The Craft Machine Keeps on Whirring....

After my proclamation of taking a break I decided to hit the sewing machine again (no surprise here). It's like crack, I tell you! If a loaded sewing machine and pretty fabric are within arm's length, I just. can't. help. MYSELF!

So back to the project at hand: Our back door has always bothered me because it has a HUGE window pane and I always feel very exposed at night--especially if my man is gone and I'm home alone. As you can see, any ol' bad guy could just come up to the window and see what I'm doing here.

BOOOORING

So after seeing this post from Thrifty Decor Chick and realizing that I can use MAGNETIC RODS to hang a window covering on a metal external door, my whole life changed....magnetic rods...oh my word! I didn't even know such a thing existed!

After this epiphany I finally had the courage to proceed with my whole master plan for the breakfast room....

BEFORE

AFTER

"PINCH PLEAT WINDOW VALANCES!!!", she exclaimed madly

Don't be afraid of pinch pleat! This was so easy! So these are just long rectangular panels. A little measuring involved to make sure your final length (after you fold up your pleats) comes out right. I sewed on some black grosgrain ribbon as a trim. Here is a view of the pleat from the front. (Obviously, not a professinal job here but good enough for li'l ol' me)

 Here is a view from the back. Once I pinched up the folds I did a quick stitch to hold them together.

Then I put those drapery hooks in the top and hung them on cheapy aluminum window valance rods. (You can see the type of rod in the picture above next to the one completed valance) Since the window valance hangs on the rod with the hooks you don't even see the rod. This seemed more economical than buying 4 nice rods for each window. I like how clean it looks.

Camila's Room

So here's the other reason December/early January has had me a teeny bit busy

Camila's room!

Here's the story:

The little girl who lives down the street has a full time nannny named Mary. Mary and I have developed a special friendship over the past 2 years. We share impromptu playdates sometimes when it's rainy or cold outside or if her and Gabriella happen to be walking by our house.

(Side note: You'll remember Gabriella was the recipient of the famed Nap Mat Project.)

Mary is close to my age and we have lots of things to talk about. She has always loved Anna's room and asked me if I would help her decorate her nursery when it came time for her to have a baby. Well, she is expecting a little baby girl at the end of the month and several months ago she commissioned me to make some crib bumpers, crib skirt, window curtains, basket liners, and a few other small crafty things for the nursery. I also helped pick out the paint color which is a nice muted, soft green. It's hard to tell in the pictures but it looks very sweet and light and girly.
I was excited to help and have finally finished it and went to her house to put everything in place.

I went out on a limb and tried this applique letter on the minky cream fabric. My first time to do it and I'm glad I didn't screw it up. I'm going to have to applique more things now! Seriously, the night I did this I actually couldn't sleep. My mind was so revved up thinking about all the things I could possibly applique...onesies, lampshades, pillows, OH MY! That's how sick I am! SICK, I tell ya!

She brought me a hand-me-down lamp whose base was speckled blue and had a weird lace-ish lampshade. I spray painted that sucker, slapped some of our leftover pink and white dot fabric to cover the shade, and added some fuzzy trim for some extra razzle dazzle and we have a whole new lamp! (that matches our scheme, thank you )

Bought these letters at the HobLob--50% off--holla! Spray painted and added the ivory dots to match the fabric on the crib bedding. This was my gift to Mary at her baby shower. She had wanted some letters for the baby room but we hadn't really pursued anything because I had this idea in mind....

The last minute project I did for Anna actually turned out to be a hit with several people who have asked me to make them for their girls...

Not sure why this picture keeps coming in sideways but it's a bow holder...

Phew! As quickly as I went into business I am retiring....at least until the kids are in school and I have waaaayyyy more time to devote to projects like this. Since I can only work during nap times (when they coincide) and in the evenings it has taken me fooorrrrevah to get this thing done.

But the most thanks goes to my amazing man who is very supportive of my crazy crafting hours. He corrals the kids and fends for himself when it's dinner time and I've completely neglected my family because I'm so into the work that I forget there's people that might need to eat a meal even if I'm blazing through. This project gave me a great appreciation for all those stay at home moms who, on top of their home-managing duties, manage to have a business selling hand-made goods on etsy or ebay or just moms who work anywhere really. Managing the house and kids is a full time job in itself and doing that and another job is super-hero status.

OK, excuse me while I go sit on the couch and EXHALE.......

Everyone's Talking Photography!

OK...just to piggy back on yesterday's post...one of my other fave bloggers, Centsational Girl, posted today about photos and blogging...

Our minds must've been in the exact same place this weekend. She has some good tips about uploading pictures. I'll have to check out Windows Live Writer because I, too, despise uploading pictures to Blogger. Don't even get me started. I'm thrilled to know there's another way.

Check CG out if yesterday's post didn't send you into a coma. She also has a disdain for flash that I forgot to mention also. I use it only in extreme circumstances--John's school program was one of those "extreme" circumstances. Natural light is my friend. And she is also a big fan of PW...but who isn't? The woman is amazing.

This should prove that it's really not me...it's the camera....and a little photo editing to thank for purty pictures.

And whoever posted yesterday that came through as High Altitude will you please let me know who you are?! So curious and you should join us when we do the LL class :)

This Is It

This post may bore some...uh....most of you so you have my permission to breeze past it but I've had a lot of questions asking me about the DSLR camera that I got for Christmas (early). I've been through quite an exhaustive research process since August including rentals, trying out different lenses, and asking friends who are photography-literate for advice.

I am by no means an authority but I'll just tell you that I ended up with the Nikon D90. I went with Nikon because that's what I had rented from our friend, Brad. Most people I know have Canons but I went with Nikon because that's what I was familiar with and I didn't want to re-learn another camera. And because I'm not a Rebel (get it? that was a weird joke). Most people have told me that the two brands are pretty much equals in the DSLR world.

I bought the 18-105mm lens that comes with the camera even though I didn't necessarily want to use this as my primary lens but for the cost of the two together it was a good buy. And this lens will be very useful for travel or vacations.

However, I knew that lens wasn't going to give me the pictures I wanted to get of my kids in indoor settings (which is mostly what I am shooting these days). So I bought a Nikkor 35mm f1.8 lens. This is THE lens (for me). I know there are better/faster/more expensive lenses out there but for my purposes this one is great. You can read Kenny Rock's review here for the lens and here for the camera. This is my new virtual photography friend. I read his website before buying anything to see what he says. Not sure why I deemed him the authority but in my little mind he is The Camera Sensei.

Without boring you with technical jargon this lens takes clear pictures in low light. It's fantabulous and it is the only lens I've been using on my camera since I got it. The only thing is that it doesn't zoom in or out but that isn't really an issue. You "zoom with your feet" as the pros would say. Or I can crop a picture closer up in Photoshop.

Which brings me to another issue. Many people have commented on how "great" my pictures are. Weeeeeelllllll, I do cheat a teeny weeny bit. I usually mess with the pictures a bit in Photoshop Elements to make a good picture a better picture. I pick up little tricks and tidbits from one of my fave blogs....The Pioneer Woman...love her. She is like a 21st century renaissance woman. On a side note: One day I somehow got caught up in the novela-esque blog post series that is her love story, Black Heels to Tractor Wheels, of how she met her husband....wow....3 hours later I had not even read through half of it and never did finish it. Phew! Good luck to any of you that start reading it because it is written so well that you just get hooked and want to keep reading and I'm sure you have other things to do with those 3 hours like I did! Anyways, I digress....

The last step on this photography journey is taking a Leisure Learning class sometime soon to really unleash the power of my camera because I know I'm not using it to it's full potential so after that class maybe I'll have more to say? Hope that helps anyone who is in the market for a DSLR!