Search this site:    

Posted on December 26, 2011

Seeing isn’t believing. Believing is seeing. – Judy the elf

Posted on December 23, 2011

Happy Holidays to each and everyone of you. May you be blessed always!

Posted on December 6, 2011

I was recently asked to take a picture of something my family does as a tradition during the holiday season. At first, I thought we didn’t have any traditions but once I stated thinking it through I came up with more than I figured. Here’s the one I chose to photograph:

Orange is definitely not a traditional Christmas color but it is at our house. Every year my children and I pick out an Oklahoma State University ornament to add to our OSU tree. We started out with just a little tree and it’s grown. My husband and I met, dated and got engaged while attending OSU so it’s a little more than tradition….it’s sentimental as well. I hope you are enjoying your own holiday traditions this year. Happy Holidays!

 

Posted on November 26, 2011

Christmas lights twinkle on a snow glistened night,
While Santa checks his list beneath the bright lights.

A few helpful hints for taking Christmas light pictures like this one:

1.  Turn your flash off.

2. Take your camera off automatic. Your camera will be very confused with all the lights. Instead put your camera in manual mode.

3.  Put your camera’s white balance on tungsten so that you’ll avoid really orange pictures.

4.  Use a tripod or sit your camera on something sturdy so that you can use a slow shutter speed. For this shot I use 1/3 or 0.3 of a second. I also used my timer to reduce the shake of me pressing the button.

5. Open up your aperture (low number like F1.8 or whatever your lens will do) For this shot I used F3.2 so that I could get both eyes in focus.

**If I remember correctly, on this shot I changed the focus to manual because my camera was having a hard time focusing on Santa’s face.**

Have fun!

Posted on November 20, 2011

I recently decided to tackle a refinishing project. This buffet was my grandmother’s. It’s been sitting in her storage shed since before I can remember. After she passed away, my dad gave it to me. He knows what a softy I am for old finds. I couldn’t just let it sit there and continue to deteriorate. The termites and water had done enough damage on the thing as it was. I thought it was going to be a BIG project but it ended up being pretty easy.

The wood was good and solid so I decided to just sand it down a little and leave the damage. Why you say? As I was taking out the drawers and taking off the doors, I found fingerprints from past paint jobs,  letters in the wood where someone had practiced their school handwriting and one of my uncles had carved his name in a drawer. I decided to leave all those memories I’d found by just sanding a little and staining the wood. I left everything intact….even the termite damage. I’m so glad I did. I love it SO much. I have a piece of my grandmother and grandfather and a piece of my childhood memories.

Uncleaned and ready for a refinish.

My uncle Donald’s carving and a lot of paint fingerprints.

Sanded just a little and ready for stain.

Ebony stain applied.

After two coats of Deft for protection and shine plus new knobs and hinges, it was all ready to go in the house.

I placed it at the base of my basement stairs and am using it as a gift wrap station/center.

Next Page »