Month: March 2020

Well, a few days ago I posted some images, one of which was of some leaves, seed pods and such on the ground. I made that image primarily for its color palette, which I then used in a card and a piece of jewelry. Here is the original image.

Here is the color palette I made from that image.

And here is the palette from an online service that takes your uploaded image and within moments gives you a color palette.

Now I will show you what I did with this palette. I promised a card, but first I had to make a piece of jewelry. I used beads and components I had in my stash, which is pretty considerable when you realize I have only been doing this a couple of years.

I used semi-precious stones such as Amethyst, Lapis Lazuli and Dumortierite, as well as some metal beads, Czech glass beads and Japanese seed beads, to make this necklace. The focal is a large silver colored leaf with an antique silver willow charm and another antique silver charm strung with some beads. The toggle clasp is also antique silver. I tried very hard to use only the colors in the palette, matching the beads as closely as possible.

Here is the finished product.

And the color palette. My purple shades are more purple than those in the palette, but I am very happy with the way it turned out.

Here is a closeup view.

Having felt successful in transforming a photographic image into a color palette and into a completed necklace, I decided to attempt to make a card in the same color palette.

I am not happy with the result, so, to my mind this is not a success. I think in the end it is the gray I do not like, but, there you have it. Not all attempts turn out well, we just don’t usually broadcast our failures. In this case, I think sometimes it is helpful to acknowledge that while the idea is valid, perhaps it is the execution that is not so great. Maybe I will try another, perhaps not. Sometimes you just move on.

My card base is Smoky Slate with a Coastal Weave embossed panel in Seaside Spray, cut to fit the front of the base and adhered with Liquid Glue. Next, using a Stitched Rectangle die I cut a panel of Purple Posy and overlaid it with an Heirloom Frames cut from a Parisian Flourish embossed Night of Navy panel using Liquid Glue to adhere them. Before gluing down the Navy frame, I placed a fern from the Positive Thoughts stamp set.

My thinking here was that: Number 1, ferns are green, not blue or purple, and Number 2, I didn’t want it stamped on Whisper white or Very Vanilla which would be too much contrast. But, I thought the card needed some relief from the color scheme. So, I opted to stamp it in Soft Seafoam on Smoky Slate. It is soft and not contrasty but I don’t like it. At this juncture I should probably have given up on the fern.

With Night of Navy ink and a sentiment from Here’s A Card, I stamped the sentiment in the center of the Purple Posy. I set this off-centered and attached it to the card base with Stampin’ Dimensionals. A small butterfly of Highland Heather, cut with a die from Nature’s Thoughts was adhered just above the sentiment with liquid glue.

Three butterflies stamped in Purple Posy, Blueberry Bushel and Highland Heather on the same color card stock, and cut with the Nature’s Thoughts butterfly die, decorate the frame. All were attached to the frame with Liquid Glue.  Three small 2019-2020 In Color Faceted Dots in Purple Posy complete the front.

On the inside a Purple Posy panel sits on a Seaside Spray panel. Both were outlined with my Night of Navy Stampin’ Write Marker. The Purple Posy sentiment panel was stamped with the fern in stamped off once Highland Heather. The sentiments are from Positive thoughts and are positioned the way they are because I had a Navy ink smear that I needed to hide. A larger Purple Posy Faceted Dot completes the inside.

For the envelope I Stamped off once the Soft Seafoam Fern, only using the tip of it on the front. A Highland Heather butterfly, also stamped off once, completes the front. For the flap I stamped several of the butterflies in Blueberry Bushel, Seaside Spray,  Highland Heather and Purple Posy.

That’s it folks….my experiment in using a photograph to make a color palette and seeing what I can do with it. At present I am working on a bracelet in the same color scheme using a silver button, purple leather and some assorted beads. We will see how it turns out.

Now, continue your social distancing and stay well. I am in the process of prepping fabric to make masks for our local hospital. One of the churches in town has taken on this projuect. Remember, God is in control, so have no fear!

Thanks for stopping by. Should you feel compelled to make a similar card, the list of supplies needed is below. To purchase, just click on the Shop online button at right.

Product List

Apologies to all my card making friends, to whom I promised a card. Somehow I got sidetracked and never made it to my card making table.

Instead, today I offer you an article I wrote one evening. Since this is the first day of spring, I think it appropriate, although it was written later in the spring. Yesterday it felt like spring with rain and 64 degrees. Today, not so much. It is very windy, cloudy and the temperature is a chilly 34. One thing about it, cold and snow don’t last long this time of year.

I am including a few photos to illustrate my best dressed friends. Enjoy the post.

“I have been gone all day. It is the day my garden club meets and we have been to 3 nurseries, buying more plants for our gardens. There should be at least 2 more hours of daylight for me to get some of them in the ground before it rains, again.

The sun just disappeared behind a bank of threatening looking clouds. Should I hurry and get done what I can, or wait until possible severe weather has passed?

I guess if you really want to get some work done, nothing will get in your way. Tonight though, as I finish eating a cookie, for strength, you know, to get those holes dug, I stand looking out the kitchen window thinking where to put my acquisitions and pondering how much I can accomplish before dark.

The mums will go along the front of the deck and the hosta, most of them, in the berm bed. Oh, my! There is a lovely visitor at my bird feeder. He is the first of his kind to appear this spring, wearing a black suit striped with white on his wings, over a white shirt. At his neck is a deep rose ascot. This is none other than the Rose-breasted Grosbeak male. Last year I had two pairs and wonder where the others are. Perhaps he is the scout and the rest will arrive soon.

Since the feeder where he is dining is in the berm where I planned to work tonight, I guess the work will have to wait. I wouldn’t want to interrupt his dinner.

Wait! Another diner has arrived, again the first of the season. The tiny iridescent blue jewel of my garden, the Indigo Bunting male, has returned. I am not sure whether his mate has accompanied him as she is a drab brown color, looking much like the finches and sparrows that are already here.

That does it! There is no way I can scare them off now. The planting will have to wait.

These backyard, or frontyard if you prefer, birds are some of my favorite photographic subjects. To let them dine in peace means they will no doubt return when I have better light and time to set up my tripod and camera. So, priorities are priorities, and the planting will have to wait.

While I ponder whether to move my work to the back yard, more diners arrive. There is a male Cardinal,

a pair of Blue Jays,

several Goldfinches

and, oh joy, another Indigo Bunting male just flew in! They are so much fun to watch, but then I am easily entertained. Their colors are glorious.

My grandma never liked Blue Jays as she said they were mean to the other birds. The jays must have a reputation among other birds, too. Whenever they swoop down to the feeder, the others lift off to land on the branches above, where they wait for the jays to leave.

Even the jays leave though, when the distinquished Red-Headed Woodpecker decides to feast at the same feeder. It is a wonder they don’t need air traffic control with all the landings and takings off, but all the others keep a wide berth from the woodpecker.

My decision to watch and learn from my feathered friends paid off again as I now see the house wren, who sings gaily all day long, and another migrating visitor, a White-Crowned Sparrow and his mate.

Of course there are the usual diners, the robins (yes, they eat from the feeder),

House Finches, House Sparrows, Mourning Doves,

Downey Woodpeckers and Grackles.

Early tomorrow I will be waiting when they come for breakfast, with my camera set up behind a blind to hide my presence. Perhaps I will get that perfect photo of one of them to add to my portfolio.

The rain has moved in, so I wouldn’t have gotten much planting done anyway. There is always tomorrow.

I am thankful to have such a colorful group of friends, all dressed in their best, dine with me.”

As I stated in the article, I am easily entertained. Give me some birds to watch, a book to read, a recipe and the ingredients for it, or some beads and stringing material and I am a happy camper. Of course, there is always work waiting to be done as well.

Enforced isolation (sort of, as I have a telephone and the internet) allows me to indulge in these happy pastimes, or accomplish tasks needing to be done,  and not worry about those things that worrying won’t change.

Stay safe and I will TRY to get a card posted soon.

“And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” (Phillipians 4:7)

Peace? Control? Certainty? If we don’t have control or certainty, can we have peace?

The myth of certainty and the illusion of control are out the window as we face the uncertainty and loss of control brought on by the Coronavirus pandemic. If we think we are in control and certain of outcomes, does that not make us like God? Isn’t that the devil’s greatest temptation? To be like God? Where do we find peace?

When things are uncertain, or upsetting, I look to Jesus’ words for comfort and guidance. He said, “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27). Jesus knew that fear paralyzes us and hinders our ability to respond effectively to the challenges of life. Fear also lowers our immune system’s ability to ward off sickness.

That said, in these uncertain times when nothing of the world is what we have, until now, considered ‘normal’, comfort is to be found in scripture. God and his word are the only certain things upon which we can rely. I also find peace and comfort in the world around me….not the infectious COVID-19 world, but in the natural world.

Because…..”All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.” (John 1:3) Thus, the natural world, made by God, is of great comfort.

Today I will share some images with you that, I hope, will bring YOU some semblance of peace and comfort. I do not live in a fantasy world where all is well just because I wish it to be, but in the real world where sickness, death, financial issues, hatred, anger and all the other symptoms of our fallen world exist. Therefore, I NEED to know that God is there, that God loves me, and that, no matter what, God is in control. ‘Nuff said.

It is spring, or nearly so, and the crocus, ferns and other early plants are bursting forth. This is all part of the order of the universe, made by God.

God cares for all of creation from the smallest Lichen to

Majestic mountains. Think of the power behind the creation of this mountain. He cares no less for you.

I love seeing as much of the whole landscape as I can, and sometime make images of the larger picture. However, there is something to be said for looking more closely at the parts that make up that bigger picture.

I like to take a closer look at the veins of leaves or

the seed heads of grasses. I find all of it fascinating. And nearly beyond my comprehension of how wonderfully it is made. Without the knowledge that He created it all, it would truly be beyond me.

There is order in the natural world. The sun rises. The sun sets. The moon rises. The moon sets. Sometimes the sun comes up before the moon goes down. This was one of those times…October, 7:15 a.m. in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah.

Actually, all the images you see here were taken in that 1.9 million acre wilderness. Obviously, I was only able to be in a fraction of the area in 10 days. I must return someday.I love to make images of trees, large, small, dead, alive, or dying. All serve a purpose, and each has its own beauty. Even the trees that don’t quite make it as a tree, but only as scrub brush or shrubs have their own kind of beauty.

These ‘trees’ are only scrub brush in the desert sands. However, where there is water, there are real trees, as evidenced in the left side of the image. There is a creek there, which nourishes the trees that grow along its banks.

I made this image for a couple of reasons. First it reminds me of the cycle of life. Secondly, I see it as a color palette, perhaps as a sweater, or a piece of jewelry, or maybe as the inspiration for a quilt. My computer software lets me pick colors, then gives them the Pantone equivalent. This is helpful in choosing materials for a project.

This palette is done in my computer software. I chose to have 7 colors from the image because I would need that many to make a Fair Isle sweater.

This palette was done online through a company called Canva which lets you upload an image and their software chooses your palette. The 3rd and 4th ones in this palette are the same, or nearly so, as a couple of the colors in my palette.

As you can see there are many ways I see the world around me, and many ways that I can use what I see. Primarily though, I am at peace in these surroundings, and only need to remember: God is in control and God loves me, even when I am not out there. For that matter, even when I am not very lovable!

Now, May God’s peace be with you in the days ahead.

 

 

Or, perhaps the question should be, where are we today?

I am not a preacher, and I tend to not talk much about my faith. That said, if you perceive this post as preaching, or disagree, or are of un-belief, you can stop right here to save your sensibilities from being offended. However, I would urge you in any case to hear me out.

This worldwide mess is unprecedented in the fact of almost instant information, if of nothing else. Besides that, much of the information we get so quickly is mis-information, or misleading at best. Thus, we have many people, who have no faith background to sustain them in times of trouble and stress, who are SCARED! Due to the overwhelming overload of information, we are facing a situation never before seen at the level we have today.

Yes, there was the bubonic plague, the 1918 influenza, and others over the centuries. They were different in that they did not have access to information, and did not (or could not) know that

For those, I pray that they might find peace.

To prevent this post from being totally boring, I am attaching a few photos, just to remind you that:

1-God is the Great Creator

2-God is in control

In the beauty of a single flower is SO much more than we see with our eyes. Think of the many kinds of flowers and thank God for the beauty therein and the eyes to see. Think Peace.

I am a healthy adult in the ‘over 60’ group, so I guess I am considered elderly and at higher risk than someone younger. I am not afraid. Cautious, yes. Fearful, no. I always do due diligence in the hand washing department, cover my nose and mouth when coughing or sneezing, and avoid, when possible, those who are sick. Beyond that, since so many events are cancelled, I will be self-isolating.

I view this as an opportunity to be un-busy and to accomplish things I might not otherwise have the time to do: Spend more time in prayer, make cards and SEND them, make jewelry, knit, read, rake the lawn, clean closets, etc.  Of course, I will do some birding and photography!! That is pretty much an isolated activity with great rewards.

This is one of the rewards. Who knew that the feathers on the face of a Northern Saw-whet Owl (a little guy not much bigger than a pop can) were so intricate?

There is always an upside to every downside, so think positively. Perhaps, if you have children at home, you will be able to spend more time with them, and teach them things important that are not taught in school. Have them help you prepare dinner, then sit down to give thanks and enjoy the food, TOGETHER. Get outside with them and teach them things of nature (which are things of God).

An example might be found in these seeds of a milkweed, which you can use to teach about the Monarch Butterfly life cycle and why it is important to help them.

It is spring and birds are beginning to migrate, starting with geese and ducks who nest in the far north. These are Greater White-fronted Geese. Another lesson for your kids. How many kinds of geese are there? Why do they fly north? How many eggs do they lay? Where do they lay them? (Hint: you may have to educate yourself!)

You may ask, “Why is God giving this virus to us?” God is not giving anything bad to us, but sometimes He allows bad things. All bad things are a result of this fallen world and the work of Satan, who is fighting God every day for your soul. Following God does not mean bad things won’t happen, rather that you will have peace and comfort when they do, instead of fear.

The beauty of our natural world is a testament of God’s love for us. We are surrounded by that love and the beauty he created. If you see ugliness, it is most likely made by mankind. Ugliness in God’s creation is a matter of our perception of beauty/ugliness.

There is an element of beauty in a dying plant, as well as another lesson in the life cycle.

I would urge you to take advantage of these trying times and make the most of this gift of TIME, which you now have if you are not attending sporting or social events, school or work. We all complain that we don’t have enough time, so now that you have some, what will you do with it?? Whine and complain, or make the most of what you have? Call someone who may need to hear a friendly voice today. Send a card. Get outdoors.

Many do not see the beauty around them, simply because their minds are full of the next busy thing on their calendar. Now that your calendar is empty, see the beauty in a dead tree, blue sky and green moss.  This image is one of the many beautiful scenes in my state. Get out and enjoy the scenes around you, wherever you are.

More evidence of spring.

A Blue Grosbeak

OK, enough for today. Now that I have more TIME, maybe I can post more often. It might be a project, it might be photos, it might be sharing my love of God, Family, Country, or it might include one of my many interests. Tune in again next time to see what awaits you.

Until then, remember, God loves each and every one, no matter the circumstances. He loves YOU where you are, in whatever situation. And, don’t be afraid.