Aperture 1.4 {focused blur}

Good times

I was able to spend the afternoon with Kelly Purky and Sarah Champion.  Love them!  It was so fun!  However it's almost two am and I can't seem to make myself stop editing.  I love how all these photo's turned out. But most are for an online article I'm working so for now here is a little glimpse.  I'll add more later when I decide which photo's are going to be used.

Wondrous oblivian

First off my sister has opened an etsy store.  Nope, it has nothing to do with scrapbooking I'm just excited for her.  She's calling it "once upon a time design".   I think that these are such a great idea for families with little children, so fun and magical.

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5218155

Here is a description and some pictures I stole from her blog ( I can't help it I'm just so stinking proud of you and your creativity little sister!):

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Once Upon A Time Design

So do you remember that box on my porch that marked the beginning of a new project? Well, I'm finally ready to tell you about it!

First a little back-story. When I was little the Cleaning Fairy used to visit our home. She would leave treats if she found our house was clean, and she would leave notes telling us she was a little disappointed if she stopped by when the house was dirty and she said she would be back soon to give us a second chance to get some treats so we would hurry to clean things up.

I think those memories are part of why I was so enchanted when Candice showed me Jonathon Wright's Urban Fairy site. Jonathon lives in an old house in Michigan and as he was remodeling his home, he kept "discovering" fairy doors. Apparently fairy doors are an Irish tradition, but usually they are much more rustic and you find them in gardens. Jonathon discovered "urban" fairies in their home. He has two little girls who loved the tiny doors. He went all out and even designed some little rooms in his walls and fireplace with tiny armchairs and staircases inside. So cute! You have to check them out if you have time.

The old section of downtown Ann Arbor wasn't doing too well, and Jonathon wanted to help so he started installing fairy doors at businesses around town and now people go to visit all of them. His doors are so ornate and amazing so of course I wanted one, but he doesn't sell them, and I couldn't find cool fairy doors like his ANYWHERE. So what's a girl to do? Make her own of course and then make some extras to share the fun.

I just opened my own etsy shop. I still need to make a few adjustments to the shop, but I'm so happy with how the doors have turned out so far. Here are pictures of a few of the doors.

I think it would be so fun if different kinds of fairies lived in each home. You could have a library fairy who leaves books for different special occasions, or a travel fairy that lives you tickets and travel plans. A movie fairy that brings you different movies to watchor a junk food fairy that leaves behind treats. What kind of fairy would you want at your house?

Here is one in a room. Doesn't it look like it is a part of the wall?

Description

Isn't it fun!  She includes a story and fairy dust to spread for the fairies arrival in the packages.  I think it would be so much fun to surprise your children by putting these up one night while they were sleeping and informing them of the new arrivals the next day with a trail of dust and a note.

Next random bit of info is because  I've been getting a lot of comments and emails about the Tiffany blue cupcakes and how to get them that blue color. It's actually really easy we used Wilton food coloring.  It's a gel dye that you can get at most cake decorating stores.  You add it in with a tooth pick a little bit at a time until you achieve the color you want.  That's it!  Good luck!  It sounds like a lot of people are having Birthday's and parties!  I hope you post a link to the pictures here!  I'd love to see them.

Lastly, my Dad has this strange yet lovely obsession with foreign films.  His queue at net flicks is full of them. Recently we watched this:

http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/wondrousoblivion/

Loved it. It isn't really about cricket it's about so much more. I got a little bit worried when it started looking like the story line was veering toward an affair but I'm glad that it didn't happen. It's a really great movie about being loving and accepting of everyone.

 

A little Love, from Elsie and me!

Most of you that read my blog know today is the start of CHA. A trade show for several hobbies including scrapbooking. I'm on the Love, Elsie design team so without further ado, here are my sample layouts.  I used a line with a "home" theme.

Let's talk about "it"

So, Kelly asked me to be the guest designer this month for the "it kit"  If you haven't heard of it yet you should go over and look.  It's a great idea for a kit club.  Plus I knew I would say yes when Kelly asked me because I knew that she has great taste. Working with the kit was really easy.  She has a really nice way of combining products.  I have been struggling with being creative lately, really it started with all the stress of the move but for some reason it seems to have come back a little this week and I am really happy with these pages!  Here are my samples.

  If anyone was born with a strong personality it is my Cole.  As you can see his determination to be his own person started at a very young age.  I made the frame by hand drawing a pattern on white card stock, cutting it out and then glue little bits of paper to it.  I just used a glue stick and let it hang over the edges and then trimmed it at the end to get the clean edges.

   This is a picture of my husband in his costume from a Christmas Carol.  He looked so cute in the play that I really wanted pictures but it never happened with all the Christmas festivities.  So, later, when he asked me what I wanted for Mothers day I told him I wanted to have a photo shoot with him in his costume. He laughed and said, "No way!" But Mother's day morning he walked in with the costume.  How could I not swoon looking at my cute guy in breeches and a top hat. lol.  Anyway, the journaling is one of my favorite quotes from Mansfield Park by Jane Austen.  This paper was perfect for the look I wanted. The only thing I added outside of  the kit was the rub-on frame which was from Basic Grey and the rub-on flourish from Imaginisce.

Here is a link to Kelly's site.  http://www.itkitstudio.com/

This Week

Have I mentioned I have a pretty great Mom.  Because I do.  So, I am. Mentioning it I mean.  My Mom works for my uncles company doing marketing. So every so often they come up with big events to thank people for referrals and business. She came up with a great idea this time.  They bought out the theater a day early and showed a preview of the new Harry Potter movie a day early.  (Who knew you could even do that?)  Anyway.  She and the other employees had to dress like the characters from the movie and then they gave prizes and had trivia games and such. It was really fun.  And it was really fun to see my Mom dressed up.  We aren't really the kind of family that dresses up or even waits in line to get tickets to movies.  We are a little bit more mellow so it was fun to see this side of my Mom.

  She went as Madame Houch( spelling?) the flight instructor. She has the perfect hair for it.  My uncle who is almost 7 feet tall went as Hagrid.  My Aunt as the divination teacher, she looked great too!  And those are my cousins with them.

   

Here is a cute picture of my Mom after the movie. I made her jump so she would look like she was floating.  She looks so happy.  I love it.

  Other than that.  Things are pretty much the same.  Swim lessons, work, playing with the boys, work. Lot's of work right now with CHA coming up. Elsie's new lines are so great! And lot's of work with CK and my online videos and column.  It's been good to get back in the work groove and keep busy.  Keeps me from missing Mark every second.

  Hope everyone is having a great week!

Baby shower

We had a baby shower for my sister on Saturday.  I thought that I'd share some of the pictures I took of the decorations.

The Table backdrop.

What the middle of the bow looks like.  Old dictionary paper, scrapbook paper, ribbon, vintage sewing patterns, and nettings.

A few close ups of the flag banner.  I used scrapbook paper,  old dictionary pages, vintage patterns and some of jewelry pieces of my Great Grandmothers.

These are the cupcakes my mom made.  Tiffany blue with silver beads.  So cute!  Love how they look!

Pictures of how it looked at night with all the candles and lights.

Happy forth of July! It's a big holiday around here.  Our family has always been big on traditions and the forth is a fun one.  We've been going to the Provo parade with my uncles family for as long as I can remember.

  We cheer and yell for everyone. We try to get bands to play in front of us and balloons to spin.  All the good parade stuff. It's so much fun and I have to say, every year, EVERY YEAR, I end up getting teary as the flag goes by at the beginning of the parade.  This year was no different.  I'm so grateful for our freedoms in this country. I'm so grateful for the people who have worked so hard for us to have it.

I was hoping to have some great firework photo's but in the end I decided enjoying the moment was just so much more important than capturing it. I know the photo on the left isn't perfect technically but it perfectly expresses how tonight was for me. This is the first year Cole really got into the fireworks. He loved the sprinklers, which the rest of us know as sparklers.  They had such a great time with the little package of fireworks my parents got them.  And I felt myself smiling as I watched my Dad with them.  The only thing that could have made it better was to have Mark here.  I miss him!

 

Hope everyone had a great holiday!

ps.  I know that I could have color corrected this photo but I love it with this yellow glow which is just how it looked at the moment.

A sweet visitor

So we may have lost our daily visits from the peacock but we gained a starling.  ( Isn't that a perfect name for a bird?) Early this morning my Mother was out walking with a friend when this sweet little guy started following her like a puppy. He literally followed her hoping back and forth all the way home.  Where she set her hand on the ground palm up and he climbed right on.

  So she brought him in and he begged for food.  So she fed him and he stayed here for the day.  Enjoying the attention.  I went to the pet store to ask the vet for advice on what to feed him and he said to call the wildlife center here.  I did and the women on the phone asked me what the bird looked like and then if I could hold the phone up to the bird so she could hear it's singing. I felt a little strange holding the phone for a his conversation but at the end of it she said "yep, just what I thought a starling.  You can keep him. It's legal." She then went onto say that they are very smart bird and will beg people for food like babies even though they can eat on their own and that they also, like parrots, can learn to talk. Nice!

  We however couldn't bear to cage this sweet guy up so we fed him and took him outside.  He is currently sleeping in the tree in the backyard.  We'll have to see if he leaves or if he hangs around.  He is quite attached to my Mother.

  Isn't is amazing what little miracles the day can bring?