Vote now!

Well, I got it done with one hour to spare before April 1st! My first photo contest is officially in the works. You can find the links here. Be sure to vote in each contest! (Usually there will only be one per month, but I need to play catch up this time.)

Silly scarf

After visiting The Knitty Gritty Cafe and seeing all kinds of cool knit things while getting this project together for them, I decided I wanted to learn how to knit myself. I picked up one of those "Knit This" kits at target, but after reading through the instruction booklet I realized it was a little out of my league and probably not a great first project. So I bought some different yarn and needles and with the help of the website www.knittinghelp.com, I taught myself the techniques and finished my first scarf in a little over a week. The knitting help website is great because it has videos of everything, and they are all shot from the perspective of the person doing the knitting. The scarf is far from perfect, it has a "unique" shape, some uneven stitching, any even had a couple holes - but I managed to patch those up. But I am proud of it! And I'll be starting another project right away. It's a very relaxing process for me, gets me away from the computer and work. Anyway, here is the scarf I finished last night, and photographed K. wearing it this afternoon.

Inspired

I've spent the past 4 days traveling back and forth between Ramada Inn and home, to take part in the Northern Light Convention for photographers. It was organized by the PPA (Professional Photographer's of America) groups from North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota. Wow, was it fantastic! Although I am now sleep deprived from the late nights and early mornings, it was worth it. There were some amazing speakers, so much to learn, and so much inspiration! I can't wait to apply the things I learned to my business and photography. I'm so glad I made that 1.3 mile journey to check it out. :D

If you like to talk to tomatoes

We had a long busy day yesterday. After I spent the morning photographing 13 different sessions at a Home Portrait Party, our family and I headed to Grand Forks with the girls. We met up with my brother and his wife and son for supper and then went off to the Veggietales Live show. The girls both really enjoyed it, it was a great show!

Tough Subject

I normally don't make a habit out of dressing up my pets, but I thought it would be cute if I could take a picture of Jasmine in a hand knit sweater for the project I'm doing for The Knitty Gritty Cafe. So I bought this sweater on ebay and it arrived today. I had ideas in my head that Jasmine just did not agree with. She tolerated the sweater pretty well, it was the sitting still for pictures that she did not do well with. But I managed to get a couple decent ones.





On another note, as you can see Jasmine's ears are getting pretty perky. Her right ear still has a little bend to it though. I knew the day would come because all rat terriers I've seen in pictures have the ears that stick straight up, but it makes me sad in a way because I love the little floppy puppy ears. I think I posted this picture here before- this is from the day we brought her home. Aww, she's growing up.

Gerber Girl

As I was working on 6 month old's pictures I realized that she is a Gerber baby look a like. Those big eyes and full lips just melt your heart!

Kleenex capers

This is what happens when you're busy working at your computer and your 16 month old is just out of your field of vision. I found out that 80 tissues will NOT fit back in the box once they've been pulled out, and the ones you do manage to stuff back in will not be able to be pulled out without ripping!

Budding photographer?

Maybe not. B. enjoys playing with this little toy camera (which was leftover from my booth giveaways at last year's Parent's Fair). The only problem- she puts it up to her ear instead of her eye. :D While saying, "Cheeeese" I might add. I have no idea where she got that from- that word is never used in that context in this house!

Angel Girl

I got to try out some new stuff with B. down in the studio today. I am thrilled that she tolerated it long enough to get these! Also trying some different coloring techniques here.

Fun project

K. and I did this project 2 weeks ago, and I've been meaning to post it here since. I'll also include it in my newsletter along with some other fun photo projects, which will hopefully be sent out within a week or so.

So here are K.'s very own magnetic dolls- with her picture and her clothes! She enjoys playing with these types of dolls, so I knew she would love a personalized one. I got the original idea from an article in Parents magazine, but modified the process using Photoshop. We just spent about an hour down in the studio one day and she tried on outfit after outfit, and struck the same pose in each one as I snapped a quick picture. Using Photoshop, I made sure all the pictures were sized the same, made a rough cut around the clothes, and printed out the pictures onto magnetic photo sheets (purchased at Office Depot). Then I just cut out the dolls and clothes, and started playing. Ummm, this was after K. was in bed- yeah, that's my excuse for playing with them before her. ;)