Archive for December, 2009

2010 planner from Snapfish!

Monday, December 28th, 2009

I am an incredibly forgetful person. Ever since I got pregnant with Allie, it seems I’ve been losing more and more of my brain function. I swear. :p lol! It’s bad. It drives my husband crazy… and I’m pretty sure it drives ME even more crazy. So, my New Years resolution is to get more organized and write everything down so I don’t forget stuff all the time.

I’d been looking for quite a while for someone who would print a daily planner with a customized cover. I finally found out that Snapfish does it (and they’re the only place I could find to do it)! It’s on the bottom left of that page. ;)

What was super obnoxious was they wanted a square image for the cover, even though the planner isn’t square (it’s 6.5×8.75″)… and there are no templates to download to help you with it either if you decide to do a full bleed design. So, I created a 10×10 design using Zoe Pearn’s Bloom & Grow kit at Sweet Shoppe Designs, and placed my important stuff in the very center. I uploaded my first image and it didn’t work correctly (as you create the planner, it will give you a preview of your cover), so I had to adjust my image a few times. You can also adjust the crop when you are creating your planner.

Please excuse the not-so-fabulous photos - I took these way late in the day and I should’ve photographed on a piece of white poster board… the black is BUGGIN’ me! lol

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I was a little nervous about what the inside of the planner would look like because Snapfish doesn’t give a good view of it, but I was happy to find plenty of room for each day and plenty of pages for journaling/notes, etc. Each week of the year gets a 2-page spread with Monday-Wednesday on the left page and Thursday-Sunday on the right page. The days are broken up into hours of the day starting at 8 am and going to 5 pm with a spot above 8 am and a spot below 5 pm for any plans you’ve got before or after those hours.

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Anyways, for just $10, it’s a great little project and a super inexpensive planner that is customized for YOU! :D I love it! Just wanted to share for anyone else needing a daily planner… ;)

Oh, and shipping was super cheap (less than $2) and they upgraded my shipping for free to overnight… I have no idea why, but they did and it was super awesome! lol! :D

Posted in Uncategorized | 9 Comments »

Meet my new baby!

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009

I am IN LOVE!!! DH decided I could FINALLY upgrade my camera as my Christmas present this year… and he let me have it early! I’ve been playing with it for a week now and I seriously am still as excited today as the day I opened up the box! :D

Canon Rebel

I got the Canon Rebel XSi body (no kit lens) and the Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens. LOVE. IT. :) The image quality on this camera is SO MUCH better than my point & shoot… and I can actually bump up my ISO and with this lens I can open my aperture much wider than I could on my old camera.

I got this camera on December 1st… perfect timing for the December Daily project! Taking photos every day is certainly helping me get used to all the new controls and settings! Here are a couple fave photos I’ve taken….

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I’ve had several people ask me on FB how I achieved the bokeh in those pictures of my daughter in front of the Christmas tree, so I thought I’d share here!

*disclaimer: I’m not a professional photographer… so I hope no REAL photogs are reading this and shaking their heads at me. lol

First, you need a basic understanding of ISO, aperture, and shutter speed and how they work together and how you adjust them to get the proper exposure. Understanding Exposure is a great book for beginners. I also found some of the photography articles at 2 Peas in a Bucket to be really useful in learning the relationship between these: ISO, Aperture, and Shutter Speed and Exposure. Once you understand those, practice shooting in Manual. I think a lot of people are scared to shoot in Manual, but once you understand the relationship between ISO, aperture, and SS it really isn’t that hard and you will learn to LOVE having all that control over your settings to get better photos. ;)

So, to get that bokeh I try and make my daughter stand several feet away from the tree (3-5 feet) and turn on the Christmas lights. I did shoot during the day, but I didn’t have a lot of natural light, so for the second picture I set my ISO at 800 and opened my aperture up wide (f/1.8) and adjusted my shutter speed to get the proper exposure (1/125 ). Generally, I try to keep my shutter speed faster than that (1/200 or faster) because my daughter is always moving, but it ended up working this time. By opening up the aperture, it not only helps me with the low light situation, but also helps me get that nice blurry background and get the cool bokeh with the Christmas lights. When my aperture is open like this though, it creates a shallow depth of field. So, I had to step back a little bit to make sure my daughter’s face was in focus (rather than just getting one eye in focus…lol).

I have to say, I’m gonna be sad when my tree has to come down because it really makes for some pretty pictures! ;)

Posted in Tips and tutorials | 3 Comments »

HUGE, FANTABULOUS 50% off SALE!!

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009

For ONE DAY ONLY, my entire shop (excluding collabs) is on sale at 50% off! This is the biggest sale I’ve ever had on my entire shop and this kind of sale only comes around once a year! So, make sure you pop on by my shop and snag any of those yummy goodies you’ve been wanting! ;) Don’t forget about the fantastic holiday goodies and calendars - which are perfect for last minute holiday gifts.

Posted in Sales | 4 Comments »

December Daily Part 2

Friday, December 4th, 2009

I’m sorry I didn’t post this earlier! I am STILL waiting for more prints of scrapbook papers I ordered in the middle of November, so I haven’t been able to work on my album any more. My album is pretty basic! I just went through and covered the chipboard with my papers and added a few ribbons!

I don’t have a decent printer and the only photo lab in my town is Walmart… so I will only be printing pictures through an online lab and assemble my pages every other week… to save on shipping. :) I have been taking pictures every day and writing down what we did that day so I can go back and remember what happened.

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Posted in December Daily, Hybrid crafts | 2 Comments »