Merry Christmas!

Credits: Digital papers and elements: Lisa Hanks of Southern Creek Designs; Fancy Alpha: Pam Lefors Designs; Font: Century Gothic.

'Twas the Day before Christmas Eve

And I am not ready :). That's o.k. I have a plan. Pretty much work my list and mark things off. Why is it that marking things off my list makes me happy? In fact, I've been known to write things on the list after I've done them just to mark them off. LOL!

Left on my list I have:
1. Decorate gloves a la Grace Violet for the neighborhood girls. I have no clue what to do for the two boys. Must put my thinking cap on. Soon.

2. Make custom CD mixes for my two teenage friends at church. That's going to be fun going through my music collection to find songs that make me think of them :). I'll do custom labels, too.

3. Sew. Why do I always leave DD's nightie to the day before Christmas Eve. I actually cut it out several days ago, but other things got moved up my list. And I need some double folded bias tape. So when I run out this afternoon, that's on my shopping list.

4. Finish editing pictures from Pastor's family shoot. They are a good looking group of people :). Only 8 more to go.



5. Find all the presents hidden around the house, LOL! And wrap them!!!

The next 48 hours should be lots of fun :D.

Don't Forget!

The Graphic 45 Winter Wonderland contest ends tomorrow!

Kids and Pets

My favorite photographic subjects are kids, specifically my own kid, and pets. We have one dog and one cat and evidently one lizard. But that's a story for another day. This weekend I actually got my camera out and took a picture of my dog. This is Domino. The photo title says it all.


Settings: 50mm lens | ISO1600 | SS 1/50 | f/2

Merry Christmas G45 Style

Inspired

Here is a quick and easy ornament using the beautiful G45 papers. I was totally inspired by Elise Blaha and her favorite ornament from last year: Elise's favorite handmade ornament 2007. I contacted her and have gotten permission to post this making sure to link to her blog and credit her with the idea for the ornament.

You need:
1 sheet of beautiful G45 paper
1 circle punch, any size (I used 1 1/2")
Fluid Chalk for the edges
Glitter pen
Adhesive
Scrap of ribbon about 6" long

1. Punch seven 1 1/2" circles.
2. Ink the edges with fluid chalk (Colorbox Chestnut Roan).
3. Go over the flowers with a glitter pen (Gelly Roll by Sakura).
4. Glue all but the last one back to back.


5. Insert the ribbon in the middle making sure to catch some of it in the adhesive.


6. Adhere the last two circles.


Done! You and you family can do a whole tree-ful of these lovely ornaments in an evening.

Happy crafting!

How cute is this!

Heather Mellstrom put together an awesome Thanksgiving name place holder tutorial over at the G45 blog. Check it out!

Advent Calendars

I'm a simple girl. This is kind of plain, but I like the way it turned out. My daughter's opinion is still out though. She asked me this morning, "What IS that, Mommy?" I think she just wants more candy, LOLOL!



We are also doing a Jesse tree and my old cross stitched stockings. I printed the Jesse tree ornaments and lessons from here. I picked out a branch and my husband set it in concrete in a little pot for me. I'm planning to clean off the kitchen table and have that as my centerpiece for the month of December. It is amazing how bad the picture of that branch is! I'll take a new one when I get my table set up. I think I need to trim the branch just a tad.

Here is a picture of those cross stitched stockings. I made these years ago when I still cross stitched. For some reason photography and scrapbooking have taken over.

Graphic 45 Contest!

Here's the scoop:
---------------------------------------------------------

The Contest: We invite you to celebrate this wonderful time of year with us at Graphic 45 by joining in our "Winter Wonderland" ScrapOFF! We are looking for beautiful original scrapbook or paper crafting projects that celebrate your fondest holiday memories. Submit your holiday greeting cards, scrapbook layouts, mini books, altered items, or whatever else you choose using paper from any of our collections. Entries will be judged on overall appeal as well as creativity. One grand prize will be awarded as well as 5 runner up prizes. The grand prize winner will receive a set of all 7 collections, which includes the 3 new lines that won't be released until CHA in January! The 5 runners up will receive a set of 2 of our collections.

We are excited to see what Wonderful Winter creations you come up with!

————————————————————————————–

How to Enter: Upload a photo(s) of your project on our gallery at the G45 Gallery. ** Please do not submit anymore than 3 photos of your project and please try to keep photos under 150 kb each.** IMPORTANT! All submissions must have "Winter Wonderland ScrapOFF" under products used on G45's gallery to be considered for the contest. As well, please in the Extended Description/Instructions section include a little information about your project. i.e. what is inspiration for the project, what is the project (a layout, mini book, an altered ?what?), and the approximate size. Also, please include your state/province and country of residence and your blog address if you have one. Please feel free to publish your projects (i.e. photos includes) and details of this contest on your personal blog. (All entries will be acknowledged via email within a few days of receipt. Please also give us a couple of days to approve the upload of your photos into the gallery).

—————————————————————————————-

Rules: Anyone residing in any country. You are welcome to use products other than Graphic 45, however we ask that 75% of the product used is ours. No more than 3 photos per project please. By submitting, you agree to Graphic 45 displaying your entry on our website. If you require us to take it down for a future submission elsewhere, please let us know and we will do so.

—————————————————————————————

Deadline: Deadline for all entries is Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 at 11:59 p.m. Mountain Time. Once the deadline has been reached, we will select one winner based on creativity and overall appeal. Entries will be judged by Graphic 45. Winners will be announced on the G45 Blog on Monday, December 15th, 2008 one grand prize winner plus 5 runners up.

Free groceries?

No way! I have a friend here in town that has a blog. She posts all kinds of free stuff. I've gotten a free t-shirt at Old Navy, and free coffee at Starbucks. This morning she posted about a photo contest for free groceries. Check it out on her blog here. And here's the direct link to the photo contest: Win $500 for groceries!

Here is my picture for the contest:


While we were visiting Mickey's house down in Orlando Florida, we went to Beaches and Cream. They are known for their "Kitchen Sink" sundae. It's more than $20 and has an entire can of whipped cream. Way too big for our family! So DD just got a regular hot fudge sundae.

I miss Disney. I can't wait to go back!

Graphic 45 Projects

It's hard to express without gushing how much I enjoy working with these papers. They are wonderfully versatile, a perfect weight for many different projects and just a dream to work with. This month is a continuation of Christmas ideas. Now I'm not one to usually be thrilled to scrap Christmas. In fact, I have a mini-album all set up in a big zip lock bag from last year. Have I worked on it? No. Have I printed pictures for it? No. Have I even looked at it in the last 10 months? That's a no, too. I was surprised to find I really enjoyed working on these projects this month. I think that's the paper talking, LOL!

Without further ado, here are my November Graphic 45 projects.

Happy Halloween!

My daughter just came in and said, "This is the day for thrills and chills!" She's a riot. Have a great day!

Paper Crafts New Book

PC Gourmet

This books looks totally awesome. I have a little sneak peak to share today :). The book features over 50 original recipes from familiar designers. There are comprehensive ingredient lists and instructions for both the recipes and the paper projects in the book. Today I get to share a sample recipe and project created by Alisa Bangerter.

The recipe:

Cheesy Garlic Drop Biscuits

Designer: Alisa Bangerter

This is a perfect recipe to pull out if you are short on time because there is no rolling or cutting. The cheese and garlic add extra kick to a plain biscuit, and kids love them. They are the perfect accompaniment to serve with soups or stews, and are great served with a salad.

INGREDIENTS

2 c. flour

2 tbsp. granulated sugar

4 tsp. baking powder

1 1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. salt

2/3 c. butter or margarine

1 1/2 c. grated cheddar cheese

1 1/4 c. milk

Chives (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Mix together dry ingredients. Cut in butter with pastry cutter until mixture is fine. Add cheese and mix well. Add milk and stir until just moistened. Drop by spoonfuls onto greased baking sheet. Sprinkle top with chopped dried or fresh chives if desired. Bake at 400 degrees for approx. 15 minutes.

And the project:

Enjoy Halloween Tag

Designer: Alisa Bangerter

Supplies: Cardstock: (ivory) Dye ink: (Black) Stewart Superior Corp.; (Summer Sun) Stampin’ Up! Specialty ink: (Mango Lemonade color wash) Stewart Superior Corp. Color medium: (black chalk) Craf-T Products Accents: (black brads) Making Memories; (chipboard bat, moon) Melissa Frances Fibers: (black striped ribbon) Pebbles Inc. Font: (Black Family) www.dafont.com Adhesive: (foam tape) Finished size: 3" x 4 1/2"

1 Make tag from cardstock. 2 Crumple tag and smooth out. Spray edges with color wash; let dry. Apply chalk. 3 Ink chipboard moon; let dry. Chalk edges and adhere. 4 Ink chipboard bat; let dry. Adhere with foam tape. 5 Print sentiment on cardstock; trim and tear edges. Chalk edges and adhere with foam tape. Attach brads. Attach ribbon with brad.

And here is my interpretation:






Funny story: I discovered I am out of black brads unless I wanted to use Mickey Mouse ears, LOL! So I ended up stapling my "enjoy" and the ribbon. I also printed out my moon and bat onto cardstock and cut them out with a craft knife.

My daughter bit into one of the biscuits and her eyes got big. "Yummy!" she said. Talk about quick and easy. Start to finish was less than an hour for both projects. I can't wait to share with my neighbor when she gets home this afternoon :D.

So head over to Paper Crafts Magazine and take another look at this book. I don't think you'll regret it.

More Photography Class Homework

So I experimented with ISO yesterday afternoon. Barbie was a great model for me :). I found it very interesting that the first thing to deteriorate was the color. The ISO200 picture is much richer than the other 3. Check out the lesson and try your own experiment!

Home from Vacation

We just spend 10 days in Walt Disney World!!! Gosh I love that place. I miss it already. So the first thing I did when I got home was upload pictures. I've got about 1600 of them to play with. Over the next week or so I'm planning to edit and upload for family. Hopefully I can get together a slideshow for here, too :).

The second thing I did was check out Digital Scrapbook Memories to see what photography lessons I'd missed. This week's lesson is about choosing the right lens. A great subject and a great lesson to help you figure out where you want to go in your next lens choice. Here are the results of my homework:





I am quite happy with my lens choices right now. I have four lenses in my camera bag:
18-55mm kit
55-200mm kit
50mm 1.8
105mm macro

I think the next thing I'd like to have is a speedlight :D! I'm sure my husband will be happy to hear it. Said with much sarcasm, LOL!

I've still got to catch up with lesson 4 which is about ISO and grain. I'm sure I can find a few examples in those 1600 pictures, LOL!

Graphic 45 - October

Christmas before Halloween? Why yes :). I love Christmas and I love these papers. A perfect match. Don't forget, you can click them to make them bigger.

Catchlights

A subject close to my heart :). I love finding good catchlights in my daughter's eyes. Here are some examples from this week (so far). I could do this assignment for a long time and be quite happy!

At the LSS. There is a wall of windows out of the shot to the right.


At Burger King. The wall of windows is to our left.


Duchess Bentley, my friend's kitty. She is facing a wall of windows.


In front of the library. We are in deep shade and DD is looking out toward the parking lot.


My friend's other kitty, Mo. Again facing the wall of windows.


Here is the link to Lesson 3. Come try it out!

Learning about shutter speed and aperture:

I love lists. That's no secret. So I read the homework for this lesson I was excited. Run the camera through it's paces and experiment with a list of apertures and shutter speeds. It's one thing to read in a book how it works, it is another to work through it with your camera.

Here is a link to the lesson: Lesson 2.

Here is my aperture homework:


And my shutter speed homework:


Don't forget to click them to make them bigger. You can really see the progression of the blurry background in the aperture one and the motion blur in the jumpy ones. My poor daughter! I had to figure out a good place to do these pictures. I kept maxing out my shutter speed. She ended up jumping from that little stool more than 20 times!

Thanks for visiting :). Lesson 3 was just posted, so I'm off to explore and see what my homework for the week is.

Photography class update:

So I'm really enjoying these classes. The first lesson was about composition. Here's the link to the lesson: Lesson #1.

And here are my samples ... three abstracts:







And pictures of a single subject from different angles. I'll be honest here. I did a whole series of my DD, but I'm going to use those for something else :). So these will have to suffice for the lesson.







I'll post my next homework in the next post :).

Free Photography Class

From the same site that brought you the Digi Olympics they now present a Free Photography Class. The first lesson is up right now. Please jump in and participate!

WDW Countdown!

So DD and I are a little Disney crazy right now :). We made a countdown chain to mark off the days to our next Disney vacation. I can't wait!