New Photos

I've been in bed this week, thank you to strep throat that I caught from my husband. We TRIED to stay apart, but I guess we caved too soon. At any rate, bored with silly television (yes, there really is a show about celebrities without makeup) and not in the mood to read, I searched through some old photos and played with them. The TtV is available in my Etsy shop. More posts soon....

Truly Honored

I am so truly honored to be included in a Treasury with some really amazing photographers. These are Etsy photographers that I have admired and who have inspired me to learn more and more about photography. Here's a complete list of the photographers and links to their Etsy shops.

Susannah Tucker

Friendly Made

Ketzelphotography

catherinebuca

AliciaBock

CitrusTree

sweetblue

ScarletBeautiful2

viewfinder

everydaymoments

Be sure to check out each shop. There are some truly amazing things in each.

Thank you SOOOO much jjbackman! You've made my day!

The Whites

A new series of polaroids called "The Whites". More to come. These are available in my Etsy shop as 6 x 6 Prints. I'm thinking of also offering these images with some others in a set of cards. I'm having so much fun with my cameras. I'm wondering if I will ever put pen to paper again....

Playing with Polaroid

I've pulled my two Polaroid cameras out of the closet and played with them a little over the past few days. Here's a sampling. You can see more on my Flickr.

Also, I've found an AMAZING blog project that I plan to check every day. It's called the Noticing Project. Each day, two friends and artists, Alicia Alferman and Heather Smith Jones, post a photo each. They decided to do the project together when they discovered that they noticed similar things on the same day, photographed them and posted them on their Flickr's. The blog is both beautiful and educational. I particularly appreciate how they each tell a story without including all of their subject matter in the frame.

Stay Awake!

Just back from a FANTASTIC trip to Los Angeles, California. I spent some time alone wandering around Beverly Hills and some time with friends reminiscing and laughing. It was the perfect holiday. When I got on the plane, I thought it was over. Oh was I wrong! These are just a few photos I took from the window during the flight. Go to my Flickr site to see more. I'm so happy I stayed awake for this. Stay Awake!

Pay Attention

Every day I walk with my son to school and every day I see something new and beautiful. Today it was these tiny little orbs in the field we walk through. Mistaken for some sort of half eaten jawbreakers at first, then maybe some weird fertilizer put out by the school district, these tiny little things turned out to be a fungus. Mushrooms! I captured a few photos in the morning, but when we were back after school they were gone. These tiny mushrooms remind me of how quickly things change and to pay attention, to take time to see. We walk through that field every day and today was the first time we noticed these. I wonder what we'll see tomorrow.

We've Been Very Busy Painting Together

I love working with my husband. First of all, he's cute. Secondly, he's very talented. Thirdly, he's SO funny!

Over the past two weeks we have been completely repainting my brother's new house. Its been so much fun working together like we used to. And my brother was blasting 70's tunes all day, which made the days go by quickly. But we're finished now. This is just a sampling of our work.

You can see our decorative painting portfolio here. Most, if not all, of the work you see there was done by my very talented husband, Scott Dykema.

New Photo Cards

This morning an idea struck me as I was doing the laundry (a good time for ideas) and I just had to see it's fruition. So I spent the morning making some of my Through the Viewfinder prints into 4 1/2 x 5 1/2 Cards. I like how they look like there's an opening in the card that takes you to another time and place. Well, at least that's how I see it.

I printed these cards, as I do all my non-gocco printed cards, on Crane Museo Artist Cards. They're much higher quality than ordinary card stock. And my printer ink LOVES them. There's a slight texture to the cards, but not enough to look like watercolor paper or those Strathmore papers you see in the craft stores. They come in a couple different sizes - even a square size. But if you use the square card, be aware that the post office charges extra postage for this. Click here to find out more about Crane Museo Artist Cards.

All of these cards are available in my Etsy shop!

The Wedding Reception

The reception for my brother and his new bride was wonderful. I managed to finish the cake toppers and get them painted by the time the cake was delivered. Isn't that cake cute??? It was made by Creme de la Creme in Fort Worth, TX, who also made my sister-in-law's wedding cake. Deeeelish!


The grooms cake was made and decorated by my son (with some help from Daddy). He saw Mommy making the birds out of Sculpey for the wedding cake and decided he'd make some cake toppers too! There are four ducks swimming in a lake, with a "guy" and a horse looking on. I think Herb really liked it. Beautiful!

The paper Calla Lillies were the favors the guests took home. I made these flowers from beautiful hand made seeded paper from RecycledIdeas.etsy.com. Holly, from RecycledIdeas, went out of her way to make this gorgeous paper and get it to me quickly so I could finish all of these in time, and I really appreciate that.

I got the idea for these flowers from a great book I got from the library called Fast, Fun & Easy Fabric Flowers by Karen Flamme. The book includes detailed instructions on how to make lots of different flowers from fabric, though I decided to make these from paper. The flowers can be enjoyed as they are, or the paper can be removed and easily germinated to grow wildflowers. Holly sent me easy to understand directions which I included with each flower. Fun!

Joy Through the Viewfinder

I'm having so much fun with my new Vintage Through the Viewfinder series. Oh, thank heaven for my camera!

These are all available in my Etsy shop now. More coming soon.