Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Dull days

Nothing to blog about. No photos. Hope everyone enjoyed the hummingbird videos from the last day or so. They're still here drinking up the sugar water. We've had better luck making our own rather than the stuff you buy. The birds like our recipe better.

The weather has been gorgeous the last couple of days. I'd much rather have been outside, maybe in the boat fishing, than be at work behind a desk. I wish it could be this temperature year-round. I love it when it's cool at night, in the high 40's, and then gets to about 78 during the day. Perfect, perfect weather.

Maybe inspiration will strike and I'll have something fantastic to post next time. Anyway, life is great; go out and enjoy it!

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Monday, September 28, 2009

Hummer video #2 - Sept 28, 2009


Hummer video #2
Originally uploaded by theresaashmore
Nelson's best video of tonight with alot of hummers playing around. They jump on each other's backs and push each other off the perches; just incredible footage. He's patient enough and stays on the back deck smoking enough that the hummers have gotten used to him being there. They're not scared of him at all and they let him get really close.

closeup #1 - Sept. 28, 2009


closeup #1
Originally uploaded by theresaashmore
Nelson took this photo tonight, along with some videos. The videos are really incredible. At least 20 birds and maybe more just buzzing around and knocking each other off the feeder perches. We love watching them!

Sunday, September 20, 2009

A border freebie

I have had so much fun visiting blogs and lifting freebies from sooo many talented people. Here is my first freebie that was personally created by me from start to finish. Just playing around with PSE and finding out just what it will do if you work at it long enough. I've still got a lot to learn about it but the process is certainly fascinating. Enjoy it with my compliments. Click on the image to upload the full size version. It's 2400x2400 pixels and 818 kb in size. I created these borders with ATC's or small canvases in mind; created on an 8x8 image. Please let me see what you create with it; that would really make my day for someone to actually use something I made :-)



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Friday, September 18, 2009

New place for gorgeous digital collage sheets

I could spend HOURS cruising through Itkupilli's shop blog . It is incredible and she is so very talented. Check out her site and see her fantastic images. Her imagination is far greater than mine.

Am looking forward more and more to my parents' 50th anniversary party next month. The invitations go out tomorrow if all works out as planned. Now to finish up the decorating elements and figure out what to have the cake 'say'. Not sure if there is proper etiquette for an anniversary party but we'll figure it out.

Super slow at work right now. Since the 'Cash for Clunkers' program has phased out, business has slowed down to a crawl. I hate to be at work and not be busy. The time just drags.

Running errands and getting hair cut and colored tomorrow. Then, hopefully, if I'm very lucky, I can FINALLY do some art stuff! It's been so long. Too long!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!!

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Tuesday, September 15, 2009

My first Blog Hop Contest

I've never participated in a blog hop until now. I came across this one earlier today and thought it sounded like fun. Plus, I'm sure I'll find some new artists' blogs to visit. The blog hop rules are at Pro Marker Challenge so 'hop' over there and get started. Have a good time but I really hope I win because I could really, really use those markers. LOL!!

God Bless You!

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Monday, September 14, 2009

Monday again!

Work was a drag today for some reason. Still having rainy weather and it has me in a weird mood. Just don't feel like doing much of anything. I did go to Mom's and we worked on the anniversary party stuff some more. She printed out the invitations and they look pretty good. We couldn't get them centered exactly which drives my anal-retentive side nuts! But they still look good and they'll get the job done.

Hope y'all had a better day and that tomorrow will be fantastic! I'll be posting much more interesting posts as soon as I get this party behind me. At least I intend to :-)

God bless you!!

Please click on the date/time to go to the single post page and leave a comment. Some sort of blogger thingy and I can't figure out how to fix it :-)

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Rainy Sunday

I'm working on Anniversary party stuff for next month and have no time to play with any of my art supplies. Unless it's for decorations for the party anyway. Today it's rainy and nasty outside so I'm working on pictures that I'll reprint and scatter along the tables in the reception hall. I'll sprinkle gold and black curly ribbon along with the photos to keep the decor simple but quietly elegant at the same time. Color theme is black and white with a few splashes of gold to tie in with the Golden anniversary theme.

Blake decided to stay at Ole Miss this weekend so it's been really quiet here at home. Guess the 'empty nest' syndrome should be kicking in about now haha

I'll share a picture that I really love. This is my parents in much younger years. I'm not even sure if it was before or after they'd married; probably after. I imagine I wasn't even a glimmer in their eyes at this point :-) I'm the oldest so it was less than 2 years after this was taken that I was born. I am pretty sure of that at least. I couldn't remember how to make the copyright symbol so it's not on here but I did post the copyright info. I really don't want to see this photo spread all over the web. I believe that run-down building on the left is an outhouse but I'm not entirely sure of that :-) I hope you enjoy it and it brings back happy memories for you too.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Who doesn't love a give-away?!!

While reading through some of my favorite blogs tonight, I ran across the one at Carol Anne's Boutique. She's having a give-away and you've got to go check out the neat photos of goodies up for grabs. While you're there, look around and enjoy lots of cool eye candy!

Long, tiring day today and hoping for an easy morning at work tomorrow so I can catch up on some things. Said goodbye to a dear co-worker who left us this week. I had started feeling like S. was one of my own kids and it's hard to see him go. My prayers are with him as he goes on with his life; I wish him all the best.

My prayers are also with all those with loved ones who lost their lives on 9/11/01. What a tragic day for our country! I remember exactly where I was when I heard the news. My oldest son is a Marine and it took me HOURS to get in touch with him that day. Perfectly understandable as the military was on standby to be ready for anything. But that doesn't matter when a 'Mama' wants to talk to her baby. Didn't matter to me at the time anyway. I am so proud of our service men and women who work selflessly to ensure our safety. That includes active military as well as any person in law enforcement or in public service. Love each and every one of you!

Hope everyone has a fun and safe weekend!

Thursday, September 10, 2009

My first Etsy order arrived!

I ordered a print from Tumble Fish Studio a couple of days ago and it arrived today. It is gorgeous!!!! I absolutely love Marsha, the creator of all the wonderful art and owner of Tumble Fish Studio. She is beautiful, smart, witty and ultra-talented. I have admired her art since my first glimpse of it. I started following her blog and that's when I fell in love with her personality. Her art is my kind of quirky and every one of her pieces speaks to me in some fashion. It's very hard for me to choose just one piece to purchase but I had to start somewhere :-)



Please forgive the quality of the photo; I should have taken more time with it. I was trying to do too many things at one time, as usual. The print I ordered is the girl holding wings at the bottom of the stack. The text reads 'Just Imagine'. I love it!!! The other 4 images are postcards that Marsha threw in as a surprise freebie. I love them as much as the print and hate the thought of using them as actual postcards. I think I'll frame them as well; in a collage frame most likely.

Go check out Marsha's site at the links in the first paragraph. I can't imagine you'll be disappointed.

God Bless You

Having trouble sleeping

I can't seem to get to sleep tonight so I've been surfing and reading blogs. I want to share a copy of an invitation I'm designing for my parents' 50th wedding anniversary party. I've got the front designed so far and haven't decided if this is the final version or not. I do like the way it's turning out though. My aunt and my sister voted that it doesn't need anything else. I did go in and add one more image after their approval came through. I've read several times that a basic design element is to always use an odd number of items. There are 5 vintage images used on top of the texture image to create this card.



I used a texture from flickr but I can't remember whose photostream I found it on. I apologize for that and will try to find the creator of the image to give proper credit. The images are all personal family heirlooms. I'm not entirely thrilled with the spacing of the text but I played with it a long time and this is the best view that doesn't cover up a vital part of an image. The size of the finished invitation is 5x7 inches it and will be sent as a postcard most likely. The particulars will be on the back of the card along with the address area. I use Photoshop Elements 5 to create everything.

I plan to use these same photos as well as others and create several 8x10 prints that will be displayed on a foamcore base and set on small easels around the reception hall.

Mom is so excited! (This is not a surprise party.) I know she's about to pop wanting to help with everything because she loves decorating and planning parties, etc. But, she's letting me and my brother and sister handle it. It's about a month away so we've got a lot to do in a short time. The invites will go out next week (one way or the other). I think we'll be sending out about 100 invitations. I just hope we haven't forgotten someone who'll be offended to be left out. It's very difficult to think back over 50 years of relationships to create a manageable invitation list. I have picked Mom's brain for menu ideas because she's done snack type foods for tons of events. I've done a few but always seem to fall back on the old standards of brownies or spinach dip haha

My husband was very impressed when I showed him the invitation sample. He couldn't believe I had used a computer to create something that looks like this. I guess I'd never showed him a finished image that had much manipulating in it other than repaired photos. I think I surprised him a bit with my 'creative ability'. I'm quick to tell him or anyone else that PSE 5 will do amazing things if I can just figure out how to get it to work right LOL!

Hope you are sleeping tonight (if it's time to sleep in your area of the globe). God Bless You

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Shopping trip and have a safe, fun Labor Day weekend!

Went shopping in Tupelo, MS today with Nelson and Blake and we had a great time. Went to Hobby Lobby and got everything on my wish list by way of some compromises. I had listed Caran d'Ache water soluble crayons but after seeing the price, I got a different brand instead :-) I'm just not artistically developed enough to justify (to myself) paying alot of money for supplies. Best find of the day was that they had rubber stamps (wood-handled variety) on sale at 50% off!! My definition of good news as I'd been wanting to add to my rubber stamp collection. I got 3 that I will definitely use and you will be seeing used in the future.

Of course, my favorite part of any shopping trip is the bookstore visit. And a jaunt to Tupelo nets not one, but 2, bookstores. There's a Books-a-Million 2 doors down from Hobby Lobby and there's a Barnes and Noble in the mall. Blake likes the bookstore as much as I do; he and I could happily spend HOURS, if not DAYS, exploring every corner of one. I really like used bookstores too. They're always a treasure trove of inspiration and creativity prompts.

We are off Monday for Labor Day and I am so glad to have a long weekend. I have so many things I want to get done. Blake is out of school Monday too and he and I will be competing for the laundry room Sunday and Monday. At least he does his own laundry and doesn't drag it home for me to take care of. He's loving Ole Miss; he says 'college is great, too bad classes get in the way'. I raised a smart-a**.

Enjoy your Labor Day weekend and God Bless You