I Do Still Craft!!

I know the blog has been picture heavy lately and you may have been wondering where the scrapping has gone. It's still here I just haven't been able to share :) Today our Product Showcase, Board Book Albums, went live at The Daily Trumpet and I can show you the entire mini album here!

This was so much fun to work with because I didn't need to add too much to showcase these special pictures of Garrett at 8 months. Not only do the pictures capture him at so little but these were the first set of pictures that I was really proud of. I used the black velvet sheet shown in the Annual Costume Shoot and was shooting in film. I think I ended up with two rolls & these pictures showcased were my favorites.

For the cover I used various American Crafts Stickers to repeat the theme of 8 Months.

I picked a coordinating paper line from American Crafts to make the assembly go quickly.

I followed the same formula for each page to make this an afternoon project.

Make sure you go see all the other projects using the same board book album at the Daily Trumpet today. It is so neat to see all the different projects!

lovemon

The Annual Costume Shoot

has happened every Halloween but this year was different. This year I was able to pay in candy. This may not have been appropriate but boy was it effective! For the first year, there were no tears in any of the pictures. In fact he totally hammed it up for me.

The pictures were taken in my living room in mid/late afternoon with black velvet as a backdrop. This is what my studio looked like.

I always feel like such a cheese hanging up the velvet in the doorway but in the end when you get in tight it really doesn't matter. This is one of the best purchases I've made to help me along with my do-it-yourself photo shoots.

My other favorite purchase is the remote for my camera. Holly asked in the pumkin carving post about remotes. The one I have is a Canon remote that fits several Canon SLR cameras. I love that it is wireless, inexpensive at $25, and effective. A quick search at B&H of wireless remotes for SLR cameras came up with several different brands.

While we are talking equipment I have another favorite to share. I used to download my pictures directly from my Canon Rebel XT to the computer & it would take forever. It would frequently time out on me & I was continually frustrated uploading pictures. The SanDisk ImageMate All-in-One USB 2.0 Reader has me waiting no longer. Love how fast it uploads my pictures!

Hope you find these hints helpful!

lovemon

Have You Heard?

The Studio is hosting a Charity Extravaganza full of 48 hours of scrapbooking goodness benefiting Charity: Water.

I am so excited that I have the opportunity to be apart of this!! Starting at 7pm (GMT) on Friday 13th November The Studio will be hosting games, challenges, special guests and PRIZES. A new challenge will be posted every 2 hours for the whole weekend!

I just wrapped up my challenge & I am so excited to see what everyone does with it. If you want to play along go find all the details here.

lovemon

It's Been

a wild week so far. On Sunday morning as I opened my eyes I felt & heard a pop in my neck. We were guessing it was just a crick in my neck but when the pain had me in tears in the afternoon we made a trip to the urgent care.

Turns out I had a neck strain & muscle spasms. I have never felt more ridiculous in my entire life. How does one, while sleeping, tear the muscles in her neck. Ugh. I kept thinking of all that was on my to do list and was even more upset with myself. Luckily, I have wonderful people around me and have been able to fully rest & recooperate the last few days.

I am slowly reentering the real world today since I can fully rotate my head & drive!! But before I head out on my great adventure of leaving the sofa I wanted to share a bit of happiness. I've had my very first article published in the November issue of Scrapbook Elements at Ella Publishing.

I've shared the below layout & three of my tips to keep scrapping during the holiday season. I frequently get asked by close friends how I fit it all in & these three tips are just a bit of what keeps me going.

A huge thank you to my dear friend Lee, who helped me out contributing layouts to my article. This teaming let me focus on the words, which I really needed to do since this was my first ever go at writing an article!!

I've got another project that will be up at Ella soon and I'll be sharing more of the project here once it goes live.

I'm looking forward to a bit of a calmer week. Here's to yours being great!

lovemon

The First Round

of Trick or Treating. I had planned on combining all trick or treating pictures but the truth is that I just take too many pictures so I'm having to split the post in two as a precautionary measure against your boredom of seeing pictures of my little guy.

His first stop in the loot gathering was my work on Friday afternoon. I'm not sure if he was more excited that I was picking him up early or that the candy festivities were about to begin.

Here is the face I get when I ask him to be scared. All those Scooby Doo movies have led to a comical scared face!

What I love is that not only is there candy but also crafts! Which, my little guy gets just as excited about.

This year we made a stop in my office. The view and the white board were a huge hit.

What better way to end a party than with a cupcake? I was actually pretty impressed he managed to stay clean!

Coming up next...our annual costume picture shoot & Halloween!! Hope I haven't lost you guys yet!

lovemon