AAM Monday: Project Life Week 37

The year does roll on and doing Project Life really seems to let me feel the change, the procession of time a lot more. It also helps keep me in the moment because I concentrate on the week, the days, at hand and not look forward or backward so much. That's why I like to keep "up to date" with it. Live the week, scrap it. Week 37 included me using an Ali Edwards technique in some journaling by starting each line with the same phrase - Fall is for... I want to try and remember this and use it now and then.

Tips on Tuesday December 8, 2015

No travel post today as I've been too busy to get myself into that kind of mode. What I will share are some wonderful quick tips and tutorials I've seen on line. There is a wealth of info out there for free so just keep your eyes open and you'll find a lot to help you with your digital work.

Don't you just love learning how to make something you might have ordinarily bought? but now you can make it your own! How bout this template from Cathy Zielske. I love the video which reminds me of a few skills I'd forgotten and which shows you how to make this. Shortcut keys...if I don't use them I forget them.

Cathy also hared this one on making a Christmas tree shot a bookeh one with an iPhone app.  Ok, my tree doesn't look as great as the tutorial one but then it has those crappy colored lights.

Ali Edwards gives a good run down on how to get your December Daily in gear with two videos. These two women are some of the best tutorial writers if you like clean and simple.

On the other hand, equally talented but a woman who takes her art in a different direction is Anna Aspnes. There is a long list of tutorial videos on her blog and if you need a dose of artsy this winter, do play with some of the techniques you'll see in use. PLAY is the word! You'll be surprised where Anna can take you! Here's a recent one which will show you how to include a multitude of images in the Collage style,

Have fun in your learning and if you know all this, then share a tip with me please!

5 on Friday: June 19 2015

A bit more time and the year will be half over. Amazing - and yet for those children and teachers still in school it must seem like the days will never go fast enough. I know one or two who have said that.

So this week I'll take a page from Ali Edwards and make my five a bit different with a prompt for each paragraph or entry. That's one of Ali's wonderful ideas for writing.

 This week

     I cooked this new-to-me-way of cooking corn on the cob - In A Cooler. As I was by my lonesome- no no not lonely - this week with himself in Kansas City, I only bought 5 ears of corn. Mighty delicious this way was.  I ate the 2nd eat a good bit later than the first while it was still in the hot water and it was just a good. I'm sold on this way.

     I read Jo Nesbo's short novel/novella "Blood on Snow"  and found it a perfect afternoon read one day.

     I listened to a few podcasts as I haven't put the great bulk of my music on my new iPhone. In time. I want to clean out those songs and odd bits that I don't want anymore. One podcast I listened to again after a long time was The Bowery Boys.  If you like New York, you'll like this one. Easier than a trip there.

     I watched "American Sniper" from Redbox. I liked it a lot. Of course the next day I got a free movie coupon but couldn't find any darn movie I wanted to spend a few hours with, even for free. That's how it goes. Upscale issue which is a non-issue. Right?

     I started writing Morning Pages again. My notebook is very large and has very thin lines so I am doing 2 pages rather than the suggested 3 pages. I don't like doing this very much but I've done it at different times in my life and it does make a difference. How long I keep it up is unknown but then again isn't that true for most things in life?

That's it for me for this week. A breakfast out on Father's Day thanks to one of his children. I plan on Shrimp and Grits! I couldn't ask for much more. May your weekend be good and one that you think of your father. No matter what, most of us needed at least one sperm to get us here.  That's one reason to be grateful for who ever your sperm donor was.  See you on Monday. 

Stories Matter

#craftthestory

Tuesday Tutorial: Printing Small Photos for Project Life

Today I have a simple technique from Ali Edwards on printing some of those 3x4" images for a Project Life Album. Most of us have printers that can print 4x6" photos so this allows you to print two small photos as a 4x6" photo and then just cut the 4x6" in half. You can also use this to print journal cards on card stock, by cutting some of the card stock into 4x6" pieces. Make sure to change the printing mode to Plain Paper-Best rather than Photo Paper or the equivalent choice on your own printer.


Ali Edwards | Printing Small Photos for Project Life from Ali Edwards on Vimeo.

Technique Tuesday: Making Word Art Even Prettier

Now some word art is very fancy on its own, but some word art is very simple, very graphic.  I like the graphic a lot  but some days you just want to tart it up a bit, don't you.  Are we ever satisfied with things or do we always look for new ways to tweak things... I think you know that both answers are yes for me and I suspect both answers are true for you also.

Here's a video from Designer Digitals which takes some of Ali Edwards' great word art and adds patterned paper or a color to it. You can also do this with some of the various fonts out there that are similar to what Ali draws herself.  Have a go with it and have fun!

Happy Grid

I recently took a collage design class with Claudine Hellmuth and the grid was part of our homework one week. I was making all my collages digitially and had this template from Ali Edwards on hand. I had also just purchased a starfish element and this thought came to mind. I hope the birthday girl likes it!

December Daily Dec 1

The album is a small one I think I got at the $ store. Remember I've said Simple and Fun for this year. So far the worst part is getting the itty bitty plugs out of my CropADile when I punch holes. Weird, huh. I'm happy with it and hope it will all fit in the little binder.

A good word...Hooray!

Like so many of my thoughts, few of them are original. I hear or read something, and go "Oh yeah! that's sooo true!" This one came from Ali Edwards who I thank.

This has been a bit of a down week with the passing of our little granddaughter Bekah. Children of six aren't supposed to die, are they. I'm 66 and as much as I'm happy to stay around, it would be understandable if I were the one to go. But the suffering Bekah was enduring was heartbreaking to all, so strange as it might seem,

2008 - a year before Bekah became ill

Hooray for the end to Bekah's suffering.

Hooray! for the cool breezes that make it seem as if fall may be coming soon!

Hooray! for our ability to switch gears and come home from a Canada trip.

Hooray! for money to fly across country on short notice, and flights that are available.

Hooray! for friends who step in and cat sit for our aging 'boy'.

Hooray! for on-line and off-line friend who shed tears with us and comfort us.

Hooray! for life, for the ability to feel, and to love.

HOORAY!!!

Oh what a lunch

Have I said how much I like rice? I really really heart rice.

I did have more grilled chicken kebabs and leftover green beans and tomatoes but oh just plain rice with some butter. It doesn't get much better than that. Well it did yesterday.



It was lunch while scanning a copy of Ali Edwards' Sharing Your Story: Recording Life's Details with Mini Books . Oh so many things that look like such fun to do.



It really was a good mail day. The same person who had Ali's book for sale, had this wooden set of alpha stamps, HeroArt ones, which were JUST what I'd wanted, and then there was a J. Jill catalog. A plethora of riches!! and all for lunch.

Today

I saw this on a couple of other blogs and I thought it would help me sort out some of my own thoughts.

Outside my window... It's overcast and cloudy but NOT raining.

I am thinking... do I go to the hospital to visit a friend in the morning or afternoon?

I am thankful for... free time during the week to do so many of the things I want. Retirement is great.

From the kitchen...not a lot. I did manage to prep dh's dinner before I went out last night but only got High's hot dogs for myself.

I am wearing... turquoise and brown pjs

I am creating... a birthday gift card holder for my dear granddaughter

I am going... do some decluttering and offer some of my surplus on Freecycle

I am reading... The Saffron Kitchen

I am hoping... that I can get someone to come take the chair and coffee table from the living room. I want them gone before I reconsider.

I am hearing... birds and background road traffic which always sound like ocean waves to me

Around the house... is less cat hair and fewer slivery bamboo leaves about since I swiffered yesterday

One of my favorite things... tea, made for me each morning by my dh. I'd hate to say to him I'm almost happier with iced tea this time of year

A few plans for the rest of the week... dinner with a friend, more weeding, uploading of photos to Flickr, and sitting down for half a day to explore Picasa now that there's a MAC version

Word for 2009

I had been thinking of a word for this year, and I found a wooden sign in a craft store that seemed perfect for someone I know.

The longer I had it, the more I felt it really was for me. Funny how that is.... So my word for 2009 is

RELAX

Many thanks to Ali Edwards for sharing this idea. It might not have been her original idea but as I found it on her blog, it's hers in my mind. Thanks Ali!

Too Good Not To Share - and Share

This comes from a 2005 Ali Edwards post. I love it and think it needs to go back into the world today.

Christmas is a strange season. When you're a child, it is a season of presents. When you're young, it's a season of parties. When you get your own home, it's a season of preparations. But when you get older, Christmas changes color drastically. Suddenly, out from behind the advertisements and big dinners, through the haze of old carols and soft candles, past the dazzling altars and sumptuous crib scenes, we begin to see what Christmas is really all about. Christmas is about finding life where we did not expect it to be. Every year of life waxes and wanes. Every stage of life comes and goes. Every facet of life is born and then dies. Every good moment is doomed to become only a memory. Every perfect period of living slips through our fingers and disappears. Every hope dims and every possibility turns eventually to dry clay. Until Christmas comes again. Then we are called at the deepest, most subconscious, least cognizant level to begin to live again. Christmas brings us all back to the crib of life to start over: aware of what has gone before, conscious that nothing can last, but full of hope that this time, finally, we can learn what it takes to live well, grow to full stature of soul and spirit, get it right. There is a child in each of us waiting to be born again. It is to those looking for life that the figure of the Christ, a child, beckons. Christmas is not for children. It is for those who refuse to give up and grow old, for those to whom life comes newly and with purpose each and every day, for those who can let yesterday go so that life can be full of new possibility always, for those who are agitated with newness whatever their age. Life is for the living, for those in whom Christmas is a feast without finish, a celebration of the constancy of change, a call to being once more the journey to human joy and holy meaning.

( Sister Joan D. Chittister )

Committed

Since DH and I got married, we have tried to keep our Christmas as a fairly low key season. I knew how much he hated the overabundance (addictive greed?) of some Christmas celebrations we had seen or known. I had certainly enjoyed decorating the house but when we combined furniture, there was less and less room even post renovation.

Finally we agreed that with 6 adult children, their Christmas was their Christmas with no obligation for anyone to travel in either direction. December would be a time we would do something for our marriage, and we have often have gone to CA for a couples retreat. DH does not like cold weather very much but one of our best 'Christmas' trips was to Prague, Vienna and Budapest in 2006. Cold but neither one of minded it. That may be a future repeat!

The tree saga you have read below.

So this year, we were to go to Florida - Marco Island (Marriott Preview) and then Miami for his conference. However my lingering cold and our inability to get a cat sitter led me to decide to stay home and have a Quiet Week. His gift to me is time and space. We will go to Hilton Head for New Year's and hope for some warming up there.

So with all this free time ahead, what's a good blogger to do? Not only sign up for NABLOPOMO but also for Ali Edward's December Daily AND Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas. This is sounding dangerously like I'm becoming a scrapper but...I'm committed.


For me these are not three different things, but one way to continue to document how I Cook My Life. I may not have an album like Shimelle's above with lots of bought goodies including a string of pearls, and it may not get done even in December, but it will be fun, and it will keep reminding me how good my life is and how many blessings I do have. Sharing the love...isn't that Christmas?

Goin' to Jail

Tutoring day i.e.

I get out!! after 2 hours. Today, however, will be a new experience as I will be testing prisoners on their reading ability to see where they need to start. Many need the absolute basics...book one which goes over the letters and their sounds. Amazing, isn't it... I suspect they were never like these boys.


I wouldn't often comment here about a question but since it was dear BigCat who asked I thought I might just re post my answer to her re the Weekend Creative described earlier in case others had the same questions. Cat asked if YOU play along with me. No, not really tho you CAN play alongside. ;-)

Cathy...each participant documents his/her own life. While the instructions seem long, the basis is YOU document the ordinary of your own life - photos, words/journaling, receipts, life ephemera. Since I don't scrap, tho blogging certainly is an electronic scrap imho, I plan to make a little 4x6 book...just cardstock and gesso'd cardboard with perhaps two rings.

What I like best about Ali is she sees the value of simple, and real. No rules, no musts, just do it your own way...the doing is what matters. My philosophy to a T.

Gotta run...and document my life as it happens too. Tomorrow I have a new 12 part series starting. My almost favorite holiday is coming up!

I'm doin' this

Weekend Creative (<----This is clickable and tells all about it.)



A Week in the Life Of is the theme. I'm still thinking about HOW I'll assemble it.

I needed something to get me back to noticing and taking pictures. Noticing and writing. A girl can only do so many ATCs, you know.