Still Standing @58

When I asked Bob what he wanted me to title a layout documenting his birthday, he said "Still Standing". It's been one of those weeks for both of us. The newspaper business has never been good for schedules and in these days of declining print journalism and Big 12 football taking one of the three photographers away from the routine assignments, Bob's schedule isn't a good one. On his birthday (Thursday) he worked 4-830 pm and on his day off (Friday) he worked 630pm-930pm. We celebrated late Thursday with birthday pie.

The picture is from Valley Falls State Park near our home taken last month. The song is one from Elton John combining some lyrics from a more recent version: "They say with age comes wisdom and the white flag, I can't give them. I'm still standing after all this time. Looking like a true survivor."

This layout is modeled after Nicole Martel's "Fall" layout.

In addition to Bob's daily assignments and spot news, he puts together picture pages which, when space permits, are run full page.  Here are 2 that ran this week:

The layout on the left was made last Friday (on Bob's "day off") when he was asked to cover one of 3 high school football games in the area.  It poured down the rain but he didn't just get player shots, he got fan shots!

This is me (and fellow dietitian Leah) on our "day off" representing the hospital at the Morgantown farmer's market.  We had samples of apple crisp, made by the bakers at our Healthy Cafe with WVU apples, flaxmeal and oatmeal, sharing a table with the heart institute nurses who conducted blood pressure screenings.  I had lots of fun with Leah. This upcoming Friday I will spend 11 hours at the Health Fair.

My crafting time was cut short this week spending long days at work training a late lead who will close our kitchen at the end of the shift.  I took my laptop to work and put together the Healthy Cafe quarterly newsletter (Issue # 52):

So I guess you could say I was able to create but I was was so happy to find time today to scrapbook!  Enjoy the weekend!

Day in the Life of West Virginia

On September 15, 2012, Bob and I participated in the Wild Wonderful West Virginia magazine's "Day in the Life of West Virginia".  The best part was we stayed in town and photographed our beautiful surroundings:

10:06 am  Dent's Run  (Ladybugs on milkweed)
10:15 am  Kern's Farm (Sugar Grove Road)
10:37 am  Woodburn Hall (Reflection in our car mirror)
10:39 am  Woodburn Circle
 1:19 pm   Dorsey's Knob Park (Log cabin)
 1:39 pm   Creative Arts Center (Sculpture)
 1:57 pm   Star City Riverfront Park (Adjacent to the Rail trail)  
 3:37 pm   Stewartstown Road (Farmer mowing)
 3:50 pm   Forks of Cheat Cemetery
 3:56 pm   Forks of Cheat Baptist Church (Established 1775)

We were out and about at 6:30 am.  It had rained the night before and there was no mist or pretty sunrise and no images to be had. We went home and ate breakfast and some housecleaning, then showered and went back out.  We came home and finished our Saturday cleaning, then went back out.

The best part of the day was at 2 o'clock when we met Chris for lunch.

The "Team-o" logo is the front of a box of chewing gum.  My teeth could not handle the Chiclets type gum but I loved the logo on the package and knew I could use that on a page!

Picture Page Tutorial by Bob

Bob's picture page of the Little Arlington Cemetery ran in yesterday's Sunday Dominion Post.  Bob not only is a great photographer, he can design a layout that draws the reader in and then leads you around the entire page.  Here's his page proof with tips on design:

" This is a picture heavy layout.  Keep in mind, I'm locked into a vertical page layout.  For a picture page, I need at least four photos.  I generally like to do 5 or 6.  You can't go real small with newspaper reproduction.  

First choose a dominant picture twice as big as any other pictures on the page.  Look for pictures that support each other.  Size down the supporting photos.  On this page you see the bottom picture pulls the eye upward to the other photos.  The crosses and shadow in the center photos are almost diagonal, drawing the eye across the page.  The flag in the dominant photo flies to the left drawing your eye over the rest of the photo and likewise the side photos in the center draw your eyes inward.

Keeping the space between the photos even and at a minimum holds the layout together.  The white space and text is pushed to the outside."

This is the layout I made inspired by Bob's design.  Since I was only making 1 print, (unlike the newspaper that was printing thousands), I kept my photos in color.  The format is 8 1/2 X 11.

I added a fill color, black "stroke" outlines to each photo, a border and 2 brushes to the finished image.

My journaling:  "The Kissing Circle holds fond memories for many Ohio University alumni and now for Bob and I too.  It wasn't the campus we met on but was a place we could feel young while celebrating our 36th anniversary."  September 2012 

Athens Asylum

While the Athens Lunatic Asylum sounds eerie, the facility was built as a state-of-the-art psychiatric hospital with an environment that resembled home.  The residents once maintained a dairy, orchards, gardens, herds and even fired bricks for the building additions.  Overcrowding in the 1900s led to less humane treatment.  Of the 1900 bodies buried in the grounds cemeteries, nearly 1700 are identified only with a number.  68 are Civil War veterans.  Bob and I would have loved to see the inside of the Victorian style buildings, now closed.  2012

I scanned a Kraft Halloween paper with the haunted house image, then printed the house onto my background patterned paper.  I also scanned a bird-swirl corner design transparency and printed it onto the same background patterned paper.

The image of the building is covered in vellum to give the opaque image.

I printed the 2 center photos 4 times each in varied sizes, then arranged them one on top the other with pop dots to add some dimension.  This is an idea I picked up from talented scrapper Keandra Willis.

Happy Haunting!

Just Once

Arriving at work early one summer morning I photograph a "Blue Moon" on the HSC Campus.  When there are two full moons in one month, the second one is called a Blue Moon.  I'm told the next Blue Moon will be in 2015.  August 2012

It is very difficult to photograph the moon.  For this one, I sat down at a picnic table and steadied my camera on my camera bag.  The street light gave me a little boost.  The photo was not anything special until I added a "Poster Edge" filter in Photoshop.

I was so tickled when I looked through my celestial items to find a clay mold of a gorgeous moon collection.  While I may have baked the blue clay a little too long, I loved the slightly burned tone.  I added a Sculpey glaze to the pieces.

The circular stamps were made using a wine cork!

 
"Just once in a very blue moon........I feel one coming on soon" are words from a song by Nancy Griffith, a beautiful songstress.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Painting Smiles

We "hit the brakes" when we saw this beautiful mural painted across the entire side of a large building in small town Glouster, Ohio.  9/2012

Each person on the mural had a name painted beside it.  Wouldn't it be great to have your face remembered like this?

I hope the day brings you many smiles!

Bridge Bouquet

We didn't travel far on our anniversary getaway, but we traveled someplace new.  Near Athens, Ohio we found pretty scenes to photograph and commemorate the time.  September 2012

Today is our 36th wedding anniversary.  We were married on Labor Day-September 5th, 1976.  I have a friend who says we should make a book with all the "left arm" (self) portraits Bob makes of us.  Here's one from our wedding Bob didn't take: 

Old Time Music

The Black Twig Pickers live the tradition of old-time music that surrounds their homes along the Virginia-West Virginia line.  Bob and I live the tradition of finding something fun to do together on our day off where we appreciate the surroundings and enjoy being together.  Chestnut Ridge Park 2012

The fiddler on my layout is one of the actual trio.  I enlarged a photo,converted it to black and white, then hand cut around the gentleman to add to my page.

The trio really did play wash boards and bones!

I loved the words on the digital overlay by Cottage Arts:  "Love the music of life"!  Also the Tiny Type words by Cosmo Cricket:  "Things that make me happy".  It was a cool summer evening as we donned our chairs on the sledding slope of the park. And the digital labeling block by Michelle Coleman also fit the theme!

Finally I added the word art "us" to the white spots on the neat paper that was included in a back issue of Somerset Memories.

Enjoy the Labor Day Holiday!