My first Photo Shoot!

Ever since I can remember, I've had a fascination with pictures. Its one of the reasons I scrapbook. Ive always wanted to try my hand at photography and until recently never had the chance to give it a serious go. Just this past month I purchased a Canon Rebel SXi and I am in love with that camera! Its my first real 'big- girl' camera and I'm just smitten with it. I've been doing a lot of reading and studying in preparation and this past Sunday I took my first shot (pun intended) at photography.

I was lucky enough to have one of my best friends and her boyfriend be willing to pose for me. I spent most of the afternoon with them and we went everywhere!! In the woods, at a creek, in an open field, on railroad tracks, in overgrown fields... just everywhere. Im quite pleased with a good many of the shots I got and I thought I share some of them here. My long term goal is to actually do photo shoots for engagement pictures, Senior Pics, Maternity, Children's photography, and family sessions. I have a long way to go still, but I think after Sunday's shoot- Im definitely on my way... at least I hope I am!

Introducing: C & B

I think this one is just absolutely sweet. I love how he is kissing the top of her head and the look in her eyes. aww.

This one makes me smile. I cant help it. I think its infectious... how can you look at this picture and not smile?

Im not quite sure what the round metal thing is... I just happened to find it lying by my feet while taking some shots and got the idea to get the following shot. I love how it turned out. quirky.

can we say GORGEOUS??!!!

And if this picture doesnt just scream "Hot-ness", I don't know what does. I can feel this one in my toes.

For these last two I had them sit on the ground in an open field, they got eaten alive by 'skeeters but were such troopers!! The light was amazing by this time and I am so happy I was able to get a few shots off in it. I could have shot for a while longer but by this time we had been out most afternoon.

I can't say enough good things about my two models for the day! They were absolutely fabulous all day long and I just really appreciate the opportunity that they allowed me to practice on them. Thank you B & C!!! You guys were awesome!

Classy and Fabulous!

One of the girls I go to school with had her birthday this past week. I almost always make my friends their presents... very rarely will I actually buy gifts. Birthdays, Christmas, graduations... whatever the occasion may be a handmade giftie is sure to come from me. Well for 'A's birthday I decided to make something Ive never actually tried to do before. Luckily for me it wasn't too hard. :) It's a mini collage that I thought she'd like. It has one of my favorite quotes on it: "A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous!" ~ Coco Chanel.



I really like how it turned out! The background is made out of cardboard... just in case you were wondering. I found the idea off of Ink Stains and thought it was a pretty neat one and just really wanted to try it out. All of the lace is vintage lace (I just ADORE vintage lace) as is the doily behind the flowers. For the flowers I just got some basic white ones and inked them up using Tim Holtz distress inks and then stamped ontop of that to get the effect that I got. This truly was a really simple and fairly fast project to do.

My Favorite Dinner Recipe

Over at Kellys Korner this week's Show us Your Life is all about your favorite dinner recipe. I must admit, before I moved to Mississippi I NEVER cooked. You can ask my dad; he'll tell you that I could burn water, and I could. However, I had to learn in order to survive. Ok well thats not entirely true- we would have survived, it just wouldnt have been very pretty or tasteful. In my three years since moving to MS I've learned a heck of a lot and continue to do so. My hubby is super picky and so usually we're stuck with meat and potatoes... because thats almost all he will eat. Since Im usuallly making sure (to the best of my ability) that Im making something he will eat I forgo a lot of the stuff I would love to make... since I am the only one who would eat it and I dont feel like making dinner twice most nights.

But, since I am currently home with the dog I get to try out the stuff I like and even though most of the time I completely mess it up every now and then I come across something that makes me swoon. Chicken Scallopine is one of those recipes! IT'S A-MA-ZING!!! and so super simple to make. I can make it in about 20-30 minutes. And believe me- if I can make it, anyone can.

I must tell you though- I steal all my recipes. Most of them come from the PioneerWomanCooks.com. That site truly makes life so much easier for me. Ive tried tons of dishes from her site and 9 out of 10 times they come out perfect (the 1 time is usually because Ive messed up somehow). So go check her out... you won't be disapointed. I promise :)

CHICKEN SCALLOPINE

1 pound linguine
6 boneless, skinless, trimmed chicken breasts
Flour
Salt & pepper
2 tbls olive oil
4 tbls butter
12 ounces white mushrooms sliced thin
1 cup dry white wine
1lemon
½ cup heavy cream
1 heaping tbls capers
Chopped fresh parsley
Grated Parmesan Cheese

Cook pasta according to package directions. You want it al dente. Set aside.
Flatten chicken breasts to uniform thickness, salt and pepper both sides then dredge in flour. Heat butter and olive oil in large skillet over medium heat. Fry chicken breasts until golden brown (2-3 minutes per side). Remove to plate and set aside.
Throw mushrooms into pan and stir. Immediately pour in wine and then squeeze the juice of ½ -1 lemon. Stir to deglaze pan, then cook vigorously for 1 minute until sauce reduces.
Reduce heat to low. Pour in cream and stir. Add capers and parsley and stir. Turn off heat. Salt and pepper to taste. Don’t under salt!
Place pasta and chicken on platter and top with sauce. Be generous with the sauce! Sprinkle parmesan cheese over top.

Crimp My Style

I know its been a while. School has been crazy stressful and busy for me and will continue in the same fashion. At least its my last year, I just have to make it through and then I'll be alright.

I do have some exciting news that I wanted to share with whomever happens to read my blog. I have finally convinced my mom to put some of her work up on Etsy. Yay!! She has been selling her work for a few years now just out of her house and to whoever happened to come across it. I really wanted her to be able to put her work out there for a larger audience to see.

My parents raise Alpacas, which are in the same family as Llamas. They're super cute and almost quite huggable. In any case, my mom takes their fiber (fur) and has it spun into yarn. She then uses it to crochet all sorts of things. My mom has been crocheting for as long as I can remember and between her and my nana they taught me how as well. Im just not nearly as good at it as they are. My craftiness shows up in the form of scrapbooking and cake decorating.

I have a scarf that she made for me about a year or so ago and come winter I wear it everyday. The alpaca fiber is extremely soft and I love wearing items made from it. Right now mom's etsy shop is a little bare looking, simply because she just started putting things up on it. Right now she only has scarves up but I do know that she has recently finished a shawl and some fingerless gloves, as well as a bag or two. I expect these items to be put up for sale soon. She does take special orders and can crochet just about anything your little heart desires! Go check out her shop and give it some love!!

Crimp My Style

More wedding goodness!

Last week I participated in the "Show us your life: wedding dress edition" over at Kelly's Korner. Since I had such fun participating last week and seeing hundreds of dresses from other ladies and thought Id join in again this week! This week's the topic is "Show us your life: wedding party and flowers." Yay! More wedding stuff.

There are a lot of little things that made our wedding great. Number one, was that my family was flown out as a surprise to be at our wedding. Let me back up just a little... Im originally from California but moved out to Mississippi to be with my husband (who at the time was my boyfriend) but we chose to have our wedding in Gatlinburg, Tn. I honestly didnt think that my family was going to be able to make it out to our wedding and it broke my heart but I put on a good face anyways. Now, you might think- "we'll how in the world could she get married without here own family there. Who would do such a thing?" What you have to understand is that- either way we went about it, in any destination we chose, someone was going to be unhappy. We could have it in California, but then DH's entire family would have to fly out there; not too mention that it would have been considerably more expensive than we were able to fork over at the time. We could get married here, but then my family would have to travel. In the end we just decided to get married where WE wanted to. Fast forward to the week before the wedding. I was tired, stressed, and to be honest, a little depressed that my parents were not going to be at the wedding. Dh had been at work (I thought) and ended up calling me saying he would have to stay late at work. No biggie. Then at about 9pm he called saying he was on his way home and to get ready, his boss and his wife wanted to take us out to dinner. So I fixed myself up just a bit and off we went to the steakhouse just down the road. We got there and sat down, it just so happened that DHs grandparents were there as well that night (not unusual in our small town) and I didnt think anything of it. I had been sitting there for a couple of minutes when suddenly my mom and dad walked into the room and I nearly fell over. There were tears and hugs and everything else. It turned out that DH's boss and his wife had flown my parents out as a wedding gift to us- and the whole darn town knew about it and never said a word. To this day I still don't know how not a single soul spilled the beans. I cant express what their generosity means to me. Because of them I have my memories of my morning getting ready with my mom and the memories of my dad walking me down the aisle.

Our wedding party was amazing as well. My Matron of Honor was my best friend (on the right), whom I had gone through Army basic training with (and tons more too!). She flew in from Wyoming to share our special day and I will never be able to thank her enough. I was her MOH and she was mine. My other best friend was my other bridesmaid (on the left). She is the one who I see the most (she lives closest) and we never have a bad minute together, she can always make me laugh- I love that about her.

The guys were just as special. DH's best man was his brother (left). The other two groomsmen were his best friend (center) and then my brother (right). I cant thank them enough for everything they did for DH and I leading up to that day. Amazing guys, they are.

I knew I wanted to get married in the fall, I love the fall foliage (probably because it's not something I ever got to see in Ca) so I chose my colors to reflect that. I saw the bouquest somewhere and based everything off of that. The bridesmaids dresses were the same color as the berries in my bouquet. Which, by the way, Im still amazed that the girls dresses matched perfectly. One girl got her dress her in Ms and the other got hers in Utah! I simply gave them the color and told them to get a dress that they wanted to wear. AH-MA-ZING!
The chapel where we were married. Too cute, I think.Hubby and I :)The whole party.
One more of me.
We got married at Bluff Mountain Inn and had the best time there. Everyone was wonderful and took care of everything for me, it was all included. I didnt have to worry about a thing and I cant tell you how nice that was. I still get compliments on our wedding. Rick, Rhonda, Amanda, and everyone made every effort to make sure that nothing was lacking. Simply amazing!!

*Photos courtesy of RIK Photography*

Thanks for looking! Have a wonderful day!

You gotta have Faith

Another friend celebrated a birthday. So I chose to make her a gift. :) I love making things for my friends. It not only makes their day, it makes mine too!

These are very similar to the L-O-V-E that I made recently.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful day!!

Blog surfing and my wedding dress.

Since DH is away I find that I have a lot of time on my hands (well at least until fall semseter starts up) and one way I fill that time void is by blog surfing. While blog surfing may not be the BEST use of my time I do find it to be beneficial to me. I surf for new and exciting scrapbooking/altering techniques. I surf for new recipes to try out while there is no one home to make funny faces at my culinary attempts. I surf for tips on photography. However, there are times when I just surf. One blog to another. Reading about lives from all over the world. Some very different than mine, and some not so different. I find fun things and things to learn and grow from, inspiring reads, and heartwrenching tales. So today, in honor of my blog surfing I'm going to share three of my finds from today. Two of them are truly heart tearing, gut wrentching, and hope inspiring blogs. And the other one, well to be honest, I'm sharing it because what girl doesn't like a peak into another's life; especially on their wedding day?



First up: Kelly's Korner. I found this site quite by accident- as usual and I found that every week she does a post about sharing your life. This week's topic is 'Show Us Your Wedding Dress'. How fun is that? Everyone wants to share pictures from their day and I'm no exception. So without further ado, my dress:


I loved (and still do) my dress. It was the perfect dress for me. We got married November 8, 2008 in Gatlinburg, Tn. It was perfect and more than I could have ever dreamed of. As for my dress; because I had moved from California to Mississippi none of my family was around to help me shop. My mom and grandma were back home and my best friend lived in Wyoming at the time so I went shopping by myself; and it was the best thing I could have done. I knew what my budget was (under $600) and knew where I was getting my dress from (Davids Bridal) so I did research online and got one of their catalogs. I poured over it for about a month before even going in to try on dresses and circled the ones I liked. Then when I walked in for my appointment and the sales lady asked what I was looking for, I simply flipped open the book and showed her the six dresses I had marked. She brought out the ones I had marked and this one was the very first dress I tried on.
I tried on the rest I had marked but none compared to this one for me. I felt beautiful in it.

I cant wiat for next week, I believe it's on sharing your wedding flowers! :)




Moving forward onto the other blogs I wanted to share with you today.

This next one I read for quite a while and just sobbed and sobbed. Its the blog of Heather Spohr; The Spohrs Are Multiplying. She and her husband Mike lost their daughter Maddie just this past April without any warning at all. I wish there were words that I could say or something I could do to ease some of their pain that I can feel through her writing, but I am at a loss. I was and am deeply moved and touched by their story and the continuing struggle in dealing with their loss; but even more moved by their bravery to share some of what they are going through.


And last but not least, this is another blog that I just couldnt stop reading. This one made me cry too, but it also put me in awe of the author's strength and spirit. The Nie Nie Dialogues is the blog of Stephanie Nielson. What was once a blog about her everyday life has turned into much more than that, I think. Last August Stephanie and her husband were in a near fatal plane crash. Both had and still have a long road of recovery and this is their story. Again, I couldnt imagine. I know (from her writing) Stephanie is a beautiful and strong woman. No matter how differently she may look since her accident, her beauty shines through. I can only hope that if I should ever have to endure such tragedy that I will be able to move forward with half the grace that she has.



So I realize that these last two blogs are pretty heavy and will, in all honesty, probably make you cry. Pretty heavy stuff to follow a wedding dress post. But I suppose thats the beauty, isnt it? All three sites are simply about life. That maybe be a broad generalization but I think it works. While there is much happiness there is also the saddness, but also much strength and perserverance. I thank each author for letting me gain a peak into your lives and the lives of others so that I may learn from you. Thank you.

Its been a while...

So I've been MIA for a while now. Honestly, it wasnt because I was busy or anything, I simply didnt have much to blog about. I lead a fairly boring life... well for right now anyways... but I dont mind it. I havent even scrapped or crafted in a while.. just havent been in the mood for about a week or so now. No need to worry though, Im crafting right now. :)

Since I havent posted in a while and dont have any new projects to post about (yet) I thought Id make a post about my day job. Thats right cake decorating. When I'm not at school or at home doing homework and projects Im usually at work making a mess and playing in icing. It's not a bad gig. I do enjoy it. Since I work in a grocery store bakery I do have some limitations. For instance, no fondant... it still upsets me. I want so badly to play with fondant and see what I could come up with. Alas, buttercream is my weapon of choice. We decorate your basic everyday, boring birthday cakes, but I also do some special requests, and my favorite: wedding cakes. I figured Id share some of my decorated cakes. I have lots more on my external hard drive and at some point I'll post those pictures as well.

So first up is this orange and yellow one. Im still not pleased with how it came out but the bride was happy, so I suppose thats all that matters. This pink and blue one was done for a bride and groom who were going to the county courthouse because they could not afford a "traditional" wedding party. The grooms sister couldnt afford to get a extravagante wedding cake but still wanted to surprise them with a special cake.This three tier white beauty was for an actual wedding and gave me nightmares. I had the darndest time making this one. It looks fairly simple and straight forward but I was at the store almost all night finishing this beast up. The mother of the bride actually picked up the cake and then drove it 2 hours away-hence part of the reason it gave me such trouble. I had to make sure that it was structurally sound and would make the drive in one piece. It did. The family came back in with nothing but rave reviews for it. I loved making this little beauty! It was for a little girls christening.I just loved how gurly and cute it was.This blue and white one was actually a display cake that I made. Meaning that the inside was styrofoam but the icing and decoartions on the outside were real. This was my very first attempt at a wedding cake and Im quite proud of how it came out. It wasnt perfesct but it was decent and fairly respectable, if I do say so myself.

This next adorable cake was a special one for me. Its a baby shower cake that I made for my husbands cousins wife. I was particularly pleased with how it turned out. Its a design that I have seen on other cakes before but regardless, I was proud of myself. Note- I cannot draw to save my life, and somehow this one turned out alright, hell- more than alright!The itsy-bitsy-teenie-weeny- yellow- polka-dotted-bikini. This one was for a friends fathers birthday. I carved the shape out of cake and then used cupcakes to help form the top. Shes a little splotchy, I didnt have time to let her dry as long as I would have liked before airbrushing. Overall I am happy with how she turned out. The best part- according to my friend her father was super surprised and loved the cake!This final cake is my current favorite. Its also another display wedding cake, but I also think its my best work yet. I did repetitive detail work and tried my best to keep a steady hand. The gardenias are gum paste and then I airbrushed them to look more life like. This is the cake that is currently on display in the grocery store.

Ill be sure and post more soon. I have some pretty nifty birthday cakes that I would like to share as well. Maybe next time. Have a wonderful day!! Thanks for stopping by.

The Fourth, Cooking, and A New Layout

Wow! I cant believe its already July! This year is flying by... I hope it keeps it up, I need next June to come soon!! Anyways, sorry for the absence in between my last post and this one, Its been a busy week with school starting back up. I had to get myself back into the groove.

This past Saturday was the Fourth of July and I hope everyone had a great day! My day was filled with working and not much else, but thats ok. Sunday was a good day simply because I made myself chicken scallopine. It was amazing, and super easy to make. Ill be making it again in the near future. Luckily for me I had a great recipe to follow. Its one of many that I have tried from this blog. Ree over at the PioneerWoman.com always has some crazy good recipes. As my dad has said- I could burn water and yet with Ree's recipes and wonderful photography skills even I can cook up a feast fit for a king!

Now for my newest layout. It's done using the same 'Love' kit as the Smooch layout from my previous post. Its amazing how one kit can yield two completely different looks. I love the versatility of Laura's kits. Not only are they pretty to look at and hoard, they offer a wide variety of choices. Can we say "Bang for the buck?"! I love the vintage vibe that Im getting from this LO- Ive been totally into the vintage look for a while now but have a hard time translating that over to my scrapping. Im traditionally a much more "clean" scrapper. Although I do feel that even though this LO has a vintage feel you can also see some of my clean lines come through; which is pretty awesome.

This layout is also for the monthly sketch over at Inspired Blueprints. Its sketch #25. Go check them out. Now.

For the title "Glow" I used weathered wood Crackle Paint from Tim Holtz and allowed it to dry, then I used the pearl paint daubber and dabbed that over each letter. After a couple of seconds I took a damp (clean) makeup sponge and used it to work the pearl into the cracks and then to also wipe away the excess paint. I love how they came out... such a nifty sheen to them. All the flowers are Prima. and the lace is really vintage lace that I acquired from DH's grandmother. She's got more vintage lace than I could shake a stick at- Its great!! The pearls were then glued to the lace before attching the whole thing to the LO.

The pictures in the layout are from our wedding day last November. DH and I went up to Gatlinburg, Tn to Bluff Mountain Inn for our wedding, and it was everything I wanted and more. I was so pleased with our photographers. Rick and Amanda did amazing work and Im sure Ill be posting more pictures in the future. Go check out some of Rick's work- some gorgeous stuff.