Recently I've Been....

Spending lots of quality time at the beach with my two favorite people. Feeling sad that my little girl no longer takes dance classes (this picture was taken at the last one) but excited that she is a little tennis star now! I'm enjoying seeing her try new things. Loving the macro on my slr and taking plenty of nature pictures: At Disneyland a lot. I love that place despite the crowds and overpriced food!
And enjoying photographing events and special occasions like this one for my good friend Johanna and Christos wedding.

Ruffled Camera Strap Covers

Creating camera strap covers was on my crafty list of things to make and I finally accomplished the task! I added this fun colorful one and a plain white ruffled one to my etsy shop for just $9.99 each. Looking forward to making more!

nothing short of crazy busy

This past month has been nothing short of crazy busy! But, it's the been the good kind of crazy where its been action packed weekends with birthday parties, baby showers, weddings, mothers day celebrations, and much more. Actually yesterday I ended up having a garage sale and today is a dance recital for my little one and then a bbq lunch after. The good news is that somehow amongst all the craziness I have managed to lose 19 pounds! Now the really hard part will be keeping it off. Otherwise I have been working hard at work as usual, and in my personal time just simply trying to find time to work on home decor projects and new creations for my etsy shop. The good news is that I will have a lot of crafty things to blog about soon. I can't wait. I'm really hoping to photograph a few things this afternoon and add some new things to etsy this week and share some fun pictures I have taken over the past month! For now here is a picture I took recently. I was at my good friends wedding and this flower in the garden outside it was so perfect that I had to photograph it. I have decided I really need to take a Photoshop class. Soon. I seem to have a lot of ideas for my pictures but don't know how to pull them off. So for now I will continue with the Photoshop basics and the free actions on picnik...

Wedding Rehearsal Dinner Pictures for a Co-worker

I recently had the pleasure of taking some pictures for a co-workers wedding rehearsal dinner. I'm trying to get more experience at taking event pictures, especially outdoor events so I can practice with natural light and taking more pictures of people! My experience with photography is primarily more commercial style photography so I'm eager to get more practice with parties like this one. It was a perfect afternoon, by the ocean and a great experience. Thought I would share a few of my favorite pictures.

Deciding on a Thank You Picture

This past weekend we celebrated my daughters 5th birthday and much to my delight the party was a success! Never mind the fact that my house is still in shambles from the party that we had at home after the party... And that I still feel somewhat exhausted from it all. But I would do it all again in a heartbeat, and I'm already starting to think about next years! I will post more on the actual party later but for now I need help on figuring out which picture to use for our Thank You notes. Having Izzy hold this sign was not an easy task - but I have narrowed it down to the final four.

#1#2

#3

#4
(this one I just think is really funny because of the serious face,
but I'm not quite sure everyone else would see the humor in it...)

So if you happen to have a favorite let me know!

I am a guest blogger on Scrapbook Trends!

I'm SO excited to be a guest blogger for Nathalie Kalbach today! I've had the pleasure of meeting Nathalie twice and working with her. She is an incredibly creative lady and certainly someone I look up to in our creative community. Hop on over to her website to check out my guest blogger questions I answered! Happy Monday.

My First Handmade Market

Today I experienced my very first handmade market. I was really excited to share some of my handmade creations and give it a whirl. It didn't go anywhere near as well as I hoped but I learned a lot, and have a lot of ideas on how to make the next one better. In all honesty it was somewhat heartbreaking because I seriously thought I was going to sell a bunch of stuff and when I didn't, I felt like I had failed. But tonight as I'm sitting here I've decided not to let it get me down, and instead to change a few things, keep trying and simply give it another shot. However it was a fun day, I took a bunch of pictures and it was a fun atmosphere. I had lots of friends and my husband and daughter come down to visit and support myself and my friend Melissa that I shared a booth with.

Here are a few of my bib necklaces.

And some of my hair clips.

And even some "ruffle bottom onesies!"
These I have some new ideas for - so excited!

I've got a bunch of ideas swirling around in my head for new items, and ways to make the items I was trying to sell even better. No plans to give up. Just plans to keep on crafting.