Month: December 2021

How many of you grew up singing the Christmas song Away in the Manager? Or just maybe you were lucky enough and played the part of Mary or Joseph in your church Christmas program? I’m guessing that no matter what age you are, this Away in the Manager song might fill your head with memories of how you first learn about the birth of Jesus.

This week I was invited into a webinar to view a virtual tour of Bethlehem and Nazareth, the birth place of Jesus tracking Mary and Joseph’s path through Israel. It was amazing! I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I have to say it was interesting and gave a wonderful picture of this magical place on the other side of the world.

Working in the airline industry for several years I had the opportunity to travel all over the world with little or no dollars involved. Unfortunately I never put Israel on my travel plans, I’m now thinking maybe I should have. I’ve had a few friends that made the journey and all of them coming back stating it was moving and monumental. So after hearing my friends awesome comments, I jumped on this opportunity for a virtual tour of Bethlehem and Nazareth!

The virtual tour filled my mind with thoughts of what it must have been like over 2,000 years ago witnessing this biblical blessing. I wondered the what the manager, church and travels might have looked like. This webinar filled in all the blocks taking you in and out of Bethlehem and Nazareth.

Each Christmas several of you might set up a nativity scene with the remembrance of the birth of Jesus. Mary, Joseph, the manager with Jesus, the Wise Men, the Shepard’s and of course all the animals that surrounded the special event. Each holiday season we carefully place these figurines in a special place to celebrate the birth of our savior.

A few year ago I remember driving through Trimont, MN and being stunned with this breathtaking nativity scene in a front yard. We drove around the block and parked across the street just to take it all in. Each one of the figurines were life size which made it magical. It was an absolutely beautiful site to see!

Another place that hit our travels this summer was a stop off at West Bend, Iowa. It is the home of the Grotto of Redemption, a religious shrine. A conglomeration of nice grottos depicting scenes in the life of Jesus containing a large collection of mineral and petrifications and is believed to be the largest grotto in the world. The shrine takes you trough the birth and death of Jesus. Worth a stop if you have never been there.

Often we are captured with drawings or paintings of this special magical moment with colorful images filled of the celebration. These two drawings, possibility what a young person took the time to share say it all as the wise men follow the bright star. The angel overlooking with the beautiful buildings used as the backdrop.

Each year at my Blue Star Collections shop I open the doors for a holiday sale. Nativity scenes have always been a popular piece on my floor. I always enjoy shopping for these nativity scenes that come in all sizes, shapes and colors. A smile crosses my face each time I see one of these walk out the door and I quickly image where they might place this Christmas piece in their own home.

This lovely nativity scene on the beach must have taken bit of time to create don’t you think? It was magical to see how the stacking of these small rocks stacked just right for all stay in place. What a treat for all as they walked the beach to witness this beautiful master piece.

A few years ago I found this large, white nativity scene in one my shopping trips and we decided to display it at Blue Star Collections. Carefully placed outside on the front lawn with the Blue Star lighting the background was enjoyed by many as they passed by honking their horns with approval. A few days later the set was sold to a couple that planned to place the scene on their family farm. Today, I hope they are still enjoying it.

It’s the reason for the season, the birth of Jesus as we all celebrate this holiday season. Many blessings to you and your family. For those of you that might want to sing along to Away in the Manager, click on the link below and enjoy!

I don’t know about you, but I have a few thousand pictures on my iPhone. Gezzz it drives me silly when I’m searching through all these photos for the perfect one and can’t find it. Some pics are good and some are bad. One thing I know, it just takes time to manage all the photos that we accumulate every week.

So, when I seen a class being offered close to me on iPhone photo training I jumped on it! Not only might I learn something with navigating around on my phone taking a picture, the location of the class would be pretty awesome as well. The class was being offered through the Koreshan State Park located in Fort Myers, Florida. This park itself is beautiful offers many picture perfect settings.

Right out of the shoot I flunked the first thing. Question asked, how many of your cleaned your phone this morning? Out of 12 of us attending the class, only one person passed the question. 🧐

It’s funny how we all make excuses as why we don’t do this task each day. So first things first, one by one we each cleaned our phones and camera lense.

The class was an hour and half so I knew it was best to pay attention and obtain as much as possible. Sure enough we were off and running with our first assignments.

AE/AF with the slider was discussed. While in the camera mode if you hold down on your phone and a yellow box appears! It has a slider bar and from here is where you can regulate the light on your photo. So off to the grounds we were to do a regular photo with the AE/AF and the other one using the yellow box adjusting our own light.

Cool, I was off and running! Next, instructor shared on the subject of LIGHT which is your most important item when snapping a picture. HDR (High Dynamic Range) can make it easy as well. Turning this feature on your camera automatically blends all background and takes all the guess work is out. This too is located in your settings. Take a look at the difference, can you tell the difference?

Learning to use the “grid” makes it easy to line up while taking your photo. This too is located in your settings under camera. Adding that grid just got easier, I already was feeling like a sassy photographer using this mode.

It just kept getting better, all the fun short cuts I was learning while taking in the fun of the class.

Next up was “Composition”. Off we were running again to snap a few pics teaching our eye about composition. Next assignment to take three pictures. One with repetition, one framing and the one capturing curiosity drawing your eye into the picture. Whew this was tougher than thought but here were my choices.

How did I do? The repetition were poles on the fencing, framing was my Santa and for the curiosity I shot down a path trying to entice my audience where it might have went.

Only 30 minutes left in the class we continued to learn the portrait mode and the burst mode.

Portrait blurs the background and make you concentrate on the person in your photo. Burst you can really have some fun with capturing someone or something moving. Remember seeing those kids jump off a diving board and they are caught jumping in air. Well burst is the answer. You take several photos by holding down on your start button and it takes several photos all at once. Check out my two examples.

And finally, how nany of you use Zoom? Well here is the secret on this subject. Rule number one and only one! Use your own two feet and ZOOM WITH YOUR FEET! When you use the zoom on your iphone, it decreases the pixels making your picture cloudy. Walking up to the subject and taking the photograph makes for a better, clear picture and you will be more pleased with.

And lastly, our instructor shared a cool app that we all have on our phones and get this its FREE! Download Snapseed and it will make editing your photos slick and easy!

So there you have it, I hope I was able to give you a few pointers as well and you too can have some fun taking those photos with ever lasting memories.

Now it wouldn’t complete my blog if I didn’t leave you with a little tune to hum along with while your out snapping your own favorite shots. Turn up your speaker and enjoy and don’t forget to clean your lenses. 😉

Kodachrome Paul Simon song ~

AND one more thing and most important ~ just have fun making your memories! Everyday we should be snapping some fun pics ~

Lately I’ve been asked by several “where have you been” I’ve missed your blog. I know, its been a few weeks since I last sent out a message and today is the day I told myself it’s time to “get back in the saddle” and share some fun!

I grew up around horses riding a few Shetland ponies in my day so riding with a saddle I can so relate to it. However, I mostly rode bareback and was often bucked off when I least expected it. The moral of this story is if you get bucked off , stay focused, get back on your horse and keep going.

One of my favorite things to do is go to the library to see the latest reads. I know it’s weird but I could spend hours just looking, reading and touching the books. It amazes me all the endless possibilities for inspiration for all of us.

I giggle at myself when I see what books call out. When I made a visit to the library last week I really didn’t have an agenda other than I was looking for a great book club read. Looked what popped in my path.

My Blue Star Collections business is all about the home so when I was searching through the fiction books, Feels like HOME this caught my eye and I knew I had to have it. If your into decorating will know the author Marian Parsons, aka Miss Mustard Seed she does a wonderful blog.

This book is full of fun ideas, helpful hints, painting techniques, DYI projects as well she tells you a bit about herself growing up in a military family, as an army brat and how the bug of decorating came in her life.

Marian mentions its not what your homes gives to you, but it’s what you create with it and in that foundation upon which your life is built. She also shares how to transform your space from uninspiring to uniquely yours. Who doesn’t want that?!

The book shows you how to make ceiling boxed beams, painting techniques, how to paint a mural, sewing, and numerous ideas to make your home special and stand out.

Feels like HOME offers you some great ideas for paint and coloring. Choosing a paint color can be challenging at times with different lighting and how it affects the tone. Since we are discussing paint and color, have you seen the “new color of the year” from Pantene just selected for 2022. See what you think ~

https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/pantone-color-of-the-year-very-peri-2022/index.html?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=WUC_Thursday&utm_term=all_users

A room should feel collected, not decorated. Listen to your house – it will speak to you. Take a minute to appreciate your house. What elements already feel like home?

One of things I also enjoyed in the book was quotes from famous people. Read on, see if you can relate to any of them:

Julia Child ~ the more you know, the more you can create. There is no end to imagination in the kitchen.

We shape our buildings and afterwards our buildings shape us – Winston Churchill

Decorating is an autobiography- Gloria Vanderbilt

Creativity is a wildmind and a disciplined eye – Dorthy Parker

This beautiful, colorful and inspiring ideas is sure to attract you as it did myself. It just might move you to move a few things in your house for a new look. The calming look of this book will just might inspire you to pick up Feels like HOME and challenge your decorating talents.

The next two books I thought went hand in hand and called out to me. Our society encourages us all to be better recyclers and knowing what to throw in our recycle bin. Myself being a recycler and repurposing “stuff” in my Blue Star Collections business I felt these two books also hit home.

Both these books are both easy reads. I took them to the beach with me and read through both of them in one afternoon. Lots of simple drawings to keep your interest as well.

The chapters in the book Can I Recycle This is full of suggestions. It covers everything from soup to nuts!

And finally, this page warmed my heart. Buying vintage and recycling your vintage clothes by donating, giving away or just cutting them up to recreate your vintage find! Blue jean jackets have lots of opportunities wouldn’t you say?

Moving on to the next book pick, if you want to know how to make your own remedies for cleaning almost anything, this one is great for ideas! It’s great because most of the stuff you will have around your house.

I don’t think they missed a thing coming up with concocting these formulas to take care of your business around the home. It makes sense, seems easy to do and I have already tried a few myself.

I have a dear friend that wears pearls everyday I swear. She looks stylish when she wears them for everyday or dress up and always a classic look. Here is an easy way to keep your pearls clean and ready to wear!

This next suggestion on how to clean your BBQ great just amazed me. Who would have thought to just throw it out on your lawn and let it sit overnight? I have not tried it but bet the walkers passing by your house will wonder whats up with the grill grate in the yard?

How many of you have a favorite leather jacket, purse or fabric furniture piece that has a wet stain on it? Read on, this seems simple enough to take care of the fix.

As you know, there are endless choices of books to choose from at your local library. Rows and rows of temping books that will entertain, teach and offer you hours of inspiration.

Whatever trips your trigger, get on your horse, saddle up and just have fun with your reads! If you side tracked and “get bucked off”, dust your knees off and get back on your horse. Accomplishing a fun project is always inspiring.

I always like to leave you with tune you can hum along with after the read. Saddles, horses and riding out the storm brought this song to my mind and it was always one of my favorite TV shows back in the 60’s. I too hope it brings a smile to your face. I would to hear your comments. Happy trails ~

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwiP1Zmvytn0AhVbSzABHc7zBb4QyCl6BAgPEAM&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dhgw_yprN_-w&usg=AOvVaw2ZgEAHRAwwMwFzgRIkdwJQ