Stampin' in the Country: Sunday Sketch

I've been missing in action since Monday. Absolutely no inspiration whatsoever :-(. I hate when that happens. Usually I fret over it though, but this time I just went with the flow and relaxed. I played with my new camera that my hubby got me and so far I love it. We had so much rain right after I got it that I really didn't have much chance to play with it. I got some good shots of one of our kitties. He NEVER, EVER stays still long enough for me to photograph him. For some reason one morning, he seemed to be curious as to what I was doing when I was photographing my sleeping daughter. She just looked so sweet, I couldn't pass that up :-). I took a couple of photos of Lucky after I was done, getting down on the floor to his level. He must have been really impressed with my efforts because he actually got down and posed for me, lol!... well, as close as a cat can get to posing anyway. I didn't want to lose a very rare opportunity to get some good photos of him so I clicked away. I also took a few sunset photos, but the jury is still out on that venture, lol! I went four wheeling with my husband through the west pasture and that was really fun. Of course, I brought my new camera with me. I have explored the west pasture enough to know that I should ALWAYS bring my camera with me. I did get a couple of awesome shots of the tall grass- that I love, and some shots of a flower that was growing out there all by its lonesome self. With all the green out in the pasture, its pink color really stood out. I used my super macro mode for that and got in really close. I photographed my horse too. She was up near the fence in the west pasture so I tried out different positions to photograph her. I got some decent shots of her too- which is also hard because inevitably, whenever I do photograph her- she makes a goofy face or swishes her tail at the wrong moment (sigh). I was happy with the way her photos came out- at least most of them. One shot of her is such a great shot, but came out just a titch blurry. I am keeping that photo though! I also did some photos for my husband for the website I am working on for him. Oh, that is another thing I have been doing all week- working on a website for his business.

I also did some scrapping this week. I have been taking 'My Digital Studio' certification classes offered by Stampin' Up! and I am done with all the classes and quizzes, but I have to turn in a project to complete the course. I was working on a book for my daughter with photos from her first skating competition where she took third place in Loops- not bad for the first time out ;-). I had about 10 pages completed, working on it off and on as I had time- 49 pages later and it is now finished. I just need to send it to the printer this week and have it printed for her. Then I started a book for my grandson. He was here for the whole day early in April when he was off from school and we decided to take a walk and explore the west pasture. I discovered that day, that taking nature walks with boys is a whole lot different than taking nature walks with girls. Girls love to look at flowers, birds, and butterflies. Boys, on the other hand, love to find turtles and frogs in ponds, sticks are awesome discoveries, and the coyote tracks- now that is something to look at! I had such a fun time that day, exploring with my eight year old grandson and seeing things from his perspective. Yeah, you know I had my camera with me ;-), so I have lots of photos from that day. The best part, at least for him, was waiting at the back step when we got home. We were very careful to watch out for snakes on our walk, checking over logs before we crossed, etc. Not one single snake did we see. Got home and not three feet from the back step was a huge one! I had no idea what kind of snake it was so had no idea if it was poisonous or not, but it was so cool looking I had to take some photos of it. In the meantime, I sent my grandson to the front of the house so he could go into the house and he found a small garden snake on the front porch. He proceeds to go around the side to the back of the house in hopes of getting in through the other back door. In the side yard, he finds a big black snake! When I was done taking photos of the snake in the back, I walked around to the front to find him standing in the middle of the yard with a slightly distressed look on his face. I asked him why he didn't go into the house and he said, "Grandma, there was a snake on the porch so I went that way and there was a really big one over there!!!" Every once in a while a harmless snake will come near the house, but not often at all. That day though, I am sure my grandson thought he had come to the reptile house at the zoo! His observation was, "Grandma, isn't it funny that we took a walk in the pasture and never saw any snakes, but when we got home we saw three of them right at the house?!" His very favorite photo of our walk that day was that big snake at the back step- he is such a boy, lol! We got online to find out what kind of snake it was. Thankfully, it was a harmless snake. So I printed out some photos of that snake for him and wrote the name of the snake on the back so he would always know what kind of snake it was. Honestly, I will have to ask him what kind of snake that was because I don't remember, lol! And I will not post photos of it on my blog either ;-). I'm sure most of you will appreciate that- Lol! In the book I am working on for him, I am journaling about our walk that day and how much fun it was for me too. I'll have it sent to the printer- photos of that snake included- and give it to him so he can have a little keepsake from that day.

So that is what I was doing all week. I really had a great time relaxing and being creative outside of paper. But on Friday, I was starting to miss my paper, so today I am going to play with my paper and some new stamps :-D. I made up another card sketch for you to try. If you do, I would really love it if you would link your card to Mr. Linky below so I can see it too :-D. Mr. Linky is easy to use. Just click on it and add your name in one box and your URL to the card in the other box. Be sure to use the URL for only your card though, otherwise everyone will have to look for it if you post anything else on your blog afterwards :-). Oh, and one more thing- you need to use Regal Rose, Whisper White, Old Olive, and So Saffron on your card- AND stamp your sentiment across the bottom more than once.