One I forgot...

Maybe my favorite shot from yesterday was this sad little plant on the city street surrounded by concrete and struggling to survive. It had 2 lonely little blossoms on it but they were so pretty and seemed so out of place. A very cool technique I learned was to adjust to a fast shutter speed to achieve this darker background around the brilliant white of the flower while using a large aperture. I can already tell I'm craving a macro lens but that little $700+ expenditure will have to wait.

A Taste of My Town

I had a fabulous opportunity today to hang out with a photojournalist thanks to my well-connected hubby :) Time seriously flies when you're having fun! Before I realized it, 5 hours had flown by, I still needed to get an annual eye exam done, buy groceries, call mom to shuffle off my taxi duties of the kid, drive home with dilated eyes in a serious freakin downpour (thank God the sun disappeared) and clean up the house before the weekend.

I just didn't know if I was really "getting it" after 5 months with the new camera and it was really nice today to hear that I'm getting it. It was definitely the confidence boost that I needed and the advice/tips/pointers I received today are priceless. I'm shooting in full Manual now and I have to say I'm really proud of myself for sticking with it and fulfilling my promise that I would learn this camera. I'm super excited for our 2 week vacation in a couple weeks and I finally feel like I might just be able to get those once-in-a-lifetime shots. And if not, well.....no biggie. Just another reason to take more vacations and try harder next time:)

Sharing some Mother's Day love

Hope everyone enjoyed NSD last weekend! Me, not so much scrappin happenin. It was my own fault for not being motivated and wanting to shop for scrappy stuff instead of actually scrapping. But I did make these cards for a few special moms I know.

Have you tried digital stamps yet? You really have to check them out. The hummingbird on this card is a freebie available for download from www.squigglefly.com. They add new stamps for purchase every day and have a pretty nice selection. I just use my Georgia Pacific #110 cardstock and run it through my inkjet printer(no need for a fancy printer or anything) and then cut them out with nestabilities or punches or whatever you choose. Sometimes if I'm concerned about precise placement, I'll run my cs through the cuttlebug first with a nestie and then tape it to a piece of printer paper and run it through my printer. Either way, it works. I let the ink set up for a minute or two before coloring and on this image I used Prismacolor pencils with baby oil. So fast, so cheap and no storage issues!! I do make sure to back up a copy of my downloaded stamps to my external hard drive in case my laptop dies--and I know it will any day now.

On the second card, I had some fun with my Cricut and Storybook cartridge for the label, QK Storybook and Banana Split for the title, and the Green Stack from DCWV. I resisted buying this stack for many months because I thought it was just a little too cute for my tastes but I've found it's perfect for cardmaking(the mat size especially) and there really are some great repeating patterns on better than half of the stack. And the pages with large cutesie animals?? I guess I'll just have to scrap some layouts of my adorable niece and nephew :)

For all you moms out there, have a wonderful day tomorrow and treat yourself to something awesome!