Little Scraps of Magic

Collecting Data

I thought I'd give you a peek into my world. You won't see faces...I need to protect their privacy and safety. I wish you could see them; these children are precious inside and out, and I really do love spending time with them.

We're delving into the world of statistics, beginning with collecting data and then organizing it into line plots and frequency tables...and from there, it's only a hop, skip, and jump to means, medians, and modes!

Given a set of commonly used words, they had to predict which would appear the most frequently, and, of course, they had to justify their predicition. The wheels began to turn, and soon they were flinging terms such as definite and indefinite articles about...their English teacher would be proud. A few particularly observant young souls realized there was a capitalization error in the text, and firmly pointed it out to me with the assurance that said English teacher would have docked some points!

At any rate, armed with enough colors of pens, markers, and highlighters, almost anything is possible - even statistics!

Late Afternoon Light

Over at Focus 52, it's Week 8, our  prompt is light, something most of us long for during these dreary gray days of February. I meant to go looking for shadows later during the week, hoping of course that there would be enough light to cause those shadows. Other possibilities could be found in candlelight. But, late yesterday afternoon, a shaft of light poured through our patio door windows, catching her face.

Many years ago, she graced my mother's dresser. I remember her - holding her with my mom gently reminding me to be careful. She's not valuable in the normal sense of the word, but my mother loved her dearly, and that makes her priceless in my eyes. I brought her home with me the last day we spent clearing out dad's home.

She's a bit shopworn, a bit chipped, but, she really is lovely, isn't she?

 

Love or Red

We're at Week 7 over at Focus 52. The theme? Love or Red, and although I love hearts and such, I wanted to add a bit extra. I thought about going out to get some red tulips, and I still may since they make me smile. Working on something else, I spied a few old fashioned thread bobbins gleaned from my mom's stash of sewing items. They happened to be resting near some felted hearts a friend sent a few years back. I snapped shot after shot, most of them complete duds, but a few proved workable.

I began playing with textures and layers in photoshop, trying to get the basics down. I still don't have the hang of brightening/lightening with brushes since my results don't nearly match what I see on my printouts. So, I'll be reviewing that part via videos! Still, I love the finished product!

 

Currently...

listening to Seth over at Notes from the Voodoo Cafe

eating chips with cream cheese

drinking a diet gingerale (yeah, I know, doesn't make much sense, does it?)

wearing a long fuzzy pale blue robe, which I bought because my mother always made me wear pink while my sister got to wear blue and I always always wanted that blue

feeling tired...it's been a really long week

weather: anticipating at least a little bit of snow

wanting to go to Chincoteague

needing some steamed clams

thinking that I need to ask more for what I need because being enough does not mean I need to do it all

enjoying the thoughts of a long weekend with journal time and camera time, and a bit of photoshop as well

and sharing one last postcard....background taken at a winery overlooking Lake Erie, collaged with a bit of this and that

In the Mail

So, the postcards have been sent, and maybe, by now, a few have arrived. I really really enjoyed making them, and so, I think, I might just have to join this, especially if I can get this layers thing figured out. After doing more research and finding this, I realized just how poor a job I did, and I'm aiming for better. So much so, that I treated myself to a bundle of textures in Kim Klassen's shop, and I can't wait to get some serious play time this weekend!

In the meantime, here are a few more cards wandering through the U.S. mail system:

I grabbed one of my photos for use as a background here. I'd been working on a color series about a year ago and some extras have been floating around the art space ever since. I knew they had to be good for something, and ta-da, it worked! I glued on a few images and words and it all seems to have come together. It also gave me the chance to use up some more "stuff." Oh, I've really got lots of "stuff!"

A photo background again, provided by a close up of part of a journal page. I scavenged the lady from yet another post card, made many years ago, cut her out, and glued her on. The blue fish was a "trial" print made with a Fred Mullet stamps on scrap paper, and I found the the star fish lurking in ....yup, you guessed it...my stuff!

And, just a bit of a variation on the theme, with more bits and pieces of "stuff." Who knew photos taken for blog entries could be leveraged this way?

Just a few more to share, but then again, I'll be making more...and using some layered and textured goodies! Oh, the possibilities!

A Ta-Da Moment!

First of all, a bit more post card play...

I photographed this fine fellow in a tiny little town in Maryland, during one of those "let's go exploring" weekends.

 

A bit of ink, some collged words, and off he went into the US Postal system earlier today! What a dapper dude!

Now, neither one of these was the ta-da moment. That moment came with a great deal of muttering under my breath, crossing of eyes, reading and re-reading the directions. You need to know that tech is not my forte, but I am ever so slowly...really slowly...making peace with it. Maybe not peace, more like an uneasy alliance of sorts.

I'm realizing rather quickly that almost no one posts a "straight out of the camera" picture anymore. Texturing seems to be the name of the game.

So, I googled. I watched you-tube videos. The help section of photoshop and I became friends. A few hours later I produced something acceptable. Not great, but acceptable. And, I can live with acceptable, at least for the moment.

Remember yesterday's bottles? Here they are in yet one more incarnation...

 

Ta-Da!!!!

 

Postcard Play

I love getting mail, especially "arty" mail, and the postman may keep the other stuff. As the saying goes, "The best way to get some mail is to send some," so when the opportunity occurs, I grab it.

One art goal this year is to use my own images, particularly the photos I shoot. They end up in journals, on journal covers, as greeting cards, and in this case, postcards. Aren't these gorgeous? I shot this photo after a trip to the farmers' market last August.

I printed it on some matte photo paper and then added some colored pencil here and there. Using a sharpie, I outlined various edges to make them "pop," and then added some embossed stamping. The embossing got a bit messier than I liked...the ink pad was so juicy, it ended up dripping a bit off the stamp and then catching embossing poweder that I wished it hadn't. I'll be working on perfecting that!

Tiny glass bottles always grab my attention, and one or more usually find their way home with me. I took this on VA's Eastern Shore in a favorite antique store.

I altered this photo as described above, and I reall like the looks of both of them. They'll be heading out in the mail tomorrow, along with some others I'll share in the next few days.

I enjoyed the process as much as the end product. I enjoyed pushing them to see what would happen, and I only ended up "ruining" one.

Happy Sunday!

Week 6: Still Life

So, I really meant to set up a gorgeous still life, but life got in the way as it generally does. So much more always gets accomplished in my mind than in reality! But, much of it came in the form of the grands, and even though my house looks like a war zone, I love it all...the noise and laughter especially.

Tonight, as I lay on the floor, eye level with the youngest, I eyed the collection of toys strewn everywhere, and thought, "Why not?"

Not what I planned, but definitely what life served!

And, I have to admit, I rather like the bold chunky shapes and bright colors!

 

FOCUS 52: Week 5

Week 5's topic gave me absolute fits. Cold? Nope, not here. A week ago, mother nature gifted us with a bit of ice/sleet, but not this week. Think anywhere from the 50s to the 70s.

So, stumped big time.

Today, the light bulb above my head began to flicker just a wee bit. I began to think about ice skating. 3 outdoor rinks can be found locally and I'd gotten some lovely shots at 2 of them in the past. But, a shift in baby sitting plans cancelled that idea.

Then, the light bulb flickered just a bit once again. And, I sent my husband out in the rain to bring back this:

Gorgeous colors, no? And delciously cold!

Thank you, Mickey D's!

P.S. Tasted pretty good, too. Couldn't let it go to waste, right? Although, it probably went right to waist instead!

 

 

Photo-Heart Connection: January

Over at The Kat Eye Studio, the "photo-art" connection is in full swing! I've spent the last few days revisiting January photos, from a New Year's Day celebration to a one year old's birthday to my own birthday and more. Quite a few photos grabbed my heart, especially those of that one year old. But, I kept coming back to this one:

Meet the one year old's mama. The sheer happiness on her face grabs my own heart. This mama worked for her happiness and her little family's. A difficult induced deliveryand a newborn who landed in 3 hospitals in the first month equalled one whopping care of post partum depression and feelings of self doubt, which of course leads to more problems. Therapy, support groups, and sheer grit to become healthy followed. Now, she simply dotes on her baby and is reaching out to other young mothers. Not techincally a great photo but it is one that works my heartstrings big time!

And, just a bit of an aside. The above photo button is the first one I've successfully "grabbed." I knew it had to be easy, since these buttons are here, there, and everywhere, but they eluded me, that's for sure! With Kat's help, and the good folks at Typepad, I did it. It's shamefully easy, and I'm a bit embarrassed that I avoided it for so long, but at the same time, I'm patting myself on the back. One tiny fear conquered!

Peeking Through Windows

Peeking through windows...so many possibilities. What lies beyond? What's just out of reach?

Perched on a stool, sipping a latte, I can watch the world go by. If I visited the psychic across the street, what would she tell me? That chic young lady, laden with shopping bags, what did she buy?

 

Light streaming through, bouncing off and through colored glass, treasures of times go by. Stories wait to be told here.

 

Tiny windows, just big enough to peek through...did I get mail today? No one stuffs these anymore, but they evoke memories of college, and hoping, hoping, hoping, someone had sent something my way. Look at them, lined up like so many soldiers waiting to do their duty.

 

Old abandonded windows lure me in, but so do shop windows. One set hints of broken dreams. Who sat by them and dreamed...a child wanting to be outside, but miserably doing her homework? The other set offers promises of things to come, beautiful new shiney objects waiting to create new stories.

 

And, as Kat writes, in "Exploring with a Camera,"sometimes windows reveal things that are not visible otherwise. As I peered through this window, I saw trees with twinkling lights and sleds mounted in a row along a wall. It wasn't until I viewed my shots at home, that I realized that I had captured a gorgeous reflections of the windows behind me!

So many windows...church windows, glorious stained glass windows, windows behind rockers on a porch, children with noses plastered against windows. I've captured them all, and many more.

I captured this particular set last weekend in Ellicott City, and I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!