• Around home - Blog - Creativity - Outdoors - Photography

    A second look: summer photography wrap up

    I haven’t been using my “big camera” (my DSLR) all that much lately.

    Its a shame really since I love photography. Over the past couple weeks when the weather has cooperated, I’ve tried to get in the habit of using it again. I really need to keep up on my skills…I’ll be taking Senior pictures for Mini-me NEXT summer. Geesh…the time certainly flies.

    Take a look…

     

    9/23/2016

    2016 Summertime Photo Scavenger hunt wrap-up

    The summer has ended and so has the hunt for photos. I like to wrap things up with a recap of the old and any newly snapped photos. This year I only missed one on the list but got an alternative to takes it’s place. In the past I’ve gotten every single one including the alternates.

    1. A “wild heart” – a naturally occurring heart (like the rock above, but it doesn’t have to be a rock)summer photo huntHostas in my backyard

    2. A footprint or pawprint

    paw-print

    Husky paw print

    3. A skeleton, bone or x-ray

    bones-collageAt the orthopedist

    4. A book or magazine read during 2016

    books

    Lots of books…can’t stop reading…

    5. A porch or deck

    deck collage

    Trex Deck at the MN landscape Arboretum

    6. A camper (caravan)

    summer photo hunt

    Camper trailer

    7. A family gatheringsummer photo hunt

    Independence day gathering

    8. A drawing, art project, artistic photograph, scrapbook page, greeting card, or art journal page created by you.summer photo huntObviously this isn’t my only creation of the summer…if you’d like to see more just browse around the blog. 🙂

    9. Someone playing with, in, or around water.summer photo hunt4th of July waterfight….a tradition

    10. A bicyclebikeAt a parking lot next to a state bike trail.

    11. Fresh producesummer photo huntBeans from my garden and CSA box

    12. A windowwindowThe broken remains of my drivers side window…you can read about it here.

    13. The moonsummer photo huntLucky low light shot of the moon over the house.

    14. A buffet of foodsummer photo hunt4th of July gather again…

    15. A team logoteamsSome of our beloved local teams…current and former.

    16. A map showing a trip taken during the time period

    map

    Mini-me and I traveled to Alexandria over the summer for a girls weekend.

    map-2This close-up map has both lakes that we stayed on…if you look closely you can see my reflection.

    17. Twinssummer photo huntI took a bit of liberty with this one just because it made me laugh.

    18. A supermarket cart, basket or trolley full of groceries cart

    Back to school stock up at Target

    19. A seasonal cocktail or beveragesummer drinkMoscow Mule…favorite summer drink!!

    20. Someone laughing

    This is the one I didn’t get mostly because I don’t show faces on my blog if at all possible.

    21. A photograph of you with a newspaper or calendar page from the time period covered in the Hunt. Note: you may not use a substitute for this item.

    timely-photoI believe this one is self explanatory

    Alternatives – if you’re having trouble finding any of the above, you may substitute from this list (but you may not substitute for item #21):
    alternative 1: a lighthouse

    No lighthouse either

    alternative 2: a baby (human or animal)

    alt-baby

    Can you see the baby? Cute little “O”.

    That about wraps it up. I’m not sure what happened to Rinda’s blog as it hasn’t been updated since June but I do know that the Facebook group has been active so I’ll be posting there. I do hope to continue with photo scavenger hunts…they are really fun and a real challenge at times to get creative and think outside the box.

     

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    Thanks for stopping by for Second on the 2nd.

     

  • Art - Blog - Creativity

    A second look: 2014 Art Calendar

    Just yesterday I was thinking about buying a planner to help me keep a better handle on my blog and personal/family commitments. The family uses a shared digital calendar but I feel the need for something personal as well especially for the blog and art stuff. All of a sudden I remembered the art calendar challenge. It honestly feels like more than 5 years ago but there it is…2014.

    Take a look…

    1/1/2015

    December complete!
    2014 art calendar challengeThis challenge hosted by Kate has been a good one for me.  I was able to stay on track and have ended up with a great keepsake from 2014.

    2014 art calendar challenge

    From the start, I had the idea in my head of what I wanted the end product to look like.

    2014 art calendar challenge

    After taking this photo I decided that perhaps gluing the pages together would give it more visual appeal. 2014 art calendar challenge

    And I was right…  In addition, it provided stability to the binding.

    2014 art calendar challenge

    I’m in love with how this looks. I don’t want to come off as patting myself on the back but I have to admit that I’m so happy that my vision of this project actually came to fruition. 2014 art calendar challenge

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    I might just be making myself a planner after all. We’ll see if I get inspired enough, quickly enough. HA!

    Thanks for stopping by for Second on the 2nd.

  • Art - Blog - Creativity

    T on the 2nd edition

    Ok this is one of those crazy days that happens…we have a crossover post.

    Honestly its likely a good thing because I have so many things to talk about but have nothing prepared and I’m already late to the party. How does that happen?

    Anyway…Mini-me made it back from Costa Rica on Thursday evening…we left for Duluth the next morning. Busy weekend then back to school on Monday. WHEW!! What a crazy few days.

    I’ll share more about all that in another post but I thought I’d at least share a bit about the coffee Mini-me brought home the Doka Coffee Plantation.

    I borrowed this photo from Twitter of the group tossing the raw beans in the air.

    This is one that we’ve opened and tried. It’s very good. It seems to me that the caffeine content might be a bit higher than what we usually drink. We haven’t tried the other kind she brought back yet.

    Now on to Second on the 2nd….

    I have been attempting to join more challenges lately. Before I rejoined the workforce I participated in challenges regularly and it really kept my creativity flowing. Here’s a post from on of those fun challenges I did way back when.

    Take a look….

    7/15/2013

     Sage and SepiaThis is the last week of Summer of Color! I can hardly believe it.

    This is the color combo I’ve been voting for each week. The strange thing is now that I got it…I had trouble making it work. The photo color is a bit off for the green but my “Photoshop fu” is off this morning.

    I painted the background with sage then distressed it a bit.  After adding the sepia elements, I used some white rub-ons for visual interest. The bride and groom are my maternal grandparents circa 1929.

    Incidentally, this is my 1000th post! WHOA! That’s a lot of blogging. Thanks to everyone who continues to read. I love it when you leave comments to let me know that you’ve been here.

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    Thanks for stopping by my twofer post today!

    What are you doing today?