Revisiting an old friend - My Camera

I hope everyone is having a nice holiday season without being too stressed out.  Christmas is over and now we are looking ahead to 2011.  I'm not sure what made me decide to buy another camera a few weeks ago but I did.  Now mind you with me being the frugal person I am I read up on different cameras and searched for deals and finally found the perfect little camera.  I have two really nice cameras but they are both too big to put in my pocket and go.  This is what I wanted:  a small compact camera BUT one that gave me the same quality as my two nicer cameras.

It seems like every time I buy a new camera I remember how much joy photography brings me.  I get excited about taking pictures again.  I tend to look at objects, buildings, nature, everything differently.  I like taking extreme close-up shots, that way it's a mystery as to what it is.  I also like to play with different angles.  Most people take pictures straight on.  Not me.  I will lie on my back to get a different view of something.

I have been a member of the Flickr Community for a few years now.  Flickr is a website that lets you download your pictures, organize them, share them with other people and join groups if you would like other people to see your work.  There are literally thousands of groups you can download your photos into.  You name it, they got a group for it.  Some of the groups I'm in are What's Your Angle Buddy?, License Plates, Sharpie Artists, Amish, Chicks With Cameras, the list goes on and on.  I think I'm in about 55+ groups as of today.  When I first joined Flickr I wanted to get my pictures out there so I could see what other people thought of my work... I don't care so much about that anymore. 

I know there are other people out there, like me, that just enjoy looking at photographs.  I believe every photograph tells a story and this is why I decided to join this group on Flickr called 365: the 2011 edition.  It is just what it's name implies.  I will take a picture a day for the entire year.  I have a few Flickr friends that have done this before and I had such a good time following their journey.  Now it's my turn.

You can find me at http://flickr.com/photos/photographybykim/

6 Days until Christmas!

It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

It's the most wonderful time of the year

With the kids jingle belling
And everyone telling you "Be of good cheer"
It's the most wonderful time of the year
It's the hap-happiest season of all
With those holiday greetings and gay happy meetings
When friends come to call
It's the hap- happiest season of all


There'll be parties for hosting
Marshmallows for toasting
And caroling out in the snow
There'll be scary ghost stories
And tales of the glories of
Christmases long, long ago


It's the most wonderful time of the year
There'll be much mistltoeing
And hearts will be glowing
When love ones are near
It's the most wonderful time of the year


There'll be parties for hosting
Marshmallows for toasting
And caroling out in the snow
There'll be scary ghost stories
And tales of the glories of
Christmases long, long ago


It's the most wonderful time of the year
There'll be much mistltoeing
And hearts will be glowing
When love ones are near
It's the most wonderful time
It's the most wonderful time
It's the most wonderful time
It's the most wonderful time of the year

written in 1963 by Eddie Pola and George Wyle

9 days until Christmas!

 

How is my knitting coming along?

It's coming along just fine, thank you.  A few days ago I told you that I had cleaned out my old stash of yarn in order to upgrade and I found a few UFO's in my bin so I'm trying to get these done before I continue on with my socks.  I will probably finish this scarf tonight (YIPPEE!)

I couldn't tell you what kind of yarn or what weight it is.  It's probably a bulky weight as I'm using size 8 needles and it is rather thick feeling which I love. 

I said I wasn't going to post a picture of my socks until I finished both of them.  Well since I started these "other" half finished projects I'm dying to show the world my first pair of socks (1/2 finished)

I am starting to add SOCK knitting to my collection of knitting books but the one that I've found most helpful is a leaflet by Leisure Arts called I Can't Believe I'm Knitting Socks by Cindy Guggemos.  My green socks, which I've named Frolicking In The Grass on Ravelry, is just the basic sock pattern.  But I was so excited about these pair of socks I started another pair... just a little more difficult.  This pattern is called the Syncopated Rib Socks and I picked out bold colors for this.

And here's a closer picture to show the detail of the leg.  The pattern is fairly easy, you just have to keep track of what row you're on.

I have already picked out yarn for my third pair of socks but I will not, I repeat I will not, start these until either my first or second pair of socks is complete.

Happy knitting everyone!

Wow I forgot how much fun Photoshop is!

I had decided that I would post a Christmas photo every day counting down the days til Christmas.  I love photography and I consider it my first hobby.  I have oodles of pictures that I'd like to share and I thought if I did a Friday Photo every week it would keep me on track.  But the more I sifted through them I decided that there were just too many to limit myself to ONE a week. 

So (back to my story) I picked my 13 photos for the countdown to Christmas and started editing them.  I forgot how much fun photoshopping is!  (Is photoshopping a word?)  Now mind you I don't have any type of fancy-schmancy programs but the one I do have is simple and works for me.

This is my original photo:

I painted these ornaments a few years ago and hung them from our chandelier in our dining room.  I was very pleased with how each one of them turned out.  Because our walls are white it gives the photo a simple elegant feel.  Little did I know that these white walls would lend themselves to fun times when altering them:

For each of these pictures I only adjusted the hue.  I did not adjust for saturation, brightness or contrast.

12 days until Christmas!

Knitting up a storm

Sock, socks and more socks!  I am now obsessed with knitting socks.  I have finished one in the pair of my first socks ever and I LOVE the way it turned out and I love the way it fits my foot...perfect!  So I have cast on for the second sock in this pair (because I can't show them off unless I have both socks).  But got bored with the solid green color so I started another pair of socks in crazy, wild variegated colors and love them too!  The first pair of socks are light green with striped heels and toes in greens, blues and yellows.  I will eventually post a picture when they are both finished.

Now that I've started listening to a lot of knitting podcasts I've decided to go through my stash of yarn and get rid of the acrylic stuff and upgrade to nicer stuff.  I donated a whole trash bag full to the Wednesday morning knitting group at my church!  

As I was going through my stash I found a lot of UFO's (UnFinished Objects) that I'd like to finish.  So along with my two pairs of socks I am also finishing up two scarves that I started about two years ago. 

I joined Ravelry about a month ago and just today took some pictures that I hope to eventually post here and on Ravelry.  They are nothing spectacular so don't get too excited (just scarves) but I can't wait to take pictures of my socks!

Happy knitting everyone!

Holiday Tradition

I just love Thanksgiving.  I love when family gets together and visits and reminisces about holidays past.
As a child my parents and brother and I would go over to my grandparents house, a little over an hour away, for Thanksgiving.  I can remember the smell my grandfather's pipe and watching the balloons in Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on tv.  I can hear my mom and grandmother putting all the delicious food on the table and I can't wait to dig my fork into grandma's SPINACH CASSEROLE!

But my grandfather died in 1989 and my grandmother moved into a retirement community.  My grandmother was a spunky lady.  She was fun and energetic and she lived to be 100 years old.  Sadly she passed away three years ago.  But her and my grandfather's memory lives on.  Not only through the times we've shared but through her SPINACH CASSEROLE. 

Now that I'm married and have children of my own we have Thanksgiving at our house and I make my grandmother's SPINACH CASSEROLE.  Thanksgiving was a few weeks ago and my husband's cousin asked everyone at the table if we would like to share any holiday traditions that our families had.  I was able to share the story behind the spinach casserole they each had on their plates and I told them that I would forever make it in remembrance of my grandmother.

Susan then asked my dad if he remembered having this spinach casserole as a child.  He said "Oh yeah!"  He also added that they had it on other occasions too, not just Thanksgiving.

I do not have the recipe as it's in my head.  My mom has it and she keeps telling me that if I want it she can give it to me but I'd just as soon make it as I remember it.  It consists of chopped spinach, cream of mushroom soup, hard boiled eggs, cheddar cheese and bread crumbs layered about 2-3 times and the put in the oven for about 45 minutes.

Happy Thanksgiving (a little late) everyone!

Nature is a great resource

Joshua, my four year old, enjoys being outside and it was a perfect afternoon to go on a nature walk and to explore the world around us.  We collected fall leaves, pine cones and pine needles to make a festive wreath.  I normally don't decorate much for fall (because I like to jump straight to Christmas) but this year I've been inspired by the gorgeous colors of the fall leaves.  Plus I absolutely LOVE doing arts and crafts with Joshua.  We made a huge wreath to hang over the mantle so all of our family will be able to see it for Thanksgiving.  After we were finished with the wreath I sprayed it with poly acrylic to preserve the colors of the leaves (hence some of the shininess).

  Pine cone turkeys and garland are still in the works!

Progress

Well it's not much but I'm super excited about my FIRST pair of socks!!  I'm not used to knitting with such small needles (sz 4) it feels like I'm knitting with toothpicks!  But this is my ultimate goal in knitting... knitting my own pair of socks and I'm doing it, hurray!

Thought For The Day

I attended a Women's Retreat a few weeks ago.  The theme was Worry.  What do we worry about and how do we let go and give our worries and fears to God.  Everyone's placement had a different quote and I liked this one the best.

Have a beautiful Sunday everyone!

Looks can be deceiving

I don't like to cook.  My husband is the chef in this house and he makes dinner every night.  But I like to bake... cookies, cakes, pies, you name it.  So when I came across this book called Two-Bite Cupcakes by Viola Goren I had to have it.  Just the photos on the front let you know that there is more to cupcakes than cake and icing:

And then when you flip through the book it definitely expands your mind to think outside the box, or cupcake liner as it were.  For example on page 104 there are "Sun-dried Tomato & Basil Cupcakes".  This will definitely be a finger food I'll be making this holiday season:

For breakfast you could serve up Sticky Bun Cupcakes (found on page 55):

There are, of course, more "sweet" cupcakes such as Snickers Cupcakes and Chocolate Porcupine Cupcakes.  But I believe my absolute favorite is going to be the Orange & Chocolate Cupcakes.  Wow how yummy is that? 

This is one of my secrets (and I'm glad to see that someone shares my taste buds): I LOVE orange and chocolate together.  And when I'm really craving these two flavors I've been known to buy orange sherbet and put Hershey's chocolate syrup all over it.

Today my little mini cupcake pans were just staring at me waiting for me to  bake something in them.  So for starters I bought a fudge brownie mix from the grocery store and made little brownie bites:

Wow don't they look delicious?!

Looks can be deceiving... they were as hard as ROCKS!!!  Or as my mom and I would say "They were as hard as HOCKEY PUCKS!"  But have no fear I made another batch that turned out yummy and chewy and chocolaty and delicious.

I will be adding a new segment to my blog posts and that will be baking because I do believe baking is a form of creativity.

Update on my knitting projects:

1.  I now have about 400 of the 725 beads strung onto my skein of yarn I will be making a beaded scarf out of.

2.  I started knitting my very first pair of socks!!  I have cast them onto my double pointed needles and have done about two rounds so far.  I am super excited but Ive never worked with needles this small, I'm used to working with size 11 (US) and my socks are on size 4 (US) needles.

For great craft ideas check out...

There is this awesome website out there that I think everyone should know about, it's called One Pretty Thing.  It's so different from any other website I've ever visited.  She gathers links to other websites on crafting ideas and tutorials and posts them here.  She updates every single day and, well, you just have to check her out:  http://www.oneprettything.com/ 
I copy and pasted Rachel's description of her own website which is a lot better than I did: 

Welcome to One Pretty Thing- a daily website dedicated to bringing you inspiring projects for a handmade life. I'm Rachel and I scour the craft forums, sites and blogs to bring you the best tutorials and DIY projects from across the internet.
Weekday mornings One Pretty Thing will showcase a different holiday, seasonal or project-specific Roundup of projects from across the internet.
In the afternoon I publish The Daily DIY- a compilation of the day’s DIY projects from around the blogosphere. On weekends I feature reader projects from the One Pretty Thing Flickr community, and an additional Weekend Roundup!
One Pretty Thing welcomes submissions, ideas and project requests. If you’d like your project included in The Daily DIY, just email! If there is something you would like to see featured, email as well! While I cannot respond personally to every email, I will let you know if I'll be linking to your project.
If you'd like to share a completed craft, consider uploading a picture to the One Pretty Thing Flickr group. You might see your picture and link in a future Flickr Friends Roundup post!
One Pretty Thing
P.O. Box 6397
Eureka, CA 95502

"Friday's Photo"

Even though today is not Friday I've decided to add a little something to my blog, I'm calling it Friday's Photo.  Before my knitting needles, paint brushes and sewing machines I had a camera.  My first "real" hobby was photography.  Around the age of six my dad taught me how to use his camera and ever since then I've been fascinated my them.  He didn't have to explain much to me because it was a 110 film camera, but I was amazed that you could push one little button and capture an image on paper forever.  As time went on he taught me how to use his manual focus SLR film camera.  I fell in love with photography all over again.  We are in the digital age now and I remember it taking me a long time to convert over because if I didn't have a negative in my hand then chances were I could loose an image forever.  I've since gotten past that and have been shooting digital for about 15 years now. I have two cameras that I love and do not travel without them; they are my Canon Digital Rebel and my Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18.

So all of this to say that I have hundreds if not thousands of photos I've love to share with the world.  I am on Flickr but I initially set that up so I could share pictures with my relatives that were far away.   

I may be changing the title of Friday's Photo to something else if I find that I'm posting more than one a week. 

I welcome you fall with open arms...

(Photograph taken at Colonial Williamsburg).

I've been inspired again

I dabble in a lot of different types of media and when I can "marry" the two of them together it is such a thrill for me.

While waiting for my sock knitting book to come in the mail I went to the library just to see what they had, one can never have too many art books.  In my collection one can find anything from sculpey clay books to glass fusing to quilting and embroidery books.  I love learning new techniques and am always inspired by other people's work.  So in the library I found this wonderful "combination" book entitled Knitting with Beads by Jane Davis.  Right up my alley!  I love beads and I love to knit... why didn't I think of this?

My first project from this book is on page 83 and it's called Cascading Diamonds Scarf.  The pattern calls for 2 skeins of yarn and I am to string 725 beads on each skein.  I only have about 200 beads on the first skein so I don't have any progress pictures to show you yet but this is what it will eventually look like:

The color of the scarf in the book is eggplant but I will be doing mine in a marina blue with blue beads.  I will definitely be purchasing a copy of this book after I have returned it to the library because this one needs to be in my collection.

Happy knitting... and beading!

The knitting Bug

Good riddance summer... we are now moving into my favorite season, fall.  I love the crispness of the air, the pumpkins on my neighbor's porches, and the vibrant colors of the changing leaves.  I can wear my hair down again and not worry about it sticking to the back of my neck like it does in hot, humid Virginia.

I have so many creative interests and one ever knows what I'll be working on a month from now.  I may be revisiting old projects or trying my hand at something new.  Well the knitting bug bit about two weeks ago.  With the weather changing as fast as it did it seemed only natural for me to pull out my needles again.  My mom taught me the basic knit and purl stitches six years ago but I have never gone any further than that.  I've knit on circular needles which I find to be tons of fun.

I'm not aspiring to knit a sweater, frankly because I don't wear too many sweaters, but I definitely want to learn some different designs.  I told my husband that I'm going to try not to buy any new yarn until I use up some of my old stuff... and complete some of the knitting projects I started last fall.  I'm off to a great start.  I pulled out the 2 small tubs of yarn I had stashed away.  I inventoried then organized all of it and to my surprise I had many UFO's (unfinished objects) that were nearly done!  Which means I'll be able to buy new yarn sooner than I thought, yeah!

Like I said I'm not aspiring to knit a sweater but I would just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to knit a pair of socks for myself (or two or three).  Last night I got on the computer and ordered, what looked like, the easiest sock knitting book there was.  By the time the book arrives I will have finished two more projects from my stash.  I think that may be enough to treat myself to sock weight yarn... YIPPEE!  

Happy Fall Everyone!

More links, new ideas

To get myself out of this creative rut I've revisited my two all-time-favorite podcasts.  I simply LOVE listening to these two women.  Their podcasts and websites are totally independent of each other.  Sister Dianne writes Craftypod.  And Dianne Ackerman Haywood writes Craftsanity. They have interviewed each other and that's where I found Dianne Ackerman Haywood, Craftypod's Sister Dianne was interviewing her.  I would like to start putting up more links on my blog so I thought I'd start with these two ladies.

This morning, for inspiration, I was listening to Sister Dianne of Craftypod.  Episode #122 was called A New Dress A Day with Marisa Lynch.  I was listening to this podcast in the car on the way to work.  I could not wait to get home to see what Marisa was actually doing! (our computers at work are filtered so we can't surf the web at all!)  Marisa buys $1.00 dress a day from either a thrift store or garage sale, etc. then transforms it into something that is actually wearable... $1.00, one dress, one day for 365 days!  Marisa is AMAZING and so inspirational!  I almost want to run down to my local thrift store right now!  Please visit A New Dress A Day to see what I'm talking about. 

And a big thank you goes out to Sister Dianne for bringing me out of this creative rut I seem to have fallen into.

An artistic rut

I've been in an artistic rut lately.  I've had a lot of things going on in my life and they have taken precedence over my creativity.  One thing that I've found that gives me immediate gratification is drawing zentangles.  This is something that relaxes me and I can immediately see art emerging from my doodles.  Since I have two small children I usually cannot start on a big project (such as quilting) during the day while they are awake.  But then at night after they go to bed I head right for my own bed!  Zentangles are now my art of choice.  I love to pick up my fine point black Sharpie marker and just start doodling.  It is something I can work on for five minutes or 50 minutes.

I have described and given examples of zentangles in previous posts but today I wanted to share with you a deviation I've started working on.  It's a little different and I'm not sure I "love" it or not.  It definitely gives the work a different slant.  I have started using colored pencils in my black and white doodles.  I will no longer call them zentangles as there is a specific definition for zentangle and I don't think color applies.  I have finished two so far.  The third one I'm currently working on I like the best.  I'll post a picture as soon as I'm finished but I wanted to post something so you all don't think I've totally abandoned my blog.

I have tried to stick to about four colors for now.  To me it looks a little more cohesive but we'll see what tomorrow brings!  Happy doodling everyone.

Swap-bot Part 1

What is Swap-bot?
This is taken directly from their homepage (and I couldn't describe it any better than they did):
Do you like sending and receiving snail mail? Do you like writing letters, making crafts, or putting together fun packages? You should try swapping! Swap-bot is a online service that organizes group swaps and a community of creative individuals. Swap-bot takes the hassle out of participating in group swaps by organizing all of the participant information and doing all of the partner assignments. On Swap-bot, you can host swaps, join swaps, and chat with other swappers from all over the world. Give it a try!
http://www.swap-bot.com/
 

I've been a member for for about a year and a half now and I have to say that it is so much fun!  I go through spells where I'm not swapping but then I find a new hobby and check Swap-bot to see if there are any swaps pertaining to my latest art endeavor.  There is always some kind of swap going on that I am interested in.  That's why I've labeled this post part one because I know I won't be able to cover everything I've swapped in one post.

So I had to dig into my archives (yes swap-bot keeps track of everything you've ever swapped) and my first one was very easy.  It was entitled "Quick Swap - Just Because Card Swap".  I signed up for a few others like this just to get my feet wet.  I signed up for a few postcard swaps and button swaps.  Then I discovered ATC's.

ATC - Artist Trading Card.  It's usually made on heavy card stock and measures 2 1/2" x 3 1/2".    They measure the size of a baseball card and are usually but in sleeves of that size to ship.  I made and traded these for quite some time because it's like your own mini canvas.  You can paint, draw and doodle on them.  You can "scrapbook" on them.  You can make them out of other things such as fabric or felt.  I got the idea to "carve" out foam board and make a frame around mine and I loved the result.  (Those are real sea shells)

I have also made ATC's out of fabric, paint and flat marbles:

And aluminum foil, duck tape and paint:

For these I covered a piece of foam board with fabric then carved out the holes where I wanted the flat marbles to go, glued them in there and the put duck tape around the boarder.  Then used puffy paint to outline and decorate a little more.

When I was quilting I found swaps for fabric.  There were ones for fat quarters, charms, strips, scraps... you name it there is a swap for it.  There are even quilt swaps where you make a block and swap that.  I've done a lot of half-square triangle swaps, this way I can get a lot of styles of fabrics that I might not find in my area.  To date I haven't received any duplicate fabrics.

When you sign up for Swap-bot you fill out a profile, your likes and dislikes.  This way your partner gets to know a little bit about you.  Such as "I don't like anything with skulls on it" and "I love chocolate and black cats".  You can check out my user profile at 

 http://www.swap-bot.com/user:KimberlyJDC  where I'm known as KimberlyJDC

I have not forgotten you

... but we all know how crazy summer can get!  Every year I take a vacation my myself.  My husband and I call it "Mommy's Getaway" to get away from everything and everybody.  I will definitely have an entire blog post dedicated to this fantastic trip but I'll just let you know now that for the past 4 years I've been going to Lancaster, PA.  I am simply fascinated with the Amish lifestyle.  Some people may choose to go to an exotic island or overseas but not me.  Every year I look forward to being among the Amish.  More later.

I have also taken up another hobby: writing.  Not just journalling (or blog posting) but honest to goodness short story fiction writing.  In another blog post I'll have to go into detail what Swap-Bot is but it's basically an online artist trading community.  One signs up for certain swaps (and they have swaps for everything) and one is assigned a partner then there is a set deadline as to when your stuff should be sent.  One swap I just completed was a short story swap.  I am thrilled with the way mine turned out and that has encouraged me to do more writing.

Anyway, that's about it for now.  Traveling and writing, writing and traveling.  I hope everyone is enjoying their summer! 

New obsession: ZENTANGLES

FAIRY RINGS

 

RING AROUND THE ROSIE

MOONBEAMS

WORLD'S COLLIDE

TUMBLING DOWN

Digging into the Archives

I just printed new business cards for myself listing my blog address, etsy address and e-mail.  On my card I also listed the artistic things I like to dabble in.  I've been pondering this list for a few days now and have decided to go back into my photo archives and share with you some of my other artistic endeavors.

One of my other hobbies is knitting.  I'm not that great at it and have only made scarves and hats.  My favorite one, that I made two years ago, was for my niece Lainey.  At the time I made it for her she was only six months old so I needed to make it "bitty".  And since my brother went to Virginia Tech what other color was I going to make it than maroon and orange?

And then when I was finished trimming down the HUGE pom-pom I made for the top...

I stitched the pom-pom on and... PEFECTO!

No eraser in zentangles

Definition taken from
http://www.zentangle.com/about-theory.php 
"There is no eraser in life and there is no eraser in Zentangle. However, in Zentangle (and in life), you discover that even if you make what seems to be a mistake, you can then build on that event as a new pattern and go in unexpected and exciting new directions."


I am in love with creating zentangles.  The "flower" was supposed to resemble the sun but that didn't happen.  But as with the definition above, there was no eraser to go back and "redraw" it but I built on it to create a new pattern...

 I have been admiring other zendoodles on http://www.flickr.com/ and there are some that resemble the shape of a turtle, or a dolphin, or mushrooms.  I find myself wanting to have a mushroom patch of my own so the title of my #4 zentangle is All Mushrooms Aren't Ugly...

For my fifth one I had a very fague idea of the "ice cream cone" and the "flower ribbon behind the cone" because I was in a very juvenile girlie girl mode.  I didn't know how anything else was going to turn out.  When I ended up drawing the "grid pattern with the dots" it looked like the floor of the ice cream parlor, hence the name Ice Cream Parlor...

Zentangles have opened yet another creative outlet for me plus they have shown me a meditative side that I never knew I had.

As you are reading this pick up a black pen and just start doodling, you may be surprised at what transpires onto paper.

Another new endeavor

ZENTANGLES

A zentangle is an easy to learn method of creating beautiful images from repetitive patterns.

"Zentangle is an artistic meditation that supports relaxation, focus and inspiration and can be a wonderful daily ritual.  Zentangles philosophy, symbolism and metaphor is elegant and profound.  There is so much to discover about life and one's self through this simple act".  Taken from www.zentangle.com  And if you want to read more about this art please visit this website, it is wonderful!

I have always doodled but now someone has actually come up with a name for it... what do you know I've been creating zentangles or zendoodles!  (I wish I could find the one I did in high school, 24 years ago).  The one I did in high school was drawn with a #2 pencil.  Now-a-days people use micron pens, sharpies, etc. and the result is simply stunning. 

I was inspired to try this a few days ago when I was cleaning up my Flickr profile (and deciding if I want to continue with Flickr for another year).  I decided to look up zentangle to see what exactly other people's artwork looked like.  It was then that I rummaged through all of my papers and found an old sketch book.  I sat down and designs started flowing. 

This was my first attempt ever and I LOVE how it turned out.

I actually started a second one before I finished my first one because I was inspired again.  I have been listening to The Shack by William P. Young on CD and if you haven't read it or heard of it I encourage everyone to pick up a copy.  Anyway, I was truly in a meditative state while drawing this zentangle and reflecting on the words from this book...

What a beautiful expression of art and myself.