The mall in town has Crazy Days, we have Zany Days! Be on the lookout for some great deals! I have a ton of cardstock and patterned paper that will be sold cheap and there will also be embellishment packs. If I get ambitious, I will also clean out some stash for a little scrappy “garage sale” as well. When I did this sale in January, I was sold out of everything within 2 hours so have the PayPal loaded and ready!
The kids and I enjoyed a nice weekend with Mom & Dad. We left after lunch on Friday and stayed until Sunday evening. Mostly, we went for some scrapping, but it’s also nice to get away from the routine for a couple of days.
As per our 4th of July tradition, we sat on the driveway and watched fireworks go off at the fairgrounds and various other places while attempting to avoid mosquito bites.
It’s not easy to get a good photo so far away, but I tried.
I brought the kids’ swimsuits along so they could run through the sprinklers. I think it might have been the highlight of their weekend. Grampa has a sprinkler system with about 4 of them in this “zone”.
She hadn’t been too keen on sprinklers last year, but was slightly more brave this year. She even got her hair wet! lol
He was quite familiar with Grampa’s sprinklers. I’m not sure how many mid-air jumps I got of him, but this was my favorite.
They thought I should’ve came with them in the sprinklers. Ummm…no. I’ll pass, thanks. lol
Later that day, I attempted to get some frame-worthy shots of the kids so I could swap out the really old one I had hanging in the living room. This is how it started.
I think that must be her new look. It’s kind of cute, but she’s going to wish she hadn’t been doing that when she looks at these photos several years down the road. lol
And then there’s this one. Can you see why I said “attempted”?
She’s pretending to be really interested in her flowers so I quit taking her picture….it worked.
I did manage to get this one to hang on my wall.
Then on Sunday afternoon, my dad took us out for ice cream cones, so we talked him into visiting the Falls.
These two consider the Falls an “adventure” so they were excited to go again.
“Take my picture in front of this part,” he says. You don’t have to ask me twice to have your picture taken. lol
What a great weekend! I took over 500 pictures, but these were my favorites. I also managed to finish 7 layouts and 2 ATC’s in between all this fun. Great memories, good food, lots of fun, no chores…can’t get any better than that. Thanks Mom & Dad for letting us hang out a few days!
Two posts in one day….look at me go! LOL I’ve been enjoying the challenges that Trish from Work In Progress Kits and I have been doing the last few weeks. Challenging others to play with their cameras has made me take a closer look at various settings on mine. That’s a good thing! On to the challenge…
This week we’re working on capturing the personalities of our subjects. I love it when I get a certain look from one of the kids. I think these tell a lot about their personalities right now.
He is such a mild mannered fella so I get a lot of pictures of him like this.
For a brother and sister, these two have such fun together. They are completely like 2 peas in a pod….most of the time. LOL
She is SO afraid of storms. The first drop of rain or dark cloud has her worried. We were outside last week when a big dark cloud rolled in so I got this shot before we ran inside.
We visited my aunt and uncle in Ohio this spring and it’s a tradition to have pictures taken on their big entry staircase. The lighting isn’t great since their house is so old so I had to take more shots than usual to get any good ones. I have to laugh every time I look this one because they are usually so good about pictures, but once in a while I get something like this. LOL
I really want to blog, but apparently I need to put it on my schedule right next to bookkeeping. LOL I don’t mind that either, but never seem to get to it until I’m so far behind that it becomes an “event”. I’ve been wanting to post some of my pictures from the challenges over at Willow Traders so that’s my plan for today. Then I need to get some pictures printed so I can go scrap some more with my ZZ June Sweet Magnolia kit. I should also take some pictures of my gardens since I’ve been trying to figure out when things are blooming so I don’t have gaps with no flowers.
I’ll also be stalking the Fedex man today. He was supposed to be here yesterday with scrappy goodness from Bazzill, Ki Memories, & Making Memories. Not sure what happened to him, but the tracking says there was a weather delay. Seeing how it was a perfectly sunny day with clear blue skies and not a cloud in sight, I’d say that means he decided to take a vacation day. LOL
The mail today should be fun too. I cancelled my Dish Network last week and decided to get Netflix instead. We’ll be receiving Modern Marvels: Candy, VeggieTales: Lessons from the Sock Drawer, and for me…27 Dresses. Fun, fun, fun!
Now…on to those pictures…
Last week was Trish’s week and she had us locking focus and re-composing the shot. I’ll admit I didn’t do very well with this one. I was having problems getting my camera to lock focus. I had to read the manual and found that I couldn’t have my camera set on AI Servo because it constantly focuses for the continuous mode I keep the camera on. By the time I figured this out, nobody wanted their picture taken. I did manage to get this one of Ty.
Week 3 was my turn with capturing details. I like to tell a story with my photos if I can. Here are my examples:
Joey & Megan gave me these dandelions while we were road tripping to Ohio last spring. I didn’t have anything to put them in so I decided to take pics of them instead. They’re laying on the dash of Dad’s truck.
Megan is taking after her mommy with her camera. I love how her little fingers are wrapped around the side.
And one of Joey with a flower he picked for me.
Week 2 was Trish’s week with a look at using different vantage points for a different perspective. I took a few pictures by my raised flower bed. These flowers are anemone. I love how simple they are. I was lucky to get pictures of these when I did because the next night we had high winds and rain and the petals all fell off.
I was sitting on the ground with the sun setting in the west. I love how he’s silhouetted with the light catching the flower.
That’s it for now. I’ll update with this week’s challenge in a bit. It’s my turn again and the challenge is Capturing Personality. Be back in a bit with more photos.
Canon Powershot A75 Set on Auto
Canon Powershot A75 Set on Action
Canon Rebel XTi Set on P, ISO 1600, f10.0, Shutter 1/400, Zoomed to 77.0mm
Canon Powershot A75 Set on Auto
Canon Powershot A75 Set on Auto
Canon Powershot A75 Set on Auto
Canon Rebel XTi Set on P Mode, ISO 1600, f5.6, Zoomed to 105mm
I’ve been wanting to try Glimmer Mist and this mini album that I’m working on seemed like a good place for some glimmer. I had no idea how it was going to be, but decided to spray it outside. It was a little windy, but I think it actually worked pretty well with the breeze. Besides, I may have had to wait several days for no wind in SD! LOL Anyway, I sprayed it directly on the pages, which were already Mod-Podged to a Bo-Bunny Family chipboard album. I held each page about 18-24″ away from the bottle. Any time there was a little drip or more spray than I wanted, I quickly wiped it off or rubbed it in and there were no big blotches left behind. One thing about the paper I was using is that if there was a bigger drop that I didn’t notice right away, it blended into the distressed look of the paper. I don’t think I could use it on a “clean” looking paper and be happy with it, but it was excellent on this distressed paper. I’m not usually one to play with messy stuff, but this was easy to use and I’m happy with the results.
Pictures really don’t do this paper justice! This gorgeous paper is from the Fleuriste line from Cosmo Cricket. We’ve paired it with all new embellishments from 7gypsies, American Crafts, and Cosmo Cricket. Dolores has been busy making some special tin tags to coordinate as well. The nice thing about this double-sided paper is that even though some of the designs are very feminine, others are pretty neutral and could be used for anything.
Bright and fun completely describes this kit! We’ve paired the Cosmo Cricket Get Happy collection with all brand new items from Sassafrass Lass, Scenic Route, and Cosmo Cricket. Dolores has made some cute embossed tin circles and we also have some custom-made acrylic “happy” signs included as well. This kit will be terrific for preserving any of your favorite happy memories!
I sure hope so! I was just playing with my camera last week and discovered the tree in the front yard has all these little buds ready and waiting for spring to be here. I can’t wait! There’s still a little snow around, but LOTS of it has melted. The grass is even getting green in some spots. I’m looking forward to finding my perennials sprouting up again.
I know these are not really sneak peeks, but I’m checking things out on Wordpress. REAL sneak peeks will be posted soon!