Learning new things

I’ve been so busy learning new things that it was the 4th of September before I sat down to try to get started on the business of recording them.

I mentioned in an earlier post that I was looking to something fairly slick this year, with a busy month ahead.  I had a digital project in mind then, with pages ready set up for a photo and a few words to be slotted in.  I began by taking the easy route, which starts with Anna Aspnes’ Artplay Palettes.  I’ve used them before and like her style, which makes it easy to create something reasonably original in no time at all.

I chose the Artsy palette first, liking the minimal use of figurative images and thinking that I could switch around the colours if I wanted.

As well as a collection of brushes, transfers, overlays and suchlike, it comes with a set of papers ready to go.

Whilst I was choosing which palette to go with, I noted they were all on sale last Friday, so I snuck in a second collection, Escape, which also came with papers and stuff.

A bonus mini palette, High Five, dropped into my basket free of charge, as I checked out.

With that little bundle of tricks in a folder ready to go, I had only to wait for a few spare hours when I could sit at my desk and play.

I started by resizing 30 pages to 5 x 5 inches and putting them into an order which mixed them up yet gave some kind of coherent look over a double page spread.

I began with 1st September, recording my changing priorities around here.  Though I had all the components there on hand, it still took me quite some time to come up with an arrangement I was happy with.  Photoshop was chugging away with so many files open on the desktop, I feared it would come crashing down at one point!

Fresh from the satisfying glow of finishing one page and keeping my fingers firmly crossed, I went straight onto page 2.  On the 2nd September, we were completing the next stage of our Global Entry applications.  One question is entitled “Travel History” and asks for a list of countries visited in the last five years. Well, what a good job that one of us keeps a record of such things

Even so, I was still shocked at the total number!

I already blogged about what I was doing on September 3rd.  When I began the page, I couldn’t get the photo to work at all on the page I’d save as #3 so quickly pulled up #4, a plain page and started from scratch.  I was beginning to feel more confident, remembering some Photoshop tricks I’d learned and was adjusting all kinds of settings to get the look I wanted.

So page four came together in a wink!

What will go on page five, then?  Right now, I have no idea.  I’ve added a few scribbles in my notebook and will weight up the possibilities tomorrow morning, when I’m ready to record it all.  Here’s hoping I can still remember the amazing things that can be done with Photoshop, or page five might have exactly the same story as page four.

The First of September

An email dropped into my Outlook folder today, reminding me that just like every other year, it’s the start of Shimelle’s “Learn Something New Every Day” project.

 

Amidst all the fuss and excitement of some December-related products which I was trying to avoid (It’s SEPTEMBER for heaven’s sake!) Shimelle’s email arrived like a breath of fresh air.

I try to do a different take on the project each year, embracing a new technique as part of the “learn something new” concept.

So I’ve worked completely digitally, printing each page out and binding the whole thing together but I’ve also worked in a hybrid style, printing some elements out and then building a page with scissors and glue.  I find it therapeutic to get glue on my hands!

A couple of years ago, I decided to do the whole thing without using my computer at all.  That was really enjoyable and the book I made is one of my all time favourites.

I haven’t always completed the project, though.  A couple of years ago I used an app on my phone to create a daily page but I found little pleasure in that process and my good intentions fell by the wayside long before the month was out.

So what format will my LSNED Journal take this year, then?  Right now, I have no idea.  As Shimelle says, the day has to be lived and reflected upon before it can be recorded.   This evening, I’ve identified today’s story and scribbled down a few notes in my diary.  Maybe tomorrow, I’ll crack open a new notebook and create a page around them.  With a busy month ahead of us, though, whatever I choose to do will have to be simple!

Right now, I’m thinking that I might make use of some digital templates similar to this one.  Then, I can simply drop in a photograph each day and add a few thoughts.  Did you know you can buy such things, ready to go?

I think I need to go shopping.  Without leaving my chair, of course

Another book on the shelf

I have completed my Road Trip journal.

I finished it yesterday but as I was about to put the spiral binding on the pages, I found a couple of gaps with post-it note reminders of things still to include.

I mean, I really did need to record the blood-red stain of a footprint on the carpet by the bed in the Charleston hotel, didn’t I?

And although I’d intended to draw a picture of the two very vocal guys at the First Confederate White House and left a space for it too, I hadn’t actually  done the drawing.

But here it is, finished, and I’m wishing that I had a rather larger wire binding for it, because it’s a bit stuffed!

Still, I squeezed it into place alongside all the other travel journals on my shelf in the studio.

The trouble is, now I need a bigger shelf too!

Progress

I can’t believe it’s the 1st of August today.  Just where did July go?

I thought it was about time I began the job of completing my Road Trip journal so sorted through a few bits of ephemera, gathered my stuff and got going this morning.

I haven’t got too much still to do, but wanted to make sure I continued in the same style as I had started, so I took a look through the pages I’d completed so far.

It was a great trip and I realise I’d already forgotten quite a few of the small details which make our trips so special.

What a good job then, that I have my scribbly notebook which is a useful reminder of all those little details, like the sign outside the church in between Vicksburg and Shreveport which announced:

“7 days without God makes 1 weak”

Not to mention the slogan on the T shirt, worn by a woman at the filling station where we refuelled.

“Have you clucked and tucked today?”

Well? 

Answers in the comments, please!

Treasure

We have the best friends.  No argument, no question of that. There are some we see fairly frequently and others we see only occasionally.  We’d not seen Jordi for several years though we keep in touch and when we do get together, we take over where we left off, wherever that might have been.

We share a joy in so many similar things.  I know what will float her boat (which is why we carried an enormous bag of Cadbury’s chocolate and Bassetts Liquorice Allsorts all afternoon) and she knows what hits the spot with me.

We had shared our planning of this year’s Road Trip with her, because we knew that she had a great deal of first hand experience of some of the places we’ll visit.  She made recommendations, spoke to her friends and gathered information for us which she shared in a long email conversation.

She also made us a little gem of a book with details of three cities inside.  Our own, hand made guidebook, tailor made for our trip and jam-packed with personal recommendations.

Each listing comes with a few special details, gathered from those who know about these things.

And the whole thing is an absolute joy to read!

She even left some pages “intentionally blank” for us to add a photo, perhaps, or our own observations.  I can hear my Mum saying “Ooooh, I don’t want to spoil it!”

No guidebook or online forum can possibly offer this kind of detail – what a treasure!

The thing is, our friends know us rather well.  When it came to choosing where to have dinner last night, Jordi suggested Cabana, a “nuevo latino” style restaurant she thought would suit us well.  She was right, too.  Not only did we enjoy the best Margaritas (!) the food was great too – not that we could manage it all.  The starter in the picture above – Baccalaitos (Crispy-golden salt codfish cakes, served with an avocado salsa) was enough for the three of us really and main courses were equally enormous.  But fresh, tasty and served with great spirit – loved it!

It was only when we returned to the hotel later and I was blogging that a little bell rang in my head.  Hadn’t we been here before?

My hero and I racked our brains to think…we didn’t think so and yet…I searched my blog for details but found none.

Then it came to me.  I spotted the three locations of Cabana: Midtown Manhattan, a couple of other NY listings I wouldn’t have been and Del Ray Beach in Florida…of course.  Our friends Jane and Allan took us to the Cabana in Del Ray Beach when we were with them and sure enough, the restaurant we recalled (and have frequently referred to because of the amazing cocktails and fabulous food) is one and the same Cabana.

Good grief.

Did I say we have great friends who know us well?

(See you in Charleston later, Mary!)