An Art-full Summer

Summer is a great time for art around here.  Early in the summer I was invited to participate in an Art in Nursing worshop.  The 3 photos above are from the art gallery and studio that we were in.  The canvas second from the right is mine.  Ginny, the instructor, and Gallery Director is in the foreground.  It was a wonderful workshop about how you can easily bring art to a patient with a few supplies and some easy techniques.

Believe it or not this train station is now an art gallery.  I wasn't able to take any photos inside.  The artist and her husband (a train buff like my husband) have kept the historical and original details as much as possible.  The day we were there was the grand opening and the artist was working on a still life composition. Love watching other people work.

Art festivals can be found every weekend in the summer and fall here.  We tend to pack a lot into our summer weekends because of rainy or wintry weather the rest of the year. We've been to several and enjoy them all whether they are a small, country village art festival or juried, urban art festivals.

We went to the Buffalo Garden Walk for the first time this year and really enjoyed it.  It's the largest Garden Walk in the United States.  We only saw a small portion of the gardens available and are already making plans for a longer trip next year.  I don't have many photos of the gardens since its difficult to get a good photo with other people walking through.  I did get a nice shot of this fairy garden.  See the bridge in the bottom of the photo? It links to the second pot in the photo below.

 This fountain is in the same garden as the fairy garden.

 And of course the architectural details of the older homes are another art form!  

This past weekend we were able to see Michael Israel in person at Art In Concert a fundraising event.  No cameras were allowed at the performance so I'll direct you to his website www.michaelisrael.com   It was the most amazing performance.  Check out his website or Facebook page to see some short pieces of his performance.

How have you filled your summer with art?

Close To My Heart

Here are just 4 reasons why I've decided to become a Close To My Heart Independent Consultant - AGAIN!

Amazing new products affordably priced and I love having my own business!  Three of these items are on their way to me and I can't wait to show you all their potential.  I included links to the full description of these items on my Close To My Heart website
http://craftycreativity.blogspot.com
so you can check them out yourself.  For those of you, who like me, are into Project Life, art journal and mixed media this Cricut cartridge has items for you as well as for scrapbooking!

Cricut Artbooking Collection

My Crush - Modville
Not yet available

Designed Decor Frame

Designed Decor Black Frame

Let me know what your first impression is.

Keeping things organized

I struggle with this every week!  This is about as good as my tables get when I'm actively working on projects.  If you look at the top photo of the previous post you'll see what it looked like after I finished the Organizing FUNdamentals class at Big Picture Classes in the spring.
Since then I've completed a Pinterest project - the yellow stand that my adhesives and corner rounders are sitting on.  Not sure yet if this is how I'm going to use these piece long term - getting a feel for how to use it best.  I love the extra yellow accent color it brings to my room.
I've also added the long divided piece I found at an antique store for all my ProjectLlife cards, washi tape, date stamps, etc.  All it needed was some cleaning up as it was already black on the outside and grey on the inside.  My walls are grey, furniture is white or black and storage containers and baskets are yellow.  I feel so happy when I walk into this room!
The yellow plastic bin on the right in the photo is where I keep my photos and memorabilia ready to go into my Project Life album which is laid out.  This is working pretty well for me.  I'm not current with my album (rarely am) because I'm out enjoying summer life and doing the things on my Summer Bucket List.  This happens every year and I'll get caught up in the fall and winter.
What are your tips for staying organized andkeeping projects moving along?
Watch for my next post...I'll be sharing some exciting news!

What I've been up to in 2013

So here is a peek at what I've been up to in 2013!

After Finding Photo Freedom began in February I took Organizing FUNdamentals at Big Picture Classes (BPC).  I thought that I would just clean out a few things and get my craft room in shape for the rest of the year.  We ended up removing EVERYTHING from the room, repairing & painting the walls and woodwork, and washing the floors!  That was a crazy few weeks as all my craft stuff and furniture resided in other areas of the house.  But it was so worth it - I have a craft room that I really, really love and enjoy - although its not as neat and tidy as the top photo suggests.

Being a coach for Stacy Julian's Finding Photo Freedom (FPF) class was an amazing experience but left little time for anything else.  I'm hoping to be asked to coach again later this year for either FPF or another class that Stacy is developing.  More on that once I hear.

The third photo is my Summer Bucket List.

Fourth photo shows canvases of an art class I was able to take as part of a research project at University of Buffalo.  I'll talk more about this in a future post.

A 3 day stay in Erie, PA at the Bayfront.  In the distance is Presque Isle.  I love being on the water - ANYWHERE!

Next 2 photos are Pinterest projects I completed this summer.

Another trip to Presque Isle.

Next three photos are three different events in Bemus Point on Chautauqua Lake including one of three art shows (in various places) we've been to so far this summer.

I started this blog post with the intention of updating my small but loyal group of readers with what I have been up to but two other results have occurred:

1) I am pleasantly reminded that I've had a very busy and fun summer so far.  I almost always feel like all I do is work so this was a great reminder that I do lots of fun things to!

2)  I've got some great layout ideas as I created this blog post!

I hope you take the time to review your year to date and remember all the good things in your life!

What have they been?

Working on a new layout

I can't believe I haven't posted since March!  Right now I'm spending some time cleaning my blog up and will work on getting it updated again.  I'm not sure if I like this layout or not but will give it a try again.
I admire those bloggers that post regularly whether it's daily or several times a week as it really takes a great deal of commitment and planning.  I haven't been able to be consistent since I took a new job a year ago but am hoping to find a way to post more regularly as I do enjoy it.
So here is to best intentions.....

December 2012 album

Simple Stories Album - front cover

I really like the combination of cardstock pages and
page protectors in the Simple Stories albums

Our city has Snowflake lights decorating
the downtown area during the holidays.  I used some snowflakes that were meant to be ornaments on the page on the left and cut a Hambly snowflake
transparency to size and added it to the left. 

The Hambly snowflake transparency covered a blurry photo on the right that I wanted in the album.  Its a motorized Christmas tree in our annual Christmas parade.

I added the program for a holiday pops concert we went to.  Fits perfectly!

 I originally set out to do a December Daily type of album.  Date card at top of page is one of Ali Edwards' digital items that I printed and decorated. Working full-time I did not end up with enough "daily" photos and had multiple event type photos so the album evolved into a December album.

I alternated 2 different page protectors throughout the album.  On the right I cut to size another Hambly transparency (reindeers).  I love how these look in the page protector pockets.  (Idea came from Ali Edwards) 

Added a Christmas card right into the album

Cut 4 x 6 photo in half to add to the top 2 pockets.

I've been working on this album since Thanksgiving on & off.  I was able to finish it on Saturday at a Crop.  I used Simple Stories Handmade Holidays and 25 Days of Christmas pieces throughout the album along with items from my stash.  I have a Christmas basket with all sorts of Christmas embellishments that works really well for me. Things I'll do differently for my next December album include:

• I'll not set the album up ahead of time.  This seemed like a real timesaver to me but ended up making me feel like I had to fit a mold that didn't work for the photos I had and stories I wanted to tell.  It felt forced.
• I'll definitely gather a variety of supplies and will probably use the Simple Stories album again.
• I'll set up a paper journal to write things down daily.  This year I just had a sheet of paper that I wrote notes on each day and then I lost it!  
• I'll try to save more memorabilia
• I'm not using a December Daily format.  I took Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas and will use that type of approach instead.
• I'll take more photos.  I'm not a big picture taker.  Probably a throwback to so many years of film photos.  I thought I was taking a lot of photos but when it came to pick photos for the album it didn't seem like many.  

So that wraps that project up - on to the next one!

Finding Photo Freedom

Sorting old film cartridges, negatives and index prints

Film cartridges and index prints in bags sorted by years

Stacks of photos waiting to go into storage binders

Library Lists

Category drawers

I haven't had much of a chance to blog over the last 4 weeks since Finding Photo Freedom started over at Big Picture Classes (BPC). I am one of five coaches assisting Stacy Julian as she teaches the 10 week-long class.  I am having fun but have found that it's a lot harder than it looks.  I appreciate Amy, April and Melissa who coached my class back in 2011 and have returned for this class as well.  Blayne is the other new addition to this year's class.  I'm slowly working on my system during the class and hope to continue through the spring/summer on my own. The photos above show some of the elements that we've been working on among others during the first 4 classes.