Traditions

The holidays hold a special place in my heart. I confess my tree went up the week of Thanksgiving. The kids did the first round of decorations and yesterday I did "reorg" so to speak, and pulled out the fragile ornaments. For these photos my kit lens (which never gets used), iso 100, f18, ss 6 seconds, tripod and timer.

Good kinda of busy

This time of year always keeps me on my toes. 2 birthdays right smack in the middle of the holidays and hosting parties. It's a good kinda of busy.

I've wanted to spend some more time playing in LR3. My mission was to get a better grasp on the brush tool. Not sure that I've managed to do so, but it's been fun and frustrating all in one!

Birthday invite

This is my throw it together invite for Emma's birthday party.
So here's what I have so far. I'm loving the colors, just feeling it's too busy. I purchased the digi kit from 2peas "Sweet Vintage Charm". I'm hoping by morning after stepping away it will have grown on me.

More light play

Here's few more with my light and soft box. For the photo of Tyler, I dragged the setup to him. As usual he didn't cooperate much, but it was worth a try. I apparently misplaced one of my sync cords so I have no way to trigger my Alien bee other than using my 580ex speedlight. I ended up bouncing the speedlight on the opposite wall of where my softbox was facing. I still didn't get the catchlights I was looking for, I just went for it as is, since he was cooperating for only a few seconds! I've seriously considered buying a baby doll with big glossy eyes so I can practice on!

Playing around with my Alien Bee and softbox

I picked up a gently used soft box from another fellow Pea (thanks Celeste). These are my first attempts playing around. No clue as to what I'm doing, but having fun trying!

Btw, I'm so irritated with my blog layout. Any suggestions on another layout/template from blogger? I enjoy being able to have large photos. I like simple and clean. At some point I will add a header of my own. Once I go down that road I would like to give the whole blog a facelift.

Princess Tyler

At 5 years old he doesn't see the potential of these photos. He sure does look pretty!

Positive thoughts

This week marks the 2 yr anniversary when we found out my brother had testicular cancer. Thankfully it was detected early on and removed. But what makes this all so different is, well, he is different. Scott has Down's Syndrome. The best way for me to describe his mental age/ability is, he's a 5 yr old trapped in a 38 yr old mans body.

Anyway a few photos that make me smile (taken when we lived in Sparks, Nv). Scotts standing in the pool because he wanted to be included in the pool fun with his niece and nephews.

This week we await his 18 month post scans and blood work. Thinking positive thoughts for another cancer free scan!

Life is crazy, but life is good

These photos are from the pumpkin patch a few weeks ago. As I finally have a spare moment to sit down and take a peek, my heart is warmed with joy and love as I go through these images. It was an amazing day and I'm thankful for all our blessings!

Photo wall

I've always admired tastefully done photo gallery walls. (sorry, small photos tonight)

This is our inherited furniture and craigslist finds. Some day I'll have my choice of something a bit more sophisticated and clean lines, til then we have a great spot for homework and plenty of forgiveness with distressed look :).

I've had all the frames and pics ready for quite some time, just never got up the nerve to put them up. At some point (if we ever get to it) our intent was to put a craftsman wainscoting on the bottom of the walls. I've placed the photos to allow for that in the event we ever get to it. I'm not sure if repeating 2 more frames on the left and right would be too much for the room. For now I can noodle on this every time I pass by.

The last photo is my inspiration photo found off the web "decorpad" site.

We recently had our family photos done (by Lauren) so you know I'll be replacing the pics in these frames to display our latest beautiful shots!

Btw, I used the craft paper to cut down to the size of my frames and made a fake wall using tape. I've seen it done but never done it myself. Awesome way to hang multiple photos without making lots of unnecessary holes!

The quotes in the frames were from Pottery Barn a few years ago. Brilliant idea...but you could totally do it yourself for a fraction of the cost!