sweet september

Lately I've been immersed in an online class to learn Photoshop Lightroom. Pretty intense, and definitely straining my little brain. An excellent class, though, this Round Trip: from Lightroom to Photoshop and Back Again, taught by the talented and generous Kim Klassen.

So while I've been waiting for my massive photo folder to copy into my Lightroom Catalogue, I decided to play around with Kim's latest challenge in her year-long Beyond Layers class entitled Sweet Adjustments. I followed her video tutorial with her sample image and then used one of my own photos, which you see here. I followed Kim's recipe pretty closely, but added a layer of texture in the end - her kk_paperandpaste, to grunge up the too-clean white border a little bit. I actually took this shot in Olde Arvada one warm spring day a few months ago, while I was out and about, playing with my new camera.

As I watched the image "develop" tonight in Photoshop, it seemed to take on a warm, late summer glow, with the tinge of early autumn colors that we are experiencing here in Colorado after a summer of relentless heat and drought.

It kinda captures how I feel this time of year. How about you?

heron song

Every quilter - every artist, in fact - has at least a few "UFO's" in a closet somewhere. UnFinished Objects. They're those projects that, for one reason or another, never quite made it to completion. There's nothing wrong with that...it's part of the creative process.

So I've had this little UFO sitting in a box of quilting "stuff" for some 12 years. It is the last quilt I designed for my pattern company, Columbine Designs. But I never could bring myself to finish it. You see, after designing, producing, and marketing quilt patterns for about five years, I was just plain burned out.

Every once in awhile I would come across this little quilt, and briefly consider finishing it. But I could never get motivated enough to even pick up a needle and thread...

...until a few months ago. A casual dinner conversation with my brother, Greg, finally produced the motivational "fuel" needed to finish it. An avid nature lover, he was relating to me his delight in the great blue heron that graces his garden in the early morning hours. Greg insisted that this far-sighted bird would spy on him as he moved about inside his house, getting dressed for work. You don't often encounter this bird, especially in the city, so it's a real treat to see one this close.

Lightbulb moment! I suddenly remembered my little heron quilt, which now held Real Meaning and Purpose for me. And Kelly's wedding was fast approaching, with me considering what small token could sufficiently convey my gratitude to Greg and his wife, Lynn, for hosting the event in their back yard at the very pond where his beloved heron likes to visit!

Greg, there's a lot of love stitched up in this little quilt, and I am so glad it now has a home with you and Lynn, because sometimes words are not enough...

xoxo
Squid

wedding bells...the slideshows

Here are the long-awaited slideshows I've been working on for the past week. I kept telling Kelly and Aaron that they'd be posted soon...but this is another new skill set for me, with assistance from Kim & Xanthe's amazing tutorials, using yet another new program: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom (which I was able to corrupt and cause to crash due to my own fumbling around within it. AppleCare Tech Support to the rescue! It's all good.) I literally couldn't wait for Kim's brand-new class to begin: Round Trip: From Lightroom to Photoshop and Back Again.


Please feel free to share via Facebook, or email or whatever, so that all family and friends, near and far - those who were able to join us and those who could not - can enjoy the festivities. I tried to include everyone in the collection...and I hope I didn't miss anyone. Thank you Pat for sharing your photos; can't wait to see the video! Once things got really rolling on the Big Day I couldn't seem to get my hands on my own camera - or keep track of the cup of ice water I kept pouring, then setting down, then forgetting where I put it. Truly...too much fun!

If you would like a copy of any or all of the wedding photos, let me or Kelly know. All of the photos here have been saved for web viewing as well as for print purposes.



Pre-Wedding Dinner in Ft Collins from Cindy Swainson on Vimeo.


Didn't know just what to call this one, which encompasses the preparations and rehearsal, etc. Yes, Kelly, "organized chaos" describes it perfectly.


Organized Chaos from Cindy Swainson on Vimeo.


Note here: the audio track for this slideshow is the one Kelly and Aaron chose for the wedding ceremony.


Kelly & Aaron's Wedding from Cindy Swainson on Vimeo.http://www.kimklassencafe.com/round-trip/

Anyhow... I hope you all enjoy them as much as I enjoyed producing them. My heart is truly overflowing with love and gratitude. Especially to my dear brother, Greg and his wife, Lynn, who opened their lovely home to a cast of dozens to host Kelly and Aaron's wedding.

Aaron, although you've been a part of our family for a few years, I can tell you that now it's different. Better. For Real. And your dear family, too. Our time together was short but precious.

God Bless you all!

xoxo

Cindy

wedding bells

Not much time for blogging lately...been busy with our daughter Kelly's wedding. Now that the dust has settled and the happy couple is on their honeymoon, I've finally had a chance to check out some of my many photos from the past few weeks. I focused mainly on candids of family and friends and quirky little details, but I was able to sneak in beside the photographer to quickly capture this shot. It truly was a lovely wedding...graciously hosted by my brother Greg and his wife Lynn in their beautiful garden. I cannot begin to express my gratitude to them.


Kelly and Aaron planned the whole thing themselves, right down to their sweet, heartfelt vows and Lord of the Rings music, piped in from Kelly's iPad. At the last minute, as we were waiting to process down the stone steps next to the waterfall/pond, nephew Danny, in charge of music, informed us that the iPad had overheated in the hot sun. Yikes! He quickly downloaded the music from his cellphone and saved the day.

More later...

5 facts about me

The other day Kim and Xanthe invited us to join them in a "linky" party.

You know, you can tell a great deal about a person by the books on their shelf (okay, so I keep my Honda Owner's Manual in the glove compartment, but it is a book).

With that in mind, here's a random sampling - in literary form - of five facts about me:

1. I am Roman Catholic. Born and raised...and kinda re-born in recent years.
2. I am a huge Dennis Prager fan. I podcast his radio shows and listen whenever I can to his wisdom and clear thinking on assorted issues. My favorite is his Happiness Hour every Friday. I've just begun his newest book on my Kindle, Still the Best Hope.
3. I drive a Honda mini-van. I used to call it the Mommy-mobile. It has over 100,000 miles on it and it's on its second transmission, after years of hauling kids to school and swim team practice, camping and summer vacation trips. It seems like a big vehicle now that the girls are grown up and on their own...but our two bikes fit in nicely.
4. I love donkeys. For that matter, any critter with a sweet face. It's been that way since I was a little girl.
5. I don't enjoy cooking. I eat pretty healthy, though, for the most part. TBQH, what really attracted me to this cookbook - besides the South Beach thing - was the "super quick" part. 

I did some quick editing with RadLab: Lights On, Oh Snap!, Highlight Separator, Vario-Tone, Divine Light, and SX-70 (reduced in strength-30%, and flare-50%) Then I grabbed Kim's kk_autumnBurst - Soft Light 70%, and masked that layer in the center, where the books are.

excerpts from a family history

A retired lawyer "with a mind like a steel trap," Dad was a top-notch researcher with attention to detail and an innate desire to do no less than excellent quality work. Several years ago he had watched my mother complete her own genealogy project, learned the ins and outs from her, and then took off from there. He studied the book, Italian Geneological Records, by Trafford Cole, an American genealogist living in Italy, then arranged with Mr. Cole to do the necessary research there. I remember the day he showed me the wealth of photographed documents dating back to 1750, uncovered amongst voluminous archaic records, housed in obscure locations all over Italy. Dad combined these findings with the fruits of his own extensive internet research, in addition to stories told by his parents and other long-gone family members, and compiled a family history that is a joy to read, replete with beautifully crafted scrapbook pages.

Dad spent his days perfecting his craft: studying the work of other scrapbook artists, and then cutting, pasting, and assembling his own stories, photos and embellishments into elegant layouts. His favorite books were Scrapbooking Your Family History and Creating Keepsakes' Scrapbooking Family Heritage. He also loved translating the many documents and letters he assembled (painstakingly, with magnifying glass in hand, as many were handwritten and in dialectical Italian!).

Here are a few of my favorite pages:

These picture postcards are of my grandfather,

who was an officer in the Italian Cavalry during World War I.

After the war, Grandpa spent some time in a convalescent home, recuperating from influenza.

He was awarded three medals for his service during the war.

Grandpa emigrated to the United States in 1920.

Dad was able to find both a photo of the actual ship he sailed on

and an image of the ship's manifest, where he is listed with the other passengers!

Here Dad tells the story of how his parents met. It was love at first sight...literally!

These are Dad's maternal grandparents.

My grandfather's only brother, Pasquale also served during the war. 

He later became a Fascist, spending some time in Egypt during the early 1920's...

...where he visited the newly discovered King Tut's tomb!

How cool it that?!

These are all Pasquale's own snapshots.

Dad photocopied each page, and then made over a dozen sets, which Mom finally compiled into scrapbook albums for each of us kids and grandkids, and some cousins of Dad's as well.

He was just starting to work on his own story, but was unable to complete it. I plan to finish it, with Mom's help...and Dad's blessing, I am sure.

"when i'm gone you can have all this stuff"

So, after all these months, I finally decided to tackle this box of Dad's scrapbooking supplies and start putting them away. I can still hear his voice, "When I'm gone you can have all this stuff..."

Hey Dad, would you be surprised to discover that the most treasured item amongst the stickers, stamps, rub-ons and embellishments is an old receipt from Archivers? Funny how a seemingly insignificant bit of ephemera can generate some of my most treasured memories.

You see, a few years ago, when I was a stay-at-home mom and the girls were in school, Dad and I would enjoy shopping trips together: we would clip Michaels and Hobby Lobby coupons from the Sunday Denver Post, grab our JoAnn mailings, and head for the craft stores. I'm pretty sure my 80+year-old dad was a rarity amongst the young female scrapbookers there. It became a regular routine, until he had amassed enough "stuff" to cover the ping-pong table in their basement. He "got" the part about collecting supplies. You fellow artists know what I mean.

Dad got interested in scrapbooking when he saw what I was doing. I soon found myself teaching my retired Dad the ins and outs of this passion of mine. He always was an artist at heart anyway, so it was pretty easy to teach him.  I always loved to show him and Mom my latest layout; Dad would always ask how I did this or that technique. I would teach him, share my supplies with him, and then we would shop together so he could build his own stash. He loved to master new techniques and then apply them to his ongoing geneology/scrapbook project.

Stay tuned for a peek at Dad's pages...