DIY photo lightbox

I love the DIY websites and I always tell myself that I am eventually going to complete one of the projects that look professional without the professional price. This weekend I scanned the web and nit picked each project to my liking until I found the Monster project called :Photo lightbox and knew that it was the project for me. It was basically taping 5 sheets of foam board together to create a box, buying some shop lights and some daylight bulbs and wha-la my photo lightbox was done. Reletivily simple, but of coarse I didnt actually take photos of the box, just the results that I got.

(Ceramic jar that I made)

Wreck This Journal

This is the most awesome book I have ever seen ... well in regards to journals. I have tried to write in journals, but always find myself getting bored with the process of writing, reading, writing, reading, writing, reading .... but this art journal is in a category of its own ... Wreck This Journal by Keri Smith is so crafty that i bought one and sent it to my friend in Texas. So if you need some inspiration or just want to join in on the fun, then definitely check it out.



Throughout the journal, you find yourself coloring outside the lines, cracking the spine and getting dirty. I just received my book this week ... I only made it to the instructions when i realized the page was screaming at me to color it in.

Lazy dogs

When I got home from work on Monday, my dogs were extremely tired ... they had been at grandma and grandpas for the day visiting with their two other min pin brothers. So as soon as we got home, they chased the cat to the bedroom (a daily ritual) and finally crawled up and passed out on the back of the couch so they could lay in the sun (again another daily ritual) ....



After starring at them for 10mins thinking that they are the most adorable dogs I have ever seen, I decided that i would do some laundry. As soon as I turned the corner with a fresh clean load of hot towels in my arms ... they both opened one eye and watched me put the towels down to fold. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the cat running (belly jiggle and all) toward the coach, and in that split second that I looked away the dogs had found themselves burrowed in the hot towels to sleep.

Art Project 1

I have been a huge fan of mod podge for a while and I recently came across a tutorial for canvas wall art on http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/ The instructions are detailed but I put my own spin on it. I ordered 6 12x12 canvases from dickblick.com and I went to the local craft store and bought mod podge, 12x12 scrap booking paper, acrylic paints and sponge/paint brushes. I also printed out one photo of each of our pets to showcase on the canvas.



It took a while, but I painted the edges and about a half inch of the face of the canvas with the acrylic paints that I had bought. Even though the canvas is 12x12 and the scrap booking paper is 12x12, I knew that they would not match up exactly ... that is why I painted about a half inch in on the face of the canvas. I also had to cut some strands off of the scrapbook paper to make it look right on the canvas.

Next I used the paintbrush and spread a small even amount of mod podge on the face of the canvas ... the scrapbook paper is thin so it will ripple or tear if too much mod podge is applied. The thicker the paper the less likely you will rip, tear or bubble it up. I lined up the scrapbook paper and smooth and rubbed it on the mod podge ... in order to keep it from bubbling up, I turned the canvas over and smoothed it from that side as well and left it until the next day. The hardest part of this project is being able to hang the canvas squares lined up and spaced out evenly. I love the way it turned out ... I is definetly a nice centerpeice for our living room.

The kids

Over the weekend I had a big sister and little brother session. These kids were just awemazing ... so full of energy, laughter and big smiles. They waited patiently while mom directed them on want she wanted and they had extra fun making goofy faces at the camera. Below are some sneak peaks at their session.

Just for Fun

The morning started off gloomy with a definite chance of rain ... but that was not going to stop me from dragging my friends out in the rain for a chance to photograph them. I had some new poses and a new location that I wanted to photograph. So after the initial shock of people gawking to find out who and why I was taking photos ... the sessions started. Melissa, Ryan and I have all been friends for about 4 years and it was so much fun to take photos with them. Melissa and Ryan made it look effortless to stand in some of the poses. Their connection on camera was fantastic. Here are some sneak peaks of their just for fun session :)

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