Crafty Moment

I dont know that this really qualifies for being "Crafty"... but I really wanted a wreath on my door for the holidays.

I've never had a wreath.  My mom wasn't huge into decorating for seasons, etc growing up so as I've seen everyone else w their fun festive wreaths I just started to get a bug to have one!

I haven't been shopping for extra decor bc I haven't really gotten everything figured out as far as the Christmas stuff I DO have already and didn't want to go buy stuff I may or may not have space for!  BUT I still really wanted a wreath!  Well last night, my neighbor offered to let me use one of her extra wreaths for the holiday season!!  Very sweet!!

So I took off the wimpy battery operated LED lights *w permission from the neighbor* and made a quick trip to Dollar General for a small strand of lights for $1.50!  Once I got the lights on, I wasn't really sure WHAT to do.  I just kinda stared at the lit wreath wondering what I'd got myself into!  BUT, with all the Christmas stuff I have, I decided I could make something work... So I found this red and silver ribbon and a couple of pre-tied bows from decorations a couple yrs ago.... and some mini balls in red and silver... and some little silver sprigs that were stuck in my tree and went to work!

I also (at the suggestion of my roommate) grabbed an ornament off my decorated tree that said Joy to the World to kinda have a central message.  (The ornament was a Christmas stocking gift from my Dad and Step Mom last yr!)

So without further ado, here's a pic of my first holiday creation hanging on my door!  Hopefully it won't be my last!

PS- i like the overall look of this, but not sure that I really like the 2 bows.  Anyone have any tips/suggestions?

Older Card Projects

Special Dad Father's Day 5x7 folded card

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My Home

1. Ok so one of my friends asked her readers to write 3 favorite things about "Home".  She shared some things she loved and then asked us to do the same.  

   Here's her prompt:This week, take a look around your house and be grateful for your home. What is it that you love the most? Leave a comment describing three details about your home that bring a smile to your face.

   
   

   So I realized that my response was prob WAY longer than she really wanted... but as I started typing, I was just so thankful for all these little things!! I decided I'd share it on my blog so I'd have somewhere to go back and read it later!  I'm probably going to add on to my original posting (bc I held back in the comment section of Jenny's blog!!)... So here it goes:

   I'm thankful for my home!!

   Backstory:

   I moved in January into my first ever HOUSE (a rental- but still its mine!) and its PERFECT! I prayed about this house for a while.  I was pretty specific about the things I desired in our next home.  Here was my list:  I asked for a safe place for Nate to play.  Somewhere we would be able to host events, somewhere with a backyard, somewhere that had storage, somewhere w a W/D in it (and somewhere w an ice maker if possible- but obviously that wasn't a deal breaker!!).  

   Enter THIS house. I saw it a full year before I ever looked at it seriously.  I took a picture of the front of it- roses were in bloom and decorated the white house with green trim just so perfectly! It had an adorable lamp post in the front too!  It was perfect!!  Well at that time, the house was RIDICULOUSLY expensive!! So I sighed and just kinda went on my way.  I ended up in an apt for a while (in the ghetto!) that was definitely a blessing for me and Nate and for our friends who got to come over ALL THE TIME!  I was quite content in my little affordable apt!  But God had other plans!

   
   

   

   Love the little Lamp & the beautiful Roses!

   
   

   There were so many things that led up to this being our home- but I think I'll save that for another post. In January, (over a yr later from when I first saw and fell in love with it) Nate and I moved into this same adorable little home!!   It was totally God’s gift to me (just when I thought I’d NEVER be able to afford a house with a Yard in a safe neighborhood in dallas & that I was destined to live in ghetto scary apts for the rest of my life.)

   
   

   Finding Home:

   

   Evey Boy needs a Swing Set!

   

   Nate & Reese (neighbor from across the st)

    Its in a cul de sac just down the street from my pastor/friend and his family. My son (5 yrs old) now has a backyard and a swingset. Every kid needs a backyard and a swingset!! We’ve only been here since January, but it feels like our entire world has changed because of being in a HOUSE. So I love just about everything about the house (except the fact that I have to share my bathroom w a 5 yr old BOY! ew!! hehe :P). 

   

   Nates 5th Bday Party in the Backyard

   
   
   

   
   

   So my 3 FAVORITE things about my home are:

   1. My neighbors. I have neighbors!! Ones you can borrow sugar from and ones your child can play with. Ones that you wave to as you come home for the day and ones you rush outside to spend time with after just throwing your stuff down. Its a whole new world! I have community on my street and I'm trying to be home more to hang out with the neighbors that are out & around! It helps that there are quite a few kiddos running around and mine likes to play with other kiddos! Its been such a blessing to know people that live around you - (and text you if your car lights are on, or even write down license plates of cars where people disappear into your back yard and come out a little later! My friends doing laundry- but still! How great is that!?)

   

   Some of the neighbors that live on the corner

   
   

   

   Reese & his mommy, Jennifer live across the Street!

   
   

   

   The boys LOVE to ride bikes in the Cul De Sac!

   

   Duncan toddling around the Cul De Sac chasing the big boys!

   
   

   2. Its a perfect for hosting stuff!! I’ve hosted small dinners (around a DINING TABLE found on craigslist that I LOVE! Ya I have a DINING table and I can do sit down to dinners with up to 12 people around one table!!). I’ve hosted a 5 yr old Bday party(see backyard pics above), a live concert, several 20 something bday parties for friends, and my big 30th bday party- complete with twinkle lights in the backyard, people in fancy clothes, and Paris decor.

   

   Lost Immigrants House Concert

   
   

   

   The adoring Fans

   
   

   

   Its cool to have a concert in your house!

   
   

   

   My Paris Party Backyard

   

   Inside my Paris Party

   
   

   

   Dinner w Nate's Grandparents

   
   

   

   Fiesta Party Prep

   
   

   

   Fiesta Night - AJ & Titos Bday

   
   

   I love that i can bless my friends by having them in my home and sharing their birthdays and meals and pictures and  memories!

   
   

   3. The Garage! I have a GARAGE!!
   
   

   

   This is BEFORE i moved in (when it was empty!)

   Its small- just a one car. It has an automatic door, but no opener… so i cant really put my car in there at this point (even if it weren't full of boxes!)… BUT I have a garage. I got all my stuff from my parents house, from their storage over the years, etc and its all in MY garage. Sure- there are so many boxes, its hard to get around in there… but its still MY garage!! and MY stuff.  AND in the garage is a washer/dryer! I can do laundry AT my house. After yrs of having to goto a friends or a laundry mat and having to make sure I had enough quarters for the machines in the apt complex… I have my OWN w/d!  I can leave my clothes in the dryer overnight if I want to.  I can fluff clothes in the morning (instead of ironing!:)  and now I”M the house that everyone comes to to do their laundry!! How great is that??!

   
   

   HIS PROVISION IS ALWAYS BETTER!!

   I love my home. But more importantly- i love that God knew EXACTLY what we (Nate & I) needed for this season of life and he provided more than I could have hoped for!

   He even provided things I didn’t KNOW i needed/wanted! But now, I’m happy to hang out outside and invest in my neighbors.  (i NEVER went outside at the Apts).  I’m happy to play with my kiddo and his friends! (Nate didn't have friends that lived at the APT!) I’m happy to do laundry (I dreaded it before... lugging loads down 3 flights of stairs into the car to the laundry mat, staying there for a couple hrs and lugging it back up!)  I'm just HAPPY to come HOME!

   
   

   I Love my home!
   
   

   

   This is what I happily come home to every day!

   
   
   
   

Photos, Cards, & Shutterfly!!

I love Shutterfly! 

So I have gotten a couple of codes to try out new greeting cards online at Shutterfly and LOVED them.  The first one I ever did was for Father’s day.  I had to upload pics to my Shutterfly account that captured my last yr with my dad.

 I uploaded a lot of pictures HERE using the super easy uploader because I didn’t know which ones would look the best together when I picked my card.  I always try to have MORe than I need, because it stinks to get part way through your design and have to go hunting for a picture for one specific place.  I have actually started using shutterfly to store a lot of my photos online.  They make it easy to share with friends and when I go to make cards or prints, my pictures are already loaded!  

I also have created several “Share Sites” which is a website (can be password protected which is great for kiddos!) that you can create for free and store lots of pictures on it.  Then your friends and family can easily go and view/download/order any of their favorite photos! I LOVE share sites!  Here’s one that I’ve recently added pictures to.  I created it when our Lifegroup was doing events ALL THE TIME and everyone wanted to see the MANY pictures I took.  We also had a calendar and some contact info for the members.  It was pretty cool.  I don’t think people really used it a whole lot other than to see the pictures, but I liked the concept.

Anyway, I was super pleased with my dad’s cards.  I think I like the one from Nate the best.  To me, it looks like he’s telling the world “I Love my Grandpa”!   Here’s a picture.... what do you think? 

So, I’m not very good at making Christmas cards, but I take LOTS of pictures throughout the year so I want to start sending some out for the holidays!  This year, I am thinking I will try this card called Joy Sage Story.

I like the modern look of the front and then how the inside will let me put 6 photos and a little blurb about each one of them and feel like it will be a great (easy/quick) representation of the year 2010! I never do newsletters but I always like reading them.  I feel like this is a good compromise!  Its like a cliff notes of the year!  I am already thinking about my six most memorable 2010 moments that will make it to this year’s card.

If you like the inside layout of that card, there are a couple other designs that are similar - like Most Wonderful Story and Joyous Holiday Story.  They also do flat cards and of course all sizes of prints.

Anyway, just thought I'd share some of my fav's!  

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If you have a blog and want 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly, Click here to go to Shutterfly for information on how you can get 50 free cards this holiday season, and make sure to select Clever 1000 as the referral source.

BHAPS & Mac's!

Remember how I said I was gonna start praying that someone would give me a mac???

Well... guess what? I got one last night... it needs a replacement battery bc it won't work w out being plugged in- but its an iBook G4!

I'm SO excited!! I dont know taht I really BELIEVED I'd ACTUALLY be GIVEN a MAC Laptop!!

SO now- i just need the software and to get used to the differences of a Mac vs Pc and I'm on my way! :)
 Isn't God Cool??? i just wanted to share w you guys!

Photo Blog

I've decided to start posting some of my work on a tumblr site.  I"d LOVE comments from you guys as I get started on what you like, what could be better, etc!!

Check it out by clicking the link below:

Tiffs photog blog - thats: obutiger.tumblr.com

Let me know what you think!!  I'm just getting started!

On Becoming a Photographer

I just got (another) camera!!

This one is the BEST yet!

I am now the proud owner of a DSLR camera!!! (after wanting one since a college class in 03!)  Its a Canon Rebel XT - so an older one - prob from '05ish... but hey- it looks like its in decent condition, and it works!! :) AND it was free!!!!!!!!

How did I get it free you ask?? Well, I got a little bit of money for my bday and decided I was going to put it towards a used DSLR.  So I posted on FB asking ppl what models they liked, etc and this guy from High School who I was in band with (he was a Sr when I was a freshman and I was friends with his sister) saw my facebook post asking for advice on what used DSLR to look for, etc.  So he messages me and says- you can just have mine!

He lives in AZ and even paid to ship the camera.  It was a CANON REBEL XT camera body with battery in it & strap... no lens, no battery charger/cords/memory card/case/manual/etc...

In college I took a photography class and had to buy and SLR camera.  I got the Canon Rebel film version bc digital was just getting more popular and it was super expensive.  I also had a Camera bag already for this camera in college!  The bag will work PERFECTLY for all my new stuff- cool huh!?

AND luckily my old FILM Rebel kit zoom lens fit on it - so all i needed to start shooting was a memory card!!  I knew I would need a battery charger soon too!  So I checked out the battery and started researching what charger I'd need to order, etc.  Even thought about getting an extra battery at some point... chargers were about $70, batteries $35 ish.  

HOWEVER an extra bonus- the camera a friend gave me that stopped working - the Canon G9 - it had a chargeable battery (with the charger) in it... well the battery is the SAME exact one that this new camera uses meaning - I have 2 batteries and a charger already!! :) Praise the LORD! :)

Oh AND did I mention I already owned a CF card reader from my very first Digital camera (that i haven't used in years!!) and i knew where it was?!  Cool huh!? :)

I quickly bought a new lens to play with also- its the 50mm 1.8 that most of my friends use to get the awesome portaits with a "blurry" bg!  I found it locally at Competitive Camera in dallas for 99.95+ tax!

AND i realized I didn't have a cord to hook the camera to the TV - so I found one of those online.  I also found a Memory card converter that will convert a regular SD card (I have like 4 of these already) to CF format in your camera.  I felt like I would rather invest a little in a converter and be able to use the small, easy to find SD cards in my camera instead of the older, more rare CF cards.  I take LOTS of pics and now that I'll be shooting in RAW, I'll need more space!!

So this is what I've spent for my camera so far:

Memory Card: $26

50mm f/1.8 lens: $108.00

A/V video cable: $10

CF to SD card converter: $16

Grand total: $160.00

Can you believe it?!! I've spent $160 and I now have everything that follows for my camera:

Canon Rebel XT 8.1 mp complete with Camera bag, Kit Lens, 50mm Lens, 2 batteries, a charger, a video cord, a 4gb CF memory card, a card reader, SD to CF converter, numerous SD cards.

I'm so excited!!! God is SOOO good to me!!  Can't wait to start bettering my photography skills!!

I think I'm gonna start praying for a MAC Laptop with Adobe CS5!!  Bring on the BHAP! :) (big hairy audacious prayers) and lets see what God wants to do!