Fall Craft Show

I've been meaning to post these pictures for awhile. The Mini Bazaar actually started its fall show last week, so we are already into the second week of a 6 week show. I thought I better quit putting off posting these pictures. Here is what has been keeping me busy for the last month.

whoops, I didn't realize until I uploaded this picture that the H had been turned funny. Oh well you get the idea.

I thought these would make good baptism gifts. They are cuter than they look in the picture, they have a glass like overlay on the front, kind of like those cute necklaces you see everywhere.

Same thing with these. They also have that glass like overlay on them.

I took some pictures of the Idaho Falls and Salt Lake City Temples and mounted them with a finish that looks like an oil painting. You can't really see it in these pictures, but they turned out really nice. I think I am going to apply the same affect on my next set of family photos. Not only does it make them look better it also protects them as well.

These have been my big sellers. Only a week and I am almost sold out. I applied the same coating as my temple pictures and they turned out better that I even expected. I did quite a few different sayings but only pictured a few.

These turned out fun. I had a lot of fun working with photoshop on these. It allowed me to do some fun lettering with more detail than I can get with vinyl lettering.

Another version. I've got this one hanging on my mantel.

In addition I also did a bunch of flowers for your hair as well as some cute headbands. I didn't take any pictures. But an example is the one on Nancy's baby Chloe's head. I mostly did them for older kids and grown ups but am working on doing an adjustable headband for babies.

A few more things we did this summer...

Here are a few pictures I have been meaning to post. Shaun has had to work just about every Saturday this summer, so it has been a pretty uneventful summer. We have managed to do a few fun things.

First the Moultons came for a visit from North Carolina. Audrey and her kids came to spend a couple nights at our house. The girls had so much fun playing with their friends again. Audrey and I had fun digital scrapbooking and catching up. We will miss them, Audrey is pregnant so it will probably be a whole year before we get to see them again.

Everyone taking a break from playing. From left to right, Brianne, Sydnie, Isabelle, Micheal, Maddy, Kaylee, and Lu Lu.

Sydnie and Micheal taking a much needed bath. I took this picture to embarrass them with someday.

A few weekends ago, Shaun finally had a Saturday off, so we went up to Strawberry Reservoir to go cray fishing. We had a lot of fun. Their were so many Cray fish you didn't even need a pole, you could just scoop them up in bags and nets. Shaun even managed to help each of the girls catch a fish.

Kaylee and Brianne holding a sample of our catch, the rest are in the cooler.

Sydnie reeling in her fish, she got it to shore but it got away before I could get a picture of it. It was just a little guy.

Brianne holding her catch.

Kaylee reeled in the biggest fish of the day, but not quite big enough to keep. Darn it! My girls love fish, but I hate them, especially trout.

Finally, this weekend Shaun had to work, so I took the girls on an outing to the Salt Lake Temple. I wanted to take some pictures for my craft show. The girls had fun playing in the water fountains while I took pictures. Then we went to the visitor centers. The old tabernacle was open too. I haven't been in there since they reopened it it was cool to see the old organ again.

This is my girls favorite part of the visitors center. Kaylee says its just like walking up to Heaven.

Here are the pictures I took for my next craft show. I am going to develop them and mount them on wood. I think they turned out pretty cool looking, I'm having trouble picking which one to use. Maybe I will do a few of each.

Create Your own Blogger Backgrounds

So, if any of you have been looking at my blog in the last couple hours you probably noticed, I have been messing around with my background. Well, it took more than a few tries but I finally managed to create my own background!!!! It wasn't quite as simple as I thought, but if you are not afraid to mess around a little bit, it definitely is do able. The best help I found was on http://thecutestblogontheblock.com/ look under blogging secrets, p.s. I also figured out how to change my font there too. However, the dimensions they give for Photoshop were a bit off, so you might have to mess around with that. I found better dimensions on a you tube video, but still had to play around a bit. So if you are ready to try, two things you absolutely need are: Photoshop Elements, and a free account on Photobucket. It is also helpful if you already have some free digital scrapbooking backgrounds and embellishments. I have given the link to the ones I like the best in the past, but I will give it again in case you are interested http://shabbyprincess.com/, and here are two new ones I found: I am super excited about this one http://summertimedesigns.blogspot.com/ and here is another that looks like you could find some good stuff, but it would take a little more searching http://digiscrapdepot.com/ . Anyway good luck and let me know if you need anymore info, I am always looking for people who are willing to listen to me talk about digital scrapbooking without getting that glazed over look in their eyes.

Fun with Photo Shop Elements

When I was in Idaho this weekend my friend asked me to take some photo's of her new baby. We also took pictures of her two boys. I'm only a novice picture taker, with a nice camera. I like all the practice I can get. It seems like the more pictures you take, the more you learn about what works and what doesn't. I mostly learn what doesn't. Luckily even though I've got a lot to learn about taking pictures, I am getting pretty good at Photo Shop, so even mediocre pictures turn out pretty good once they are edited. I thought it would be fun to show you a few before and afters of my photo shoot.

The Before:

The After:

So, mostly I just cropped this one closer and removed the background color, then make the background darker.

The Before:

The After:

Can you believe this is the same picture? Same thing as before: I cropped this a ton, then I used the cloning tool to get rid of any brown in the background. And finally I used Gaussian blur to get rid of the texture in the black shirt and smooth everything out.

The Before:

The After:

This one didn't require a lot of editing: But two things that editing really helped with. First, cropping fixed the off center problem, and second I wanted to point out another cool feature of photo shop: skin tone correction. I use it in all my photo editing, see how much better the skin tone looks in the after pictures. Such a small thing makes such a big difference.

The Before's:

The Afters:

I was really excited about the editing technique I learned in these to pictures. We didn't want the chair red because it didn't really match the boys clothes. So I was just going to remove the color from the chair and make it a grey color. But I started playing around and decided to use the blue from their sweaters to color the chair. Some of these tools are just like magic.

Temple Pictures

I drove by the temple on my way to check on my crafts and decided to take some photo's so I could play with the editing. I've wanted a good one of the Idaho Falls temple to hang on my wall.

The before:

The After:

Okay I showed this technique a couple weeks ago but its a good one, you really should try it.So I cropped it then remove a couple cars. Then I applied the Old Photo affect and added the writing on the bottom.

Wall Decor Ideas

I have this spot above my bed that I have had a really hard time finding something that I think will fit there. I saw some framed photos at Ikea that I liked, but I just couldn't spend the $50 bucks they wanted for it. I'm a do it yourself kind of girl, so I decided to go out today and just take a few snapshots of some landscape near my house and see what I could come up with. The photos themselves weren't anything special, but I found this really cool editing technique on Photoshop Elements that I thought I would share. It is so easy and it makes just an ordinary picture of a tree seem special.

So this what you do: Open your picture in Photoshop editor(by the way if you don't have a photo editing program and are looking for one Adobe Photoshop is definitely the way to go), then in the photo effects section find the old photo icon and drag and drop it onto your photo. You can stop there, but in the photos below I also dragged and dropped the Sepia tint on it as well, because it matches my room. You can get a 16 x20 print at Costco for around $5. Of course you also have to have it framed, I plan on keeping my eyes open for one at Ross or I might just make my own frame, (I know how I just don't want to). Costco is now printing photos onto canvas, so you wouldn't need a frame but it is pretty pricey, but I think it is a great option for family photos because it has a cleanable finish on it. I plan on getting our next set of family photos printed this way.

Here are a few of the photos I took today:

This tree was just in the parking lot of the place I went to take photo's. Who knew it would be one of my favorites.

Spring Show

I made the long drive to Idaho by myself to set up for my Spring Show. Both Nancy and my mom were gone, so Shaun decided it would be easier to babysit at home than in Utah. So I just drove down in the morning, set up, then drove back home, all in one day. I moved to a smaller booth, so I had a little more to do than usual. I had some new shelves to hang, and the big shelve I made to put in. Everything fit fine and looked good, and what a relief to have this checked off my to do list.


My new booth at the show, I told Nancy I would post this picture so she would have an idea of what it is suppose to look like when she comes to clean up for me. Thanks Nancy.



Here is a semi new item. I discovered some new chalk board vinyl and it has been fun figuring out ways to use it. This is a chalk board and a magnet board.


Another use for the chalkboard Vinyl. These cute clip boards can go on a refrigerator or a wall.


Mini initial blocks, the smaller size is a little more manageable.


My eggs were popular last year so I did them again and the candles are on a block that says "spring has sprung."


I got a little crazy with flower hair clips. I made some cute vintage look flowers, crochet flowers, frayed flowers and some really unique zipper flowers. I am excited to see how they do.

Saying Goodbye
We have a sad day tomorrow. We have to say goodbye to our good friends the Moulton's. They are moving to North Carolina and we have to say goodbye to them tomorrow. Each of us are loosing a good friend, Kaylee and Maddy were best friends from almost the moment we moved in, and Isabelle and Brianne are practically like sisters. They have been friends since they were two, even before the time they can probably remember. And Audrey has been one of the best friends and neighbors I have ever had. Even Sydnie will miss her little buddy Micheal. Needless to say it will be a hard transition for our family. We wish them luck in North Carolina, but not too much because we still have are hopes on them coming back in a few years.


I got to finally use my digital scrap booking on a going away present for the girls. I made a little miniature book of all the pictures of them together throughout our four years together. This was the cover page.

Christmas Craft Show

My favorite show of the year is here again I can't believe it! There is something about Christmas decorations that make it a little funner to get ready for. I don't know if it is the colors or the glitter, but I always find myself singing Christmas tunes while I work on my crafts. I focused mostly on my Holiday stuff this show and came up with a few new ideas, as well as repeated a couple big sellers from last year, my Christmas countdown calendars and blocks. I didn't post a picture of them I figured you could look at last years pictures if you really want to know what they look like. Like every show I am excited to have everything set up and my work is done. Now I just have keep my fingers crossed that things will sell.

Fall Craft Show 2oo9

I'm finally getting around to posting my new craft items. Even though my show has already been going for a week now. Fortunately it lasts for five more weeks so if you are in the Idaho Falls go to the Mini Bazaar and check out all of the new fall stuff.



I love my harvest cubes but I have such problems with them sticking together, that this may be the last of them.



This one is similar to ones I've done in the past. But I just love my square pumpkins.



Here is a new one that I am excited about. I also am offering just the vinyl personalize with Initials and names to put directly on your wall. I plan on doing one for each of my girls to stick on the wall above their beds, when they get in their new room.



Here is is again just in different color combo. I also did ones that say welcome and Home. Little girl ones that say Sisters and Princess, and boy ones that say Brothers and Remember who you are.