X is for Paws Crossed

Are you ready for another round of Alphabe Thursday? Let's go!

One of Angel's classic poses for years and years and years has been sit with her paws crossed. As such, I thought that it would not be hard to find a handful of pictures of her in this pose. It took me way longer than I thought. Most of these pictures are over three years old and are not well labeled anywhere online or on my hard drive. But here they are for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy this little blast from the past.

When we were living in Chicago (2006-2007)

 

In the condo (2007-2011)

  

Loving the move in process

 

  

A few final shots in Milwaukee (2011-2013)

Clearly the boys spend a lot of time watching Angel because it's not uncommon to see this these days.

Check out what the other Alphabe participants posted for the letter X this week right here!

wedding jewelry reveal

Many of you know that I've been working on the jewelry for my brother's wedding for a couple months now. It took a while for my future sister-in-law and I to figure out what would be a good fit for the wedding / these particular girls / etc. and then about as long for me to narrow down the materials that I needed to order...and then you know, actually make it happen. Because I've had a few things going on lately.

But I had the goal of getting all of the pieces done before the shower this past weekend, and I met it.

This is my piece. Of course I made it first.

It was by far the most expensive and most time consuming, which is largely why it was tough to stay motivated on this project. I wasn't thinking clearly about how the other two bracelets would go much more quickly.

I love it so much, though. All of the hard work paid off.

This bracelet is a version of this piece but with red. I didn't have any of the original materials anymore, and it was a bit of a hunt to find the red druk beads and white squares.

I never would have put these colors together on my own, but they're growing on me.

Normally I don't make my beadwoven pieces adjustable. But I haven't met the other girls who are standing up in the wedding and have no idea how they like to wear their bracelets.

I had never done a leaf bracelet in all white. I had a set of 4 clear, sparkly Swarovski bicones in my stash that were clearly destined for this piece.

I want to make another version to sell, but I'll have to pick up some more bicones because clearly this design needs them.

I don't always think to add a little leaf charm, but I'm so glad when I do remember. It adds such a nice touch.

What's up next?

For the next month, I'll be working on small show inventory (magnets, thumb tacks, etc.) and keeping best selling items stocked. How about you?

photo outtakes

I'm sharing another round of photo outtakes today. I'm making this a more regular feature for the foreseeable future. I think that it's really important to discuss the fact that I take a ton of photos to get a few gems. Also, while I keep improving my skills, I still make a lot of mistakes. Here are just a few examples of my recent outtakes.

This shot is way too angled. I did get one with a better angle.

Auto focus fail of one of my friend's kiddos at the zoo.

Another focus fail. These little guys move so quickly that it's really tough to use manual focus and auto focus just wasn't cutting it so well either.

Blurry mess with a long exposure.

That shadow is my camera lens hood. Awesome.

Do you ever have dark shots where there is basically nothing on the histogram? That's what happened here.

The shadowing here created a very muddled composition.

Totally the wrong angle.  Way too much shadowing.

Total fail on this sign at the state fair. I did get a few better shots of the signs.

Complete wash out of Lake Michigan. (Did you see the recent shots of the lake that did make the cut?)

 

Don't be afraid to share your outtakes once in a while! It makes everyone feel better.

photo share: the cycle shop

One of my photo excursions toward to the end of the summer included a short trip to a cycle shop. This was totally out of the norm for me, but that was one of the best parts about the experience. Enjoy.

What have you been photographing lately?

Saturday is Caturday

Are you ready to start your weekend with an amazing round up of kitty photos?

There's nothing like sleeping with a foot in your face.

The endless fascination with my hair.

Hanging out wedged in between me and the back of the sofa.

The ever popular S.

The back foot up on the keyboard shelf always kills me.

They knocked a bunch of DVDs out of the shelf so they could fit in there.

Sleeping with both "vampire" teeth showing. Priceless.

Beautiful Apollo hanging out in the Styrofoam in the morning.

I love the paw sticking through the hole.

Happy boys.

Lately Apollo has been watching TV on the laptop screen more than the big TV screen.

You may have noticed that we moved the ottoman so the cats have their own little seat for TV watching. They love it.

More laptop TV watching.

And in case you didn't have a smile on your face yet...

I feel like I need to add that Ares loved it. He was purring and relaxed the whole time.

What have your cats been up to lately?