This is what patience looks like

For many many months I have patiently waited, watched, and put up with the blackberries in my front yard. So, after a long wait, the blossoms showed up.

And the bees did their business, and the blossoms fell away. Little green berry buds began to grow. 

After a few weeks, some of the baby berries started to turn red.

And then... we got a bunch of hot weather and the vines in the backyard grew at such a rate that we began referring to them as "the kraken," and started pricing urban goat rentals (not kidding). Especially when we noticed some of them started to grow up on the roof.

And they grew. And I checked one of those little black berries every day, until finally, they just began to fall off the bushes.

And it was time to do battle. But I won with only a few scratches. This was my reward:

And this was Greg's reward:

And this? This was breakfast, my friends. Delicious, delicious blackberry pie with not a thing it it but some cornstarch (to thicken) honey, orange juice and penzey's cinnamon. Nom.

It's probably for the best that this happens only once a year. ;)

life in the summer

popping over to share a few photos of the crazy patchwork that is my life, recently.

time at the beach, even on a misty day, is always good.

enjoying the morning light

mmmm. korean tacos from marination station at the arboretum. mmm...

Also, the portland book is nearly done. A few more things with deadlines that I must get finished, but then, it's going to be all minibook all the time for like a week around here. promise. I mean, look how fat this thing has gotten:

reflecting on how very very lucky I am to know such great and talented women.

seeing an amazing giant moon. wishing I could see it set into the ocean.

accidental distress with diet coke. sigh.

working like a busy bee.

staying inspired.

amazed at the rejuvenation of the fennel in the back yard.

not pictured: hot humid weather that makes my hair get super frizzy, long hours at work, lack of sleep, the disaster area that is my laundry pile, etc.

hope you are well.

TTV Overlay Tutorial - Video Screencast

Just a little something I whipped up as a demo for a bigger little something I'm putting together for my 10 Reasons Class site. Warning, there is some music here (just in case you are reading this on the DL).

TTV Tutorial Screencast from christinaclouse on Vimeo.

Music credits to Good Old Neon

What do you think? Not so bad for a first try, eh?

If you have questions, I'd be delighted to hear them. Or rather, read them.

The TTV image shown is used with permission from a private Flickr group. More information on Faux TTV images is available here. And here are all my real TTV photos, if you want to get caught up.

Also, don't have photoshop? Well, I guess you might have to go take some real TTV images then. Just kidding. I've heard Splashup is a pretty fair alternative, though I haven't tried it myself very extensively.


Also, can I just say, how excited I am by all my blog loving peeps? Your support is amazing. Incredible. You make me want to make stuff just for you. Smooches.

Ahem. Thank you!

Etsy Shop Update

Hello friends. I have something exciting to say.

The extra kits are up in the shop! I do have to hold a few back for the class I'm teaching on the 27th, so if these go like hotcakes, I'll start up a waiting list. ;)

And for being so sweet, you can save 15% if you use the coupon code: SUMMERBLOGPARTY on anything in the shop. Kits will ship out first thing on Saturday. Class blog will be up early next week.

Thanks for waiting. Please let me know if you have questions!

Announcing the giveaway winner...

A big thank you to everyone who commented. Thank you so much for your support and sweet words.

Don't worry, there'll be some more giveaways pretty soon over here. After I get the Etsy all set up, I'm going to be doing some cleaning and inventory. And you know what that means!

Back later today for the shop update. (Have to figure out approximate shipping for the new kits)

Cheers!

10 Reasons to Love Summer Inspiration and GIVEAWAY

As I mentioned before, I'm currently completely immersed in prep for my 10 Reasons to Love Summer class. This week it's all about putting kits together and working on the website. So. much. left. to. do.  Ahem.

When I started working on the concept for this class, I decided to use my smashbook (black) to play around with ideas. I found the use of one single location for my visual workbook to be super inspiring and useful. Here's the actual page spread:

This has definitely been a useful exercise that I'm applying to other projects being worked on. But  you can see a bit how some of the ideas translated into the actual work.

Here's a bit of a preview of some class content that was inspired by the smashbook ideas:

I also wanted to take the opportunity to share a few more photos of the finished book details:

Please note that you can still sign up for a spot at the Tukwila class for this Saturday 08/13 or the University Village class on 08/27. Please call the store directly to sign up. It's going to be super fun.

If you are attending live and in person, we're going to be making the book without photos, so please don't worry about that. The companion journaling prompt workbook you'll receive (and it's five pages long, btw) is intended to help you select your photos for the book AFTER you've made it. :)

However, if you are attending and you don't like to share tools, I'd recommend you bring your own adhesive, scissors, and hole punch. Other than that, I've pretty much got ya covered.  

And seriously, if you can get over here, for a class, you totally should. I mean, look how much fun we had at the Bellevue store last weekend? My students got so much done and I am SO proud of them!

Thank you so much ladies! You inspired ME. :)

And  for my non-local peeps, I promise that there will be some kits going in the Etsy on 08/15. A companion blog with the instructions, journaling prompts, sketches, and more will also be made available, as soon as I can get all of the hundreds of photos edited and coded. Oy.

And now, for reading this far down the post, I think you get a treat!

I'm going to give away either an unfinished kit or a finished class sample book (your choice) to one of my lucky readers! Please leave a comment on this post to tell me what your favorite summer treat is and I'll randomly pick a winner by EOD Saturday 08/13.

Thanks for reading and hope you are having a happy summer!

A week in the life: Cabin Trip 2011

Ah... back to civilization. Not to say that I don't terribly miss the magical place that is The Cabin. But you know how it is; it's always good to be home.

It was challenging to take photos, knowing I only had two batteries and one memory card to get me through a full seven day trip. It really made me question my shots; to edit myself and think about the story I wanted to tell. Also, since the Rebel is still in the shop, I just had the Powershot. And I noticed later that I was abusing the tilt-shift feature. A lot. So I apologize for the random blurriness in all the photos. Anyway, here are a few of the good bits:

We took a tiny plane from Seattle to Reno (that's Mt Rainier over by the propeller):

I had some lovely magazines and podcasts to keep me amused (and distracted) on the flight

Greg's lovely mum picked us up from the Airport as part of the last leg of her roadtrip and we all drove out across Nevada to the California side of the Sierra Nevada mountains. We knew we were close when we got to the red dirt roads:

And then we were there. The air is so incredibly delicious and fresh and cedar-y.

After a good night's sleep (with the bats zooming around), it's nice to wake up to freshly ground coffee.

And many delicious breakfast items, such as fresh corncakes and veggie sausage.

Of course, in order to work off all the delicious food we were eating, we had to do many many activities. Such as hiking to the tops of small cliffs whilst wearing cowboy hats (not pictured here),

climbing rocks (and butt-scooting down them),

swimming in the lake and sunning on rocks like lizards,

learning to kayak (and letting certain guys paddle so I could take pictures).

In the afternoons, when we'd be a bit tired, we'd have quiet time doing things like reading books,

and working on crafting projects,

and spending quality time with the ground squirrels.

At night, we played board games, read books, or just basically relaxed. One night, we climbed to the top of the Little Cliff and laid out blankets and watched the stars (I saw my first 3 shooting stars ever). Pretty Magical stuff, if not easy to get pictures of.

We even took a field trip to Mt. Lassen National Forest park to picnic and see a little geothermic activity. It was pretty picturesque.

We did start to notice something strange when we got above 7,000 feet or so though....

Um, yes. That would be snow. And glacier water. No, that's not photoshopped; the water IS that blue.

The unfortunate part is that when we got to the Bumpass Hell trail, this is what we saw.

So, a no go on that hiking plan, even though it was nearly August! We went a bit further down the mountain

and found some sulfurous smoking rocks and bubbling mud. Danger zone!

And on the way back, we stopped in town for groceries and a treat at the Frosty Pine Shake Shack (a childhood favorite of Greg's). The shakes are indeed full of old school shake-deliciousness.

The best part of the whole trip of course, was being with good friends and family. (EW! Your mum says hi and hopefully we can coordinate something for next year - G has really been looking forward to nerding it up with Alexis for ages.)

And did I mention that I got fresh-baked apple pie in front of a fire? How awesome is that?

Sadly, our time at the cabin came to its inevitable end. And we returned to civilization.

And finally, we were home.

Hope you had a good week too.

Back in a bit with some more updates. :)

p.s.
already planning the album for this trip. going to use up the last of my love elsie forrest collection with some of that october afternoon campfire. ;)