...and then I snapped: 10 minutes away.

Here is my first photo off my little photography bucket list. It is titled '10 minutes away'. This cute display is at an intersection 10 minutes from my house. I have driven by it dozens of times and always make a mental note that I'd like to stop and buy a rock from Seamus. I think the little entrepreneur deserves our business. He really does have some cool rocks on his little table. On this particular day, we did pull over and I gave Annika $1 to buy 2 of her very own Cool Rocks. She was very excited and I am sure we made one little boys day as well.

I am pretty thrilled with starting on my bucket list. It has given me some renewed vigor in chasing some photos I normally pass every day. It gives me moments to pause and look at objects and experiences in different ways.



Here's my list:
Follow
Covet
Hands
Fancy
10 minutes away
11pm

Today

Everyday

Resemble

Childhood memory

Clock

Closed

Smile

Back

natural
saturday
multi-coloured
home
shadow
foot
round
path
full
the end
Lines
Stretch
Through
Bottom
Different
Far Away
Green
Mug
At Night
Liquid
Out of Reach
Sometimes
Going places
Button
Delicious
Looking back at me
soft
three
numbers
small

Pumpkin Carving Party Turns Annual

Last year, we had an epic pumpkin carving party. I literally planned for weeks and spent days preparing. Ariana ended up over-inviting and we had 10 or 11 girls here (most spending the night!) Although Ariana had a blast, it was a huge endeavor.

Cut to this year when Ariana says to me last week, "When is my pumpkin carving party?"

Ummmm... I guess I had not realized that with such a fun party, she would expect it annually. And we only had one weekend left before Halloween... so I had about, oh, 3 days to prepare. Oh, wait, on top of that, Colby was away for 5 days at 'hunting camp'.

So this years pumpkin carving was way impromptu. As in, I went to get the food and pumpkins about 2 hours before guest were scheduled to arrive. I even had to buy premade cupcakes! Gasp! (Not that the 10 year olds had any idea, but I knew in my heart.) So this is all we ended up with:

To ewww it up a little, I threw some rats in the punch: some spiders on the cupcakes and vegetables: and wrote "Boo" across some sugar cookies that I whipped up: I did at least frost and decorate the cupcakes myself so I didn't feel quite so lame. The girls were kind enough to point out that I did not have the cool eyeball pops and jack-o-lantern fruit bowls from last year. Thanks for the guilt trip, kids.

The one cool thing I did do was in carving my pumpkin: I used a drill to put 60 holes into the pumpkin and then used some orange twinkle lights to stick into each hole to make a cool, glowing effect. The fun was in drilling the pumpkin and spewing the guts all over the kids around me.

So, it was not quite as epic as last years... but we had fun, nonetheless. And thanks to Kelly for keeping me sane and being a huge help!

...and then I snapped.

As further means of simplifying my life, I am going to stop posting to my photoblog and just simply post my photos here. One less blog= a few minutes saved. (I will not delete that blog as most of my favorite photography is there, I just will not be updating there any longer.)

And so my photography feature on this blog will be called "...and then I snapped." (So cleverly stolen from a Target t-shirt logo.) And to help me get back into the habit of taking photos for recreation and meditation, I have culled a list from various sources on the internet of simple themes for photos. I may take these words literally...or not. Who cares? It's me, my rules and my little artistic endeavor.

Here's my list:
Follow
Covet
Hands
Fancy
10 minutes away
11pm

Today

Everyday

Resemble

Childhood memory

Clock

Closed

Smile

Back

natural
saturday
multi-coloured
home
shadow
foot
round
path
full
the end
Lines
Stretch
Through
Bottom
Different
Far Away
Green
Mug
At Night
Liquid
Out of Reach
Sometimes
Going places
Button
Delicious
Looking back at me
soft
three
numbers
small

She's Crafty: Camera Strap Cover

I have recently started using my camera strap on my Nikon DSLR as I am realizing I cannot juggle 3 kids, a bag, a snack bag, a phone, etc.... AND a bulky camera. So I finally attached my strap, and was very excited to see how well it worked, but it was kind of tacky with the bright yellow Nikon logo on it... so I decided to make a strap cover. I was going to do a cool tutorial, until I looked online and found dozens of them already. I followed a tutorial from Make It Do which was the only one I found that used fusible batting to pad the strap. I wanted the padding, but I have to use the fusible type with my limited sewing skills. I grabbed the fusible batting and 1/4 yard of fabric from Joann for under $5 (side note: I did not realize until just about now that I could buy fabric in increments under 1 yard! This makes it way cheaper for small projects and I am wasting way less material!):

And following the tutorial, I ended up with this:
Not bad, huh? Even close up, it looks as though I really meant to make it. With the double seam and the padding, it appears quite... finished.
So, I am very excited about my less-than-$5 camera strap. (And I have enough padding left over for at least 2 more!!!)



If you want an even simpler tutorial, (with no padding), Design Sponge has one with just 3 seams!
If you are slightly more adept with the sewing machine, this patchwork strap cover from Fabric Family Fun is sooo cute!


Simply Modern Mom has a more advanced one that includes a lens cap pocket:

And if you simply do not have the time, energy or sewing machine, I have seen them for as low as $17 shipped from Etsy. My last Etsy search found over 800 different camera strap covers!

Start thinking about those Christmas gifts now... these can be inexpensive to make (or buy) and the recipient would adore them.

Sunday Citar: Spread Their Wings

"The greatest gifts you can give your children are the roots of responsibility and the wings of independence."
-Denis Waitley




Please go visit Tabitha for more Sunday Citar.

...and then she learned how to embed an Etsy treasury!

I just discovered a tool on Handmadeology that lets me embed Etsy treasuries right here in my blog. I know, I am beyond dork... but this is very exciting stuff to me. I just wish I could come up with these cool tricks myself, I am so not versed in this stuff... Oh well, at least I know how to research other peoples strokes of brilliance and steal it!

Back to the Etsy Treasury. "What is that?", you ask. Well, people come up with 16 items from Etsy that fall under one theme. Such as "Inked":

'Inked....' by BellaRennie

The Tattooed Lady Large Prin... theblackapple $	Tattoo RED ROSE Ring redtruckdesign... $17.00	These Days - 5x5 - Fine Art ... violetbellapho... $15.00	Tattoo cardigan, hooded S M... laurakapp $360.00
madfoxes GRATEFUL DEAD tie d... madfoxes $	Personalized 2011 Diary mypipsqueak $24.50	Lovely Lolita - earrings EssemDesign $10.00	Leggings Tights Pantyhose St... duende74 $
Winged Heart Acrylic Necklac... ilookpretty $7.00	Owlways Glass Tile Pendant thelittlefox $15.00	Antiqued Sparrows with Nauti... jules13art $25.00	Tattoo Themed 2 inch Blocks-... innervision $15.00
I Never Promised You a Rose ... ZenAndCoffee $	Tattoo Lady, holiday card. S... SugarBeetPress $22.50	Leather cuff - Japanese koi tovicorrie $	sexy BUTTERFLY TATTOO thigh-... post $18.00

Generated using Treasury HTML code generator by Whale Shark Websites.

See my Tattoo blocks there? Nestled in with all those other rad gifts by rad artists (I covet that red rose ring!)

How about some chalkboard fun?

'Write it out!' by BluePenguinShop

I heart chalkboards. Chalkboards are the perfect, temporary form of expression. Have you ever had a chalkboard handy at a party or a night in with a few close friends? It is inevitable that it will be written on, commented on, erased and added to all night long. Chalkboards are like having a super fun friend in the room.Embrace the chalk!

Large Vintage Country Chalkb... outofdoha2010 $58.00	Large Triceratops Dinosaur C... WilsonGraphics $70.00	2 Inch Chalkboard Wood Block... innervision $10.00	Chalkboard heart shaped silv... buysomelove $8.25
Chalkboard Bunting Garland S... ShabbyChalks $25.00	12 Heart Shaped Chalkboard C... callaloosoupde... $8.99	$	Chalkboard Speech Bubble Tab... BluePenguinSho... $150.00

Generated using Treasury HTML code generator by Whale Shark Websites.

Or this great collection of items on Etsy that you can personalize (FYI- people LOVE personalized gifts, it shows much heart and thought!)

'Personalize It!' by dahlies

All of these custom items you can have personalized for yourself or as a Christmas gift for a friend. Thank you to all the talented artists!

ORIGINAL Set of FOUR Hand-St... myadobecottage $80.00	A custom pair of love birds ... orlydesign $75.00	personalized wood tree trunk... alliterations $	Vintage Night Owl Personaliz... oiseaux $15.95
Personalized New Baby Hoop -... aewilder $30.00	PERSONALIZED BRONZE CUFF BRA... 3sweetpeasjewe... $24.00	Memory Game Customized with ... innervision $25.00	Couple initials monogram JinxMurphyDesi... $40.00
7x20 Carved Painted Personal... mrcwoodproduct... $	Sweet Red Ticking Pillow Mon... letterperfectd... $62.00	2 Custom Luggage Tags - Up t... OfTheFountain $	Personalized Folded Note Car... saratams $25.00
Dog Tag, Hand Stamped Copper... bearlovesbella $15.00	Monogram Wood Plugs PhoenixLaser $8.95	NEW 2D Zoo and Orange Dots B... punkinjunction $25.00	Dolce Dreams Hand Embroidere... dolcedreams $12.00

Generated using Treasury HTML code generator by Whale Shark Websites.

And this gorgeous treasury makes me wonder if I try for #4... maybe it will be a boy???

'Mama's Little Boy' by cellardesigns

All things blue.....

$	Crochet Baby Hat - Little K... adriennekinsel... $18.50	Blue Bird Garland by MFAS Middleburg $	ADORE journal moxy $
Baby Love hand stamped sterl... JLynnCreations $27.00	3-Tiered Natural Bird Mobile CriswellCreati... $	Organic Cotton Little Button... HeathersHobbie... $	Custom Photo Blocks- Neutral... innervision $
Little Boy Blue Organic Cott... HandKnitbyCara $16.75	Wool Crochet Baby Blanket. rocketandbear $	Fiona the Fawn Wood Teether ... littlealouette $	Tranquil Leaves Zippered Wet... SnuggyBaby $
Bubbly-Blue Superfly Blankie SuperflyLullab... $66.00	$	Baby Boy Keepsake Tin first ... tinytins $	Nursery Art Print (Turtle St... barkingbirdart $

Generated using Treasury HTML code generator by Whale Shark Websites.

Ok, ok, enough bragging about all of my treasuries. I just wanted to practice embedding them in my blog because I love pretending I really know HTML and all that other geekology I steal from really intelligent people.