Santa Monica Pier

(Click on my layout above for a closer view)

On Friday, my company (Spin Master Toys) had our summer picnic at the Santa Monica Pier. It was so fun! We had a chartered double-decker bus to take us to the pier, and they had a special, huge tent for our event. BBQ, photo booth, then they gave us a wristband to get onto any of the rides for free.  Silly me, I just took pictures!

A few fun observations: the carousel at the pier has been in continuous operation since 1922.  Although it has been moved, it's the same as I remember it as a child in the '50s.  Dozens of films, television shows, and music videos have been filmed at the Santa Monica Pier, including The Sting,  A Night at the Roxbury,  Iron Man, NCIS, Gilmore Girls, 24, and Chuck.

There's an amusement park at the end of the pier. It's called Pacific Park, which reminds me of the old Pacific Ocean Park, which was a short distance down the coast when I was a child.  Although I didn't go on any of the rides this trip, it looked like a good park, with lots of fun rides!

Little Red Car

My friend Mel asked me to photograph his little red Morris Minor last Saturday... well, actually, we are getting ready for a 'photo shoot'. I put that in quotation marks because I don't do 'photo shoots', I take pictures. But this is sort of going to be a photo shoot. Mel restores cars as a hobby, and this delightful 1953 English Morris Minor, he has lovingly restored in the theme of his favorite beverage: Coca Cola. Although the Coke details on this car are subtle, and mostly in the interior, he has a bundle of accessories, costumes, and Coca Cola stuff to put together a full-fledged photo shoot. So, We went downtown Moorpark early Saturday morning to 'scout locations'. (Makes me feel like a Hollywood location scout, LOL). We found the perfect spot. High Street, right across from the train station- the cutest little bistro and salon. Mel drove right up on the sidewalk, and I took some pretty good photos, if I do say so myself. So, in a few weeks when we actually shoot with a model and all the Coke stuff, we will be ready with the perfect site. (One cute feature of the car, is the vanity plate. It reads: "REFRSHG".)

Ventura

Bruce and I spent our anniversary day (July 8th) in Ventura. We had a lovely day, the weather was perfect, and we had a relaxing time near the ocean, and then staying at our favorite inn, the Pierpont.

I just wanted to scrap a few of my favorite photos from that day. Click on the image for a closer view!

Ernest E. Clark

I've done several layouts about my Grandpa Clark, but I wanted to do one with this more recent funky style. I'm in the process of organizing a family reunion and so have been looking at some of my old family photos. These are a few of the images of my Grandfather and his Father and siblings. The background is from a newspaper article from 1925 with a little blurb about Grandpa and one of his dramatic readings at the annual Cyrus Clark family reunion. My Grandfather was born in Benson, Utah in 1887, and passed away in Hollywood in 1978.

California State Fair

Here's the layout I created from some of my Fair photos... as usual, there were way too many photos, and way too little room to scrap them. But it was fun to make something fun & colorful. I actually created two versions.. one added a photo of me with my white award ribbon. It was just too busy, I was perfectly happy to eliminate it! After all, goats and bungee jumpers are more important!

The Fair

Yesterday Bruce and I attended the California State Fair in Sacramento. I entered their scrapbooking contest a couple of months ago, and won third place. They sent us free tickets to get in, and so we decided it would be fun to make the trip and check out the fair. We weren't disappointed! In fact, I had no idea it would be so amazing! I took scads of photos (what a shock) and the combination of beautiful day, colorful fair scenery, and luck gave me quite a few great shots.

One of the highlights of the day was meeting online scrapping buddy Tiff. We entered the contest together, and were excited that we both won prizes! I got 3rd place and she got an award of merit. I can't wait to scrap all of the fun photos... I'm sure you'll be seeing more about the fair in the next few days.

Alec & Jackson

For my son Alec's 26th birthday last month, I wanted to give him a photo of him and little Jackson. Since Alec & Alicia have been living in Utah, there haven't been all that many opportunities to take anything more than random snapshots of them together. I'm not really one to do photoshoots, and besides, I didn't want to alert Alec of my plans. So I went back through all of my recent photos, and found a picture from April that I thought had some potential. Alec, Alicia and Jackson had just returned from a week in Hawaii, and they flew into LAX and spent a few days here on their way back to Utah. Alec wanted Bruce & I to join him & Jackson for lunch at a favorite Mexican restaurant. Of course, I had my camera. Jackson was fussy and whiny...it's a bit disorienting to do all that travel, and then get dragged out to eat with Grandma & Grandpa! Alec was totally sunburned, and his face was darker than his bleached hair. Jackson's eyes were red rimmed, and his face was blotchy from crying. But I simply changed it to black and white, and played with my Photoshop levels to get just the right contrast and effects. I cropped it down a little bit, and added a sweet quote I found. Printed it at Costco, and had it framed. Alec was thrilled! I thought it turned out quite well.

More Yosemite

Here's the layout I did with some of my Yosemite photos (as it happens, I used all of the ones in my previous post!)

Originally I was very disappointed when I downloaded all of my photos to iPhoto... they seemed drab, some were out of focus, and the colors weren't as bright and true as I wanted them to be. It was such a bright day, and seeing as how I'm allergic to using the manual settings on my camera (ok, I don't know how to use them, I'm a rank amateur!) I found many of the photos were hazy from being backlit, or they were shadowy. But it didn't take much to make my favorites POP. I mainly used my levels to darken the midtones. I didn't adjust the colors (hardly) at all. So, I did end up with a few that I like. Maybe I'll play with a few more and do another layout or two in the next few days. (Click on the image for a closer view)

Yosemite

Bruce & I just spent two wonderful days in Yosemite National Park... and other than the crowds and a few pesky mosquitoes, it was pretty much the most perfect anniversary weekend ever! Layouts to come, but here are a few highlight photos!

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Today is our 33rd anniversary, and I always do a layout for my sweet husband each year. Here's my latest! (You can find my layout for last year here, and the year before here.)

We're off on a trip to Ventura and Yosemite for the weekend, I'm sure I'll have lots of photos & layouts to blog in the next week or so!

Summer Garden

Here are a few photos I snapped of our garden on Monday.... just a simple & quick layout to show off the gorgeous colors & varieties of the garden. (Full disclosure: the apricots are actually in my next-door neighbor's yard, but they hang over our wall, so I consider them fair game)

One Picture Says it All....

I hope everyone had a great Fourth! (No matter where in the world you live, it WAS the 4th of July yesterday, right?) But for us in the USA, it is the granddaddy of all non-religious holidays: American Independence Day. We celebrate with fireworks, BBQ, swimming, boating, hanging out with family.... except for the swimming and boating parts, our family had did it all! (Oh, I forgot... we didn't go to a parade either!)


One picture says it all! (Typically, I was behind the camera, so you won't be able to see the big smile on my face at our perfect 4th!)

Happy Independence Day!

My daughter Amy sent me this adorable 4th of July figure from her store in Salt Lake... she was designed by Lori C. Mitchell, one of my favorites. Isn't she cute?

Our town has our fireworks show on July 3rd every year, so we've already enjoyed the spectacular pyrotechnics show. I took tons of photos, but most turned out badly. Here's one that I like!

We're having a family BBQ today, I'm looking forward to a relaxing afternoon and evening, enjoying my family, and counting my blessings! I know that everyone loves their own country, and there are many wonderful places in the world to live. But I'm especially proud and blessed to live in the United States, and today we're going to celebrate!

Just a Few Moments of Solitude

Every year at this time, either I, or my sister and I, take our Mom to Forest Lawn Cemetery Hollywood Hills, to Dad's gravesite. It means a lot to Mom to have us make this little journey, and it gives her a little quiet time to sit and mourn for Dad. They were married for 63 years. There's nothing that makes Mom happier than to have us kids talk about Dad, and remember him. She loves the layouts I make about Dad, she'd much rather I didn't make any about her! Mom is 99, and although she's starting to get a little unsteady on her feet, she's still the same live wire she's always been.

For the first time that I can remember, I forgot my camera. But I did have my trusty iPhone with me. My iPhone is 3 years old, and doesn't take the great photos the new ones take. Plus it was a very bright day, not so great for photos. But I really liked this one: taken from slightly above, showing the flowers, the headstone, and Mom looking cute in her capris & straw hat. The photo wouldn't stand the test of enlargement, so I added some of my favorite artistic Photoshop filters to give it a more painterly effect. Not sure if the ghostly image of my Dad is over the top, but it made the colors pop, so I kept it in!


Thursday was Bruce's birthday, and I made him a framed layout for the occasion. I combined some elements from my recent Assyrian Palace layout, but added some new photos and changed the format. I also made it the larger 12x12 size, which I rarely do (I like the smaller 8x8 size). It came out great, and Bruce seemed to like it a lot. I make him so many framed layouts & digital designs, he never knows quite what to do with them, or where to put them. I hope he figures it out soon!

Send in the Clowns

In honor of my new collector's blog, I created this layout the other day, using one of my collections. I created it for a CT call (creative team) for a website that I frequently contribute to: Color Combos Galore. I didn't make the team (which I didn't really expect, since I don't scrap in the style that is predominant there) but I had fun doing a layout & using colors that were perfect for me & my idea. So, I ended up with a nice layout out of the deal, and no creative team responsibilities to hassle with! (ok, I'll admit I was a tiny bit disappointed...it's always nice to be recognized and validated. But I'm going to be fine...)

Introducing!

Today is the day I inaugurate my new blog: The Copycat Collector. I've been busy behind the scenes, designing my blog header, listing and photographing some of my collections, and trying to get it all organized so that it doesn't take up all my 'spare' time. You can read about why I call it the Copycat Collector on the side bar of the new blog.

I hope you stop by and visit often, and leave comments. Note that occasionally I will be open to selling or otherwise getting rid of a few of my things. (My husband is very happy to hear this news) I will mark FS (for sale) on the blog entry if that is the case.

I hope you enjoy my new blog, and that you continue to visit Stefstyle to see all of my latest projects & adventures!