Christmas Lights

We've had a pretty typical North Carolina late fall here - cold enough for a coat, hat & gloves one day and warm enough for short sleeves the next. Yesterday fell into the latter category. Dylan & I spent a good bit of time outdoors enjoying the warm 70 degree temps and sun in the afternoon. After dinner, all 3 of us did my favorite thing on a warm December evening - took a walk to look a Christmas lights. To me it's so much more relaxing and enjoyable than driving. Dylan loved every moment, he kept exclaiming, "more lights! More lights!"

Here are two of my favorite SOOC (well, minus cropping) shots from our walk ...

Did you spot the airplane in the first one? Loving the cross one neighbor put in their yard. It looks especially gorgeous lit up at night casting a large shadow on the house behind it.

Read More

Wedding Card & Ornament

I made the card and gift I gave to my sister and husband this weekend. I kept the card simple using a piece of elegant patterned paper from American Crafts. Handwrote the sentiment. And used an ink pad to color the chipboard heart.

Supplies - card: Recollections card & white cardstock; American Crafts patterned paper; Micron black pen; Making Memories chipboard heart; Stampin' Up! ink pad.

The gift idea came from this post. I cut their wedding invitation into small strips, curled them around a pencil and added to a clear ball ornament. I added a few strips of complementary cardstock as well to help fill the ornament entirely. Then finished it off with a satin ribbon bow and tie.

Supplies - ornament: clear ornament; ribbon; wedding invitation.

Read More

Shoot and Edit: Holiday - Christmas

I took this photo before my sister's wedding on Saturday. The sanctuary looked so beautiful in the late afternoon light.

ISO 3200, ss 1/30, f5.6

Join in the fun with Jill Samter Photography and Ramblings and Photos:

Read More

Shoot and Edit: Thanksgiving edit

I ran through this edit pretty quickly last night with the help of a couple of actions...

• Ashley's Nice & Easy action - adjusted layers to taste;
• HDR action minus the HDR_for_Dummies2 portion - I only used the shadow portions, as I didn't like what the other part did to the photo;
• added a new Hue/Saturation layer and adjusted;
• rotated the image (not too unusual for me - my shot was crooked! Sure the subjects were straight, but we were on an incline and it was pretty obvious distraction to me to see the white house in the background tilted.) and cropped.

Join in the fun with Jill Samter Photography and Ramblings and Photos:

Read More

Gift Idea: Root Beer Reindeer

It's December 1st so I'm turning the page to Christmas. Here's a fun gift idea for you. I came across Root Beer Reindeer at Betty Crocker Wannabe blog last year. I immediately marked it as a "to make" for my sister. She has loved IBC Rootbeer since we were kids and used to have (maybe still does?) a huge collection of bottle caps from the drinks.

These were so fun and easy to make. And, best of all, she got a good laugh out of the gift (not to mention some tasty drinks if she'll ever crack them open!).

Supplies: six-pack of IBC Rootbeer; 10mm googly eyes; pipe cleaners; 10mm red pom poms.

Read More

Trick or Treating 2011

The last day of November and I have one more Halloween layout! 

I know another holiday has come and past, but I'm still stuck in Halloween at least when it comes to scrapbooking. Must switch gears today though. I'm making another Christmas/Dec Daily album this year and today we're going to see Santa which to me equals the start of the season & our album.

Supplies: Robyn Meierotto's Cupcake patterned papers; Sara Schmutz's Back to Basics frames; Rhonna Farrer's Celebration kit; Miss Mint's Kooky Spooky elements; Jen Allyson's Halloween Free kit; DHD Digital Scrapbooking Day 2011 Blog Hop collaboration; Just the Way You Are font.

Read More

Shoot and Edit: Thanksgiving

We spent our Thanksgiving holiday in Virginia visiting my mother, stepfather and brother. One of Dylan's favorite pastimes was playing with their dog, Tia. The two of them were so funny and completely wore each other out daily. I caught this moment of pause in their outdoor play of chasing and sticks on Saturday morning.

ISO 100, ss 1/400, f5.6

Join in the fun with Jill Samter Photography and Ramblings and Photos:

Read More

Funny Faces

Dylan had so much fun last month playing with the Mr. Potato Head pumpkin decorating kit and fake pumpkin I bought for him. It's now stashed in the attic with our other Halloween goodies for next year, but I'm still enjoying the many photos I took of his creations. It'll be fun to see how they compare to what he makes with it next year. :)

Supplies: Robyn Meierotto's Oceanside papers (recolored); Tia Bennett's Fit 2B Tied alpha; Karen Funk's Sweet Life papers; Gennifer Bursett's No Tricks, Just Treats elements; Miss Mint's Momitude kit; Karla Dudley's Digi Essentials 2; Antique Typewriter font; Instagram app. Inspired by Shannon Dombkowski's Good Eats layout.

Read More

Green Level Gourd Farm

Found these photos from last year when when Dylan & I joined Allison & her son for an afternoon of fun at a local farm. I can't believe how much our boys have grown! Dylan's bucket hat (that he wore almost constantly then) can barely fit on his head now. So thankful we have these photos and the fun memories though. :)

Supplies: Robyn Meierotto's Fashionable Fall papers; Karen Funk's Simplicity elements; Jen Allyson's Real Simple Polaroid Frames; Karla Dudley's Digi Essentials 9 brushes; Another Typewriter font.

Read More

first Christmas

Forever playing catch-up on Dylan's album, I got into the holiday spirit a bit this week creating a layout about his first Christmas.

I used the latest digital kit from Sara Schmutz - Jolly. Sara's entire shop at Design House Digital is on sale this weekend so whether it's Jolly or another gorgeous kit of hers that you've been eying, now's the time to shop! And stop by the DHD blog too for chance to win Jolly.

Supplies: Sara Schmutz's Jolly kit; Simply Tiffany Studios 52 Thursday Template No 9; Script MT Bold font.

Read More