New Year 2011

The year is fast coming to an end and soon 2010 will be just a memory. With the start of the New Year we begin to think of new beginnings and starting a fresh, many of us will already have a long list of New Year resolutions of which most will have been broken before the all of the Christmas turkey has been eaten.



This year instead of making the usual big resolutions that are soon broken and forgotten I will be setting myself smaller, more reachable targets that can be measured. With a bit of luck I will be able to keep to them and build upon them over the coming year. Like any big task that can seam impossible, when broken down into small tasks is soon achieved. So why not join me this year and do not make any big New Year resolutions but rather make smaller ones that you can keep to.



So now for the entire internet to see, here are some of my New Years resolutions:

1/ to post more often on this blog and my other sites.
2/ remember to send birthday cards (on time).

Just two may not be a lot but once I have achieved them I can move on to others one step at a time. So why don’t you make some New Years resolutions that you can keep this year, put them in the comments below or on your own blog so that people can remind you to keep to them.

Have a peaceful and prosperous New Year.

Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving Day in the United States has been celebrated annually on the fourth Thursday of November since 1863, although many say that it has its origins from much further back. Like the Spanish “Thanksgiving Day” celebrated on the 8th of September in Florida since 1565 or the celebration that occurred at the Plymouth Plantation, Massachusetts in 1621 is generally regarded as the traditional origin of modern day Thanksgiving in the United States.

Thanksgiving is modelled on the many harvest festivals that were common in Europe at the time and as more emigrants came to America from Germany, Ireland and Scotland, they each added their own bit of culture to the holiday. What ever its origins or how ever each of us celebrate Thanksgiving Day it is a time for family both near and far and to be thankful for what we have.

Happy Thanksgiving Day everyone.

Veterans Day 11th November

Veterans Day or Remembrance Day as it is know in Europe and the commonwealth, is the day for us to show our respect and gratitude to the men and women of the armed forces both past and present. The work that they do in peacetime and during conflicts around the world so that we can enjoy our way of life back home.

This day was set out to mark the end of the great war at the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month, a war to end all wars. Nearly one hundred years on and with many conflicts past and present we still need our armed forces so take a moment to think of our armed forces and the work that they do and lets hope that we will not need them in the future.

Halloween

Halloween is just around the corner and I am sure that you are all far ahead with your costumes and party ideas, if not below are some Halloween cards to give you some ideas and if you have forgotten to send someone special a card then the people at Greeting Card Universe will let you add your personal massage to the card and they will post it directly to the person, to save you time.





Happy Halloween, good luck trick or treating and stay safe.

Fathers Day

As Fathers Day is fast approaching, I thought that I would drop a hint to my daughter by posting some of the great cards from Greeting Card Universe any one of which I would be very happy to receive. I know that I am at a disadvantage because your birthday is a week before Fathers Day but if you would like to get me a present as well just ask your mother for the money.









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Flowers are coming out

Taking a break from my virtual trip around the world by greeting cards as I have been distracted by the arrival of spring. With flowers starting to show their beauty, I thought I would talk about how to photograph them for best results.



Now you do not need an expensive DSLR (digital single lens reflex) camera, you can do a lot with a point and shoot compact camera. With photography, it is about the person being able to visualize the image and how well they know the equipment they have. The photo below was taken with a point and shoot.



The most natural looking viewpoint for photographing flowers will often be from a low parallel position. This will mean that you will have to get down on the ground, so it might be a good idea not to wear your best clothes or you could take something to lie down on.



Now when you find a flower that you want to take a photo of you need to think if you want to show the flower in its environment or if you want to show the flower on its own. If it is the latter, you can do this in two ways, you can get in close and show the detail of the flower, or you can use a long focal lens with a shallow depth of field to through out of focus everything but the flower.



The light that you have will make or break any photo; photographers often talk about the quality of the light and will try to stay away from the midday sun. Apart from the angle of the light, you will also get softer shadows and the temperature of the light will give a warmer feel to the photo. To reduce the shadows further and to show more detail you can use a reflector to bounce light back on to the flower. If you do not have a reflector, you can make one from white card with aluminium foil on one side, this will give you a two strength reflector. If you have any brightly coloured clothing on this can bounce light on to the flower giving it a colour cast of your clothing.



Ok you now have that great photo in the bag so what now? Well have fun, move around the flower taking photos from different angles and view points, how about photographing the flower with the light coming from behind it so you can see the translucency of the flower.

Greece

This week I am in Greece, the birthplace of modern democracy. With a rich history going back thousands of years, Greece was the defender of Europe from eastern invasion many times, not lest in the famous battle in which just 300 Spartans held back a huge army of tens of thousands. Today Greece is invaded every year by hundreds of thousands of tourists, as it is a very popular holiday destination in the Mediterranean.



For me the only problem with Greece is that it has so much history and so many beautiful islands and villages that I am not likely to see them all. With a two week vacation each year it is going to take me a very long time. So I am happy that Greetings Cards Universe gives me the chance to see parts of Greece that I have not had time to visit my self.

Egypt

For my virtual visit today I am in Egypt. A country with a very long history that is the home to some of the world’s great man made structures from ancient times. It is sad that they have a tax that people have to pay when their house has been built, so people do not finish building their house making many towns look like one big building site. This gives you the surreal feeling that people’s homes are showing sympathy with the incomplete ancient structures.

Wales

On my virtual trip around the world my first stop is to Wales. Wales is a beautiful country with history going back thousands of years. It once held the seat of power for all of Britannia on the Isle of Anglesey. Today it is still a magical place, with mountains, forests to water falls and grottos. Human influence on the beautiful landscape can be see from the stone circles of the druids to Offa’s Dyke to many majestic castles.

From around the world

Cards can be sent for any number of things, from celebrating a birthday or wedding to just sending a note to say hi. You could do an imaginary trip around the world collecting cards from places that you would like to visit or maybe from places you have visited but when you were there you could not find a suitable card to remind you of that time. Have a look at the cards below and see if you can guess which I have been to.

We’ve moved

Over at Greeting Card Universe they produce real paper greeting cards for just about any occasion, they can do this because there are nearly 4,000 freelance artists from around the world that display their work on Greeting Cards Universe. With that many artists adding work day in day out you are bound to find a card that will suite your style and let you stand out from the usual card buying crowd. If by chance you do not find what you are looking for you can put out a request to the community of artists to for fill your needs. If you find a card that is almost perfect but not quite, you can always ask the artist to make some changes, there will be NO additional charge for this.

Wedding cards

Today I have gone with a wedding card theme; I hope that you like the small selection that I have picked. You can click on any of the cards to be taken to the artist’s store where you can see more of their great work. There are thousands of freelance artists on Greeting Card Universe so I am sure that there will be a style or humour that will suit everyone.