something.lovely.

I may have mentioned before?? I have a fabric addiction obsession {Hi, name is Elizabeth...} we have been patiently {or not so patiently} waiting for a lovely little package of my newest fabric selections.  I would literally jump, skip, and hop to the mailbox everyday {all 4 of them}, and when it hadn't come would walk back to my house like a lost puppy... {sad story I know}

I KNEW today would be the day.  Presley and I may have just played outside while waiting for the mail.woman to come.. and sure enough...  it did!



patiently waiting...




yay!!! to lovely fabric!!!

 so many projects to come from this stash, and I can't wait... 
let's see...

5 birthday outfits
several dresses
a birthday party
a baby shower
a bunting trial
a quilt {trial}
hair accessories
some more earrings and necklaces
hoop art...
and whatever else my little handmade mind may come up with...

oh, and these pics... all shot in {M}.. how are you all doing with your camera's?  want to join in learning your camera?  start here  I am so very, estatically, excited beyond words at the guest photog's and mommyographers lined up to guest post!!! yay...

12 weeks to better photos: Lesson 2

hello.there.

how'd you all do this week?? did you stay away from green square??  I am proud to report that I did {for the most part.}  yes, one time this week, I did shoot in green square, at a wedding reception.  {hey, it was candlelit and I could not figure it out, and I needed some sweet shots of my daughter bustin' a move}

ok, if your just stopping by for the first time this week, you can still join in on the fun, check out lesson 1 here and feel free to catch up or follow along at your own pace!! 

so, here is the content for  lesson 2.  a huge thanks to two peas in a bucket for this awesome introductory photog class... I am also super excited to say that today, my lovely friend, molly, from willow brandt photography, is here to help us out with today's lesson.

meet.molly.as.she.tells.all...
tell us a little about yourself??
let's see. i'm a mom to two littles and one on the way. met my husband on a blind date, we've been married 7 years. i moonlight as a labor and delivery nurse with miss elizabeth. when my first little was born i took lots of awful pictures, truly awful. shaky, blurry and the like. when he was almost a year old i decided i needed some photo album worthy pics and bought my first slr......and that's where my story starts. 

what inspired you to learn about photography  and what keeps you inspired??
hands down, i was inspired by my first little to want to learn about photography. from there i watched others, did lots of on-line research and took hundreds more blurry and shaky pics to get to what i know now. keeping myself inspired comes easy with my own littles, lots of friends with littles, and all that creativity on the web doesn't hurt either. what i definitely know is that photography is something i'll never stop learning about and the opportunity for growth is endless.

so...tell me, why should I shoot in {M} instead of {green square}??
shooting in {M} lets you get the most out of your camera. it allows you to tell it what to do, down to the finest details that help get those great shots. you know, the ones with the blurry background, the crisp focal point and the right exposure. your camera lets you set all of these things when you use the functions that are available to you while shooting in {M}. when you use the auto mode where your camera tells you what the picture will look like, you have no control over how that image will turn out. it might be blurry, it might be too dark or too bright, or worse yet, you'll miss a great shot waiting for that flash to warm up. it takes a little bit of work, but after you get the basics down it's well worth every minute spent, promise!
I will admit, I was a lot intimidated by this lesson.  but, after practicing for a few days, I feel a little bit better and I bet by next week will feel tons better {I hope}

I did the kitchen sink test, just like the lesson instructed me too. here's my take.

ok, so I did the pictures, now what does that mean for me??
when you look at the first picture in comparison to the last picture you can see a huge difference. the faster your shutter speed, the faster the image is taken. in the first picture, there's not much to look at. the water running off the canister is hard to see. when you look at the water running off the canister in the last picture, you can see the bubbles coming from the faucet and the bubbles on the side. much more detail. if you're feeling brave, when you're done with the lesson all together, go back and take the sink challenge again. try once on auto and once controlling all you know in {M} mode and see what you think. you'll be impressed, i'm sure!!

for the second part of the lesson, I shot in M {I feel like such a big girl, yay} and here are some of the shots I took.  {my Lilly's really bloomed over the last week.  aren't they prettyful?}

 
so, how'd I do??
you did great! the colors are bright and vibrant, and the detail is perfect.


any advice for those of us that just bought our very first SLR camera and are trying to learn to take better photos??
the best advice that i can give to anyone is to practice and play around. take a day and photograph everything. keep it in manual, and don't worry about what the end result will be. it wasn't very long ago i read through these tutorials, took lots of not so great pictures, and in that mix found a few good ones that i got excited about....and the rest is history! just play and learn. take pics of your littles, take pics of your surroundings, take pics of still things, moving things and silly stuff in-between. have lots of fun, be patient with yourself and just enjoy it. somewhere in the midst of all this, you'll have captured the small things in life that matter in the end.

alrighty, thanks to molly for guest blogging today, and good luck shooting in M this week...
we can do it!  yay!!

oh, and one more tidbit.  I have been eyeing this oven mitt tutorial for a while now, and finally had a reason to use it.  who wouldn't love this wedding gift?  what, with the pioneer woman's cookbook, some cutesie kitchen towels that I made up and coordinating oven mitt.  LOVE.. getting married soon?? you may be getting this as your gift!!

 

have a lovely week friends!!!

sunday shopping...

summer is here, and I'm giddy.  I love, love, love summer.  being at the lake, swimming at the pool, popsicles, 4th of July, sparklers, summer shandy, hot weather, air conditioner on cold!! and most of all, to enjoy summer with my sweet little Rosy faced, ruffly swim suit wearing, teeny-tiny pony-tail stylin, sweetheart.  {see below}

the other part of summer I love... the clothes.  love me some simple ribbed tanks with cute necklaces, love my havaiana flip flops, love long shorts... while my daughter's summer wardrobe is definitely up to par, mine, however, could use some updating...

here's my shopping wish-list.. summer style

{source 1,  2,  3,  4,  5,  6,  7,  8 }

a girl can dream right??

 check back tomorrow for lesson 2 of 12 weeks to better photos...  have a lovely Sunday friends!!

what's on my heart...

linking up with the lovely casey today for what's on your heart friday.

so, what's on my heart?? my hubby! 

sometimes, it's hard to make time for each other, what with a toddler, jobs, and everything else.  the other night, we actually had "date night" me and him sans kiddo.  it was some well-deserved and appreciated time at the ole' ball game. 

It had been a long time since we had a date night, and you know what?? I think we need to try and make time for more date nights.  thanks Phillip for a great night!  let's do it again!!  love you!

what's on your heart??

inspiration workshop: week 1

I am so very excited to be taking part in gussy's first week of her inspiration workshop.  I think maybe I have mentioned that I {heart} gussy and all of her creative ruffles to the nth degree.  she is my go-to blog for inspiration and savvy business sense.  she rocks!

if you want to know more about this inspiration workshop or would love to join in on the ruffly fun, then go ahead and sign up... go on, you know you want to}

week 1:  handmade
a broad topic, could be conceived many ways, here's my take!

I have always been a diy kind of girl.  most of the time, it's to challenge myself {hey, I can do that}, to save money, or because I am bored and need a new craft to occupy my time.  I have always been into making gifts for people, making things for my house, making something for my hair, and very recently making things for my little sweetie to wear.  sometimes it works, and sometimes it just doesn't.  I love making and selling my designs in my store, but also love to just dream and create something for myself, try a new pattern, plan a party, style a photo shoot...

upon receiving gussy's prompt, I was a little stuck!  then I decided to stop thinking so much and just go with it.  that led me to my pinterst {are you pinning? omg, if not let me know and I will invite you, but be ready to sit down for a few days hours at your computer} back to the point, I realized that my pinterest had all of my answers.  I had been "pinning" my inspiration. 

so what's actually inspiring this handmade mind right this very second {and yes it changes that often}
simplistic, bright colors, anything floral, fun fabrics, tutorials, vintage


{one} I am into hoop art.  whoever thought it up, GENIUS.  and I ordered some lovely fabric to make my own collection and I'M stoked to get started.  I may skip to my mailbox everyday in anticipation. {source}
{two} sometimes inspiration is so simple.  this is truly what handmade is all about.  {source}
{three} I {heart} making flowers from paper and especially from fabric.  you can do so much with these little lovelies... put on a package, a headband, a shirt, a dress, a card {source}
{four} a pillow... MUST try this.  and I am always looking for good homes for my beloved scraps. {source}
{five} my prettiest fabric find... again skipping to the mailbox until this comes... what will I do with it?  dresses for my shop? a birthday bunting for pj? a pot holder? hoop art? maybe just stare at it?? {source}

ah... to be inspired... it feels good!