Victory is Sweet (and painful)

We played our 6th softball game of the season last night. Our record is now 5-1 and we may be tied for first place. We won by a mere 30 points. Yes THIRTY. I think the other team was drunk. Or they should have used that as an excuse.

We played like champions...home runs and double plays were aplenty. Unfortunately so were injuries. Rich twisted his knee, Deb strained her back, Kelly broke a shoe (and a few nails) and I was pegged in the side with the ball while running to first. (Pictures of my bruise may come later)

I'd like to chalk it up to playing our guts out and throwing our bodies around for the sake of victory but honestly, I think we're just getting old....

TTV: For Sale!

I've been playing around with TTV textures and stuff. I came up with a few creations that are available for purchase at my Etsy shop! You'll notice that I added a watermark signature to my images, this would not appear on your purchased print.

After this I promise I'll stop whoring out my Etsy shop...for a few days.






And thank you for all the lovely comments on my last post. Your positive feedback really keeps me going!

Focus Group

1.

Ok my dear friends. I sold a photo the other day on my etsy page and I was so stoked that I'm trying to get more prints up there. I had this wacky idea of adding text to some of my images to turn them into cards of some sort. It all started with Jamie's birthday. Eventually I want to be able to print actual cards myself but I can't find the right paper. And I don't want to go through the process of ordering them online since I want to print them as they're purchased. But that's not what this is about...

I need your help. If you would so kindly be a little "online focus group" and let me know what you think of these little creations.

• Would you purchase them as actual prints? Or would you prefer them as cards?
• Would you even purchase them if they were cards?
• Do you like the added text at all or would you rather it not be there?
• If you do like the text, do you like one simple word as shown?
• Would you like to see phrases like Happy Mother's Day, Congratulations, Get Well Soon, etc?
• Would you like to see quotes? Song lyrics?
• If given the option would you want a customized print where you tell me what to write on the shot?
  
• What do you think of the fonts? Keep it simple? Or do you like the funkiness?
  

Any other advice would be AWESOME! I appreciate all of your creative input : ) I've numbered them to make it a little easier for you to tell me which ones you do like and which you could do without. Thank you!

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5.

She's Crafty: Photo Blocks

So I found this online tutorial for creating Photo Blocks and I really, really wanted to try it out. I figured few people would appreciate the creativity and quirkiness of this little project, but my dear, creative friend Jamie would be one of those few. Jamie's birthday was this past Friday and it was the perfect excuse to try my hand at Photo Blocks. Enter Nicole Richie....




Jamie is a huge Nicole Richie fan (I don't know why, you have to ask her) Actually fan is an understatement. She thinks they're sisters or best friends or soul mates or something. But that's beside the point....



The first step was to find a high quality photo and then add a little interestingness to it. This is totally optional as you can use any photo you like but I wanted to spice it up a little and it was my perfect excuse to try out this Pop Art Tutorial. I originally wanted to use an image of Jamie and her boyfriend Randall but the quality was poor and thus PhotoShopping became too difficult and I wasn't pleased with the result. So I found the above image of Nicole Richie which was much easier to work with.

Once I created my Pop Art image I printed the photo out and it sat on my desk for a few weeks. That's how long it took me to find the wooden blocks. But alas after visiting several different Michael's locations I finally found these little guys....


The tutorial I used called for four 2" X 3" linoleum blocks but those were nowhere to be found and I actually think I like these better because it breaks up the photo into 6 pieces rather than 4 creating a little more of that "interestingness."

So once you find your blocks, grab some rubber cement, painters glaze and a mini sponge brush. Cut the image into 6 pieces, glue them on the blocks, seal with the glaze and voila! You have yourself a really unique gift that can double as wall art, a paper weight or maybe even a puzzle! (for your really slow friends)

You can stack them all sorts of ways for hours of entertainment.

And Ta-Da! Here is the final result. Not bad, huh?

What if....

There were three of me?

Could you imagine? Poor Rich.
(Doesn't he look scared?)

High Heels

When I wear high heels I have a great vocabulary and I speak in paragraphs. I'm more eloquent. I plan to wear them more often.
-Meg Ryan

For Jamie

Enjoy your very special day!
XOXO

Wedding Shoes

Aren't they lovely? I was having such a difficult time deciding what fun shoes I would wear for my wedding and I just kept coming back to these Betsey Johnson peep toes. So I went to the mall tonight to meet them in person. We totally hit it off. I couldn't wait to get home and take some shots of them!

Good thing I got that pedicure the other day!

They're going to look just perfect hidden under my dress where no one can see them!

My Dark Side

Things around here have been all puppies, flowers and winking....so I thought I'd darken it up a bit with some photos I've been editing. Playing with texture I found, I came up with these spooky creations. Too bad it's not October.

I Can't Wink

Tag I'm It

Lynds over at Yellow Brick Blog just tagged me. Here's what that means....

RULES:
1) you link back to the person who tagged you. {link above}
2) post these rules on your blog.
3) share six unimportant things about yourself.
4) tag six random people at the end of your entry.
5) let the tagged people know by leaving a comment on their blogs

Here are my six random facts:

1.) I'm obsessed with Flickr, like seriously obsessed. I wish all my friends were into it like I was. Here's a link to my photos so you can look at just how obsessed I am.

2.) I just got a pedicure the other day and I hadn't had one since probably last summer. Yikes!

3.) I sing really loud in my car (when I'm alone) and lots of songs make me emotional (like happy emotional) So sometimes I'm singing really loud and then I'll get a little weepy. Those are the moments when I feel I can't get enough of LIFE.

4.) I have a few little secrets about my wedding that I really want to share with my friends but I can't because I want them to be a surprise.

5.) I can't stop thinking about Disneyland and the weekend we'll be spending there in June.

6.) I'm playing tennis tonight.

I will be tagging 4 peeps since I don't have many blogging friends:

Little Meah
Baby Kalamakis
Menu a la Marguerite
P.S.

Carlsbad Flower Fields

On Saturday Deb, Rene and I woke up early to get to the Flower Fields in Carlsbad. The weather was incredible (maybe even a little too hot - but I won't complain) and the flowers were amazing.

Each spring from sometime in March to sometime in May they plant rows and rows and rows of Ranunculus. They really are stunning.

Happy Friday!

Enjoy the gorgeous weather!

Hello, Cutie

Flickr Group Roulette strikes again! Yesterday's theme was "Stop playing with your food." So after attempting to balance blackberries on my tongue (which was nearly impossible) I came up with this:

Just a few mini oranges....

A skewer to hold it all together....

And some mad orange balancing skillz....

And Voila!!

I have WAY too much time on my hands

Sedona

So I'm not that impressed with the shots we got in Sedona (the lighting just wasn't right) but the town itself is GORGEOUS. I highly recommend it for a nice weekend getaway. Rich and I have already started planning our next trip out there!




As you're driving up to Sedona the terrain is just green/brown hills filled with cacti until you turn the corner to find these incredible red rock formations. They truly are breathtaking.




Sedona is the place for a wonderfully romantic weekend or a great getaway with the girls. Shopping, dining, spas and plenty of outdoor activities like hiking and biking would make for a great mini vacation.

Deb and I posing with the red rocks

One of my many jumping shots. (I need to blog about this on Image Inspired) It took quite a few takes to get it right but I love the shadow on this one. Too fun. Try it with your friends.

So those are my pics! I have some leftovers that I will edit and post as I see fit. I hope you enjoyed them! Rich's mom is coming into town this weekend and we plan on doing some flower shopping for the wedding so you may be seeing some flower posts real soon.