Exchange Cards - Pink flowers

I got my exchange cards made today.

I started with 2 4x4 photos from my previous calendars. I chose 2 pink flowers - a rose and Ninebark.

I chose Stampin Up Pretty in Pink card stock as the base for both cards.  I used a corner round punch on this photo.  I used the SU Slot punch to make a slot in the fold where I could pull my ribbon through. I used Basic Black Scallop Dots ribbon for both cards.

I wrapped it around the card front and taped the ends together in the front.  I then used a black mini brad to adhere the Martha Stewart champagne butterly punchie to the ribbons and press the prong apart between the ribbon and the card.

The photo was adhered to the card front with 3D foam tape in all four corners.

I added a quarter sheet insert to the inside.

On this card I changed the orientation to landscape/wide.

I wrapped the ribbon around the card front and taped it down in the front where the photo would cover it.

I chose a corner punch which added 2 notches to either side of the photo.

I added a sentiment which was printed black on white cardstock and punched with 1 inch punch then mounted to a 1.25 inch black circle punchie. I put a hole and threaded through a white thread and hung it on the Scallop Dot black ribbon.

The photo was adhered to the card front with 3D foam tape.  These are off tomorrow.

Photo Cards

Using some of my photographs, I created a few all occasion cards for my card box so I can quickly add a greeting and put them in the mail.

 This is a gorgeous red poppy taken at the community garden.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The pink on the right is Summer Wine Nine Bark.

 

 

This is Orange Million Belles in a tiny ceramic pitcher taken on the fence along the trail in the river valley.

These are A2 (4.25x5.5 inch) heavy 110lb card stock.

Photo Coasters - Sets

This set was made with the Blue Bird art made my sister. You can find it here.

Recent Photos

It has been raining a lot lately, so my walks in the morning find the landscape is wet. 

I found this shrub in the park and I believe it is Mock Orange - Belle Etoile.  Nice leaves on a bush about 5 feet tall. The web suggests it is fragrant but the rain may have affected it's scent.

Love the water drops on this white blossom which is in a cluster.  It has withstood the rain very well.

Despite regular visits to this park this is the first time I have photographed these flowers.

I had 3 of my photographs in the Open Photograph Show at the art gallery.  This is NineBark - Summer Wine.

The reception and presentations were held on Saturday at the Art Gallery. 

There were quite a few entries featuring international subjects from Africa, India and other exotic places.

Canvas wrapped entries are becoming more popular.

I met my aunt who also had submitted some photos to the show.

This was a very interesting book. I picked the book at a thrift store because of the cover.

Ginny Moon is a 14 year old autistic girl who has been placed in foster care.  It is written in her voice and it is sometimes disturbing how others react to her behaviour.

It was very insightful as to how she withdraws into her mind to process events.  She is aware of the rules hers and those imposed on her and she does her best to keep it all in check.

When she is asked more than one question at a time she does not answer either one.  She is always analyzing things to determine how to behave and act.

She learns a lot about herself and finds a new purpose at the end of the book.

I have to admit a I did consider not completing the book because life is pretty chaotic and stressful.  It is very repetitive as well because her reactions are quite predictable.

Some of the birds which  I have encountered recently. 

Of course, Robins are generally easy to identify by song and visually.  They are cooperative in sitting still enough for a photo.

The Pine Siskin (top right) was quite a bit less still and really high up in the trees.  You can see the devastated leaves so there were plenty of small green worms to eat!\

The crow decided to take flight as I took this picture.  Nice view of the wing.

Magpies are plentiful and not afraid of people for the most part so photos are quite easily taken.

The challenge this week on Flickr Macro Monday was Style Food on a Fork. 

I was sure about the tomato and cheese on a pickle fork. Here the green is avocado.  A bit of Dijon mustard, a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of black pepper finished the shot. It was a delicious photo shoot on Sunday PM.

Check my photo stream for the shot I submitted.

Sharing with Angie at Letting Go the Bay Leaf  who hosts Mosaic Monday #33.

Mersad who hosts Through my Lens #197

Recent Photos

The Ninebark is a common shrub in our parks.  There are many varieties and I have photographed a few. 
This is a new one for me. 

This is the Ninebark - Dart's Gold.  A nice cluster of white flowers with pink stamens.  As you can see the leaf is yellow green  where as the others I've seen have darker foliage.

I was lucky enough to get an ant as a bonus in this photo.

Beautiful shrub and it must be hardy as there are many around this area.

On my drive home from a visit wit Mom & Dad for Father's day I stopped to take pictures of fences for a new group I joined.

An low and behold if this Brown Headed Cowbird showed up to find out what I was up to!  This is the female.  I have photographed the male which is much darker. 

These birds are parasitic in that they lay their eggs in host bird nests.  Some of the hosts recognize the imposter and oust the egg from their nest.  Others incubate the egg to hatching but are not suitable mothers for the youngsters. 

Very interesting that there are unwilling parents in the bird world.

I finished this book this week.  My last Kate Morton book.  I have now read all 6 of her books. 

This story is centers around the Milderhurst Castle in Kent, the three Blythe sisters (Percy, Saffy & Juniper), their father Robert Blythe an author and Edie Burchill whose mother was evacuated from London during WWII and lived at the castle with the sisters.

Raymond, author of the 1918 children’s classic The True History of the Mud Man was a tortured man and isolated himself in the castle after the death of his wife.  He exerts power over the girls beyond the grave.

Juniper Blythe was a special child, given all license by her father to be creative, and when she abandoned by her fiancee in 1941 leaves her mentally unstable.  She is cared for by her sister for the remainder of her life lived in Milderhurst Castle.

Another wonderfully multilayered story and so well told by Kate.

I have heard the buzz song of this bird for years but did not know what he looked like.  

I had a chat with a bicyclist on the trail the other day who shared with me that it is a Clay-colored Sparrow!  Now I knew what to look for.

And here he is!  Of course, high in the trees the angle is not great.  I tried a different angle but then could not find him in the leaves.  That is the way it goes. 

A new bird for my list.

I had to replace a toilet seat this week.  A first for me.  The other was loose and had to be tightened regularly.  The pin on the seat finally broke so now I really needed a new one.  Probably should not have put up with the hassle of a loose one for so long.

With the help of the internet I learned what I needed, headed to the store and for a small sum of $12 came home with a replacement.  

Getting all the pieces of the old one was more challenging.  Of course the loose side came off very easily.  The other has been secured there for many years.  It was more relunctant to release.  I used WD40 in hopes of making the nut and bolt let go of each other.  No luck!  I had to use the hack saw and utility knife to break apart the remaining plastic piece of the hinge.  Being VERY CAREFUL not to break the porcelain toilet seat I worked at it in small increments until it came away.  I was very fortunate that the bolt head just fell through the hole in the porcelain. 

It was quick to install the new one once all they porcelain had been cleaned! 

I am grateful for good tools.  The blue tools in the photo are by TomBoy which were sold at home parties and I acquired a few while my sister was a rep. 

The Flickr Macro Monday challenge this week was Curves - I chose to design my own to photograph.

I used white card stock strips which were pressed against a smooth tool to turn them into circles.  These were glued together inside each other to create this shape. I used photo gels on 2 lights to change the colors.  It was set up in my photo box. 
 
This was a lot of fun.  You can check out my photo stream to see the one I submitted.

Sharing with Angie at Letting Go the Bay Leaf who hosts Mosaic Monday #32.
Mersad who hosts Through My Lens #192

Framed Photos

I framed this beautiful Ninebark - Summer Wine blossoms in a gorgeous champagne frame. 

It features a warm champagne pearl mat with a white one behind. 

The frame is 9.5 inches square with an opening for a 5x5 inch photo.

I had lots of comments on the framed art but sadly no one chose to taken home from the sale yesterday.







At the sale yesterday, each vendor was asked to donate an item.  Items were arranged into gift bags and about 20 gift bags were drawn throughout the day. Folks filled out their names as they donated to enter the sale.

This the cute frame I donated.  It is a 6x6 frame featuring a floating 4x4 photo.  It was about 2 inches deep so it stood on its own. 

I chose 2 of my 4x4 calendar images and tacked them together.  They were sandwiched between 2 pieces of glass. One can then see an image from either side.  This side is a Blue Morph taken at the Butterfly Museum.

It would make a great photo for Instagram photos as it was very easy to access and change the photos at a whim.

My Recent Photos

Last week I took a trip to Drumheller for a photography job.  I spent the day before doing some sight seeing and visiting some of my favorite places there.

A visit to the Royal Tyrrell Museum was a must. It is a world renown museum for dinosaurs.  It is situated in a provincial park which has yield fossils.

This is an ammonite on display in the museum.  Gorgeous color and a wonderful shape.

This is a beautiful stone I purchased in the gift shop.  I think it might be quartz but I will have do more research. 


 
The dinosaur below is a Dimetrodon. It is an extinct genus of synapsids that lived during the Cisuralian, around 295–272 million years ago. It is a member of the family Sphenacodontidae.

Flowers are always objects for my camera.  The top one is Ninebark - Summer Wine.  The middle one is Echinacea Tiki Torch, a hybrid orange coneflower with large showy pumpkin-orange colored flowers.  The bottom is a beautiful sample of clover.





This is a pottery button about 2.5 inches across.  I bought it at the Pottery Guild's gift shop.  My aunt and I visited the shop before my reception on June 30th. It's nice to support other artists.


Blackberry tea with a few dried cranberries and a beautiful rose.  I took advantage of a Goodwill special recently of 3 vases for $1.00.  This square cube vase has a hole in one corner and a slant on the opposite corner.  I chose my Tea Lover's Teacup by Steeped Tea which is the same light clear glass to repeat the blown glass theme.  I served the cranberries in a small crystal glass.

Sharing with Mosaic Monday #91 hosted by Maggie at Normandy Life.

Recent Photos

I set tea out on the balcony this afternoon with the small round table and the white patio chair.

With the weather, it was iced tea instead of hot served in a crystal glass.  Goodwill offered 10 glasses for $2.00 this week.  I filled a few holes in my collection.  A couple cobalt blue glass, this crystal and a few wine glasses for photography.

This daisy arrangement has lasted so well.

The background is a wicker hat with a yellow organza ribbon and a coordinating Gerber daisy. 

I worked quite a few hours today framing the photos for the photography competition at the end of the month.  I prepared a how to on the basics.

The gallery had very specific requirements for the preparation of the frames for hanging.

* Must use pivot hangers placed one third from the top of the frame.
* A paper dust cover on the back.
* The wire must be attached as shown with no sharp edges to scratch the wall.
* Bumper pads on the bottom corners.

I still need labels.

I will drop off these pieces on Saturday June 23, the reception is held Saturday, June 30 at 1:00-3:00 pm, they will be on display till Friday, July 20th

Cash prizes and a ribbon are available for winning.

Spruce Grove Art Gallery, 35-5th Avenue [Located in the Melcor Cultural Centre on the east side of King Street Plaza].  Here's a sneak peak to the pieces I am submitting.

I have seen this bush several times at a few locations over the last couple of weeks.  I just love the cluster of small flowers.

When I take a photo then I am compelled to come home and find the name for it so that when I post it I have the right information.

This is Physocarpus opulifolius 'Summer Wine' commonly known as Ninebark.  My sister informs me that there a many varieties of this bush with different colored blooms and leaves.

Sharing with Share Your Cup #294 hosted by Jann at Daily Cup with Mrs. Olson.

With Tuesday Cuppa Tea hosted by Ruth at Antiques and TeaCups.

With Bernideen's Tea in the Garden.