guest post Archives - Keeping With The Times

Popular Succulents: Guest Post by FTD

September 15, 2017 by Barb 2 Comments

Hello everyone, today I have a something a little different for you—a guest post about popular indoor and outdoor succulents.

I rarely (if never!) accept guest posts, but when *Alexandria from FTD contacted me and asked if I’d care to share her article about succulents … well, I was intrigued.

But first, let me disclose this is not a sponsored post. I just found her article so interesting and informative I wanted to share it with you. I had to share it because I hadn’t really thought about whether a particular succulent might do better indoors rather than outdoors.

And after reading her article, I immediately brought my jade plants back inside. It’s almost time anyway … the nights are getting extremely chilly and although I keep my jades in a protected area under an overhang, I’m starting to worry about frost. I will tell you that they do seem to bulk up during the summer when they’re outdoors and getting stronger sunlight, but I may rethink this approach. I’m always willing to try something new ;)

To check out her article and great advice, click on either image or go to 20 Popular Types of Succulents

*Alexandria enjoys writing on a variety of topics including floral design and wedding inspirations for FTD Fresh. When she’s not writing, she can be found at the beach or hiking.

Q & A | @ehpyle/Bottle Branch and a Giveaway

December 13, 2016 by Barb 44 Comments

Today I’m beyond thrilled to bring you a Q & A with the beautiful creative soul that is Elizabeth, or @ehpyle of Bottle Branch. I’ve admired Elizabeth’s work greatly since I first laid eyes on it. She has an incredible Instagram account, a beautiful blog, and a thriving business on Etsy. I’ve always wanted to know more about her and she has graciously agreed to share her journey with us. Thank you so much, Elizabeth.

So let’s get started!

Q. Who are you and why are you here ;)

I’m Elizabeth. I’m a former botanist, avid gardener, printmaker, photographer and mother of four. I first connected with Barb on instagram, where we share a love of flowers, nature and still life photography. I’ve since been honored to send her some of my own work though Bottle Branch, and loved watching her #sunday_sundries hash tag take off and soar. I was thrilled when she asked me to write a little about Bottle Branch, my botanical photography and paper goods business.

Q. So, can you tell me more about what a botanist is/does?

Yes! Botanists are the people who professionally identify plants in the wild (as opposed to horticulturalists, who study garden plants) and I studied Botany in graduate school. I spent hours in the field collecting plant samples and learning to identify plants by their subtle details – distinctive leaf shapes, elegant branching patterns, delicate flower structures. I like to think these years of close observation inform the botanically inspired art I now make. Even now, I try to identify the plants I work with. To me, naming a plant is part of truly knowing it, and a knowing plants is my passion.

Q. How did you get from being a botanist to starting Bottle Branch, the shop?

When my youngest child was born, I went from working mom to stay-at-home mom. I took up printmaking, wrote for a parenting blog, dabbled in needlework, and started gardening a lot. (Like Barb, I’m a fan of trying new things, as fearlessly as possible.) I grew vegetables, perennials, annuals and lots of cutting flowers– cosmos, zinnias, calendula, scabiosa, nigella, and more. As my garden grew, I developed a fascination with arranging and photographing flowers and plants.

My shop was born in late 2015, when I took a leap and listed a few silkscreened linens, woodcut prints, and photo cards in a shop on etsy. It has grown over the past year, and shifted to mostly photography and paper goods, but at its core, Bottle Branch was born from my passion for plants, flowers, and making things.

Q. How did you choose the name Bottle Branch?

I grew up in the southeast USA where a small stream or trickle of water is known as a “branch” and the one that ran behind my house was called Bottle Branch. I spent hours there with my siblings and neighbors, swinging on rope swings, looking for cray fish and chasing a single elusive bull frog. It was a place of joy, discovery, untamed nature. So, in 2013, when I started an open-ended blog about creativity and nature, I named it Bottle Branch in the hopes that it would be a place to share moments of joy and discovery; a place to marvel at the wonders of nature; and place to chase a single grandiose idea, even if it never worked out.

So here I am, still chasing that joy and wonder, and delighted to have had the chance to share my story with you.

Thank you so much Elizabeth. I’ve so enjoyed learning more about you and your shop and I’m sure my readers have as well.

And now, we’re in luck, as Elizabeth would like to offer a giveaway of a set of 5 “winter” theme cards from her shop!

All you need do is simply leave a comment here on my blog, on this post and you’ll be entered into the contest. Draw to be made Friday, December 16th at 1:00 pm MST.

**Please note that Christmas is coming :) and Elizabeth will be closing her shop and enjoying this sacred season with her family, so delivery may not be until the new year.**

Again, thank you so much Elizabeth, for sharing your story and for the beautiful giveaway! Your cards are exquisite!

Here’s where to find Elizabeth:

Etsy: Bottle Branch
Pinterest: Bottle Branch
Twitter: zibpyle
Instagram: @ehpyle and @bottlebranch
Blog: Bottle Branch (you might want to check out Elizabeth’s time-lapse capture of a strawflower opening up … it’s astonishing!)

Good luck on the draw everyone!

COMMENTS CLOSED – WE HAVE A WINNER (TO BE ANNOUNCED) YAY!!

“app” happy wednesday #26

December 3, 2014 by Barb 10 Comments

Good morning! I’m so excited to have the amazing and talented Roxi Hardegree from Creating Beyond The Layers as a guest poster today. I’ve “known” Roxi for years … it goes way back (5 years) to the days when I was on the Creative Team at E-Scape and Scrap. Roxi is a designer and she was one of the designers whose products I always used – they’re so classy and beautiful.

Roxi tells me that she’s going to be featuring her favorite shots from 2014 throughout the month on her blog, so be sure to check that out.

So, without further ado – here’s Roxi!

"app" happy wednesday

Taking pictures has always been a part of my life. And I’m not such a purist that my iPhone photos now are exceeding the number I take with my Canon. You see, first, I’m an artist, then I’m a memory keeper.

I have a hard time ‘leaving a photo alone’, in its unedited form. Already having a Photoshop background, it was easy to go down the rabbit hole when mobile editing was made possible with apps. My first introduction to altered mobile photos was with Instagram. I shot and loaded my first photo in November 2011. I was sitting on the sofa and took a photo of the fireplace using the Instagram app, applied a filter and uploaded it. I turned to the left, snapped a picture of hubby and filtered him too. (They are the two best subjects for my experiments. My Hipstamatic roll is full of them. lol)

Soon after that I took a course on Snapseed and continue to use it on almost every photo. Besides knowing it like the back of my hand, it’s a great basic editing app with tons of extras.

My favorite style is textural edits. I’ve used DistressedFx a lot but my current favorite is Stackables. I usually play around adding layers but lately I’ve tried some of their formulas and then put my own twist on them.

A lot of my edits are ‘happy accidents’. I have very few ‘formulas’ I follow, except my watercolor/ink edits for example. But for the most part it’s play, play, play.

The best advice I can give is to pick one app, use it a lot, say for a week or two and get to know it real well. Even though I have well over 200 apps on my phone there are just a few that I seem to gravitate to, the ones I ‘know’.

Hydrangea made with Stackables and Snapseed, self-portrait with Snapseed and Image Blender, Fall Watercolor made with Artomaton, iColorama and Image Blender.
My current favourites: Snapseed, Stackables, PixlrExpress’ Picfx’ Mextures, DistressedFx, Hipstamatic, Superimpose, iColorama, VCSOcam.

"app" happy wednesday

Roxi_Hydrangea

OK, I literally gasped when I saw the images that Roxi sent me … stunning work isn’t it? Today I’m linking to an image I made after being inspired by these masterpieces (ahem, not in the same league here, but that’s quite alright).

If you are new to the party, this is a link-up to share your photos edited with “apps” of any kind! Let me stress there are no rules!! Just join the fun and share any kind of artsy creation.

Let’s see what you’ve been up to!

Use any “app” you like and perhaps explain how you used it.

Did you use just one? Did you combine apps?
Simply create some art. Post it on your blog or Flickr or wherever you are uploading your work, and then come back here and link it up!
Visit a few friends to see what they are up to and perhaps learn some fabulous new tips and techniques.
Spread the word about the link-up, the more the merrier!

Sorry … this series is closed.

A Look At Popular Cloud Storage Providers

December 11, 2013 by Barb 12 Comments

How do you protect your files? It’s something I think about all the time, and I kind of need to get up to speed on the latest and greatest. As a matter of fact, I just backed up my blog to my computer and the file is almost 500 MB!! I need to guard it with my life!

So today, I bring you this informative and interesting guest post by Kyle Mercer written exclusively for my readers!

Cloud_12

It seems that in the past few years, cloud storage has shifted from being a new, trendy technological concept to a widely implemented tool used by companies across the board. We hear more about cloud storage just about every day and for those who haven’t “dived in” yet, the specifics can be a bit confusing.

The basic concept, actually, is rather simple: Essentially, cloud storage allows you to save digital data on your “cloud,” rather than on a specific device such as an iPhone, desktop computer, tablet, etc… And the benefits of doing so are numerous: Your data is accessible from any device with an internet connection (just log into your cloud account); your saved files are safe from technical errors (or loss or theft) that can occur with devices; and you will enjoy more digital storage space. Naturally these perks can be handy for innumerable practices, businesses, and hobbies including digital photography.

But where it gets trickier for those starting off in cloud computing is picking a specific provider. There are now a number of very capable mainstream providers on the market, each offering some unique features and benefits. So to help in your decision-making process, here’s a brief comparison of some of the top cloud providers.

Dropbox

Arguably the biggest name in cloud storage, Dropbox is seen as a very simple, easy option for individual or small group use. The free package gets you 2 GB of storage space, and people love the user-friendly system that includes a handy mobile app and the unlimited file size uploading ability. You can get more storage at various pricing levels.

iCloud

The cloud that comes with new Apple products is very simple, but very handy. Basically, it’s built-in cloud storage on your Apple computer, tablet, phone, etc…, and it offers 5 GB of storage with no additional priced options.

Citrix Sharefile

In some ways a more advanced option, Sharefile is typically meant more for business environments than personal use. That being said, it can definitely be useful for your own small business. There is no free option offered. Instead, for $30/month, you can set up two users with 5 GB of total storage space and there are higher-tiered options beyond this starting point. The benefits of Sharefile are in its top-of-the-line security and organization.

Google Drive

To some extent, this is Google’s version of iCloud. The Google Drive offers 5 GB of free storage space, though it does have paid options for more storage. The main perk of Google Drive resides in its organization and integration with existing contacts lists, calendars, etc…, for those who tend to use Google products and programs.

Ultimately, these are just a few of many options that exist to satisfy your cloud needs and desires. But with the concept of cloud computing becoming an everyday reality, it only makes sense to get comfortable with one that sounds like a good fit for your use.

This is a guest post by Kyle Mercer. Kyle is a freelance writer and tech enthusiast who frequently covers new releases in gadgets, software and programs.