Photography

In the last year I have been experimenting with a new creative outlet, Photography. Here it's all about black and white. 

Doesn't this baby make you want to cook? I love this range. We did a complete kitchen remodel a few years ago, and my husband insisted we buy it, I thought, "Are you crazy?  I can be very frugal at times :). However, my opinion has changed and  I am very happy that he won this time...don't tell him I said that!

Look a new pedicure!

  

This is Louie, our 8 year old English Bulldog/adorable model.

Last year my dad gave me one of his many cameras, a Konica Minolta 7D DSLR, I was so excited! Before, I had only used a Cannon PowerShot (CPS), I would recommend this little camera to anyone, it's light weight, small enough to fit into your pocket, and if you play around in manual you can really manipulate it to get some great shots. My husband and I each bought a CPS in 2006 for a trip we took to Italy, (we are down to one now because my husband dropped mine into the tide pools in Laguna Beach, the camera was ruined but luckily the card was saved), it is a great all around camera and perfect for traveling. Back in 2004 we traveled to China and found that a bigger camera means you carry more stuff and no one wanted to carry it. The CPS has no extra bags or bulk and takes really good pictures. Disposable cameras, "HA!", I am embarrassed to say we took several with us to China and bought even more while we were there, luckily a friend also a photographer, brought his camera took lots of great shots and gave us copies of all his photo's. Disposable camera's are trash people don't waste your money!  

LOL, like you didn't know that right? 

These were all taken on the CPS... 

Look at that face! :) He makes me smile every time I see him.

So, I have only taken one weekend crash course in photography with my new DSLR, and figured I better get to knowing this thing inside and out before doing a longer more detailed course. This thing has a lot of options and has even helped me to understand my point and shoot better. The CPS isn't intimidating anymore and makes me pull out the DSLR to see if I can create the same shot. They are actually fun to use together in that way.

Graduation

yard signs for the grad

I made these graduation decorations for my nieces high school graduation party last year. I used my Cricut to cut out the letters and grad hats using Make The Cut software. 

I used little jelly jars and added flowers, I printed some sayings off on the computer. 

Here's another one, they were very simple and placed on the all the tables.

Here is a card I made, the basic idea came from a scrap book magazine I was browsing through once while waiting for an appointment....I can't remember the name.

 We needed a gift drop box so I made up this graduation hat card box.

I also made, water bottle labels, and set out a framed photo of the grad at the gift table.

The lighting is very yellow in my kitchen, I know now a little better how to deal with the lighting.

ENJOY!

Elmo Birthday Party

Last year for Kinzy's First Birthday, her mom and dad threw her an Elmo Birthday Party and her mom asked me to come up with an outfit for the party.  I started off making this tutu, I had never made one before but it was super easy, all you need is tule in your choice of colors, (I used red and white from Joann's), and a spool of big red satin ribbon for the bow. At first I thought I would try tying the tule to a length of the red ribbon that would fit around her waist, but later decided to use an elastic headband that was soft and very stretchy, it work perfect! Add a big satin bow (sew it on) and there you have it, a tutu.

Then I decided she needed a shirt, I had seen a really cute embroidered Elmo shirt somewhere awhile back, and I have made quit a few iron shirts in the past, so naturally I thought I would make an Iron-on. Using Elmo's head or body, then add a little text with the birthday girls name and you have a really cute, inexpensive t-shirt. I made a really big flower head band to match using stuff I already had on hand, and there you have a cute little birthday outfit  for the birthday girl.

 There were no tutorials involved here, as I searched for Elmo ideas I came across similar styles to this outfit, most had party hats and embroidered Elmo's, you can even buy them online but they were much more than I wanted to spend and I knew I could get the look for less if I made it myself.

Here is a picture of the birthday girl...she just woke up from a nap, the party was at the park and it was really hot, so she just wore a diaper under her tutu, she didn't even want to wear her shoes or the headband!

This year it's Minnie Mouse!

Hair Bows & Ponies

Over the weekend I made a bunch of hair bows & ponies for Katie.

Katie is a girly girl & loves accessorizing!

Sorry this one is a little blurry :(    I made her whole soccer team matching ponies last year, they loved them...I'm pretty sure I will make them again this year since they were wanting to buy extras last year.

I was just experimenting here

and here, always looking for ways to use up those scraps.

more experimenting here

and here

and here

and here, again using only stuff I already had on hand...love that! Though I have been making stuff like this for years, I don't claim the ideas are original and I'm sure somewhere you can find tutorials if you need them, but these are pretty easy and I just experimented until I was happy with the final results. ENJOY!

girls skirt

This cute little girls skirt tutorial I found At Second Street: Valentines Attire. I had some left over fabric from another project that I hadn't finished yet, (I came across a bump, couldn't figure out how to fix it, and lost interest in the project...don't you just hate when that happens?), so I decided to try making the girls matching skirts. This was my first attempt in making a skirt, not bad eh? Each skirt only took a couple hours and Katie's was probably a little trickier because I had to adjust it to about a size 7/8. My nieces don't live near by, so I work strictly off of measurements I take when I do see them, it makes it a little tricky, but hey I'm up for the challenge. I'm sure it would be much easier to use a pattern but they kinda intimidate me, and from what I have read there are sizing issues a lot of the time, besides there is something appealing to me about creating from ground zero. A few things I would probably do a little different next time, (see I'm already learning) ; 1. Use matching thread if you are going to take the time to make something, it will look so much better. 2. correct me if I am wrong, but use a zig zag stitch when sewing in my elastic so there is a better stretch to it. 3. make sure you use the ruffle method for the gathers...I forgot to do this with Katie's skirt and couldn't figure out why I was having so much trouble sewing until I was already finished. There really is a reason to follow each step, it's to make your sewing more enjoyable LOL! Oh well, sew and learn, right?

Barbie clothes

So, I'm almost embarrassed to say "YES" I've been making Barbie clothes, because what I've found is  there are some hardcore Barbie people out there! "NO" I don't own any Barbie dolls myself, "WAIT" unless you count the one I bought at the dollar store so I could use her as my model." WAIT A MINUTE"..."OR" the Ken doll my husband found in his office...the guys at work thought it was only fair, if his secretaries bring their Barbies to work, he should have one too so naturally I inherited Ken ...actually my niece Katie is the one with all the Barbie's, she probably has dozens of Barbies. This little girl asks for a new Barbie every birthday, holiday and every opportunity she finds fit. With that said Barbie probably needs some clothes.
 I started thinking back when I was a little girl, my older sister Marlene gave me all of her Barbie's, this was big, I wasn't even allowed to touch them up to this point and now they were going to be ALL mine! Marlene was very creative, keep in mind we didn't have a lot of money, my mom was a single mother of eight kids, and I came to terms that Santa wasn't dropping off Barbies Dream House anytime soon. Marlene's creativity was nothing more than pure genius to me, she would come up with ways to make our own Barbie Dream House, with empty toilet paper rolls and wash cloths, Barbie had couch's and bed's, with bottle caps as dishes, and if my mom only knew we were cutting up our clothes so Barbie could have clothes living with Barbie probably would have ended. Marlene showed me how she made Barbie's closet out of a cardboard box, she even had a place for all of her shoes, and reminded me how Barbie always loses them and that I needed to make sure Barbie put them back into her closet so that they wouldn't get lost. I remember her spending most of the day showing me endless possibilities on how
Barbie could have it all with just a little creativity.

With one semester in 7th grade of Home Economics and a sewing project here and there with my step mom I had the bare basics of sewing down when I started sewing again in the last year or so, and what I found was Barbie clothes are a great beginner project because I know understand how garmets are pieced together. I think this Green and brown dress would make a cute summer dress for an adult after all it's only a bodice with darts and a skirt attached and there are so many variations of this dress you could make...I just might have to try it! If you do try to make Barbie clothes they can be a little tricky because they are so small, but just remember they are for Barbie and the little girl who receives them is going to think you are sooooo cool, so see, it's a win win situation once you get past the thought of "You're such a nerd, you're making Barbie clothes".
 Here's a few more...Have a good day ya' all.

                                                        WHAT? ... Barbie needs PJ's too!

                                               ...and a bathing suit or under garmets

Plush Alphabets

when I found these Plush Alphabets by chezbeeperbebe I knew I wanted to make some for Kinzy (my niece), because she's learning her ABC's and these were so much cuter than those ugly plastic refrigerator magnets that I had growing up.

I love them because they are bright and pretty, they are like art on your refrigerator, and what a great way to use up all those scraps laying around, but why I love them most  is that they are a learning toy for sweet Kinzy. Next, I would like to make some numbers like these with plus and minus symbols,  for  her older sister to help her with her math. Enjoy! P.S. I hope i properly linked.