blog reader solution ?

Like most of you I was disappointed when google reader announced it was to close as I have been very happy with this tool for reading all the blogs I follow.

After several weeks of denial I listed the things I want from a reader; read through some lists of alternatives, looked at examples and made the switch last week to the old reader

It works for my tops wants:

* I can read the full post in the reader

* I can group blogs into categories

* the pictures are clear and load easily

* it is intuitive to use

There is no app for use on a tablet (yet) but that is not a problem for me as I hadn’t got into the habit of using my tablet to read blogs.

Transferring my list of blogs from google reader was a breeze and took less than 5 minutes.

It’s been working well so far so I can return to a state of not thinking about the architecture behind my daily blog catch up.

PhotoArt revisited

No PhotoArt Friday on Pixeldust PhotoArt at the moment as Bonnie takes a well deserved break.  Faced with no link up deadline and no suggested theme, I didn’t create anything last week.  so this week I decided to set myself a theme because I find that easier.  I went back to the first items I created for PhotoArt Friday and revisited the approach.

My first item was to create an abstract piece using 4 photos

I used the same format and chose 3 photos from my recent trip to South Sudan and created what I think looks like a grouping of bejewelled eggs using different blending modes and the find edges filter

Then I used 3 photos from my garden and walks – I think it looks like a modern stained glass window

I liked the pattern here so I added some filters and created a tryptic which I think I’ll print to put on my wall

So glad I thought of a way to set my own challenges while Bonnie has a rest.

Do you prefer to have a theme when sitting down to create?

My Project Life snippets week 16

One of the threads in my project life this year is to record my first sighting of the different flowers in my garden – this week I said hello to the fabulous bright tulips in one of the smaller ( 3 x 4 inch) pockets.

I like to add text to the photos before printing and using colours that I extracted from the photo.  The ‘hello’ in the circle is from Ali Edwards.

Another smaller pocket has a photo of my nephew who I saw on Sunday – again I extracted colours from the photo for the presentation – a square crop seemed to work best for the photo.

The ‘dude’ flag is from a set by Cathy Z and particularly appropriate as we called his dude as a child.

I’ve been doing Project Life for 18 months now (I didn’t feel the need to wait for the start of the year to start the project) and I realise that I rarely share its content here on my blog – because I don’t think seeing every spread every week is interesting and because there will always be at least one item on a page that I’d blur for privacy.  But then I thought I could share one or two inserts every week or so – to share bits of life and how I approach project life.

Look Up Look Down in sunshine

 

Celebrating the arrival of some warmer weather and blue skies – buds on the trees, daisies and going out with no boots or socks (my feet feel claustrophobic by the end of winter!)

Enjoying how this meme is providing a vehicle for storytelling, seasonal changes and local details across the different blogs