Life on the Road

This is the fourth in a series of “Photo Project” themes being posted as part of a contest over at Two Moms in a Blog (go check it out!). 

The assignmet for today was to dislay any photo project, past or present.

The first thing I thought of was the collage of auto advertising for our business that I made from cars in the parking lot at our national convention in Dallas back in July:

This was something we used in our sales team newsletter, to help show the options in advertising - as well as the dedication of those who are successful in the business.

This is the third in a series of “Photo Challenge” themes being posted as part of a contest over at Two Moms in a Blog (go check it out!).

Today’s theme is:

Saddest Moments

Wow, not your usual topic, eh?  The point, they say, is to remember that these moments were sad but that we did get through them.

The saddest time in my life so far was losing my father in January 2003.  (Yep, for those of you with a scorecard that’s just a year before the happiest moment.  Busy decade…)

I know lots of people never know their father, or lose him very young, so we were blessed to have had him at all.  But among our peer group (I was in my early 30’s, my sister still in her 20’s), most people still had (and in fact have) active and involved parents.  One of the comments I heard most from the caregivers when I was helping him through the last couple of years was, “But he’s so young!” (it started at age 59).

So anyhow, this photo is my sister delivering the eulogy at his memorial service.  It’s not the best photo, per se, but of all the photos of the service, this is the only one that really caught an emotion. 

To remember the happy times…  This is my sister again, with my son Nick and my dad, just two years earlier.  We had this enlarged and framed for the service.

I love you and miss you, Daddy.  But I know you are happier now, and at peace in the arms of Jesus…

Just wanted to share a couple of cute things I’ve run across online recently:

Elf Yourself

This is a fun/silly activity - see my kids elfed! 

Free Baby Stuff Giveaway!

The folks over at Our Blessed Arrows are preparing for a military transfer next spring, so they’re clearning out the inventory from their online shop by having weekly giveaways on their blog - just comment to enter.  This week’s giveaway is for a pair of Pedoodles baby or toddler shoes.

Happy beginning of the holiday season…  Regardless of the fact that Christmas stuff has been in stores since Halloween!  ICK!!  LOL

This is the second in a series of “Photo Game” themes being posted as part of a contest over at Two Moms in a Blog (go check it out!).

This one is called “See My Name in Lights,” and the challenge was to spell your name out of something around the house. 

Here’s Champion-Photo-Gamer Nick’s creation:

That’s a carrot “N,” cobs of corn and an apple for an “i,” most of one of our famous Buttermilk Pies as “c,” miniature marshmallows in a “k” . . . and Nick! 

This is the third in a series of “Photo Project” themes being posted as part of a contest over at Two Moms in a Blog (go check it out!).  All of them are based on projects from the Kodak Ideas Gallery.

I know as mom I quickly got overwhelmed with the “art” and “projects” Nick created - in and out of school.  You hate to lose the precious memory, but you just CANNOT keep everything!  As it happens, I stumbled upon the same idea that is being suggested today: 

Photograph them! 

Then you can keep a couple of selective things (hopefully flat ones! LOL), and the rest can live on digitally.

For instance, here is Nick’s Gingerbread House Masterpiece from a couple of years ago, when our local Safeway held a workshop:

And here is a beans-on-a-map chart of volcanic activity on the world.  How would you save it even if you wanted to?!

These two are some of our earliest and favorites.  Unfortunately the colors don’t seem to be cooperating for screen viewing, as they were actually integrated into a complete project and formatted for that.

This is a model of a sample ocean floor, with all the major features sculpted in a special clay Nick made, then filled with colored water.

And this last one is a sculpture replica of an Anasazi Cliff Dwelling.  This was really fun, and Wolf actually made one, too. 

 Okay, I confess, I still have these last models stored.  As great an idea as this photo project album is, some things are worth keeping in 3-D. 

This is the second in a series of “Photo Project” themes being posted as part of a contest over at Two Moms in a Blog (go check it out!).  All of them are based on projects from the Kodak Ideas Gallery.

Today’s project is a Photo Memory Card Game.

This project “is a fairly simple one,” she says!  HA!

I had pretty much decided I was not up to doing this… Printing so many pictures, not to mention backgrounds (is my color printer even working?), then precise measuring, cutting, gluing, laminating…  Bleah!  I don’t think I have the time, the energy, or the “craftiness” that project requires as written.

Then Nick decided to take a break from chores and sort out his Yu-Gi-Oh deck for the ten millionth time.  Ah, ha!

His “good deck” is all protected in a set of little sleeves.  The uniform backs keep the play fair, and you just slide the card in…

Or the wallet-size photo, as it turns out…  Hooray!  An almost-instant Memory Game for Jewel to play!  We used only 12 cards (2 each of 6 photos), since she’s only 2 1/2 and this is a new thing.  (Another bonus - it will be a snap to add more, change them out, etc.).

This is the first in a series of “Photo Game” themes being posted as part of a contest over at Two Moms in a Blog (go check it out!), with today’s episode Guest Hosted over at The Day of a Mom.

This is a Photo Scavenger Hunt - here’s my collection:

- something cold:  Ice cream
- something hot:  Hot peppers (hiding there behind the temple piece of the sunglasses)
- something soft:  Guinea Pig, the fluffy cat
- something hard:  Fossils (2 of them, back by the dumbell)
- something heavy:  Dumbell
- something light:  Feather
- something dark:  The XBox game is “Gauntlet: Dark Legacy”
- something bright:  Flashlight
- something crafty:  Nick’s recent photo project
- something tasty:  Leftover Halloween candy (still tasty since it hasn’t gotten totally stale yet!)
- something sweet:  Miss Jewel!
- something cool:  Nick’s cool shades

 What do you say?  Fair interpretations, right?

This is the first in a series of “Photo Project” themes being posted as part of a contest over at Two Moms in a Blog (go check it out!).  All of them are based on projects from the Kodak Ideas Gallery.

Today’s project is the Holiday Accordion Book with Pockets:

I decided to turn Nick (13) loose on this one, to make Christmas gifts for the family.  In fact I had just gone to pick up our family photos from this year’s venture, and Nick had school pictures done from the school where he has his band classes, and Iwas trying to think of a unique way to give them to my mom, my sister, etc.  Perfect!

For simplicity of construction, and since I don’t have any little frou-frou to put in them anyway, we went for a “pocketless” version.  For the transition to a kids’ project, we used construction paper for the accordion as well as the picture trim, with largely hand-made and hand-drawn decorations.

Thanks for the motivation to get some things checked off my Christmas shopping list!  (Good thing they don’t read my blog, eh?  LOL) 

Sure, I’m a sucker for the “sign up for our newsletter and be entered to win…” shtick on websites.  Who knew I might actually win something?!

I got an email from Beloved Embroidery telling me that I had won their recent drawing! 

     I got two very cute Candy Cane Holders, a polar bear (above), and St. Nicholas (or Santa, for those of you inclined that way) (below).  They’re really adorable in person - I was actually surprised how substantial and well-made they are.

Thanks, Nancy!  What a lovely way to begin my holiday decorating … I haven’t even found the boxes of my decorations yet, in the chaos of bringing everything from storage! 

There was also another vendor who offered some graphic design as an additional prize, but I haven’t heard back from her.  I’ll keep you posted… 

Man, those Two Moms in a Blog get the good stuff to give away!  This month (coming up) it’s a Kodak EasyShare 5300 All-In-One Printer - a $200 Value!

They are actually having 14 “projects” throughout the month, each of which earns you a chance to win this bad boy (and other cool prizes along the way!).  Check out their Contest Page for the schedule, and links to each project as they are posted.

If you win, remember that you heard it from me, okay?