Handmade Greeting Cards

Have you checked out the price of greeting cards these days? Oh, it’s enough to give you a fright! Several years ago, I decided to forgo my regular visits to the local Hallmark store and avoid the greeting card aisle at Wal-Mart. What’s a budget conscious gal going to do? Make her own! 

I started out doing stamped designs, but then later changed to making cards using my own photographs. The cost per card is a fraction of store prices. It’s also much more satisfying to create something uniquely beautiful. As a bonus, recipients appreciate the thoughtfulness of receiving a handmade card in this cookie-cutter world. 

I like to make two cards out of regular size cardstock. A finished card is 4-¼ ” by 5-½”. Envelopes are easily found for this size at office and paper supply stores. For a double border, I size rectangular photos down to a maximum width of 4-¼” and print four to a page. I use to Epson's Premium Presentation Paper with a matte finish. I also go through through my stash of cardstock to find colors that complement the photos. 

I gather up my other supplies and tools, such as my nifty paper trimmer with a rotary cutting head, double-sided adhesive, bone folder, basic cardstock, black cardstock, and custom self-adhesive labels. 

The background colors I picked are keepers! 

Next, the photos get trimmed up and stacked. 

The photo stacks are ready!

Then I start taping the photos to black cardstock pieces (to help make the images “pop”) and colored card stock. 

The next step is to cut the matted photos apart and trim, leaving a ¼” margin all around. 

I cut the cardstock in half and score each half down the middle for folding. I forgot to take a picture of the scoring board earlier! You don’t have to have one of these, but it does make the job a little easier. And you’ll notice that I didn’t use a plain white cardstock for the cards, but one with multi-colored speckles. 

Then I start taping the photos onto the cards. The final step is to apply a decorated adhesive label on the back of each card. I designed and printed out the labels using a free Avery software program. The rabbit silhouette was created with a Martha Steward punch. 

And here are the final results of my card-making endeavor. It is a little time consuming, but I enjoy the whole process. If I ever get to the point of selling my cards, then I will be exploring the use of printing services. 

 

Katmai Brown Bears - Fishing for Supper

The Katmai brown bears series continues at the Brooks Falls fishing hole!  

There are a lot of considerations that go into photographing these big furry creatures while they are fishing. First of all, they are far quicker than the your trigger finger. When they catch a fish, you need to be ready to snap that shot! And you better have your camera setting on a fast speed or else that bear will turn into a blurry mess. 

At the same time, you have to consider the subject’s background. Do you want it in focus or out of focus? How is the quality of light? Is it sunny, cloudy, or raining? What direction is the light coming from? Front, side, back? Where are the shadows? Glare is coming off the water, so how much is it tricking the camera meter? Which lens should you use? Of course, the longer the telephoto, the more impact any motion will have on image sharpness. Adding to all the technical restrictions, you are literally wedged on a platform, elbow to elbow, with a multitude of other photographers. So you can’t move around for an optimum shot. The list goes on. What you see is what you get. Deal with it! 

And as you are doing the mental gymnastics about all of those factors and making camera adjustments, those bears are not going to wait and pose for you. They don’t care if you get a good shot or not! They want their fish! The big boys at the Brooks Falls fishing hole were definitely a challenge to photograph. I was really pleased this particular image. It’s a tight shot and sharp. I was able to catch a straight-on position of both the bear and the fish. A viewer gets the impression of being right there in the water with the bear, perhaps located only an arm’s length or two away. The droopy ears and the overall soggy condition of the bear are downright comical. Drips of water cascading off of the bear and the fish help tell the story of how fast the action happened. The river beneath the falls is so turbulent that it foams. And the expression on the fish is priceless. This photo was one of my favorites of the bears. 

Most of the time, I was mentally pleading with the bears to pose for me when they caught a fish. “Hey, mister bear! Turn around! Pretty please, with honey on top?” Not a chance. If they stood still for a millisecond, they would be pointed the other way. What to do? Take the picture anyway! 

Ah, but then there were the scavenging bears. They would let the big boys do the hard work of fishing. After a salmon meal was finished, then a member of the cleanup crew would venture forth and compete with the seagulls to pick up the scraps. Now these fellows were easier to photograph! Can you see that this bear has some scars on his noggin from a previous tussle? 

The next post in the series is a fishing tale!

4-Year Blogging Anniversary Celebration!

My blog turned 4 years old on January 1st, and I promised to have a little celebration to commemorate this milestone. I planned way back in early December to have a different kind of giveaway this time. Unlike most giveaways, you don’t enter on this post. All my faithful friends who commented during the month of December were included in a surprise drawing! 

December was a tough month for us because of hubby’s surgery. So I wasn’t able to post as much as usual. My dear blogging friends stuck with me, faithfully commented when I posted, and lifted our spirits. You have no idea how much you brightened our days! And it is precisely because of such dedication that I continue this blog and try to bring a little cheer back to you. 

So here is the surprise gift! I recently made up a batch of handmade cards that feature some of my scenic Alaska photos. 

As a token of my appreciation, a set of cards will go out to the following four winners:

 

Kim of Homesteader's Heart

Donna of Made in Heaven

Irene of Irene's Desk

Ann of Ann's Snap, Edit, & Scrap

Congratulations! And THANK YOU for being my friend!

Lovely Scene, Lovely News

Ah, we need a bit of a break from the furry bears, don’t you think? Yes, we do! Here is a lovely photo to cheer your day! I captured this vignette of wild roses and a picket fence when we visited Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia. The lone flower, nodding over the fence railing, was begging for my camera’s attention. I adore cottage scenes like this! I processed the image with a high dynamic range (HDR) filter, added some “glow”, and toned down the saturation. Viola!

So what is the lovely news, you ask? My sweet baboo visited the doctor yesterday for a 6-week checkup. The verdict? Hubby is doing splendidly with his new bionic hip! He no longer needs to use the cane and does not require any outpatient therapy. And, he was also delighted to hear that he can now drive again, so he’s not tethered to my weekend chauffeuring services. He will continue with his at-home exercises and have another follow-up doctor's visit in three months. He appreciates all your inquiries and good wishes!

Katmai Brown Bears - Big Boys at the Fishing Hole

When my husband and I first arrived at Brooks Falls, we were shuffled over to the riffles overlook because the falls overlook was already at maximum capacity. We had to wait an hour before it would be our turn to get on the closer platform. Even at the riffles overlook, the photographers and day-trippers were packed in tight, and were two-people deep in most places. When you’re as short as me (5’1”), it is impossible to photograph over the heads of anybody except a small child. 

But I soon got settled in along a railing and was able to use my camera lens to zoom into the falls area a couple hundred feet away. This big boy was one of the first big bears I was able to watch. His fishing area was staked out near some moss-covered boulders, and he was jumping up and around them like it dry land. 

Bear coats come in various shades, ranging from blonde to dark brown, and even red. This fellow was obviously a natural redhead. Bears also begin to shed their winter fur in the early spring and summer. So their appearance can be quite tattered. I believe that this bear was definitely having a bad hair day!

Eventually, we got moved over to the falls overlook and I was able to observe him closer. He was clearly one of the best fishermen of the falls area. He caught a salmon about every half an hour. While the salmon are running, a large bear like this will eat about 100 pounds a day.

One of the things that was totally surprising was the agility of these big brown bears. In the blink of an eye, this guy hopped up on the top of the falls with his trophy, and then scampered off into the woods to eat his meal in peace.

This bear’s name was purported to be Genghis, presumably because he was so huge. He probably weighed around 900 to 1000 pounds. By far, he was the best fisherman of the falls and commanded a designated, extra foamy area called the “jacuzzi”. He occasionally had a few other bears challenges him for that fishing spot, but he always won the discussions.

It seemed like Genghis caught a salmon every 10 to 15 minutes. He had a voracious appetite! He had a really funny eating style too. Every time he caught a fish, he would temporarily leave the "jacuzzi", walk over to the shallow bank, and lay down facing away from the viewing stand. Then he would proceed to eat his catch like a popsicle!

Stay tuned for more fishing tales!

Katmai Brown Bears - Platforms and Trails

At this point, you are probably wondering how the Brooks Camp area is set up for bear viewing. Let me try to explain it for you, with the help of this map provided by the National Park Service. There are three platforms that have been constructed by the Park Service to allow visitors to safely observe the bears for long periods of time: lower river, riffles, and falls. 

The closest to the lodge is the lower river platform. It is located about 1200 feet from the lodge and is reached by a trail and then a bridge that goes over the Brooks River. 

There is a park ranger stationed on the land point before the bridge and also one on the platform. They radio back and forth to confer about any bears spotted in the area and whether visitors are permitted to cross the bridge. In bear safety class, we were taught to maintain a minimum distance of 50 yards. It is a very long bridge, so the rangers consider how long it will take someone to cross and how quickly a bear could possibly approach the structure. 

There are times when bear activity prevents crossing for a significant period of time. When this happens, it is called a “bear jam”. During our last day, we waited for over an hour to cross the bridge to go back to the lodge! 

In the photo below, this bear came right around the point from the lake and beach area (probably after greeting a floatplane, LOL). The ranger (wearing the backpack) was in the process of getting a group of visitors to back up on the trail. From the looks of them, this crowd consisted mostly of day-trippers. They were not well equipped (e.g., no raingear or hiking boots), and there was even a older toddler in the mix being carried by an adult (go figure). The bear acted in typical fashion and totally ignored them.

The lower platform is quite extensive. The bear action in this area is less than near the falls. As a result, we found this overlook to be rarely crowded. It provided a great opportunity for photographers to see some of the smaller bears traverse the marshlands and fish, and it was located close to the lodge. 

The scenery was incredible from this vantage point. Here is a wide-angle view, looking northwest, over the marshland. A young ranger is shown on the left. Hubby (in the middle) and another photographer are searching the horizons for bears. There is one that shows up at a tiny little dot in the water, located above the back of the ranger’s hat. (And yes, it was raining.)

To get to where the heavy bear action is located, Brooks Falls, we had to hike over a mile and a half, mostly on a bear trail through dense forest. No rangers are stationed along the trail. We walked in groups, paid attention to our surroundings, didn’t dawdle, and made constant noise. Our tour guide carried bear spray, but we didn’t always walk with him. We never stopped long enough to take a picture of the trail through the forest. But here is a bear trail example near the lodge that goes down to the beach. (Please note that this is hubby’s photo.) The trail going to Brooks Falls is wider and much more worn. 

So after a long hike to the falls platform, this glorious scene was our reward! 

Next, you’ll get to see some of these bears up close!