I've Joined Pinterest

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Have you?

It's such a fun way to easily document ideas and inspiration that I find online (as well as sharing it with others!)

Here's some eye candy I've found so far:

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A Little Mishap

Leo likes to be a part of everything that I do. He was feeling bad that he hadn't contributed to my trim painting project last week, and decided to help out. Here's his contribution:

Treat puck (formally known as treat ball; he chewed off and ingested two of the sides) went PLUNK into my bucket. What a little helper.

Photoshop Actions

Oh me oh my.... I've made a discovery: ACTIONS! Has anyone else? Am I the last one in the digital photography world to be let in on this little secret?

My photos now have new (and more interesting/colorful/tinted/creative) life breathed into them. And I've also developed a cure for too much blog reading: too much Photoshop Elements Actioning.

Actions are "pre-recoreded" and "packaged" tasks that you apply to an image. For example, you may do twenty different things to a photo in order to achieve a desired look. Instead of doing this every single time you want the same look for another photo, an action does it all in one step. It's like photo editing for dummies.

To be completely honest, I used to see beautiful photos on professional websites and wonder how the photographer got that look (tinted color, clear and bright eyes, faded with teals and yellows standing out, etc.). I figured it was a mix between having an awesome original photo, and some simple editing.

I'm sure this is true for some, but I'm finding you can do WONDERS with an average photograph, and you can truly create MAGIC with a great photograph.

The photo above is one I took of my hottie of a husband. To achieve this look, I used both pre-packaged actions as well as hand touching up. I'm finding a mix of the two look best. Click on the image in order to view it larger- you can see details better (like his eyes! :) The original photo is at the bottom.

There are tons of actions available for download. Most cost something, but many are free. Check out these links:

Free:

• The Coffee Shop Blog
• The Pioneer Woman Photography

To Purchase:

• Flora Bella
• MCP Actions
• Nicole V Flourish

Original photo:

Cool, 'eh?

Happy photo editing!

PS. I've decided to start my own photography website separate from this blog. When it's up and running, I'll let you all know!

Rebecca the Photographer

I'm working on busting into the photography business.

There, I said it. This has been something I've wanted to do for a while, and now I've got the time, resources, and support to make it a reality. I'm JUST starting out (which can also be translated as "I'm an amateur") but have some high aspirations!

I'm currently working on building my portfolio, and would love to have the opportunity to take some more shots. If you (or any of your friends!) and looking for someone to capture their candid memories, I'd love to help out.

I'm putting together a "Photography" tab up at the top of my web page. Check it out for more info.

Here are a couple of photos from the wonderful children that I spent this past school year with. They are truly some of the greatest kids that I've gotten to nanny. Aren't they cute and photogenic? Makes my job easy! :)



Magnetic Bulletin Board

Happy 4th of July!


I've been holding out on you. This project has been finished for at least a month, and I keep forgetting to snap some photos of it to share with you all. I saw this bulletin board made by the ever creative CentsationalGirl, and had to give it a try. It seemed to be the perfect thing to put in our new office.

I used CentsationalGirl's directions as a guideline, and made some changes. Here's what you need:

• A large artist's canvas (found mine at Michael's, 3' x 4')
• A 10 foot roll of aluminum flashing (I got mine at Lowes for about $10 dollars. I chose this because of the cost, and because the aluminum was flexible and could be bent)
• Decorative ribbon
• Hot glue gun
• Thin wooden boards, approximately 3 feet long (Optional. I used some left over "battens" from our board and batten project).

Here's my canvas. I had to do this on the kitchen table so my furry side kick didn't intervene.

Next, stretch your flashing out on the floor and measure off three 34" sections. Cut. (And if you're me, measure 3 times and cute once.) I just used a heavy duty scissors.

Shimmy (very carefully- the edges are SHARP!) each piece underneath the wooden slats of your canvas. Since that was a confusing sentence, here's a picture (worth a thousand words, anyway):

It took me quite a bit of maneuvering to get this right. Since I bought the flashing in a roll, it was kind of wavy even after stretching it out in the canvas. You can tell a little bit from the photo.

Here's what it should look like:

Since the metal was wavy, there were some parts that were farther away from the canvas and didn't hold a magnet (does that make sense?). I wedged some thin boards under the existing frame to push the metal closer to the canvas cover. Then I hot glued them into place. This step is optional.

Now comes the fun part! Flip your canvas over and glue on some pretty ribbon.

There you have it! A huge magnetic bulletin board in less than an hour.

I found these cute push-pin looking magnets at Walmart for really cheap. They're my favorite part!

You should definitely give this a shot- it was so easy! And I LOVE the outcome.

Homemade Strawberry Freezer Jam

I ran across this recipe for homemade strawberry freezer jam (yum!) and just had to give it a whirl. I'm taking a gamble by posting this, since the jam hasn't gone in the freezer and has yet to set. But my hopes are high! :)

I followed the recipe, but did a thing or two differently.

Strawberry Freezer Jam

•  Approximately 3 cups strawberries
• 4 cups sugar (this amount was staggering to me; I put slightly less in and it still tastes great).
• 3 tablespoons Real Fruit Pectin*
• 3/4 cup water

*This is the part I'm a little iffy about. I used Ball RealFruit Low or No-Sugar Needed Pectin. And I bought it by mistake... since I obviously like my jam sugary. After much panicked web research, I think it'll turn out okay. There are a lot of other brands/amounts of pectin- just follow the amount on the label.

1. Wash and hull your strawberries.

2. Mash the strawberries into fine chunks.

3. In a large bowl, mix the sugar and the strawberries together and let them sit for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

4. Mix the pectin and water together and bring to a boil. Boil one minute, stirring constantly.

5. Mix the pectin mixture into the strawberries and sugar. Stir 2-3 minutes, until well combined.

6. Ladle into jars and store in the freezer. You're done! :)

Enjoy your yummy homemade jam!

Light and Airy Kitchens

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I love white kitchens. Which is why I painted mine white almost two years ago. I also went ahead and painted the walls a yummy chocolate brown- it sounded so cozy at the time. I'm realizing that since we got married in July of '09, my decorating tastes have shifted a bit. Generally, they're the same. But since I've spent compulsively too much a lot of time reading design blogs, watching design shows, and thinking more on how I want our home to feel, I'm not as crazy about some of the color/design choices I made back then. Which is okay, I think. It's a good thing for tastes to develop and change.

I've been thinking about how I can update and change things about our home to fit my current tastes without breaking the bank (and my husband's back, who tends to do all of the handyman components). I'm telling ya, people, paint really is the miracle make-over drug. It's fast, inexpensive, and even dummies can use it (which is me at times).

Though chocolate brown is fine (and I still LOVE it in other people's homes and kitchens), I'm feeling the "light and airy" kitchen vibe a lot more. So next up on my docket is to re-paint the kitchen a fresh, grayish blue. Any color suggestions? Martha Stewart seems to have some good options. Also, this blog has been helpful to see how colors look in other people's homes.

Enough talk, here's some inspirational pictures:

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Notice a theme? And aren't these kitchens beautiful?

The Adventure of a Pepper Mill

Once upon a time there was a pepper mill.

He was a very nice pepper mill, but his owner rarely used him because he was red. And so she made him live inside the cupboard, and brought him out from time to time to add freshly cracked flavor to her cooking.

The pepper mill was sad. Why couldn't he live on the counter with some of his owner's other more "decor/color appropriate" kitchenware?

"Aha," he mused, "maybe if I spray paint myself yellow, she will want to put me on display." And so he did.

"My, what a beauitful little pepper mill that is," sighed his owner. "Since he now matches my kitchen, I can put him on display." The pepper mill was thrilled!

He quickly made friends with his new neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Canister.



And they all lived happily ever after.

Another Backwards Before and After

We seem to be having a lot of these lately. It's been two years, and we're just starting to tackle the outside of our home. Here it is:

The combination of arborvitae, juniper (aka snaggle bush), and spirea (which my mother-in-law calls a trash bush), wasn't making any impressions. (However, isn't the grass nice and green?) So we ripped out the bushes. Okay, it's more like we hacked at them with a hand saw, and huffed and puffed as we pried them out with a shovel. Sadly, this is what we'd thought would be the hardest part. No way. Instead of mulch around the base of the bushes, there's rock. We've spent our last three weekends shoveling, raking, and piling rock and dirt into a dumpster (two, actually... not enough room in the first). Fun times! Here we are as off this afternoon:

The arborvitae on the corner also got a hair cut. We're making progress!

Pardon the crappy pictures. I'm exhausted after hanging out with and cleaning this:

But at least he had fun and got exercise at the dog park! :)