Sunday, January 1, 2012

So, it's 2012...

So much has happened in the last couple of weeks, so that's what I'm using as my excuse why I've not written lately. I truly want to get better at this, but I'm rarely confident that people want to hear what I write.
Annnnnywaaaaay...

We had a great holiday season in our household, although it was busybusybusy. Christmas Eve, we spent with Jeff's family and I got a deep fryer, which I am legitimately excited for, and Jeff's sister (who is the BEST) made me flower pins/hair things (sorry Gen, I don't know how else to explain them), but they're stunning. I adore them. I also received a bunch of other wonderful things, but I don't want this to turn into a "people must think I'm awesome because I got some really awesome things this year" post.

Adriana's big gifts from us this year was her Barbie Dream Townhouse and the bunk bed which we have yet to set up. She got a ton of other things too like a lot of Pokemon crap, and a keyboard, and more jewelry than I got (I didn't get any, by the way... ahem). She donated a TON of her things, and still wants to donate more, so I think she's an amazing kid who deserves nice things, and lots of people agree.

Three days later, we moved. I'm still sore. We didn't move far, but we moved up. I'm still very slowly unpacking, and it's going to take us forever.

So then that takes us to New Years Eve. I worked, and then came home and did nothing. I'm quite boring and I'm amazed I made it till after midnight to unfortunately listen to Simple Plan (I thought they were dead) ring in the new year. Oh, Canada, really? Simple friggin' plan? You couldn't find anyone better? My heart/ears cry.

So, Happy New Year anyone who may read this. I genuinely hope you have a fantastic year, because as far as I can gather, everyone's year has been complete shit. On to bigger and better things!

Monday, November 21, 2011

Paint!!

I had stumbled onto a photo/recipe from Easie Peasie on how to make finger paints for kids.
Let me tell you... SO EASY, and fun, and quick, and I'm so excited to give these paints to my daughter, nieces and nephew for christmas this year. I'm giving them all a set of brushes, so the paints don't have to be used as finger paints!
So excited! Hah.
Thanks to you Tiffany!

I thought I'd take some photos of my process and share it with you.

This is the recipe:
3 tsp. Sugar
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/2 cup Corn Starch
2 cups of warm water

You combine the ingredients in a saucepan (I combined the dry ingredients and mixed first), warm until mixture thickens, pull off of heat, and let cool (doesn't take long!) and then add food colouring.
I found that my gel food colouring worked so much better than the liquid. I had to use a lot more of the liquid, and it wasn't nearly as vibrant as the gel.

Here are the pictures of my fun!

Water (ooo! exciting):
Dry Mixture:



Mixing together over heat:



Cooled, right before I add the colour:
Pink: 

Blue (The first wasn't dark enough for my liking, so then I added some purple to darken it):





Red:

Green:

Yellow:

For some reason I didn't get pictures of the red, green, and purple mixed up in my pyrex dish - sorry!

This is my finished product!



The colours aren't as true to life in the pyrex dish as they are in the canning jars.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

I promise- I'm not that kind of weirdo!

You know what??

I wish my beautiful daughter would let me take her photo. Every now and again, she's generous and lets me snap three or four, and then she gets tired of my lens in her way, and puts her hand up to obscure her face, or she pulls the most ridiculous faces (which can make for excellent photos, don't get me wrong).

She's who I take my photos of, and I'm not getting to take as many as I would like. Bummer. Every now and again, and never often enough, we have family gatherings with the grandparents and my beautiful sister in law's family, and I'm lucky enough to take their photos as well.

My point is - I don't get to use my camera enough. I'm still learning, and I'm no where near a pro, but I'd LOVE to branch out. I just have no idea how.

I think I have a better eye when taking pictures of the kids, because they just have fun. Adults are very conscious of how they want to look in that photo and pose. So the moments captured aren't nearly as genuine.

I was trying to figure out how I would go about being able to photograph others who are not my family.

But what am I supposed to do? Post an ad? "HEY!! I am NOT a professional photographer, but I'd LOVE to take photos of your kids!"

What's that? "Oh, Hi Chris Hansen..."

Anyway- If you have any tips, please share.

Monday, October 17, 2011

Annoyd.

Reminicence.

I was uploading pictures to get printed so I can decorate my home with some of my photos, and I came across a video of Adriana when she was about three, and a-freakin-dorable. So I thought I'd share.