Favorite Photo?

Do you have a favorite photo, the one that you remember when talking to friends about the pictures in your scrapbooks, or on your phone? I have taken a lot of photos in my long life, yet there are less than ten that come to my mind as fabulous and spectacular. As you know, I am an affiliate for Panstoria and the Panstoria Print Shop, and through these companies, there is the ability to take a photo that is special and make it into something that is truly dramatic. One of my favorite photos is the one here. It was taken around 5:00 in the morning as we were waiting for the ferry to take us from Port Angeles, Washington, to Victoria, BC. It was just dawn and we were waiting in line to board when I wandered around and peeked through the chain link fence and saw this scene. I never expected to see something this picturesque on the dock of a ferry boat. To make it extra special, I put it into the Artisan software and edited it based on some instructions from Pixels 2 Pages, then had it printed on canvas through the Panstoria Print Shop. I now have it in my living room where I can see it every day.

Try doing something special with one of your favorite photos…you won’t be sorry!

A Trip to Paris

Today, I am feeling a bit melancholy as my grand-daughter, Micayla, and her parents prepare for a trip to Paris. When Micayla started high school, I told her that if she studied French, when she graduated, I would take her to Paris for two weeks. It was a present that I began anticipating with great joy. Halfway through her high school “term”, I fell and broke both my legs (that is another whole story), and I recovered and moved on. One of the after effects, however, is that I cannot walk long distances any more, and I have a lot of trouble coming down stairs. I thought this would get better, and I delayed her gift by one year so I could be sure I was fully recovered. As it happens, I still cannot walk very far, and as a consequence, I had to pass on this gift to her parents, and they are taking her on her vacation. I have two wonderful grandkids, and I adore each of them, differently, and for me, going away, with just the kids, is really a special time. They are leaving on Saturday, and I miss them already, and yearn to be with them.

This is a small collage of photos that I took when I last went to France in 2009. It is a project that was part of the old Creative Memories digital program. I have workshops in digital scrapping. (If you are interested in any of the programs, artwork, or training related to this creative way of expressing yourself, click on any of the banners to the side and you will be connected to either Panstoria or Pixels 2 Pages. I know this is a blatant advertisement, and I do get a small commission for each purchase).

Oregon Beach Retreat

I haven’t posted on the blog for a while and a lot of things have happened since my last post. My most recent trip was to the Oregon Coast, Lincoln City to be specific. I went on a retreat with some of my Facebook friends over a long weekend last month. We stayed in a nice condo on Bella Beach and did some scrapbooking and some resting. I took this photo the first night we were there, and it is one of my favorites…all going to show that you never can tell when you will get the “perfect” photo. This was taken out the window of a restaurant there.

I would like to tell you about some other things that are happening here. Off to the side, you will see some banners. These are for Panstoria software, artwork and printing, for which I am an affiliate.  All of my digital pages on this blog are created with Panstoria Artisan software.  I find it very user friendly and easier to use than some of the others and definitely less expensive. Historian software is a photo managing and editing software that is also very easy to use and is an excellent program. You will also see a banner for Pixels2Pages, which is a site established by former Creative Memories consultants to help train and show techniques in the old StoryBook Creator and Memory Manager software that was provided by Creative Memories. Since that is no longer available, Panstoria, the original developers of the software, have come out with their own…the aforementioned Artisan and Historian. The techniques and training provided by Pixels2Pages transfers, and is applicable to, these new programs. I am also an affiliate for their services. The digital page here is from a Start 2 Finish workshop that was recently on their website, for members only. This video takes you from the beginning, with the choice of your photo, to the finished product, teaching how to create a beautiful page with an antique feel. I totally recommend participating in their training, as I have been a member since their beginning and know that membership is a very good value and worth every penny.

I loved creating this digital page, loved the memories it brought back of the wonderful time spent with my friends, and love sharing it with you.

My Recipe Book

I like to cook. I also like to eat...that goes without saying. When my gals come over for their once a month crop, I like to cook them breakfast...it's my way of saying, "Welcome! I am so happy to have you here." My favorite thing to do is a breakfast casserole. I have perused the web looking for good recipes and have done about 20-25 different ones. My ladies love them and they are easy to prepare, as most are made the day before and then put in the oven in the morning. When they arrive, the scent of breakfast cooking is in the air and we all get off to a really good start. Here is one of the casseroles that has really hit the mark many times. It is not done the night before, but the assembly is easy and takes no time at all. (I often substitute bacon for ham here.)

Following is one I made for the first time last crop, and it is more savory and "brunch" like. I thought it was to die for. Feel free to try these recipes yourself!  My gift.

I am so happy with these recipes that I made a 7 x 5 recipe book which I printed with Panstoria Print Shop.  I'm going to give these to some very special people for Christmas presents.

Book Signing

My nephew, Jason Tondro, is a brilliant scholar of medieval history and comics. He is a terrific young man, and I am so proud of him. Two Christmases ago, right after his first book was published, we held a “book signing” at our house. We set up a table, draped it and had him autograph our books. It was all in good fun, and a way to honor the new book.  For anyone interested in his blog, “Dr. Comics”, I am posting a link to it.  doctorcomics.blogspot.com  

 

 

 

Here we go.

I have wanted to do a blog for quite a while, but just never got around to it. As life comes around, certain incidents occur which cause us to "get it on", and now I am going to "get it on". I love to travel (and take photos), and I love to eat good food (and take photos), and I love my family (and taking photos). It is my plan, here, to chronicle my life in words and pictures.

The way I plan this diary, is to use a wonderful digital program that I learned while with Creative Memories, called StoryBook Creator. This program was created by Panstoria and, as events would have it, Panstoria has a program that is picking up where StoryBook is stopping, and that is Artisan. For all of us who have invested many dollars in artwork, this is great news and it will allow me to continue to share with you my life, in photos along with my own unique way of describing these events.

Just to give you a hint of what I plan, here is a look at Thanksgiving dinner, a couple of years ago.