Project Monday

Hello there : )  And welcome to another Project Monday!

This week I wanted to make something simple, yet still inspiring for my project.....so I decided to make myself an ATC to hang on my inspiration board.



Now when I look up and see it hanging, it brings a smile to my face.  I guess it's a symbol of sorts to help me remember that place and give just the right amount of motivation : )

And I had fun using more product from Color Me Miki for this little project.  The background of my ATC is a woodgrain packing tape that I can't wait to use again!  There is green and white bakers twine wrapped around it as well, and tied with a bow.  I added "2011" to the front with mini green alphas.  And in the center of the wheel is a pretty coral button layered with a circle punched out of a Jenni Bowlin ticket.  (The yellow ribbon, and paper for the wheel are scraps from my personal stash.)

I see few more little inspiration board projects in my future.....they are too much fun!!!

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(Gloria's project coming soon)

Check back tomorrow to see a fun post with our February guest <3

Love, Gloria and Carrie

Your appointment with Friday

Welcome to another weekend with your camera : ) This weeks prompt is to take a portrait of yourself somewhere you normally wouldn't be, and then add a caption.  It could be a description of what's going on, the emotion your feeling, or whatever.  The idea is to get your creativity going.....kinda like jump starting your creative engine.  So, if you're feeling the winter blues, or just need some new inspiration please join us on this fun for life photo prompt:

Getting creative.

First off, I have to say that this is a prompt that is growing on me.  The more I get involved with the process, the more I am loving it!  For starters, once I thought about it, it was easy to decide on where to take my photos.....laying on the soft moss in my backyard that I think is soooo beautiful.  I use to lay in the grass all the time when I lived in Washington and never do here in San Diego.  It was lovely.  Soft.  My favorite color.  It brought a smile to my face and made my heart feel light as a feather.



When I got back to my computer and looked at the photos, I realized that I had forgot to put any makeup on this morning.  This got me thinking about my captions, and just like I had hoped my creative engine took off.  I thought about how much I feel at home in that place.  Even though there isn't a lot of green where I live, I found some.  It reminded me that I am ready to make life happen.....in a natural way.....but still in a way that makes my dreams a reality. 

See what I mean about this prompt growing on you?!?  Grab your camera and find creativity.....

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And here's Gloria's photo.....

Holy cow I am under the table. 

I wanted to be silly and take a picture under a table.  It's kinda wacky but it also makes you  feel young at heart.  Have fun with taking a creative picture.

Love, Gloria and Carrie

Adventuresome & Sweet Photos

I haven't a clue as to how my story will end. But that's all right. When you set out on a journey and night covers the road, you don't conclude that the road has vanished. And how else could we discover the stars?  -Nancy Willard



Recall as often as you wish;  A happy memory never wears out.  -Libby Fudim



See beauty in the simple things.  Then you will always be amazed.  -Gloria King



When you're travelling, you are what you are right there and then. People don't have your past to hold against you. No yesterdays on the road.  -William Least Heat Moon

 Love, Gloria and Carrie

Project Monday

Hello Monday!  Today we get to share our projects with you.  The sweet Kara, came up with our last photo prompt, and here is what we made with our photos.....Oh, and thanks for your comments on our last post, it was fun reading some of your rituals!!!

I think it's only fitting to start out with Kara's lovely layout today.....

I was always intimidated with digital scrapbooking until I was on the Kitschy Digitals creative team.  I decided to try it one day and I've enjoyed the experience since.  It's fun to do when I'm tired of my paper scrapbooking supplies or I don't want to get out of bed.  I can scrapbook right from my warm bed!  I kept this page simple because I wanted the journaling and photos to do the talking.
Hope you like!

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And here's Gloria's dreamy layout.....

Once I got my picture printed for this layout, I looked at it and realized the memories I hold so close to me of how my ritual came to be.  I chose to use dream tickets because It seems like the memories I have attached were like a dream.....Then I surrounded it with a couple of frames that represent time.  I look at it and think of my mom.  Its strange how certain smells remind us of our grandmother or for me its makeup.....It reminds me of my mom every time : )

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And last yours truly.....



I went a little wild with my project this week....I'm not sure exactly what happened.  Maybe it was using such a simple photo?!?  Who knows.  It was fun putting it together, and I think that's important ; )

Here are some of the details.  I used some deep gold thread, popped up some clouds, used lots of white paper and layered......







Most of the products used on my layout are from one of my favorite online shops, Color Me Miki.....(who was kind enough to sponsor my Project Monday this week).  You will find the Hambly overlay, heart tags, green floral tape, green button, and blue frame (which I cut out of a pack of journaling cards) in this lovely shop : )

I hope you are inspired to create something beautiful this week.

Love, Gloria, Carrie and Kara

Your appointment with Friday

Welcome to this weeks photo prompt with special guest Kara Haupt!!!  The photo prompt she chose for today is.....

Rituals.

This being my first year of college and the first time being so far away from the home I grew up in, it's been oddly hard to reflect on the last five months. Everything is so fast paced and always so busy that trying to "find my center" has been difficuilt. I wanted to do a prompt that was a little more abstract and the first thing that popped into my head was "ritual". I thought about the little rituals that have become my daily habits since starting school. I began to brew my own coffee every morning and with my morning cup I would check my emails and see what was new on my favorite blogs and on Twitter. I also starting wearing socks to bed because my dorm room is so cold. They're simple things. Nothing really of much note. But, they have become symbolic, calming habits.

The simple act of pouring in the grounds and the mixing in creamer calms me. It's dumb, but it's a little reminder that I'm taking care of myself. I make my own coffee. I get out of bed on my own and I chose to wake up and take care of myself that day. I never used to wear socks to bed, it's an odd habit I picked up since moving. My socks are always mismatched because I'm too lazy to fold them together. I like them that way though. The silliness of them remind me of home. My mom always buys me these dorky seasonal socks and pulling out a clean pair of socks before bed always makes me smile. Reminds me where I come from, who loves me, and that, sometimes, having warm toes at night is all that really matters.

My photos aren't especially artistic. They're simple photos of simple things. Simple things that matter.

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And here's Gloria's take.....

My ritual started when I was about 12. I used to go into my mom's room every morning around 8 a.m. I loved watching her take the curlers out of her hair. Next she would clean her face and apply cream. Then she would look at me and smile as I sat on her counter looking longingly at her. I loved what followed. My mom never went anywhere without her hair done and her makeup. Ok so next comes her eyelashes. Yes, my mom has worn eyelashes for as long as I can remember. They look so cool on her. In about ten minutes she went from normal to glam. An entire makeup ritual one could not wait to recreate. I don't wear lashes but I get up, wash my face and do my makeup in the same order my mom did. I see myself.....12 years old with my mom as often as I do it. I wonder if my daughter will do the same? I am not sure, but I can honestly say that I hope to have my makeup ritual until I am 90.....

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And my ritual.....



I think it is in my nature to be rebellious to the idea of monotony when it comes to the little things.  Most of the time it gives me anxiety.....knowing what's coming.  However, I am finding that there are things in my life that constantly give me happiness and peace.  I have been trying to embrace these ideas as a form of daily comfort, and it's been nice.  Something that I have always enjoyed, but only in the last few months has become a "ritual" is waking up in the morning with a big stretch and squeek (yes, I squeek when I stretch), and turning on music.  It literally gets me out of bed.....makes me excited for my day.....and helps me start out my day in a very relaxing way.  I really love songs that are soothing and inspiring all at the same time for this.  And the butterfly CD in my photo is Fantasies by "Metric".

I think the idea of this ritual all started from my childhood.  I've always enjoying listening to music with my Dad, and I've always enjoyed listening to music in the morning.  My Dad had a sound system with speakers in all the rooms downstairs installed in our house at one point, and would sometimes wake us up over the weekend by blasting fun music.  Without even making this connection, it became a ritual that I now look forward to helping me start out my day.  Doing this for myself has been a joy!

What ritual(s) brighten your day?

Love, Gloria, Carrie and Kara

Adventuresome & Sweet Photos

We sometimes get lost in our own forest.  We think we are on the right path only to find out we were a little lost. We must remember that each turn teaches us valuable lessons.



She knelt down to see if she could find what she had been looking for, and the beauty of the earth filled her heart with magic.  There was light all around her.



Then as soon as she looked up she realized that she was the light, for she was full of endless possibilities.  She saw she was the treasure.



We are often too afraid to go in the direction our heart calls us to go.



But if we listen closely to our own whispers and move slowly forward with a grateful heart.  You will hear that little bird whispering in your ear.....You are the one you have been looking for.....It's you!!!!

{Inspirational words written by Gloria}

Love, Gloria and Carrie

Playdate with Kara Haupt

We are thrilled today to introduce you to our guest for January!  Kara is an inspiration for many of us with her photography, art journaling, scrapbooking, random fun art and posts on her real life that we can all relate to.  She will be sharing an awesome photo prompt with us this Friday (Jan. 21st), and special project on Monday (Jan. 24th).....are you excited yet?!?!.....Well, in the meantime here are a few things about her you might not know:

•    1. What is your favorite time of day to take photos?

On sunny days, the 'golden hour' before the sun sets is definitely my favorite. Though shade and overcast skies are easy and consistent, I really love the ways I can use sunlight to get an interesting photo. During the summer, I also like to use shaded area in the middle of the day. The sky is so bright and skin glows beautifully in the shade.

•    1. What is the most foolish thing you are looking forward to doing this year?

Roadtrips and gross motels.

•    1. What is the next artistic step for Kara?

I'm working on two collaborative business in 2011 that I'm really, really excited for. One is with my close friend, Kip. We're not saying too much about it now, but I can say that it's one of the most exciting and fulfilling things I've done in a long time. Working with Kip is a dream and it's been awesome to see the details of it unfolding, especially in the last week. The other is a fun side project that includes my handwriting. More on all that soon! I'm also working on a mini art journal class for February and ironing down definite goals for my photography business. It's going to be a big year.

•    1. What is the most beautiful thing to you about New York?

Though New York is so huge and easy to get lost in the mix, I love the amount and diversity of people that live here. I walk or take the subway everywhere I go and really love to experience the different type of people I encounter in just an hour. Cultures and claustrophobia. Sort of what New York is.

•    1. What is your favorite thing to do with photos?

Hmmm. That's a hard one. Either blog, tape them to my wall, or art journal with. Can't decide.

For more fun with Kara visit us again on Friday.....and see ya tomorrow for some new adventuresome and sweet photos!

Love, Gloria and Carrie

Your appointment with Friday

Well, it is finally the weekend and Gloria and I have a fun new prompt for you lovelies today.  The new prompt is.....

In Series

se·ries  (sîr'ēz) pronunciation

noun, plural -ries, adjective

A number of objects or events arranged or coming one after the other in succession.  [Latin seriēs, from serere, to join]  Series  is applied to a number of things of the same kind, usually related to each other, arranged or happening in order: a series of baseball games.

I've never intentionally taken a series of photos like this before.  And I have to say the most difficult part for me was deciding what I wanted to photograph.  Should I make a bunch of crazy faces, or write a sweet sentence on paper one word at a time?  I don't know what made me decide to jump.....maybe it's because I was thinking about being outside, or that I love it when my photos have movement?!?  But it felt great.  I felt free and happy and strong and silly all at the same time.  And I've actually never taken a self portrait jumping before, so this ended up being a fun little experiment.  (Next I want to try it in a field with tall grass or something crazy like that.)  But the cool thing is that now don't just have a moment to remember, but a bunch of moments that tell my little story in a different way.  This was a happy day.  A great day.  A day I did just what I wanted to do....jump.  What will your In Series be?

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In Series










































A series of pictures to me gives movement to paper.  It takes me to that moment because I feel you can see it move.  You can see a clip of that person's life.  Its almost touchable.  I chose movement of my hands because it looks free and pretty to me.  I like the freedom of movement....

Love, Gloria and Carrie

Adventuresome & Sweet Photos

Beauty and folly are old companions. - Ben Franklin



She loved life and it loved her right back. - Kobi Yamada



Once in a while, right in the middle of an ordinary life, love gives us a fairy tale. - Author Unknown



We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open. - Jawaharlal Nehru

Love, Gloria and Carrie

Project Monday

Hello Lovelies!  Happy first day of your new week!!!

Today Nely and I are super excited to share with you our ideas on how to use your photo(s) from our last photo prompt!  So, let's get to it!!!

For my first project, i decided to create some sweet little tags with pockets.....



As you can see in the collage above, I used my photo prompt photos in three different ways.  For example one, the image on the left is my mossy background photo used as a background image for the woodgrain text.  For example two, I created the woodgrain text using my woodgrain photo.  The third example is the photo on the right with my actual tag punched out of (again) my woodgrain image.  Apparently I am loveing woodgrain right now! LOL!!!



Above are the six different tag designs I created to make a fun little set.  And below you can see the front of the tag with the to and from (again using text I created from my woodgrain image), and the back of the tag with plain scrapbook paper for writing a little note : )



Below are all the pieces I used to put my tags together.  Color Me Miki is our Project Monday sponsor for this month, so you can get the colorful bakers twine (in almost every color), Hambly overlays, and pretty tapes from this lovely shop.....



OK.  Now for some fun stuff I did in photoshop with my photo prompt photos!  I used the same photo of my nephew for all three photos so you can see the difference with each layer.  First, my nephew peeking through a thick window with raindrops.....



I love the photo above because to me it looks vintage in a very cool way.  To create this effect, I used a photo I took of my nephew at an outdoor mall and then layered my raindrop image over it.....now it looks like he is peeking at you through a window.

The photo below is the same thing, but with natural lighting and the raindrop layer is not as opaque.....



And for my final example I layered my nephew over my cloud image.  I could have layered him over the clouds completely opaque, but I kinda like that you can see the clouds through him.....



Well, that's it for my ideas on how to use your photos.  I had a lot of fun with this one, using your own background images in your projects feels great!!!  If you have any specific questions about my projects or photoshop stuff, I am happy to share so just leave a comment, and I'll answer it by adding to this post.

Also, I wanted to mention that if you follow me on Twitter, I tweet every time I publish a post.  So, you'll know when a Bubblegum Life post goes up : )

Have fun with your photos this week!!!
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And now for Nely's awesome project.....

Happy Monday!  Wanted to share with you the project I created with one of the photos I took for my Appointment with Friday!  I decided to use my palm tree background.  I printed the image on 81/2 x 11 paper, and then created a layout on top of it.  Used some green patterned paper, some fab rips from studio calico and red prima flowers.  The little tot is my niece.  I took this picture last year during a trip to the local pumpkin patch.  I felt this picture went well with the palm tree background.  It was pretty fun using a picture as background!  Can't wait to see your projects!!

Love, Carrie & Nely

Your appointment with Friday

Welcome to our first photo prompt of the year!  (You can view last years photo prompts by clicking on the "photo prompt" category on our sidebar.)  Boy, am I excited for this one.....for a couple reasons.  First, Gloria is still on break, so we have the lovely Nely from the Pink Ninja Addicts as our guest for this week!!!  And just wait till you see her photos.....soooo inspiring!  Second, this photo prompt has so many possibilities, today I will be sharing some of the fun photography techniques I used to take mine, and next week when I share my project, I will have lots of ideas for different ways to use your photos.  So, without further ado, the photo prompt for this week is.....

The backdrop of our lives.

I idea for this prompt originally came from thinking about using layers, textures, and background photos in my projects.  So, I set out to take photos of my surroundings.  As I began this process I realized that taking photos of the moss that only grows during the winter (rainy season) in my backyard, the wood in my living room that I see every day, the shop lights from getting frozen yogurt with my nephew, along with all the other photos I took was documenting the backdrop of my life.  All the details that I don't often think about, but are there just the same.  Kinda cool, huh?!?  Well, from then on this prompt took on a whole new meaning.  With each project these photos find a home in, a piece of me that I hadn't used before is now present.

When you go to take your photos, look for the tiniest of detail, and then maybe step back and look at the big picture.....do you see something new?  What is present in your everyday life that you don't normally think about being there?  What does the fabric on your dress or bed comforter look like today?

Now that you have an idea of some interesting shots, here are a couple techniques I used for my photos.  I don't at this point have a macro lens for sweet Clem, so taking close-ups is a little tricky.  I found that changing the F-stop to 4.5 or 5.0 and then switching the Manual-focus ON, helped be "zoom" in to a specific focal point with the rest of the photo being blurry.  An example of this would be the photo of the raindrops and also the moss.  They are totally different styles of photo but I used the same technique on both.  Also, something you will find quite common in my photos is when I get down to the subjects level and shoot straight on or even sometimes a little up.  An example of this is (again) the moss photo.  During the summer I would not even question getting down on my belly to get a cool photo of the grass or moss is this case.  However, during the winter when the ground is sopping wet, you can either squat to try and get your shot, or like I did in my photo...hold the camera close to the ground and just shoot.  The cool thing about about the latter is that you sometimes get very unique framing.....try it and see if it works for you : )

See ya next week for Project Monday where I'll share ideas of how to use your photos, along with examples from my completed projects.  Have fun this weekend!

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The backdrop of our lives. 
  

Hi everyone!  Let me first start off by saying that I'm super excited to be participating in this photo prompt!  When Carrie asked me to take photos about our backgrounds and textures, I immediately took to our backyard!  I started taking tons of photos because I was seeing so many fun textures and backgrounds!  I took a picture of the grass, a flower, a palm tree and a leaf!  It made me appreciate all the small things I usually take for granted.  Plus I got to explore my new backyard.  It was pretty fun being able to explore.  So I hope you show us your daily backgrounds!!!

Love, Carrie & Nely

Adventuresome & Sweet Photos

Life is uncharted territory. It reveals its story one moment at a time. - Leo F. Buscaglia



It is only in adventure that some people succeed in knowing themselves - in finding themselves. - Andre Gide



If you want your life to be a magnificent story, then begin by realizing that you are the author and everyday you have the opportunity to write a new page. - Mark Houlahan



She listened to her heart above all other voices. - Kobi Yamada

Love, Gloria and Carrie