Tupperware!!

Well...now I've gone and done it! Yup, I have joined the elite consultants of Tupperware :) I thought I was crazy in the beginning and sometimes I still wonder. But on the other hand, I'm having a blast with it and I get some awesome Tupperware for free! I remember this stuff in my Grandma's house and my mom still has it in hers! This stuff lasts a lot longer then our color schemes. I mean, hello? who has brown, mustard yellow, orange and avocado green in their kitchens still? Well..there are exceptions to every rule I suppose. I was thrilled to find Tupperware in Red, Blue, Green, Yellow and many other bright and cheerful colors. My kitchen is beginning to bust...but I can still cram one more piece in there....somewhere.... I have discovered the Fridge smarts. Let me tell you about these little wonders. I use to throw a lot, and i mean A LOT of veggies away. Since I've bought my Fridge smarts I'm not throwing anything away! These wonders keep my veggies and fruits up to 3 times as long!! I had strawberries for over a week and they were still firm! Now, that just sold em to me. I have found many awesome products with Tupperware. If you want some, I can do that for ya!! I have a Tupperware website where you can order or have online parties. You can also leave a message there for me to contact you. I do local Tupper Parties. Just leave me a note and we can see if your close enough :)

RMSP

WOW! What a weekend! I was able to attend classes by the Rocky Mountain School of Photography in Portland. Wow! I feel as if my head would explode. I have so much info in my head now. I can't wait to get out and shoot some photos. I was able to get in at the last min. I was so sad when I got on the website to only find out that they were sold out. But I called anyways. There was a cancellation! Talk about fate. I met some awesome photographer and got to talk with some amazing teachers. This school is the place to be if you want to learn. I just wish that they were closer to me. Montana is a bit far to attend school. LOL But they do weekends and workshops. I hope to attend one of the workshops one day. I thought that I loved photography before, but now I have a better understanding and love it more. So many questions were answered over the weekend. I had so many light bulbs going off in my head, I swear I could have lit a room! It was money well spent. I came back with the tools to improve my photos. If you ever see them coming to your town or close by and want to grow in photography, go. You wont regret it. I'm actually excited about getting up before dawn to take pictures!! I think I'm crazy now :P

Radial Blur

Hey there!
I am finally back! My pc is working great and can't wait to start working on things again. I took some pics while my pc was in the shop. I started messing around with them. Well, I wanted that radial blur in the background but didn't know how to go about it. So I did some research and come across one that worked. I had to do a few tweeks since this tutorial was for an older Photoshop but i'm happy with the results. I plan to play with it a bit more. I used a quick mask mode, hit "Q" and painted over the area that I didn't want to blur. After my selection...I hit "Q" again and then went up to Filter/blur/radial. I picked how much and tada! I got a radial blur in the background. I use CS3. So if you have a question, I will be happy to do some research for ya! I added the link to the tutorial I tweeked. I hope you have fun with it. I'm sure for all you experienced Photoshoppers...i'm sure this was a bit amusing :P hehe

Crash and Cry

That's it!! I've had it!! Once again...the world of PC's have gotten to me. It's amazing how a pile of metal and fancy green plastic can control your world. You find yourself sitting there staring at the screen. Waiting for the most impersonal mail to load up. Typed letters of chain mail and sales ad's for the local stores. One word...Junk. You find your self surfing the net for no apparent reason. The endless searches and history builds up. Computer is about to bust at the seams. Well....mine did bust. Some how..my pc gave up the ghost and now it's in oblivion. It seems that my operating system has been corrupted. I will be sending it to the pc doc next week for a little tweaking. I really want to just chuck it but unless I can come up with a couple thousand dollars for my new Mac..I'm up a creek without a paddle. So all Ps work has come to a screaming halt and now I find myself on a laptop I'm about to kill! So...any and all donations are welcome :) Here's to the PC world we live in *raises her cup of coffee and salutes it.

Costco Baby!!!

Wow! I just got some amazing news! Remember when I wrote about that photo shoot I did not to long ago. The family with twins? Well.....I just found out that they had their photos developed at Costco. I know....big deal...but it is. You see, they asked them who did their photos cause they thought they were awesome. I know, I know..big deal again, right? Well.....they wanted to use some of the shots for display! Yeah! My photos on the wall at Costco. It's a small feat but it's a big step in a ocean of possibilities. Ever feel like you can never get your foot in the door? I have felt like that most of my life. Nothing ever happens in my life concerning photos. But then...I've only been taking pics seriously for about 8 years or so. I can never remember exactly. The first time I got my hands on a SLR. It was so expensive to practice. My husband wanted to strangle me with the negatives. 7.50 a pop. And well...that first year I filled 10 mini albums that hold 100 photos. You do the math. That may not seem like much to some photographers, but it sure did put a dent in the pocketbook every week. It only got worse....thank goodness we upgraded to a DSLR. Welcome to digital world of photoshop and confusing mechanics. I was overwhelmed with it. I buckled down and learned the basics right quick. I learned on the fly. Snap a couple hundred photos and figure out the Ps stuff later. Before I knew it I had folders bulging at the pixel seams. I glued myself to my chair and fired up the PC. My husband groaned a little...well....actually a lot. But anyways....after many many tutorials and trial and errors, I go the hang of the new CS3. I fell in love all over..sorry Shawn.....I was riveted by the wonderful tools and the amazing filters. The possibilities were endless! And so, here I am today still glued to my Ps and smiling. I've come a long way in a short amount of time. I know I have much more to learn and many amazing photographers to look to. It's a world of color to explore. It's art.

Coffee Conspiracy

Fingers tapping the keyboard.....glance at the empty paper cup of Dutch Bros. It taunts me with it's blue lid and pink straw. Empty....empty.... darn my caffeine craving. I find myself not being able to drive by a Dutch Bro. without stopping. The smiling face of a cute young man, ready to help you with your caffeine indulgence. "Would you like whip cream on top." You find yourself saying "why not!" How could you refuse that college boy. Why is it that it seems that every employee is these little coffee stands are adorable or just simply charming? I think it's a coffee conspiracy. A ploy to get you to stop everyday on your morning commute. Or on the way home from a hectic day of buying diapers and toothpaste. They will get you. And so I find myself a victim of a caffeine sweetened conspiracy.

Dodge? Burn?

Hey everyone!

I was surfing the web one night and came across some great tutorials. I'm always up to learning more about my Photoshop. I learned how to play with these great tools, Dodge and Burn. What fun are these! I played and played with them until I got a photo that I loved. I was so excited about this that I wanted to show you all my results. I highly recommend trying these tools out if you have Ps. What fun!

A Little Recognition

I logged into Etsy today and had a convo. So I opened it and found that a memeber of Etsy put me in her blog! I followed the link and found a great blog. Her treasuries are great and i'm honored to be among one of them. I know that I haven't been very attive on Etsy lately...maybe i'm just looking for inspiration? I hope I find some soon. I have been busy with taking photos of familys and kids. I recently took family pics of a co-worker of my husbands. We went to the part, found some leaves and snapped away. I was a bit nervous cause they have twin 18 month olds. I was expecting a little crying. But the girls were angels, even if I couldn't get them to smile. They sat still and watched me make a fool of myself. I tried several tatics to get them to smile. They seemed to just watch me. I just know they were thinking.."wow, she's really a dork" hehe. Oh well. It was a great experience and I found the whole family to be great to work with. One of these days I will take those girls' pictures again, and I will get them to smile! :P The parents were thrilled with their photos and said that I might become there family photographer. Its one small step towards doing this for a living. One of these days I will have a studio in my backyard. A dream that I wont give up on. I have lots to learn. I hope to intern one day when my kids are in school. I think they will be the big stepping stone. This is something that i've wanted for some time now. And I'm a firm believer that you shouldn't give up on your dreams. Even though there are times that I have. I have had stones set in my path, people telling me I can't do it and those that think i'm crazy. I guess they're not that great of friends if they try to tear my dreams down. So wish me luck! One of these days..........

Starfish

My hubby and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary a couple weekends ago. It was wonderful. He surprised me and took me to the ocean. I didn't know that being lazy was such hard work! I recommend that everyone spend a weekend on the beach. It is so relaxing.

While on our little getaway we spent some time in Cannon Beach. Looking through all the shops, I came upon one with a million seashells! The selection was huge. I zeroed in on the starfish and had to get me some. I wasn't sure what I would do with them. When I got home I grabbed my cameras and went to work. I am really happy with the results. I listed them in my shop. I think these three would make any wall look amazing. It really makes me wish that my bathroom was in nautical.