May Flowers—How to Honor the Family Gardener

 Family History, How-to, LinkedIn Blog Hop, Memories, Narratives in Scrapbooks, Scrapbooking, Sharing Memories, Uncategorized, Writing about Memories  13 Responses »
May 152013
 

LinkedIn Blog Hop Today’s post is part of the LinkedIn “May Flowers” Two-Day Blog Hop.

I hope you’ve enjoyed your hop so far and I’m glad you’re here.
If you’re on Day 1 of the hop and are coming from Krysthle Poitras’ blog Krysthle’s Designs you are in the right place! (If you landed here first and want to do the full hop, start here.) We’ve got great prizes lined up for you, so don’t forget to follow all the instructions (leaving comments on and subscribing to each blog and liking our Facebook pages) and enter the Rafflecopter at the end! (Full instructions below.)

Remember the Family Gardener

Memories about a gardener or garden really need photos or illustrations of some sort. A scrapbook layout (digital or paper) is a great way to remember or honor the gardener in your life. Mine is digital, but yours doesn’t have to be.

Family Gardner Layout

This layout was inspired in part by  gift to my father-in-law: his neighbor, Sharon Van Leeuwen gave him a ShutterFly photo book with a season’s worth of photos of his garden.  He absolutely loves that book.  I decided to see if I could utilize photos of his flowers in a scrapbook layout.

Instructions

Digital 12 x 12 pageThese instructions are for PhotoShop Elements, but most softwares will have similar functions. I started with a blank 12 x 12” page. Because I anticipate printing it, I set the resolution to 300. For online displays, 72 pixels per inch is sufficient.

To add the backdrop for my text, I created a new, 8 ½” x 11” sized document, then imported it into my larger 12” x 12” page. (You can size it later.)Narrative placed on paper
As always, I started with my narrative. In this case, I kept it short. I edited my 100 word text in Word, then copied and pasted it into my digital layout. Pay attention to your font size.Text that is smaller than 12 pt will get lost. Text bigger than 24 pt will seem more like a headline than a narrative.
Adding the Picture:  I had better, higher quality pictures of my father-in law, Larry, but I wanted to use one of him in his garden. To get the text to wrap around the photo, I divided it into separate text boxes. Hint: Once you have your photo and text situated on your “paper,” lock those layers, so you can move them around together.

Framing the narrative with flowers:  You can use flowers from a kit—digital or paper. The “Natural Breeze” kit from Digidesignresort.com has some nice realistic flower options.
Inspired by (feeling competitive with?) the photo book idea, I decided to use actual photos from Larry’s garden, which I admit was pretty labor intensive.I didn’t like how the flowers alone looked as a frame, so I used this one that was included in the Natural Breeze kit.
Magic Extractor
For each flower close-up I had, I used the Adobe PSE Magic Extractor tool. (Tip: Always Preview before you hit OK.  It can save you tons of frustration.

After I had several flowers isolated, I started placing them around the frame. As I placed individual blooms, I fine-tuned the background removal with the magic eraser tool.
Once the majority of my flowers were placed, I choose my background. I used a stock background called “Kimono” that came with PSE8. Ironically, I found it a tad too green for this garden theme, so I adjusted the color (Enhance -> Adjust Color ->Replace color).

After all the flowers and embellishments were added, I selected each layer and added a drop shadow (Layer -> Layer Style -> Style Settings).

How to Win those prizes:Prize Package

To be eligible for the prize, you must:
1. Leave a comment on all sixteen posts.
2. Subscribe manually to our blogs. (On this blog, just enter your email address in the box entitled “Subscribe to my Blog via Email.” If you’d like to sign up for my newsletter, you’ll get a bonus for that too!)
3. Like our Facebook Pages; mine is https://www.facebook.com/Laura.Hedgecock.Writer.

Then, take the Rafflecopter for a buzz!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

You have until May 31st to comment on all the blogs’ pages, and the winner will be announced on June 1st on here and on Elizabeth’s blog. The winner will have one week to claim their prize or another winner will be chosen.

Next Hop:

Go on over to Connie Umstead Walsh‘s blog and see what beautiful project she has prepared for you.

Wild Weather–12 Ways to Preserve Meteorological Memories

 How-to, Memories, Narratives in Scrapbooks, Sharing Memories, Uncategorized, Writing, Writing about Memories  No Responses »
May 062013
 

 

Rainy outdor wedding

Seating with umbrellas

In her post today, Staci Troilio points out that unseasonal weather makes an intriguing backdrop for fiction stories. Since life is so frequently stranger than fiction, that goes double to those of us writing about and collecting family memories. Continue reading »

Scanning Old Photos

 How-to, Scrapbooking, Uncategorized  No Responses »
May 012013
 

Digitizing Your Photo Archives and Scanning Old Photos

Old photosHow do you get your photo archives into digital (CD or hard drive) format? If you’re like me, you have boxes, organizers, and albums of photos, not to mention slides and negatives. How to you get the best of the best into digital format? Continue reading »

An Actual Treasure Chest of Memories

 Memories, Memory Recall, Sharing Memories, Uncategorized, Writing  No Responses »
Apr 242013
 
my grandpa's treasure chest of memories

My Grandpa’s “Treasure” Chest

My actual treasure chest of memories is my brain.  Since I’ve had a MRI, I guess theoretically, I could scan and embed a picture of it. However, as the radiologist’s report spelled out that my brain was “unremarkable,” I’ll spare us all the embarrassment. Continue reading »

Put the Family Photographer in the Frame

 Memories, Uncategorized  1 Response »
Apr 032013
 
Family photos

Who do you think took all these pictures?

Memories and photography go together. Photographs are a gift. Our memories can be imperfect and photographs are a wonderful way to brace our recall faculty. Plunging back into our memories by going through old photographs (or even recent ones) is a great way to bond with others and luxuriate in the warm sunshine of our glory days. Continue reading »

Captioning the Past: Using Photo Captions to Tell Stories

 Memories, Uncategorized, Writing, Writing about Memories  2 Responses »
Mar 132013
 

Scrapbookers have taken the concept of photo captions to a whole other level. Whereas most writers and bloggers don’t have the time to literally take a page (or layout) from their books, there’s no arguing that a creative use of captions with your photographs or illustrations can also enhance your writing.

Re-Using Past Captions

Photo caption of old photo of baby looking surprised

Why the very idea!

If you’re scanning photos out of an old photo album, consider preserving the original caption in some way. To preserve it digitally, you can scan the album pages with the original caption, use the caption as part of the scanned file’s name, or use the captioning utility of your photo-organizing software. That way, when you use that image in you writing, you’ll have access to the caption the origin owner of the photo album used. Likewise, when scanning, don’t forget to keep track of any inscriptions you find on the back of the photo. These often work quite well as a caption as well.

If you’re blogging for the blogosphere, i.e., hoping to attract readers outside of your family and close friends, there’s another reason to use descriptive file names. Stephanie Chandler, author of Own Your Niche points out, “…the actual file name for each image provides yet another opportunity to improve keyword concentration. For example, instead of inserting an image simply named photo.jpg, rename the image to something like corporate-leadership-book-joe-author.jpg.”[1]

Creative Photo Captions Tell Stories

Photo caption of an old photo of a young woman petting a mule

Photo Caption: Early on, my mother showed her penchant for big-eared guys

There will, of course, be times that you find a picture you’d like to use, about which you know no details or background. In these cases, creativity will be your guide. For instance, I found a photo of my mother as a young woman petting a mule, but I didn’t know what year it was or whose mule it was. As I was scanning the photo for a project for my sister, I reflected on the fact that my sister always lamented inheriting our father’s big ears. (He was always easy to identify in any group shot.) Although the page I was working on for my sister was more about life on the farm, I captioned that image as “Early on in life, Ellen shows her penchant for big-eared guys.” My sister appreciated the captioned humor.

Of course, you don’t always have to use captions. Sometimes a picture really is worth a 1000 words.

© Laura Hedgecock 2013


[1] Stephanie Chandler, “Author Websites: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Basics Part 1.” AuthorityPublishing.com, August 22, 2011, http://authoritypublishing.com/internet-marketing/author-websites-search-engine-optimization-seo-basics-part-1.

Find Historical Images to Illustrate Your Writing

 Family History, Memories, Scrapbooking, Uncategorized, Writing about Memories  2 Responses »
Feb 242013
 

Two-Photographers-LOC-PPOCIf you’re like me, you have a lot more stories about your grandparents, parents, aunts, and uncles than you do photos.  I have only a handful.  If you’re artistic, you can draw (and scan when needed) your own illustrations. If you’re not artistic, you can find historical images to illustrate your writing.

Finding Images at the Library of Congress:

It’s easier to get to the Library of Congress than you might have imagined. Although you can also find Library of Congress (LOC) images through Ancestry.com, there’s no need to go through a paid subscription service.  The LOC’s Prints & Photograph Online Catalog (PPOC) is available at http://www.loc.gov/pictures/ and it’s searchable.  There are photo collections, posters, and prints.

369378pv interior of tobbaco barnFor instance, my mother was raised on a tobacco farm, but there are no photographs of the barn.  However, through the PPOC, I can find a photo of a Virginian tobacco barn (right).
Caveat:  The Library of Congress gives whatever copy- or usage rights it can, but securing appropriate permissions is up to the user.  If you’re using the images commercially, you need to look at carefully at the accompanying information.

Using Ancestry.com and Other Genealogical Resources

Ancestry.com, a subscription service, is the biggest resource for images of historical documents. If you don’t have (or want) a subscription, check to see if your library has a library edition. Additionally, Ancestry.com isn’t the only game in town.  Other sites, such as FamilySearch and the National Archives also have such images, although they are not indexed to the same extent.

Tip:

An example of a historical document augmenting a narrative:  “My Grandfather’s Military Service”

©Laura Hedgecock 2013

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