New Props

Thanks to the email thread last weekend that mentioned the giant teacups at Walmart, I made myself go to town and look what I came home with. At $20.00 a pop, 2 is the most I could rationalize. They had several different styles so I snapped a picture on my cell phone in case anyone else was interested in seeing what was available. They also had the giant cups in a tulip style. There is another picture below of that selection.

While still in the garden shop, some colors caught my eye and I ended up getting some "pre-school" sized props. I picked up a rake, hoe and shovel with matching gardening gloves.

Teacup selection at Walmart -

Tulip cup selection (also $20.00) -

A Funny thing happened today

It's been almost a week since I posted but it has been a rough week. We finally launched our new program for the Subaru 2010 vehicles. The company I work for assembles the interior seats for the assembly plant up the road. My job involves all of the component parts that go into the seats and making sure they meet print specs.

With the weather being extra nice today (low 80's) I spent most of it outside. Even though the ground is still too wet to start construction, I tried to remove some of the sod from the construction sight but the Bobcat started sinking into the mud, so on to plan B - get on the mower. I did get the 4 acre front yard mowed in the areas that do not have standing water, now the backyard needs done. While working out back, I noticed on of my cats about 12 feet in the air sitting in a tree.

Upon closer inspection, we discovered that Prince (the cat) was actually duplicating a photo I created last fall for one of my Daily Challenges. Check out the first picture, the challenge was "Incongruent" so I digitally placed a cat in a bird's nest.

The next two pictures were taken this afternoon of Prince actually sitting in a bird's nest. I just had to head for the house to grab my camera. This was just too funny to miss. I don't know why he climbed the tree but I think it might be to stay out of the path of the dogs. We had let 6 Collies out to run and Prince might have thought it was safer up in the tree.

We had put the dogs back in their runs and as soon as I shot these pictures, Prince came down out of the tree and followed us to the house.

Prom Night

I got a call yesterday afternoon (about 4:30) from my son asking me if I wanted to run into town to take a few shots of my step-granddaughter and her friend before they went to the Prom. He told me that they wanted to leave at 5:00. So being a good Grammy and wanting to capture the ONLY time I've ever seen Krystan in a dress, I packed up my camera and strobes and headed for their house. I got there about 4:45 and had the lights set up in about 7 minutes. I never was really happy with the lighting, but didn't have any more time to play with it. So now I have about 8 minutes to try to adjust the lighting and get some shots in the living room. I told them I wasn't going to promise anything but would see what I could do considering the backgound was picture frames and DVDs in bookshelves. I did what I could to remove the background (there was no time to grab a backdrop and stands) and insert a digital background. So here is what I ended up with (not my best work but at least something to remember the night.)

Artscow Dog Tags

I received an email a few weeks ago advertizing the Artscow Dog Tags with free shipping and since we raise Collies (both rough and smooth) we decided to order some of the tags for the dogs, just in case someone "escaped" the yard. Since there was a email thread today discussing Artscow and the dog tags were mentioned, I thought I would post a photo of them. They are just over 2 inches long, 1 1/8 inches wide and about 1/8 inch thick, at least for the double sided ones. We used a jpg of our logo on one side and added our address and phone numbers in text to the other side. In the picture, I cloned our numbers and address some just for security's sake. And as I said, for the price with the free shipping I thought they were a decent value. I have also ordered a door mat and playing cards with the second picture below on them. They should be here any day, so I'll be able to provide feedback on them also.

Finally Blooming . . . .

Just a quick post tonight to show everyone that it's finally getting to be spring in north central Indiana. I picked these yesterday and decided to shoot them this evening.

Easter Get-together Family Pictures

My "daily" postings have become more of a twice weekly but I am still posting at least.

Last week I received the new strobes that I had ordered and then had to learn to use them since I had never tried strobes. Here is my daughter with her husband and all of the girls for their first official family portraits. The girls are Ashley (13), Destiny (8) and Allyssa (4 wks). Obviously all Steelers fans as you can tell by the second picture.

My son and his fiancee, Becky, and all of their kids (5 total) were also here (but did not want their pictures taken) so I really couldn't spend a long time shooting. We also had a couple of birthdays to celebrate (Bailey, 13 on the 20th and Krystan, 18 on the 16th). We had a house full (6 adults and 8 kids) but I think everyone enjoyed the visit. At least the weather was about 60° and sunny.

I know the lighting is not perfect in these but I don't think it turned out too bad. C&C welcome as always.

If only the rain would stop . . . . .

Then the ground would dry out and we could get our project started. Saturday we bought the paint for the studio and I went with Option 6. Like my husband said, if it doesn't turn out like we hope, we can always repaint.

Since it rained all day Sunday, I brought out my old buddy 'Woody' to keep me company and be the victim of my imagination. I also bought another one of those wooden puzzles - the motorcycle - so Woody could go riding. I found out the 9" manikin fits perfect on both the motorcycle and the horse.

I'll sure be glad when we can get outside and work so I can quite torturing everyone with the manikin pictures and switch to construction pictures.

Can I please get your opinion?

Paint is on sale this week so I trying to decide what color I want to paint the office and dressing room in the studio. In the pictures below you will see the countertop I have bought to make a desk with the cabinetry/file cabinets below in black. The clock for the wall is also pictured. I have purchased the ceiling hanging light fixture which has a brushed nickle finish as does the door hardware. There will be 2 windows and a full glass door in the office. Whichever color I choose for the walls, I will go the same color in a lighter shade for the ceiling (12 ft). I plan to paint the studio walls and ceiling in pure white. The floors will all be a medium oak laminated wood.

Now I would like your input, which wall color would you pick to go with the desk and accessories? I have narrowed it down to basically 2 colors in 3 shades each. Please help me choose.

Option 1

Option 2
Option 3

Option 4

Option 5

Option 6