Month: April 2013

Pretty in Pink

On By patriciamanhireIn Art, Photography3 Comments

My photo of the day. I was really pleased at how this photo has turned out. There had been quite a bit of rain the night before and there were lots of raindrops on the flowers.  This azalea is such a pretty pink and the raindrops are just like little gemstones shining in the sun.  I seem to gravitate towards pink flowers – perhaps that is because my favourite colour is pink!
I hope this cheers your day.
All the best
Patricia

Via Flickr:
Azalea

Related articles

Reflections of a Day in the Sun

On By patriciamanhireIn Art, Crafts, Creative Memories, Photography, Scrapbooking2 Comments

Hi there

I am loving the Border Maker system for my scrapbooking and have had this idea brewing in my head since buying the Rustic Fence cartridge, and despite my working on my son’s album, I just had to get this out onto a page.  I also got some inspiration from a page that came from Creative Memories using lots of leaves from the Reflection Paper Flower range.  I have also used the little flowers that come from using the Twinkle Chain cartridge as well.  They make great embellishments – especially when I am working with flowers and flower photos.  I never waste anything – I have scrap drawers to prove this!!

In case people wonder why I do so many flower layouts and not many of my family, my family are not keen on having a lot of photos of themselves on the internet.  Once photos are on the internet it is hard to control where they go.  They don’t mind the baby ones so much (?) but would prefer not be to identified with more recent photos.  I have to respect their wishes.  Besides I must confess to having hundreds of nature photographs and can’t resist using them.

Reflections of a day in the sun

 

Materials used:

Creative Memories Reflections Tone on Tone paper

Creative Memories Reflections Paper Flowers

Creative Memories Reflections Paper Ribbon

Creative Memories Reflections Title Stickers

Creative Memories Border Maker – Rustic Fence and Twinkle Chain cartridges

Creative Memories Enchanted Epoxy stickers

Creative Memories ABC/123 Swirly Black Stickers

Creative Memories Tearing Tool – wavy.

Happy Scrapping

Patricia

 

Related articles

 

Autumn colours

On By patriciamanhireIn Art, Photography6 Comments

Autumn is definitely making it’s presence felt here and the colours are just stunning. The other day I went out early before breakfast with my camera to try and get some good shots of the Hutt River in the early morning. But I did not time it too well as I didn’t take into account the end of daylight saving. So I walked down to the park and took some great photos of flowers and leaves – I will try and post some at a later date. The night before it had rained quite heavily so I had lots of nice juicy raindrops on the flowers.
I love the colours in this photo and the way the green leaf with the rain drops is sharp in the middle of the mix of Autumn colours.
I think this reminds us that there is beauty in all aspects of nature.  I will try and remember that when we are in the middle of a southerly storm!
I hope you all have a good day.
Patricia

Related articles

Slipsliding in the rain

On By patriciamanhireIn Art, Photography5 Comments
Wordmark of Flickr
Wordmark of Flickr (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I have been invited to upload this photo to a website called Tallenge.com which is a website for sharing images and other media content to enter competitions. If you like my photo please follow this link to vote for it: http://tlng.me/17m3UWE
Many thanks
Patricia

Related articles

More fun Rugged Baby layout

On By patriciamanhireIn Babies, Children, Crafts, Creative Memories, Photography, Scrapbooking3 Comments

Welcome back.

As I promised here is the other half of the fun layout I did the other day.  All I have done is invert what I had done in the previous page.

 

 

 

 

 

Single page fun Rugged layout

 

And here is the double page layout together.

Double page layout

 

When I scrapbook, my layouts are very dependent on what photos I have.  I work on sets of photos at a time and then decide on how many photos I place on each page.  Sometimes I only have 1 photo on a page and other times I might be able to fit about 4 or 5 photos.  I don’t always have the same layout on each page of a double layout, but I will try and have at least one element that links the two pages together.  I get a lot of inspiration from Pinterest and the facebook pages such as Christine’s Creative Capers, but my layouts always seem to end up being my own creations, which I guess is a good thing as it means that I am working on my own creativity and individuality.  I have personally found going to a class where they do one specific layout tends to hinder my own creative style.   But everyone is different and it is a matter of finding out your own personal style.

Another aspect I have tried to do with this album is to have elements linking throughout and keep the range of  colours to a minimum.  For this album I have mainly used the Rugged Baby Additions as well as cloud and yellow cardstock and tried to use different elements to link the whole album together.  I have used another addition from Creative Memories (which I will show in another post) as the colours in that addition also worked in really well with the Rugged range.  I also have used my Border Maker to have another design feature to link the album together.

I hope this helps explain how I design my layouts

Happy Scrapping

Patricia

Related articles

Anzac Day – a time for Remembrance

On By patriciamanhireIn Peace, WarLeave a comment

Welcome

Today is Anzac Day.  A time to remember all the soldiers that have served our country from World War 1 to today.  (Please see related articles below which gives a much better account of the origins of Anzac Day than what I could ever do).

English: A New Zealand soldier stands on the l...
English: A New Zealand soldier stands on the left, with an Australian soldier on the right. They are holding the flags of their countries, with a Union Jack displayed above. A banner across the flags reads ‘Australian and New Zealand Army Corps’. King George V is quoted ‘The Australian and New Zealand troops have indeed proved themselves worthy sons of the Empire’. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Even though New Zealand seems to be at the bottom of the world, we have still played a large part in the World Wars, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and recently in Afghanistan.  The events over the past week in Boston reminds us that the threat of war is still really only a heartbeat away, which is a very sobering thought.  It makes me wonder whether there will ever be a lasting peace in this world, and that there will always be a need for Anzac Day to remember all the fallen soldiers that have fought on our behalf.

I would like to think that we could all do our bit to make our world a better place by taking the time to be  smile at the next stranger that we met and perhaps one day that will make a difference.  I hope that I am not being too naive!

Have a good day and smile 🙂

Patricia

 

 

Related articles

Bee on snapdragon_0004.jpg

On By patriciamanhireIn Art, Photography2 Comments
Wordmark of Flickr
Wordmark of Flickr (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Autumn is here and there is not many flowers left in my garden. The snapdragons are starting to look a little bedraggled, but they are still inviting the insects to collect the pollen.  The temperature is cooler and it is starting to be a little easier taking photos of bees as they are not buzzing around as fast. I love the combination of black and yellow of the bee and the creamy yellow at the base of the snapdragon flower. But I could do with working more on the sharpness of the details on the bee.  My photography is still a work in progress and there is much more to learn. Today I was privileged to look through a very expensive macro lens and it was incredible. Definitely something to work towards.
Tomorrow I will post the second half of the double page layouts of James’ album that I posted a couple of days ago.
In the meantime I hope you all have a great day.
Patricia

Via Flickr:
Bee on snapdragon

Related articles

Fun Rugged Scrapbook layout

On By patriciamanhireIn Art, Babies, Children, Crafts, Creative Memories, Scrapbooking7 Comments

Welcome back.

With all that has been happening in the world recently (including another devastating earthquake in China) I have been reminded off how important it is to document and keep meaningful keepsakes of all our family and friends.  I will always remember after the Christchurch earthquake in February 2011  I watched a TV news item about how one of the partners of a woman killed in the earthquake got a lot of solace and comfort from looking through the memory books or scrapbooks that she had created.  Books that had been made with love.

As I have been saying in previous posts I have been completing my son’s scrapbook album.  In this fun page layout I have used the Creative Memories Bright Decorative Cardstock and to make it go further I have cut it in half and used it on another page which I will show at a later date.  As you can see I have continued to use the Border Maker Twinkle Chain and picket fence cartridges and to finish decorating the page I have used some Rugged embellishments.  I have used the Custom Cutting System oval cutters to trim the photos and that has helped to keep the focus on a very cute James.  What has been lovely is that I have been watching James grow up all over again.  That has been quite unexpected, but very enjoyable and pleasurable.  I hope that he will look at this book the same way as the gentleman in Christchurch did.

CM layout

 

Materials used:

Creative Memories Cardstock – Cloud

Creative Memories Cardstock – Yellow

Creative Memories Decorative Cardstock – Green Apple

Creative Memories Custom Cutting System – circles

Creative Memories Border Maker System – Twinkle Chain and Picket Fence cartridges.

Creative Memories Rugged Paper Tags

Creative Memories Rugged Paper Ribbon

Creative Memories Rugged Title Stickers

Happy Scrapping

Patricia

Related articles

Dancing ballerinas

On By patriciamanhireIn Art, Patricia's Creations, Photography4 Comments
Image representing Flickr as depicted in Crunc...
Image via CrunchBase

 

 

A photo to cheer people up. What a relief that the suspects have been caught in Boston. I can’t imagine how difficult it has been for the people in Boston to have to endure the last few days not knowing who was going to be next. Hopefully now it can become a time of healing and moving forward and appreciating all the beautiful things around us.
My thoughts are also in West, Texas where there is such a lot of tragedy as well.
I hope you all have a good day.
Patricia

 

Related articles

 

Raindrops on geraniums.jpg

On By patriciamanhireIn Art, Photography8 Comments
Image representing Flickr as depicted in Crunc...
Image via CrunchBase

Another tragedy in the United States. My thoughts go out to all the people affected by this latest event in West, Texas.

At times like these it makes me realise how important it is to treasure every moment with our loved ones and having health issues myself  has made me realise that we have to make the most of every day as you never know what will happen next.

Patricia

 

Via Flickr:
Raindrops on geraniums