Lifetime of Summers

Last Week's Photo Freedom Challenge

All of these summer photos were taken from my Library of Memories Category Drawers ~~ See Big Picture Scrapbooking to read up on this.

How quickly can you find pictures of different summers throughout your life and throw together a layout in about an hour?

Before the Library of Memories class last year, I guess I would have pulled my already scrapbooked albums down from the shelves and flipped through for pics, and then gently removed them from the albums, copied or scanned them, put the originals back in the albums, and then created my layout.  Don't think I could've done it in an hour though.

Last year, I began archiving important photos into "category drawers."  Leftovers, duplicates, and, yes, some I pulled from my albums and copied. 

I LOVE THIS!!

This is how I was meant to scrapbook. 

Sure, I still create the family albums, the events, the celebrations, the day-to-day shots my camera catches.  But I don't have to scrapbook ALL of them.  I like saving quite a few in my file drawers where I can find them at a moment's notice.  This means I'm only scrapbooking the best photos into my albums, the ones that tell the stories.  And enjoying it more!  And I now have a decent stash of various photos to "play" with, using them in creative ways to tell more important stories.  Stories I'd have never known to tell.   

This is Photo Journalism!

This is truly Photo Freedom ~~

~~ which, by the way, is one of the books Stacy Julian, founder of Big Picture Scrapbooking, has written. 

Big Contented Sigh.  I love Photo Freedom

June 19 Daybook

wwwFOR TODAY


Outside my window...Sunny for a while, then gray and stormy.  Clothes on the line.  Jeff decided the laundry was behind and made Dad help him hang it up...on Father's Day, lol. 



I am thinking...how many people hang laundry outside to dry anymore.  I've met a lot of women lately who acually do...a new surge back to the old days maybe.  In my Story Circle Network, many of the women hang their clothes out to dry.  I like that group.  So, with the wind billowing the sheets outside my window, my dryer sits lonely and unappreciated in the laundry room.  As it should be. 


I am thankful...that I remain a Simple Woman.  And on this day, I am thankful for my husband.  And I remember my father.  I miss him every day.

In the kitchen...Homemade Cincinnati Chili for Hubs for Father's Day.  And a Carrot Cake Supreme, gluten-free of course so son Jeff can eat it too.  All food now is gluten-free.  Easier that way.  Lovin' m beautiful Kitchen-Aide stand mixer.  Life is so much easier with her in my life.

I am wearing...navy blue shorts and white tee.  Yesterday got me the cutest little white skirt..at Goodwill!!!  My fave store in the world.  If I'd have gone to church this morning, I might still be wearing it.  But getting granddaughter out of bed and confronting that mass of thick, permanently tangled hair and her whine and wimper over every little disturbance was just too great a task.  So didn't wear my little cotton skirt.  I love light, airy skirts and dresses for summer.

I am creating...a crocheted "Sea Breeze Top,"

Lion Brand pattern.  A yoked and flared cool looking summer top to breeze around in.  For me. Then if it turns out well, others for gifts.    Using Kiwi green, Peaches & Cream.



I am wondering...why politicians like Mitch McConnell, seen on Face the Nation this morning...for only a few seconds, before I switched to NPT, why he didn't hear the latest poll of Americans just a few weeks ago, where over 70% said they wanted the US to bring the troops home and get the money back in our own country because we have still so many unemployed people here.  McConnell thinks Americans are concerned mostly with deregulation and spending.  I am wondering why he thinks I am stupid. 


I am reading...several books.  Being Dead Is No Excuse: The Official Southern Ladies Guide To Hosting the Perfect Funeral [Hardcover].

And The Freedom Writers Diary : How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them.  My pastor's daughter Molly loaned it to me, after I told her I saw the movie FINALLY.  She'd told me about it last year.  This is one of the all-time greatest stories ever.  Not many people heard about it.  It didn't garner a lot of press.  But that's par for America.  What Erin Gruwell accomplished is BIG stuff, huge, something that can change the world as we know it, but who really cares, right?  Why would we want to change the world?  Isn't it fine just the way it is? 

I am hoping...for just a slight drying off of the soil so I can finish planting what needs to go in the ground.  But, hey, I'm not complaining about all the rain.  My friends in Texas would pay for some rain along about now.

I am looking forward to...seeing my friends Sharon and Karen this evening.  Sharon, from Georgia, is visiting Karen, who lives just a few miles from me.  They are some of my scrapbook buddies.  Beautiful ladies I love.

I am hearing...music on my Android!  And I even figured out how to change my ring tone to "Don't Stop Believing," by Journey.  That's kind of my personal anthem song presently.

Around the house...We are getting a new kitchen!  Hubs wrote the check to secure it.  A couple who is getting a new custom kitchen sold their present one to us for a fraction of the cost new.  Complete with appliances.  Can't wait.  My old vintage kitchen will soon be a memory, so I'm spending time in it saying good-bye.

I am pondering...how much better I feel since finishing up the evil drug I was taking.  I still have some shakes from the physical addiction that set up in my body, but my dr. thinks it's about all out of my system, maybe just a few more weeks.  I'm thinking about how I feel a lot these days, making connections, stuff I never really dwelled on before.  Getting to know myself all over again.

One of my favorite things...is having time to go slow. 


A few plans for the rest of the week: 

• Finish Woman's Memoir post for Thursday. 
• Update ScrapLife website. 
• Work on Blurb Book-- due June 30th.  If I finish in time, I'll get to offer my online readers a discount on their own Blurb Book. 
• Family History book, insert family tree and charts, lay out chapters, and post stories & pics on Rhine Girl Blog. 
• Add some scrap layouts to Photo Freedom Class gallery and read forums. 
• Clean the House!!! 

Here is picture for thought I am sharing...  design beauty and art symmetry.  From http://beautiful-portals.tumblr.com/#

Online Photo Sites

So many possibilities!  I'm currently enjoying my Photo Freedom class at Big Picture Scrapbooking, and doing all sorts of fun and inspirational stuff with my pictures.  We are into "Digital Workflow."  I love systems.  Systems for everything.  And I'm lovin' my Digital Workflow system at present.

Flickr

I, Love Flickr.  Love, love it.  It's Yahoo.

My Flickr

Groups (2525)

Writers General 1,712 photos, 325 members

write the caption 694 photos, 132 members

History : images without words don't document 4,704 photos, 535 members

Digital Scrapbook 8,861 photos, 1,472 members

Written Words 4,926 photos, 622 members

Creative Writing 2,142 photos, 497 members

Choubox Scrapbook Layout Gallery 6 photos, 31 members

It's Skyline Time 111 photos, 44 members

The Write Way 76 photos, 60 members

Prospect Hill 33 photos, 14 members

Scrapbooks 766 photos, 72 members

Cincinnati Skyline 420 photos, 144 members

Over-the-Rhine 382 photos, 51 members

Cincinnati Places and People 2,441 photos, 81 members

Clifton, Cincinnati, Ohio 437 photos, 73 members

Scrapbook Edge 2,978 photos, 236 members

SCRAPBOOK ROOM ORGANIZATION 43 photos, 46 members

Cincinnati; The Queen City 518 photos, 53 members

Visual Libraries - Leave Your Mark 730 photos, 25 members

Journal Junky's!!! 1,153 photos, 100 members

Creative NonFiction Writing Forums 88 photos, 19 members

ScrapArtist.com 516 photos, 133 members

Organize Your Genealogy Life! 19 photos, 19 members

Heritage Scrapbooking 156 photos, 14 members

Vintage Photographs and Genealogy 502 photos, 111 members

All of my best photos go to my Flickr Stream.  By best, I mean 2- and 3-stars.  1-Star photos remain in digital storage but they don't go anywhere. 

At the end of each season, or quarter, I cull out the best of the 2-stars and all of the 3-stars on Flickr, and with a click send them to print with SnapFish.  I just finished batching the past year's best of 3-stars and collaging them for my Year Highlights Album. 

This took all of five minutes.  Extremely fast and functional.  And Gratifying.

Before this year, I was sending my pics to whoever had the best deal of the online photos printers.  Aaack!  That's just way too overwhelming for me.  To scattered.  I must have structure to operate with any kind of efficiency.  That means deleting all the emails daily that come calling into my inbox folders announcing their awesome sales and happiness.  After a while, your system hums and you just don't mess with it.  That's worth money to me.

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Picasa

I should back up and say that I first load up Picasa, which pulls in immediately any new pics on my hard drive.  Picasa is where I edit my pics.  I LOVE Picasa!  And to boot, it's free.  I'll take free whenever I can get it.  In my opinion, Picasa ranks high on the list for photo editing.  It's Google, which makes a lot of other nifty things possible.  Like just click to send to Blogger.

For Picasa, you need a Google account; for Flickr you need a Yahoo account.  I sign in and out of each.  If I have to.  Not always. 
 

I have Picasa Web Albums online.  Just like Flickr. 

I can also, in Picasa, send to a variety of printers, but I don't use that feature, since I like my Flickr arrangement. 

Picasa and Flickr.  These are my top two choices of all the online photo sites.  It makes my picture life simple. 

 





Picasa:  My Family History Web Album and 2011 Jan-Mar Highlights Web Albums

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I love Shutterfly too.  And gobs of others out there.  But I like Picasa and Flikr the best. 

 I have my system.  And that's what it's about really.  Your System. 

I use ACDsee for digi scrapping. Another easy-peasy but powerful program. Does everything Photoshop Elements does.  Even better, it does everything I want it to do.  And more.  And it doesn't hang up and make me mad like some of the other scrapbook software.  I've tried them all.  Seriously.  This is, in my opinion, the best.  It's clean, fast, and efficient.

You can download a free 30-day trial, and that's always a good thing.  I like to try products out if I can before handing over my bucks. 

Hope you got some ideas.  Leave a comment about what you like and how it works for you.  I'd like to hear about some other Photo Systems.  What's your Digital Workflow? 





The Cat Outside My Window

The window over my kitchen sink, there I see Sid, curled up for nap in the tree. 

June 3 Friday's Daybook

FOR TODAY

Strawberries linger in the field. Not for long. 

Outside my window...My kitchen garden.  Need to pull remaining cold weather crops...spinach, collards.  Set more onions and non-bolting lettuce.  Plant the poppy seeds my friend sent me and the Rosa Bianca eggplant and Scarlet Runner Beans.


I am thinking... of our visit to hometown Cincinnati next week.  Getting my family history notebook and laptop files organized for Downtown Library research.  Email family when we will see them.  Going home.  Thinking of going home.

I am thankful for...feeling so much better than I was early part of the week.  Energy slowing returning. 


From the kitchen...for Friday dinner, maybe grilled cheese (Granddaughter Erica's fave) oven fries, and salad.  Plan Sunday church lunch.  Buy groceries today.

I am creating...cards today using ClubScrap kit, Greetings to Go-- Jeff, Erica, and I, later today--maybe evening.

I am going...to library with Jeff and Erica this afternoon, then getting milkshakes YUM, some groceries, a few summer wardrobe things for Jeff and Erica.

I am reading...the rest of yesterday's "Finding Photo Freedom" classwork for the week on Big Picture Scrapbooking site--click "This is Big" top of left sidebar.
I am hoping...that I don't have to take any more medicine.  I feel free now, calm, and good.  Don't want to relapse.  Praying.  Please, God.

Around the house...pretty good order.  Sweep kitchen floor and mop.  Oh!  Cabinet maker comes tomorrow to talk about kitchen makeover.  Can't wait for new cabinets and countertops.  And new stove and dishwasher.  It's been long in coming, and I am so ready.  Dream come true.

You can join Simple Woman's Daybook project at http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/.

Daybook Post

FOR TODAY...from http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/


Outside my window...Green!  Finally.  Lots of trees.

I am thinking...of how I can feel better tomorrow.  The medicine I've been taking is pulling me down.  Today it took its toll.

I am thankful for...family.  And Spring.

From the kitchen...felt too bad to do much cooking, but threw together a rice, bean, and cheese casserole for dinner.

I am wearing...a pink tee-shirt and navy blue shorts.

I am creating...finishing up the 2009 scrapbook.  Did a digital layout of cat Sidney today for Journey blog.  Posted content about Scrapbooking Family History on website along with a Family Tree Layout from my family memoir.  Still don't know how I did all of that as bad as I felt.

I am going...to take Jeff and Erica to the library tomorrow and then come home and make lasagna for the Master's Table soup kitchen.

I am reading...genealogy books on Kindle...lots of them.

I am hoping...I can finish this medicine and get it out of my system once and for all. 

I am hearing...silence, as the house is quiet right now.  Love it.

Around the house...everyone is in his or her own room.  It's almost bedtime.

One of my favorite things...is sleeping!  Yes.

Icing on the Cake

Captured the photo of my cat, Sidney, on my bed, sprawled out, sleek and regal as all get-out. 

Downloaded a new Kindle book recently, Icing on the Cake, by Cynthi Rakes Bowden, which gives scrapbookers tons of page titles and novel sayings, in alphabetical order. 

So I pulled the book up when I created the layout of Sidney and found just the right words.  "A glass of

water, a night light, and I'm good."  Purr-fect.

Some of the captions are nothing I'd think of on my own, and I'm already getting ideas for layouts just from scanning the pages.

"And who will help me eat these brownies," for a layout showing a plate of fresh-baked gluten-free

brownies. 

Or how about, "An artist's orgnization is never understood by the rest of the world," for a layout of my messy work table.

A really cute book.  I can see I'll use it lots.  Just wanted to share.

Now back to work.  This was my break.