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Shaker Village

A couple of weeks ago, Cami and I had a chance to stay at Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill, near Harrodsburg KY. This was actually my second visit; Cami had seen my photos from the first trip and really wanted to visit -- she was particularly enthusiastic about the opportunity to visit with the farm animals. Since we needed to be in the Lexington / Springfield area to ferry Cass back and forth between State FFA Convention and Academic Team camp, I made reservations for the two of us.

This first batch of photos shows Cami enjoying our tour of the buildings and the farm. It was a weekday, so the place wasn't busy at all, and the weather was nice enough that we weren't too hot either. We got to spend as much time in the buildings as we wanted, moving from room to room, exploring all the little details -- and believe me, Cami did not want to bypass anything. She looked in every little nook and cranny. She was really attentive during the conversations with the actors, even if she was a bit shy with some of them. She tried to talk me into buying a broom, and if we'd had more room, I might have done so -- they were like everything else the Shakers made: simple, functional, and beautiful.

Cami couldn't wait to get to the barn, and we spent quite a while with the goats, the sheep (many of whom had just delivered lambs over the past couple of weeks), and a friendly barn cat. Her favorite, though, was Blue, one of four large Percherons that an extremely nice farmhand brought up to the fence for Cami to pet. I think she could've spent the entire day perched on that fence, scratching Blue between the ears and just talking to her about whatever popped into her head.

We couldn't spend all day doing that, though, because we had a boat to catch. I bought tickets for a paddleboat ride down the Kentucky River on the Dixie Bell, which left from Shaker Landing -- which was located at the bottom of an extremely narrow, winding road along the edge of a cliff. Really nerve-wracking, especially since I was in Chris's big Dodge Durango. But we made it to the bottom and enjoyed a really nice ride down the river. We spotted turtles, great blue herons, woodducks, and garr floating in the shady upper layers of the river. 

Since Shaker Village is located near Lexington, the University of Kentucky has done a lot of restoration work to the habitat surrounding the village. There are miles of trails to hike, and most of it is through grassy hills that are filled with native plants. Above is just a sampling of the various flowers that we found growing just along one trail. My favorite is that huge dandelion-type thing in the top corner. I dont know what it is, but it is the size of an adult's closed fist. I just think it is beautiful.

After our visit to Shaker Village, we stopped in Harrodsburg at Fort Harrod, which was the first permanent settlement in what would become the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The fort contained a number of buildings, with actors inside, all of whom were willing to talk to us as long as we wanted -- it was great to just have these long rambling conversations with them about all kinds of details in the settlement and surrounding area. Since Cami just finished fourth grade, which is Kentucky history in social studies, she knew a lot about the settlement so she really enjoyed it. Of course, she could have spent all day just climbing the huge Osage Orange tree located just outside the settlement. It's the largest in the United States, but can't claim the title because it has a split trunk -- so it's considered the "unofficial champion" according to the sign.

Tuesday $$ Deal: Timeline Templates + Sneak Peek Freebie

Wow. It looks like I'm being very alliterative today, doesn't it? HA! The sign of a true English teacher, I guess.

Anyway, I've got a great timesaving product up for sale in the shop today as part of our Tuesday Dollar Deals promotion. These Timeline Templates make it easy for you to personalize your Facebook cover photo.

Just drop in your favorite photos and digital papers, accent them with a couple of digital embellishments, and add a quote or word art; the results are gorgeous! Take a look at this example from House Decorator Katherine, who opted for a photocentric layout with a pop of red -- one of the flair buttons from my recent collection. 

Here's the same template from House Decorator Rachel. You can see how easy it is to create a completely different look, just by varying your papers and elements -- Rachel used various kits from our June House Party collaboration. 

House Decorator Jen Hignite used my Whiz Kid kit (just perfect for patriotic holidays, but flexible enough for LOTS of other projects) with the starburst template, which is my favorite. I love those lines of stitching.

Finally, I created a quick little freebie to share with you (just right click on the image and save to your computer -- you'll be able to upload it directly as your Facebook cover photo without having to make any changes). It's a sneak peek at a couple of the items coming your way on Thursday; I've teamed up with Sara Schmutz for a new collaboration kit, and there are a couple of great add-ons you don't want to miss either.

 

Succulents

I pulled out one of my macro lenses the other day and took a few shots of the succulents I purchased at the Farmer's Market a couple of weeks ago. They seem to be doing well; I'm amazed that I've not killed them yet, since I haven't ever had much luck with houseplants. I love the touch of green that they bring to the house -- they add such a beautiful sense of growth and vibrancy to our living room.

On the other hand, I think that my camera really needs a good cleaning. I'm just not getting the sharp images I used to get. Honestly, I think it's time for an upgrade -- I just can't decide what I want. I know I'm going to be making an investment that will last for the next 10 years at least, but I don't know if I want to go with a fullsize DSLR or one of the new micro-4/3s models. Both have their pros and cons. 

Take 12: June 2012

Don't forget about my CT call -- you can find out all the details in this post. Can't wait to hear from you!

Have I mentioned how much I love this Take Twelve project? It really is so easy to complete -- here we are in June, almost halfway through, and I haven't fallen behind or quit yet. The key for me is how flexible this project is -- it's easy to substitute a different day or to add in pictures later. Here's a look at June 2012.

1. Loading up the Durango for our trip to Lexington/Springfield/Harrodsburg.

2. Breakfast on the road from Hardee's.

3. Road construction on the West Kentucky Parkway -- a really typical sight during the summer months.

4. Rupp Arena to pick up Cass.

5. After months of studying, Cass competed in the State FFA Sheep Impromptu contest.

6. St. Catharine College for Academic team camp -- or "nerd camp," as Cass calls it. (That's her walking along the sidewalk on the left side.)

7. Where Cami and I stayed for the night -- Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill.

8. Our room.

9. Cami checking out the view from the window.

10. Historica downtown Harrodsburg.

11. 20 questions with Cami while eating supper at Pizza Hut.

12. Shooing the ducks and geese out of the way so we could take a quick sunset drive along the grounds before heading to our room for the night.

 

Did you participate in Take 12 this month? Link me up to your photos or layouts -- I'd love to see them!

Take Twelve with Ella Publishing!

It's time once again to Take Twelve with Ella Publishing Co. If you've been playing along from the beginning, this makes month #6, which means that this project is at the midway mark. If you're using Twitter, make sure to include the hashtag #Take12 so we can follow along with your daily photos. Also, don't forget to share your photos and your layouts with us on the Ella Publishing Co. blog and the Take Twelve Flickr Pool. 

Speaking of the Ella Publishing Co. blog, if you've stopped by lately you'll see that there are two great new products availabe in their store: Real.Life.Photography by Rebecca Cooper, which is an excellent resource for those of us who might've stalled when it comes to capturing everyday moments for our Take Twelve or Project Life albums. There's also the Simple Fixes Action Set, which makes it easy to rescue photos with typical problems (like under- or overexposure). 

Purchase Real.Life.Photography and the Simple Fixes Action Set in the same purchase and save 20% with code PHOTOFIX. And since both are currently only $9.99 each (introductory price! regularly $12.99 each), that means you'll save a total of $9 by purchasing them together now!

scrapping sports photos

Cass has just finished track season, and high school soccer starts conditioning in just a couple of weeks. It's also time for her to start training for cross-country season by logging as many miles as she can over the summer. Cami's competitive soccer team has a final tournament this summer, then they're off for a bit before beginning summer practices to prepare for the fall season. 

Around here, sports are just a daily part of life. Both of the girls are active in a variety of sports, which means that we spend a lot of time on the track, the course, the soccer pitch. It also means that I end up with lots and lots of photos from these events. The problem is that after a while, the pictures all tend to look the same. 

So what do you do with hundreds of pictures of your kids running, or kicking a soccer ball, or batting at home plate, or shooting a layup?

The biggest tip I can offer is this: Don't even attempt to scrap them all. There's nothing that can squash your creativity faster than lots of pictures of the same thing. Instead, pull out the best photos -- the ones that capture great shots, fun moments, or other memories that you want to remember, and forget about the rest. (To be honest, I delete the rest of mine, but if you want to keep them, you can easily have them printed and just load them into a traditional photo album).

Here are some options for different types of pages that I've made it a habit to scrap during our sports seasons.

A SEASON OVERVIEW: 2010 Season
Every sport that my kids participate in have some type of season-ending celebration, whether it's a school banquet or a party at the local pizza place. I like to combine those pictures with a copy of the game schedule for the season, including wins and losses, as well as any other stats that might be appropriate (for cross-country, that includes times, team results, locations, distances, and more). Pages like this, for both team and individual sports, are a great way to show growth over a period of time, and they help to capture the little details that might otherwise get lost. 

 

TOURNAMENTS AND POST-SEASON COMPETITION: I Love To Run
Whenever my girls compete in tournaments or regional and state events, I create a layout to capture the special nature of that event. After all, not every athlete gets to participate at regionals or state, so this is something I want to commemorate. 

 

A REFLECTION ON THE SEASON'S GROWTH: XC 5K
Each sport and each season brings with it a new set of obstacles. I make it a habit of creating a layout, written TO my girls, talking about these challenges and how they handled them. These layouts are a reminder of the hard work and dedication they've put in each season, and they serve as encouragement and praise. Sports aren't always about the good times, and these pages help to remember that even when it's really hard, it's worth it to keep fighting.

 

CAPTURE THE ACTION: Trackstar
I use burst mode a lot when I'm shooting sports pictures, and I loved the progression of these track shots, so I try to make sure that I scrap at least one page that focuses on the girls in action.

 

EMPHASIZE A "BIG" GAME: Run Like You Mean It
Every athlete has that star moment -- the race where he finishes in the top 10, the game where she scores the winning goal. I think that moments like these deserve their own layouts. 

 

If you've captured the pages above, here are some other techniques you might want to try, if you are looking for alternatives to the typical sports page. Some offer topic ideas, while others focus on photography or design techniques.

GIVE YOUR KIDS A VOICE: Just for Kicks
Cami had to write an article for class at school about her greatest achievement, and she wrote about making the competitive soccer team for her age group. I thought it would work perfectly with these photos from her fall season. Plus, using the article here meant that I could toss the typed copy -- one less set of papers to have to file and keep.

 

CELEBRATE FRIENDSHIPS: Run Like Girls
Some of the best friends my daughters have made have been through their sports teams. I try to create a least one page each year featuring these same friends, so that we can look back and see how much they've grown and changed over the years. Even though these pictures are just a couple of years old, Cass and her friends always giggle at how "little" they looked her. (Elementary soccer pictures get even more giggles!)

 

INCLUDE THE WHOLE TEAM: Calloway XC
I end up with pictures of more than just my daughters (I really enjoy shooting sports, and I know that the other parents appreciate getting pictures of their kids, just like I love it when they share their photos with me!) Creating a grid layout like this is an easy way to include everyone. 

 

DON'T FORGET ABOUT THE COACH: Meet the Lakers
Coaches play a key role in guiding and developing players, and capturing a couple of shots of them for your scrapbook pages is a great way to remember this. Whether you've got a photo of your coach in action or a posed shot, make sure it makes it onto one of your layouts.

 

INCLUDE AWARDS AND ACHIEVEMENTS: Coaches' Award
Trophies, certificates, medals, plaques -- awards should definitely find a place in your scrapbooks. Provide some background on what the award means, and include any other details about it. One of the things I like to do is record the audio from awards presentations and include a key quote or two from the coach. It's really nice to get their words on the page as well.

 

INCLUDE CAMPS AND PRACTICES: Futskilz AllStar
If you've got pictures from camp or practice, create a page with them. It's another way to document all the hard work that goes into preparing for a great season.

 

COMBINE ACTION SHOTS WITH POSED PHOTOS: Soccer Rockets
If you purchased a team and/or individual photos from a professional photographer, you can choose to scrap those separately, or you can combine them with action shots on one layout. Again, this is a great way to get an overview of the entire season. 

INCLUDE MULTIPLE PHOTOS WITH PHOTOSHOP TECHNIQUES: Genuine You
This layout is a combination of a couple I've mentioned in this post -- the reflection layout and the action photos layout. The journaling talks about  how hard this year was to transition to the varisty level after years of competing on the middle school level. For the photo, I merged 5 different action photos (taken with the camera on burst mode) of Cass. I also converted the background to black and white and kept the photo subject in color.

 

  USE PHOTO EXTRACTIONS AND TEXT TECHNIQUES: JV Soccer
I think extracted sports photos look awesome, especially against a white background with graphic text elements. In this instance, I played off the double C in soccer, because my daughter plays for Calloway County -- so I colored those two letters in red. 
CREATE A PHOTO COLLAGE: JV Soccer
There are lots of great templates that will allow you to combine multiple photos from a season into one simple layout. Even better, something like this could be framed and given as a coach's gift or presented to other members of the team.

 

CREATE TWO-PAGE LAYOUTS: Alumni Games
One of the easiest ways to scrap all those sports photos is to use two-page layouts. If you aren't comfortable creating two-pagers, use a template. 

 

$ Deals and Take12

I've got a brand new kit on sale for just $1.00 today through Thursday in my shop at DHD; I LOVE this color scheme, and once I had a few items in place, the rest just came together easily. Love when that happens!

I finished my layout for my Take12 May photos. I'm really loving how this project is coming together -- I love that I can count on the girls and Chris to grab photos for me, particularly if the 12th is on a weekend, like it was this time around. Normally, our weekends mean that we are moving in opposite directions, one for each kid, so having four smartphones in the house means there's no shortage of pictures from multiple perspectives.

I'm sticking with my plan to use the templates and papers/embellishments from my 2012 line at DHD; I love the cohesiveness that it brings to the entire project. Here's a look at the first four months of the project, all together. Awesome, right?

Are you participating in Take Twelve? I'd love to see your layouts and pictures. You can load them up in our Flickr pool, and we've even got our own hashtag on Instagram and Twitter: it's #Take12, so join the conversation!

review: postalpix

I've made no secret of having a major crush on Instagram. Of all the photo apps I have installed on my phone, this one feels the most comfortable to me. The filters are really easy to apply, and I've settled on some definite favorites. I also like having the tilt-shift option to play around with. 

I recently downloaded the Postalpix and placed my first order of Instagram photos. I ordered 60 pictures (which is their max order size) and the process was really simple. The photos arrived about 5 days later, packaged inside a typical photo processing envelope and then tucked in a mailing envelope. The images were great -- I ordered mine as 4x4 squares. The paper felt a little thinner than the typical glossy photo paper that I use when I'm printing here at home, but that might be normal for photo-processing labs; I haven't had my pictures printed at a store or lab in years.

I keep my photos displayed in this cute little fruit basket that I picked up at Anthropologie after seeing it on Elsie Larsen's blog. The 4x4 photos fit nicely inside the basket, and lots of people like to pick them up and flip through them. Every so often, I'll switch them out so a different photo is on top of the stack.

I'd like to order some of my most favorite prints in the larger sizes, just to see how well they print. I know that the photo quality on my iPhone 4S is much higher than my 4 was, so I'm interested in seeing just how large a print I can make and still retain the quality of the image.

take 12: april

One of the things that I have learned about myself over the years is that I am very good about getting really excited about a project. I make lots of grand plans and get everything pulled together and jot down lists and buy supplies. I work feverishly on it for a month, two months, maybe even three.

And then real life starts creeping in. Travel for work. Conferences. Classes and grading papers and writing final exams. All-weekend soccer tournaments, multiple track meets. Laundry, dishes, yardwork. The girls get sick. I get sick. I get tired. I lose my motivation. 

While I'm really good in the initial idea and development stages, I'm not so good with the follow-through. I know this about myself, though, and I keep it in mind whenever I begin a project like Take 12. 

April ended up being one of those months. The 12th happened on a day when I was sick, followed by three days where I continued to be sick and both Chris (stomach bug) and Cami (strep) also got sick. (Cass took her turn earlier in the week). As a result, there wasn't a lot of documenting happening on the 12th. That's where the most important aspect of any project like this comes into play: FLEXIBILITY.

You have to be flexible. Because life happens, right? So you have to be willing to let go of some of the expectations and let go of perfection. You have to be willing to fudge it a bit. My 12 photos were actually taken over the course of four days, and I'M OKAY WITH THAT. I enjoy this project too much to let a minor bobble like this throw things off-track. After all, this (for me) is about documenting REAL LIFE. Here's a summary of my April Take 12:

Watering plants is something new for me. Before my grandparents passed away, I didn't own any houseplants. But now we have five (yes, FIVE! and they are all still ALIVE!). I've read that it's better to water in the mornings, so that's what I do.

This was Spring Break, which meant Cami got to watch a lot more TV than normal. (Plus, we were all sick, so there was a lot of lying-around-on-couches and watching crap TV with that as well). She loves our Roku because she can stream episode after episode after episode of cartoons like My Little Pony. I hate our Roku for the same reason.

Easy lunch -- frozen pizza. Make sure to cut out the BoxTops to send to Cami's school.

Planking: an internet sensation that's just now caught on in the Neal household.

I'm traveling to Mayfield every day right now, teaching a hybrid Blackboard course and doing some COMPASS/ACT prep with seniors. It's easiest just to pick up my car from Transportation at the beginning of the week and return it on Friday, rather than doing it daily.

Rat-snuggling. This happens frequently in our house. It is a strange thing, but Peanut Butter really does love to cuddle. He is most content sitting on the girls' chests or shoulders and grooming himself. 

The sun is up, which means I've got the blinds open, letting the daylight stream in and trying to banish some of the fug that a houseful of sickies creates.

Every day, I spend a couple of hours here -- reading and writing emails, blog posts, forum posts. Designing layouts, kits, advertisements. Grading papers, posting lessons, updating assignments. It's such a big part of everything that I do.

Working our way through a couple of Easter baskets. The chocolate bunnies have been de-eared. The Cadbury eggs are all gone. The Peeps are dwindling quickly.

Amoxycillan -- I am so proud of Cami for taking this nasty mess without fuss. She doesn't like it at all, but she doesn't fight us over it either. She knows that it is necessary. 

Strep throat looks like this. Grandmother quilt, couch pillows, and quiet time. She even took a couple of naps over the past few days -- she's feeling much better but even daily activities wear her out quicker.

Trying to keep up with the amount of bedding needing to be washed this weekend has almost worn our poor washer out. Trying to contain the germs from three different illnesses at the same time has worn me out as well. 

take twelve: special themes and other options

Have you been playing along with the Take Twelve Photography Challenge on the Ella Publishing blog? If you're just now thinking about joining, it's definitely not too late! This is a project that you can start at any time -- the "twelve on the twelfth" format is actually much more flexible that you'd think at first. If you didn't get a chance to snap twelve photos (or more!) on January 12th, here are a few options for still joining in the project during the month of January:

• Select any day of the month that works for you -- the 5th, the 14th, the 28th -- and take your photos on that day
• At the end of the month, choose twelve photos from your photo stash and use those to create an overview of the month's activities
• Put the internet to work for you -- if you don't have photos from a particular day, grab screenshots, Facebook status updates, tweets, or other digital images and use them instead of photos
• Do you have creative kids? Use their artwork or let them recount your month, comic-style 
• Opt for a February (or March or April) start and document your 12-of-12 from that point for an entire year

If you'd like even more ideas for your photo options for this project, pick up a copy of Ella Publishing's Take Twelve Guided Inspiration Kit. It's chock full of photo checklists for each month, plus great variations on the Take Twelve concept. One of my favorite parts is that each month, in addition to featuring a photo checklist, the book offers a theme with related photo tips. 

As you can see, January's special theme is "collections." I love the idea of photographing and capturing all the things that we collect, so yesterday I spent some time seeking out the various collections in our family. It wasn't hard to come up with twelve photos; I tried to keep things evenly balanced, although you'll see that Chris doesn't really collect as many things as the rest of us do (maybe it's a girl thing? Or maybe his hoarding gene isn't as dominant?!?)

credits: My Favorite Things 2 kit by Gennifer Bursett; numbered journaling list from My Favorite Things kit by Gennifer Bursett; fonts are LiebeErika and Pea Sugar Noodles

No matter how you choose to play along with the Take Twelve photography challenge, we want to see your photos and layouts! You can upload them both to our Flickr group and if you're sharing via social media (Twitter, Instagram, etc.), make sure to use the hashtag #take12. For easy reminders about Take Twelve monthly contests and other events, sign up for the email reminders too!