The key to happiness

Four weeks in and I am really enjoying the Beyond Layers e-course, the course is based on two emails a week, the first one shares a thought and inspiration for the week and the second one is more practical with things to create.
For day 7 Kim’s challenge got me thinking, we were asked:
“What makes you happy?” for me corny as it may sound my family makes me happy, no matter how bad everything is outside or how upset I get the “grounding” factor in my life is my husband and two kids. I also have a fantastic extended family and friends all of whom are just so supportive that I could not imagine being without any of them.

A Mother’s love is something that no on can explain,
It is made of deep devotion and of sacrifice and pain,
It is endless and unselfish and enduring come what may
For nothing can destroy it or take that love away . . .
It is patient and forgiving when all others are forsaking,
And it never fails or falters even though the heart is breaking . . .
It believes beyond believing when the world around condemns,
And it glows with all the beauty of the rarest, brightest gems . . .
It is far beyond defining, it defies all explanation,
And it still remains a secret like the mysteries of creation . . .
A many splendoured miracle man cannot understand
And another wondrous evidence of God’s tender guiding hand.

~Helen Steiner Rice~

Apart from my family, reading and music also make me happy, as does photography 

 Kim then suggested that whenever you are feeling a little blue, a little uninspired, a little blah…  refer to your list…  It just may give you the boost you are needing. I know that when I feel this way seeing my kids always makes it feel so much better.


Until next time......................................................

A day to remember

Kim Klassen’s Beyond Layers course made me smile when I saw the post for Day 5 and 6, if you know a little about me you will realise that I have been documenting my family life for Project Life since January 2012 (so memory gathering on a big scale!)
Kim said, “If you were to take 6 images to represent your day, to place in a time capsule to look at again in years to come, what would you shoot?” I decided to use six of the photos I took on our visit to the Olympic Village in London on Sunday. We were then encouraged to do a storyboard of those shots. So this is what I came up with, thank you Kim for sharing the storyboard templates, they are great :-)


Kim Klassen’s Beyond Layers course made me smile when I saw the post for Day 5 and 6, you just need to take a look at the name of my blog and if you know a little about me you will realise that I have been documenting my family life for Project Life (so memory gathering on a big scale!)
Kim said, “If you were to take 6 images to represent your day, to place in a time capsule to look at again in years to come, what would you shoot?” I decided to use six of the photos I took on our visit to the Olympic Village in London last May. We were then encouraged to do a storyboard of those shots. So this is what I came up with, thank you Kim for sharing the storyboard templates, they are great and this brings back such great memories.

1. We travelled on the train up to London, not a regular occurrence for my kids.
2. When we reached Stratford the “guides” gave us a helping “hand” finding our way to the event, there was such a party atmosphere once we got off the train :-)
3. The Olympic stadium itself and all the colourful tiles, my kids had a great time playing here during our walk about the village.
4. Inside the stadium, London Prepares for 2012.
5. Enjoying watching the athletics, cheering on the competitors, despite the bitterly cold weather. It definitely did not feel like a day in May!
6. The home straight on the track to London 2012.

What would your six images be if you did a time capsule of your day?

Six Little Words

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. But, what about six?

In November 2006, writer and editor Larry Smith issued a challenge to fans of his Web publication, Smith Magazine (http://www.smithmag.net/). Inspired by Ernest Hemingway’s legendary shortest of short stories (“For sale: Baby shoes, never worn”), Smith asked his readers to describe their lives in six words. The Six-Word Memoir contest officially ended after a month, but the stories continued to be entered even now five and a half years later! He now continues online to spark the creativity of aspiring writers. “There is inspiration everywhere,” he says. “Even if you don’t think you’re a storyteller, you are!”. Little did I know until now that there is a series of bestselling books on the subject and that the project has been featured in numerous magazines and tv and radio programs.

This was Day 3 of the Beyond Layers course I am participating in and Kim gave us a photographic challenge which was:

“Consider adding your six-word memoir to a photo using the type tool in photoshop. Perhaps a photo of yourself… or any photo that feels like you.” 

Well selfies are not something I intend doing online and summing oneself up in six words sounded really daunting. At first I thought, well how can I do that, but then I realised that it can change day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute depending totally on how you feel at any point in time!
I ended up coming up with a few ~

• Mother, daughter, sister, wife, friend, forever
• Keeper and writer of family memories
• Enjoying life, learning as I go
• Mother, wife, home-maker, accountant, photographer,dreamer
• Fantastic family, great friends, happy me
• Aspiring photographer dreams of much more

and finally this one  

Thanks Kim this was fun, and quite thought provoking.
Everyone has a story to tell, so share.
One life. Six words. What’s yours?

Less is more

 

Day 2 of Beyond Layers arrived in the form of a photo challenge Kim encouraged us to be simplistic with the composition, basically…. less is more…. allow for some lovely negative space in the shot

I am not one for heavy handed textures in general, so this was perfect for me, it got me experimenting to a greater degree than I normally would with the textures themselves.Kim gave us a lovely subtle texture named “Awaken” to work with, and this is the only texture used in these two images. I liked the subtle change it made. The weather was pretty bad the day I did this, rain and then hail in the afternoon, luckily though as I arrived home the sun came out and the golden tones shone warmly on our garden. It made me dash for my camera and get a few shots of the rain drop laden plants.

 

[Rollover the images to see the Straight out of camera before shots] 

Fresh start for 2013

I'm a student in Kim Klassen's Beyond Layers II class but I haven't really participated for several months now, life just seemed to get in the way.  I have though read all the e-mails, but that is about it. Before I knew it several months had passed by and to be honest I just gave up! I know, I know practice is the only way to improve, hence this fresh start.

I think half the problem last year was I had tried to do too many projects at once, the main one which I did keep up with and so glad I did was Digital Project Life, where I took daily shots of my everyday life and have made up weekly scrapbooks. I am addicted to this and have started the same again for this year.

2013 will be my year of creative learning and I took the plunge and signed up for the next version of Kim's class which is called Beyond Beyond  or 2B as I have decided it is now time to actually DO something and learn how to edit the vast quantity of photos I take daily in a more artistic way. I also plan to catch up with Beyond Layers this year and post my thoughts and journey with both in this my NEW blog. Yes this is another thing I did not stick with, I had a Wordpress Blog which I started last year, I posted daily for several months, but as work and homelife became more hectic something had to give and the Blog became more of a chore, so I gave up on it. Hence this new start here on Blogger.