Month: April 2013

Border Maker Magic

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

Hi there

As I promised a couple of days ago I said I would post some more of my son’s album that I have been completing but out of respect for the people in Boston I decided to leave it yesterday.  All my thoughts are with those affected by this tragedy.  Even though I live in New Zealand these events still have quite an impact on us.

I am really loving using the Border Maker system and the cartridges.  In this page I have used the picket fence and twinkle chain border and as you can see I do not throw anything away.  I have used the thin strip of card left over from using the twinkle chain cartridge to glue a thin strip of card down the edge of the picket fence.  The yellow has worked beautifully with the outfit that James is wearing as well as the play gym he is playing with. The blank pages I use are a great background without using a lot of cardstock or paper which can be cost effective and allow the packs to last a lot longer.  I have used the sentiments from the Rugged range as well as I can’t seem to have blank spaces somehow!?!  I am working on this all the time and I will get better.

CM layout using Border Maker cartridges

 

Materials used:

Creative Memories Cardstock – Yellow

Creative Memories Cardstock – Cloud

Creative Memories Border Maker – Twinkle Chain and Picket Fence cartridges

Rugged Title stickers

Rugged Baby Boy Additions – sticker

ABC Monograms Swirly – Black

Happy Scrapping and keep safe

Patricia

Related articles

 

Tears for all the people in Boston at the moment.

On By patriciamanhireIn Art, Photography4 Comments
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Raindrops are nature’s tears and I felt that this photo with raindrops on a pure white flower was really appropriate in light of what has happened in Boston. My thoughts are with you in America.

 

‘Fairies leaving their home’

On By patriciamanhireIn Art, Crafts, Digital Art, PhotographyLeave a comment
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My photo for the day. Unfortunately, I tend to have a lot of weeds in my garden, but you know what they make really interesting photos. I was really pleased with the detail in this photo using my intelligent zoom. When I was young I used to think the seeds were fairies – hence the title.  Just a little whimsical tonight I think.
Tomorrow I will post some of my latest scrapbook pages from my son’s album after I have uploaded them to my Memory Manager. I am now up to James at 4 months old so I am making good progress and it is only April. With the weather turning cooler here it is a great time to stay inside and scrapbook both digitally and traditionally.
Have a great day and Happy Crafting.
Patricia

Hoverfly on Paris daisy_0003.jpg

On By patriciamanhireIn Art, Photography2 Comments
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My photo of the day.

Today was a good day to get outside and take photos as the day was a little overcast, but not a lot so there was a very soft light which is lot easier to adjust settings for. I used the Aperture setting and set my ISO for 200 and my f stop to 5.6 and zoomed into this flower. Since I have gone into Aperture setting I have found that there is a intelligent digital zoom which gets me much better macro photos. I have also discovered in previous sessions to set the ratio to 1:1 for macro photography which has helped a lot as well.
The hoverfly was very obliging and stayed reasonably still for me and this photograph is as it was shot in camera which makes it even more special. I try not to do too much editing as I am more of a purist photographer, but I have seen some amazing artwork from other photographers on Flickr.
I hope this bright and colourful photograph brings a ray of sunshine to those who are just coming out of a cold winter. For you summer is just around the corner.  We are heading into autumn and winter so I am making the most of my opportunities.
Have a great day.
Patricia

Macro of Sox_0013.jpg

On By patriciamanhireIn Art, Crafts, Pets, PhotographyLeave a comment
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My photo of the day. I have started using the manual features of my phone and my lovely cat, Sox, has been the unwilling subject of my practice. He keeps moving and it is hard to catch him still.
Have a good day everyone.
Patricia

 

More Rugged Baby Boy

On By patriciamanhireIn Crafts, Creative Memories, Greetings, Photography, Scrapbooking6 Comments

Welcome to all the visitors to my blog.  I hope that you are enjoying the variety of posts from cardmaking and scrapbooking to photography.

I am still working on my son’s scrapbook album and here is a photo layout of him at 2 weeks old.  He was such a tiny wee baby and very photogenic and it is hard to believe that he is now 23 years old and taller than me!

James rugged layout using the Border Maker cartridge - Twinkle chain.Sorry the photo seems a little uneven but I hope that you can see my layout ok.  I love using the border maker twinkle chain cartridge and I think that will be a theme throughout this album.  I also like to keep my layouts fairly simple and as I have said before I try to coordinate colours to bring out the photos as they are the focal point of a layout.  The blue and yellow background highlight the lovely yellow jacket that James is wearing.

Another factor in how I scrapbook is the photos are old and printed way before digital cameras were developed (I really am showing my age here!) and some of my photos are not great quality and I just have to make do.  It makes a huge difference with all the digital camera and post production technology available today and the quality of photography is so much better.  I have tried to print of scanned negatives but the quality is not as good.  But you can’t change the past and I have to do what I can with what I have.

Materials used:

Creative Memories Cardstock – Cloud

Creative Memories Cardstock – Yellow

Creative Memories  Rugged Paper Ribbon

Creative Memories Rugged Sentiments

Creative Memories Rugged Additions paper mat and stickers

Creative Memories Decorative Cardstock – yellow

Creative Memories PS I Love You Epoxy Stickers (unfortunately no longer available)

Happy Scrapping

Patricia

Bumble bee on snapdragon_0001.jpg

On By patriciamanhireIn Art, Crafts, Digital Art, Photography, Scrapbooking1 Comment
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My photo of the day. I have been exploring my camera and started using the A setting on the camera and discovered the optical digital zoom which gave me a lot more grunt for macro photography. Here I managed to get a brief ray of sunshine to back light the flower and because I was able to zoom in I got a much better bokeh effect without manipulating the environment. I am looking forward to learning more about macro photography at the camera club. But sometimes there is nothing better than getting out and practicing. At least with digital cameras you can view the photos and delete them as necessary before printing them off.
I would also like to add that my Memory Manager 4.0 has been an excellent tool to help me sort all my photos easily and I do all my editing and journalling in it before I upload to Flickr. It is so much easier doing this than doing it online. Plus I can also rate my photos as well so I know which ones to use when I am doing my digital and/or traditional scrapbooking. MM also has a feature where you can put the photos into an album to help you plan for doing an album which is great for oganizing in advance. I have started to also use more touch up tools as well, but that is also a work in progress and another topic for a future post.
Have a great day everyone.
Patricia

 

Rain drops on snapdragons.jpg

On By patriciamanhireIn Patricia's Creations7 Comments

We have finally had some rain and the water restrictions have lifted thank goodness. I love going out after the rain and taking photos of rain drops. Rain drops are like nature’s diamonds and just glow in the light. This was one of my favourite photos from last week and I love the colours and how there is depth with the flowers.
Have a good day.

Magnolia_0032.jpg

On By patriciamanhireIn Art, PhotographyLeave a comment
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Welcome back.
My neighbour has a big magnolia tree and every so often the tree produces beautiful large blooms. I managed to capture this flower opening over the space of half an hour. Here the flower is almost completely open and the centre is exposed. I love the creaminess of the petals with the purple and green/yellow of the centre. I will put a range of photos showing the flower opening on my photograph page.
Have a good day
Patricia