Recent photographs

In the coming year, I decided to turn this blog into my Project 365 spot.  I recently joined Elements Village and they are launching a Project 365 for 2011.  I first started working on a Project 365 back in April of 2009.  I also began 2010 and was going strong taking photos until I decided to open my digi scrapbook shop at DID.  Since then taking photos kind of got put on the backburnner.  With the past 2 year attempts, I have yet to complete a full year of 365 photos.

I'm looking forward to getting back to taking a photo a day and hope you come back soon to see the photos I take in the coming year.

Here are some recent shots that I really like . . .

Taken November 11th on a walk through the neighborhood . . .

Taken November 12th outside my front window . . .

and this one taken on December 4th in my backyard during our first snowfall of the season . . .

Hope you all  have a Merry Christmas and a Happy and prosperous New Year!

See you all again soon!

~Connie

Where did the week go?

I've been busy creating my monthly SNL kit.  And . . . seeing that it is July . . . there's always the Christmas in July festivities over at DSP.  I made a bow (always good to practice those!) and a background paper for that as well.  I've also been working on another kit of my own.  I found a color palette that I really like . . .

Isn't it pretty??  It definitely has a very bright and summery feel to it and inspires me to create something in bloom!

Speaking of blooms . . . there's lots of things going on in my garden as well.

The mini sunflowers are ready to bloom . . .

and the bee balm and coneflowers are just bursting with color . . .

and even more White Swan coneflowers in another part of the garden are looking great too!

I'm off for now and looking to possibly finish the kit that I am working on . . .

Until next time . . . Happy Creating!

~Connie

Goodies package from Pat has arrived!

I'm so excited!  My package of goodies from Pat Winter's giveaway arrived today!  There's just such a wonderful assortment of ribbons, beads and fabric.  I hope to be able to put my new supplies to good use soon.

Thank you so much Pat . . . everything in this little care package is gorgeous!

When I found out that I won this, I wanted to hunt up the crazy quilt blocks that I knew I had stored in a box in the corner of my studio.  I found them today and took some photographs.  Mind you . . . there are only 2 blocks and they are not even finished.  I think I wasn't really sure where else to go with them at the time, so maybe now I will be encouraged to finish them!

Here's the first block . . .

and details from this block include .  .  .

a spray of roses . . .

and a feather!

And the second block . . .

a spray of tiny flower buds . . .

you can see that I've outlined the key, but have not filled it in yet . . . and finally . . .

my favorite . . . the owl!

Hope you like what you see and have a chance to enter my giveaway as well . . .

Until next time . . . Happy Creating!

~Connie

Garden Journal

It's been raining off and on for the past 4 or 5 days here so I haven't had much time to get anything done in the garden.  I was able to work on and put together the Garden Journal that I've been wanting to do since last year.  I'm really happy with the results too!

I had a 3 ring binder that I bought last year along with dividers and page protectors for the main pages.  I used 6 x 9 envelopes and punched holes in them to put all the packets of seeds that I have.  I also wrote the name of the seeds on that particular envelope so that they would be easier to find.  I divided the binder and used separate envelopes for the different types of seeds  . . . annuals, perennials, herbs, vegetables, etc. 

I found this website called Homestead Garden that has templates to print for the main pages.  After printing the main template, I then reinserted the pages into the printer and took a number of the many garden and flower photos that I have, set the opacity to about 25 or 30 percent and printed a background on the pages.  I then was able to write any particulars and information on the page and soon my journal is chock full of terrific information and hopes and dreams for my garden!  I'm really happy to have started this and it was a fun way to pass the time.

This morning I had a bit of a surprise while taking my stroll in the garden . . .

At first I thought that it was a slug, but upon closer look and consulting with hubby, we decided that it was a snail!!  That's the first time I've seen one in my garden . . .

Until next time, Happy Gardening and Creating!

~Connie

Still in the garden . . .

and enjoying my time there!  Bought some impatiens to fill in some areas at the front of the border.  They are a pretty mix of white, pale pink, pale lilac and a deep pink.

Anemone are popping up all over the garden right now as well.  I moved clumps here and there and even to the front garden last fall and they look fabulous!  I just love these little white flowers!

The Snow Maiden Iris are looking good too!

It's been raining off and on these past couple of days so I've been in the mood to read more as my creative spark seems to be limited to figuring out what else I want to plant and do in the garden.  I started Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy the other day and am hoping to read some more today.

Hope to be back again soon!

~Connie

It's been too long!

I can't believe how time is flying!  Been terribly busy with work being done on the house over here . . . and the little guy starting baseball.  We had to have our chimney fixed and since the masons were gonna be here already, we had them redo the front of the house as well.  That really wasn't fun with 4 or so hours of them grinding all the old mortar out, but the results are fantastic.  Now we're getting estimates for a new fence and the storm door in the front is really rickety so we've been looking into that as well.  It's been raining the past couple of days now so the fields are too wet for the kids to get any practice in.  They'll probably resume again on Friday.

Hope you all had a Happy Easter!  Ours started with watching The Ten Commandments on Saturday evening . . . one of those classics that I remember watching every Easter as a kid myself.  We went to a wonderful mass Easter morning and then over to my in-laws for dinner.  The day seemed to fly by, but the weather was just perfect!

I was able to finish my SNL kit for April . . . berry blossoms is the theme and overlays are the focus.  Here's a preview of my kit . . .

I was having so much fun with the overlays and the tutorials that I came across that I made some other digital art with some of my own landscape and cityscape photographs.  Here's what I came up with . . .

  

I'm supposed to be designing the redress of the SNL site this month and hope to get that done in the next couple of days.  I still have some more cleaning in the garden to finish as well.

There's daffodils and magnolias and hyacinths starting to bloom throughout the neighborhood right now!  I really need to start getting pictures of all those before they're gone.  Enjoy Spring wherever you may be!  Hope to be back again soon!

~Connie

More Goodies from the Postman

Today, I received my note cards from Lenore over at eat write create.  They are terrific!  I love the texture and embossed accents!  Thank you Lenore!

I also received a lovely note from Clarissa at GlassGrrl Studios telling me how much she loves the bag and has already received compliments on it.  I'm so glad you like it, Clarissa!

It was wonderful meeting both of you through OWOH and I hope to be visiting with you both again soon!

I'm hoping to be able to create more of those DATCs that I started on yesterday.  And . . . since it's the new month already . . . I have my SNL kit to start thinking about too.  Easter is the theme, bows are the focus and the color palette is very pretty . . .

Hope to be back soon!

~Connie

Taking in the sites

January18th
Originally uploaded by MrsC_64
I have been creating these past couple of days, just not posting like I should. We went to the Art Institute on Monday. Hubby and I had a great time, but the little guy got tired and bored pretty quickly. Can't wait to be able to go back again!

I have been working on a new scrapbook kit and I hope to be done with it tomorrow.

Until next time . . .

My favorite Christmas present

My hubby gave me a figurine for Christmas that is just SO precious! It's called Brothers (Forging a bond that lasts a lifetime) and is a Susan Lordi design for Willow Tree. It prefectly represents our two boys and I have it sitting on my desk!

It's just so adorable that I had to share.

We had a bit of a mishap with the computer recently so some of my photos needed to be reinstalled from a backup drive and I still need to reorganized them. Seems I have doubles of certain ones that I already renamed and placed in certain folders . . . so now I have to figure out just exactly which photos are which so it may take some time to reorganize them. I had other pictures of Christmas decorations to share with you, but was only able to find this one so far . . .

Since I'll be taking the decorations down pretty soon I guess I'll just retake photos of all the collections we have . . . Santas . . . angels . . . nutcrackers . . . nativity scenes . . . that is if I remember before I end up putting them all away!

Well, I'm off for now . . . I'm trying my hand at a painting and have been working on it for a couple of days now. I have been taking pictures as I go along so you'll be able to see the progression.

Hope to be back soon!

Until then . . . HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!

Getting into the Holiday Spirit

I started off slow with my holiday decorating as I do every year being that we have a December birthday here, but things are beginning to look alot like Christmas!

I'm trying to stay with my gold, white and green theme . . . so I decided to revamped the wreath I've been using these past couple of years by adding white flowers and glittery gold leaf bunches and came up with this . . .
















Since that just wasn't enough and seeing that most of my neighbors have some type of decorations up outside already, I decided that I should start with the new decorative lamp post we found at Home Depot . . . then we added a lighted garland and the big red bow I found at Party City. Next we got to the snowflake lights and put those on the railings. Hubby decided that maybe he'll look at the angel we bought a couple of years back, but neglected to put out last year. I found the silly penguin we've had for several years now and since he was still working, I put him out as well.

Now things are really starting to come together, but still . . . I think we need more lights! Here's what it looks like so far . . .

I guess I'll wait to see what it looks like once I get the tree up and decorated before I decide whether to put anything else outside . . . although the weather may end up making up my mind for me. The next morning I woke up to this . . .

Yep! Our very first snow of the season! It's beginning to look alot like Christmas . . . everywhere you go . . .

Well . . . gotta go for now . . . I decided to make my own Christmas cards this year so I've got some cutting and pasting to do. Be back soon so I can show you all how those Christmas cards came out! Until then, enjoy this wonderful time of the year whereever you may be!

Lone Rose

I know I promised a freebie and I should be done with it tomorrow. I had a little surprise in the garden that I couldn't resist. Here it is almost December and I have one lonely rose blooming! I've notice a number of different rose bushes in bloom throughout the neighborhood too. Quite rare for this time of the year. Anyway, I decided to cut it and have it in a vase on my desk.

What a pleasant surprise!

Hope to be back tomorrow . . .

Beautiful weather

Last month we decided to take advantage of the terrific weather one Sunday and took a ride downtown to Millenium Park. We took the Nikon camera with us and took many pictures, but I also tried taking some pictures with my new Blackberry Tour. I was going through the photos and just realized what a little gem of a photo I took of my son in front of Cloud Gate.
















Since the weather has been terrific these past 2 weeks, I've been busy in the garden as well. I did manage to plant some alliums and was able to divide and move some of the perennials. The yards look pretty bare right now, but I figure I'll have a nice jump start in the spring when planting season comes back around!

On another note, I am working on a new freebie kit for anyone who might be interested. Since this is the month of giving thanks, I guess you know what the kit will be about. Hope to have that done in the next couple of days.

Until then . . . enjoy the great outdoors wherever you may be!

Ups and downs . . .

The past few weeks have been pretty crazy around here! First, I sent away for a trial copy of Adobe CS4 and installed it on my computer. I was so happy and giddy with all the new features and that Illustrator was right at my finger tips now. That lasted a whole 2 days before things started going really wrong with my computer . . . the third day after I installed the programs, my computer wouldn't start without going through this whole deal about repairing and restoring my system. When it finally did get it back up and running . . . CS4 and all of the programs were gone! I tried to reinstall and could not get any the components installed again so I finally gave up and did a clean up of all the programs.

I'm still awaiting to hear back from Adobe on this matter. I'm very disappointed and disheartened by this whole experience! I can't believe with my new souped-up computer that I could have so many problems with installing software. I've never had anything like this happen to me in all the years I've been using a computer. I've heard all the horrors stories, but this is the first time, I've ever had to completely uninstalled a program because of what it was doing to my computer. It's down right depressing to think that I might not be able to use the programs I've been dreaming of having for such a long time now. I'm hoping there's a fix out there somewhere!

On the bright side, I got a new phone . . . it's this awesome Blackberry Tour! This is the nicest phone I've ever had and it has so many cool features too. It's a PDA and a phone all in one!

I love my new phone!

Then, the very same day I got my new phone, I also learned some more disheartening news . . . we needed a new furnace. So $4400 and 2 days later . . . we now have a new furnace.

After all these ups and downs, I decided that I needed a break so I took a drive down to the lake. I remember going there just to sit and watch the waves crash against the rocks and to admire the skyline. Since I don't live that close to the lake anymore, it was a bit of a long drive, but still a nice change of pace. Although it was a pretty cold day and the winds were really strong . . . all in all, I enjoyed the fresh air and brisk walk. At the very least, I was able to clear my head!

I'm hoping this is the last of these ups and downs for a little while and that hopefully, I'll be able to get back to creating something . . . or better yet, finishing all these other projects I've got going on over here.

Hope to be back soon with some better news!

Keeping busy in the garden

I'm still doing alot of work in the garden. I found a climbing rose called "Eden" and I immediately fell in love. I just had to have it!

I decided to dig out the "Henryi" clematis in the front yard since giving it some Miracle Gro a couple of weeks ago didn't do much good. When I dug it up I realized that the Ostrich ferns were choking it even though I thought I had cleared them out of the area. So I decided to take all of the ferns out and basically start from scratch in that area. I put the black heavier trellis there and am hoping this rose will do well there.

I also bought an arbor to help screen the alley and anyone trying to look in the yard. Although my hubby had his doubts and wondered where it was gonna go . . . I think is looks great! I didn't have to even move any plants as the wisteria was in the perfect spot already. All I had to do was redirect it from over the garage windows to over and through the arbor.

In a Patriotic Mood

In keeping with the upcoming holiday . . . I thought I would post my interpretation of the Red, White and Blue!

These are all pictures of flowers from my garden! When we moved into this house, there was nothing but grass and a few small evergreen shrubs in the front yard. There was a small vegetable garden that had not been used in years and was over grown with weeds.

I started this garden with the intention of keeping with the red, white and blue color scheme. I do have a bit of yellow though and blue usually includes the purples as well. All in all the garden is coming along nicely and just keeps getting better with each year.

Happy 4th of July, everyone!

Until next time . . .

Summer is officially here

and I've been spending lots of time in the garden . . . weeding and planting and moving things around. We also went to Morton Arboretum recently.

It was a hot and sticky day and being that it was our first time there . . . we weren't sure how things worked and how the park is laid out. We ended up exploring only about 1/3 of the grounds so we'll definitely have to plan another day to go back again! It's a wonderful place and they have really great gardens for kids to explore. There was this pond in one part of the childrens' garden where I manage to get this awesome picture of some waterlilies . . .

We also went through a maze garden and in the middle they had an open tree house where I managed to take this picture . . .

Even though it was really hot, we did manage to hike one of the trails and along the way we encountered this little guy . . .

All in all it was a really fun day! I collected a small bunch of several different pinecones that I happened to find on the ground throughout the day . . .

I hope to be going back again and explore some more real soon!