Disappearing and Reappearing

While I will not presume that I have any sort of following on the internet, I will cover my bases anyway and excuse my long absence! It's all the usual reasons someone might not get a chance to blog (I started a new labor intensive job after being unemployed for over six months, I moved out of my parents home into a new place, I misplaced my SD card reader, all my free time is spent working on the house, etc.), and even though I missed it blogging, I hardly could scarcely tell how much time had passed! Needless to say, in the past few weeks there have been no arts or crafts or free time of any sort. There HAS however been some cooking and Living and Eating (the cookbook that we have decided to cook through). The new place is also gifted with a good amount of natural light and I got a little snap happy...see the results of my amateur food photography below.

It's been a long month, but I have to say that I feel very blessed that everything has basically gone as well as it has. I do have more things I want to show you but they are still works in progress. In any case, thank you for stopping by!

-A

Experimenting: A Crane Family Easter

Last Sunday, I was invited to an Easter celebration basically for the first time EVER.  It was at my boyfriend's aunt's ranch in Valley Center (which is far, and hot, and kind of remote) and since I knew there was going to be some down time, I brought my camera to keep me company. I did some very quick editing so I could upload the pics and send them to the Mister's family. Later when I had some time to myself, I played around a bit and I thought I would share the results (critiques welcome!).

Here's some fun with the rule of thirds, and saturation.

Playing with action and angles.

Instagram-like fun with toddlers.

And black and white "glamour puppy" shots.

All in all I had a lot of fun before AND after. Can't ask for more than that. Hope you guys had a great Easter too!

-A

DIY Polaroid Frames: A Tutorial

Hi there. After a lengthy hiatus I've decided that I will have a blog that I care for and possibly neglect far less than before. To start off with a bang, I'm posting a tutorial (a real one! with steps! and pictures!). An accidental spring cleaning has left me with a brand new slate, so I hope you will enjoy the digs. Anyway, a tutorial as promised...

Aren't they ....fun? They were super easy (and cheap) to make and I love them. To make your own you will need:

-one sheet of fun foam (or more depending on how many you want to make)

-a sheet or paper or cardstock

-an exacto knife

-a ruler

-a pencil

-a cutting surface

1. Make a stencil using your paper or cardstock. Use these dimensions to draw out a polaroid. Thanks to Mr. Chip for posting his findings.

2. Use an exacto knife to cut out the middle. Don't forget to mark the inside so you remember which way is up or down since the picture part is not an exact square.

3. Line your stencil up a straight side of one of the foam sheets, and use your ruler as a guide to make a strong, straight cut. I chose to measure carefully before cutting without marking the foam because I wanted options as to which side to use. I also just wanted to mark the foam as little as possible. Feel free to make thin pencil marks if you prefer.

4. Continue until you have blocks that look this these.

5. Take your paper middle section and line it up as evenly as possible against the top of a block. I just eyeballed it and it worked fine. Then mark the four corners of the picture part with a pencil. Use those dots to cut the "picture" part out.

6. Lastly, don't toss the cut out block! Save it, cut it into a 1/2 inch strip, and glue it to the backside of the frame. Make sure you only use a thin strip of glue and now you will have a place to slip a photo in.

There you have it! I printed out a couple of photos onto photo paper at home and then just cut to size. Since I wasn't worried about preserving the photos I used a little bit of tape too. The total cost for this project was less than two dollars. The foam sheets were 70 cents each and I already had all the other supplies. This was a quick and fun project and I hope you try it.

-A