photography: macro friday

I really can't decide which one of these I like better. I love the purple points in the first picture but the lighting on the second is cool, too. I'd love to know your preference.

(click to enlarge)

Link your own and check out other macro shots here: 



check me out

I recently hooked up with Nichelle at Vintage Wanna Bee. I decided to give her the pleasure of my presence on her side bar. Actually I begged and paid her to be my friend. How nice of her to oblige. So get check me out over at her place. She also has an etsy shop with super-cute schtuff.

photography: i love the sun

I love sunsets. 

It's my sign that I've made it through another day.
Alive.





And right before the sun sets, the sun does that awesome flare thing.

And if you want to fake the sun flare, Photoshop has a super-easy way to add it to any photo.

Open your photo in Photoshop. Make sure you are on your background layer. I tried adding the sun flare on a new layer and it didn't work. Go to Filter - Render - Lens Flare. Drag the point where you want to add the flare, choose your strength (brightness), choose your filter type, click OK.
Done.

Before:

Flare added on the right, behind the tree. 

Flare added to the left, behind the mountain.

Before:

Small amount of flare added:

 A brighter flare added:

Super easy!

a mini photo shoot. with my children.

I love my children. What else can a momma say? They are mine. And as awful as they can be, they are still mine. No matter how much I deny it. I wanted a few Christmas pictures. Too much to ask? Yes, yes it is. (And becuase it's too much to ask, I spare the cost and take them myself.)

Most of the time I got their back-sides.

And this not-looking-at-the-camera business.

Sweet little boys, why do you terrorize me so? 

But I love taking pictures and they loved the trains so we had a nice little evening out anyway.

a couple last minute stocking stuffers for daddy

I finally finished Christmas shopping yesterday. It was long and it was hard. I haven't really been in the shopping for lots of "stuff" mood this Christmas. But I did get a few little things for my husband that I'm super excited about.

This ratcheting wrench. Get it at Sears or just Wal-Mart. My husband is an all around fix-it man. From household to cars to his mountain bike and dirt bike. He needs this. And it was only $27.



This sweet little number. It's for your car. The one I got actually has 2 USB ports, becuase 2 is better than 1. They also come in a USB/regular plug combo. Just head to Best Buy, or better yet, Fry's. They range from $10-60. (Fry's has better prices on these.)

This bike seat. It's Troy Lee Designs. It's only his favorite designer for all things mountain and dirt bikes. It's not really a last minute gift unless you have a bike shop close by or want to pay for overnight shipping. My son helped me buy this several weeks ago for daddy. (Bad picture.)

He only wishes, wishes but some items are licensed/patented/copyrighted/whatever and so Santa can't make them.

merry 2 days until Christmas!

is there anything better

on a cold, rainy day?

mmmm...butter

(whipped cinnamon honey butter would be so much better but I'm trying to cut back, ya know?)



happy Christmas week

little white lights

I love the little white lights on a Christmas tree. I'm not a fan of the colored ones or the headache-inducing blinky ones. I always keep the tree lights on all day and night and love looking at the tree throughout the day.

do you need a bff?

in case you're interested in being mine, here's what you should know:

I like to eat junk food in the middle of the night.

I won't wear fake leather, ever. Yes, I'm kind of a snob.

I don't like feet. Any feet. Your feet, my feet.

I have slight phone anxiety.

I'm shy.

I don't enjoy reading anymore.

Would love to live at the beach.

I take a dvd player wherever I take my 2 year old so he won't scream about being there.

I met my husband online.

I don't care if my kids eat popsicles for breakfast or play in the rain without a jacket.

I forget a lot of important and unimportant things.

I generally have no idea what the heck I'm doing.

Would be happy to just make a few more sales.

I stay up too late and try to sleep all morning while my kids run around crazy.

My husband is usually right. And he knows it.

I won't shop at certain places if I don't like the name of the store.

I don't care much for chick flicks as they are all predictable.

I'm all about proper grammar.

I just started reading Little Miss Momma and am linking up here. Go link up your own.

a sweet little giveaway of my own

Head on over to somewhat simple for a chance to win tons of awesome prizes for the 12 Days of Christmas. Like a $40 gift certificate from Slightly Askew on Day 7. Or a sweet little girl's dress from my Arizona bestie, Elk Dresses on Day 8. They have lots of other awesome giveaways, but those are the best.

Merry Christmas!

Photography: Macro Friday

I often miss my backyard in Indiana. It was large, had a great playset for my boys, a large cedar deck with these bushes in the front. They had this great red color to them as they bloomed. And after it rained (which happened a lot in Indiana) they held little drops of water.

Yummy, Homemade Christmas Smells

I remember growing up that, come December, my mom starting cooking cinnamon sticks on the stove for a wonderful Christmas smell. She'd get out her smallest sauce pan, add water, cinnamon, cloves, and several cinnamon sticks. Then she'd keep it on low all day long.

And it was my favorite smell ever. This year she has added a little twist to the pot. Someone had given her these mulling spices from Williams-Sonoma.

She added about half the can to her cinnamon sticks and water. It is wonderful. The spices last all month, just continue to add water as it cooks down. (And don't forget to turn off the stove before bed.)

 My family are not big traditionalists, but this is one I love and will always remind me of Mom. 

 

etsy shop sale

I've been reading posts in the Etsy forums thist past week and have learned a bunch of new things. There are some cool sources out there for Etsy that I didn't know about. I just found Etsy on Sale where you can schedule a sale for your shop. I found Craftopolis where you can edit your listings quickly and effectively. And there's so many more! I love finding new ways that make business easier.

Along with all this new found knowledge I've set up a sale in my shop. Starting Nov 24th at 12am until November 30th at midnight. Everything is 15% off.

photography prints now available

I've hemmed and hawed about this, but finally I've decided to add a few photo prints to my Etsy store. I'm not sure what's kept me, but probably my lack of confidence in my photography abilities. (I might like my photos, but will others? There are so many others that are better than me.) Anyway, I worked on editing a few photos and will start to list them. A few are available now with more to come. I love photoshop and all the awesome effects it has. I wanted to do something a little different than a normal photograph. I even learned how to do the watermark all by myself!

my leather obsession

If you've ever been to my shop, you may have guessed that I have a slight leather obsession. It's totally under control right now with daily wearing of a leather piece of sorts and heavy medication. I put together a leather treasury on Etsy of a few of my favorites. I'm pretty sure I need those pants. I would wear them grocery shopping, play dates at the park, or on a date night. See? Very versatile and so worth the money!