ad libitum

I'VE BEEN MAKING BOTTLE CAP BEADS

Inspired by the latest Clote Paper Scissors, I decided to make some bottle cap beads.

Now to decide what to do with them (and maybe make some more).

EVERY INCHIE MONDAY ~ AMUSEMENT

From Santa Monica Pier in 2008

THE BEGINNING OF "THE SEASON"

There's so much Christmas beautiful fabric, I've gotten in the habit of making myself a purse every Christmas. This year's is a tad smaller than my usual close to carry-on-luggage size. I made a zippered pouch on the inside, two zippered pouches on the outside (one designed specifically to hold my new iPhone) on one side, and two pouches on the other side (one for coupons and one for keys).

Now it's time to get started on my other Christmas projects.

TEXTURES REDUX

OK, I got the dates mixed up and the textures I posted on November 8 were on the wrong date. So, I worked with more photos and am taking a "do-over" today. Nancy Donaldson has again posted textures to use in Photoshop on our photos. I'm always happy to play with my photos.

This is a photo I took in Jordan. The little girl was watching the tourists  below as her morhter brushed her hair.

Here it is Photoshopped:

I was delighted to get a photo of a hummingbird at the Botanical Garden in Phoenix.

Here it is cropped and textured (two versions):

I took this shot in the Audubon park in New Orleans.

Again, cropped and textured:

This zebra lives ath the National Zoo.

These men work in Petra, Jordan.

EVERY INCHIE MONDAY ~ PRETEND

A street performer in Rome:

WRAPPING

I am participating in a 12 Days of Christmas swap (I'm day 10) and am ready to send my packages off. I wanted to wrap my gifts in something that would be pleasant to look at for the 10 days they will be sitting around waiting to be opened. Wrapping is always problematical for me: I want to make the gift look nice, but I don't want to make too big a deal about it. Anyway, for these gifts, I sewed each gift into a half sheet of 12 inch Christmas themed scrap book paper. I made tags out of more scrap book paper and then sewed "On the tenth day of Christmas Joanne gave to me" on each tag, figuring that it gives the information of who sent the package, when to open it, and hoping that it fits in with the idea of twelve days of Christmas. As always, I have butterflies in my stomach before sending off for a swap.

Here are a few of the packages:

EVERY INCHIE MONDAY ~ DARING

daring - adj: brave, but foolish

 

I took an old photo of a little girl and put her on top of some Roman ruins in Jordan - a sort of salute to the times I used to crawl out of my bedroom window and sit on the roof and then not understand why my mother got upset.

IT'S PLAYING WITH TEXTURES TUESDAY AGAIN

More playing with Nancy Donaldson's textures. This time I used a photo of a friend's Raggedy Ann, a small statue of an angel from a bed and breakfast I stayed in in Charleston SC, and a photo of some boats on the Potomic that I took with my telephoto lens.

Here's the Raggedy Ann photo I took:

Here are three versions of her:

This is a photo I took with my telephoto lens at a scenic overlook on the George Washington Parkway:

Here it is, edited with Photoshop:

I took this photo on the porch of a bed and breakfast that I stayed in with friends in Charleston SC a few years ago:

Here are three variations of the Charleston angel:

EVERY INCHIE MONDAY ~ LIFE

I reduced a photo I took along the Nile River in 2009. I think it says a lot about life.