snapshops

I went to my Snapshops class last Saturday and it was amazing!!  Ashley's house was darling, she is practically perfect in every way, her kids were angels and her husband, well lets just say he was super dad/husband!  He took care of all 4 kids and all 10 students all day long!  

Seriously, it was a perfect Saturday.  

So informative, so fun, so perfect, so inspiring.

Here are a few shots of Ashley teaching us a thing or two.  The lighting isn't great because we were messing with settings but when I got home, I realized these were the only pictures I got of her.  

We got to practice taking pictures of Ashley's kiddos.  Did I mention how cute they were??  And well behaved??  Her son, H, painted outside and let us all huddle around and take pictures.  He was a natural!

In the late afternoon session, we got to practice on some sweet babies.  This is Ashley's niece, Sweet P and might be the most beautiful baby I've ever seen.  Stunning!

(I started playing around some in Photoshop and retouched this one slightly.  I didn't have time to do the rest, but I think I might be hooked on that now too.  Great...that all I need is something else to be addicted to!)

Here's another baby that modeled for us, Miss H.  Wow. She was gorgeous!  Those eyes....

I didn't really get any good shots of the two other boys.  They were walkers (or should I say runners) and my pregnant body could simply not keep up with them!  Just about the time I'd get down on the ground, they would take off in another direction!  Needless to say, I was worn out!

Here's Mr. R.  What a ham!  His daddy is a professional photographer (he's a SnapShops grad and got started that way!!) so this little guy is used to having a camera in his face.  Talk about working the camera...he's darling and he knows it!

What an amazing experience.  I consider myself to be so lucky to have even gotten in to Ashely's workshop.  Did I mention it's in pretty high demand?!?

I'm so inspired now to actually use the knowledge I have and to get better shots.  I have no excuse not to!  I've been so tired lately, as I've entered my 3rd trimester.  I've slowed down in taking pictures, especially just around the house of the simple things we do, but I'm all geared up and excited to start that again!  And once sweet baby Halle arrives, look out!  I've got lots of ideas up my sleeve!!  

Thank you SO MUCH Ashley for such a fantastic and inspiring weekend!!!

snapshops

I have tried for quite some time to get in to Ashley's Snapshops workshop...and I finally made it!!!

I just got my registration in the mail last week and I'm super excited!!

Of course it wouldn't just be copied on computer paper on black and white...Ashley Ann is way too creative for that!  Check out how cute it was wrapped up! 

My workshop is on May 7th and I couldn't be more excited!!   

Her 2011 dates booked  in 90 minutes and I'm so honored to have made it into on of the classes!!!  More to come after I attend!!

padding

So I've been in to padding lately...you know, making notepads.

I'm a pretty picky person and sometimes its hard to find the right notepad and it's easier just to make your own!  It's so easy!

First you need some heavy books,

and Mod Podge,

and what you want to pad.

Simply print out pages that you want to make into a pad and cut them to size.  For example, this particular day I made pads out of my menu form, a to do list that I made and a weekly blog list (because my other one ran out).  They are as big as a piece of letter paper cut in half.  Be sure that they are all exactly the same size...use a paper cutter if you can. 

You also need to cut cardboard backs for them too.  You can either keep the backs of old notepads or you can purchase chipboard at most any mailing supply store.  I bought mine at Office Depot for a quarter for a big sheet.

Next lay out some foil or wax paper so you don't get your table messy.

Stack your pads so the tops are perfectly in line. 

Be very careful when doing this...they really need to be exact. 

Place your heavy books on top of the pads as close to the top as you can.  You need to leave a little bit of room so you don't Mod Podge the books to the paper. 

Use a foam brush to paint very thin strips of Mod Podge on the tops of the pads.  Let dry completely (just a few minutes) between coats.  I typically do 5-7 coats...just eyeball it. 

I've found that 40 is a good number of pages to do in a pad; anything more than that is just a little too thick.  Be sure to add an extra page or two on top though, because the top few get a little icky at the top.

Ta-da! 

The bottom pad in this stack got a little warped because I didn't have the cookbook close enough to the edge.  You really need something very heavy close to the edge. 

I've also added magnetic strips to the back of some of my pads so they can hang on the side of the fridge!

Happy Padding!!

this & that

This might just be the most random post I've ever done, but there are just a few totally unrelated things I'd like to talk about, so here it goes!

Pillows:

I bought some new red pillows for our living room!  Aren't they so great?  Where do you think I found them...Pottery Barn?  Nope!

WAL-MART!!!!

Can you believe?? For only $12!! 

Makes me love them even more!

Hiding things in the kitchen:

In an effort to get things off my counter tops and put them away, I started brainstorming ways to get my cutting boards into my lower cabinets, even though they were too tall to fit on the shelves. 

Solution: 3M command hooks! 

Have I told you how much I adore these things?  I'm sure I have, but let me just tell you again.  I mean seriously, how great is this?  I didn't even have to put a hole in the door!  Easy fix! 

I also did the same thing with Addi's bibs.  She doesn't wear them often (just when she eats really messy things like spaghetti-o's, syrup, etc.)

This little project is going to be a work in progress because I feel like there is so much stuff out on our counters just cluttering it up. I will keep you posted along the way.

Refrigerator Vent:

Did you know that the vent on the bottom of your fridge can be removed so it can be cleaned?  Well I didn't!  I was vacuuming the vent last weekend and it was SO disgusting!  I grabbed the Clorox wipes and I still couldn't get all the grime off.  One end was a little loose and I thought it was broken.  I tried to snap it back on and ended up yanking the entire thing off!  I thought I really had broken it then, and then it dawned on me that it could easily go back on...genius!  I spent about 30 minutes cleaning it with hot soapy water and goo-gone.  I am so mad that I didn't know it came off because it's been 6 years and that thing has never (not once) been cleaned.  How embarrassing to admit!  I would have been mortified if anyone would have witnessed the filth that I discovered.  YUCK!!!!  So here's my PSA...your vent comes off!

Magnet board:

I wanted to put something cute and functional next to Addi's small table in our kitchen.  She's always bringing home artwork and admiring the art that she creates at home so I thought why not a small magnet board?  I found this cute one at Office Depot for about $15.  She loves it and is proud to post her creations.  I was pleased with the size; it really does fit just perfectly in the space.  I might have picked a different color, but it was either green or navy.  The green is fine.  I like it.

Guess how I hung it up?  3m Command Hooks!  I'm telling you, they can do just about anything!!  HERE are the ones I used for this project and several others around the house!

Here's my sweet girl admiring her work and loving her new big bird juice after her nap.  You can tell by the crazy hair and sleep eyes that she's not quite all the way awake yet! 

I love it when she looks at me with amazement like I've just done the most coolest thing ever.  That's the looks she gave me when I folded a piece of paper in half and cut a heart out...when I opened that paper up she about fell out of her chair!  "Wow Mama!  You did good!" *melts my heart!!*

She also thought it was a pretty great that I spelled her name with stickers.  "Mama you made Addi!!" (Like I didn't know what I was doing!)

Newsflash:

My last piece of important business is to announce that Addi can FINALLY jump!!!!  For the longest time she would sort of gallop and flap her arms like she was doing the chicken dance.  I truly have been worried because all of her friends can jump.  She finally did it the other morning before school and Scott and I both froze in our tracks.  I had her do it over and over and she did great!  Whew!  Check that one off the list!

Okay, I think that's all for now.  I warned you that it was totally random!

what's a mama to do...

What's a mama to do with all of these "mama tail" holders?  Since Addi won't let me put her hair up (I knew that was a one time thing!) I have a ton of little pink ponytail holders.  I even gave a handful to Olivia's mom and I still have so many left! 

Well, I came up with the perfect use!

In Addi's closet, I hang her skirts/shorts/pants on hangers with clips.  Most of the time the shirt doesn't fit on the same hanger so it hangs seperately.  No matter how hard I try, they two hangers always get seperated and then Scott's always left to figure out which tops and bottoms go together.

Well not anymore!  I just slipped one of our "mama tail" holders over the two hangers and now they hang neatly together. 

Problem solved!

I just love it when I have those Ah-Ha moments, don't you?  What clever things have you come up with?

manual

So many of you have inquired about my camera lately...it's funny how that question comes in waves!  I posted about it HERE last May. I have a Canon Rebel XSi and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!!!

After Christmas, I decided that I really should learn how to shoot in Manual {aka M} instead of just in Automatic {aka the little green box}.  Through several photographers and classes, I am proud to say that I shoot in manual about 98% of the time now!! Honestly, I never thought I'd get here!  It was a slow process, to say the least, but I made it!  I had two main problems:  fear and time.

FEAR:  I was so afraid that I was going to "miss the moment" becaues I didn't have my camera on the right setting.  I just wanted to play it safe and keep it on Auto so I would be sure to get an okay picture of the moment...even though I really wanted a "money shot"!

TIME:  I didn't think I had the time to learn something new. 

So what did I do?  Well I got over my fear and I made photography a priority!  Sometimes you just have to tell yourself to get over it...and that's what I did!  I also comitted to blogging more, so I would make myself take more pictures.  Since there aren't big moments or events that happen everyday, it forced me to photograph small things throughout our daily life, whether it was what we had for dinner or the 100th time Addi wanted to blow bubbles...just our daily happenings.  I also made an effort to ask for help!  I talked to a photographer friend {who was SO helpful!!}, I enrolled in a few classes and I did research on a ton of blogs!  Between all three of those resources, I have learned so, so much!  No one explained it perfectly, but as I heard things repeated to me over and over and in different ways, I finally had my lightbulb moment!  It just clicked!  I am by no means an expert on this topic.  I think just like so many things, you can always learn something new and perfect your skills.  My husband practices and plays golf ALL THE TIME and now I practice and take pictures ALL THE TIME. 

My advice to you is if you are really interested in improving your images, then make it a priority!  The most important thing is to have fun with it!!! If you're not enjoying it, then what's the point?  Practice, practice, practice and then practice some more!  You'll be surprised how by just playing around with settings, you will learn so much!  I hope this helps inspire some of you to take the risk and swich over to the big M from the little green box!