Our beautiful state

Every six weeks I make the trip across the state with Lane to his appointment and every trip I leave my camera at home, but not today.

I have recently decided that I was going to be more serious about photography after a year of being "harassed" by my family and some friends. I never thought that I would be like the other local photographer's and make it here, because there are so many out there. I mean, who is going to choose me to do their pictures when they have so many other options and those photographers have a very good size cliental with very nice online portfolio's, but I have chosen not to let this stop me as I practice on the moon, my garden, little animals that have decided to visit my yard and of course my boys.

So, as I packed my things in the car to head across the state I made sure to grab my camera in hopes that I would be able to get some pictures of landmarks along the way. Needless to say, it started off very foggy this morning, but I did see some old abandoned buildings on farms. I did not stop on the way down and had every intention to stop on the way home. I did make sure to stop at the river, I have to get a picture of the bridge every time we go, but it has always been a picture on my phone, but not today :) I actually stopped and got a very nice shot. Once his appointment was over, we had a little time to kill and I decided this was the perfect opportunity to take a drive and look for some old buildings. I got some very nice pictures of the clouds and sun rays on the way home, but still did not get the abandoned buildings along the road. There are still seven months to capture them, but for now I will share the ones I was able to get today. I hope you enjoy our beautiful state as much as I do.

Until next time.....
Shelly

Im finally back

I went MIA this last year as my life got totally out of control busy. I started crocheting and taking pictures. I started off with just taking fun pictures of the boys and then doing their school pictures. This turned into friends and family suggesting that I go to photography school. This is something that I have always wanted to do and love doing, but to this day I still have not enrolled in school.

I was asked to photograph a wedding on the 4th of July and I gladly accepted. I spent 3 days with the family and wedding party. It was a very long weekend, but so worth it. Not only did I photograph the wedding I was also asked to make the flower girls' dresses, which were tutu's. I had never made a tutu before this, but once I got started I found that it was quite easy.

I have been crocheting for the past year, just kind of messing around, but as soon as a couple of my friends saw that I knew how I was getting tons of requests to start making their little girls little shoes, sippers and sandals. I truly felt honored that they thought my work was cute enough for their babies to wear it.  The wheels in my head started spinning and I have decided that I was going to make a business page on facebook and make photo props.  Now that I have my facebook page, I am really thinking that I am going to be starting an Etsy store to sell even more. I am not one to really step that far out of my box, but this is something that I enjoy and making a little extra money doing it I can handle :) My only fear is that I may not find it as fun anymore if I am feeling stressed over the orders, but one day at a time is what I have to keep telling myself and if this is the way that I can work from home and attend every event for my boys it will be so well worth it, right?

This next week I am going to work on the store and also start blogging more to clear my head of all these thoughts I have racing through it. I will be posting pictures of the photo props here and welcome all feedback.

Until next time......
Shelly

Simon Says Anything Goes Challenge

For card I have used toilet paper for the background, (yep you read that right, toilet paper) bootiful stamp set from stampin up and applique for the fur on the boot and pop poms. I ran white cardstock through the bigshot with a snowflake embossing folder then colored it with gelato.

I was surfing different sites and found the idea for the toilet paper on there. I obviously have not mastered this technique but it was fun to make.

More Christmas

I just love this santa stamp set, he is so versatile that I can do so many different things with him. He is paired with the around the world stamp set today and colored with copic markers. For his beard and fur on his coat and hat I used white flower soft and then glittered his paper with stampin up dazzling diamonds.

This card was made with Stampin Up's Lovely as a Tree stamp. I used versamark and snow white embossing powder. The snowmen are from the stamp set snow much fun and the background is Hero Arts snowflake background stamp.

And finally I used Snowday for this cute guy. Then a thinlit by stampin up for the Merry greeting.

 

I hope you enjoy all these cards :) Thanks for stopping by

Simon Says Anything Goes Challenge

Getting ready

We are gearing up for the Christmas season around my house. Lights are up, decorations are getting dug out from their hiding spots and best of all... my mom came over and we started making our cards. We only made one each, but hey its a start right?  I had a complete creative block once she got here and I just sat and stared at my papers, stamps and desk.  I finally decided on a simple snow, tree and snowman scene. I must say it turned out pretty cute.

This week I will focus on getting ready for Thanksgiving and enjoying the time with family. This is something that I never have enough of and I am really beginning to sit and re-focus on what I need to do at the house to make this happen.  Last week I got to have date night with my youngest and we went and painted pottery. I truly believe that we loose focus on the important things in life and to soon our littles are no longer little and will be leaving us to hang with friends, going to work and starting their own little families. All the more reason that I need to redirect my focus on family and make sacrifices where necessary.

Well off to cuddle with the kids and watch some football, maybe head down and try again at the cards. Night All