Portrait/Motion Practice

 


I took Ian to AWANA this evening and Aaron and I ran over to the park to work out some kinks in my photography. Aaron wasn't being much of a sport, but we managed to get a few shots of him and the ducks! I may even use one of these photos in my portrait challenge for my photography class tomorrow. :) (Though I really need to work on my blurred motion shot. I've been avoiding it all day!)

Toilet Paper Pumpkins

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

I know that I am constantly on the look out for easy crafts to do with the kids. I especially love the ones where there is no sewing, cutting, glueing... MESS involved! This is one such craft!

Supplies needed:

1. Rolls of toilet paper. (Varying sizes is great!)
2. Squares of fabric in fall colors. Just make sure they are large enough to cover your entire roll of TP.
3. Brown paper. I used rolled up lunch sacks.
4. Green felt to use for leaves.
5. Pipe cleaners. Green is good, but I had silver on hand and thought they were festive.
6. Pin or glue.

Take a square of fabric with print face down. Place toilet paper roll in center and neatly fold the corners into the center make a nice and neat wrapped roll of toilet paper. Roll up brown paper bag and insert it into the center. Take a pipe cleaner and wrap it around a round pencil or pen to make a nice spring like coil. Wrap coil around the brown paper insert and let the coil hang out the side. Cut a leaf out of the green felt. Use a stick pin or glue to hold leaf in place.

VOILA! Decorative pumpkins! So easy that even I can do it! :)

 
 

Catarina: My Muse

 
 
 
 

So I have been dragging my camera everywhere practicing my skills with photographing anything and everything that will let me. My friend's daughter, Catarina was quite a willing participant this evening at Chick Fil A. The lighting in the play area is a little wonky, but I got a few fun pictures of the little pixie with her big blue eyes!

I Love You, Stinky Face

 


Aaron and I play this game. We make stinky faces at each other. He is so hilarious! He makes the best stinky faces! Here's today's stinky face game while we were Case Ole with our friends. I love this little Stinky Face!

Photography practice

 
 
 
 


So I am taking an online course in photography. I am learning to operate my digital SLR camera in full manual mode. SCARY. I started out the week not knowing A from Auto. LOL. It started slowly with learning how to manipulate aperture. I learned quite a bit after getting some pretty constructive criticism. By the end of the week, I was shooting in full manual mode. I have some things to learn, but I feel like I am finally going to be able to use my camera to it's full potential. It's going to take lots of practice.

 
 
 

Cherry Garcia Cupcakes

 


Well, I got some great news today. Though I do have several places with atypical skin cells, none of them are cancerous. I have been worried for a few weeks now after the first set of biopsy results came back bad, but inconclusive. Well this 2nd set of 4 all said they were just atypical. They could potentially turn to cancer, but as long as I am careful to be checked frequently that I should be able to avoid the real cancers! This is AWESOME news.

So I decided to make a batch of cupcakes to celebrate. I actually tried this on Tuesday with decent results, but decided to use a different flavor today. Essentially you can make a cupcake in any of your favorite icecream flavors and it's super easy! All you need to do is get a white cake mix and substitute the water and oil for 2 cups of your favorite icecream melted. Use the eggs required on the back, mix everything thoroughly and then only fill your cupcake papers halfway instead of 3/4 of the way. These cupcakes will puff up more than average. I have been getting 3 dozen cupcakes out of 1 box of mix. Bake for around 14 to 15 minutes at 350. Then I make a flavored icing to compliment the cupcake, add a garnish and serve! Aren't they pretty! Well, they are tasty, too.


*note. 1 pint of premium icecream will yield 2 cups melted, but some of the store brands have a lot of air in them so you may need more if you choose to use them.

** These were made with 1 pint of Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia and I have also made a batch with Chunky Monkey. Both were good.

Central Texas State Fair

 

Sunday after I got home from work, I took a little snooze. Then we decided to take the boys to the Central Texas State Fair. It really wasn't crowded at all. Ian had a grand time riding the rides. Aaron was just a wee bit too short. Poor little dude was pretty patient especially after we gave him a corn dog and some kettle corn! :) The weather was nice and we enjoyed a little family outing.