One of the nice things about knitting is that it’s portable. As the matter of fact, that’s why I started knitting in the first place. I found myself spending a great deal of time sitting and waiting-waiting at dance class, waiting for school to let out, waiting at sports practices, you know, all the places you go when you have young children. I hated the idea that I was wasting time sitting when surely there must be something more productive that I could do. I’ve never been much of a sit and do nothing gal. So I decided to learn to knit.

Thank goodness! Knitting has helped me keep my sanity! I know that even during my busiest, most hectic week, I can manage to do a little something that I enjoy. That little bit of knitting reminds me of all the things I love to do and lets me get a tiny taste of them to tide me over.

So, in the midst of all the craziness that happens in the spring when baseball season and horse show season peak at the exact same time, I managed to complete a scarf for my mom for her birthday this week.

I saw this yarn and thought of Mom immediately. She loves to wear winter white. She’s come to our house more than once in a beautiful winter white outfit only to get muddied by our dog Max. I keep trying to tell her that white and black are no-no’s at the Mennella residence, but she still keeps trying to get out of here clean. But that’s another story. The yarn is Trevari by Schulana. It’s made up of three different textures: a ribbon, an angora and a wool. The scarf was easy to make, knitting every row until it was long enough, because the texture is so beautiful on its own.

And speaking of knitting gifts, I got some cute knitting stamps for my birthday:

They are from Patternworks. One stamp is a ball of yarn and the other is two knitting needles knitting a snowflake. I’m thinking they will make cute notecards.

So, some knitting is getting done here and my creativity is around here somewhere, now where did I put the time I need to do this fun stuff? If you find some extra time, can you send it over?

1.) Planted and weeded and mulched the yard. It looks amazing!

2.) Ate as many meals as possible outside enjoying this gorgeous weather.
3.) Painted my toenails.

4.) Read magazines by the pool.
5.) Took my daughter’s pony to the Devon Horse Show to ride in lead line with a student from our barn. Don’t they look adorable?

6.) Tried to visualize what the Universe has in store for me. No luck yet, but I feel like something great is imminent.
7.) Contemplated the awesome fact that so many were willing to die protecting our freedom.
8.) Said a prayer for the families missing loved ones this Memorial Day.

As I was reading through Postscript, Stampington’s newsletter (which you all should subscribe to, by the way), I saw the blurb about this summer’s edition of Life Images. I clicked through to see a preview of this latest installment because I love the photos so much that it’s hard to wait 3 months between issues. Imagine my surprise when I scrolled down the preview page and saw my son staring back at me!

Check it out: Life Images Summer ’08 preview.

Now, I knew that one of the photos was selected, but I was really surprised to see that both photos I submitted were used. And the journaling was very close to my original journaling. I had a tough time writing anything because I felt the photos really spoke for themselves.

My son is excited to be famous again. I’m thrilled and now I can’t wait to see the magazine, which doesn’t come out until July 1st. I’m also a little disappointed because I’ve been so busy with the mundane tasks of everyday life lately that I haven’t had a chance to take any more publication worthy shots. I was really on a roll there for a while!

I’m going to try to be optimistic and think that I will have time soon to let the creativity flow. In the meantime, I’m happy just being a famous kid’s mom.

I have a really cute gift idea that I wish I could take credit for. A friend of mine is turning 50 and in lieu of gifts, it was requested that we bring her a plant for a friendship garden. So this weekend, I went to a really neat nursery, Triple Oaks Nursery in Franklinville and I was in search of the perfect plant. I wanted my friend to know how important she is to our family.

I was wandering around feeling rather uninspired when my luck changed. The owner Lorraine Kiefer (who, unbeknownst to me, has been a garden writer, floral designer and professional horticulturist since 1972) asked me if she could be of any help. I explained what I was looking for and here is what she suggested:

It’s a basket containing two plants, rosemary for remembrance and lavender for love. How perfect! She even included literature about the history of both plants. I’m sure my friend will understand and appreciate the significance of the gift (she’s also my son’s first grade teacher).

I plan on keeping this idea in my gift file. Imagine the possibilities! All you need to do is research plant meanings, pick two plants that convey your feelings, put them in a pretty basket and add cards with the meanings. I also added a stamped birthday card in the lavender color scheme. Viola! A perfectly personal sentimental gift that can be enjoyed long after it’s been given.

Remember, Mother’s Day is just around the corner!

It seems as if I’ve been absent for a while, so just to prove that I’m still here, I’m posting a few cards that I’ve made recently. In the midst of all of the craziness that is my life, I’ve managed to squeeze in a little bit of creative time, mostly out of necessity. But I seem to be coming to the end of the really hectic time and I hope to have more time to do some things for myself, like knitting, catching up on my magazines (that are growing into a mountain again), and relaxing enough that my creative juices get flowing again. I miss my time with my camera, stamps and knitting needles, but it’s so hard to feel creative when you’re overwhelmed. If only I could win the lottery (the ticket my sister bought me for my birthday wasn’t the winner-bummer)….

Anyway, here are some quick cards. I hope they help you out if you’re in a pinch.

I’ve been using Photoshop for years to do basic photo and image editing, but I’ve always felt like I was just limping through. A few months ago, I saw Photoshop Creative magazine at my local Barnes and Noble. It looked interesting, so I picked it up. Well, here I am, a few months later, just starting to read it.

I came across a tutorial on how to select portions of images and decided to give it a try. Here’s the outcome:

I took this photo:

And this photo:

And made this photo:

Pretty cool, isn’t it? And the best part was that I learned more about using Photoshop from this one exercise than I’ve known for the entire time I’ve been using it! Of course, the photos I started with were already adjusted for color, size and lighting, but there was still plenty to learn.

While we are on the subject of photography, I just found out that I will have a photo published in the summer issue of Life Images. It’s a photo of my son after his last football game of the season. It was a tough loss for his team because if they had won, they would have made the playoffs. As he was walking off the field, I snapped a shot of his dejected face. He calls it his “Sad Picture” and begged me to send it in. It seems like he has good taste, because the editor loved it. I don’t think I have any more submission worthy photos, so I have to get out there and take some. Maybe I’ll even try to Photoshop them!

A few months ago, I was asked to photograph Kristie for South Jersey magazine’s Top Model contest. The contest was published in this month’s magazine (along with one of my photographs of Kristie).

Kristie is a really sweet girl. We first met her at the barn where we leased Shelly, my daughter’s first horse. As is turns out, I graduated from high school with Kristie’s mom, Beth. It’s been nice to be able to reconnect with Beth and become closer friends with her and her sister, Lynn, who works with me at school. Yes, our town is a very small world. Any way, Kristie rides both English and Western and serves as the president of our 4H club, the Sparkling Spurs. She has been a real mentor to my daughter and other girls who are just starting to ride horses. Kristie rides three horses with the coolest personalities, Boo, Oliver and Jack. The kids and I (and Stephen too) love to play with them.

So, please click here to go to the Top Model contest and vote for Kristie. The rest of the photos I took of Kristie are on my photography site: photography.mennella.net. I’m sure she’d be thrilled to win. And she’s a great representative of the equestrians in this community. Good luck Kristie!

Note: Voting has started! Please vote for Kristie. You can vote once a day. Good luck Kristie! Denise

My issue of Life Images Spring ’08 arrived at my door step today-literally. The mailman thought that the best place to deliver a package marked “Bound Paper” would be on the wet door step (instead of walking up two steps to my dry porch!). Luckily, I happened to be walking by the door on my way to the basement and I saw him deliver the mail.

Once I got the package into the house and made sure everything was dry, I quickly flipped through to find my photo. And there it was on page 110:

I am impressed with how well the photo turned out because it was actually taken on film rather than digitally. And I was excited to see that they kept my journaling intact. But, being a seasoned magazine contributor, not a rookie like I was for the last issue, I didn’t scream and jump up and down and carry on this time. At least I didn’t until I turned to page 143 to read the “Behind the Lens” column. That’s when I saw that I was one of the three featured photographers (yes, that’s what they called me!) Then, I must admit, I did carry on like a rookie. Here is the column:

And a close up of my part:

The editor quoted an email that I had sent her telling of how excited my son was to have his picture published. How cool is that?

If you get a chance, check out this issue. And not just because I have a photo in it, because there are some amazing photos in this issue. I can only wish I would have the opportunity to take photos like some of the other photographers. Corey Amaro was able to get into a home that had been abandoned for 50 years and take photos-they are amazing! I can’t even imagine finding an abandoned home that looked like that. Just gorgeous!

I’m off to savor more of the fantastic photography in Life Images. I’m hoping for some fresh inspiration for my next submission.

If you are a knitter, you have to check out Ravelry.com. It is difficult to explain how cool this site is. Here’s what they have to say about themselves: “Ravelry is a place for knitters, crocheters, designers, spinners, and dyers to keep track of their yarn, tools and pattern information, and look to others for ideas and inspiration.” But that description really doesn’t do it justice.

This has to be one of the coolest sites out there. And not just because it’s a knitting site. In my past life, BK (before kids), I was the project manager for Bloomberg.com. I worked on that site from the time it was just a twinkle in Michael Bloomberg’s eye until I left the company to raise my children. What does that have to do with Ravelry? Well, I think that explains that I’m not easy to impress when it comes to website design. I find most sites to be full of simple programming errors and not intuitive to the user. I know you’re thinking I’ve flipped my creative lid and that I’m planning on turning this blog into a nerdy tech blog, but you can rest easy. This background info is just here to tell you how totally impressed I am with Ravelry’s features. Everything is very easy to understand and it is all linked together in a very thoughtful, user-friendly way.

In addition to being able to keep a printable chart of all the needles you have (which alone is invaluable!), the coolest thing is all the linking. For example, if you are working on a pair of Aran Braided socks (like I’ve been doing – forever!), when you enter the pattern name, Ravelry links it your entry to the actual pattern! The same goes for the yarn too. You can also add the books you have and a photo of the book is actually put on your “library” shelf. They also allow you to connect with your friends and have forums for discussion. There is also a huge pattern library and links to knitwear designers who are also members.

Now Ravelry is still in beta testing, so you can’t join right up. You can, however, put your name on the invite list and they will tell you how many people are in line in front of you. This way their servers, etc. don’t get over run. So if you’re a knitter, hop on over there and sign up. You’ll be glad you did!

I went to my first tag sale today. When I saw the ad, I was excited. I felt as if I’d graduated from simple yard sales and I was now very sophisticated because I attend tag sales. After all, isn’t that where Martha Stewart goes? So I got up early and headed to the sale. The sale was held in a corrugated addition to an old run down barn. The place was loaded with character. It was about ten minutes until the doors were scheduled to open, so I joined the other shoppers in line.

After a few minutes, it became apparent that the others in line all knew each other. There was quite a bit of good natured shouting and yelling about finds from other sales going on while we waited. That was when I noticed that I had more teeth than all the other shoppers in line put together. So much for sophistication! Then the woman standing behind my in line (who was wearing a brown wig on the back of her head like a pony tail while the rest of her head was covered in her own thinning, gray and bad red dye job hair) lit up a cigarette. She was standing so close to me that I thought I was going to be burned for sure. I spent the rest of the day smelling like cigarettes. And I was carrying my new Viv Pickle Slimmy! I hope the odor doesn’t get trapped in it forever!

But it was all worth it when I saw this newel post:

Isn’t it great? OK, I admit it is a little rough looking. I’ll even admit that it was in the worst shape of all the newel posts at the sale. But it’s a diamond in the rough – truly it is. And it’s just what we need for our family room stairs. When we remodeled the 50 year old family room to make it look more like the rest of our 100 year old home, we just threw a quick coat of white paint on the old banister parts and continued to use them in the hopes that someday we would be able to change it.

Of course, all of that didn’t stop me from wondering what my hubby was going to saw when he found out that I spent the good part of a morning buying him a project. After a few tense moments, he saw the potential in my purchase too. As a matter of fact, here’s what the post looked like after he spent a few minutes with the heat gun:

Already you can see that the wood is in beautiful condition. There is actually so much paint on it that it’s bubbling up and taking off all the layers at once. And the post actually fits!

So I’m now looking forward to my next tag sale, but don’t worry, I’ll still be taking good care of my teeth!