Half Moon Bay Revisited

A few more of the wonderful photos taken on our golf outing at the Half Moon Bay golf links, using Simply Kelly's Hexagons template.

Father's Day at the Cable Car Museum

These wonderful pictures from our visit to the Cable Car Museum were just waiting for the right template to come along. The template - Petal Perfect Template Set from Simply Kelly Designs.

Just love the sahpe of the photo masks and their diagonal placement is so different and dynamic. 

 

I even kept the color fill in some of the edge masks since it went so well with the color theme of the page.

Additional credits - Anna Aspnes ArtPlay Palettes Barren Sunrise and Metro Graffiti, paint from FotoInspired Layout No 11, Script Tease Overlay Learn

For the accompanying page, I used an Anna Aspnes FotoBlenz Album template.

Out to Lunch

I was excited about returning to Sunnyvale, where Nina has moved, because I would get to go to the Sunnyvale Public Library, where we spent many a weekend, toting out armloads of books. It did not disappoint!

No sooner did I snap this photo of the "Out to Lunch" statue out front that a new kit arrived from Maya de Groot with word art about books, reading and the library. Serendipitous scrapping!

The photo has an Instagram filter which makes it so yummy golden, the word art has a similarly colored gradient applied.

 

Week 33

In which I started a crafty table project and crossed the Golden Gate Bridge in traffic, making for good photo ops!

  

Anna Aspnes FotoInspired Layout No 32

Summer Journaling Part 2

More simple musings... 

As simple as the late evening, pre-setting sun shining through the graceful arches of red and gold grasses, the light filtering through the bristly brushy fibers, practically setting them on fire. I reach out and touch, but gently, to feel the softness, trying to feel the light. As simple as the sunlight filtering through grass, stops me in awe and wonder at the incredible beauty of nature. It is the summer of 2012, and these things move me. 

Credits: Lydia Designs Giovanna papers, Giovanna Write It Down and Giovanna Rub Ons, plus Lydia Designs Summer Themed Rub-On. Template is Anna Aspnes 12x12 Magic FotoBlendz No 17.

Summer Journaling

I wish it never had to end.  Even though there are no school buses or back-to-school supplies on my "todo" list, I see it, I feel it.  I wish summer never had to end.

Featuring Giovanna by Lydia Designs at Oscraps and Earth Song by Dido Designs at Oscraps.

One Kit Five (or so) Ways

I created this page as part of the article I wrote for the Oscraps blog today, One Kit Five (or so) Ways.

This is me plunging into Silver Lake...it was a bit chilly, but not too cold, I am just not an in-the-water person.  The kit I used is Be Yourself by Charlize Creations.

I picked the kit this month, and deliberately chose something I would not ordinarily pick, since this was, after all, a challenge.  But I loved the masks and found I could do really fun things with the denim textures.  Just by layering papers and blending, I got denim trees!

 

Here is the preview with so much great denim! Love the tabs and metal bits!

Henrik's Birthday

Serendipity - a photo + a kit. 

 

 Featuring the blue colorway of Maya de Groot's Summer Fruit Cocktail Mix.

Wildflowers at 9000 Feet

While on the subject of Round Top Lake, here is a look at the wildflowers found at that elevation, Carson Pass, on the way to Round Top Lake.

 

Featuring Summer Fruit Cocktail by Maya de Groot at Oscraps.

Round Top Lake

Another great new template from Simply Kelly Designs, this one ostensibly about the first day of school, but since I don't do school these days, I thought it would work out nicely as a showcase for more photos from Kirkwood.

I pulled some great elements, like the postcard, the stamp and the flower cluster, from Maya de Groot's Hoity Toity and APP-solute Basics, the backgrounds from Anna Aspnes ArtPlay Palettes Seafoam and Adventure.  The flowers and grasses at the bottom are CS5 dynamic brushes, which enable you to paint with flowers!

 

Here is the preview, with the template available in both the Simply Kelly store and now also at Digitals.

Paris All-Star

I miss Paris, maybe not as much as I miss Italy, but still...  One of my silly ways of keeping in touch is via Bath & Body Works.  I know, silly, but I like seeing Eiffel Towers and pink berets and macarons!

This past Saturday was a launch event for new fragrances in the Paris line.  I had to go, and thoroughly enjoyed the food, including macarons, the decor, the scents, the ambiance.  It was nothing like Paris, but still it was fun.

Scrapped the pics with a super cute new template from Simply Kelly called All Star.

 

Such a great template, especially love the text path since I kinda stink at making text paths, available at both Simply Kelly's store and her new shop at Digitals.

Photo Squared

One of the last of the unscrapped, unprinted photos from San Diego, but quite an interesting perspective, a photo squared, a photo of taking a photo.  Done as an AnnaLift of a very beautiful page that had a lot of white-space, I decided to reverse and make it black-space.

Credits: Anna Aspnes ArtPlay Palettes Blossom and Photographie, Anna Aspnes Painted PhotoBlendz No 1, Anna Aspnes Something Springy, Joanne Brisbois Paper Mache Papers

Week 32

In which it was hot, I returned to the Sunnyvale library for the first time in several years, spied lemons on our lemon tree behind the barbeque island, spotted Snowy on the 4th hole, got our some shells and ate a macaron.

 

Credits: Anna Aspnes FotoInspired Layout No 14, ArtPlay Palettes Barren Sunrise and Seafoam

A Stream at Carson Pass

There is something so magical about running water, especially when you can sit in it, listen to the bubbling and gurgling, marvel at the beautiful flowers growing at the waters edge.

Glorious mountain-smow-melt streams, like this one at Carson Pass on the way to Lake Winnemucca.

 

Credits: Vicki Stegal 20 Shades of Gradient , Oscraps Collabs Journey and Firefly Nights

Focus on the Paintbrush

As in Indian paintbrush, a wonderful wildflower that grows prolifically in the Sierras.  On our hike a few weekends ago, I too a lot of pictures of Indian paintbrush...I just couldn't help myself, they are so vivid and pretty.

I created this page as a Cheery-O scraplift challenge, lifting this wonderful page by LindaW.

Credits: Anna Aspnes ArtPlay Palettes Sweet Christmas (background, loop, brad), Find My Way 2 and Photographie, Maya de Groot The Art of Journaling (butterfly) and Snap (SNAP button) Oscraps Aug 2012 Collab Journey (negative frames) Word art inspired by Sue Cummings Focused and Photographed, recreated by me to match my page

Week 31

In which summer was in full bloom, and Ms AC sent a pic of her pedicure.

 

August Challenges - Techniques

The August techniques challenge at Oscraps is about adding texture to your photos.  Besides giving an artsy look, I discovered this can be useful for fixing up a blurry photo. I took this picture with my iPhone of some beautiful canna lilies at the house on the curve of Arezzo. It looked fine on the screen, or at least I thought so...this may be an effect of my degrading eyesight. Anyway, once I got it off the phone, I found it was not fine.  The background is clear, but I was too close.

 

By using a deliberate blur, then applying texture, I was able to change it to blur it all a bit and pop the color. 

 And this is what I did with it, although I think it still need some work.  Maybe I should go out and take another picture :-)

 

Credits: The perfect background papers are from Maya de Groot's App-solute Basics. Anna Aspnes Original ArtPlay No 1, ArtPlay Palettes Adventure and Ablaze, Anna Aspnes Acrylic Alpha, Oscraps Collab Tango (overlays, frame, brads, confetti)

Jo's Back!

I hate it when I do scrapbook pages that I just love, then have to hold on to them for a month, but I overachieved on the Jo Scraps Around the World challenge and made these too early, back in July.

But it's August and we have a new Oscraps around the world challenge, this month the challenge is to take Jo somewhere and scrap multiple pictures...not a problem since Jo came everywhere with us on a day in San Francisco.

More SUPing

A few more pics of my SUPing adventure at Lake Tahoe, these used for both the August copycat challenge at Oscraps, as well as an Annalift.

Credits: Anna Aspnes: ArtPlay Palette Seafoam, ArtPlay Palette Adventure, Anna Sampler No 2, ArtPlay Palette Crazy Life, Find My Way Overlays No 3 Charlize Creations - Be Yourself Oscraps August Copycat Challenge template Oscraps Collabs - Journey, Firefly Nights

August Challenges - Quote Me

The rotating challenge at Oscraps for August...find a quote on Pinterest and scrap it.  I had a hard time with this until I found this simple quote from Andy Warhol.

"the world fascinates me"

Just a random collection of photos from the weekend, things I notice as I look around me...I love seeing the windmills of Altamont Pass, the hills so golden in the summer, so green in the winter, my shadow on the freshly paved parking lot of Thimblewood, the moon rising over Thimble Peak, the beautiful Kirkwood meadow as the sun sets, an expression of love in a tree...the world fascinates me!

 

Credits: Anna Aspnes Artsy Layered Template No 62 and ArtPlay Palette Photographie

Pocket of Posies

I just adore these simple pages made with Jen Maddocks Pocket of Posies kit.  When in doubt, I pick a picture, make it big, use a mask, and do some stuff around it...that's my formula and I'm sticking to it!

Thsi is my precious plumeria which continues to bloom with gorgeous pink flowers...they are not as fragrant as the white/yellow, but they are GOR-geous!

And a simple shot of the hills during the "golden hour".  This was taken from up on Morningside Drive on one of our walks.

 

The preview with these beautiful colors!

August Challenges - Web Inspiration

Almost no words required...this picture makes me so happy!

But for the record, this is at El Dorado Beach at South Lake Tahoe and it was crowded like crazy, so how Mr AC got a picture with no one else in it is beyond me. And yes, I did stand up...more pages coming!  But no, I did not see the paddle wheeler in the distance, I think I was distracted by being on a paddle board on a lake in the mountains.

 

Created for the Web Inspiration challenge at Oscraps, the challenge was to scrap a large picture and a quote.

Credits: Anna Aspnes ArtPlay Palette Seafoam,and Original FotoBlendz No 5, ArtPlay Palette Everyday, Find My Way Overlays No 3, ArtPlay Palettes Girl Craze and Wander

August Challenges - Camera Corner

The August camera corner challenge at Oscraps was about water...an easy subject for me since this is probably one of my favorite pictures from the weekend at Kirkwood.

This was at Frog Lake, and since we got out so early, driving away from the cabin at 8 am, we felt we had the time to walk around to the back of the lake.  Plus I wanted to look for those elusive and unique pond irises purported to grow at the far side.

We were rewarded with wonderful reflections in the calm lake, and we did find the irises, although they were mostly past their prime.  Plus that great piece of driftwood gave us a perfect foreground focus.

 

Credits: Oscraps August Collab Journey, Anna Aspnes Mini Palette Mint Winter, ArtPlay Palette Seafoam, Descriptives Word Transfers, ArtPlay Palette Autumnal 2, Find My Way Overlays 3, ArtPlay Palette Photographie