168/365

Items in a Box

Several years ago I became interested in this concept of putting items in these boxes because I wanted to do my grand kids in the boxes.  I practiced with these still life items before I photographed the kids.

I found this image in my files.  (the kiddos in the boxes came out really good)

I didn't do kids in a box this year~~my daughter just had a baby late in the year and the weather didn't cooperate much.  Hopefully I'll be able to do a photo in the spring.

25/365

Children's Artwork

In the children's room of the library there are several works of art hanging on the wall.  This is just a small section of one of the pieces.  

23/365

Colorful Duplos

I went to the library with the grandkids again today and saw these duplos on a table and thought they looked so great.  

My kiddos had tons of these to play with and they loved them.

173/365

High Stakes Dice

Sculpture designed by Chris Oldham

172/365

Music to My Ears

This sculpture was created by Jerry Brown.

171/365

Horse Sculpture

There's a park in Lampasas, TX that contains a large variety of sculptures, some of which are for sale.  This one was created by Carolann Haggard and is made of Marble Mosaic and Fiberglass.

70/365

Baby Quilt in the Making

My granddaughter is having a baby girl~~my first great-grandbaby.  

(I don't know how all that time has passed)

I decided to stay home this morning in order to work on the quilt.  I have plenty of time, but I really want to get it finished and check it off my list.  

The pattern doesn't include a border around the outside, but I think I'll add one so the quilt will be a little bigger.  Now I have to go to the fabric store and find something that will coordinate with what I've already made.  

Nothing is ever as simple as you think it will be.

I hope my granddaughter likes it.

046/365

Lone Tree

My photo club assigned topic for Jan was Lone Tree.  It was difficult to find a "lone" tree that looked interesting, so I just scrapped the topic and entered other photos.

The Jan meeting was canceled for some reason that didn't make sense to me and rescheduled for another month, so I guess I have another chance to enter that topic.  While walking around downtown Fairbanks, I saw this tree, and others, that were separated enough from other foliage to fit the topic.  

I thought this tree looked beautiful, so I tried to capture it, but there are still buildings and cars showing.

Really......it's just a snow covered fir tree, nothing special so I'm not sure I'll enter it.

I just think it's pretty against the gorgeous blue sky on a cold winter day.

020/365

Oil Lantern

A friend of mine on the "prepare spectrum" gave me this oil lantern for Christmas.  

I've always loved these lanterns and I just love that he thought of this for me.  I got the oil and matches to go with it.  I might just use it some night for a night light while watching TV.  Otherwise, it sits on my mantle offering security in case the electric goes off for some reason.

I watched the inauguration of President Trump and Vice-President Vance this morning with my Republican Women group.  In my entire life I've never watched an inauguration.  This one was great~~a new and exciting chapter in American History.

Praise God!!!

277/365

Blue Wall Art

Seen on a downtown apartment building in Dunedin, FL.

189/365

Oh Baby

This is a file from a few weeks ago.  I'm falling behind on my daily posting, so I'm trying to play catch-up again. 

My friend makes the flowers and decorates cakes.  I'm so impressed with people who are creative so I wanted to share her beautiful work again.

I'm grateful for:

the opportunity I had today to photograph my daughter and her 4 children, the youngest of which is only two weeks old.  It was a lot of fun, but now I know why I'm not a baby photographer.

Architecture is much easier!

150/365

Naked Cake Topper

My friend makes beautiful hand-made flowers that can be used as decor and/or cake toppers.  These lovely pink and white flowers sit atop a personal sized naked cake.  Once the cake is devoured eaten, the flowers make a beautiful display in a small vase set anywhere in a home.  

If I lived close enough and didn't have to worry about them being destroyed during my flight home, I'd definitely purchase some for my home.

 

My heart is grateful for:

heading home to see my friends and family

140/365

Paper Flowers

I'm visiting a friend who is one of the most creative people I know.  A while back she decided she wanted to make paper flowers and try to sell them.  

The flowers she makes are just plain beautiful, all kinds, all sizes, different colors.  While she was out of the house the other day, I grabbed a few and took some pics.  This is just a sampling of the gorgeous work she does.

My heart is grateful for:

other creatives from whom I get inspiration

73/365

My Quilt

I started this quilt about 22 years ago.  I think it was A Block A Month sold by JoAnn Fabric.  I remember putting all the blocks together and then they just sat in my sewing stash for years.  One day I got motivated and put the blocks together to create the quilt top and then that sat in my stash for years.  

I finality decided it wasn't doing anyone any good in a drawer, so I bit the bullet,  paid to have it quilted and voila.  Now I just need to put the ribbing around the edges and I can leave it on my bed.  

Procrastination is a dreadful thing.

I'm happy today for:

my sewing machine that has provided hours upon hours of creative joy

55/365

Abstract Painting

When I went to my daughter's house yesterday, her not-quite-5-year-old came running to me to show me some paintings he had done earlier in the day.  They were so fun to look at and he was so proud.

He's definitely coming out of his "shy" self.  I despaired for a while that it would happen, but he seems happier and more open these days and it's joy to behold.

This is the "painting" I like best of the whole bunch.  I make my own photo notecards for birthdays and other events and I'm definitely going to use this image on some of the cards.  Now I have to come up with just the right sentiment to go with it.  

His birthday is in a couple of months and this will definitely be the photo for his card.

My heart is grateful for:

budding creativity no matter what the age of the artist

31/365    

A Knitted Baby Blanket

I love to knit and crochet.  This baby blanket is knitted.  Although it looks grey in the pic, it's really a beautiful deep slate blue.

I always need to be doing something creative while watching TV, so this kind of project is perfect especially once I get the feel for the pattern.  

Several years ago I kept making one baby blanket after another until I had, hmmm maybe 10-12 in reserve.  When I moved I had to give some of them to charities because I didn't want to take all of them with me.  I kept about 6 of my favorites and now I only have three left. Right now I don't know anyone having a baby, so this one and the other two will have to stay in storage for a while longer.

My "thankful" for today:

a dependable car

20/365

Metal Dragonfly

A friend of mine was talking to the property manager of an RV park and while I was waiting, I looked around and saw this house.  It was an ordinary, not very interesting house, but obviously it was a home that someone was proud of.  The side of the house was decorated with about 8 or 9 of these metal dragonflies.  

This was the most interesting one of them all.  It was late afternoon and the light was so pretty and the shadows really added to the effect.  I didn't think about it at the time, but I'm also partial to the color green, so all-in-all this turned out to be a Great Grab Shot.  

Yay for the fact that I had my SLR with me and didn't have to capture this image with my phone camera. which I'm sure would have worked ok, but then I would've been wishing I had the SLR. 

9/365

These are pieces of the chess set I borrowed from a friend the other day.  I'm still working on adding funky backgrounds to some images.  I had this driftwood background in my files, so I tried playing around with it for these chess pieces.  

Editing was definitely a nightmare and it can't be enlarged too much without seeing the mistakes, but as a small image I think it's kind of interesting.  

 

Every time I practice with a process, I'm hoping I get a little better...and faster.

Some More Photoshop Playing

6/365

I mentioned that I was taking an online photoshop elements course for digital scrapbooking.    This is one of the composites I created using one of my images of the Pow! Wow! event, gradients, frames, layers, and the different text functions.

Very fun.

POW! WOW! Again

4/365

I finally got back downtown after the artists were done with their creations.  Some of the work was kind of creepy and some of it didn't make sense to me, but it is what it is. 

 I didn't get there during the week for any of the events, but when I did go it was great because there were hardly any people around, so I could photograph to my heart's content with hardly any interference.  

This artwork will stay on the buildings until next year when the artists return to do new work.