Outtakes

Sometimes life happens when photographing children!

Easter 2012 Photos

Here are some pictures of my various family on Easter Sunday.

And just for fun, here is a photo of my mountain man.  This photo was taken by him on a recent outing to Duke of Kent. He spends all his spare time in frigid temperatures and high altitudes.  Yes, he’s crazy!

Chandelier Canvas Tutorial

I found this great canvas print of a chandelier at Fred Meyer that I just HAD to have for my daughters bedroom!  Only one problem, the picture came in blue or green and I wanted pink.  So I set out to make my own picture that was more in line with the color scheme that I have envisioned for my girls room.

Supplies:

Square Canvas (I want to say it’s like 24X24 but I’m not totally sure)

Pink, White, and Metallic Gold acrylic paint

Chandelier Stencil (found at a local craft store)

Paint Brush and Old Rag

Mix the white and pink to get your desired shade.  If I had it to do over, I would have gone lighter pink, but oh well.

Paint the pink onto the canvas.  Don’t forget the sides!  Let it dry and do a second coat.

Take your rag and paint all around the edges of the canvas.  I went over the sides of the canvas with the gold as well.

Let it dry and then touch up your ragging with some more gold.  Notice the bottom of the canvas needs some touch up.  (I took the photo before I touched it up.)

Place your stencil where you want it and tape it on with some scotch tape or masking tape.   Do not skip this!  The last thing you need is for the stencil to slip while you are painting.

Take your rag and paint over the stencil in kind of a circular motion.  You can let it dry and do another coat, or just dab on the paint really thick.

Remove the stencil and dab some gold smudges around the chandelier.  Let it dry and hang it up. Voila!

I think I’m going to go back and extend the chandelier chain on this.  It just looks like it needs to be longer.  Anyway, it was a fun and easy project.  It cost me about ten dollars versus the thirty dollars for the canvas at the store.  I already had the paint, and I found the canvas awhile back for about five bucks.  The stencil was five dollars as well.

My New Baby

Yesterday I got this.

(Image from Amazon)

I am totally in love!  I have been wanting a Canon Rebel for so long!  I’ve scoured store ads, Amazon, Ebay, and Craigslist for the best deals and badgered my poor husband about “that camera that I really want!”  Oh I am so excited.  Here are a few pictures that I snapped in full auto mode with no editing.  I figure if they look this good already, then I am going to have great fun figuring out what this camera is capable of.

 

The temptation to skip folding my laundry is going to be very great for awhile.  I could just photograph my piles of laundry in artistic ways instead.  After all, it’s for the greater good, preserving the arts and all!

Ice Storm

Here are a few pictures that I took from the recent ice storm that we had.

I thought this leaf looked so neat all encased in ice like that!

This bucket spoke to my sense of needing things to be even on all sides. I love how the icicles are all lined up with pretty much the same length except the corners!

This tree was stunning!  The picture does not do justice to how beautiful it was.  Every branch and twig on it was encased in ice.

Icicles hanging from a chair in the back yard.

Pa Ingalls cooking on the wood stove due to the fact that we had no power for two days. 

In the past five years, we have never lost power for more than about ten minutes.  During this storm, however, we were without lights for about two days.  It was kinda fun, but my girls were really out of sorts!  They aren’t used to going through life without all their electronic gadgets.  I did figure out that it is really easy to cook on my wood stove, and I have continued to do so a few times even though the power has been turned back on.  I figure why not try to save a little energy?  I wonder what the Zero Waste people would think of that?

The House That Crystal Built

Alternately titled: What I’ve been doing for the past three weeks!  My husband has been home from work for the last two weeks so I’ve been spending time with the family and going a million miles an hour.

I wanted to show this gingerbread house that my sister made.  She baked a cake in a loaf pan and created the cutest little gingerbread house out of it.  It was super nifty and really tasty as well!

Mmmmm, I think I’ll have a slice!  :)

We spent a lot of time just doing family stuff that I didn’t take pictures of like shopping, eating at yummy restaurants (Hello Branks!), visiting family, cleaning house.  On Christmas Eve we went to my Grandma’s house for dinner.

Two of my cousins have babies the same age as mine.  In fact, the boy in the middle was born on the same day as my baby at the same hospital.  What a day!  Mine is the one not crying.  Guess those other two didn’t have much Christmas cheer.

My Grandma has this funny way of always planning some sort of a program, so we had to hear poems and play little games and all sorts of things.  My dad played his guitar and sang and that was a big hit with the family.  I’m not sure that very many of them have ever heard him play and sing.

My husband did a really crazy thing and went camping up on Mt. Rainier last week with some friends.  He’s into the whole mountaineering thing and he wanted to get some practice snow camping with his gear.  It dumped about two feet of snow on them, so I guess they got the practice they were looking for.  I was glad to be sitting at home next to my fireplace reading a good book!

He looks pretty happy to be there!  Brrrrrr!

Well 2012 is here now, and I am looking forward to the things that God has in store for my family.  Happy New Year!

Pollo Verde Recipe

This recipe is amazing, folks!  I was sort of at a loss for what to do with all these green chiles that I had, so I just started throwing stuff into my frying pan.  This is what I came up with.  My hubby says it is the best thing he has ever eaten. Hmmmm…..  I think he’s just trying to butter me up so that I’ll let him go on more hiking trips!

4 Green Anaheim Chiles (Finely Chopped)

2 T Minced Garlic

Canola Oil

Flour

Johnny’s Seasoning

Salt

2 Cups Water

1/2 Lime, Freshly Squeezed

5-6 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts, Cooked and Shredded

Cover the bottom of a frying pan or skillet with oil.  Sauté the garlic for a few minutes over a medium high heat, then whisk in some flour (maybe 3-4 tablespoons, I didn’t really measure).  Let that thicken up a bit, stirring constantly, then add the green chiles and water.  You can add more water if you like, I just roughly estimated on the two cups.  Stir in salt, and Johnny’s seasoning to taste. Did I mention that I have met Johnny on several occasions?  He is a director of the bank I used to work for.  Great guy!   Anyway, back on topic!  Squeeze in 1/2 a lime and cook until your sauce is the desired thickness.  Add your cooked, shredded chicken to the sauce and simmer for just a couple minutes more.  Serve as a burrito or over rice.  Top it with Mozzarella cheese.

I apologize for not having a picture of this recipe.  We gobbled it up before I got to snap a photo of it.  Trust me though, it’s good!