Currently - July

Soaking up this last month of summer before my girls head off to school.

Catching up on project life, and it feels good! I love documenting our days, but most importantly, getting those photos printed.

Enjoying all of the tomatoes we are getting this summer from the garden.

Inspired by the film photography of Chinwe Edeani.

Realizing that the humidity this summer is too much for me, and moving my morning run indoors (via the treadmill).

Finding that I prefer Pinterest on my iPhone rather than my desktop.  I'm overloaded with so many photos displayed on desktop versus three or four at a time on my iPhone.

Planning a shop update for next week, be sure to sign up for my newsletter for a special discount for subscribers.

Early Morning Coffee Vibes

A (Small) Harvest

Our first (very small) harvest from the garden - cherry tomatoes.

Every little bit counts, right?

My daughter promptly ate 2 of the 3! 

a study in color

I usually choose to photograph in bright, natural light.  

I decided to push my comfort zone a bit and capture these blooms on black.

It was definitely out of my comfort zone to photograph with a dark background.  But I love how it makes the color pop. And I'm reminded how good it is to change things up.  

Here's to pushing our boundaries and seeing where it takes us.

my studio

I've shared photos of my workspace, but things have changed a bit.   So I figured it was time for some updated photos.  I've rearranged the space to work better for me (it's amazing how a simple change of furniture position will do that).

Still loving my gallery wall - a mix of my mother's paintings, my film work, and inspirational pieces.  Different textures and shapes - I love how nothing is even and some frames are a bit crooked.  A reminder to me that everything does not have to be perfect.

This area has also become my Project Life work station.  I work on my spreads throughout the week simply by keeping my album in sight.

I print at home with my Epson 3880, and I absolutely love it.  It takes up a lot of space, but I love the fact that I can print 12x12 photos on whim.  

I'm still keeping my film photos in my top drawer.  It is getting pretty full, so I will definitely have to look at other options for this.

I keep most of my scrapbooking and paper supplies in rest of these drawers.

I've surprised myself at how much I use my sewing machine for my layouts.  It sits on top of my bookshelves.  When I bought it, my mother-in-law came over to show me how to use it.  She was shocked that I wanted to use it on paper and not fabric!

I moved my desk right underneath my polaroid film wall, and it works much better in this space.  You can see how created my film wall on this post.

And of course, things are always changing, and this room is never quite "done".  But I am inspired the minute I walk in, and that's really important to me.

Please do share links to your workspace. I love to see other creative spaces.

Free Digital Download - Today is a Good Day

I recently snapped this picture on my table with my iPhone. I loved it so much, I decided to create a printable to share.  

Because we all need a little reminding that Today is a Good Day - it truly is a choice.

So download it - print it at home or at your local print shop, tuck it in your planner, frame it, or pin it on your inspiration board and keep it as a reminder.  

And for my project lifer's - I also created a 3x4 journal card (actually sized 2.9 x 4 inches to fit easily in pocket pages).

Download: 8x10 digital download, 5x7 digital download, or  3x4 digital download

For personal use only, please. Enjoy!

adventures in watercoloring, part 2

I've been dabbling a little more with watercoloring, and I'm hooked.  I'm realizing that the possibilities are endless.  Since I first shared my adventures in watercoloring, I've picked up this inexpensive set of watercolors.  There is a bit more mixing with water involved, but it makes for different saturations of color - love that.

This time around, I wanted to explore digitally with flowers so I painted a few abstract pieces - stems, leaves, and buds.

I dabbled a bit with triangles, but was not sure where I was going with that one!

After scanning my drawings and cleaning them up in Photoshop, I  chose my favorite elements to work with.  I settled on these below.

And here is where the possibilities are endless.  Using Illustrator, I converted the elements to vectors so that I could resize them and not loose any quality.  With just a few designs, I was able to come up with a couple of different floral arrangements.

I continue to love learning this new medium.  I enjoy creating something tangible and then being able to alter it digitally.  Of course, so many more ideas swirling in my head....

You can see my first post on watercoloring here.

how to make a polaroid film photo wall

 

I started creating a polaroid film wall a little over a year ago.   I have received a number of questions about how I created it, what I used to attach the polaroids, how are they holding up, etc.  I knew it was definitely time for a post.

After I scan them, the majority of my polaroids end up in this drawer of my workspace:

This is definitely not the best way to store them!  I wanted to display my favorites - and knew that I wanted to make a polaroid film wall.  The majority of photo walls that I found online were prints or copies of actual photographs, not the polaroids themselves.

When selecting an adhesive, I knew that I had to decide carefully.  These polaroids are all originals, they are not copies or prints.  I wanted to preserve them so that I could remove the adhesive if I decided to take the photos down and still keep the photo intact.  That ruled out any permanent adhesive.   Here is my secret sauce, what has worked for me.

Scotch Restickable Tabs - simple, cheap, and a little over a year later, they are holding up pretty nicely.  I have taken a few polaroids down and re-positioned them, and the paint on my wall is still intact as well as the photo.

Adding one more polaroid to the mix, this one captured with the polaroid land camera.

On the back of each polaroid, I attach four of the mini tabs to each corner.

After removing the liner, the polaroid is ready to be attached to the wall.

I like to group the polaroids by size and orientation to maintain a cohesive look and feel.

To secure each photo to the wall, I apply a little pressure to each corner.

Amazingly simple, and definitely a conversation piece in any room.  Plus, a way to artfully display your work.

I have noticed that in the winter, some of the edges do curl up due to the heat in the house.  I simply push them back down evenly, and they are fine.

Please do let me know if you try this at home!