Colour my world

And that she does.

A birthday without a cake?

I explained to J earlier in the week that Sunday was Father's Day. In French it translates "Fête des pères". If you add "happy" to the beginning of that same sentence it then translates to "Bonne Fête des pères". All she understood/heard was "bonne and fête". Now she believes it's papa's birthday on Sunday. tee hee!

Sunday morning when she woke, papa was gone golfing. She thought we should make a cake for his birthday. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't convince her that is wasn't papa's birthday but a day to celebrate all the wonderful fathers. At 8 am we headed to the local convenience store to pick up a cake mix. Ummm no, I don't make them from scratch. hee hee! Once the batter was ready we opted to make cupcakes with some pretty Strawberry Shortcake cupcake papers. Once they are frosted she announces she wants sprinkles. Yikes! As you can see, well I didn't have any regular sprinkles on hand and had to compromise. She was thrilled when it was done and could not wait to sink her teeth in one. According to her, they are yummy.

Water balloons, Oh my!

It was really hot here this afternoon. We decided we needed to do something to cool off. A couple of weeks ago grandma purchased a water balloon kit for J. We decided to try it out. She loved it and papa could not fill the balloons quick enough. Here are a couple of pics of J trying to bust a balloon. This balloon did not come with the kit and was much thicker than the others. It was fun watching her play. When she busted a balloon, she would clap her hands and say "I busted a balloon. Good job".

Of course I have a couple of funny pictures that I will share on a future layout. lol!

More camera, more photoshop

If you haven't guessed, I am really loving my camera and photoshop. lol! Just wanted to share some things I have discovered recently.

In this collage, I wanted to show you the benefits of shooting in RAW. Have you ever played with your settings only to discover once you downloaded your pics that you were shooting in Tungsten? Althought, my original pic is not shot in Tungsten, if it had been, I would have been able to change my shooting mode to any one that my camera has with photoshop. Pretty cool, eh?




Here are some edits I have done with photoshop. I have finally discovered how to download some actions and now I just need to master the different layers. I love the effects they produce.

This is the original picture




This is a retro version - my fave




This is a vivid light




and last but not least colour pop

The life

Today J and I were playing on the deck and J asked for her pool and her swimsuit. As you can see it took a whole 2 minutes to fill the pool. lol! It is the best $1.50 I have spent.

Here is a picture I took of her without her knowing. She was munching on goldfish crackers, drinking apple juice, had her feet in the water and was enjoying the summer breeze.

Kicking It

old school...

On Thursday when D picked J up from preschool, he was given a tape. They often come home with little things. I am guessing they were cleaning the storage closet and figured they would give these out.lol! J was so excited when I got home. She couldn't wait to listen to the music. One problem - we haven't had a tape deck in many years. Then I remember my little radion that I have at work. It has a tape deck. Friday I brought it home and we rocked that night. We sang and danced. I even remembered which way the tape went in (to bad my short term memory wasn't as good as my long term).

PS - I had to chuckle when DH suggested we go to Giant Tiger to buy one. Ya, okay, let go. No, they didn't have any...hee hee!

Random thoughts

* We can't decide wether to sell & buy a new home this year or next
* I am so happy with our decision to find a new daycare
* I love that our vehicles are paid for
* I would love to see Fleetwood Mac in concert
* I am proud of DD for knowing 2 languages
* If I could only have one channel, it would be HGTV
* I really love yard sales
* I would love to rent a cottage for a week this summer
* I need to colour my hair
* I really like coloured glass
* Being creative is an outlet for me. I really don't feel the same without it.
* I love my little family more than I could ever describe
* I need to start planning my trip to NY with my sister(s)
* I am really hoping to take 2 weeks off at Christmas time. If I have to
go in for one day, that wouldn't be bad either
* I have an amazing circle of friends who may not always agree with me
but understand me.
* It's okay to agree to disagree
* I really love fall colours
* oatmeal chocolate chip and pumpkin chocolate chip are my favourite cookies
* I love photography but have lots to learn
* I want to someday visit Alaska

Here a couple of things I have discovered when it comes to a 3 year old.
- princess high heels shoes for little one are not a good idea. They are way to noisy and let's not forget about dangerous.
- Beads. I have picked up and stepped on way to many. Better left to daycare centres. PS - I know it was my idea Kim..hee hee!

Altered Frame

I have done a couple of these in the past but I think this is my favourite so far. We are redoing DD's bedroom and I decided to make some more art for her room. I used leftover paper and embellies that I had. I also already owned the frame (it is 20x16) so the project didn't cost me an extra dime. I love when I can find uses for things I already own.

I think DD has the best room in the house. I love the shabby chic feeling it is taking on. I will post some pics when it is all complete.

The picture isn't really clear as I was a little lazy and didn't want to remove the glass..hee hee!

Hope everyone had a great weekend.

In 4 short months...

I will be able to display some of my spooktacular finds that I got at a yard sale this morning. My SIL, J and myself headed out bright and early this morning. We arrived at one yard sale about mid morning and there was a table dedicated to Halloween stuff. Can you imagine a whole table? K and I were like kids in a candy store. For less than $18 combined, we pretty much emptied the table. I love fall and Halloween decor (not the skulls and tombstone kind of decorations) but the gentler kind...hee hee! The lady said we should have been there earlier. In a way I am glad we weren't because I am sure we would have spent all our YS money at the one sale.

PS - I also got one big ticket item but that is for a later post.

In the following picture notice the little arm reaching in for the stir sticks. It's a good thing she is ghoulishly cute.

Photoshop Elements

Is not for the faint at heart that is for sure. I must admit the learning curve is way larger than I could have imagined. I have had it for well over a month and have spent many hours playing with it. I am happy to report that I have finally figured out how to do a couple of little things with it - and I mean little. One of the things I have learned is how to layer the pictures. I am always in awe when I see pictures with sure great colour or as I like to call it "colour pop". These are just a couple of different layers that I have applied to the same picture. I don't have a lot of photos shot in raw format so I am really looking forward to trying it out with a lighter background.

Think you can spot the original photo, let me know.

PS - I am by no means a pro at this and I realize it but hopefully with some practice I will get some great photos.