Be Still #16: Sharper Focus

This week's lesson in Kim Klassen's Be Still 52 still life photography class was about finding a nice sharp focus.

She suggested using flowers and tea cups. So I did.

In addition, I continued to play with cropping. And light.  And perspective.

And I came up with four photographs which I really liked. Although I think the first and third shots are my favorites. What about you? Do you have a favorite among this week's shots (remember,you can click on them to enlarge them and see them more clearly)?

Photography Pairs: Dog and Cat

Helena, over at Helena's Creative Maven, hosts a weekly photography meme where people share related photographs. This week, I'm sharing portraits of two of our pets: Aria and JJ. They both posed for me on Sunday and I am sharing them because I like the way the pair highlights their similarities (in color, perspective and gaze) and their differences (eye color and shape; size of nose; expression). I feel like I could stare at this pair for quite a while. What about you?

Setting an intention for May: Photography

This year, I am exploring various aspects of my creativity and each month I am focusing on a particular form of artistic expression (while still dabbling in all the others). So far this year, I have focused on sketching, cards making, scrap booking and art journaling. This month, I'm turning my attention to photography. I want to consciously think about what photographs I take and what to do with them. 

Me on Monday: A Creative Weekend

Waving hi with others over at Sian's blog From High in the Sky for a quick check-in on the weekend. For me it was a 
*celebrating National Scrapbook Day by creating lots and lots of layouts to share on Fridays on my blog this month;
*taking out my camera to create still lifes and capture life around the house;
*catching up on TV shows (Broadchurch; Orphan Black; Grey's Anatomy; Madam  Secretary; CSI: Cyber; The Black List);
*cheering Clara on while she took a college entrance exam;
*taking a few naps to recover from a busy week at work; and
*volunteering at Guide Dogs for the Blind for the first time in several weeks
kind of weekend.
How was your weekend?

Amanda's May Scrapbook Challenge: Guest Designer!

Amanda of Amanda's Scrapbook Pages runs a monthly Scraplift Challenge. I have been participating for the last few months because I find her sketches very appealing and really helpful to jumpstart my scrapping. She asked me to be her Guest Designer for the May challenge, and I happily accepted. I would love it if you came to join us this month and play along. You can enter the challenge here. The more the merrier!

Amanda's May layout (above) was a bit of a challenge for me because it only featured two 4x6 photographs, and I usually scrap 3-5 photos per page and almost always make a double page layout. But I did have just a few photographs from a birthday celebration that I thought would work perfectly. My background paper was much more busy than Amanda's so I ended up with more matting to make sure the photographs didn't get lost. I also used two cropped photos to substitute for the second 4x6 photo. I also added washi tape, as well as paper strips on the left side of the layout. On the whole, I really like the result! Thanks Amanda!

Happy Birthday Henry

I can't believe that my boy turns 20 years old today. No longer a teenager; not quite a man. 
At 20, Henry is:
*finishing up his sophomore year at the University of Oregon and switching his major to Applied Business and Economics within General Social Science;
*planning to do a summer internship with an independent league professional baseball team called the Vallejo Admirals. He'll be spending 70% of his time in marketing; 20% in media relations; and 10% floating around to see all the various aspects of running a (small) professional sports team;
*hoping to get a job as a student manager for the University of Oregon mens baseball team;
*enjoying the brotherhood he has found in the Sigma Chi fraternity;
*looking forward to moving out of the frat house and into a regular house next school year with six other friends;
*remaining close with many of his high school friends;
*cheering on Manchester United, the San Francisco Giants, the Golden State Warriors, and the University of Oregon Ducks;
*hoping to go see J.Cole this summer and planning to go to Outside Lands and a few country concerts as well;
*playing intramural softball and soccer, as well as excelling at club soccer.

I can't believe how much he's grown while still remaining my boy.  Love you son.

Scrapbook Friday: Inspiration for Holiday Layouts

I'm continuing to enjoy scrapbooking this year, and I'm working my way through my photographs from 2014. I'm realizing that the quality of a lot of the photos is not that great because so many of them were taken with my iphone. But I'm still  happy to be getting them done, and I like my "Scrapbook Friday" meme because it keeps me on track. It can be a challenge, though, to stay inspired. So, I'm always happy when I find inspiration. This layout was actually inspired by this layout on Melissa's blog and the use of all those brads by her layout here. Melissa's always got a lot going on at her blog, and it's worth checking out if you've never been there.

This layout, featuring photographs from our annual trip to the tree farm was inspired by a recent paper purchase. I bought the Tim Holtz Idea-ology "Merriment" paper stash and then mixed and matched papers from the stash for this layout. I often find new supplies to be very inspiring!
Speaking of inspiration, the wonderful Jennifer Grace is hosting another (FREE) blog event in two weeks. It's called "Focus Your Craft and Soul" and you can read details about it at this link. Her events always offer a ton of inspiration, and I'll be playing along. There's even a give-away open if you go check out the announcement link.
Since I'm always looking for inspiration, I'd appreciate any you have to share!