I believe you can see it for free this weekend but then there will be a fee to down load it. Check it out! Who knew Doogie Howzier could sing? FUN way to spend a bit of time!
I used the PSE blending modes to acheive the look of the photo being printed on burlap - cool huh? Have you played with your modes today???
credits:Katie Pertiet classic dark back, wings; burlap stock photo; Amy Wolf half cut;Leiko Beck stitch; Lisa Whitney text path; Jofia Devoe paint splat, string; Emily Merritt heart; World Marble from web; type set font
I almost forgot... here is a puffed up proud mommy moment... Molly and a took a walk around the shopping center where Edgar's groomer is. As we past a group of gentlemen having a breakfast meeting at an out door cafe, one of the men waved at Molly and said to me, "She is just beautiful." Confirmation of what you have always thought is a wonderful thing!
We spent the fourth of July afternoon at Ken's cousin's home in Weeping Water - a small little town not to very far from here. Can I tell you that I love it out there!? It is so peaceful and relaxing... ahhhh the country life... great, but I wouldn't want to commute!
Anyway... Suzanne and Brad have a glorious garden, just full of beautiful yummy tomatoes! They also have beans, beets and corn among other lovely edible delights!
What a nice afternoon! They had a pool set up for the girls - all the cousins: Cassidy, Treva, Lynn, and Molly, and they have a big open spot on their property where Ken entertained the group by flying one of his planes.
We had a lovely lunch, and I had some time to take some really nice photos... one turned into this:
credits:Leiko Beck pp; Emily Powers heart stamp, clock;Katie Perteit edger; Jofia Devoe key; Amber Clegg staple; 1942 & kartika fonts
Nice photo, but right after this moment, Steve turned to Kim and belched! Don't you just love romantic moments?
Now last evening we went up to Giselle & Dan's place... a bit of the country life even closer to our home! They held their annual pig roast, which culminates with oodles of fireworks!
Their place sits high on a bluff... this is their view... cloudy skies & all
They also have Llamas... and this year, they have a two month old baby!
Jonathon made a friend!
Giselle has a started a studio (not sure if it's finished) where she can clean and dye the wool from her herd!
my beautiful and generous friend Giselle
I know this is a long post, cause I have been sharing just oodles of photos, so I will leave you with just one last one...
Hope you had a terrific holiday weekend!
Even though you've been going through a bit of a rough period, lady, you look good! Happy Birthday Old Gal!
Great American Melting Pot - Schoolhouse Rock
My grandmother came from Russia
A satchel on her knee,
My grandfather had his father's cap
He brought from Italy.
They'd heard about a country
Where life might let them win,
They paid the fare to America
And there they melted in.
Lovely Lady Liberty
With her book of recipes
And the finest one she's got
Is the great American melting pot.
The great American melting pot.
America was founded by the English,
But also by the Germans, Dutch, and French.
The principle still sticks;
Our heritage is mixed.
So any kid could be the president.
You simply melt right in,
It doesn't matter what your skin.
It doesn't matter where you're from,
Or your religion, you jump right in
To the great American melting pot.
The great American melting pot.
Ooh, what a stew, red, white, and blue.
America was the New World
And Europe was the Old.
America was the land of hope,
Or so the legend told.
On steamboats by the millions,
In search of honest pay,
Those 19th-century immigrants sailed
To reach the U.S.A.
Lovely Lady Liberty
With her book of recipes
And the finest one she's got
Is the great American melting pot
The great American melting pot.
What good ingredients,
Liberty and immigrants.
They brought the country's customs,
Their language and their ways.
They filled the factories, tilled the soil,
Helped build the U.S.A.
Go on and ask your grandma,
Hear what she has to tell
How great to be an American
And something else as well.
Lovely Lady Liberty
With her book of recipes
And the finest one she's got
Is the great American melting pot
The great American melting pot.
The great American melting pot.
The great American melting pot.
karma /kar·ma/ (kahr´mah) [Sanskrit] in Indian philosophy, the total effect of a person's actions, both mental and physical, on his or her existence; a person's present state, including health, is determined by actions from previous existence, and present actions determine their destiny for future existence.
Case in point 1. Doug not the easiest guy to work with... although his actions caught up to him in this life, Karma still touched him!
I found out this little factoid on Doug by finally (it had been awhile) talking to a girl friend, which I love and adore, Jenni. Jenni is getting ready to celebrate her 37 birthday. Spooky thing is, I met Jenni when she was just celebrating her 18th! Wow, time flies! HAPPY BIRTHDAY JENNI!
My recycling can in our break room at work stands almost 3/4 full! I am having to pick out some trash, but for the most part the crew is getting the concept! Now we just need to figure out how to recycle it! I have even considered taking it all home to recycle in my bins! Don't laugh... I have started doing this for a gal that lives in an apartment that doesn't have a recycling program!
Now for my latest lay out. The real reason I have started to get so gungho for the environment is that I want to leave something worth having for Molly & her children...
credits: Leiko Beck Subtly Inked 2 overlay
What is that?!
Did you guess... It's my poor tomato plant. The sticks were trying to prop it up from the storm we had early last week... then Fridays storm just wiped the poor thing out! Hail and 80 mile an hour winds aren't good for vegetables!
For those of you that don't know me personally, these past few years I have been having ISSUES growing tomatoes! Last year the cute little bunnies chewed my heirloom plants straight to the ground. Argggggggg! Cute little creatures they are, but they are vicious! My mom gave us a burning bush that I planted near our shed... a few days later I noticed something had been chewing on it... took only a few weeks and all that was left were a few dead sicks sticking up from the ground! Never thought bunnies would nosh on a burning bush! Especially after eating my tomatoes!
As for this year... I thought I was smart, and planted my one and only tomato plant in a pot, raised up on pavers, just to keep it out of bunny's reach. It was working too! There was actually a tomato growing on it - with no bites out of it! Then the storms hit.
I guess if I want fresh tomatoes this year I will have to depend on the kindness of others! *hint, hint* I also love fresh cucumbers! *bat the eyelashes*
So...there's no more denying it... Mother Nature is peeved! I believe we really need to rethink how we are using our resources (as I reach to turn off my desk lamp) and try to appease her.
The storm was quick, but damaging. At one point, over 120,000 homes & businesses in Omaha were with out power. Our side of the street had power, but the neighbors on the opposite side did not. The grocery store where Ken works is closed today because their power was out from 4 pm Friday to 2:30 am Saturday. They are pulling all perishables and restocking with fresh items today. My mother in law is still with out power, but she brought her frozen foods to us last night.
A little bit about the storm: Here in Omaha, we were getting ready for a FUN weekend. We had a free concert in Memorial Park (Kool & the Gang and .38 Special - an odd mix) , the summer arts festival, and the Olympic swim trials. At about 3:30 the clouds started rolling in, I got a call from my notify service that we were in a severe thunder storm warning, so we started to batten down the hatches and turn on the news. The emergency sirens started to sound and the news was saying that they were sounding the sirens to get all the people sitting in the park to seek shelter. Some started to leave, but the people who had staked out places closest to the stage weren't moving. The sirens were sounded again... finally the police went in with bull horns started herding people out! Then it came....
The storm raced through with winds of over 80 miles an hour... at one point our back yard looked like a river.
then hail... coming in sideways. It was pea size, but a lot of it...
30 minutes after the storm this is hail left on our yard.
When it was all over, we surveyed the house for damage, and thankfully found none. A neighbor lost a branch so Ken helped cut it apart for clean up. My in laws had a branch that fell so we headed over there to cut it up... along the way I was snapping photos... here is just a few shots of the damage around this side of town...
The Qwest Center suffered some damage and they are racing to get it repaired so the swim trials can start on time. Clean up will start in earnest today I am sure...
On to something a bit better... I have discovered a cleaning agent that so far I just love! Mrs. Meyers has a full array of house hold cleaners that are "earth friendly" and actually clean beautifully! I cleaned our master bathroom, icky mold and all with the Lemon Verbena All Purpose cleaner, a micro fiber cloth (thanks Mom!) and a toilet brush! worked beautifully and made the whole room smell lovely as well! I am planning on using it in our entry way today... have to clean up all the gunk from the storm!
Here are a couple lay outs I did...
credits: all Leiko Beck
credits:Katie Perteit cabana white; Jofia Devoe candy beach blue paper and bubble elements; Leora Sanford stitched trail; Syrin compass; plane & sub from web; 1942 font
As promised in my last post... Two times in one day... WOW!
First up: For Lady Suzanne - holding the sun how to - well sorta
Have you seen these types of photos?
There have been a few emails that circulate with these photos and they are so cool... and given the right circumstances, easy to recreate. It's all about perspectives.
Perspective (from Latin perspicere, to see through) in the graphic arts, such as drawing, is an approximate representation, on a flat surface (such as paper), of an image as it is perceived by the eye. The two most characteristic features of perspective are that objects are drawn:
- Smaller as their distance from the observer increases
- Foreshortened: the size of an object's dimensions along the line of sight are relatively shorter than dimensions across the line of sight.
In other words, to make something look small keep it far away. I will show you the pictures the kids and I took this afternoon. Sorry no sun (too high in the sky) but another fun way to play with perspectives!
Far from perfect, but for a 90+ degree day with so much humidity I couldn't get Molly to stay out much longer for more shots! Next time without the garage door in the background... I think it distracts from the kids.
What this looked like from the side...
notice how far Jon is from Molly? What you aren't seeing is that I took the photo from across the street! Neighbors thought I was crazy... but it was fun! A bit of cropping and we have a photo of Jon holding Molly on his hand!
It's all about perspectives! Ok what I'd like to see, if you are up for the challenge... try taking some photos using this technique (and some cooperative subjects) and share what you come up with... link me your photos via comment or post in the photo gallery at KC (pm me to let me know where to look!) HAVE FUN!
"Gofing" is what Molly calls Golfing, she drops the L. We went on Sunday afternoon to a put-put course by our house. Par 45, I think it was... I was the first to get a hole in one! Then Molly astounded everyone specially herself, by making a hole in one! Jon had two hole in ones! But Ken had the last laugh! he finished the day at 49. I had 60 and Jon ended with 64! Molly, thinks she won because she had the highest score! We stopped counting strokes after 6 so she had 90+ for the day!
ok, so now is my time for a hokey golf sign off... See you on the up swing!
I have been on kind of a crusade lately... I have been reading up on recycling and doing more to cut back the waste I create. Sure it's great for the environment, but I hope it will help my pocket book as well! Our natural gas bill is killing me... so I have started doing research on alternatives. So far I have found a solar water heater, but no one in the state if Nebraska to sell me one or install it!
I asked the maintenance guy at work to set up a recycling can at work... although I do not know if it will actually be recycled, it makes me feel better just knowing that can is there!
For this week, I have stopped using that brown cardboard that passes as toweling in our work bathrooms and have brought my own towel. Mainly because the brown stuff just dries my hands out too much, but this little changeave an impact on my carbon foot print.
I think the biggest thing was that I started carrying one of those plastic (disposable - but I am too cheap so I reuse and reuse) food storage containers in my purse when we dine out. If we have leftovers, I just slip them in my handy dandy container! No styrofoam for me to take home, and VIOLA the leftovers are all ready to go as lunch the next day!
This past Sunday we went mini golfing... I will have to post about that tonight... so I might give two updates on the same day... wow, I am getting good!
credits:Leiko Beck Tar paper (my little black dress - I wear it with everything), bent & grungy frame; staples extracted from Mahallo frame,stitches; give em some pop used as a clipping mask; Jesse Edwards embrodered flowers, Ana Aspnes magic sparkle brush;tribune & kartika alphas
there is some cool info in there... check it out!