Valarie with an "A"

I thought it was time for a jewelry update. Some of these things I made before Sept.Fest, others I’ve made in the past week. I have gotten on a kick of making chains with beads in them and people seemed to like them at the festival. So I have them in a few various colors, whereas I only started with red and black. I’ve also made one that is double stranded. I have a new pair of earrings and a bookmark that I really like too. So, on to the pictures.

Pearl Earrings

Pearl Bracelet

Purple and White Double Strand Bracelet

Copperish Bracelet

Halloween Bracelet

Bookmark

But I did pretty well at my booth :) I have lots less jewelry and some more money. I’m so glad to have that over with. I got lots of comments on my bracelet displays (paper cones) and my jewelry. One bracelet in particular, Ashley did not like at all, but I made 4 of because I thought they would sell. I sold out, and made two more, and sold one of those. I will be doing it again next year and hope to have a website up and running soon. Yay! For now, I suppose I will be posting pics of my new creations here. A couple people asked about my information, so I directed them here. I don’t have any new pics now, but hopefully I will in the next day or two. Oh, I do have pics of my booth :)

I’m hoping to set up a booth at Septemberfest to sell some of the jewelry I’ve made. I’ve been pricing, inventorying, and working on displays recently. I’m still taking tons of pics of Austin and we’ve made two more trips to the park.

I’ve also digi scrapped a little bit recently. Scrapbook Flair has some fun challenges that gives me ideas for what to scrap. This one was for the rule of thirds challenge. I didn’t take the picture thinking of the rule of thirds, but had zoomed out enough that I could crop it to fit that rule of composition.

I also did a page of one of our engagement pictures for a word challenge. I really liked how it turned out.

Another recent photo I’ve taken is that of the FHS marching band. It took a while to get the new uniforms so we missed picture day. So on the day that uniforms were distributed, I climbed a ladder and took the picture. The band room was a mess so I removed it and put up a black background. We also had a few students missing, so I got their pictures from the same angle at a later day and photoshopped them into the group image. I just have one more person to get, but we have to get her a uniform, and the only ones left need mending. I can’t post the pic here because of the whole no parent permission thing, but I’m really proud of my work on it.

Been a while since I’ve been around. Band camp started July 28th, so I’ve been a bit busy with that. I’ve got a few days before school starts, so I thought I’d get caught up on my blog.

Since I’ve gotten a new camera, I’ve been all about playing with the settings and getting better at manual. We went to Armco Park here in town and found some playground equipment that was fun, as well as a grassy area with a grassy hill behind it. That meant to traffic in the background, YAY! Austin doesn’t like grass. He had fun in the swing, but got irritated as soon as we put him in the grass. Here are a few of the better shots from that day.

The first picture actually had Ashley in it, trying to get him to laugh. It didn’t work, but I loved his expression, so I did a little cloning over top of him.

Dress is still in pieces, but I finally got some interfacing, so I might start working on it soon. I also bought a “little black dress” that was only $10 but 2 sizes too big in the bust and 4 sizes too big in the waist/hips, so I’m gonna have to some minor surgery on it. I liked it and it was a good price, so I thought I’d attempt it. If I were going to make it, I’d pay $10 for the pattern alone, so I thought it was worth a shot.

As for the digi scrapping, I’ve been slacking a bit. I did buy an 8×8 baby album that I hope to use as a Baby Book, documenting Austin’s first year. It’s got 20 pages, so I need to get crackin’! I’ve got some ideas for it that I just need to get down in photoshop.

I’ve been addicted to following themes of challenges on Scrapbook Flair, so I’ve got a couple more pages made. The first contest is “Summertime” and you had to scrap what you are doing this summer. I used images of Austin from his pool and the big pools we visited. I used freebies from Scrapbook Flair, from their Tropically Hot Collection.

The next challenge was “Bath in the Sink”. We usually bathe Austin in his tub in the sink, or in the big tub with me. I had one picture from when he got a bath at his grandparents and he was looking down. That wouldn’t do, so we put him in the sink, and started taking pictures. Then I came up with the layout, using the Bubble Boy Kit, by Creative Chaos.

Dress update: pieces are cut out, on to the sewing.