Blue Jeans Tilda Card Keepsake

WIN SOME MAGNOLIA BLOG CANDY!

You can find out all about it & enter here.

Today I took my Daughter to an indoor rock climbing centre with a good friend of mine.  She also brought along her Daughter & then before you knew it, a friend of the girls came with us too.  We had a great day out, plenty of laughs & it was good quality time which we all hadn't had in a long time.

The girls had fun going climbing up & down the walls with each holding onto the others rope so that they didn't fall down.  It was good to see the team work happening even at the age of twelve :)

Lachlan (their friend) was the comic of the day.  We ended up going to Macdonalds afterwards & after eating his burger Lachlan decided that he was going to get a soft serve ice cream cone.  As he was waiting to be served & got no attention, he purposely fell to the ground lol.  Needless to say, he got the attention he wanted lol.  He then ordered his soft serve cone & waited patiently...whilst dancing in front of the counter..what a sight lol.

When the staff member had his soft serve cone & went to hand it to him, Lachlan proceeded to take the ice cream...but instead of taking it by the cone like the rest of us would, he literally grabbed the ice cream in his hand! lol  It was the most funniest thing I have seen in a long time especially when the girl that served him just looked at him in bewilderment as though he had gone absolutely mad lol.  Too funny :)

This is Blue Jeans Tilda.  She was originally on this card....

But I converted her as a Card Keepsake.

However, I've made this one into a personalized wall hanging for a child's bedroom.

It didn't take me long for me to put it together as the majority of the design was already done.  All I needed to do was put it onto the canvas & decorate the inside of the card.

All I then had to do was add the ribbon for hanging :)

This design is available at my

Dreamtime Designs Etsy Store.

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I will be adding Blue Jeans Tilda into the following challenges:

Incy Wincy - Dust Off (I have had these buttons in my stash for years)

Crafty Creations #178 - Free for all

Just Magnolia #165 - Bingo (Blue, Flowers, Glitter)

RRR #52 - Sizzlin' Summer Colours & Ribbon

Magnolia Stamp Lovers - Tilda Only

Oldie but a Goodie - Flower Power (I used the buttons)

ABC - T = Two (I used two brads)

Crafts & Me #92 - Stitching

Lovely Hangler / Magnolia #47 - Anything Goes

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Thank you for coming by.  I will be posting here tomorrow as I have a few things to tell you in regards to my photography research & give you a few tips I have learnt along the way :)

Take care & be safe

Hugs

My Photography Learning Curve

This is a long post.  My apologies in advance :)

I have been really busy creating two more new designs over the last 48 hours, however I haven't posted them onto my blog or even Etsy yet.  The reason being is because for a while now I have not been happy at all with the way the photos of my designs turn out.

I don't know whether you have the same problem, but whenever I take a photo of my designs, the picture never seems to do any justice to them.

So, last night after completing my second design for this week, I decided that it was about time I stopped procrastinating & put one of my goals into action and that is to learn how to take better photos.  I was determined not to put any more of my designs on my blog or Etsy until I had a better understanding of my camera & also how to take a better photo.

So my search began.  I just recently joined & have become a great fan of Pin Interest.  Finally I can stop worrying about cluttering up my pc with sites / blogs that interest me, colours or creations etc that inspire me.  I can now find it all in one easy place on any of my 'boards' that I have created in Pin Interest :)

I highly suggest checking it out, it's sooo easy :)  If you want to follow me on Pin Interest, you will find the button on the top right hand side of my blog.

Anyway, I had Pinned a few sites to one of my boards which have more info on taking photos etc.  I was reading for hours & snapping my camera taking shots of my designs but of course, the light was too dim and I was getting tired lol.  

I also found out with reading my camera manual that it doesn't have a 'shutter speed' nor 'aperture' options for adjustment!  (If you don't know what I mean by that...its ok because I am thinking of adding info on my blog about all this stuff & how to take a better photo..if you're interested in that sort of information that is?)  In the end I went to bed feeling as though I hadn't achieved much but I had 'at least' done some reading about the subject lol.

This afternoon however, I decided that I was going to take the bull by the horns and grabbed one of my designs and started clicking my camera :)  I did take my design outside, thinking it would be better light than inside even though it was a horrid overcast day with the threat of rain lol.

I also took a pen and notepad with me so I could write down what adjustments I had done to the camera.  The last thing I wanted was to take all of the photos, with different settings and find the 'close to perfect shot' and not remember the camera settings I had it on lol.

I was backwards & forwards (about 6 times) going to my laptop to upload the photos to my pc & looking at the different shots I had taken.  With that, I worked out which photo was the best one, looked at my notes, adjusted my camera back to the setting that it was when I took the photo & then went back out changing a few things on the camera each time I took more shots.

It took a while but at least I got some photos that I believe are better than the ones I took just last week.  It was well worth the hassle lol and at least now I know what camera settings to try next time its a cold dreary day :)  

Here are my results:

Before

After...

Before...

After...

MASSIVE difference..don't you agree?

I mean, its not perfect & very far away from being the 'perfect shot' but considering my camera doesn't have what the 'professionals' have on their camera, I am pretty happy with it :)  Amazing how much better it looks now than it did before.  

I now realise BIG time with how much one can learn with just a little bit of self motivation lol.

Another thing is that it would have been alot more FUN if I had friends clicking their camera's with me and learning how to take a better photo at the same time as I was :)  I had no-one to share my excitement nor my accomplishment with that 'totally got it' and understood what it meant to me to get a better picture of something that has taken me hours to create and design lol.

Soooo...I have been thinking and wondering whether YOU have had or still do have the same problems as I do with not knowing much about photography?  Do you find it frustrating when you create a gorgeous design & then the photo you take doesn't do it any justice at all?

I am interested to find out just how many of you understand what I mean and if you feel the same way?

I mean, I'm not a professional photographer or anything but if there are enough people out there that feel the same way, then I am thinking of posting more about how to rectify photographic problems & make this a place where WE can all get together & learn from eachother etc.  A place with not having just information but also challenges too that will get US motivated to learn more about our camera and how to take a better photo.

What do you think?  Are you interested?

If so, please leave a comment and let me know your thoughts :)

Hugs

Peek - A - Boo Baby Card Keepsake

Here I am again for the second time today :)

Did you see my blog candy that you can win?

You can enter here.

This week I have been busy getting my Dreamtime Designs Etsy shop organised & converting one of my previous designs into a Card Keepsake.  

Do you remember this one?

Before....

After...

I found an easier way to combine photo shots so that I'm not overloading you with pictures :)

I designed the inside of the card to compliment the front.

I also decorated the back of the canvas to make it more appealing to the eye & included my personal stamp.

This is the front of the Baby Card Keepsake.

I added some gorgeous frilly lace around the edges which are hand sewn.

Added some ribbon bows & some lovely die cut flowers with pearls.

Of course I also had to add the ribbon to enable to hang it :)

What do you think?

This design is available at my

Dreamtime Designs Etsy Store.

I am going to convert nearly all of my designs into Card Keepsakes so if there is anything that takes your fancy, then now is a good idea to purchase as it may not be there next time.  Also I have a few of my designs on sale!

Add my Etsy store to one of your favourite shops on Etsy & you will get another 10% off including sale items :)

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I have entered this design to the following challenges:

Cupcake Craft #199 - Bright as a button

Bearly Mine #42 - Ribbons & Bows

Papertake Weekly #70 - Anything Goes

ABC Christmas - M = Make a Gift

Stampavie & More #171 - Lots of flowers

The Paper Shelter #71 - Flower Power

Craft Punked #27 - Monochrome

Creative Card Crew #14 - Swirls & Pearls

Bunny Zoe's Craft #25 - Girls, Girls, Girls

By The Cute & Girly - A Day at the 'Dress Shop'

Creatalicious #35 - Anything Goes

The Ribbon Girls #21 - Girly

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Don't forget to enter for the blog candy here :)

Thats all for me today.  I hope you like the new design.

Let me know what you think.

Have a fantastic weekend.

Hugs

My Design Won Blog Candy!

My Design Won Blog Candy!

Woo hoo!  

Help me celebrate :)

Did you see my post last week with the design that I created?

(Available now at my Etsy shop here).

Well, I just found out that my 'Bride Tilda' Wedding Card Keepsake WON the bingo challenge over at AUD Sentiments :)  I won the 1st place prize which is $20 Voucher to spend at Stamp & Create.

Wooo hoooo :)  I've already picked out the stamps I'm going to get :)

Thanks to Julie & the girls over at AUD Sentiments for selecting my design as the winner :)

You should go check out their latest challenge which is to use the word 'Friend' on your creations :)  Lots of fun.

Anyway, to celebrate I am offering some candy for you :)

Enter  &  Win!

Be in the chance to WIN this gorgeous 

Magnolia 'Cupido' Mini stamp 

from the Sweet Crazy Love Collection.

To enter all you need to do is the following:

1)  Add your name to the linky below

2) Add the picture to your blog/website sidebar with a link back to mine.

3) Please leave a comment with answering the three questions below:

a) Do you have trouble taking a good photo of your designs?

b) Would you like to have a place you can come to in which you can slowly learn & have a better understanding on how to take a better photo in a friendly environment with other people who have the same problem?

c) If so, would a monthly challenge make the learning curve more appealing & fun for you ?

That is all there is to it :)

I will draw the winner Saturday 11th August 2012, which I will post here.

The lucky winner will have 7 days after the winner announcement to contact me to claim your prize.  If not, to be fair to everyone else I will do a re-draw.

Good luck everyone.

You've gotta be in it to WIN it :)

Thanks for stopping by but stay tuned cos' later I will be updating you with my new design :)

Hugs