less than exciting.  And because of that, I don’t do it as often as I should.  Coupled with the fact that I most often use 4gig cards, it may be several weeks before I fill up a card enough to bother with the download process, and often makes the subject matter a bit of a surprise.   Which in a rather circular manner brings me back to my original thought:

I love downloading photos. 

Today’s long-overdue downloads are brought to you today by my oldest child, who inhereted my old G3.   Nearly nine, he loves snapping photos almost as much as I do, and I love looking at the world through his eyes.  In this case, his eyes were taking in this summer’s Disney vacation.

There were a few shots remarkably similar to ones I had taken

and some that were close, but taken from kid-height:

There were some that were better than the ones I took with my DSLR:

and some that captured moments I missed:

Of course, there were multitudes of photos of his favorite subject:

himself.

He took 216 photos over the week we were there.  Yes, several were blurry (he’s an impatient boy and it’s a slow camera), and some are unflattering, to say the least.   But he had some great shots and, most importantly, a record of our vacation through his eyes.  From his perspective.

Until next time…
c.

Creating frenzy

I mentioned last week that I was on a massive creative streak, spending night after night in the craft cave pulling my Designer Showcase table display together.  After late nights and buckets of caffienated beverages I’m almost there.   Two more projects left.  Sleep is overrated, right?   The creative binge is fun, but the aftermath leaves a little to be desired.

Here’s one of the late-night projects made for Helmar Adhesives:

I finally got my gallery up and running this weekend.   To see more projects, click on the “Gallery” tab up top.

In other news, while preparing for our upcoming adventures, I made sure all the memory cards from our cameras are empty and ready to go.  In the process, I found quite a few photos I had forgotten about.  Here’s a little gem from our recent NASCAR race at the Kentucky Speedway.  Kid #1 was super-excited about being able to stay up late and go along.   He was fun to watch.

I’m still lamenting the lack of photos from the NKOTB concert last weekend.   We got a random upgrade to pavilion seats.  Total retro cheesy fun.  Completely different from *coughcoughtoomanyyearsagocoughcough* when I was 13 seeing them the first time.  It was a ball.

Off to head back to the cave.  Those projects aren’t going to make themselves!

Until next time…
C.

Wait…what? July?

I turned the calendar page to July yesterday.

Usually, I enjoy turning the calendar.  A fresh new page of possibilities before the commitments get scribbled all over.  But today I’m wondering where the summer has gone.  I’d swear the last day of school was just yesterday, and here it is almost mid-summer already.   Between chasing the kids and craft assignments, it has been a busy month already.

The CHA summer show in Orlando is just a few short weeks away, and I’m waist-high in preperations.  My friend Niki is visiting from North Carolina, and we’ve been crafting fiends over the last week.   Because of some other prior commitments, I have to have everything ready for the show by next week.   My usual pre-show panic has set in early, and I’m scrambling to make sure everything is in order.  It doesn’t matter how early I start prepping for shows, I always end up finishing 5 minutes before my deadline.   Luckily, my deadline is earlier this year.   I’m imagining the night before the show to be relaxed and calm.  I won’t know what to do with myself!

I wanted to share a project I did a few months ago that became a product header.  The layout features “Smooch”, an accent ink from Clearsnap.  I love that ink, the brush lets me color even the tiniest spaces.

I’ll be sharing some more of the work I’ve been creating for the show as I photograph it this week.

Until next time…
C.

The bear hunt proves fruitless

Again.

Each fall we try to carve a few days from the crazy family schedule to spend in the Smokies with the in-laws.  Each fall we hope to catch a glimpse of a bear.    And each fall we leave without a bear sighting.   It has come to be quite the joke in the family, since everyone who has ever come along on this trip has managed to spot one except us.  This year, my sister-in-law managed to catch a cub (a peek, not the actual bear!) near Laurel Falls.

We, on the other hand, were treated to views of that rare woodland creature known as the ground squirrel.   Fascinating!

Oh well!    Next time it has to be us.    We’re the only ones left!

With the kids in school is gets harder and harder to get a few days away, so we ended up with a long weekend trip this year.    It wasn’t a long time to take in the sights, so we had to chose a few specific spots to see.   In the end, we stuck with some old favorites – a few kid-friendly trails, the Dixie Stampede, and driving the Cades Cove loop with a few thousand of our closest friends.    Despite the Cove being packed (though not nearly as bad this year as some previous years), the kids always love exploring the cabins.    They also had a great blacksmithing demo we hadn’t seen before.    The light inside the cabin was fantastic.   I’m hoping I got some good photos, but I haven’t downloaded them from the camera yet.

I did realize that I’m still not over the near-squishing of my car by a semi-truck a few months ago, though.   The highway driving made me shaky.    Worth it though, to have a great family weekend, bears or no bears!

Until next time…
C.

Moving on from Muppets!

All right. Now that you have wasted more than a reasonable amount of time watching vintage Muppets videos (yes, vintage! To call them old, would be like calling me old. I know you wouldn’t want to insinuate such things, right?), we can move on.

The past two weeks have been filled with all kinds of real, ordinary life. The kind of life that doesn’t translate well to fascinating, must-read blog posts, but is nonetheless life worth living.

We replaced the basketball hoop the neighbors’ friends knocked down 5 years ago. With the kids being little, we didn’t miss it much, but it’s nice to have again now that the little people are outgrowing the Fisher Price model.

The grownups of the family went to “The Shoe” for the opening Buckeye Game. In the 12 years since we graduated, we have never once gotten a decent game, or good seats for that matter. 12 YEARS! Ah well, the experience was great once again, we won, I realized I should have applied a bit more sunscreen, and we followed it up with a fabulous meal at Schmidts. Can’t beat it, even if the game was a gimme.

*An amusing note: As we were driving to Columbus, passing cars with window flags, bumper stickers, and license plate holders, all bearing the Buckeye scarlet and grey, we noticed that all the passengers in those cars seemed…well…vintage. The realization that these are now our peers was both humorous and disconcerting.

The last weeks were also spent with such captivating tasks as garage cleaning, tree trimming, doorknob replacing (see I told you it was fascinating!) and our annual visit to see Thomas the Train, which may become the blog post of another day. All in all, everyday life happening.

Hope your last couple weeks were also filled with life!

Until next time…

C.

Gone fishin’: Life uninterrupted

I’ve always loved that old “Gone Fishin’ ” sign I always used to see hanging on the door of quaint shops in old TV shows.   That little notice that life was too much fun and needed to be lived in the moment.   Last week, I hung one of those little signs on the scrapcave door and went out to enjoy life.   It seems like summer ends earlier and earlier each year, and as much as I love fall, I wasn’t ready to bid summer goodbye just yet.

The kids and I spent a long weekend in North Carolina with my friend Niki, and let the kiddos play.   They hadn’t seen each other since Niki moved in May, and had a ball playing together.   Surprisingly, the kiddos were fantastic. I had been dreading the drive alone with all three, but they were amazing travelers.   Aside from the logistics of getting all of us in and out of the bathroom for necessary stops, the drive was great.   Except for the 50 minutes I spent parked on the expressway for construction. EACH WAY.   Oh, and the swerving truck I had a bad feeling about colliding with the cement median barrier right where I used to be before I passed him.   But the kids?   Perfect.   Amazing.

Found all necessary school supplies at great prices. I’m not sure why I get such a sense of satisfaction from buying 22c crayons and 5c notebooks, but I do.   I now have enough to last us until the last one graduates, even after donating more than 2/3 of it all.   We’ll see if I can resist the free glue that I don’t need this week.

Made a batch of homemade salsa from tomatoes and peppers fresh from the garden.   Oh so tasty with whole grain tortilla chips from Trader Joe’s.

Drove to Lexington on Saturday, when a wonderful friend’s daughter tied the knot.   The service and reception were beautiful, and the bride stunning. Though I felt a wee bit ancient when I realized this was the first wedding I’ve attended where I’m friends with the bride’s mother rather than the bride herself.   EEK!

The wedding also gave me a chance to chat and catch up with another scrap friend, Barb.   I’m a regular follower of Barb’s blog, as she’s a fantastically funny writer and a heck of a photographer to boot.   Though I felt woefully inadequate having chosen to pop the pocket camera in my purse rather than the dSLR, I got to watch the photographers (Deb and Grant) and Barb talking shop, trying lenses, and figuring out they probably hung out in the same room at the same time in college and never met.    Small world.    Cool stuff.

Check out Barb’s link for some better photos of the wedding.

While the calendar says it’s still summer for a few more weeks, our summer officially ends tomorrow, with the arrival of the big yellow bus to the driveway.   School begins, and my nose must be replaced back to the grindstone.

Until then, I’m going to nibble on some Ikea hazelnut chocolate, sip an icy cold diet sundrop I brought back from the Carolinas and hop outside to enjoy the sunshine.

Hope you are enjoying it too!

Until next time…
C.

Sorry, please try again later.

Buckling down anyway

OK.   I’m going in…to the scrapcave, that is.   I have my Diet Sun Drop and my trusty ’80s music and a deadline looming.   I can’t do any more to lure that mojo fairy.   To quote half a line from Major League (must keep the blog pg rated!), “… I do it myself”.

It will probably take me twice as long to finish while I have to scoot around on the crutches, but time’s a wastin’.    The projects are not going to finish themselves!

Have a great day!
c.

Good mail day

Why is it that delivery people always ring the door bell during naptime?  It doesn’t matter if I put them down  early,  late, or on time, invariably the “ding-dong” comes while the kids are sleeping. (The noise, not the delivery guy )  Today, he rang 3 times.  Sheesh.  Luckily, no children were awakened during the delivery of this package.

Inside were two projects published in the new special issue of Paper Crafts Magazine, and my copies of the issue.

It’s always a thrill to see my stuff in print, and this issue has two projects–a gift bag and an embellished mini-clipboard.  (Check them out on pages 40 and 55!)  I’m especially glad to see the clipboard come home, as it was a gift I made for my mom last Mother’s Day and I had to confiscate it to send.  That’s twice now I’ve had to borrow a gift I made her.  (Sorry Mom!)  I probably should stop submitting her gifts, but I always love how they turn out and she likes seeing them in print.  She’s visiting this weekend, so the timing worked perfectly for its return.

I’m working on a project today, but I’ll be using my break time for thumbing through this new issue.

Have a great day!
c.