waaaay old SB layout share: wildflower hike

I have no idea what happened, but this post has been languishing for months in Draft status-- oops! That's embarrassing; I could have sworn I posted it... anyway, here it is, finally:



 

Way back in March, I went hiking to Picacho Peak State Park (to refresh your memory, the photos are here: Desert Spring Wildflowers) and took at least 200 photos of the scenery, hummingbirds, and wildflowers.

 

I had so many really beautiful photos that I remember, it was tough to whittle them down to only enough for a two-page layout, but I decided to choose just a few really nice 'long shots' and some individual flower close-ups to make my layout. Below is the entire layout:

 



 



Both pages of the 2-page spread. The left-hand page is a traditional
12x12 layout, and the right-hand page is a pocket page protector.

Right-hand page, close-up view.

I didn't do much embellishing at all on the pocket page, because I wanted the focus to be on the flower photos. Pretty subtle patterned papers, just a couple tabs / tags, and two small stamped phrases.



Upper left corner pocket

This pocket contains a layered background cut with my Silhouette cutter; it's a sunburst pattern, although you can't see to much of it here. After I cut it, I think I used it as a stencil for gold spray ink, and liked the way it looked so much afterwards that I ended up using the 'stencil' itself behind this photo.



The left-hand page, a more 'traditional' 12x12 layout

On the left-hand page, I decided to showcase three of the 'scenic landscape' shots I really like. I used the same patterned papers, did a bit of inking and stamped the title, and while it's tough to see in this photo, the papers underneath the photos have the same gold spray ink on as the pocket on the right-hand page.


a third 'companion' page

 

I also decided to add in the map of the park, showing the area of the park where I took my photos. It's a bit wrinkled, lol, but I did want to keep it! I simply slid it into an 8.5 x 11 page protector, added my parking pass, and a journaling tag.

 

Seeing these pictures again after a few months makes me want to go hiking!! But considering it's only just barely gotten down below 100F high temps during the day, I think I'll wait a bit, lol!!



it's random photo time, courtesy of my iPhone camera

I have found out that having an iPhone camera means 'random' really is random in terms of the content, when I get them onto my computer and look through them-- lol! Here's a sampling (and of course, click for a larger photo):

taken at work, 8/7/15. 
Cute little lizard that found its way into the building hallway.
(I let him go outside in the flower bed)

taken on my way home from work, 8/14/15.

The photo above shows something we've often wondered, but now I have photographic evidence-- we have always wondered whether the storms go around the town, because it very rarely rains at our house. The clouds show storms to the east and west of town, but right in front of me, right over the town?? No clouds!!! HA! We were right! (okay, it does rain sometimes, but not nearly as often as its seems to other places.)

Yum!! grocery store display, 8/18/15

The appearance of the Hatch chiles mean that fall is coming soon... (eventually).

Hatch chiles are grown in Hatch, New Mexico, and are wonderful when roasted, peeled, and added to all sorts of dishes... the aroma coming from this display was heavenly! I did buy some, and grilled them yesterday. After grilling them, you 'sweat' them for a few minutes in a covered dish... then you peel off the charred skin and scrape out the seeds, and they're ready to use in cooking. We grilled out burgers, and the roasted chiles were a tasty burger topping. (unfortunately, I did the peeling / handling without gloves, and my hands were burning even after washing them a number of times, lol!) 

But, to have chiles on hand for topping a cheese crisp, a burger, or to add extra flavor to a grilled chicken breast? I'll do it! (but not until after buying some gloves, lol!)

apple chicken salad, 8/26/15

This pic is of a new recipe that I will definitely be making again-- made with my newest kitchen toy, a spiralizer. The recipe was originally for tuna, but since I don't like tuna, I changed it around to use grilled chicken with romaine lettuce, a spiral-cut Granny Smith apple, chopped pecans, and dried cranberries, held together with a dressing that included mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, and lemon juice. It tasted as good as it looked!

geez-- looking at the next photo, you'd think that the only thing I take pictures of is food, lol! But the camera on my phone is useful for when I'm out shopping...

German whole-grain mustard, 8/29/15

I actually saw this mustard when I was out shopping for scrapbook supplies, if you believe that! Well, sort of-- one of the places I hit up for SB deals is Tuesday Morning, which is a close-out sort of store; you can sometimes find good deals. They also have kitchenware, home decor items, linens, and some gourmet foods. I sent a picture of it to Tom to ask if he thought he might like to try it.  (I did buy the mustard, and it is very tasty!)

But wait! I have been doing some scrapbooking and crafting too, though--

SB layout in process, 8/24/15

I have found that my phone camera is useful for scrapbooking, too-- I take pictures of photo placement and paper choices. I've found that looking at them on the phone gives a bit of a different perspective, and it helps me to make decisions. This photo placement picture is also helpful for me to remember for later, since I haven't finished this layout yet. (but I will, soon!)

distant storm, 8/31/15

Another phone weather pic from my commute home. Even after ten years, I am still fascinated by how far you can see out here in the desert, and especially when you can see a rainstorm off in the distance; it's just cool!

Next post: scrapping and card crafting!!  
(probably with a dose of randomness in there, too... lol!)

Calvinball- SB layout share

close-up of chipboard embellishment

Whenever I scrap, even if I get the page started fairly easily, there's usually some detail or part of the page that just seems to take forever to get done. If there's buttons on the page, I need to put thread in the holes; if there's sequins on the page, it takes me forever to decide just where to put them-- things like that. I always seem to think of something that takes extra-long to do, or is extra-detailed.

As an example: the idea for this layout came together really quickly; I saw a layout in the Calvinball gallery here, and knew I wanted to scraplift the page design. I even found the photos I wanted to use and chose the papers I wanted fairly quickly. Then, I had to decide how to embellish the page. I settled on chipboard swirls- like the one you see above. Only problem was, the chipboard swirls I had were silver and glittery. And that wouldn't work on my page, at all!

And what did I do? I tried to find something else in my stash of stuff that would work, but once I get fixated on something like that, nothing else looks quite 'right' to me. In the end, it took me a couple hours altogether, but: the chipboard swirls were gessoed, painted brown, then sponged with antiquing gel, all to make them fit with the vintage look of the papers I chose. 

So, here's the final completed page (click to enlarge):

About an hour for most of the page; plus about another hour all together for the chipboard. But the chipboard swirls look perfect! (well, now, they do, anyway-- lol!)

This page showcases one photo (2 copies) of a Costa's hummingbird that I took a couple weeks ago when I was hiking. I happened to see this hummingbird landing on 'his' tree-- hummingbirds pick a vantage point to land on and sort of 'survey' their territory-- so I set up shop right next to this shrub to see if I could get any decent photos of him. I managed to get a few 'okay' shots, but nothing too spectacular. An older gentleman saw what I was doing and waited for me to finish so he could get a few shots of him, too. He said he photographs hummingbirds at the Botanical Gardens and can sometimes take two or three hundred photos and only get maybe ten really good ones out of the whole bunch. So now, I don't feel quite so bad! 

 For this page, I printed the photo in color then turned it to sepia-toned and printed it again. The sepia photo shows a bit more detail of his feathers and how many (tiny, tiny, tiny) feathers he actually has-- which is crazy, considering these birds only weigh 2-3 grams total!! With a wingspan over 4 inches and a total length of 3.5 inches, they're practically all feathers! 

I'll post a few of the better photos I got of him in my next post; meanwhile, you can click HERE to see what a Costa's Hummingbird looks like close up. 

desert spring wildflowers- get read to scroll!! (photo heavy!!)

a couple of weeks ago, I got up insanely early on a Saturday (insanely early for me on a weekend, anyway-- before the sun rose) and headed south to Picacho Peak State Park, about 1 1/2 hours south, on the way to Tucson. I wouldn't ordinarily do such a thing but I had heard reports on the news that the spring wildflower bloom was the best it had been in the past 10 years due to the rain and winter temps we've been having. So, I figured I could sleep later!! 

We'd been to this state park once before, in 2007, I think (?) to hike to the top, but this time, I was going to meander around, look at wildflowers, and hopefully get some good photos. I took over 700 in the time I was there; you'll have to tell me what you think of them!

(and by the way, as always, click on any of the photos to make them larger- and hopefully even more impressive!)

  Enjoy!!

7:30 am, the sun just hitting the north edge--
this is looking towards the "Sunset Vista Trail Head" I believe. 

looking south, towards the peak. The left-most tip is actually where the longest trail goes to.
(Hunter Trail: steep and twisting, difficult rating.)
You should have gloves, because you need to pull yourself up via steel cables in a few places.
(I didn't make it all the way to the top when we hiked it, but Tom did.)

Saguaro & 'nurse tree' ocotillo. Saguaros grow sheltered underneath or around another plant
or tree till they get big enough to handle the wind, sun, etc.  Eventually they will
outgrow the nurse tree, or even outlive them, in the case of a mesquite or Palo Verde.

I didn't see too many birds (I heard a few), except for a couple hummers--
they were quick, but I did snag a few (poor) photos. Not sure what kind
this guy is; the sun is on the wrong side of him to get a good look.

Saguaro forest in the morning sun-- isn't it magnificent?? (9:00 am)

desert lupine, close-up.

Saguaros in a field of California poppies and desert lupines

Desert globemallow, pink variety (I think). Usually these are orange-r than this,
but I think it's the same species. The flowers are small, about as big as a 50-cent piece.
Reminds me of hollyhocks. You can see these (bushy) plants along the highway, too.

Not a flower, but flower buds on some sort of cholla cactus.

too bad I was too early to see the flowers-- this cholla is just loaded with flower buds.

a scenic vista, looking southeast.
(actually, this state park is right off the interstate, so you can actually see traffic on I-10
from the park. The horizontal line in the background is the interstate.)

I really like this one.
At the left, you can see just a bit of a Saguaro
skeleton sticking up out of the brush.

gorgeous views-- my photo composition skills couldn't do them justice.

yup, it's what you think it is- a snail shell. In the desert.
I was off the marked trail a bit, heading down a dry wash that had
obviously held water at one time or another. (thankfully, there
was NO rain anywhere in the forecast that day.)

Standing in that wash, looking uphill... another Saguaro skeleton.

again, I couldn't do the scenery justice, but I quite like this one--
it says something to me about the 'renewal' of nature, with the ephemeral
wildflowers alongside the hundreds-of-years-old Saguaro skeleton.
(sappy?? maybe. probably.)

another view of the hillside.

I found GOLD!! (haha!! I couldn't resist.) isn't it gorgeous??

These poppies are delicate looking!!
(I'm sure they're tougher than they look,
though, to make it in the desert.)
It was a bit breezy, so they didn't want to stand still.

So, the marked hike I went on (then went off of) to take all these pictures was only miles long, lol!! It took me, oh, maybe, 4 hours to piddle around in, on, and around that trail, and I took 245 photos in that time. (of course, quite a few of them aren't worth anything, photographically speaking)

All this is to say, I have quite a few more photos to post yet, so check back again soon. I've printed quite a number, too, so I can make a few (okay, quite a few, lol!) scrapbook pages.

thanks for accompanying me on my wildflower walk!

our prospective new neighbors are a hoot!! (lol!!)

So in the past few weeks we've heard some new, rather noisy neighbors around our house. They're not around very much; it seems like they're most active in the late afternoon / early evening time-frame, but I've also heard them a number of times very early in the morning-- when it's still dark out, even. I haven't complained about them, though, because really, they're more fascinating than annoying- at least to me, anyway. They sit in the oddest places, too-- we've seen them on the roof of our house, even! I have taken some photos of them, too, when I've been able to catch them in the act-- they stared, but didn't seem to mind it too much.

About now, you're probably wondering why I would do such a thing, think I'm extremely rude, and that we have really strange neighbors, right?? 

Well, you can judge for yourself... here they are:  

hahaha!! Did I have you going at all?? (probably not; I'm no good at jokes or telling stories...) It's a pair of great horned owls!! We started hearing them about a month and a half ago, just once in a while, but couldn't see them. Then, for a few days, they were around every afternoon just as it was getting dark. They would pick a vantage point on the peak or corner of one of the roofs, including ours, and do their hooting back and forth.

At first we only saw the one-- Tom saw it more often than I did, because he usually gets home from work earlier than I do, but I managed to see it/them a couple times, and even get some photos. (they're not the greatest, but hey-- at least it's photo proof that they were there!)

It was really cool to see them, and fascinating to actually watch them do their hooting... they sort of flip up their tail and puff up their chest as they do it, and it was kind of funny to see! Tom actually got a video of one with his tablet computer, I think... I'll have to see if I can edit and post it. (never done that before, so I'm not promising anything.) 

They're quite beautiful birds; very majestic looking. I read a bit about them in my trusty Roger Tory Peterson bird book, just enough to find out that the female is bigger than the male, and that they typically nest in January / February. Perhaps they were scoping out our neighborhood to see if they wanted to move in. (that would be so cool, if they did!!)

Here's a photo of the female (I think) in mid-hoot, two rooftops away from our house. They would talk to each other (and to Tom-- he had to see if he could get them to answer him, and they did) for quite a few minutes at a time, moving around from house to house. A couple times they were both very well hidden in one of the neighbor's trees, and if we hadn't seen them fly into the tree, we wouldn't have been able to see them at all. 

Here he is, right after take-off... blurry, but you can still tell that's what it is (at least I can, anyway, since I know what it is). It's pretty fascinating in an eerie sort of way to see them fly overhead, as well- their wing feathers are designed so they make little-to-know sound as they fly, so as to be better hunters. (A couple times they seemed to swoop kind of low over our heads, too, which was a bit unnerving!)

Unfortunately, we haven't heard them around for about a week or so-- maybe they didn't like our neighborhood after all-- maybe I was too much of a nosy neighbor! Or maybe that means the female is sitting on a nest; I'll be optimistic and hope for that. Either way, it was pretty neat while it lasted! (and it will make a neat scrapbook layout for the photo album.) 

November 2014- scrapping!!

since work has been so crazy, I haven't had much time, inclination, or creative energy to do any scrapping or crafting. But, I finally did get back into my craft room and finished a layout I started, maybe, nearly, a year (??) ago... and the layout is of a hike we went on 7 years ago! (my scrapping process is definitely not 'timely' by any stretch of the imagination, lol!)

We hiked to the top of Picacho Peak- which is between Casa Grande and Tucson- in April, 2007. Sometime last winter I made the base of the scrapbook pages, but never got around to finishing them up. 

On Black Friday 2013 I bought my Silhouette Cameo electronic cutting machine, but really don't have time to use it very often. I used it for the title, and knew I wanted to use it on this layout for the embellishments, as well. 

Aren't they perfect for this layout?? The Silhouette is an electronic cutting machine that cuts a design you make on your computer... I know it can do plenty of things I will never figure out, but I'm slowly figuring it out. This purchased cut file includes cactus, flowers, and rocks. You can make a design any size you want on the computer, and the Silhouette machine cuts it out! (if you don't screw something up, that is... not that that's ever happened to me, lol!)

I popped up a couple of the pieces with foam tape for dimension, and did some inking on the edges of the rock pieces. 

I had more photos than would fit onto just two pages, so I added two 6x12 pages in the middle to add more photos and journaling. See the squirrel there?? I had to add him into the pages- I could never forget about being bitten when I (stupidly) tried to feed it trail mix!! I did not try to hand-feed it though-- it grabbed my finger when I was trying to set the peanuts down on the ground for it.

Here's a close-up of the barrel cactus embellishment-- the Silhouette cut out the dark green pieces, I glued them to a lighter green background, and added more flowers and rocks.

So, this is my 7-year scrapbook page, lol! Over Thanksgiving weekend, I started printing pictures and designing some more layouts. Once my supervisor gets back from her maternity leave (two more weeks!!) I'll have a little more time and energy to scrapbook... hopefully!

random October 2014 pics...

birdwatching in the Riparian Preserve...
a little too early for migrating ducks, but not this for kildeer.

a bunny bath!! cute, isn't he??

our new creosote bush...
so we can get have 'after the rain' fragrance!

the newly (re)screened-in patio-- nice, isn't it??

 I haven't had time for much besides working (still going crazy on that front), but have taken some pics here and there... 

the view from the inside.
The cats can't hop up and sit anymore, but it's less obstructed.