Moving Into Fall

Ocean

The calendar tells us that Fall is officially here, but you sure can't tell by Florida weather!  We still have highs in the mid to upper 90's, lows in the mid 70's here.  I'm not much of a winter girl, so I'm not complaining, but it would be nice to have a little Fall air come our way.  We're about six weeks into the school year here and getting into our fall groove.  My girls are playing city rec league volleyball for the first time this year, and, thankfully, they are loving it!  Our days are very full with volleyball two nights a week!

I haven't had much time to do any arts festivals since I started in my new job, so I'm trying to get back in the swing of getting things uploaded to my website and Etsy shops.  I'm a compulsive "maker" so even though I don't have any shows scheduled, I'm still creating!  My time in my studio, whether it be creating jewelry, working in my art journal, or whipping up some handmade books, is my stress reliever.  Hoping to find some time this weekend to photograph new work.  The one above is available in both my Etsy shop and on my website.

I hope you are getting into Fall in your neck of the woods.  Happily, it's time for pumpkin spice donuts!  

Best Shot Monday: Meet Crockett and Belen!

Crockett

Meet Crockett (above) and Belen! Crockett is with Tallahassee Big Dog Rescue, and we believe he is a wire-hired dachshund mix. Whatever he is, he loved posing for his glamour shot! He was rescued from the Bainbridge, Georgia, Humane Society and is currently being fostered by Lorraine. She shares that he has a mellow disposition, comes when called, easily uses doggie doors, takes treats gently and walks well on his leash. He likes playing with other dogs his size or smaller but seems a tad too interested in cats. Visit TBDR here and click on medium dogs to learn more about him.

Belen, below, is at the City of Tallahassee Animal Service Center. She's a Catahound Leopard Hound mix, approximately three years old. She's very playful and loves to fetch and return. My photo assistant Sarah and I enjoyed playing with her Friday afternoon! Visit Tallahassee ASC here or at 1125 Easterwood Drive in Tallahassee to adopt her!

Belen_A165358

2016 Documented Life Project: April

April-1

Welcome to April for the Documented Life Project: the unPlanner! (I'll catch up eventually!) This left side actually shows the last challenge in March, which was to leave white space, not something I'm very good at! And in the spirit of using up what's around me, this photo of mine has been sitting on my bench for months. In they go.  It's called "Family Reunion" and is available in my Etsy shop here.

April-2

April-3

Since I've been doing the challenges on the backs of the calendar pages, I'm left with a random back that comes after the divider for the month, on the left here. I used inks, stencils, and flowers cut out of an old calendar here, along with some fun paper doilies. I included the church bulletin for the week as well. That week ended with our state tennis tournament, at which I played the role of photographer. It kept me busy and I really enjoyed it! I've never photographed a tennis tournament before! You can see our photos from the tournament here!

April-4

April-5

The next two challenges were use "black and white" and "draw/paint a face." I had fun with the black and white page, starting with a piece of black and white scrapbook paper, adding white doodles to it, and then collaging the black and white fish. The pink behind them helped them pop out. For the "draw/paint a face" challenge, I took the liberty of me NOT drawing or painting a face but rather sharing some faces Olivia painted when she was five years old. These two have been sitting amongst my stash for a while just waiting for the right opportunity to shine! The first is her painting of Savannah and then her painting of Tink.

April-8

If I remember correctly, this next challenge was "share a moment." This is a copy of one of my favorite photos that I used in a collage I made in Melody Ross's class at Serendipity. I knew I'd find a place for those little pages eventually! I've spread them throughout this project. You can see the full image and read more about why this moment is so special to me here. This week included our Council for Athletic Affairs e-board meeting in Tampa and a rescheduled surprise birthday party turned Benny's heart attack recovery party!

April-6

This next challenge was "make a pocket." I used some underpapers and random scraps and a pretty butterfly for some contrast. The pocket includes a couple tags I made and an entry from the Index Card a Day Challenge for Tammy at Daisy Yellow. This was the week of our state softball tournament. Three very long days of softball, but, dang those girls are some amazing athletes! The flaps on the right side fold out and include a couple of my favorite photos from the tournament.

April-7

The last challenge of the month was to "fill your page with numbers." Given the fact that I tend to hoard number and letter stickers, I had quite the stash to complete this challenge. I started with some random collage bits and pulled out my number stickers. Fun way to wrap up the month, and to wrap up this volume of the project since my first binder could only hold the first four months of the year! Now that we are officially into September, I'm actually on to binder number three! Be sure to check out this project and all the other great projects the Art to the 5th gals offer on their blog here. See all my 2016 Documented Life Project posts here.

Best Shot Monday: Mason

Mason_A152873
This boy! Meet Mason! I've started shooting for the City of Tallahassee Animal Service Center here in Tallahassee. It's really good to be back in a shelter environment. I love shooting for Tallahassee Big Dog Rescue as well, and love that they pull dogs from the Tallahassee city shelter occasionally, but there's just something about the municipal shelter environment and mission that really tugs at my heart. These are the animals that need me the most, and Tallahassee seems to be doing a great job. The staff there is wonderful, and their volunteer coordinator, Grayson, is super helpful and friendly and really works to ensure her volunteers are successful and doing the type of work they love to do. Shout out to Grayson!

I met Mason on Friday afternoon. He's a big tank and a true "hunka' hunka' burnin' love." He needs some work on his leash manners, but it was clear from the get go that he loves, loves, loves his human friends. He just couldn't get close enough to me, as you can see from this picture. While some photographers would have edited out their foot in this shot, I chose not to. I think having my foot in there really tells part of Mason's story. It's like he's saying, "I loooovvvvveeeee you, human!! Can I get closer to you?!?!" (not to mention I can show you my favorite super cute plaid sneaks that go in and out of the wash in a breeze...)  It was right after this shot that Mason let out a giant sneeze on my camera lens, which took about 15 minutes to clean, but hey! We got a super smiley shot!  You can adopt Mason at the City of Tallahassee Animal Service Center at 1125 Easterwood Drive, right next to Tom Brown Park, in Tallahassee.

I hope those of you that were in Hurricane Hermine's path weathered the storm safely!  Much of Tallahassee was without power for several days (some neighborhoods over a week), but we are all back in business here after schools and colleges were close for three days in addition to the holiday weekend.  Made for an extra long Labor Day weekend! Thankfully, we were able to go home to Jacksonville where we had power! 

September Free Bling Friday

Sept Free Bling

Welcome to September Free Bling Friday giveaway! Congratulations to Whitney from Jacksonville for being the lucky winner of August's Free Bling! This month I'm sending these little pale turquoise beauties out into the world.  This is a simple, elegant pair that can dress up or down.  The beads are 8mm. 

To get your name in the hat, leave me your first name, city and state, and a way to contact you in the comments below no later than midnight ET Friday, September 30. Share this post on Facebook or Twitter and post a separate comment with the link to the share for two entries! New to commenting on Blogger? At the very bottom of this post, under the "You Might Also Like" section, you'll see a post date (9/2/2016) and "comments" in hot pink. Click on the "comments" and a comment box will open. Open to U.S residents only. Please help me spread the word and share this post! Want a reminder of Free Bling Friday each month? Sign up for my monthly newsletter over there in the right column! Thanks for stopping in!