Snowapacolypse

Or how ever you spell it.  But, that is what the media is calling the upcoming snow storm.  Dramatic much?

Furnace: Missing in Action

I know I'm on the computer A LOT.  But, when you don't have access to one regularly, you realize just how much time you really spend on the internet.  We are currently with out a working furnace, or perhaps I should say, one that is working just enough to keep the house warm, but not keep us safe.  So, we absconded to my Dad's.  Hopefully, John and his friend will get the new furnace installed and running correctly today.  We've been camping out since Tuesday. 

The girls are enjoying the "sleepovers" but I'm going a bit stir crazy.  And, I'm missing the February Apron Strings Kit that is sitting (in the cold) on the counter.  From the quick glance I took, it looks fab!

Crossing my fingers for a warm house tonight!

Big Girl Bed!

We finally broke down and switched Ava over to a twin sized bed.    To say she loves it, would be an understatement.  This was her first night in her new bed. 

She arranged her pillows and toys, just so.   Pulled her favorite blanket up to her nose, and was O.U.T.


Happy Monday!

Just practicing and because they are cute.

Trying to figure out how some editing tricks, and skills work.  Here I ran Coffeeshop's Glamour Glow on a couple random snapshots.  I wanted to remove some of the redness from Ava's cheeks.  I also played around with brightening/whitening her eyes.  Even though the brush was set to a lower opacity (24%), I think the eyes look a little over done?

I've started following along with the 2Peas 12 weeks to better photography course.  Reading the PDFs and doing the practice activities for each lesson.  I'm shooting for Thursday to actually tryout the aperture lesson.  I should be home early enough so I can salvage some daylight.

Blog Hop Winner!

I had my oldest pick a winner from all the entries - she drew names out of a bowl - the winner is...

Renee said...

New to your blog thanks to Apron Strings! Looking forward to hearing more about your work!

January 7, 2011 8:05 PM

Renee, email Lori at Apron Strings your address.  loriATapronstringsdesignsDOTcom

Thanks for all of your comments, looking forward to another year of Apron Strings kits.

Apron Strings Designs Blog Hop!

Apron Strings is starting off the new year with a bang, or shall we say a Blog Hop?  If I'm your first stop, head back to the Apron Strings blog and see what Lori has put together for this weekend, then work your way back through the designer blogs.

Lori has put together a new design team and the kits are looking fabulous as usual.  I have been looking at the new designers' blogs and just love their work.

Laura Williams

Melanie Holzwarth

Amy Crockett

Anet Tietjen

Jennifer Halleck

Kristin Perez

Maria Swiatkowski  (<-- you are here!)   

           Sarah Fleming
           Patricia Moussatche (Patchi)
So much inspiration!  I cannot wait to see what everyone creates in the coming months.

Now that winter is here (and boy, did it get C-O-L-D fast this year), I am spending more time in my scrap area.  I keep my ASD kits separate from my "stash" so I can pull them out and work with them, until I'm down to my scraps.  I have to say, December was one of my all-time favorite kits.  Both page kits could be mixed together easily.  Here are a couple of my favorite projects from December:

Look for a tutorial on the Apron Strings blog in the near future for the ribbon flower shown above.

Have you seen the January kits?  Both the Bigger than a Breadbox and Smaller than a Breadbox kits are beautiful, I'm looking forward to the Smaller kit arriving later this month and digging into those My Minds Eye papers.

Oh, and let's not forget the phrase you are looking for!   Why Apron Strings?  One of my favorite features about Apron Strings is having unlimited, penalty-free skips, flips or substitutions.  I have taken advantage of this feature several times! 

Well if you've made it this far, only a couple blogs to go!  Don't forget to leave a comment on each one and you will be entered into a prize drawing for each blog you comment on in addition to Lori's Basic Grey Calendar drawing.  A winner will be picked Monday morning!  From here, you want to head over and visit:

Sarah Fleming

Stop by Monday to see if you won!

Playing with my camera. And Zoobles.

Ava has a fascination with me taking pictures of her tiny, little toys.  So, I broke out my camera and played with it's macro function.  The lighting is poor, but I just wanted to play with the focus, zoom and macro options.

Zoobles, seem to be a hit in this house.  (I don't see the appeal!)

My goal was to get the Zoobles in focus, and  blur out Ava.  Still a work in progress.  Maybe when there is some daylight.  Which will probably be in April!
Ok, maybe Zoobles are a little cute.  Except when the feet/ears/random body part gets stuck open.  Not so cute then.