Flannel board story give away

Go see edeenut to be inspired with her cute flannel board stories!! She is also giving away a flannel board story to help you get your collection started, or add to an existing :)

Feeling lucky :)

I hardly remember, but apparantly I made a comment on a giveaway over at sew mama
sew. Turns out I WON!! I was so surprised to get the email in my inbox. I couldn't even remember making the comment. I must have figured I WOULD NEVER WIN :). But I did - I won one of five prizes. Mine was a $20 gift card to their online store. Man did I have fun shopping over there. I havn't bought really cool quilting cotton in a LONG time. The Katie Jump Rope line by Denyse Schmidt caught my eye and bought nine 3/8 yard cuts (on sale) and only paid for shipping. I am looking forward to making a quilt top with it. I have this whirlygig pattern in mind, we'll see what happens :).

This is something I've been working on. It only needs snaps (I've never done snaps before) and some finishing around the neck and sleeves. I may try some of my new FOE (fold over elastic) that I just got from Sewzannes :) That stuff is so cool. Not as easy to put on as I'd have liked but it is still cool. I may just add some ribbing - I'm good at that. I'm still wondering whether or not to put in the feet or leave the legs opened. hmmm. It is summer, but it cools down in the evenings and babies never leave their blankets on. . . I'll probably leave it open.

Oh I love this

This post is kindof like a "bookmark" for myself. To remind myself that I LOVE THIS and really want to make it.
I found a whole bunch of cool puppets from the dollar store a couple years ago and I need to pull them out of the box and use them more - this would be cute!! The boys love the puppet shows and it is a fun/creative NON COMPUTER activity for them :) yeah!! My friend says this is "A DOOR A BLE" and it's late enough that it's funny!

This reminds me that I really want to make a card table tent? Have you seen those? It is a fabric tent that you slip over the top of a card table and it makes and instant fort or tent or princess castle or whatever you want it to be. I want to make a princess castle with windows and doors and some fun applique on the sides of flowers or something.

fabric birthday banner #2

Fabric Birthday Banner #2 and I think I'm done with birthday banners for a while. Although I think they would be fun birthday presents for some of my friends? Or sisters? OOH - maybe I'll make one for the annual sister's gift exchange this year???? SHHHH :)
Anyway, I like how this one turned out. I LOVE the fabrics together. It is very festive. I made sure this time to put a darker plain fabric on the back side so that if hung up against a window the pattern on the back wouldn't come through and distract from the pattern on the front. I made the individual flags 7" accross and 10" deep. I pinked around the edges, made button holes in each corner and used ribbon through the button holes to secure the flags next to each other. More on the process here.

Recycled dusting mitt

ARE THESE COOL or WHAT?!?
I love them and am going to make some :). I think my kids will really want to dust with these - especially if it's made from one of their old shirts or something :)
They look super quick and easy to make - There is a great tutorial here:
http://wewilsons.blogspot.com/2009/03/spring-cleaning-dust-mitt-tutorial.html

Fabric Birthday Banner

I have finished one and a half birthday banners!!!! This is something I have wanted to make for years and recently my sister inspired me to JUST DO IT!! This first one I made is very girly and for my daughter . . . and I suppose I could hang it up on my birthday too. The second one I made is more gender neutral with blue, red, green and yellow print fabrics :) I will share pictures when I'm finished with it :).
This first one is a little bigger than I had expected. Each flag is 10" across the top and then the top to the bottom point is 13". You never know until you get all the flags together just how big it will be - I made the second one a tad bit smaller (7"X10").
The process was quite simple if you want to make one. I cut out 32 flags/triangles - 16 for the front and 16 for the back. They were 10" across the top and 13" deep. I appliqued letters onto the front using heat and bond and the directions are on the package or you can find wonderful tutorials online. Then I stitched the flags wrong sides together, pinked the edges with my pinking shears, made a button hole in each corner and tied the flags together with ribbon through the button holes. The two ends have longer strands of ribbon for hanging. There are SO MANY ways you could make these. This just happened to be the way that worked well for me :).

The other one. . .

I took picture of the other (my favorite) little toy I made.
It is a combination of all of the toys on the pattern pictured below and some of my own additions. I put a jingly bell in it and some crinkly stuff in the skirt. Yep, there are things I could have done better and I had good intentions of re-making it to make everything perfect but the chances of that happening are unlikely.

The End. . . . .

. . . of a LONG sewing slumber. Stacy's theme thursday for the week is THE END.
It had been a long time since I'd heard the humming of my sewing maching creating odds and ends. I finally put the silence to an end - even if it was just five minutes here and 20 minutes there - I started some new projects!!!! I made some little toys for Sierra :). The other toy I made (my favorite) is in her room where she is napping so I'll take pictures of it another time.
I've also been making little shoes for her!!! I LOVE THEM. I modified the original pattern a bit. They are FUN!
I also used up some of my favorite knits on a baby blanket for a nephew to be born this summer :).
YEA!!! It feels good to sew again :)

Photo camp :)

I somehow convinced my husband that we needed to take the kids out of school for a couple of days to go see family in Utah. Of course I talked him into going the same weekend as Photo Camp Ut. My brother had told me about the event and the $10 registration fee for a full day of workshops and speakers. This was the first annual Photo Camp and I think it turned out awesome! I hope to see it again next year and the year after that. . . . My favorites from the day: 1- the workshop of posing people presented by BellaOra Studios. 2- the presentation given by the chief photographer at the Salt Lake Tribune. 3- The concluding Ignite presentations from eight truly inspiring photographers.

Some shots (dragging the shutter) of my brother and another of the crowd. See me on the right standing up?

i wish. . . .

Theme Thursday is "i wish"
I wish I could play the guitar!


I've always wanted to play the guitar. It's my favorite instrument to listen to!! After the boys have been in cello for a few more years I want to start introducing the guitar. Someday I want to learn - I have too many other hobbies right now. This is my nephew. He probably wanted to be left alone as he practiced but the lighting was just right so I took advantage of it.

Laughter

Thursday's theme is laughter!
I could post a photo of me at nine months pregnant in my bathing suit - now THAT would be funny and would definately get a few chuckles!
I'll save myself the . . wait. .. I'll save YOU the torture and post these instead.
Our little cub scout needed a cake for the blue and gold banquet cake auction. I wanted to make a beautiful, delicious 12 layer cake. I had seen the recipe and wanted a piece so bad. The cake on that link looks SO YUMMY!! So I spent all this time making it and stacking it all up and I ran out of frosting. It wasn't thick enough to spread around the edges anyway (It didn't turn out like it was suppose to, soaked into the yummy spongy cake, making it not so yummy and way too rich!!) and I ran out of time to make another batch of thicker frosting SOOOOO I decided it looked enough like a stack of pancakes that we could go with it. My son colored, cut out and taped on the paper eggs and bacon on the side and squeezed out just enough frosting to make it look like some pats of butter :). It ended up tasting gross - a different frosting recipe would be best in my opinion, but it looked awesome!!

Spring

I seriously lack the creative space for amazing shots. Do you ever feel like that?? The view from my windows is less than inspiring. My indoor surrounding are even less inspiring - it's my own fault I'm sure. Getting "out" to take pictures isn't impossible, I just don't do it. Much. I should. I want to. The other day it rained fast and hard for about two minutes. I grabbed my camera and tried to shoot the crazy amount of water rushing over the roof. I could just imagine the most beautiful picture of rushing rain water. Well I didn't get that shot and the rain stopped shortly after it started so instead I looked downward and shot the sidewalks. I love reflections!!



Today I walked across the street for the second time to shoot my neighbors blossoming tree. The first time I missed the sun by minutes so tonight I got there in time for good sunset backlighting. I've decided however that morning sun might be best. Maybe I'll walk over again tomorrow. I'm determined to find beauty and creativity in my nearby surroundings.
I applied these actions to all the photos in this post. I bought them years ago and I really love them - not on every photo, but on some. I've only ever purchased three sets of actions. They are the only actions I use, IF I'm using one. I'm completely satisfied with my collection and havn't felt the need to buy any others.

Today I want to blog

There are a bazillion things I SHOULD be doing today -
Ironing hubby's shirts:

Cleaning the boys room . . . (really! who would want to even go in there!?! gross, I can't believe I am posting these ):


. . . dusting blinds, preparing dinner, mopping the floor, wiping out the fridge. . . . you get the picture. But today I wanted to sew and quilt and blog. It has been SOOO long since I have done any of those and this:

has been crying out to me so I grabbed some scraps of fabrics that I think look great together and started stitching away. I love the crooked block quilting that I have seen so much of lately. I don't really know how to do it but it can't be that hard right? I cut up some strips of various widths and cut some at a slight angle. Working in a log cabin design I started peicing them together and then when they get big enough I'll square them into a 6"ish square.
Is there a rule somewhere that says you have to finish a quilt in progress before you start on a new one? I hope not. I still have one in the hand quilting phase sitting in a basket by the couch. It is my movie/tv project.






The colors aren't showing up on my blog as vibrant as they are in photoshop. . . hmm. Need to figure out what's wrong. I guess the ironing will have to wait yet some more.

Summertime Memories

We are a swimming family. Up until recently we had a membership to the gym with an indoor pool and we'd try to get a couple times a week with the kids during the winter months. In the summer time we put the membership on hold and swim at the cousins pool every chance we get. The boys have really taken to water and I think they have some gills in them somewhere.
I can't imagine summer without water!!! We live for it.

We all agree that the best time of summer is the family reunion!!! We spend a week with nearly 50 cousins, aunts and uncles at a different spot each year. The reunions fall on the week of the 4th of July and in most years past we've been near the beach! Some of the kids think the week is better than Christmas. My brother in law says that it's the "reason for living". We've spent weeks along the Oregon coast, Yosemite, and San Diego. This year we will spend a week near Yellowstone. The family has been anticipating it all year :)

I'm not finding the pictures I want to find and I've been at it way too long. So I'll just leave with these :)

For more summertime memories go over to Stacy's

COLD

Theme Thursday is "cold"
Well it hasn't really been cold here. Two days in a row this week we had temperatures in the 70's which required lots of sweating while walking to pick up the kids from school!!! (I'm not complaining)
While I love the warm weather, we desperately NEED the rain. I wasn't sad at all to see overcast skies and RAIN this morning :)

This last Saturday I took pictures at a wedding. I took probably 600 photos in 4-5 hours and since I have been spending my free time going through and editing those I didn't take a new picture for today's theme. BUT I do have a "cold" story to go along with some of the wedding pictures. This was only my second wedding I can see already that one wedding is not like any other! Weather, people's personalities, location, lighting conditions etc.. can all make for a very unique experience. I want to start writing down the funny things that occur on photo shoots!! Some things may not be funny at the time, but I know some photographer out there somewhere will think they are funny or be able to relate.
So the wedding took place in a chapel where I couldn't take pictures during the ceremony. The reception hall is DARK. The foyers of the chapel are small and the outside of the church is reletively plain with lots of parking lot. It just so happens that some friends of ours own property literally next door to this chapel. There is a huge green field and lots of trees. I had asked in advance if we could go there for pictures and I hoped that it would be mud free!
Right before the wedding, I stopeed by to check on the property one last time. I wanted to scope out the best place for shots, predict where the shadows would be and to see if it was muddy. I walked the length of the field and though it was not muddy it was wet from morning dew. I happened to have on the most comfortable pair of shoes that I own but they are made from very synthetic materials. My shoes and feet got very wet. So wet, that my bare feet felt a bit sloshy inside the plastic materials.
I went over to the church and dried off my feet and the inside of the shoes the best I could with paper towels (darn, there wasn't an air hand dryer). I then proceeded to get my equipment ready to start pictures. My feet remained wet and "cold" the rest of the afternoon! They were still wet and "cold" when I got home that night.
Although I felt good about testing the field and "taking one for the team" by getting my feet all wet I couldn't have possibly forseen all the pitfalls of that location. A couple of shots into it on the field one of the bridesmaids yelled, "Fireants!" DOH!!! She took one (several) for the team too!
One other thing I thought was a bit funny about the day was an older couple who sat on a couch as I took their candid picture. I overhead the woman say to the man, "My goodness! They sure take a lot of photos these days. I wouldn't know what to do with so many photos." I ignored her and took a few more shots of them :).

I don't know how many weddings I want to shoot in the future. My emotions run the gammut while at the event and at home editing. It is kindof a love/hate experience. I have learned aLOT though and I love that aspect! I really wish I had a friend or a brother to shoot weddings with - that would be awesome!!
You can see my wedding photos at www.bethjeppson.blogspot.com :)

Projects

Theme Thursday for this week is “projects”.
My problem with projects is that I enjoy doing way to many things. I always want to do too much. Now with a new baby I don't have much time at all until the kids go to bed at night and by then I'm exausted. I remember the days when I use to sew. ALOT!. I sewed children's clothing and sold it on ebay. I miss those days a tiny bit. I don't miss the long hours but I miss completing so many projects! There is a sense of accomplishment that comes from the whole process - starting with a design in my head to sending it off in the mail!
This week I did accomplish some small projects.

First of all I've been learning to knit and I've been practicing the cable stitch. I finished this small pillow this week and it now sits on my bed :)



The second thing I finished was this baby toy ball!! IT IS UGLY AND SO FUNNY!!! When I first saw the idea for this I thought it would be SO CUTE. I don't know why I couldn't see how awful it really would be. My husband and I have been laughing at it so hard since I finished it. He told me I should cut it apart and use the stuffing for something else. Instead I think I'll keep it around and let the boys use it as a boxing glove hee heee. I don't know what is more dissappointing - wasting the fabric or wasting my precious time on it. oh well, It hasn't been my first disaster and I'm sure it won't be my last.



As far as photography projects go, I've been spending the last few months reading and practicing how to use my flash better. I've trying to get more serious about taking my photography up a notch so I can make a little more $ at it. Last month I was asked to take pictures at a wedding and then that job landed me another wedding shoot. I was able to upgrade to a much much nicer lens and hopefully soon to a better camera. I don't necessarily want to become a wedding photographer, but it has been good experience and eye opening to what I need to work on!
A photography project I accomplished this week was a self portrait :).

Self Portrait

Ok. . . . . well, I pretty much cheated on getting a portrait of myself, BY myself.
Stacy's Theme Thursday last thursday was "self portrait". I wanted to do it but didn't make the time - until today. But like I said, I kindof cheated. I made several attempts. I couldn't figure out how to focus on a blank wall and set the timer before I made an entrance. I had my son hit the button on the camera for me but that introduced a lot of camera shake - even on a tripod (I had the center extended up all the way). It was scary the amount of sway that tripod had with my camera, my new (heavy) lens AND the flash. I called it quits and decided to have my hushand take some pictures of me.
Seeing pictures of myself is like hearing my voice on a video - you hear it every time you speak but when you hear it on a video it's almost unrecognizable and awkward. I see myself in the mirror everyday but a photograph of me just looks different and I don't know why.
This was a good practice for me and I know I need to do this more often. I ask people to get in front of my camera all the time - it's nice to know how they feel and what they might be thinking. I need to hand my camera off more often and allow myself to be in the photos too :).
So here is the only one I liked from the pool I shot:


And here is the one my husband took that I liked:

The B&W conversions look best as I'm bouncing my flash off of our "spanish sand" walls and the light casts a yellowish brown tint. yucky - here is the colored one:


A great challenge Stacy - THANKS!

winter wonderland

We've been having indian summer weather. It is normally rainy and foggy here in January and although we desperately need the rain, I am LOVING the sunshine. It means walking to pick up kids from school and playing at the park on Saturdays. It'e even meant that we get to open up the windows because sometimes it is warmer outside than it is in the house. We are lucky to have a park nearby with lots of fun equipment, lots of grass and trees and shade!
Saturday I got to try out my new lens :) and I got to practice with my flash/fill flash/ and the flash info I've been reading about recently. Again, just practicing. I am learning to appreciate my flash and love it a little bit more. I am all for natural/available light but like I read somewhere - If you have a flash in your camera bag or mounted on your camera then it too becomes available light! Yep - and I'm learning to love that added available light a little more :).
For more theme thursday "winter wonderland" shots go over to Stacy's!