July 04, 2009

Happy July 4th!

Not much on my agenda today because, well, I deserve a day like today! I'll be headed out this afternoon to a friend's house for a BBQ and some swimming.

Check out these links that will help you take better pictures of fireworks

digital photography school

photofocus  

Scott Kelby's photoshop insider

Enjoy the holiday and thanks for stopping by! 

ETA: Digital Photography School offers a free weekly newsletter. If you are interested, the window should pop up when you click on the link.

July 03, 2009

Holy drop dead gorgeous sneak peeks!

I haven't been over to the Prima blog in over a week and all I have to say is OH MY GOD!! Get over there and check out what's coming! Wow!! Can't wait to get my hands on their new goodies!!

Thanks for stopping by!

June 30, 2009

CHA sneak peeks are starting!

I love window shopping! Here's a little sneak peek from My Mind's Eye. Check it out! Love, love, love their papers.

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June 29, 2009

Let's Go Yankees!(At Citi Field!)

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My good friend Barbara and her husband have season tickets to the Mets. For the record, I am not a Mets fan, nor am I a Mets hater. But the Mets played the Yankees this weekend and Barb invited me along to the game on Saturday. I was looking forward to seeing the new stadium. I had been in Shea twice as a kid, but that's only because a) my father was a Mets fan and took us one Sunday and b) I went with friends once to see the Yankees play at Shea when Yankee Stadium was being renovated. I was just invited-or should I say "dared" to go see the Yankees play in Boston with a friend who lives in Massachussetts. Sure, I'll go....wearing riot gear and holding a big German Shepard on a leash next to me!

Anyway, Citi Field is a nice stadium. Our seats were on the left field side.....

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in the "promenade" section", which by the way probably translates to "in the clouds" or "close to God"..

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We were up there, but there was people further "up there" than we were. It is roomy downstairs at field level where most of the vendors are. There is a really cool "bridge" that connects each side of the stadium behind the outfield so there is total access around the stadium at field level.

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This sign above the Shake Shack is from the original Shea Stadium.

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Sorry for the Dude who walked in front of me at the last second. There's an area that has picnic tables so you don't have to drag your food back to your seats...allll the way back up to your seats...in the clouds, or close to God....

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The stadium looks nice all lit up in the night. Citi Field June 2009 041

It was a great night...especially for me since the Yankees won 5-0. I'm really not gloating you know, because I'm not a Mets hater!

June 28, 2009

Helping kids document vacations and events

I came across a great idea today on a friend's blog. It is an awesome mini album that can be used as a photographic journal for kids. It can sometimes be overwhelming to create something for a child to use whether it be because of time constraints or finding the right format that is kid friendly. Check out Jen Davis's blog for this fabulous, cool, yet simple photo journal that she created for documenting her summer events. Jen is a super talented designer for Creative Imagingations and The Marks Paper Company. Thanks for sharing Jen!!

Thanks for stopping by!

June 23, 2009

Wordplay # 18 is up!

I checked Jill's blog yesterday and she has a new challenge up. Have you been keeping up with your challenges? I'm pretty far behind, but slowly catching up! I'll try to get pics of my journal posted by next weekend.

Here's Wordplay Challenge #  18

Wordplay Challenge 18: Pater Familias

What do you want to remember about your father?  

As someone who no longer celebrates Father's Day with her father, this day is sometimes more reflective for me than celebratory.  Still, my father's story is tied to my own story.  This week's challenge is to try to capture in words (and pictures, if you have them) your relationship with your father, for better or worse.  
 
This is a very big challenge for me. I lost my dad a few years ago. I have a lot of memories still swimming around, and so many questions that I wish he could answer. When I don't have an answer to something I often theink "dad would have known" or "I wish I could ask dad".....do we ever really get past that in our lives? Sigh....one more question he's not here to answer.
 
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June 22, 2009

Check it out

New blog banner, new look, new font(in the sidebar), new color.....what do ya think?


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June 21, 2009

A last minute card and it shows it!

Aaaaack! Not a decent card for Father's Day left in the card isle.....time to drop back and punt! I haven't made a card in eons....I had no idea what to do. I don't even have many masculine stamps in my huge & currently collecting dust collection. Well, they're not really collecting dust. They're in a closed cabinet. But you get the idea. I wanted to make a card to accomodate a gift card too. So I sat and stewed on and off for most of the day...pathetic....then it came to me at about 8 PM.

I used this template that I took from a make-n-take at a crop ( It was an envelope mini book). I had the sudden brainstorm to make a template from the last pre-cut envelope shape just before I folded it and taped it together. ((Whew!)) Go me!

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So it took a couple of tries before I got a decent envelope. Thinner cardstock is better than thicker, so I went from a MME patterned paper to a Bazzil kraft card stock. A little stippling, stamping and embellies and I came up with this

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I made a card with corner slits for the gift card just hand wrote the "sentiment"...if you want to call it that! I know....again, pathetic, but believe me it's not about the card, but rather what's in the card!

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Right? It's totally about what's in the card!

Here's a peek at the back so you can see how it folds.

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Easy peasy! 

Hope everyone enjoys their Father's Day! 

Thanks for stopping by! 

June 20, 2009

Do you have a favorite photo?

I do. It wasn't hard to choose which one in the few thousand I have. It's not even a technically good photo but I love it just the same.

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It is a picture that I took of Kelle one evening  while we were walking up to the paddock at the Meadowlands 3 years ago. It was taken with a little dinky 3.1 mp camera, it is a little over exposed on the right, shadowed in the middle and the horse is obstructing most of Kelle, but I don't care. I love it anyway because it reminds me of how hard she works and how passionate she is about her job and horse racing.

Stop byAli's blog today and show her one of your favorites.

Thanks for stopping by!

June 14, 2009

Quality time

My co-workers and I went to brunch today at the Thayer Hotel at West Point. There was only 8 of us who could go so I invited Kelle to come along. She has one Sunday off a month and when she said she could come I was totally psyched to spend the day with her!

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West Point is a significant part of the history of the Hudson Valley. It is always a pleasure to visit here. Unfortunately since 9/11 it is no longer what's called an "open post" and there are 2 security check points that you have to go through. You can no longer walk the grounds either. You can only see West Point via a tour.

Kelle mentioned that as a child she realizes she took living in the area for granted. She also feels a little home sick when she sees views like this

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The views from the grounds of the Thayer were pretty, but there is a lot more spectacular views at other points on the base. It was really beautiful today and everything is so green because we have had so much rain in the last 2 weeks. You can tell it's been raining by the murky brown color of the Hudson River.

I entered a LO again this month for Prima's Build-A-Page contest. Wish me luck! I'm up against some incredible designers! Check out the gallery here. You can see the Prima designers' work and all of the submissions from the public. If you want to enter a LO in the contest you can read about the requirements for submission here. Good luck to all who enter! Here is my submission for this month

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Since you have to use all Prima products now for a contest entry I had to make a run to M's for paper and some embellies. I have only had flowers in my stash until now. The paper line and the embellies are Rock on Bro. I have to say that they are so different than anything I have ever used before. I don't usually look twice at bright, busy neon designs, but it was either this or nursery/baby paper. I probably won't win, but the idea of submitting is keeping me motivated to create and that's a good thing.

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