Photo Perspective

K and I visited a formal garden this evening in preparation for a few family photo shoots I have scheduled. K and I took turns posing for each other so we could both practice our photography skills. I would take a few of her, and then we would switch and she would try to imitate the composition. She's also been begging me to teach her how to work with Photoshop so that she can create digital scrapbooks with her pictures.

"Mom, this is my favorite chore! I LIKE handwashing. That's why I'm doing it so much."


We implemented a new chore schedule today, and the younger boys graduated to some older kid jobs that they had never gotten the opportunity to do. They were pretty excited about some of the new chores, and I'm hoping and praying the excitement lasts a LONG time.

Had the urge to take a few pictures tonight so that I could play with some new Photoshop actions from Pioneer Woman. I have to give a disclaimer for that link, though. A friend of mine shared it on her blog, and I lost myself in her blogs. Pioneer Woman is an engaging writer and awesome photographer as well as being a decent cook, rancher's wife, and homeschooling mom of four. So before you visit her blog, block out a chunk of time to really explore.

I took quite a break from scrapbooking lately for a number of reasons. I ran out of room in my albums and need to purchase a ton of album supplies to fit everything I have done. Since I use Creative Memories albums, they are very high quality, but also cost a good bit. I also have been struggling to figure out how to organize my freebie stash. The stash is getting too large for my hard drive, so an external drive is getting to be an necessity. I did figure out that if I tag/keyword my files in Adobe Bridge I can just use Spotlight to find all my files easily. Tagging thousands of files takes a bit of time, though. :-)

So here's the newest layout. We were so excited to reconnect with a niece of ours that we hadn't seen since she was an infant. Pete and I were talking on our way home about how our niece had totally stolen our hearts. We fell in love with her Saturday afternoon, and are looking forward to spending more time with her in the future.

Credits:
All papers and elements are from Summer Driggs' Beautimous kit
Fonts are Pharmacy (title) and Dakota Handwriting (journaling)

This post is WAY late, but I have a friend who needs to know how to make a Mater cake. I made this one in January for Meister's 6th birthday.

The bottom is two rectangle cakes stacked on top of each other. I raised it off the serving board with canning rings and a wax papper wrapped piece of cardboard. The shape of the hood and back is carved from the top layer. If you freeze the pieces for a few hours, they are easier to carve. The cab is a mini loaf pan sized cake placed upside down. Frosting is used for glue in between layers. After piecing it together, put a thin layer of frosting on it and return it to the freezer. This will seal in the crumbs for you.

For the final layer of frosting, the brown is chocolate frosting, the blue and green is tinted vanilla frosting messily spread over the chocolate. The white is just the plain vanilla frosting.

Chocolate covered donuts were used for the tires. Green gummy Life Savers for the eyes. Large pretzels, Oreos and string were for the towing mechanism. I cut a 6 out of construction paper to hang on string. The black for the bumper and the eyes was a tube of black frosting with the tips that you can get at most grocery stores. The tips screw onto the tube.


My extended family has found that they like the cakes better mostly frozen, so I leave them in the freezer until the party. They thaw an hour or so during the gifts before we cut into it.

Well, Rocky is still here. He almost got put out, but due to a goopy eye and the trouper attitude of K, he got to stay inside a bit longer.

The plan now is to trap the other kittens, take them all to the shelter to be tested for leukemia and HIV. If they are negative, then we will bring them home to tame for a few weeks. After they are tame, we'll take them back into the shelter to be adopted. Apparently kitties with more than the usual number of toes are even specifically requested by potential families, so those with the extra toes will not be in the shelter long.

K discovered this cutie in our garbage can Saturday morning. There has been a set of 4 kittens living under our shed for a few weeks now, but they are wild and unapproachable. They've apparently been raiding the garbage at night, they must not have remembered that Friday morning is garbage pick-up in our neighborhood. :-( So in he hopped only to fall all the way to the bottom of an empty can. K discovered him the next morning as he cried for help.

Initially he hissed and spat at me as I wrapped him in a towel to extricate him, but he is has grown used to being cuddled now. K speeds through her chores to spend every free moment with 'her' kitty. Her plan is to keep it inside for a few days until it is tame, then let it go back out with its brothers and sisters.

She decided to name him Rocky because of his stone gray color. He also has extra toes on his front paws that make him look like he's got boxing gloves on, so Rocky fits just fine.