Patience and Waiting

I am working on my 2010 family scrapbook finally and I came across this image again while reviewing my blog.  I took this photo 2 years ago. It's on the front page of my scrapbook now.  I turned the wide version of it into something to cover my second computer screen. I love the quote and have it thanks to my friend Mandee.

It applies to so  many lessons in life and I can't help but think of my garden.  It's a lot of work.  We wait for the right weather.  We wait for the seeds to sprout.  We wait for the plants to grow.  We wait for the fruit to ripen.  We work hard to make all that possible. 

So I thought I would share three of my favorite garden photos from 2011 - because if I showed them all it would take a very long time to look through them.  

And by the way, I did plant onions seeds a few days ago.

My birthday

I recently had a birthday.  And my sweet husband had these sitting on the breakfast table when I got up in the morning.  Isn't he the sweetest thing! 

Fun project with vinyl

Click on the images to see them larger

I have a lot of blank space on my walls.  I don't put stuff on my walls just because it's empty.  

We also moved into this house just a few weeks after I finished cancer treatment which included 6 months of chemo and 5 weeks of radiation.  So I have been slowly working on my house because I've really been working on the garden - it took us an entire summer to put the sprinkler system into the 1/2 acre yard and up to the garden.  Then I've mostly spent the summer planting flowerbeds and the veggie garden. Last summer we added 4 trees for a total of 6.  Still need way more.  I mostly just work on the inside when it's winter.  I painted a mural downstairs in the closet under the stairs which took one winter.  And a few months ago I painted the branch on the wall and the leaves and birds.  

I was waiting for my Silhouette to cut some vinyl to really give the hall the look I wanted. 

Yesterday before school I photographed my daughter inside with backlight from the window so I could create a silhouette. 

Then I turned the photo black and white.  Next I upped the shadows and the highlights creating the contrasty look you see below.  I used a white paintbrush to get rid of all the extra stuff I didn't need. I used the black paintbrush to fill in the hair. I didn't want the Silhouette to have to cut too much detail.

Then I turned it into an SVG file in Adobe Illustrator. In fact while in Adobe Illustrator I used the Live Trace. Then Expanded it and used the Pen tool to remove a few of the anchor points to smooth things out. I have the Designer Edition of the Silhouette software so I can open SVG files that I create in Adobe Illustrator.

Here you can see I pulled it into the software.  If you right click on the image you can change the file into a path and then a compound path.  I knew my blue vinyl was 9" wide so I didn't enlarge it any bigger than the brown frame I cut from 12" vinyl. 

I painted the branch, birds, and leaves a while ago but had to repaint the branch to match the dark brown frame color.

Then I traced the birds and cut them from the 9" vinyl.  And I realized my red leaves were not the right red - I want it to match the red in the quote I'll be adding along the bottom. So I traced all of the leaves using left over tissue paper from Christmas packages.  I scanned them in and did the same thing as above. I love the red vinyl for the leaves.  It's beautiful! 

This is my favorite photo because you can see the large wood baseboards near the floor and how it wraps around the corner.  And yes, my son's room is painted navy blue but the wood work that is 3 feet tall is a light tan color.

My entry ceiling is 12 feet tall and my hallway and bedroom ceilings are 9 feet tall.

As you can see it's been a busy 3 days and I have the Quote to add to the lower part of the wall still.  Time for me to go find that measuring tape.

Silhouette Cameo at it again

Remember this?  

Well I made this bag using the designer software.  Of course, you can see that the doll came with a bag that I used for inspiration.  They are not quite the same but close enough that her dresses fit in it.  My daughter is loving all the new bags.  I haven't bought cardstock in years because I am a digital scrapbooker but now I am really loving paper crafts since I got the silhouette cameo. Now I just need to get some glue so that they sides of the bag look all snug and pretty.

Extreme Paper Crafting

This tool is amazing! Maybe you have the old Silhouette.  This is the new Silhouette Cameo.  Uhm, can I just say WOW! It is 12 inches wide. The old one was 8.5 inches wide.  And my husband not only rocks for buying this for me for Christmas but also letting me get lots of extras such as the ultra cool Designer Edition Software.  Why is that so cool?

It's cool because I also have Adobe Photoshop Illustrator.  I can make my very own designs (Illustrator is what gives my designs those smooth edges that don't have any pixels).  Well, making my own designs is cool enough for me but the EXTRA cool thing is that I can turn them into and SVG file and send it to that Designer Software.  Then I can trace it with the click of a button, print it, and then feed it into the cameo and it cuts MY DESIGN out perfectly and quickly. Print and Cut is sooooo cool.

It will also cut out fabric as long as you use the iron-on interfacing.  It even cuts vinyl.  

No, I'm not going into business.  As many of you know, we just shut down Vanderbeek Images after years of photographing weddings and families.  What I am doing are all those projects around the house that I've been wanting to get done.  In fact, I better go because I have a 2010 and 2011 family scrapbook to complete this year, hallway quote to cut and put on the wall, silhouettes of my children to cut from vinyl, magnetic paper dolls to make, and lots of other cool projects.  

Silhouette Cameo - you are Perfect!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! We hope that you are having a wonderful time this Christmas season.  

Here are a few photos with what we are up to:

The lights of Christmas

This year I found the star filter.  It fit perfectly on my 50mm f1.8 lens. It was fun to try this oldie but goody - it's nice to be able to control the focus on the dSLR.

But even more fun to get this look without having to go with f22 using the star filter.

Here you can see the decorations better because I turned the living room lights on.

A few close ups. 

And a fun angle I've been wanting to try for years but just plain forgot about.

 My favorite Christmas decoration is my nativity.  It's by Willow Tree and wrapping a few white lights down and around added just the right touch.

And my pine cone garland with lights on it this year.

The little entry tree and with the big tree in the background.

Ahhh

 I LOVE my mantle! 

Great Grandpa and Grandma's party

Last weekend we enjoyed the annual great grandparents Christmas party.  Each year one of their children take care of getting a church cultural hall.  This year we just went and enjoyed our time there.  Great Grandma gives $25 per grandchild and $25 for their spouse (me) and $10 per great grandchild.  Tyler got a new Backbone for his ipad.  I got ski goggles.  My daughter received 2 Littlest Pet Shop Walkables. And my son received an SUV with a snowmobile on a trailer. We brought a green salad.  Someone even brought gluten free rolls and they were yummy.

Basketball

My husband was the coach of my daughter's basketball team this year.  In her last game she made 3 baskets.  This is her first year playing. 

 She was so excited - especially considering that the girls on the other team were about 12 inches taller.  Mostly she had fun and got to spend more time with her good friend. 

Turkeys

You can click on this first one to see it better - but those are wild turkeys in my backyard.  There are somewhere between 18 and 20 of them.  

My neighbor called and said, "Before I go outside and disturb them, I wanted to let you know there are turkeys in your backyard." 

I was shocked to see how many.  By the time I grabbed the camera and took this shot they had moved further away but there were in the white snowy area when I looked.

And then my little turkey got off the bus with his new friend.  He was so careful with him.  It was a proud mom moment.  I love his teacher more and more.  She is so fun and my children enjoy learning from her.