Memorial Day

Operation Write Home Bloghop

This will be the second time I've made cards for OWH. I buy two packages of 8.5" by 11" cardstock and mass produce 200 cards.
Keeping with the bloghop red, white & blue theme, this is my card design. I used a cookie cutter for my star, stamping with stencil paint. Get out your cookie cutters, there are endless possibilities, hearts, butterflies, flowers, etc. I then misted the paint with water from a squirt bottle.

Then I cut strips from 12" by 12" sheets of scrap book paper, folded & glued the strips on to the bottom of my cards. Again, per the bloghop theme, two simple yet important tips.
Wash your hands prior to starting your cards.

I know from experience, dirty hands will leave marks on paper.

Keep your beverage away from your crafting area.

I’ve never had a spill but I know people that have ruined their project this way, and worse yet, someone else’s project who was crafting near by.

If you've made it this far, leave a comment PROMISING to give a monetary or card donation to Operation Write Home . I will randomly choose two comments for a set of three decorative scissors on Memorial Day. Mailing to US addresses only. Gifts to Operation Write Home are tax deductible.

Continue the blog hop here.

Brittany lives in a Polish section of Brooklyn.

Wonder if Mom would still be able to read all the signs?
We went into a Polish candy store. The clerk, a young girl, spoke Polish to the other customers.

A Polish grocery store.

A park with a statue of a famous Polish person. Brittany needs to find out the details. We tried to get into the church, no luck.
I brought Mom back several items from the Polish grocery and candy stores. I also picked up a menu, all in Polish, from a bakery. Can't wait to see her reaction and find out if she can still read Polish.

I had on my "to-do list" for NYC the West Elm furniture store. I loved their furniture & accessories. West Elm & Pottery Barn are owned by the same company.

I wanted to see the paper flower show. I love paper!!

The flowers were my favorite. I didn't get a photo but, they had the prettiest paper daffodils in clay pots.

This would be a very doable project.

The Paper Couture, a paper store we just happened to come upon. Must be I'm not the only person with a paper obsession.

Loved their window display.

OK, I'm ready to go back to NYC for another visit.

Wordless Wednesday

Do you know how to get noticed? Do you want to "be noticed" ?

Being young & pretty always helps!
I learned during my weekend in NYC that menswear hats for woman are all the rage. I was told that now that my hair is long I can wear hats. I'll have to think about getting noticed.

This was my view on our deck having my hot tea on Saturday & Sunday morning. The entire house smelled of lilacs all weekend.

My obsession with baskets continues out onto the deck.
The antique store owner mentioned how I'm always buying baskets. He once gave me a bushel basket. Last year I had a plant in that. It was not treated with marine varnish so it fell apart.
Donna will be happy with the black color on the wicker planter, I think. The lime green did not look good with the new deck colors.

I hope your weekend weather was as nice as ours was cause ours was perfect!

Pace Law School

Kristen is a member of the class of 2010, the 32nd class of Pace Law. Eric stood tall & was able to get a photo of the hooding.
The school had a dessert reception under a tent after the ceremony.
Her very, very proud family. They get to do graduation all over again this weekend. Candice will graduate from Fordham tomorrow.

Congratulations Candice!!
Love the hat. So much nicer than the mortar boards.

Now she gets to spend her summer studying for the bar exam.

Brooklyn Waterfront

Saturday was the first time I viewed NYC from the opposite side of the East River. Brittany was our tour guide.

There was a man in the park taking photos with his Canon SLR & I asked him to take a photo using my camera. My new favorite photo of A.

Wordless Wednesday

Flowering Crab Tree

Part of the fun of photography is editing your photos in Photoshop.

Sometimes I purposely take photos out of focus. This one was not edited.

I have a love/hate relationship with Photoshop. Love what you can do with a photo hate that my knowledge is negligible.

The person I took the portrait photography class from is going to be teaching a three week photo editing class this fall. I'm giving consideration to taking it.

Farm Life

When we visited the farm of our friends for Amie's guitar & cow girl photo shoot we got a tour in their truck. It was very wet & bumpy.

A few items from a pile left over from their barn fire. I love barbed wire fences. This is the same fence I used for Amie's photos.
This was taken along one of the three waterfalls on their land. I think this may be an insulator from when the fence had electricityI did ask if the fence was electrified prior to the photo shoot!

Craftsman Mower

July of 1990 we bought a Craftsman Lawn Mower. We paid $999.00 for it.

This is the mower in October of 2009. The mower severed us well for 19 years. It traveled with us to three different houses. $52.50 per year for a mower was a pretty good investment. Rest in Peace!

Cowgirl

Beginning of the week was my "Guitar Girl" photo shoot post. Today is my "Cowgirl" photo shoot post.

This one is Amie's favorite. The straw in her hand was not my idea. Amie gets the credit for that. Taking a photo when someone has a hat on is very difficult. The hat shades the eyes & gives a shadow on the face. There is always something to learn with photography.
I loved our afternoon in the country. I'm ready to go again, again & again! Anyone want their picture taken?