Ten Hello's for Monday (Ten on the Tenth)

Monday falls on the Tenth of the Month in September, so I'm combining Hello Monday with Ten on the Tenth to create this list . . . 
1. Hello more miniature creations. I'm having a good time creating pages for my "Learn Something New Everyday" mini-album, and I'll be posting a few more pages tomorrow. How small are the album and embellishments? You can get a sense of the scale above and in this picture:

2. Hello new doctor. With a little luck, Paul will be changing doctors this week - to one who specializes in what he needs.
3. Hello old doctors. Clara is back to see the ophthalmologist to check on her eye and to see the orthopedist to (hopefully) get her cast removed.
4. Hello hospital. In all likelihood, Paul will be going back for Round 3 (out of 8) of chemotherapy sometime this week.
5. Hello Back-to-School Night.  Time to go meet all the kids' teachers and see what their plans are for the year.
6. Hello blue skies, cooler temps and breezy days.  Fall is definitely in the air (even if there's still officially two weeks left of summer).
7. Hello to lots of blog posts with participants finishing the 2012 Summer Photography Scavenger Hunt. This one (from Heart, Hearth, Home) really touched my heart; Missus Wookie finally found her dancers and linked all her others in her post; and Laurie is starting a three part recap here.  If you're participating, remember the Hunt ends on September 21, and I'll be asking everyone to check in that weekend with their final totals. I've still got two items left to post myself.
8. Hello pre-season plans for the High School Soccer Team. Although official play doesn't start until January, there's lots of activities that take place in the fall. This will be Henry's senior year! Where did the time go?
9. Hello cleaner house. I'm still participating in the Organized Housewife 20 Days Challenge, and I'm really enjoying the results. 
10. Hello Joan and Rose (a dear friend and my cousin) who read, but lurk. Just want to let you know that I'm glad you're out there, even if you don't comment.

Abstract Patterns in Nature

While on a recent photo walk for the online "Ode to Nature" class, I took a variety of photos that I knew I would use to create abstract paintings, focused on color and shape.  Here are four images which I put together into my first ever photo collage. I used picmonkey, which has to be the easiest photo editing software ever.  And it's free! I owe a hat tip to Shimelle's Learn Something New Everyday class, as well. Her prompt for today was to actually learn a new skill, and I chose to learn how to make a photo collage. It took all of five minutes, and I'm pretty darn happy with myself.  I think you're going to be seeing a lot more collages from me in the future!

How about you? Have you learned any new skills lately? Do you know of any other collage making tools that are super easy? If so, I'd love to check them out.

Let's talk comment verification . . .

I love visiting blogs and, more often than not, I comment on posts.  But, for blogs with comment verification, it is becoming harder and harder for me to do so.  It seems that the combination of letters and numbers I have to enter "to prove I'm not a robot" are getting more and more difficult for me to read and enter correctly.  Recently, Blogger temporarily shut down my blog when I couldn't figure out a combination after several attempts because it deemed my activity to be "suspect." As a result, if I can't figure out the combination after one attempt, I now give up and don't comment.  Which makes me a little sad because I love to give (and get) comments.  So, I'm wondering how big a problem spam has been for people.  Blogger catches most "spam" comments for me, so they don't show up on my blog. And I only get about one every week or so. So, let's talk about spam comments and comment verification . . . what has been your experience with? What's your policy about it?
Edited to Add: Lorri who uses wordpress has an anit-spam filter which is really easy to read.  You can see her blog here. I also wanted to add that I do accept anonymous comments because I have a couple of friends who don't have blogs and comment that way occasionally. I do, however, have comment moderation on for comments which are more than a couple of weeks old. I have found that most spam comments fall into that category.
********************************************************************************
Let's talk is a semi-occasional series encouraging frank discussion of a topics which might be controversial.

PPF: Abstracting Nature

In the Ode to Nature class I have been taking, Week 4 was all about Creating Nature Inspired Artwork.  Alisa encouraged students to doodle and work in other abstract ways.  I am definitely NOT a doodler (although I've seen some wonderful examples of doodle artwork in the class flickr gallery, especially this one by Andy Lean). I was willing to try some of her other suggestions, though, and I came up with today's piece for Paint Party Friday. It's an art journal page based on the seed pods I featured in this post. I abstracted the shape a bit and went with unrealistic colors to create this art journal page.  I added a scripture quote which Abi added to her post here and which has really stuck with me since I read it. For other entries in Paint Party Friday, go to this link. 

LSNE & Give-Away Notice

This September, I'm taking Shimelle's class, "Learn Something New Everyday," and I'm noting my lessons in a pennant shaped mini-album, illustrated with collages based on my huge stash. You can see the outside covers in this post.  I've been keeping up with the class, but I prefer to post a few at a time, rather than everyday.
The lesson for Day #1 was supposed to be drawn from thinking about the last big adventure you had.  Well, as all of my recent adventures have involved difficult health issues, I did not want to follow that path! In fact, all I wanted was peaceful, quiet non-adventure. And that's exactly what I got on Saturday morning.  All four of us hung out together, in fairly close proximity to one another (watching TV, diddling around on the computer, etc.), and it was fantastic! I kept thinking about getting up and getting something done, but I didn't want to break the spell.  Lesson learned:  "If you don't break the spell, the children will sometimes enjoy a quiet morning at home."
Day #2 called for reflection on great teachers, and the lesson I learned (after reflecting on some really good teachers and also other relationships) was "Nothing substitutes for spending time with someone."

Day # 3 was Monday and the prompt was about what it takes to complete a journey (metaphorically or physically).  After spending the day on the computer gathering information and then sitting down to have a heart-to-heart talk with my son, the lesson I learned was "The college application process is going to be challenging, exciting and long.
Finally on Day #4, Shimelle suggested we think about what we learn at "home." After my second day back at the gym after a long time away, I realized how important the gym and my friends there are to me. Lesson learned:  "The gym has become an extension of my home."
So, there are my first four lessons learned.  Do any strike a chord with you? If you're in the class, are you keeping up?
*********************************************************
I also wanted to let everyone know about a fantastic give-away being done by a very talented artists out of the Philippines.  Her name is Peggy, and you can see her wonderful  give-away at this post.

Wordless Wednesday: Collage

Instead of a photograph this week, I'm posting a collage I made inspired by the Ode to Nature class.  Focal image is a photograph I took of an apple blossom bud in my backyard. Started with a spray ink background, added text, map and music paper and then focal image. Outlined with gesso, then added a variety of other images from my stash, skeleton leaf and magic mesh. Finished up with green paint around edges. Although I do a lot of collage, this was in a different style for me.

Tuesday Silliness: Tape Animals and Ode to Nature Sale

The incredibly creative Carla Sonheim has posted a really fun tutorial on making silly animals out of washi tape. You can find it here.  I enjoyed giving it a spin.  The first one I came up with looked like a circus dog I thought.  The second one looked like a stag:

These are fun and really quick to do. Plus, they are a good way to practice drawing.  Let me know if you give it a whirl.
By the way, for those of you who have expressed an interest in the Ode to Nature class that I've been taking, Alisa Burke is having a sale on that class and all her previous classes.  You can see the announcement here.  I'm thinking about signing up for one of her sketchbook drawing classes but haven't decided for sure.  The sale runs through Sept. 7.