A Very Vintage Christmas {houston texas portrait photographer}

Just for funsies, here’s a selection of some of the vintage-ized images from the shoot with my nieces. Having the old-fashioned sled and the fun present boxes made for a great set – now if only we could have had some snow! I guess that’s too much to ask for in Houston. ;)

An angel? Me? Oh, my. {The Homespun Life – Embroidery}

I’m a bit late in telling you fun folks about this, but I’ve been doing a bit of guest posting of late, over at The Split Stitch. Sweet Sara, who stitches up all manner of glorious things as well as designing some downright adorable patterns, sent out a call for help a while back. She was having trouble finding the time to stitch up samples of all her new pattern sets, and was offering the sets for free to any kind soul willing to help her out.

You better bet I volunteered! I love Sara’s pattern sets, to begin with. And lately (as you may have noticed from the dearth of posts here), I’ve had less and less time for my own creative pursuits. I’d love to be stitching, but drawing up designs is something I just don’t have the time for at the moment. Sara’s situation gave me the perfect chance to get that needle and floss back out with some ready-made patterns. Score!

Anywho, myself and several others are participating in this fun event. Sara’s calling it “Stitching Angels”, and the intro post went up on her blog a few weeks ago. The progress update will be going up in a few days, but I thought I’d give you guys a sneak peek. Check out The Split Stitch tomorrow afternoon to join the fun!

Love the One You’re With: {The Homespun Life – Small Business Blog}

I don’t know about you, but I often find myself feeling depressed and cynical about the limits of internet communication.

For example, just this morning I was enjoying my (second) cup of coffee while perusing one of my absolute favorite blogs – The Pioneer Woman. Ree is an absolute delight, and I can’t help but love her despite the fact that she helps run a ranch, has a cooking show, writes an amazing blog, home schools her kids AND manages to look completely fabulous in every photo all the same time. I really think, as I read her warm and personable posts, that we’d be great friends if we ever met, and I often find myself wanting to leave a comment or two.

But I never do.

Origami: I made an Origami mobile and now I totally get why babies are so mesmerized by those things.

Seriously. They’re hypnotizing! I laid down on the floor underneath the one I’d made in order to snap a few photos, and I think I ended up being stuck down there for an hour.

Here’s what happened: Some good friends of mine (who happen to have a great foodie blog of their own, by the way) are expecting a new addition to their family in a few weeks, so the hubby and I decided to throw them a baby shower.

Well, more accurately, I decided to throw them a baby shower and the hubby suddenly found a lot of new items on his to-do list.

An Authentic Mess

This morning, browsing through my daily blog feeds, I came across this nugget of advice from Seth Godin:

If you’re not getting paid what you’re worth, there are only two possible reasons:
1. People don’t know what you’re worth, or
2. You’re not (currently) worth as much as you believe

The first situation can’t happen unless you permit it to. If you’re undervalued, then you have a communication problem, one that you can solve by telling accurate stories that resonate.

Entrelac: Am I Crazy?

In the past few weeks, I’ve taken on a bit of a challenge. Well, at least, I’ve taken on what I originally thought was a bit of a challenge. I decided to take the plunge and tackle the Entrelac technique. I found some instructions online, bought a great, helpful book, and knitted up a few swatches until I felt I had the hang of it. However, when I presented my project to my friend Amy, also known as the owner of the lovely Red Purl Knit Shop, and she asked me to teach a class on the technique because she’s not familiar with it, my confidence took a bit of a drop.

Had I bitten off more than I could chew?

Better World Books

What if, every time you purchased a book online, your money was benefiting local libraries and helping them raise the funds necessary to keep their doors open during the recession?

What if, every time you purchased a book online, your money was directly contributing to literacy programs worldwide, helping people learn to read and write and prepare themselves for better jobs and better lives?

What if, every time you purchased a book online, you were helping keep trash out of landfills and contributing to the ongoing effort to reuse and recycle paper materials in order to avoid deforestation?

What if all of this was true, and you weren’t spending any more than you already are? What if you were actually saving money by doing all of this?

A Farewell to Winter

Yesterday, the temperature slipped above 32 degrees for the first time in months. It stayed there all throughout the night. Today, it hit a glorious, sunny, windows-down-and-music-blaring 37, and I could not have been happier. Seriously. I was doing an all-out car dance to the new Strokes single and I didn’t even care that the old lady in the car next to me was getting annoyed.

But that was today. Yesterday, as the signs of the thaw first began to show, I was anything but happy. I found myself unready to let go of the cozy familiarity of winter, surprisingly sorry to see it go.

Photography Book Review: The A-Z of Creative Photography

Recently, while browsing the Art section of Book People in Austin, TX, I came across the perfect Christmas gift for a good friend of mine. She’s a budding photographer, and I was hoping to find some sort of book that might provide inspiration for her artistic endeavors. What I found was something much, much better. So much better, in fact, that I ended up buying a second copy for myself.

What I found was Lee Frost‘s The A-Z of Creative Photography.

Metal Clay: Firing – What the Heck is a Sinter?

I can’t even begin to count the number of times I encounter a new metal clay artist struggling with the concept of firing. It’s not surprising, considering that almost every formula of metal clay lists a different firing schedule. The most recent formulas even promise results via torch firing, which is fantastic, but  adds greatly to the chaos. 1290 for 10 minutes? 1110 for 30? Which one is right?

The problem is that to be able to choose the right firing schedule you have to understand the concept of sintering, and unfortunately most metal clay books and classes fail to mention it.