Sad Story

I now am going to tell you a sad story. Oh, no! Don't get out your tissues, it's not THAT bad. But to me, sad. This week, my Homeschool Mom's group (Chai) went away for a little retreat. It was a chipper day, but we still took a hike and later, a brisk walk. We saw deer on our hike, thought the air smelled cleaner out in the woods, and just talked and laughed for hours on end! Definately something I want to remember! The sad part came when we wanted to get a group picture of the 7 of us. Three of us had cameras, but none of us knew how to set our cameras to take a timed picture. So, I ended up taking this picture of everyone else, and one of the other girls took a picture of 6 of us without her. Sad, sad, sad. Although I sat there and played with my camera for a good while, I just couldn't figure it out. I think I will always regret this. I even have a photo to remind me of my regret. Ug. The thing is, I have had my camera for over a year, but I obviously don't use this feature. Usually, I ask strangers to take a picture of my family, or I take a picture of the 3 of us by holding my arm out and clicking. I knew how to use this feature on my old camera, so I figured it would be easy to do. But I have learned the hard way," Different camera, different way of taking an auto picture!" I plan on spending some time with my camera manual this afternoon.

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It's the little things

Happy Easter! I am very excited about Easter this year, so I even got my little girl a whole Easter outfit! Of course, I had to take her outside on a nice day and get a picture of her from head to toe. I actually don't like this picture much. It looks like a snapshot. This isn't the only way to capture her from head to toe!
This picture is better than the first, because it is closer! Also, since I took this picture in the shade, it isn't just her face that's shaded, and there aren't any weird shadows on her face from her hat. Even the background is better, more green and alive.
I like to remember the details. Her little hands in the too big gloves, clutching that purse she is so happy with. I remember being her age and having a little, white purse for Easter.
She loves this flower on her hat. So much so that she always wants to wear her hat backwards, so that the flower and bow will be in front.
And here are her toes! When I talked about getting her some new shoes to go with her Easter dress, she said that she just wanted to wear her red, sparkly shoes. I really think that they go nicely with her dress, and best of all, it's very J.

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A Border of Pearls

I am always trying to find new ways to decorate my pages. This string of pearls wasn't all that challenging. Here's how to make it. Punch out the beads with a circle punch. Use the wavy trimmer, and cut a very thin strip of paper to string them on. Use a heavier paper, not the thin paper, which will tear if you try to cut it in a tiny strip with the trimmer.
Using the sharp point of one of the blades from my cutting system, I poked one slit in each pearl.

Then I simply strung the pearls on my "thread", and used tape runner on each one to secure it on the page. An observant scrapbooker might have noticed that the pearls curl at the top. This is because I wanted my necklace to look just a bit different than the wavy trimmer pattern, so I cut my silver thread a bit short and just layered the beads to roll off the top of the page. I didn't need the "thread" as the pearls were closer together.

Remember what we are celebrating!

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Easter's on it's way!

Here is a picture from Easter last year. I used the paper that reminded me of basket weave to mat the picture of my daughter checking out all the goodies in her basket. Then I doublematted it using a piece of plain, pink paper. I used the straight trimmer (pictured below) to make a pattern on the paper. I laid the paper on the trimmer, then used my multipurpose tool to rub the paper until the ridges showed through. This just gave it a different texture. It made the pink paper match the plaid paper as well.
What pictures will you be taking of Easter this year? I usually get my daughter's picture taken professionally in her Easter dress. Then one day we have my "nephew" come over and we hunt for plastic eggs in the yard, then dye eggs together, and open resurrection eggs. So, of course I get pictures of all of that! On Easter day itself, it's nice to get pictures at church, especially if your church puts flowers up front like ours does. They make a nice background. I usually don't take a whole lot of pictures on Easter day, but sometimes it's nice to get pictures of the family at the table together. Everyone usually is dressed up a little, and that makes it easier to get pictures, since no one is complaining that they didn't brush their hair, put make-up on, and that sort of thing! I used to try to get pictures of my family out in front of the church, too. it's most important to take pictures of what matters to you. What do you want to remember? Take pictures of that! And when you scrapbook it, remember to journal!

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February Flu

My sick girl last Saturday
She was all curled up in a ball, looking so tiny on the couch, and I was trying to capture my feelings for the moment.
It's so sad when your kids are sick. On this day, She was so tired, and so sick. She just seemed so tiny and frail, and so like a baby. I have pictures of her sick from last February , too. In taking these pictures, I really was trying to capture this from MY point of view. I had been sitting net to her on the couch, in that blank spot, just watching her. When she fell asleep, I snuck to get the camera, and took these shots without the flash, because I didn't want to wake her and knew that the light from the window would be sufficient. I took a shot looking down on her, which I didn't put here, but while it was adorable, it wasn't the view I had wanted to capture. So, I sat back down on my side of the loveseat to take pic #1. #3 was the picture that showed how I felt, to see her there on the loveseat, all balled up, so small. Picture #2 was cute, but it didn't capture these feelings, her smallness.





I'm always trying to become a better photographer. I take a lot of pictures that I never plan to print, now that I have a digital. It can be hard to capture something that you see. When I was on the cruise, I had taken my daughter to a crowded reading of the "Night before Christmas". I had her squeeze through the parents to go sit on the floor with the other kids, but could see that I wasn't going to get close enough to get her picture. I looked up at the ceiling, specifically at the huge glass chandelier, and there was the reflection of what was taking place on the floor! I tried to capture that, but it didn't really work. My point is that I tried. I like to spend waiting time playing with my camera. Learning about it. I tell my daughter that mommies and daddies might not look like they have toys, but we do. My camera is my favorite toy!



Read the blog below, too. It's new.





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Even the bad memories are ours

As you can see from these pictures, we ended up in the hospital after our baby girl was sleeping for 3 days. She was severely dehydrated and needed an IV. Poor little thing!
Her favorite stuffed animal
She always has her little ankles crossed.
It was a loooong day in the hospital. I hated that she was sick, but I loved holding her in my arms again, like I had when she was a baby.

She is doing so much better now, the fluids that day really helped her. I fet weird taking the camera to the hospital. But this is a major event in her young life, and I wanted to document it just like all the good ones. I've done a page in her album about our dog when he died. I don't want her to forget him! If you are documenting life, you need to document it truthfully. All of the good and bad together make you the person you are. The older she gets, the more honest her album will get. Meaning, I used to leave out the bad things that happen on vacation, but someday, she is going to think that vacations as a child were perfect, and that isn't acurate! So, I am evolving in my journalling. Growing myself, even as she grows along side me.

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