psst.

ariana suggested i make a photography related blog if i want to make sure i look serious about my photography. so if you so choose to make the voyage, you can visit and follow me over here.
my second photo bag is coming along.
slowly but surely.
i have to do a ton of portrait printing (pretty much until i run out of cyan ink)
so thats what will keep me occupied tonight

baggage claim

there is the "family" of 8 bags all done one after the other.
and they were so much stress... only 3 of them have the holes sewn shut (i don't remember why i only stopped there) but there you have it.
5 of them are listed on etsy and the remaining 3 will come soon.
i rephotographed all of them, since my photos last time were just so that i would have photos. so i shall swap out the photos later tonight, as well as upload the remaining 3, once we get home from grandmas and a potential joann's trip for a yellow 7" zipper.
still no sign of life from bella vista. :( i'd really like to hear already, you craft faire people you...
grrr.
oh. and i finished the first photo bag. i'm brilliant. love it.
and once i show you all, you shall be jealous. it not as sturdy as i'd like it to be, due to the interfacing i bought, but its pretty good looking if i do say so myself :) still waiting for megan's wedding announcement to show up so i can steal her engagement photo off there.
i need to get engaged so i can make one of these suckers for myself. haa haa
next week = 2 bridal showers and a wedding. plus working weds -> sat. yay money. no yay to commuting.

don't wanna close my eyes.. i don't want to fall asleep

(sorry. the aerosmith lyric just seemed a perfect title. hah)
front and backs are all pieced together
strap is done
lining has pocket sewn and pulled through
(no zipper yet)
i want to sew... but tomorrow is a crazy day.
observing 2 dance classes
driving to my cousin ben's house so he can escort me to the next community center
wait an hour, and observe 2 more dance classes
and then come home.
i'll prob take my laptop with me
and hope for internet at this second community center.
or... *shock* take a book and read.
blah.
i don't want to sleep.
i want to SEW
*grumble grumble*

photo bag update

i'm brilliant. what can i say?
well, after 95 8x10s complete, i was finally able to get the photo bag underway.
and after going with the input of those that gave it... aka my only two consistent reader/commentators, i now have the outsides all pieced together.
i went with the first photo option, the black and white one, as well as wrapped the pattern alternation around to the back side.
i'd love to show you all, but i'd rather you ooh and aah at the final product in its completion :)
i was having a hard time stopping, but figured i should let my brilliance take a rest, and go to bed.
and let me just tell you. doing one bag at a time is much more satisfying than 8. i still haven't completely finished those 8 bags... i was able to insert snaps into those that i had initially forgot - and also cannot find the snaps that i recently purchased. must mean that i need another joanns trip so that i can buy new ones, and then the original ones will show up. isn't that how it always works? lol.
once i finish this photo bag, the second one for megan should be a piece of cake... once i find a photo i like.. she needs to put some engagement photos on facebook like suzanne did. that made my life a whole heck of a lot easier :)

photo bag - a progression with needed input

so, as i'm printing out the photos for the donner mine music camp (95 8x10s total... i'm on the 5th set of 10. whee. what a fun night.) i was able to get the dimensions for the center chunk of the bag in order to figure out the size and such... well, that was all fine and dandy until i got to the point of picking a photo to use for suzanne's bag. the first photo is a sample of the colors so you can get an idea. the shades of black print will be used for the pocket, as well as the stripes to the sides of the photo, and as well around the back side stripes. the turquoise will be used for all other pieces. the band across the top, the strap, the lining, and all remaining triangles. i've narrowed it down to three photos, for three very different reasons. so here are the photos, with their detailing as to the issue of why i can't choose. (here starts the 6th set of 10 photos printing)here we have the bag fabric. the turquoise has a gold speckle to it, as well as a few varying shades of the color, and the black has a slight texture look to it so its not so "blah" mind you, i tried going to turquoise fq's as well, but once i found this fabric, there was no turning backphoto option number one - grayscale on the grass... (i just named it that) this was my original pick. i like how there is no color that would clash with the turquoise on the bag, as well as its more of a casual photo of suzanne and erick.option number two - hands and jeans in color. i like the simplicity of this photo, and the connection between the two of them, even though all you see is hands. i think this one would go nicely on a bag, without having any faces staring back at you :)photo option number 3 - smiling faces in sort of a "retro tone" as we use in picture people lingo - i like how this one isn't the complete full color, and has a deeper tone to it. you see both their faces, and a nice happy expression... and most of all, you also see the ring in this one :)

(oh goodness... is that a hair elastic i spot on suzanne's wrist? in her engagement photos? silly girl)
------
so there are the three choices...
i'm so bummed that my overall favorite picture of suzanne and her man will not fit, because that would be a hands down, no questions asked choice. :) for your viewing pleasure, here it is ---->
i could make it fit, but it would lose the overall cuteness of the photo. her shoe would get cut off, and i think that's a huge part of what makes this photo one of my favorites. suzanne has always had cute shoes. oh. i swiped all these photos from her facebook, so i know on the bag its going to probably have a slight grainy quality to them, but i think that won't detract from the bag at all.
thanks for looking, and please, any input on the three photos would be great. and more than just a "i like number _" i'd love more of a detail as to why i should go with your vote :)

update and such

all bags are done and intact
just lacking needing the hole in the lining sewn
i hate hand sewing...
can you tell i procrastinated on that?
haa haa.
i'll try and get a lovely photo of all of them sometime today for your viewing pleasure.
now i just need to figure out what to do next...
it will prob be a mix of rag quilts and bags
since i have the 2 bridal shower ones to do
as well as a large amount of flannel that needs to be pieced into blocks for rag quilts.
and scrapbook. gah. so much to do, so little time.
bags need to be done in about a week and a half
scrapbook is to be done before september.
and quilts, plus more bags, will be as we go, providing we get into the craft fair.
if we don't, i'll have all this flannel and nothing to do with it
haa haa.

sew... a needle pulling thread.

yes. its 3am.
such is my life.
but with that said, i have made progress.
the bags actually look like bags for the most part
well, the 5 i have near completion.
all that remains is top stitching the lining/outer piece
and sewing the hole in the lining i used to flip them through.
the remaining 3 bags all have their zipper intact.
need to get more interfacing to do the other half of the inside
the snaps are all ready to go once i get the pieces together
and then its just assembling the linings as a whole, and then attaching the outers to the innards for those.
and once those are finished, i can list all of them, and begin the rag quilts, and bridal shower gifts. i technically have 2 weeks from what is now today (thursday) to complete the first bag, and then the second one is two days later. oh snap. wow. just realized that. haa haa
taa taa.
its bedtime for me

goodbye, my face

i had to take off my banner for the time being.
its just not working right.
especially with my new awesome layout.
go me :)
--
on another note.
i got my seller's permit in the mail today.
erm, at this point, technically yesterday,
but i made a copy of it to mail.
success.
although, my permit it currently stuck in the copier.
and i hope it to be retrieved in the coming day.
so at least i can mail the one copy, while the original is being enjoyed as a snack

lies... to ariana that is

i told ariana i was going to bed...
well, that was the original plan.
and once i got to my room, and lugged the clothes bin that has been hovering in my room for over a week (i need to put laundry away like nobody's business) i decided i needed to show off my three m's of today's scrapbookage... since i got little top stitching done on my bags (even with that said, i have 2 outsides totally done, and the other 6 in progress through my sewing machine... literally they are still in the machine)

so here we have the M's

the mess
sticker maker, corner rounder, glue, sticker squares...
the sticky neccesities

the machine
best dicut machine i've purchased...

wait, its the only one.

and its sidekick, the juke box

the masterpiece(s)

these are the 6 pages i knocked out today when i shut myself in my room while everyone else watched disturbia in the living room. the original plan was to work chronologically through the book to catch up to now... yeah, that didn't work so well. the first 4 are in sequential order (2004) and then we jump forward 4 and a half years to october 31, 2008, skipping the pages for my birthday (november 08) and on to january 09... and yes, i HAD to use a vanilla ice lyric for the ice skating page... haa.
perhaps at some point, when these pages are all said and done, i'll scan each one of them, and make a photobucket album of all my lovely little scrapbook pages. i can just tell this is going to be one fat and happy little 8x8 album.

btw, the title, because the front of the album has one of those picture slots, is going to be "to germany, with love"

cute, i know :)

last night's inspiration

here is my doodle of three different bag ideas, featuring a photo, or two. i got the idea to do these for bridal shower gifts for the two girls i'll be going to showers for in the next month, as well as once i have them done, list them on our shop as samples of custom items that can be made. might also do one of kasey and don as a sample as well, and use their "first kiss" photo. let me know which of the three fronts you like best. the back would all be solid instead of the striped like usual. you may need to click on the picture to see it better

progress

straps interfaced - check
bag fronts pieced together - check
bag fronts interfaced - check
all aforementioned pieces basted to batting - check
all straps batting and interfacing trimmed - check
four pairs of eight bag fronts trimmed - check
bedtime - BIG check

pumping iron.

ironing seams...
bores the crud out of me.
4 bags down.
4 to go.
and then i get to cut them, and attach the top band.
how exciting.

you must have been a beautiful baby.

well, i'd consider photography a craft.
so here is your first sampling of today's photo shoot.
sure she's not happy giggly smiley in this one.
but i'm such a sucker for babies who look deep in thought, leaving you wondering as to what she's doing, thinking, etc.
madison wasn't in an overly smiley mood today, but between the outfits, there was a fair amount of smiles, or at least pleasant looks. my only disappointment, after the fact, was that there wasn't a "perfect" spot that was totally shady and nicely lit... i had forgotten my dad's flash at home. grumble grumble.
well, with enough editing, i should be able to make them look good :)
the second outfit didn't turn out well at all, in my opinion. but hopefully i can save something in the mix...
i'm off to work now. time for a lovely drive to natomas.

mosquito bites.

i don't have any fancy pictures.
just a quick update.
i have the fabric pieces to 6 bags all cut out
(still need to do interfacing and padding)
but other than that, i have some pieces for a different style bag (like my beatles one)
as well as three different divisions of military i need to cut out
-airforce, army & marines. i wasn't fond of the navy prints i found so eventually i need to look online for those, and possibly even the coast guard-
i'm able to cut out some more of all the bags except for buzz lightyear, and have some black and white color schemed cat bags to do (my mom bought the fabric for those, so i guess i gotta do a few of those...)
tomorrow i'll be photographing amber's baby madison for her to do some 8 month photos. a few more dollars in the pocket, but hey atleast she's a cutie. i'll prob head off to bed once this episode of malcom in the middle ends, since i have to wake up and be there by 10:30. haa haa yeah, early.
and i started teaching dance again last friday, and pretty much teach every day this week, whether its assisting the classes i'll sub next week, subbing classes this week (starting weds) or working with the class i'll eventually be taking over.
honestly, at this point, i'm doubting going back to picture people all together. i need that change to move forward now. i already had to take one step backwards to working at joanna's again. i don't need to take two and end up back at joanna's AND picture people again.