Having Fun with my New Lens

Happy Friday!  We are enjoying a relaxing day at home as my oldest has no school.  Yesterday was a half day for him and the sun was shining so we headed outside for some fun and of course I had to bring out my camera and new 50mm lens.  (For Mindy, who asked which 50mm lens I have...it is a Canon EF 50mm f1.8 II)

Here are my favorite photos from yesterday:

READY...SET...

JUMP!







Can  you tell I'm learning a lot in my photography class?!  I love this last photo...the crisp focus of my son and the tree with a slightly blurred background, not to mention it just totally captures one of the many joys of childhood...climbing trees! 

 All these photos are straight out of the camera, as I still need to learn a lot more about post processing.  I think I'm going to take Elisha's new class, Photo Finish, to learn more about how to use Photoshop and Lightroom to take great photos to high quality works of art!

Have you recently posted some photos on your blog or do you visit a great photography blog regularly?  I'd love to hear about it so I can take a peek!

i heart faces - Photography Challenge: Sun Flare

Happy Monday everyone! This week's challenge over at i heart faces is to capture sun flare. Yesterday I got a new 50mm lens for my camera and couldn't wait to play with it today. It's raining here but the sun is still shining so I had my son stand by our sliding glass door and started shooting away.

Here is my favorite picture (straight out of the camera)...I love how the sun is shining on his face, his reflection in the glass, and the raindrops on the glass too.

I shot this in full Manual Mode using the cloudy white balance setting, ISO 200, 1/100, f2.8.

Click HERE to see more sun flare inspiration over at iheartfaces.

Joy - Etsy Inspired Challenge #130

Welcome to another Etsy Inspired Challenge! This week's featured Etsy shop is Artwork by Lori which has fun and unique prints and paintings for you to be inspired by.

I really liked these retro circle canvas paintings and they inspired me to create this card.

This card was super easy to put together. I just used a piece of Echo Park's Sweet Summertime paper and a bunch of the coordinating stickers too. I love when a project comes together so quickly and the result is still great...these colors and fun patterns just make me smile!

Our sponsor this week is the Charleston Scrapbook Company which offers a huge variety of crafting goodies. Would you like to win a $10 gift certificate to their store?! Or a print from Artwork by Lori?! Head on over to Artwork by Lori and find an item that inspires you. Then create a project of your own and link it up to the Etsy Inspired Blog by Friday at noon for your chance to win!

Stop by and visit the rest of the design team to see more Etsy Inspired projects!

• Angi
• Ashley
• Carole
• De
• Emily B
• Jackie
• Joy
• Kerry
• Libby (March Guest DT)
• Ruby
• Savannah
• Sherry
• Virginia

We have had a busy week and our weekend shows no sign of slowing but we will be spending a lot of time with family so I'm not complaining. For those of you who may have family or friends affected by the earthquake in Japan, my heart goes out to you...you are in my prayers.

i heart faces - People's Choice week

This week at i heart faces the challenge is to post your favorite face photo from February. While working on my photography class assignment (trying to capture sparkling eyes) I took this photo of my youngest son and just love how it turned out...the sparkle and wonder in his eyes and his sweet little smile as he is looking up at me...priceless! :) I hope you like it too and are inspired to capture the sparkle in your own child's eyes!

And...it is People's Choice week over at iheartfaces which means that all of you get to decide on your favorite face photo. There are tons of talented photographers submitting their favorite photos so be sure to head on over to iheartfaces to place your vote!

Click HERE to see all the other favorite February face photos and VOTE!

Update: If you are looking for my entry it is #277.

You Make My Heart Flutter

Hi friends! I hope you are having a wonderful weekend! I have been a busy crafter lately and it feels great to be getting some projects done. However, I do feel a little out of sync with what season it is...in the last two weeks I have created a Christmas layout, a Halloween layout, and two Valentine cards! :) Before we get too far away from Valentine's Day, I thought I would share my cards with you. I submitted these to the Paper Crafts call but they didn't get picked up. That's okay though...I'm already working on some new submissions! I try to look at submissions as inspiration since there is usually a theme or sketch to work with and since there is a deadline it helps me to focus on making time to create and finish a project. So, even if I don't get a project picked up for publication, I feel good that I made creative time for myself and have some great projects to show for it!

When I saw these adorable Valentine's Day pins at Michaels, I just had to pick up a bunch. I'm thinking that I will use them for my son's preschool Valentines next year because they had some fun boy pins too. These cards use My Mind's Eye, American Crafts, and My Little Shoebox products. For the butterfly card, I fan folded the rose ribbon on each edge to make it extra puffy. And for the frog card I used the flower sticker to help keep the tulle fanned out.

I'm off to get ready for the day...spending time with family and working on my photography. And tonight I'm hoping to get another layout completed. Tomorrow I am going to focus on my one little word, nurture, and workout in the morning followed by a nice outing with my mom. Enjoy your day!

December Traditions Layout (Etsy Inspired Challenge #129)

Happy Saturday! Last night I got to enjoy a crafty night out which was lots of fun and long overdue. I just love getting together with other creative women and crafting the night away! :) I'll share my projects from last night soon, but today I have a fun layout to share for this week's Etsy Inspired Challenge!

Our featured Etsy shop this week is Desired Things which if full of lovely, colorful jewelry and mixed media artwork. I was inspired by this gorgeous piece of art. I love the colors but the beads were actually what inspired my layout because they reminded me of all the candy decorations my boys put on our gingerbread house this year.

I used Crate Paper's Snow Day collection and a sketch from their blog to create this layout.
I am including a lot more journaling in my layouts lately, to make sure that I'm telling the stories behind the photos. Even though the photo is just of our gingerbread house, I chose to write about all our holiday traditions like making cookies, decorating the tree, and special family outings.

Now it's your turn to be Etsy Inspired!

- Visit Desired Things and find an item that inspires you

- Create a project based on that inspiration and post it to your blog or online gallery

- Link your project up to the Etsy Inspired Blog by Friday at noon for your chance to win a fabulous prize!

Our sponsor this week is Sparkle Creations and they will be giving one winner this adorable birthday stamp!

I hope you'll take some time to visit these lovely ladies too!

• Angi
• Ashley
• Carole
• De
• Emily B
• Jackie
• Joy
• Kerry
• Libby (March Guest DT)
• Ruby
• Savannah
• Sherry
• Virginia

Have a wonderful weekend!

i am... (BoBunny Layout Challenge)

If you are anything like me, most of your scrapbooking is of your kids and family...which may include some pictures of yourself, but rarely do you actually dedicate a page to just you. Well, BoBunny's current layout challenge is to do exactly that so I took my recent self-portrait photo and created this layout.

The patterned paper and brad are from BoBunny's Peacock Lane. I just love the rich teal and purple combination in this collection. I also used some coordinating BoBunny double dot cardstock. The glitter letters are American Crafts and the pretty lilac baker's twine is from The Twinery.

The journaling reads:

i am...creative, loving, intelligent, hard working, determined, confident, beautiful, loyal, a budding photographer, quiet, an avid reader, unique, a counselor, a teacher, strong willed, generous, most importantly...i am a sister, daughter, friend, wife, and mother. blessed

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you're inspired to take some time to create a layout all about you!