Painting, Updates and Books

Hi. I made this. 

Here is a video I took while I made it:

TA-DA!

I am actually really liking watercolors lately! 

Also I took a whole bunch of photos of my craft products and my goal is to be up and running by end of October on my Etsy account... so - VERY SOON!

Lol - I am in a mood right now.  I don't know if it's good or bad or if I am happy or sad... just a mood.  I decided to write this post to get my mind off of some things that have been going on and it may not be the most detailed, interesting post but I am here to keep my mind busy before bed.  

So here's me :) Hi there. Hope you are having a fantastical day!

We are preparing for some colder weather and broke out the jackets for the dogs :) They weren't too happy.  

I was on vacation last week and my Mom and I went to Starbucks.  We had to laugh at what they wrote.  When asked what her name was she said, "Chris, Shannon's Mom" and this is what we got ;) 

We also attended a friends beautiful wedding- they hired the same DJ that was at our wedding so it was really cool to see them again.  We had a blast and all my old co-workers were there (almost all of them).  It was also really awesome to see them too!

Brian got Bear a Halloween costume and Bear wasn't the happiest of Lions!! LOL!

Also, I recently saw the trailer for Annihilation and learned that it was a book trilogy and had to read the first one to see if I liked it.  Well, I'm obsessed and just ordered the second one from amazon! I can't wait to see what happens- one of the most suspenseful books I have ever read!  I just finished Big Magic about a week ago and flew threw this one! The trailer doesn't look like I would have thought tho so I hope it does not disappoint.  I know the movies are always different but I really hope they stay close to the story-  it was so good- go get it- read it! YES! 

Get Annihilation HERE!

Also- this is Big Magic:

GET IT HERE!

If you are trying to live a creative life, you will not regret it at all! It's by far one of my most favorite books ever!

Inspire (& Pumpkin fest)

Hello Everyone!  I am so happy with how this photo turned out!  I really didn't know if it would work and I'm so glad I tried it- honestly, I didn't think I would have a lot of editing and it really took some time.  This is our new fence in the backyard- we have some landscaping to do but it really was just installed.  I thought having a white background may help me cut our figures out for the silhouette look. It was really sunny and a beautiful day! I am on vacation this week and trying to knock out some projects and of course trying to take every opportunity to take photos :) 

Above is a quick before and after to show you some of the steps I went though to get my final image.  

And here is the final oracle card (below) :) I just adore this! I may frame it here at home!  I'm also thinking maybe if I get Brian & Bear I can do a family version of this for our Christmas cards! 

Chance did not want to sit or look up today.  I love our outtakes though, I think they are so funny to look back on!

We went to Conneaut lake this weekend for Pumpkin fest.  It was packed and I didn't take a lot of photos- I don't remember it ever being that crowded but we did venture down to the lake and got a beer and enjoyed the weather.  There were some really awesome craft vendors there and it just made me realize that I got to get a move on with my crafts and enter into some shows! It's just challenging to get enough crafts together for a show! It's no joke and a lot of work! My favorite booth this year was an older gentleman (maybe in his late 70's) and his wife.  He hand carves Christmas ornaments and paints them.  You can tell he loves to do it and they were all so good- I wish I could have bought more!  I picked up a snowman for our tree at home!  

They actually drop a 1,000lb pumpkin onto an old car at 5pm every year.  It was Brian's first time witnessing it! It's a big deal there! I have a video below :) 

Also- we had two very happy puppies that were excited to be out by the lake! 

Side note: I am so proud of the progress we have made on our home! We still have a TON of work but you can see the photo above was from google maps of the previous owner three years before we moved in and then the bottom photos is our current situation along with some Halloween decorations (my favorite time of year). 

Thanks again for reading and stopping by! I hope to shoot some behind the scenes footage of photos this week :) EEEP! :) 

Trust

What I've been listening to:

Oh hey there! 

So I have a question- would you guys want me to film behind the scenes videos? I know I do the before and after photos but sometimes it's fun to see that! Please leave a comment if you would like to see something like that :) It would mean a lot to hear your opinion- sometimes I feel like I'm talking to no one on this blog and that I'm really just doing it for me (which it should be that way anyways but still...) 

Okay so here's the latest! 

I was so happy with this photo until I printed it. HA! I should have used more light- my other lens or my flash - just too low light and the print was only ..."eh".  I can't wait to get my new camera.  I am thinking of staying with Nikon since I have so much equipment from them (though I would love to take the leap to Canon!). 

So I made my husband (who never seems to be wearing a shirt in any photo) help me out on this one!  He was a little confused and it's always so strange explaining my ideas to people until they see the end product so we laughed a lot doing this! 

I kept rearranging his hands and he would pull my head back too far by accident or pinch my nose (his hands were too big) and we just had the giggles.  It was fun! I use to take my photos way too seriously and always be uptight when shooting but now I figure, what the hell- life is suppose to be fun- you are suppose to have fun! 

So here are some before and afters: 

Here is the oracle card - card 6 of 50 (Ahhhhhhh long way to go!)

I had my 85mm on for a hot second and got some nice shots of the dogs- I wanted to shoot with it in the garage but the space wouldn't allow it :( BOO!

How adorable are they!?

We has some friends over the other night and had some pumpkin carving fun - Tis the season! They turned out great and we just had fun hanging out, having a fire and drinking some pumpkin beers! 

Mine is the moon and stars- first time I haven't done a face in years!

We also celebrated my "Seesters" belated Birthday this past weekend too! We went out her way (south of Pittsburgh) and went to eat at a really good Mexican restaurant.  We then went to her house to have some cake and ice cream! Always a good time with her- check out Rocky in the background too! 

Also - just for fun

Thanks for reading!