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Project 365 photos 11-17

20131118-093137.jpg 11/365  I was taking photos of the rake in the leaves to practice with my camera and the dog wandered in to glare at the rake.

20131118-093620.jpg 12/365.  Beyond frost this morning, straight on to icy.  I caught the ice on the fallen leaves with my iPhone using Camera+.  I messed about with it in Snapseed on the iPad.

20131118-094041.jpg 13/365.  Pickle the cat deciding whether to come in or not.

20131118-094419.jpg 14/365.  You always knew there was a feet shot coming!  Here it is, with pom poms.

20131118-094741.jpg 15/365.  The finished pom pom fox hiding out in the woods.

20131118-095232.jpg 16/365.  A cloudy day peeking up at the bird feeder.

20131118-095639.jpg 17/365.  I spotted the climbing pink leaves behind the bins and had to snap a photo with the phone.

How was your week?  I think I need to make a promise to all of us to stop with the leaf photos!  The very windy day yesterday took care of that as it blew most of them down.

I want to take more indoor photos on my camera, so that I can get some lovely Christmas photos (yes, I really need a month of practice).

Are you thinking of Christmas already?  I have to plan a way out as I have parcels to send to the UK.  There is also Christmas cake to make and mincemeat for mince pies.  I have a few presents bought and I am feeling quite smug!

Happy Monday, see you tomorrow x

Today


First there were these clouds as we looked forward to a windy, wet, warm, crazy weather day.

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Then we baked and ate these Cranberry Orange breakfast buns. I made them yesterday and kept them in the fridge overnight. If you are even thinking of making them, you must, they are delightful!

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The weather took a turn for the windier and wetter.

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Following the crazy in the weather department, we climbed over this tree on the trail.

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In the stream this pretty leaf was taking a dip in the reflections.

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Over the little bridge, no trolls in sight.

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Ye Olde Tappe

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No trolls under the green bridge.

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Home to pretty pink leaves.

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Hope you had a fab weekend and have a good week ahead.

10 things I have learnt this year

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1. Pom poms can be made into anything!  Look I made a fox, don’t know what he says though…  I have also made a ghost and a caterpillar and I have lots more pom pom items in my brain, just waiting to pop out.

2. It is a good idea to use a diary with a blank page with each weekly date page, now I can make even more lists to ignore, except these are in the diary, taunting me until I actually clean the bathroom.

3. I have learnt how to use photoshop for useful stuff, basic stuff, but I can do things using the dreaded photoshop now that I couldn’t even a few months ago.  I mean I can put pictures on a page and add text.  I can even add text to the picture if I want to be that daring.  Yay me!

4. I have learnt how to use a ton of photo apps on the phone/iPad.  I have since learnt to use them less.

5. Not so much learnt from courses, apart from you don’t have to do every course out there.  I signed up for a few courses at the beginning of the year expecting miracles to happen when I had completed them.  Mega sales on Etsy, blog stardom, photography genius.  Expectations too high?  A little.  Well,  I learnt after much scribbling and thinking about said scribbles and notes, that the best way is to just do it.  There it is again.  I do refer back to the more useful courses as I ‘just do it’, but it is mainly a case of getting on with blogging, photography, selling stuff and picking up information as I go.  Places I constantly refer back to are JustB Blog school,  Click it Up a Notch and Create and Thrive.

6. Writing a blog post a day is sometimes really hard, really really hard.  Hence the many photo heavy posts lately…

7. Getting mail, actual mail, from someone you actually know is still one of the best things ever.

8. Sitting at the table with a sketchbook, pens and my kids is a great time together.

9. I am still the slowest reader in the whole world.

10. I don’t like getting magazines on the iPad.  I never read them, I need them on the table so I can just grab it and flick through, have a quick read and put it down again.  I have about three issues of The Simple Things on my iPad and I can’t even do a simple thing like read them (see what I did there! Ha).

What have you learnt this year?

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Lots and lots of Pom Poms.

I have been making pom poms all week, it feels like it is all I have been doing all week (I have done other things, honest).  I still have a few to make and then I get to sew them together into a _____?  Can you guess?  It is a competition entry and I am totally making it up as I go along, so fingers crossed everyone please.

What are you making?  Do tell.

Catseatdogs wrap bracelet

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Wrap bracelets are one of my favourites pieces to make and to wear. They are super comfortable, can be layered up for a more dramatic look. I can make them with sparkle beads or earthy wood and clay beads and I love them both and both like to be worn together or alone.

I think the best part is choosing the beads I am going to use. In fact I am about to make a blue ombré effect wrap and I can’t wait to get the beads out to get started. I will share when I have made it, I see it starting with cream and ending with navy.

This bracelet  sitting on a pumpkin is a chunky casual wrap made with wood, lucite, grey mother of pearl and some gorgeous blue snake beads. One of the constants in these bracelet is that they all fasten with a careful chosen vintage button, many of which are mother of pearl, all of which are lovely.

I like to wear jewelry, and bracelets are my pieces of choice in the Autumn and Winter, lots and lots all layered up.

If you like, pop over to my Etsy shop or my Facebook page to see more.

Project 365 Photos 4-10

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4/365

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5/365

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6/365

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7/365

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8/365

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9/365

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10/365

Ten photos done, only 355 to go!  Still sounds a lot, even to a shutterbug such as myself!  Some days I hardly get a shot at all and some days I can’t decide which to use.  Yesterday (10/365) was a decision day.  It was such a beautiful day I think I could have pointed my camera in any direction and got a lovely shot.  I posted more from the day as part of my regular Ten on the 10th post.

Are you doing the Project 365 challenge?  How is it going?  I am happy to be using my Canon Rebel on manual for some of the photos I am posting and quite proud of myself!  Some will always come from the iPhone 4 just because it is often all I have with me.  The frosty leaf for 8/365 is a perfect example of this, by the time I had gone to fetch my camera the frost would have melted and I am not sure I could have got that close with my camera either.

The ‘selfie’  was taken on the phone using the ‘Incredibooth’ app for a bit of fun!

I can’t help myself, I have to mess about with some of the apps out there, they are too much fun to resist.  The heart pendant used the ‘A Beautiful Mess’ app and the woods in the first photo was taken in ‘Oggl’.

Are you following any themes?  I have decided on ‘Selfie Thursday’  but apart from that, I am just snapping whatever I find.

I am managing to blog every day for National Blog Post Month too.  November is turning out to be a busy one, but a creative month too, so no complaints here. See you tomorrow!

Ten on the 10th November 2013

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What a fabulous day for ten on the 10th November edition!  Not too cold, sun out and sky blue.  Check, check and check!    We had arranged to meet some friends at Tower Grove Park, St Louis and the trees were in full Autumnal colour.

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Thanks to Tower Grove Park for being the ideal backdrop for my photos today.  I hope you had a great weekend and are looking forward to the week ahead.
I never got to read the weekend paper or my copy of Mollie Makes which arrived Saturday, so that gives me something to read in the week.

Six word Saturday

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The only reason we rakes leaves in our garden is so we can jump in the pile! Then they stay on the grass as a natural mulch over the winter.
Don’t bag them, play in them! Hey, that’s another six worder.

Have a lovely weekend and don’t forget your six word Saturday!