Mi Casa

Hello?

Anybody out there??

Bueller? Anyone?....

I've been neglectful of my little blog for a while and I'm afraid I've lost you all. I have been working on a project, so I somewhat have an excuse. Its not finished yet but I just can't wait to show you all any more!

Almost 4 years ago I moved into a brand new home :) Very white. One of the modern, little cookie cutter, homes with wall cutouts, tan carpeting, and sod. I have slowly been working to add COLOR to it and make it mine. I'm not really a cookie cutter home girl...

Hi casa Kamee!! its changed so much in 4 years!!

The main project I have been obsessing over, without resolution, is the area over my fireplace. The cutouts where the TV is supposed to go has always been an eyesore for me.

I've always wanted to cover it up but its the only place that has outlets and is wired for cable... what to do? This is what it looked like when I bought it.

This was a week ago.. I got a new flat screen for my birthday so I wall mounted it and then I hated my cutouts even more!!!! But how do I cover them and not lose the function of them? Oh, did I mention that my house is concrete and there are no studs in the wall to screw in to? Yup.

So in all the productive hours that I have stared at that TV, and hated that wall, I kept coming back to a giant canvas to cover the cutouts. Do you know how expensive an 8 foot long and 5 foot high painting is? Yeah, you don't want to go there. Not to mention its not really a standard size ;) So I decided I would make one. But then, how do you still access the cutouts when you need to reset the DVR (I can't miss my Glee episodes!) My handy dandy Dad suggested I put hinged 'doors' on my canvas. Yes! Brilliant. So I set out. Want to see?

So here's what I started with;

• left over  lumber from my patio project
• a painters drop cloth, from my many painting projects, that I cut to fit
• and about 5,000 staples

I made the frame and fitted each end with a 28 inch 'door' so I could access the cutouts. Then I stretched the canvas. 2 hours later and very blistered hands, from tugging at the canvas, I had a blank work surface!! One that took up my entire living room!

Sorry its kinda dark. It was getting late and I was losing my light.

Then I ordered buttons. Buttons, buttons, buttons!!!!

and.....

It still needs a wooden frame, to break up the WHITENESS!

I like the character the old paint drips give the canvas.

I also like peonies and sweet peas. They make me smile.

Oh, and I'm on an owl kick. I think they bring wisdom and I'll take all the wisdom I can get these days!!

What do you think?

P.S. It was suggested to me, by a new found blog friend, that I should submit this to Metamorphosis Monday on Between Naps On The Porch. So I'll give it a try. The link is below (If I know how to follow directions ;) ) Check it out next Monday and see if it worked!

My last assignment

Well this past Sunday marked my last photography assignment. It went WAY too fast! I just want more!

I was down in Ventura for the long weekend, attending a BBQ with my Sister and her family. So while the kiddos played and the parents socialized and much food was being loaded into holiday hungry bellies, I wandered into the park to take some pictures.

This week we had to shoot completely in manual. No assistance from the camera now!! I went and stood in some trees with pretty red flowers that shed mercilessly. I always wanted to know what I would look like as a redhead ;) So here is what I ended up with.

And here is what Angie had to say:

"Beautiful subject! Love the colors here. Your background looks great too. You managed to keep all of your subject in the shade and avoid any dappled light. The exposure looks great. Don't beat yourself up. I think you did a wonderful job. As far as forcing the flash, the only time I force a flash is usually with people when I'm trying to avoid harsh shadows on their faces when out in the sun. You typically wouldn't do that on flowers and such - just people/humans."

The comments about my background and forcing the flash were responses to questions I had about if my background was over exposed... guess it wasn't!!

Anyway, it was a great class and I learned a lot in a short amount of time. Now on to finish reading my books (now that I know what they are talking about!!).

Until next time!

Beanie's Corner

The moon men have landed....

or is it a NYC street dancer, ready to get his head spins on...

I'm confused.

Flight suit
Wobble goggles
Beanie (the hat, not the person)
and a huge backpack...

He's ready for something. When I figure it out, I'll let you know :)

Beanie's Corner

This weekend when we returned from the bike races (post coming soon, I promise!) the Beanster set off on a mission as soon as we walked in the door. I thought he was making a bathroom stop or washing his hands... silly No-No.. he was changing his clothes, of course!! He came out with his long sleeve Polo and asked me to please button the 2 buttons "all the way to the top". He had worn this shirt before we left but we told him it was too hot to wear to the races but he could wear it later. So when we returned home I told him he certainly had a one track mind to which he replied, very sincerely, "Its because I really, reeealllllly want to be like Grangrad". Oh, melt my heart!! Needless to say I called Grangrad right away and told him he has a copycat! Melted his lil old, cowboy heart too...

Here's the completed outfit:

Cowboy hat, check!
Long sleeve cowboy shirt, check!
Cargo pants, check!
Cowboy boots, check!
And one eagle head belt buckle (from Grangrad) that must, absolutely, be worn OVER the shirt, ONLY, check!

A few minutes after this picture was taken the outfit morphed into "The Puttering Grangrad" i.e- all cargo pockets FILLED with tools and he went around the house fixing everything that was broken. No need for a paid handyman in this house!

My nephew- Jack of all trades :)

Week 3

This past Sunday my week 3 photography assignment was due. I squeaked in at the last minute and submitted 2 photos that I had a blast taking! Our assignment this week was to practice using shutter priority mode, which means we got to play with shutter speeds. We had to take 2 pictures of movement this week; 1 'freezing' the movement and one showing the movement.

Here is the frozen movement:

Here is the one showing the movement- Angie said he looks like a ghost!

(see the blur there on the right- in front of the Lipton sign?)

My comments from Angie were: "Great job! He's almost invisible in that 2nd one. Ghost like as I like to call it.  Good work~!"

As you can see, we went to the Amgen Tour of California bike race this weekend. We saw the last two stages and I had so many exciting moments! There will be a blog post coming soon to fill you all in on that one..

Stay tuned!

Cowboys

I love cowboys.

Well at least I think I do. The cowboys in my head have good manners, love their Mammas, work hard, play harder, ride muscular horses, and wear chaps (or is it chinks?) like the fabulous Marlboro Man that belongs to Ms. Pioneer Woman. They also wear hats. Dirty, sweaty, great, cowboy hats.

But what does the hat say about the cowboy? There are so many types. Do they reflect personality?

There are straw hats

"We're just good 'ol boys"

There are felt hats

"We mean business- go round those 500 head of cattle up!"

There are different shapes

There are different colors

 "I need to get some boots. These crocks are crampin my image Grangrad"

My Dad just recently got back from his annual Rancheros Vistadores ride. He spent almost a week camping out with the 'boys', riding horses, BBQing pig heads, and causing trouble in the Solvang hills.. I told him to go find me a husband.... He came home empty handed. Maybe they were all wearing the 'wrong' kind of cowboy hat....

Midnight photoshop madness

Okay... its not quite midnight but it is past my bedtime! I seem to have too many things running through my mind tonight to be able to close my eyes and drift off to sleep. Maybe I created too many endorphins at my yoga class tonight ;)

I decided to break out my Photoshop For Dummies book and see if I couldn't 'fix' some of the critique Angie gave me on my first photo assignment.

So here is the original picture:

Angie said it was slightly under exposed. Because I shot it in RAW I figured 

I could fix it in Photoshop. I also did a slight eye sharpen and I tried to 

'erase' some of the little goobers around his eyes. This is what I ended up 

with! 

Awww such a cute little Nemo!!


What do you think?