Some photography

Tonight is the October meeting of Creative Shots.  Here are the photos that I will be entering:

Pure Talent (no photo manipulation):

Enhance It:

For Arts Sake (make your photos into a piece of art, any type of art):

I've tried a few different things this time - some over processing on some, and a foray into textures for the last theme.  I think the first photo posted of the skateboarder is my favourite - if I had a teenage boy I think I'd get this printed as a canvas for his walls!  The photo of the ducks is actually  not even made into a monochrome - the photo was so colourless when I took it that this is the result.

Let's see how it goes, but if nothing else, the competitions each month are forcing me to think past my 'normal' photo taking and try other things with my photography.  And that is the reason I joined Creative Shots in the first place.

Birthday happenings!

It was my 24th birthday on Thursday, and I wasn't expecting too much considering I already got my big pressie (my new camera) in early September so that I could go on the photography workshop with Steve Rutherford.

I did receive a lovely surprise from John when I woke up though:

I completely wasn't expecting this!  So far John and I have done our 30 minutes every day, and I'm pleased to announce that there are a number of the exercises that I can beat John!

The other 'big' gift, bought using some money I was given:

A sewing machine that works!  Yes, it works.  Wonderfully well.  It is quite a basic machine (ie I think about 20 stitches and no fancy electronics) but that's all I need.  I'm hoping that this machine will last me for a good number of years to come, unlike the Brother machine that I received 3 years ago for my 21st birthday and hasn't worked properly a day in its life.  I was lucky that Spotlight had a big sale on the day of my birthday, and combined with my VIP 10% birthday discount it worked out to be quite a bargain! 

After 'complaining' to John earlier in the week that I never get any handmade cards (although only kidding) John woke up early on Thursday to make me a card using my scrapping supplies.  I won't post any pictures here (or I can guarantee that will be the last card he makes me!) but it was lovely!  We also went out to Hogs Breath for dinner on Thursday, which has sort of become a tradition on each of our birthdays.  I love their steaks!

Needless to say I don't really deserve any more presents at Christmas time!  I think I've well and truly exceeded my quota!

Tomorrow is another Creative Shots meeting, so I'll post the photos that I'm going to be entering shortly.

The Twilight series is killing me!  I finished the first book one evening, and the next day at lunchtime wasn't able to get to the shops to buy the next one.  I had John drive me to the shops after I finished work so that I could buy the rest of the series because I couldn't wait a minute longer!  I think that was on Tuesday, and I'm now over half way through the third one!  I was so certain before I started that I wouldn't be sucked in by them - after all, who could be so into high school vampire romances?  Well, me, it turns out!  I just need to get the movie out now so that I can watch it before the next one comes out in about a month (according to Fiona's blog).

A reader, Maryanne, has told me that she has bought 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' after reading my comments here, and that she's loving it so far.  Fiona has also mentioned that she'd like to read them, so I hope they don't disappoint (although I'm sure they won't).  I'm just sad that I've already read them, and so I can't read them again for the first time!  Does anyone else feel like that when they've finished a really great book?  I'm also a little upset that I'm reading the Twilight series so quickly - I should slow down and savour them otherwise I'll be finished too soon!

I'll be back tomorrow with some photos...

Recipe share - ice cream bars

Here's the link to my ice cream bar recipe.  I've only really typed my recipes out in Word without any fancy formatting so sorry that it doesn't look beautiful!  I tried to include a photo (so I can put a photo on each page as I work my way through) but Word just packed it in on me and after five tries with 'Not Responding' fairly prevalent in both, I just gave up.  Great attitude hey!

Anyway, click here to go to my Ice Cream bars recipe (and I use the term recipe here quite loosely - not quite complicated enough to be a 'real' recipe)!  I used honeycomb and raspberries in my reindition.

You can call me 'Master Chef'!!

Or maybe not... I am definitely no Master Chef, or even Apprentic Chef, but I am finding that I am enjoying getting in the kitchen and cooking for people - especially if we're going somewhere and need to 'bring a plate'.

A couple of weekends ago we went to a neighbourhood bbq for a neighbour's 60th and I put together a couple of plates.  While nothing too exciting, here they are:

Some mini quiches (using a recipe that my Mum has used for years).  I forgot to take them out of the pan to photograph though!

Some little caramel tarts.  I actually made the caramel by boiling the condensed milk, and not buying the tin of pre-made caramel.  I've heard that the caramel in a tin just isn't the same.

Some icecream bars.  This was a recipe that we found in a Woman's Day or some such magazine years ago (like 10 years ago) and just happened to keep.  My extended family on my Mum's side made a family recipe book a number of years back (about 10 years ago too, I think) where each member of the family put in a couple of their favourite recipes.  Last time Mum and Dad were up I asked Mum to bring up the book with her so that I could copy out some of the recipes that I wanted.  This was one of the ones that we put in the recipe book, and I decided to make it for the bbq.  It received many many nice comments from everyone, and it was a bit embarrassing actually!  Everyone kept wanting to know how I made it and what was in it - a bit of a let down when they realise how easy it is!

I've actually typed up a number of the recipes that I make and am thinking of linking some here just in case anybody wants them.  I'll get to that in the next few days.

In the meantime, I just want to congratulate my Mum and Dad on their new house! I'm so happy for you, and I can't wait to see it next time I'm down!  Love you both.

A couple of pages to finish with:

Really like both of these pages, especially the last one of my gorgeous sister.

Be back soon!

More on the scrappin' front

I woke up this morning having had the weirdest dream (about Adolf Hitler coming to take Roxy from me, and me trying to hide her in the fridge...???) and just had an urge to scrap a photo of Roxy I took when I borrowed Fiona's SLR camera before I bought mine. I already had the journalling in my head (although no connection to that dream!) and it just came straight together. I have to say that I really love this page, although very simple.  I think if I were to do it again though I would move the journalling over to the right so that the gaps on the left and right of the text were a little more even.

I love these papers, 'Bloom' by My Minds Eye.  I bought the co-ordinating pack (which I actually don't think I've ever really done before) and it was so hard to cut into them.  I have a tendency to keep all these lovely papers for later 'just in case' but the colours and 'feel' of them were just what I wanted for this page so I forced myself to use them.  I'm so glad that I did, and I just had these letters (a combination of AC thickers and the stickers from the old Remember When) that seemed to match perfectly.
I didn't save the Word document that I typed the journalling in, so hopefully if you really want to read it you can on the bigger version (when you click on the photo).  I wish they made 'Kraft' coloured brads... I had to use the centre push-out bits from some chipboard flowers instead. 

I also thought I'd share the very first page I ever did of Roxy, using the very first photos I ever took of her in the first few days we had her.

My first thoughts when I saw this layout again was how 'ratty' she looks compared to her now much sleeker feathers.  She also seems so small!  I remember when I was doing this layout she was sitting on my lap in my scrapping room (well, on the top of my thigh really) and when I had turned to either get something or put it away, she stuck her head up and nibbled on the cardstock that was sticking over the edge! Naughty girl.  I decided to make a feature of it...  I can also see a recurring theme of yellow/orange on my pages of Roxy so far.  Funnily enough!

While on the subject of pets, here is a page I made a little while ago using the series of photos I took of John and Kip on the beach.

This was a single photo that I had printed out, where I put three photos and the title together on a single canvas in photoshop.  This was shortly after I took the free online class by Jessica Sprague that inspired me to start printing the title of the page right onto the photo.

After seeing the wonderful card made by Nicole I just had a hankering for this butterfly punch.  I already posted about the card I made using the flower punch that I used instead, but at lunchtime one day this week I went down the road to a little crafty shop and found the exact punch.  I feel a little guilty for so blatantly copying Nicole's idea (as I most definitely am actually able to think for myself!) but I came up with this:

This is the card I actually ended up giving to my neighbour for her birthday.  I didn't bring it to the BBQ we went to (as there was a communal card that we all signed) but I thought it would be nice for her to find it in her letterbox on the day of her actual birthday.  She loves purple and nature, so I thought it would be perfect.  I've now got a whole pile of punched out butterflies on my scrapping table just waiting to be put onto cards.  Try as I might, my handwriting never looks as 'arty' as I would like, and like I see on other cards and pages.  I am probably one of the few people who actually likes their own writing though, but it just doesn't seem arty enough.  Maybe next time I will use the Ali Edwards font and print the greeting out from the computer!

John and I spent the morning/afternoon wandering around the city and I took some interesting photos.  I'll be back soon to post some of them.  For now though, I'm going to cook dinner.

Some recent inspiration...

While blog hopping the last couple of weeks I've found some things that just jumped out at me:

This layout by Piradee Talvanna on the American Crafts blog:



This layout by Nicole Southworth:



This card by Jennifer McGuire showcased on Ali Edward's blog (as I'm not overly religious, this was more the layout and colours than the saying):



These cards by Kristina Werner:



Here's an old family photo (16 years old now!) using one of my Cathy Z inspired overlays. Not too sure about the relevance of the 'day in the life' saying, but hey, something a bit different. Thinking about changing the wording before I print it and use it on a layout.



Be back soon with some other bits and pieces from around my life.

Another weekend passes

And what a great weekend it was! The weekend kicked off with some Friday afternoon scrapping. I did quite a bit of scrapping over the weekend(yay!), which is something different and nice for a change! I think I did five pages in all, and I've got photos of five of them to share:

A photo that I edited and posted previously:



Another photo edited and posted already:



A photo of a family we were close to during my school years:



A high school friend of mine, who was so different to me. This was the period in my life where I look back and notice the biggest change in me in terms of growing up and maturing:



My two closest friends during my early high school years, and the story of our friendship:



I also made another card, totally inspired by Nicole and her butterfly punch.



I was out on Saturday morning and decided that I really wanted that punch - so I went to three different scrapping shops and KMart to try to find it! None of them had anything like it, so I borrowed Fiona's punch. Despite that, I used my flower punch to make this card:



And here is the card I made for the 60th birthday party we went to on the weekend:



After scrapping up a storm on Friday afternoon/evening, I spent Saturday morning making my dishes to take to the BBQ across the road (the 60th party) which all turned out great! I'll have photos of that in a later post. The BBQ was a lot of fun. John and I are so lucky to live in such a great neighbourhood with so many wonderful neighbours.

Sunday was a bit of a lazy morning after coming home quite late on Saturday night. And then of course the NRL grand final in the afternoon which I even quite enjoyed (well, the bits that I wasn't asleep for). Although I don't really care all that much, I will say that I'm glad the Eels didn't win (can't stand Jared Hayne)!

Those of you who know me know that I LOVE to read - REALLY love to read. One of our neighbours is also a keen reader, and she's very kindly opened up her 'library' to me a number of times now. One of the books that she lent to me was this one:



The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. The first book in the Millenium Trilogy. And then this one:



The Girl who Played with Fire (the sequel).

After I finished reading the second one (which was obviously after I'd read the first one), I rushed over to my neighbours and said to her 'I hope you have the third one right there, because I HAVE to read it straight away!'. I was told that the third one wasn't out yet, but it was completed before the author passed away. I didn't know how I was supposed to wait for it to come out! And then on Thursday night I was flicking through the junk mail and saw this in the catalogue:



The Girl who Kicked the Hornets' Nest. The elusive third book in the trilogy.

I literally jumped up and down in the kitchen and John thought I was mad. I was so happy! I rushed out on Saturday morning (once I'd put the condensed milk on the boil to make the caramel) to buy it, only to find that they didn't have it at KMart. I did find it at Big W though. So then I had to finish the Tess Gerritsen book I had been reading (Keeping the Dead) so that I could start it. I'm a number of chapters in, and it's definitely not disappointing. The whole series is just so brilliant, I can't even describe it! Although 'just another murder mystery' it's just so not - it's like nothing I've ever read before. I thought it would be weird, being set in Sweden (and Stieg Larsson is Swedish) but it isn't - it just really fits. I'm so in love with this whole trilogy, I would sooooo recommend it to anyone!

While I was out shopping for that book, I bowed in to popularity and bought this:



The first in the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer. To be honest, I really don't think that Vampires are my thing, or that I am actually going to fall in love with Bella and Edward like so many others have. But then again, that's what I've heard from so many people, and I'm yet to hear from someone (or 'read' from someone) that they didn't like the series. Fiona has warned me not to start the book until I have a couple of days without any pressing responsibilities! (But then again, she hasn't read the Millenium Trilogy yet, has she!!) We'll see how it goes, but I will open my mind and give it a try.

I think that's about enough for a Monday morning. I'll be back soon.