Thursday's Tried and True Pin: Ornament Reflections

I'm going to revive the idea of trying a Pinterest pin and posting the results each Thursday.

This week's pin was a partial success, and if nothing else, it was worth a laugh.

The goal was to take a reflection picture in an ornament.

The inspiration pin - I found that the picture for this pin didn't link back to the actual photographer's site, so I searched for the photographer on the watermark, Leilani Rogers. I couldn't find that exact picture, but there were other examples on her portfolio site. Definitely more professional than I would be able to create with my cell phone in my living room, but it was worth a shot (no pun intended), right?

The inspiration pin from Leilani Rogers.

So just before I dismantled the tree, I roped Crystal into a photo shoot. Here are just a few of the many pictures to demonstrate my hilarious results:

Warming up, trying to figure out how to see my face and still take the picture.

Worse, not better.....still trying......

Crystal joined me......now I'm frustrated and beginning to giggle.

Giggling leads to blurry picture, although now I've figured out how to hold the phone and see my face.

The best shot in the bunch......two faces, nearly smiling.....I'll take it! Just wish I had realized the background was just as important. Nice picture of the TV, huh?

Good, OK, now bring in the dog. Sorry that's blurry, let's try again......

.....and again and again. Oh, forget it, I'm laughing too hard to keep the phone still.

That got us laughing harder.....

And as I flipped the camera to get our pic in front of the tree, you can see the tears of laughter running down my nose!

So, my tried and true advice: Be patient, practice, and plan to take lots of shots for one useable one. But I'm glad I thought to take the shot before I sacked the tree for the year. I plan to play with this idea again next month while we're on vacation - maybe some beach reflections in sunglasses?

November Challenge #3: Sharing a Tradition

Today's challenge for the Counterfeit Kit is to do a project that includes a tradition.

Since I'm working on my December Daily, all my work is for events and thoughts that are yet to happen.  So I decided to pre-make a page for a tradition I'm sure to document, so I can just add pictures later.

This page will be a place to put pictures of our Christmas trees.  I love to decorate, so it's pretty safe to say that we'll have trees. I usually put up two big ones and then a bunch of smaller trees throughout the house. I've scaled back over the past couple of years since Junior was a puppy, but last year he proved to be 100% not interested in the test tree, so I know for sure that the tree tradition will continue.

I'll use these two pages for one day in my book.  I'll use one 8 1/2 x 6 page and one 2-up page for each day.

I used several pieces from Basic Grey Aspen Frost and cut them with a Fiskars tree border punch. Then I layered the cuts and added some Stickles to make them sparkle. The letters on the title sticker are from one of the BG Serendipity and Shine lines and were the perfect color.

The red block is for a tree picture. I punched a tree border across the top to match the rest of the page.

I didn't do much for the second page, so it can be flexible depending on the pictures I get.  I did lightly tack on a couple of my faux wood veneers, and I'm glad I decided to keep them flat. It will help to keep the bulk of the book down a bit. I want to have something blue and a reindeer on each spread, so this cut was my reindeer choice for these pages.

I'm excited for the month of December to get started, so I can start picturing how my book will come together.  To be honest, I probably won't do a lot of it as I go along, because I have so many other things I want to accomplish before the end of the year.  But I'll try to keep good notes and take lots of pictures, and then it will all come together in early 2013 - at least that's what we all hope for our projects, right?!

There's still time to add your own challenge and kit submissions to the November Mr. Linky.  Add your links so we can all take a look and get some inspiration!  And watch the Counterfeit Kit blog next month - I can't spill the beans about what December holds, but I think it's going to be a lot of fun. 

A Fun Surprise

A couple of weeks ago, I exchanged messages with someone on 2Peas, and then last week this happened.

It was such a great surprise, and I am adding all these items to my December Daily kit. 

I plan to add this exchange one day in my December Daily, too - it's just the kind of nice moment I'd like to remember about the season.

December Daily Progress

Hi Everyone -

While I haven't been posting much this month, I have done some work for my December Daily project.  I thought I'd take a few pictures to show some of the progress.

I got my binder and started punching new holes in all the pages I plan to use.

I love this binder because of the big d-rings. Lots of room for a month of pages.

My pages will be 8 1/2 x 6, using 12x6 page protectors cut down to size. I cut page bases from the Frosty Cabin stack. The facing page will be a 2- 4x6 pocket page. I've pre-cut some 4x6 pieces for journaling, pictures or decorating; If I get really lazy, I can just print 4x6 photos and slide them right into the protector.  I found these 3-up protectors at Target on clearance for $1/pack. I just cut off the top slot so they would fit.

My inspiration collection includes some really cool page inserts.  I decided to cut my Webster's Pages paper to that insert-size, rather than making them page bases.  I'll use those pieces as needed in the book, too.

 

The binder comes with these plastic envelopes.  Instead of buying inserts, I just covered the plastic with more Frosty Cabin papers.  These inserts are handy for holding cards and other ephemera, and I'll place them where they're needed throughout the book.

Another plastic envelope.  I can also use the outside of each folder as an extra page for pictures, journaling or decorating, depending on what I need.

I have pre-made a couple of base pages, too, but I'm not worried about doing many more.  I'll put them together as my daily events and thoughts come together.  I'll post one of those pages later this week when we post some challenge work. 

Until then, enjoy your family time and turkey hangovers!