December Daily™ 2011 | Day Thirteen
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Welcome to December Daily™ 2011 | Day Thirteen.
Yesterday as I was working and clicking (you know how that goes right?) I came across Max Ehrmann's Desiderata on Tara Whitney's blog. It's not the first time I've read it - I think the first time was when I was a sophomore in high school. It speaks to me each time I find it again so I decided it would be a nice thing to include in my December Daily™ for today.
I can imagine myself opening up my 2012 December Daily™ in the coming years and seeing this again and having it be just what I need to read.
It's also seemed a nice companion to a photo I took of Anna this morning. I set the camera on the ground, set it to 100 ISO and took a couple shots as she played with her Playmobil between the tree and a couch.
"Be at peace" was added directly onto the photo using American Crafts Hollyday Silver Elf Chipboard and a single line was stitched across the top.
I've seen a couple people in the comments mention the challenge of photographing in low-light. I find, at this time of year specifically with all the twinkle lights, that I actually welcome the low-light. That said, there are times when it works and times when it doesn't. I'm sure I could of adjusted this photo in Photoshop - but this is a pretty good representation of what I saw. Glowing yellow light inside, the blue of the early morning light out the window.
In this case I purposely chose a really low ISO - 100 - and set the camera on the floor so there would be no shake (I actually wanted to see how long the shutter would stay open - it wasn't as long as I thought it would be).
That said, sometimes low light is just really annoying. I googled "tips for shooting in low light" and there are 16,300,000 results. This one was pretty decent.
Along the edge I added a strip of Jillibean paper (stars), a small piece from the Jenni Bowlin paper, and a small kraft star that was cut from a Trader Joes shopping bag.
I repeated another little piece of the Trader Joe's paper on the top. Along the right edge of the first page I added some stars cut with the Silhouette. All those accents include machine stitching.
Here's a look at the pages in my album:
I saved the words as a PDF for you guys in case it means something to you right now. You can download it by clicking here. (2.3 MB)
SUPPLIES | DAY THIRTEEN
Click on the images to link to the products.
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70 comments
Thank you for sharing the poem. It really speaks to me today. A great reminder of what's important.
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LOVE this poem! Thank you for sharing! And that photo is sooo lovely! Will have to try this technique! And I saved a Trader Joe bag last weekend and a treat bag from JoAnns!
BTW ALI: what are your floors made of? there's not a seam or grout line to be seen on the photo...LOVE that!
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Hi Lorette - I have no idea :). They were here when we moved in - I like them!
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wonderful poem, and i love anna's "a" shirt. any idea where you got it? it would be perfect for my small people :)
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Amy Tangerine made that shirt - it's Anna's favorite. http://amytangerine.blogspot.com/2010/08/tees.html
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Thanks again, Ali, for sharing these pages. They are beautiful :)
I have a question on the photo...I was a bit surprised your ISO was at 100..so used to being told to "bump it up". What made you try it at 100? The clarity? I guess if your subject isn't moving too much, they won't turn into a ghost..haha
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I really just wanted to see what would happen - specifically with the Christmas tree and with Anna. I was actually hoping she would be moving a bit more (but the shutter was too quick). What I wanted was a crisp tree and a blurred Anna :).
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Beautiful. I also first read Desiderata when I was a highschool sophomore. Loved it since.
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Love Desiderata - was just thinking of what used to be on our first student house walls and this was one I was going to replace.
So many bits of great advice in there. Thanks for sharing.
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Wait a minute- day 13? Already? How did this happen? I haven't even managed to get day 1 done! :) Hopefully I'll have time soon to work on my album. I love seeing everyone else's though!
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Thanks for the Desiderata......I probably discovered that around sophomore year in HS, too - many, many years before you! I used to have a printed version on my bulletin board. I will find a way to include Desiderata in my JYC....
Now I am thinking nostalgically about my bulletin board...I specifically remember some of the stuff I had on there forever. A picture of e.e. cummings, a page from Skiing magazine with a great picture of Franz Klammer, a cartoon a friend send of a guy stuck in a real rut.....wish I had a photo of it. What a glimpse into the girl I once was.....
k8
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I like to take photos of my bulletin boards now too (and I also wish I had a shot of mine growing up). You could even just make a page of the memories - what you can remember on there even without having a photo.
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Had a great crafting night with friends and now almost back to the "present" with my DD. Loving this project more each year. I like that some topics repeat and I can look back, but also am trying consciously to make sure some new ones are added. For the 13th, I added a day about our charitable giving as it isn't something I've ever documented, but is something we care about and is part of our holiday and year long experience. Thanks again for the inspiration
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Dear Ali, I'm not sure if I can hand-on-heart say this is my most favourite of every single layout of yours I've ever seen . . . but it must be in the top three. It is absolutely beautiful - just gorgeous. Thank you for sharing. Wishing you peace. Louise
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Beautiful layout Ali! I love this poem too. I can't say I've ever read it before. Thanks for taking the time to share it as a PDF for us.
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Ali, you first introduced me to the concept of purposefully low-lit photos some time after you moved into your home and you had a picture of Simon in his room between two lamps. I saw that and the feeling it evoked, and it occurred to me that I'd been trying to manufacture light in some of my photos that should not have been there.
I went back and fixed some evening Christmas photos I'd made boring by bumping up the exposure and returned them to their low-light selves and was so happy to see that the magic had returned and it was good that way!
Glad to see you pointing it out here for others to learn from. Thank you for helping me see it myself!
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Thanks Noell - always appreciate comments from you :).
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A tight HUG, a giant Smile and a sincere God Bless You for all of the "Gifts" and Light you share with the world each day. Thank you!!!
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Thank you for sharing the PDF. I grew up with this framed in our basement and it is intrinsically tied to my dad in my mind. I saw it on Tara's blog and wanted to print a copy to include in my Christmas gift to him (my parents have downsized and I hadn't seen it in years). I don't know that I would have found the time or remembered to, but now you've made it so easy. So thank you from me and my dad!
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Love the poem. I decided to do a different type of Dec Daily this year. Everyone day this month I tell my loved ones about one thing I love about them. It has brought much joy and closeness, and for that I am grateful. Thanks as always for inspiration.
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That is a wonderful idea.
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Ali I have never heard of this poem before. I must tell you it was perfect timing, I have been feeling down this year not so cheery and today I was moved by this, just what I needed! THANK YOU ALI!
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love seeing anna in her tee, even if it is backwards. maybe the next one should have the heart in the front. smiles
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Totally. She did choose to wear it with the a on the front yesterday. Seriously - it's been an everyday shirt (when she can make it happen) lately. Hence the need for a new one :).
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What a sweet picture and tribute to Anna. I'd venture to say that anyone who hasn't seen Desiderata wasn't able to read in the '60s. ;-) It was THE thing hanging on all our walls back then. It's always meaningful to read -- and I enjoyed it once again.
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Hi Ali - after reading your post yesterday I decided to put the Desiderata as the last page for my Project Life album, I thought it ended off the year perfectly - thanks for sharing it!
Are you finding that some of the very small pieces of the Playmobil Advent calender aren't suitable for Anna? We gave it to our 2.3 year old boy and some of the pieces are a bit scary with him - the ink pot, tiny mail etc! He is cutting his molars and will still sometimes put things in his mouth to chew on ...so they go away into a special box for playing with only under supervision.
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Sounds like a good, watchful parent to me :). Anna doesn't really put things in her mouth so that hasn't been an issue here but I think you are smart to be paying attention as some of those pieces are really small :).
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Thank you for sharing the file with us. I saw it on Tara's blog and loved it, but didn't have time to copy it out. It speaks to me too.
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