Give Thanks... Again! And Photography Mumbo-Jumbo

I had originally wanted to make 2 of the same cards when I was crafting on Sunday night but realized that I wanted to use some Chocolate Chip ribbon instead of Pear Pizzazz like on my previous card. I finally got around to finishing the second Give Thanks card. I normally wouldn't have posted this but decided to for 3 reasons: 1. I wanted to knock another card off of my No paper/product buying challenge. 2. I wanted to share a story that my friend Arlie told me. 3. I wanted to test out a new camera lens that Jamie had purchased today. I didn't crop the photo and I didn't take it on a white background like I normally do because the lens we got is a fixed lens that really creates that nice fuzzy out of focus background and a sharp main image. This first image is on the "A" mode on my camera. The "A" stands for aperture priority mode. I didn't actually adjust anything on this photo except the white balance to match my lamps. 

Jamie said the salesman warned him this might happen. The lens focuses so well that often times if you don't have the setting right, it'll literally focus on someone's nose instead of their whole face. That's what happened in that first photo. I tried fiddling with the settings and turned up (or down..?) my aperture. So the f number got bigger. That means my field of depth is bigger so a larger f number means more of my picture will be in focus and vice versa. A smaller f number means a smaller field of depth so there'll be a small area in focus and a lot of blurry fuzz. I cranked up the sucker and this is how it changed the photo.  

Not sure if you can see the difference, but the words are actually clearer in this second picture. If I kept cranking up the aperture or f value, then that computer in the background would have continued to get clearer/sharper. Compare the computer in both photos and you'll see what I mean. I'm very very happy with my little camera which is a beginner SLR Nikon D60. The new lens is a Nikkor 50mm f1.4?? I just read that off the top of the lens! I wanted to take it out for some fall shots but Jamie hasn't purchased some sort of protective cover for the lens yet so we don't want to expose it to outdoors yet. 


Now onto my story from Arlie (and I hope she's ok with me sharing!). I don't know if I have all the facts right but a little grade 1 boy goes up to his teacher and says, "Mrs. Smith, Mrs. Smith. I've had a catastrophe in the urinal! I was trying to hold up my pants and my penis slipped back in while I was peeing!" LOL! Now I told Jamie the story and his first reaction was more of contemplation and then he says, "Oh yeah... That can happen." I guess every boy needs to eventually learn to stand with his legs apart so his pants don't fall down! Lets just hope none of the girls heard/saw him! Have a great day everyone! 

PPC-CC #32, 4 Crafty Chicks, SSC170

Good morning everyone! Hope you all got out and enjoyed the lovely autumn weather this weekend. I had to work this past weekend again but did get to enjoy some outdoor shopping at the downtown farmer's market. Learned a few things like how brussel sprouts grow! We did see a lot of families out taking photos with all the fall leaves. I'm doing a triple hitter today. I've combined this week's Picture Perfect Creations Color Combo with 4 Crafty Chicks "Fall" themed card along with Stamping 411's Saturday Sketch Challenge. I haven't done a triple challenge combo for a very very long time. I often don't like combining this many challenges because I don't like visiting blogs that make 1 project and list about 10 different challenges that it remotely qualifies for. 

I'm really liking this French Foliage set from SU. You can't tell from the photo but the main image is actually stamped onto glossy card stock and then colored with a sponge dauber. It looks really pretty in person, I swear! I had to move the main image to the other side because I wanted to put a sentiment and it just didn't fit if I tried to squeeze the panel beside the bow like in the sketch. Hopefully I don't get my hand slapped too hard! The sentiment is from a retired hostess set called Holiday Best. That ribbon is the new poly-stiched ribbon in Pear Pizazz. Another project knocked off my list for the No paper/product buying challenge. Hopefully you get to join in on at least one of the challenges! 

PPC-CC #31 & 4 Crafty Chicks Challenge #3

Good morning everyone! Hope everyone had a better weekend than me. I had to work all weekend so today was finally my Friday. Working 6 days straight sucks. Some of the girls on the PPC-CC design team joined up and started a new challenge blog! It's called 4 Crafty Chicks. This is their third challenge and this week it's to emboss! I'm really enjoying this week's PPC-CC colors that Megan chose. I know it doesn't seem like I embossed very much on my card but I often do this style of embossing because it just adds a tiny detail that I quite enjoy. Just make sure if you're planning on embossing, do that before you add all the embellishments because I tried to emboss after I tied the ribbon and added the flower. It's a lot harder. I'm happy to knock another 2 projects off my No paper/product buying challenge. I made 2 of the exact same cards. The paper used is from SU called Love Letter. The ribbon is actually from when River Rock was around the first time! The stamp set is For You Flower. Hope you get to pop over to either PPC-CC or 4 Crafty Chicks to join in on this week's challenges! 

New Letterpress Plates For The Big Shot!

Now I haven't actually ordered any of these yet but I'm just loving the idea! If you're not familiar with what letterpress is, do a quick google search. Now she doesn't demo the winter plate but I think that's my favorite. I'm excited that Stampin' Up is offering some cool stuff!! 

PPC-CC #30 & FTL 107

This post is a little late but better late than never! Hope everyone had a great weekend. It was my good friend, Penny's, birthday this weekend so we spent Saturday night celebrating with her in her GORGEOUS new home. Being in a house like that makes me wish our home was bigger but as Jamie said, "The house fits us right now". This week's Picture Perfect Creations colors are just absolutely beautiful together. I combined it with Clean & Simple's Fall to Layout #107. I used the new level 3 hostess stamp set Playful Pieces. The sentiment is from my beloved Watercolor Trio. Hopefully Penny liked the card! I managed to squeeze in some DSP for my No paper/product buying challenge! Woot woot! 

Hope some of you get to play along with us this week over at PPC! 

Another Wedding Card

Well if you had a chance to see my card for this week's PPC color challenge, this card will bring a little deja vu. I made the same card except with different colors for my sister-in-law. She attended a wedding this past weekend that had burgundy and gold as the wedding colors. If you're experiencing deja vu and it's not from the other card I posted earlier, that's because I CASEd (copied and shared everything) this card straight from the Stampin' Up catalogue (pg. 122). I wanted a punch of color in the rose so I attempted to do the floating re-inker technique but the Bravo Burgundy and Bermuda Bay turned into just plain gross so I had to just watercolor with my aquapainter and re-inkers. Can't believe it's already Thursday! I'm busy prepping for my workshops this Friday and Saturday. I'll post those when I'm done! Yay! Another project down for the No paper/product buying challenge! Have a goodnight everyone! 

Holiday Mini Catalogue!!

Can you believe it's already September??? I know some of us don't want to think about Christmas yet but it's fast approaching! I'll be having some Christmas card stamp nights coming up in October/November. In the meantime, if you want to look at the new mini catalogue from Stampin' Up, click here. My team of fellow demonstrators got together and did a card swap. I made 18 cards to swap using the new set French Foliage with the DSP Woodland Walk. That totally helped knock down a few projects for my No paper/product buying challenge! Hope everyone has a great Tuesday!!  

PPC-CC #29

Good morning! Hope everyone is having a great Monday. I know I am because it's Labour Day long weekend and both Jamie and I are off. We are both officially done our vacations now and we weren't all that productive with the house renos. We did manage to run a bunch of errands like pick up our new kitchen beam (to support our roof after we knock out a support wall) and get Khuno vaccinated. Megan over at Picture Perfect Creations came up with another fabulous color challenge. This week's colors really threw me for a loop with that Peach Parfait. I have to admit, I don't love that color. I don't think I even ordered any of it except for what came in the starter package. I know the flower looks green but that's due to me trying to be extra creative. I did a overall wash of Daffodil Delight and then tried to add Marina Mist to it. Kinda forgot that blue and yellow make green!!! So hence, the green rose. I embossed all the images from Fifth Avenue Floral in gold and the sentiment is from the new level 3 hostess set Occasional Quotes. The ribbon is the new 1/8" taffeta ribbon and I just love it! 

Hope you get a chance to join us at PPC this week!! Another project down for the No paper/product buying challenge!