the saturday tour

puppies are going home today. i wish it was more like ripping off a band-aid but the first little guy left at 9 and the last will go home at 2. there are just hours of waiting in between families.

here's a little saturday tour:

-i'm loving this photostream.

-how cute is this?

-wish i lived somewhere that this would be useful.

-need a smile? have you seen this yet?

-oh, how i wish i was rich so i could just buy one of these and one of these!

-i am always craving this.

-get into the valentine's spirit here.

-and then go buy this to decorate.

-if you're not already addicted to this, you should be.

-thank you vanessa for this!

have fun today, stay warm!

one for me

made myself a little something today. a scarf from the softest, gray, 100% wool suiting. and a little moose attitude :)

messing around in photoshop. did you know you can add flare? i always thought that was an undesirable effect. hmmm?

and a little bit of the true colors.

preview

here's a little preview of what i've been working on for the new shop. finally had a sunny day so i could take some photos. there's a few things still in the works before i list everything. hopefully there will be more sunny days to come soon so i can get everything photographed. hope you enjoy the little peek into my shop world!

puppy love

made a cutie little hanging sweet enough to be anyone's valentine. used up some scraps (linen and cotton) to make this little project. i'll probably end up sending it away so i'm tempted to make myself a little love.

in other news; i only have 2 more days with my babies. everyone is going to their new homes this weekend. although i'm tired of cleaning up poop, i'm quite attached to these little stinkers.
:*( sniffle

bench monday

got rid of all the snow then we had the rain and now it's snowing again. i'm so ready for warmer, sunny weather. happy bench monday!

friday.

trying to focus on the little things like...
red toenails, a new pair of favorite jeans (since the old pair ripped), 1 more week to play with puppies, hand-sewn binding, baking cupcakes...
hoping the big things will eventually work themselves out. happy friday :)

photo assignment day 2

another shot from the badlands national park. this time at sunset from the night before that beautiful sunrise.

i'm posting this picture today on my blog because i'm not feeling that i will be able to creatively produce any other blog posts later. i'm feeling a bit stressed this morning. we sold all the puppies yesterday so everyone has a new home to go to in a week-and-a-half. exciting because i am tired of cleaning up and feeding pups. sad because i love those cute little guys. therefore, stress.

we also recieved our first offer on the house. insultingly low because the buyer thinks that he can consider foreclosures when figuring the 'correct' price for our home. which would make sense if we were going to remove all of the appliances, light fixtures, plumbing fixtures, and flooring materials like the foreclosed properties in our neighborhood. but we thought we would be nice and leave those useful things with the house. therefore, stress.

sorry to have such a downer post this morning. maybe i'll be able to brighten my day and post something happier later. hope you are having a day as beautiful as this sunset.

photo assignment

participating in a flickr photo assignment group. the current assignment is sunrise/sunset. well, i'm not a morning person so i don't see too many sunrises and we have a lovely building blocking our view of any nice sunsets. i selected this photo taken at the badlands national park, july 4, 2008, of a sunrise. at that time i only had a 5-mega-pixel, point-and-shoot fuji so i doctored it up in photoshop. i selected the b&w version to submit to the flickr group, i think it's a little more dramatic.

we really lucked out because the badlands has very few cloudy days in july. the sky was perfect for a sunrise photograph. by the time we hiked back to the car it was completely overcast. it's photos like this that make backcountry camping so worth it.

using this as a double-duty post for a *wordful* wednesday here. enjoy!

flatware & a little sunshine

a little sneak peek at my current project that will end up here someday.

carzy busy day today. cleaned house for a showing with little advanced warning. broke through the knee of my favorite jeans while picking up the puppy stuff.

today is the first day in a long while that the sun came out. yay! so i snapped these photos of my work-in-progress with the new lens. i love that kona cotton royal, don't you? too bad i had to be out of the house for so long today or i could have used the light to photograph other stuff too. getting late now and there won't be good light for much longer.

i hear it's supposed to be freezing-rain for the next two days. boo.

hope the sun is shining in your house!

happy bench monday

it's quite colorless around these parts. we haven't seen the grass since before christmas. i'm so ready for the snow to melt. it's not even pretty snow anymore. it's that gross, half-evaporated, dull-with-dirt, all-kinds-of-footprints-in-it snow.

felt it was appropriate to go with a black and white version for bench monday this time. and a couple extra to try and liven things up :)

also, i now understand why there are no heads in bench monday shots. when it's about the bench, and you set your tripod for the bench shot, you almost always chop off your head. :)

what can aperture do for you?

sometimes it can be a little much, don't you think? playing around with a new wide-aperture lens (50mm f/1.4). and getting a little carried away.

but it is pretty cool.

isn't it?

a new look

just a little welcome to everyone out there (old readers and new). i'm so glad you take time out of your busy schedules to stop by and read my blog. i hope you like the new look. please let me know if there are any links that are not working or formatting that's messed up and i'll do my best to fix it.
as you can see, i've got a few new links here on my blog. including one to my etsy shop, it's not open yet but the link is right there for when i finally have everything photographed and listed. stop by and check out my shop banner if you'd like.
i've also got a link to my flickr pool because i'm really going to be focusing on my photos in the coming weeks and months.
that's all for now, enjoy, and thanks for visiting!

a little organization

i had every intention of posting for 'my creative space' today. that doesn't start until the 28th so i'll share my bit of organization with you anyway.

what i've been up to...

here's a little sneak peek at what i'm up to lately. got a whole lot more up my sleeve so stay tuned!

my first bench monday!

happy bench monday! this is the first bench monday i've participated in.

what does bench monday mean to me? i will use bench monday as a tool to challenge my photograpy. to go beyond my comfort zone and set up a tri-pod across from a bench at a busy intersection and take a photo while people are staring. i will use bench monday to find more benches; to explore my the world i live in.

what is a bench? i am entering into bench monday with the mentallity of a purist. i will not, even though the rules say it's okay, improvise a 'bench.' i will find benches that are honestly and truely benches.

what about the boots? as i scroll through the other bench monday entries from the past it becomes quite bland. basically, this bench monday flickr group could be interpreted as people who love feet. to me, bench monday is not going to be about the feet (or shoes, or socks, or boots). to me, bench monday will be about the benches. i also realized that the more interesting bench monday shots included an entire body, with a head. so, i will challenge myself to create outside of the box (or above the knee) as the weeks progress.

until next time, happy bench monday :)

why do i create?

a.k.a. 'resolution twenty-ten'

i was going to write about things i need to adjust in the new year but as i was brainstorming i came to the question that all artistic bloggers have to answer. why do i create?

the new year is a time to re-evaluate the state-of-the-blog and the state-of-the-create. i've been a bit stressed about my blog lately and have all but abandoned it. i failed to photograph the homemade christmas presents i gave away. i've been up to my elbows in puppy chores. i try and try to keep the house spotless just in case there's a showing. does the blog just get in the way? no, i love my blog.

i've decided that all i really need is new inspiration, a new focus. i recently picked up the publication Artful Blogger here. i'm going to try a few things differently this year. so stay tuned as my blog grows and develops in the coming weeks and months.

so, why do i create? well, today i create so i can photograph. i got out my watercolors and failed at the painting but took some pretty shots of the paint tubes. tomorrow, i'll just have to wait and see.

a little puppy update

the pups have been taking up all of my time. i can't even imagine what it would be like if there were 8. i have no children so i'm going to ignorantly compair this time to newborn babies. it's noon and i haven't had time to take a shower yet. nursing, and feeding, and cleaning, and playing, and taking care of penny on top of all that. just enough time to jump in the shower before their next feeding. plus i need to remember to eat my own lunch! someday i'll get back to blogging..... plus i have a 'resolution twenty-ten' post planned that i haven't had time to start yet. maybe i'll get it posted before february?