The Indecisive Artist

California Photo Book

Remember when Jay and I took a trip to California? It was Memorial Day weekend, 2008. Yeah… 16 months ago. Well, I finally finished up the photo book I made to highlight some of the 1100 photos I took. If I haven’t been sharing scrapbook layouts here on my blog it’s because I have been entirely focused on completing this photo book by Sept 15th. I didn’t want to share any of the individual layouts until I had the entire thing complete so that I could show the book in its entirety.

Well, here it is. :)

It ended up being 84 pages total, and I’m really proud of how it all came together and how I was able to see a project like this through to completion. Now I’m just getting ready to order it. I can’t wait to see it in a bound book!

Feel free to take a peek at the book. After all, I’ve been waiting to share it for a long time!

Normally when I scrap, I scrap whatever I’m in the mood for. I could never be a chronological scrapper – I’d never be caught up. Instead, I prefer to scrap whatever inspires me. The benefit to this is that I always have a little bit of something from multiple time periods. Because I use post-bound albums, I can rearrange the pages when I need to. (It’s usually a yearly task as it takes time to rearrange everything.) The drawback with wanting to do a photobook is that I have to commit to having the entire set of layouts complete before the photobook can be put together because there is no inserting more pages later one when I get a whim and decide to add something, you know? For that reason, a photobook is big commitment for me to make. :) However, it was worth the effort. I love the idea of a complete book telling the story of a trip start to finish.

I have to admit, though, that I had no idea how long this process would be for me. I did make an effort to retouch most of the photos before putting them on the page, which always adds time to the process. I intentionally kept the pages simple – it was to be all about the photos and not necessarily look like a scrapbook. Just a base paper, some photo frames filled with photos, and text and/or alphabets to tell the story. I’m so glad I went with a simple approach – it helped me both keep the focus on the photo and the story without distracting elements, and it also helped streamline the process so that I was able to create 84 pages for the book without getting tired of the task. :)

Exciting News!

I’ve been wanting to share this for awhile.

I’m proud to announce my next venture: I’m designing photo book pages for an online photo retailer! That means you can order custom photo books with themed photo book pages and covers I have designed! The site is not live yet, but it is coming soon! Keep watching for the official announcement!

Photo Album Scrapbook Journal

One of the projects I’ve been wanting to post here was the fun photo album/scrapbook/journal thing I made for my hubby for Christmas that highlights our trip to California over Memorial Day weekend. I have been sort of focused on my project 365 blog recently, and this blog has taken a bit of an unintended backburner. If you haven’t see my project 365 blog, you can see it here. I haven’t missed a day yet! Well, photos don’t always get uploaded the same day I take them, but I do try hard to get the photos uploaded to the blog on a regular basis. You can see them here: http://cameragirldenise.typepad.com/denise_365/

Anyway, back to this blog.

My intention has always been to do a complete digital book for this trip, but I’m taking my time with it. I currently have about 25 pages scrapped (with a goal of about 100 pages when it’s done). Remember, I took 1100 photos on this trip and have lots I want to include. But I also had an itching desire to create a paper album as well. I knew I didn’t want it to be as formal – just something to showcase the top 50 photos from the trip and tell the story more concisely.

Digging through my scrapbook cupboards I discovered an empty wire-bound journal. No doubt I purchased it to use for photos from our trip to Italy nearly 9 years ago. (I will NEVER be caught up with my scrapbooking!) But it was still unused and figured it was perfect for this project.

The journal had blank black pages and just the right number of pages to hold my photos. Remember, it’s wire-bound already so I can’t add any pages to it.

I had ordered my photos from Shutterfly and included a white border on them. It’s really easy to do and it makes the photos look more classy, I think.

I also knew I wanted this journal to be very Martha Stewart-ish... simple and classic. Nothing says simple and classic better than photo corners. I remember scrapbooking in 1985 in my bedroom in the basement, putting photos of my various elementary school activities into a huge album with black pages and photo corners. Either my tastes are outdated or some things are just classic. I’m going to say classic never goes out of style.

Looking back, I should have used the kraft colored photo cornes for this project to set the white photo border off from the black pages, but done is done.

I used the handy laser cutting printer at my local scrap store to cut out those pretty red letters. Sadly, this store went out of business about two weeks after I finished this journal. I will MISS that laser cutter. I will miss the store, too… but that laser cutter was definitely the highlight of the store!  The letters are cut out of a cranberry colored cardstock and are on the front cover and then inside for each ‘section’ that separates each of the cities/regions we visited.

 

Then, to mark each day that we were there, I stamped the days of the week onto kraft cardstock and placed them in the appropriate spots in the journal.

I dressed up the front cover of the journal by putting a piece of black velvet ribbon between the black and kraft sections. The cover design is a piece of wine-themed scrapbook paper mounted on black cardstock to set a theme for the book. Then, I used the best photo of the trip as the main focal point of the cover.

I didn’t do any journaling inside this book for two reasons. First, it’s just meant to be a photo album, and I took great effort to find photos from each of the places we visited that told the story really well. It should be pretty evident going start to finish exactly where we went while we were there. Secondly, the bound digital book has journaling and I didn’t want two books saying the same thing.

I think I have one more homemade gift idea to show you… and then it’ll be time for Valentine’s projects. :)

Project 365

If one of my resolutions is to take more/better photos, I figured one of the best ways to do that is to commit to regularly taking pictures. Good thing the Project 365 is getting a lot of attention on the scrap/photo boards. Project 365 is a goal/inspiration/dare to take a photo a day for the whole year. I figured why not. :)

So I've started a separate blog to dedicate to this project: http://cameragirldenise.typepad.com/denise_365/

I know I won't be updating the blog every day - but I do plan to post frequently, and if I take a photo each day, I'll eventually get it up on the blog.  I think this will be a fun project. It will be fun to look back at the photos one year from today and see a progression of photographs.

Also, I'm going to challenge myself to try some new techniques. It should be fun!!

Anyone else with me? There's an 'official' signup at the ScrapbookGraphics.com forum (where I've signed up), and for signing up you get some free templates to use for your photos. So if you are interested in that, here's the place to sign up: http://www.scrapbookgraphics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4462

Hope to see you there!

Sing

Christmas has come and gone, and now comes the fun task of cleaning up and sorting out all the new goodies and finding homes for everything. In a few days the tree will come down, too. But it's all good.

Our Christmas festivities were good. Lots of time with friends and family. Gianna thoroughly enjoyed all the presents and visiting Santa. She got a lot of fun presents, too.

Here she is with one of her new Hannah Montana microphones, singing her heart out! This was taken on Christmas Eve. She was wearing her new Christmas dress (the one she wore when visiting Santa earlier in the day).  I can't believe how grown up she's looking in this photo. My the time goes quickly!!!

I've been working on my Photoshop skills, and I tried a few new things on this photo. I like how it turned out. I tried some new skin retouching techniques. It's hard to see without comparing it to the original, but trust me, it's definitely noticeable. Also, I used one of the Pioneer Woman's actions on it to give it that trendy colored look. If you haven't read The Pioneer Woman's blog, you must check it out. She has lots of Photoshop and Lightroom tips, as well as a pretty extensive cooking section, with GORGEOUS photography of her recipes - start to finish! Even if you don't take photos and you don't like to cook, her blog is a worthwhile read. The woman is a total hoot!!!

Earlier this year I had started a goal of scrapbooking 15 pages a month, so when I made the goal in May, I intended to scrap 105 pages for the year. (I had scrapped a number of pages before May, but I didn't keep track of how many.) I am happy to say that last night I finished my 105th page. In fact, I'm working on 108 right now. :) I have a few more days off from work before the New Year starts, so I'm going to keep on scrapping as time allows (and since the move in date hasn't been scheduled, no point in wasting precious vacation time doing something as practical as PACKING.... ).

Cabinets are Ready

Some more progress on the house. Yesterday when we went to check on things we found the cabinet installers on site with our cabinets!! There are cabinets everywhere while they measure up everything and get it all placed. I snapped a few photos, though it probably won't make much sense until they are all placed. The doors aren't on them yet. Neither are the counter tops. But at least the photos show how they look. (They don't show how we agonized over the painting and glazing choices!!!) I'm excited to see the real thing and not just samples and drawings!

These are sitting in the master bedroom and are being installed in the bathrooms. (Well, I'm not quite sure where all those drawers are destined to go...)

This is the laundry room. You can see the paint color - Classic Sand - and the pretty pink marble tile. Ok, pink wouldn't have been our first choice... LOL. The cabinet in the corner will have a laundry sink in it, and the space to the left will be where the washer and dryer will go. The other cabinets pictured will go along the wall to the right and will hold baskets for laundry. There will be upper cabinets above both sets.

This is the dining room. Those three cabinets will sit together and form a built-in hutch. The middle cabinet is a bit deeper than the side two. There will be uppers here as well. The angled corners on the middle piece will get some column posts added to them..... as shown in the next photo.

These are the column posts that will adorn the middle part of the dining room hutch and also the bump out below the cooktop in the kitchen. I think they look way cool.

And finally some more random pieces in the kitchen. Not sure where these will actually end up.... the two smaller pieces are actually pull-out drawers - probably for below the cooktop. The taller piece... probably an upper for somewhere in the kitchen (though it's upside down... the smaller opening will have a glass door, and those are on the top.)

The installers were there working all day today, so I'm excited to go back and check up on the progress!

Tiny Dancer

Gianna had her first dance recital this past weekend. Despite the snow, freezing temps, blowing wind, and a county-issued no-travel advisory, the show went on. Dozens of dancers and their parents and grandparents crowded into this tiny gym (and tinier hallway) to watch these little dancers perform. It was a cute show. The costumes were very nicely done, and all the kids did a GREAT job. As I said, this was Gianna's first performance. I was worried that once she saw all the people that she wouldn't be a willing participant. But there was no reason to worry. She did a GREAT job! Their dance was called "Lullabye" and the routine involved waking up, doing ballet, and going back to sleep - complete with yawns and stretches. When the dance was over, Gianna looked right at me and gave me the big thumbs up - with supporting wink to boot. :) The crowd laughed.

The dance lasted probably 45 seconds total, and during that time I snapped 30 photos. Didn't want to miss any of it. :)

Normally I operate the digital still camera, and Jay operates the video camera, but because of the cold weather and snow, we decided it was better if Jay didn't go out. Snow and wheelchairs just don't mix well. Plus, throw in getting a stubborn toddler into an unfamiliar gym on time into the mix. So Jay stayed home and got updates via cell phone and text message. As it turns out, the gym wasn't exactly wheelchair friendly and it would have been difficult to get in and out - again while needing to get Gianna to and from all the right spots as well. So we didn't get a video of the performance. However, my cousin sat right next to me, as her daughter - who is 5 - was also performing that night (albeit with a different group). And her hubby was there with a video camera, so they got the WHOLE thing on tape. So it's great that Daddy will be able to see the whole dance as well.

Holiday Baking and Cards

I'm not much of a baker at the holidays. My holiday treats consist of things dipped in chocolate. That's as complex as it gets. :) Chocolate covered oreos are my specialty.

 

 

So I made up some fun little treatbags with the goodies I made this year and gave them to my coworkers as Christmas presents. The chocolate and white chocolate covered oreos are on the left, and the white chocolate covered popcorn is on the right. I got a little fancy with the white chocolate oreos and put crushed candy canes on them.

I have a few more things to do around here to get ready for Christmas. I especially love the handmade gifts I put together this year. I can't post photos of them because I don't want to ruin the surprise. :)

The Christmas cards have been done for a long time as well - just not mailed yet. I designed them digitally using a photo I took of Gianna in October. Had them printed at whcc.com (I used their FABULOUS Pearl finish on the cards. Wow. Worth every penny!) and received them two days after submitting the order. I've been stuck at the whole address label thing. When I moved to the new laptop, for some reason, I didn't move my address databases over to it, so I had to dig them off the old external hard drive. I have the file now and am making updates to it, so I should get those cards in the mail tomorrow, and recipients should get them just in time for Christmas.

This is what they look like:

On the inside I put some wordart that I created that reads: "a happy holiday season."

Next project: making tags for all the Christmas presents!

Halloween, Halloween, Trick or Treat

Thought I'd share a photo of our little goblin on Halloween. We were so fortunate this year that the weather was nice. I remember so many years when I was a kid trick or treating where the weather was sooo cold. I guess that's the nature of the seasons here in Minnesota. But this year was very nice. It was nice and warm out, and with the extension to daylight savings time, it was still light outside for the first hour of trick or treating.

We bought the bat costume at Old Navy 5 or 6 weeks ago. I tried suggesting a girly costume - like a butterfly or princess, but G really wanted to be a bat. So a bat she was. She asked her grandma to make her the little felt mask she's wearing. (In all the Dora and Diego stories, Diego is always wearing a similar bat mask on Halloween. Grandma even used the image in the book as her pattern.) Of course, after hitting all the neighbors' houses, we went back home before heading out to visit a few friends, and G decided that she'd had enough of the costume and took it all off. I finally convinced her that in order to continue trick or treating she would need to wear at least part of the costume, so we compromised on wearing just the top and mask, and she wore some plain black pants.

We walked around one neighborhood, and I went with her to the door to each of the places that had their lights on. After about the 6th or 7th house, she had it figured out, and mandated that I stand in the driveway while she went to the door to ring the doorbell herself. Little miss independent. So she definitely enjoyed it, and that little pumpkin bag she's carrying was FULL by the end of the night. We have enough candy to last the whole year. LOL.

Up to my eyebrows in photos

Fall is such a beautiful time of year. I try to take as many photos as possible to catch the beauty of these few short months of the year. And I usually suggest it as a good month for photo sessions, too. As a result, I'm swamped with photos right now! I'm not complaining - it's a good thing. :) I have Todd and Joyce's wedding photos I'm currently proofing right now. I took over 1000 photos of their wedding, and my hope was to narrow that number down to about 300 for inclusion in a proof book. I'm stuck at 424 right now. I just can't cut any more - the photos turned out great. It was a beautiful wedding with lots of fun things to photograph. Plus, it helps when the bride and groom are a cute couple, too! When I get the photos proofed, I'll post a few of them here on my blog so you can see for yourself.

I took a trip up north at the end of September to capture the changing fall colors. (Previous blog post). 500 photos later.... LOL.

I also did some commercial work for my brother Scotty's landscape business. Photographed a job site he and his crew completed last year (for which he won a pretty cool award). Those have to be proofed and edited - it was a bright sunny day, so there are a lot of shadows I need to clean up.

Spent a Sunday afternoon with my girlfriend Brenda and her three girls, taking their portraits. They were sooo cute! A couple hundred photos there. :)

Not to be forgotten, my own little portrait subject gets her photo taken occasionally as well. (When she's agreeable to it. I've been getting the hand in front of her face a LOT lately...) We biked to the park a few weeks ago and took some portraits there. This one is one of my favorites.

Somehow just one dandelion wasn't enough for her. She had to two-fist it. LOL. I love how the seeds are scattering all around her. Ah, the innocence of childhood.

I used it to create this scrapbook layout:

I don't remember who to credit on all the supplies used. It came together very quickly. I'm the queen of one photo layouts. I know some scrapbookers think its a sacrilege to put just one photo on a scrapbook page, but to me, it's my favorite type of layout. I love the layouts of just random moments in time, and to me, a single photo really captures that type of feeling. So there. LOL. The hardest part of this layout probably was finding an appropriate quote to use on the right side of the page.

I've also been working on creating some Christmas gifts - I'm actually ahead of schedule. Haha...

I also organized a card swap the other night. Gasp. Yes, I actually STAMPED recently. I'll get a photo up of my card real soon. It was something I hadn't tried before, but it turned out great. I want to post it to share!

Until then, stay warm!