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Monday, January 30, 2017

Janet in January - 2017

Catching up with the next series of pictures in case you missed them on Instagram:

#28:

The latest book I am reading for the 2017 reading challenge.  I got this when I got the Tarot cards.  

#29:  

Prepping my calendar as a food journal.  It helps me stay in control if I write it all down.  So far it's working.  

#30:


The moon and Venus as seen from my front porch tonight.  Bill called me out specifically so that I could see it and take a picture because he knows how much I like that stuff.  So happy to have him looking out for me!  Couldn't get a closer picture and keep both things in the picture, but I did manage to get a separate one of just the moon that was kind of cool:


So there we are all caught up.  One more day and January will be done already!  Are you ready for February? 


Janet in January - 2017 Blogging from A to Z April Challenge: A Big A To Z Announcement Is Coming! #atozchallenge

Blogging from A to Z April Challenge: A Big A To Z Announcement Is Coming! #atozchallenge







I am very excited for the April A to Z Challenge this year.  I have my alphabet all planned out.  The organizers say there will be some changes this year so if you are interested in participating, please check out the link and check back on February 6th to see all the particulars.  

Saturday, January 28, 2017

Janet in January - 2017 Reading Challenge Edition

January 28 -  Finished the book The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto by Mitch Albom.  It was great.  Makes me want to read more of his work for sure.  I've never read Tuesdays With Morrie so that might have to go on my to read list.  I had planned on using it as my title with a character's name category but after reading it, I think it fits more with a story within a story better.

On to book 4!

Earlier I posted about my love for Sherlock Holmes and my new Tarot Deck inspired by his stories.  At the same time I got that deck, I happened across this book so of course I had to have that too.  It is chuck full of interesting facts and the biography of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as well as The Great One. 



There are case notes from a few of his cases and it talks about the different characters who have played Mr. Holmes and Dr. Watson, including one of the newest, Benedict Cumberbatch.




It gives a glimpse inside 221B Baker Street and the other areas frequented by Sherlock and Dr. Watson.  I would love to have a room like this in my house! 





This is the description on the back cover.  


This one's gonna cover my book with pictures category.   

I also took the time today to go through the challenge list and my collection of books and picked out 8 books so I am ready to keep going on this challenge for sure!  How about you?  Reading in a challenge this year?  Reading for fun?  Love to hear about interesting books - and ones I should avoid!  

Friday, January 27, 2017

Janet in January - 2017

Recapping my last four pictures:

#24:  This is the last remnant of Christmas cheer.  A peppermint candle and a little drummer boy.  I love the way these things look together.  Makes me feel relaxed.  Love the minty smell!





#25:   I got Bill a gift card to the new Dave and Buster's they opened in our area.  He took his friend, Mike, and they played some games for a while.  Turns out Wednesdays is half price day on the games.  Oh how nice it is to be retired and able to do that kind of stuff in the middle of the day.  Nice for me too since I work from home and with them out of the house I had some peace and quiet!  Bill won enough tickets to get me this color me mug.  Such a great guy!  






#26:  I got myself some cool slippers.  I love the way they sparkle when the sun hits them.  If you look closely you can see the reflection on the carpet and on my right foot.  Simple things amuse me.




#27:    I got this plain wood word at Target the other day and wanted to see what I could do with it.  I had some paper that was black and white marbled and I tried this out.  I kind of like it.


I'm gonna live with it a couple of days before I secure everything down.  I have some other paper that is variegated in pink and white, but it has a bit of brown running through it too and I'm not sure I feel that.  I think the black stands out more.  What do you think?





Thursday, January 26, 2017

Janet in January - 2017

January 26 - Earlier I posted this picture showing some of the projects I've been working on.


I'm happy to say I finished all three of them!  Here they are:

This one is a mini-album that is made using some non-traditional colors of yellows, oranges and greens.  I love experimenting with unusual combinations and I thought this might be something different.  



The inside pages have room for some pictures and places to write little notes.  I love the little owl on the back:



This one is made with a little more traditional color scheme:


I really like the black and pink together.  Again there is room inside for a picture or two and a pocket to hold a love note.  



A heart charm dangles from the ring closure.  Neither of them specifically say Valentine's Day so I think they could be used for an anniversary too.  

Finally, I am trying to get ahead for Mother's Day:



This one has lots of places for interaction.  It opens up to a full 2 feet when all the sides are opened.  



This one definitely says Mother's Day inside so it would be hard to use for anything else but Mother's Day is coming soon!

The hearts are already up on my Etsy site and you can get there from here, or by clicking on the pictures on right side of this page.  The Mother's Day album will be up soon.  

I am pretty proud of myself for being able to complete these so quickly.  Sometimes the creative process takes a long time!  I think I've been trying to divert my attention from the craziness in the world at the moment.  My music and pretty papers and things make me feel good.  

Between these projects and my 365 picture taking, I've been keeping pretty busy.  How about you?  January is almost over already.  Are you accomplishing much?  


Monday, January 23, 2017

Janet in January - 2017

My goodness time sure is flying, I must be having fun!

Recap of the pictures I have added to my album so far:

#20:  Interestingly, the 20th of January was Inauguration Day.  I am not a fan of our new president so I didn't pay much attention to the official happenings at all.  There must have been something subliminal going on though because the prompt was "white" and the subject I chose was these white houses that I got on sale at Michaels.  I am going to decorate them eventually but I'm not sure how yet.  


I think I'll be happier with these white houses than the other one, but who knows?

#21:   Three projects I am working on right now:


Two are heart-shaped mini-albums that I want to finish and get up on my Etsy shop in time for Valentine's Day and the other is a mini I am making for Mothers Day.  Since I took this picture I have finished the Mother's Day one and the heart on the left.  

#22:  The prompt is "In my town."


In my town we have a heart-shaped street.  We used to live in that neighborhood and it is kind of cool.  San Bruno's motto is "The City with a Heart."  That fact has been proven many times, but especially when we had the huge explosion from the broken PG&E pipe.  Yep, that was us!  I have lived here just about my entire life and though it has gone through some changes as most cities do, basically it is a really friendly town.

#23:  The song says "It never rains in California" but we seriously had a powerful storm today.


By our downspout it looked like a patch of snow but really it was just a huge collection of hail.  The picture with the blue background was taken on our back porch.  It would be nice if it would snow, especially because for the most part I don't have to drive anywhere so I could enjoy it without worry.  Definitely glad we got the new roof on last year though!

All caught up now.  Time to get back to work on my other projects!  How about you?  Did you watch the pomp and circumstance at the White House?  Stuck in the snow?  Please share!.  







Thursday, January 19, 2017

Janet in January - 2017 Reading Challenge

Starting off like gangbusters this year!  Finished the book "First Comes Love" and it was pretty good.  Family dynamics when a sibling is killed in an accident.

Now I'm on to book three:


I read the book Mitch Albom wrote called The Five People You Meet In Heaven and liked it a lot.  This one is about music so that's why it interested me.  I actually got it for Christmas last year but it's been sitting on the shelf.  I'm using it to fill my Book with a title that's a character's name category.  

At this rate, I may actually get a lot of books read this year!  

Have you read this book?  Any others by Mitch Albom?  Share!

Janet in January - 2017

Keeping up with my 365 Pictures for 2017, here are the last few.  I've been posting on Facebook and Instagram most days, but I want to keep a running account here as well since I like to add a bit of background about why I took that particular picture.

Picture #14 was the cover of the book I started, First Comes Love.  I wrote about that in my last post.

Picture #15 is the picture that I chose when I was doing Planning Day with Jamie Ridler.  One of the exercises she has us do as we plan our year ahead is to look through a magazine to find a picture that speaks to us.   This is my picture:


It has my word of the year, Believe, in it and I just think it captures where I'm trying to go this year.  

Picture #16 - The prompt was Music:


This is my big box of music related embellishments and papers that I am using to create my Concert scrapbook.  So far I am only on year 2009 so I have several years to go to catch up and since we have gone to about 8 concerts a year on average, I think I need a lot of stuff!

Picture #17 - The prompt was Bags:


Our daughter came down from Sonoma where she is going to college so we took the opportunity to go to one of our favorite restaurants.  Best take out bags!

Picture #18 - Starbucks stacking ornaments


Since our daughter works for Starbucks she gets the cutest things.  These are ornaments they sold at Christmas, although unless you have a monster tree, I think they'd be too heavy.  They certainly wouldn't have worked on our Charlie Brown tree!

Picture #19 - The prompt was shape:


I love the shape of the new light fixture we got for our remodeled bathroom.  This is just one of the three, reflected in the mirror.  

And there we are, all caught up.  I have been printing the pictures and putting them in my journal album as well.  So far, so good.  








Saturday, January 14, 2017

Janet in January - 2017 (Reading Challenge)

January 14

Two weeks gone by already!  I have finished the book about Dorothy Kilgallen, "The Reporter Who Knew Too Much."


Paperback The Reporter Who Knew Too Much : The Mysterious Death of What's My Line TV Star and Media Icon Dorothy Kilgallen Book

It was pretty interesting, especially because I only knew about Ms. Kilgallen from the What's My Line TV show and did not realize that she was a reporter as well.  The book itself, however, left a little to be desired in that there were multiple typographical errors and I found the writer to use the same adjectives several times in the same sentence which seemed a little redundant.

Since I finished the book this year, I'm counting it as my first book in the 2017 challenge and filling the category "A book about an interesting woman."

Next up is:


I got this book from my husband for Christmas.  He got it at a bookstore in Oregon and when he bought it, it was like a mystery book because it was wrapped in plain brown paper so that you could not see the title.  On the paper was written:  A tragic story about two sisters.  Since I have sisters, he thought I'd enjoy it.   

This is an advanced copy of a book that had not been published. I'm using it to satisfy my "book with a red spine" category.  

How about you?  On a reading challenge quest?      


Friday, January 13, 2017

Janet in January - 2017

January 13 - It is Friday the 13th and yesterday was the full moon so I think it is only fitting that today's picture should be about the Sherlock Holmes Tarot cards I found at Barnes and Noble.


Sherlock Holmes has been one of my all time favorites for as long as I can remember.  I loved watching Jeremy Brett play him on PBS and Robert Downey Jr. in the movies.  I also recently really enjoyed the series "Sherlock" on BBC staring Benedict Cumberbatch.  I binge watched the whole series on Netflix while my husband was out of town.  I enjoyed the way they took the old stories and made them new with computers and blogging.  

I've also been fascinated with Tarot cards and have a small deck that I bought some time ago.  I am by no means an expert in how to use them but when I spotted these Sherlock Holmes cards, I just had to have them.  The cards themselves are a nice size and the scenes and people depicted on them are just perfect to represent the main characters and settings of the stories.  

As the guidebook says, there are quite a few analogies to be made between the stories and actions of the Great Detective and the world of the Tarot.  The deck is divided into The Major Arcana, which include of course Holmes and Watson as well as Professor Moriarty and Inspector Lestrade.  Mrs. Hudson is there as well as the Reichenbach Falls, the Hound of the Baskervilles and the 7% solution.
The Minor Arcana is divided into the Suits of Observation, Evidence, Analysis and Deduction.  Makes perfect sense to me!  


The book goes through each card and gives the meanings as well as interpretations for whether the card is positioned right side up or upside down.


It also gives several different spreads to explore, using anywhere from four cards to 10!  I can tell I'm going to have fun using this deck.  How about you?  Do you consult the Tarot?  Have a favorite deck?  Any tips for this beginner? 
   

Thursday, January 12, 2017

Janet in January - 2017

January 12

Last year I took a picture of the full moon every month.  You can see them all here.   Most of them looked exactly the same, just a big full moon.  One or two of them I managed to catch at a time when there were some clouds around it, but for the most part it was just 12 round globes.  In December I got one with a tree branch nearby and it made me think that I might be able to get some cool shots if I didn't wait until the moon was high up in the sky so tonight I tried to catch the moon as it was rising.  This is what happened:






I took these standing on my back porch as the moon was rising up through the trees.  Tonight is the Full Wolf Moon and she asks, "What are you hungry for?"  I'm hungry for more creativity and the ability to stop and really notice things as they happen instead of waiting until the excitement is over.  

I'm pretty pleased with these.  What do you think?  

Monday, January 9, 2017

Janet in January - 2017

January 9 -

Picture 8 - Wall


This is the light show reflected on the wall at the Mountain Winery.  We were seeing Heart.  It was a great show.  Notice the colors on Nancy Wilson's shirt.  They match the colors on the wall don't you think? 



Day 9 - Mail



I got this package today from one of my favorite companies.  I got a mat to cover my new craft table and a storage case to hold my planner.  Also, this pad of paper from Tim Holtz:


Fitting, don't you think?  

This is what my journal is looking like:


I'm liking it a lot so far.  I hope I can carry it on for the rest of the year!  What do you think?  Have you been able to keep up with your projects so far?  Love to hear about it.



Saturday, January 7, 2017

Janet in January - 2017

Day 6 - Me!

I am still going to try to get in at least one selfie a month, especially since I want to see if you can start to notice any weight loss.  I guess I have to take more than just my face for that though!




Day 7 - Time



I stamped these in my planner for this weekend to remind myself that it's okay for me to take some time for myself.  I don't have to be superwoman all the time.  I did some laundry, went grocery shopping and did some transcription work today, now I can relax and play!