Alpine Life

This morning I dropped off the Ford for service. It was leaking, that’s bad for the environment! Then I needed to mail a letter for my Scrap Paper Circle Swap {recycling!} for this Yahoo group. So I WALKED with my doggie, from the repair shop, 20 minutes to my nearest drop box (I live in a special community) {this is green behavior}. I then grabbed the BUS {also green}. I had hoped I could ride the bus all the way home, but due to inconsistent scheduling, I ended up using the bus for only about 1 mile. Frip! I would like my Green Brownie Points now. I would like to claim my “Walk therefore you are healthy” points, but I had to buy coffee and donuts in order to get change for the bus. Hey, no bodies perfect!

[i will post a photo when worpress fixes thier photo thingy, ugh!]

I was reading one of my favorite blogs, Stitch, Rip and Repeat. She went to Seville and snapped some photos. Promptly upon her return, she created a watercolor of what she had seen. So I realized that I haven’t blogged about my trip to Malta or my latest creations. So here is my purse.

I wanted to use-up a skein of SweetHeart yarn (I know it’s not REAL yarn for “real” crocheters). So I started with a chain four and kept going until it was gone. Then I had this old leather jacket that I thrifted, so I made a cellphone sleeve. I think they came out great. I will write about Malta later.

I posted a long involved entry yesterday, with photos and everything. For some reason, it isn’t “posting”. I don’t know enough about blogs to understand. But I do understand that the help department of WordPress is only open M-F. So, I’ll wait and see. In the mean time, here is what I did today!

Before and After. Cheers!

P.S. I figured out the problem. My Norton “Identity Safe” application was putting a password on my posts. I think I made it all better now!

I know you’ve been on the edge of your seat waiting. Me too! But the wait is over. My new camera arrived and I have been clicking all sorts of subjects. Of course there are approximately 5000 settings and I am just beginning to learn them all! I decided to get the Canon S5 IS. It’s groovy! I like that it is *nearly* a digital SLR with many manual settings for ISO, ASA, exposure and aperature but it is auto-focus and fully automatic too!

My first iris in the backyard.

A wildflower behind the Sonnenbichel Hotel.

The Old Church in Garmisch, taken from our backyard.

I was trying to photograph rocks when Soliel insisted I snap this photo!

I think these came out nicely!

On a different subject, I finally called Toshiba technical support and fixed my CD drive. I had been stalling for months with the idea that the solution would take hours and be a hassle. Alas, I was wrong. The whole thing took 15 minutes max! Ha, I’m such a procrastinator!!

Look over at my sidebar and you will see a link to Creative Kismet, my most favorite, most inspirational blog. Regina has inspired me to create all sorts of things such as totebags, purses and rubber stamp carving. So when she said she had some new things in her Etsy store, I was glad to check it out! Of course I found something I liked! A few clicks, a short wait and…

….my little gift arrived in the mail! I was so thrilled with my little present, all wrapped up in pretty Spring paper. Look how the green paper is the same color as the just-barely-started Spring grass! I have a secret though….I waited to unwrap it! Silly I know!

But, when the Spring grass became covered by today’s Spring snow, I unwrapped my new pin cushion and snapped this…

I apologize to my loyal readers (all three of them). I had to take these photos with my phone-camera. You see, I crushed my red camera while snowboarding and my new super cool Gizmonic camera hasn’t arrived yet! Yet! Happy Easter!

So the question of the day is:

Where does one draw the line between personal style and out-of-date?  I like platforms.  They add height but don’t have the strong, painful angle created by a high heel.  Plus I like the “presence” of a more substantial shoe.  I have big feet for my size and to my eye, the length of my foot is balanced by a larger shoe.  Platforms are comfortable.  But the “in” shoe is a delicate one.  A ballet slipper, or a delicate sandal (1).

Here is a photo of the shoes I just got on ebay (2)  Clearly out of date by comparison, but I like them.

I have to take fashion advise with a grain of salt however.

Especially when considering that the same people who said I should wear those blue sandals also said I should wear this shirt!

That shirt is AWFUL!

There is no hope.

There are so many altered book techniques to try. I don’t have any method to my madness when it comes to trying something new. I just stab. Today I took a stab at photo transfers. This process involves an inkjet print of a photo, some type of “glue” and an application surface. Living in Europe means that you can’t always get the material you might need, so I wanted to try anything out of curiosity. I made a choice of 8 glues and two surfaces: double-sided tape, hair glue, elmer’s glue, glue stick, Galactic glue gel, Mod Podge, Schminckle soft gel artist’s medium and Paper Patch. I applied them to sketch book paper and polyester/cotton blend fabric. Many of the results weren’t worth mentioning. Included in the photo are the best of the lot. The clear winner was the artist’s gel, followed by Mod Podge and Paper Patch. The gel had the best color transfer and didn’t soak into the fabric although it made the fabric curl.

For best results I was supposed to print out color saturated images. Instead I used random prints I had on hand with no reguard to quality. In the future I will use higher quality images.

Eveyone who knows me, knows…I am always “gonna make something”. But I never seem to get around to it. Yes I have a million ideas, alas very few make it into the world of the real. But I do gorge on craft info from my favorite blogs such as Do Stuff, Creative Kismet and Red Shirt Knitting. Finally, a bit of crafty energy inticed me to get off the sofa and create! Actually, I have a cold and don’t have enough energy to leave the house. So following the directions given on Creative Kismet and a page torn from Woman’s Day that my mother lovingly tore out for me (maybe two years ago) I whipped up two purses. I am thrilled that I finally TRIED the Woman’s Day pattern (right) after all this time and the other purse came out GREAT! Even my husband, who is a stickler for details, declared it “almost professional” quality! Pretty good I’d say!

(Woman’s Day article adapted from Alterknits by Leigh Redford)

Hello everyone!  Yes, I do think it is worth my time (hours and hours) to start another blog.  My rather pathetic attempt at Yahoo360 was, well, pathetic.  It was so pathetic, that Yahoo360 decided to close rather than host such drivel.  So I am beginning my new life here at WordPress.  Thanks for tagging along!

We went to the annual ski jump today. Every year on January 1st, Garmisch hosts the International Ski Jumping tournament. International ski-jumping stars come to our little happy village and jump their hearts out. This year was extra special because Garmisch has a new ski jump! We had a wonderful day (despite my cold, ugh!), enjoying gluhwein and watching these amazingly brave guys (why not girls?) jump. Unfortunately there was a mix up with our tickets and we were ousted from our seats! It worked out OK because my cold was making me feel like crap anyways. The ski jump was just a good excuse to get together with friends and have a nice day out in the beauty that is Garmisch! Tschuss! (sounds like “chews!” and means “later!”)