Growing

It's August. Which is almost over. Wow. And my last blog post was mid-March. It really doesn't feel like it was that long ago. But it has and I have to say... we're having a baby! Hubs I decided to expand our family and Brayden will have a baby brother in a few more months. Very exciting times. Summer has been crazy-busy, a little emotional, very stressful, action packed and full of manual labor and house remodeling. All that basically means my crafts and blog quickly fell to the bottom of the priority list. So for now I have to bid this blog farewell. I hope to get back to things next year after I get to know our new family member.

xoxo

Randomness: Photography, Me, Knitting, Luck

I had a strange feeling this weekend. An odd sensation of.... fitting in. I don't fit in. I have never fit in. My hairdresser even said "so you're normal now?". Um, I've been called a lot of things in my life and normal is not one of them! Very awkward feeling. It started when I was watching Pink's behind the music and started thinking about why I don't have short punky platinum hair. Quite the opposite of my shoulder-length natural dark reddish brown hair (complete with side swooped bangs a few layers). Boring. And I'm loving all the ruffles and rolled flowers on clothes these days. I have broken through my all-my-pants-are-black phase. I need to get rid of the wedges and get back into some sexy heels and trendy tops. I want to stand out in a room, not fit in. External changes to come! When did I become boring anyway? Being Thirty-something? Becoming a wife? A mother? Post childbirth weight gain? Who cares!? There is no excuse and it must be changed! (picture found at pinkspage)

So, now that I have that off my chest... lets talk about cameras. And how I started collecting them!? My love of cameras and photography is changing and sort of becoming an obsession. I was on etsy.com this morning scouting out antique cameras. I decided until I get a bigger house and a place to put them all, I better stick to working, functional cameras. Thus... my new fisheye lens camera (picture courtesy of lomography.com and read more about the camera here):

I bought this at lomography.com and it just came today. Can't wait to play play play this weekend! How fun. I bought the underwater case for it too. Heh heh. If you go to that website, make sure you click on the "what the hell is lomography" link! And what I have learned so far... I have no clue how to freaking load a roll a flim. Yes. You read that right. I have never loaded a roll of film before, sad but true. I had disposables for trips and stuff in my younger years and then it was all digital. Kinda crazy, eh?

Just for my own entertainment, here is my recent Etsy favorites list. It's funny how my tastes and what I'm into change monthy. So I decided I'm going to post my favorites time to time.

And I started a new knit project as a belated bday gift for a buddy. I got an adorable ruffle scarf pattern from cosmicpluto.com and absolutely dreamy yarn! The yarn is Malabrigo Merino and its just so user friendly and soft and doesn't split. It seems to love my needles. I will buy it again!

Today is also St. Patty's day so there is a lot of green beer drinking, Irish wishes, clovers and lucky talk going on in the world around me. I don't believe much in luck, however I am very lucky for all the wonderful things in my life. So, maybe I do believe in luck after all. Happy St. Patricks Day to you!

Project Life

I'm finally getting around to posting about the big project life album! This kit is huuuuuge, easy and a perfect way to document our 2010. Print 'n stick! I have quite a few buds that want "something" but don't have time or care to get in to scrapbooking (ditto for digital) that this would be perfect for. Can't wait to show off my book to them because they will love it and want one!

However, I am behind in my journaling. As long I keep up monthly on the pictures, its quite simple to go back in time and catch up on the writing. So far, so good for first quarter :o)

The top row of pictures on this one have two pics side by side on a 4x6. That way I could utilize more pics on this spread and get use out of the vertical ones!

I decided not to use all the stickers that came with the kit. My book is rather random. While it will be chronological, its not a photo-a-day. I did that last year with a digital kit and it almost killed me. Well, not really but it was definately a lot of work and very time consuming. I forced myself to finish that book through June. (you can see that here btw which was also inspired by Becky's kit last year that I couldn't get my hands on)

Becky Higgins is also working on a school kit. I will buy one. Even though we're two years away from school still :o)

December Album

I know I know... Christmas was a looooong time ago. I finished the December album the second week of January and am JUST getting around to posting it now. This was from the Jessica Sprague/Holiday in Hand class (and inspiration from Ali Edwards).

I wanted more "chaos" but it ended up being a "clean" album. I didn't like it at all... until it was done. Now I love it. Next year's will be different... if I do one next year. It is a long way away after all.... 

Valentine!

Happy Valentine's Day! Hubs and I don't really celebrate this holiday. But, since my babe was born, I started making little ornaments every year. And ta da... here are this years:

I made them with some inspiration from the House of 3 girls and these Rhonna Ferrer frames. Printed frames on acetate... very cool and oh so simple. But, I really like my fabric ornaments too. Here are the 2009 ornaments:

Here are the very first ones that kicked of this new tradition in 2008: 

Year Three

Weeeeeell... A few weeks ago I decided I didn't like Brayden's Third Year album. So four months in, I totally started over. I'm happy with it now! The first one was too grown up... I needed something kinda cutesy-cool. He is only going to be three after all. We have the rest of his life to do kick @ss things, so cutesy it is.

The digital scrapbook kit is from Katie Pertiet/Designer Digitals. The long pics are 2-page spreads. I went with one spread for each month on this years album. This is SO much easier than the 365 days of Brayden! And I think I may use these wee bots for the 3rd birthday party this year. Yes, his birthday isn't until September. And yes, I know I'm jumping the gun. I have a tendency to do that :o)

In review... here is Brayden's first year, and second year "365 Days of Brayden" book over in the Shutterfly Gallery.