Road Trip

Shooting with friends, what a great way to spend a day! Sunday I had the pleasure of traveling to Tucson with two of my photography friends. We met last year at Shutter Sisters Oasis in Palm Springs.  This weekend we were able to get together again. We spent the day at the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum. The museum is a great mix of flora and fauna. They even have a small aquarium (which I found difficult to photograph).  I was able to get this one of these interesting eels sticking half way out of the sand.

We spent most of our time capturing images of the desert plants. It was a bit early for peak blooming but we did find some lovely color, especially against the beautiful blue sky.

Stop back by tomorrow. I’ll a few more shots to share.

Until then….

(and I'm sorry, I have no idea what most of these plants are)

Cactus colorboard

Oh dear, I am still in catch up mode. I am determined to get there… eventually.

One of Kim Klassen’s Beyond Beyond challenges for this week is to make a single color colorboard. I captured this image Sunday at the Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum in Tucson AZ. (I’ll share more about that wonderful day on another post). I was pleasantly surprised with the variety of “reds” in this image.

I really enjoyed this exercise. You may see more of these showing up here.

Have you tried this exercise? I urge you to give it a go. 

The best laid plans...

You know how the saying goes. I started the year with such enthusiasm about keeping up with my online classes. I was determined not to fall behind this time.  And as often is the case, life got in the way. I’ve been struggling to “right my ship” these past few weeks. I am slowly carving out a new normal which includes getting back to some of the classes I have neglected.

Kim Klassen gave us three challenges in her Beyond Beyond class for this week. I completed the chalkboard challenge. I am hoping to tackle the other two, but no promises.

Here is my version of a chalkboard:

I used some of the techniques she shared in the classroom combined with techniques from this site and I added a few of my own ideas. Boy, this challenge really made me think but I enjoyed the process. There are a number of realistic chalk fonts available for download in case you aren’t interested in making your own. (but I say give it a go)

So have you joined the new “chalkboard” craze? Just check out Pinterest and you’ll see what I mean.   

Stepping up to the challenge.

For those of you who are not paper/ink crafters and/or are not familiar with Tim Holtz, let me first say I’m sorry because he is a very talented guy and secondly let me tell you about his current challenge. Tim posted a tattered floral challenge on his blog. My good friend and crafting buddy, Jennifer is always up for a challenge. We’ve been doing some brainstorming over the past few weeks and came up with, in our opinion, a winner! Today we spent the day in Jennifer’s well-stocked craft room bringing our plan to fruition.

We posted a few BTS (behind the scenes) photos on Instagram a la Mario Rossi.  We threw in a couple “fakey fakes” to throw people off, gotta keep ‘em guessing. Not only did we complete our challenge entry but we had a great time in the process. 

And our entry is…..

 Cute, huh? 

Isn't it time for you to plan a "crafting" day with your good friend? I hope you have as much fun as we did.

Ups and downs of life

Sorry I have been MIA. My mom's memorial service was March 9th in Ocala, Florida. I think she would have been very pleased. It was a lovely service held at her church followed by a luncheon put on by church members. Mom was very popular in her community and I can't count the number of people who told me they were going to miss her. I'm at the top of that list.

I spent the week prior in Florida with my brothers sorting through her things. She lived independently in a two bedroom house with lots of stuff. It was very emotional sorting through her clothes, dishes, photos and other belongs but as I told my brother, I was thankful she didn't have to be there watching us load her life into boxes.

Countryside Presbyterian Church- Ocala, FL

I want to send a special shout out to my husband today, its his birthday. I am so excited! Why am I excited? Well, I happen to be three months older than my husband so from my birthday in early December until his birthday in March he takes pleasure in reminding me that I am a year older than he is. Anything to get my goat! So welcome March 14th, what took ya so long?

Life brings us many types of celebrations, some painful, some joyful. I believe we can not truly appreciate the joyful ones without a few of the painful ones thrown in.

I hope your joyful celebrations far outweigh your painful ones.