Good bye Hello from Kristi

 

Good bye 2010

Hello 2011

Good bye 2010

Playing with light. Good bye 2010

Family Reunion at the Moreau River Sanctuary

My family (the Shaw's) spent a couple days at the beautiful Moreau River Sanctuary right after Christmas. It's a fantastic place to go to.  Here are a few of our "formal" pictures we took.

 My niece and her family. The lively bunch of the Reunion. What fun it is to have young ones around!

 Me and my sisters.

 My oldest sister Dawn and her Husband Doug

 Dawn and Doug and their Grand Children

 The whole gang at the Reunion

 The Grandkids and their spouses too

The Grand kids (oldest to youngest-top to bottom) Only missing my nephew who wasn't able to come.

Oh Christmas Tree!

This year I went back to having my "odd" Christmas trees. For years, I took a branch off a tree (be it a Cedar, Cottonwood, or a tumble weed) and made it a tree. About 10 years ago, my mom bought us an artificial tree.  But this year, I went back to doing my old strange things.  This is a branch off a huge Pine tree in our yard (which needs trimming anyway).

   I struggle every year in why we do what we do as traditions.  Though a Christmas tree is pretty to look at, there's another tree that truly brings us life. It's the one at the end of Jesus' life. And as this Christmas tree is an evergreen, the other tree brings us everlasting life.

 Have a very Jesus filled CHRISTmas! 

May you find room in your heart for Him, and be at home forever with Jesus!!

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!  May your day be filled with love, laughter and family. And may we all remember the real reason we celebrate. Jesus!!!

Love those kitties

This year we had two litters of kitties. They are always so fun to watch.  It was like trying to nail jello to the wall trying to take pictures of them though. Here were I few I managed to take this summer. All the kitties were fighting some kind of "cold", thus the watery eyes. It took a long time, but we finally got them over it.  I hope their all enjoying their new homes. 

The Hamers Family

I was privileged to photograph the Hamers family this last week. Here's a sampling of their pictures

 It was only 17 degrees out and snowing when we took these pictures. Everyone was cold, and I was trying to shoot as fast as possible.

 The mom brought the kids out a couple days later to my "studio" to shoot some individual pictures of them.

 She's such a cutie

A couple of cookies finally convinced the little boy to sit next to his sister.

Frosty morning

Jack Frost showed up and left his footprints all over our yard this morning.

Reading

Little True was getting her favorite book read to her by her big cousin Kristi. Kristi doesn't just read books she devours them in lightening speed.  I hope she can pass on to her little cousin the love for books and learning.  Still my favorite time of day is when I read aloud to my kids. Yes, I still read aloud to my teenager. Ask her, she tell you she still loves it. We share the story, the adventure and the time together. My fondest and best memories with my kids usually was around some book we were reading.  Read to your kids. If you don't have kids, find some young child and read them a story. See the lights in their eyes sparkle.

If you're looking for a great set of books to read this Christmas season, I highly recommend Jotham's Journey, Bartholomew's Passage, and Tabitha's Travels. All by Arnold Ytreeide.  I believe this is the 4th time I'm reading them aloud during the Christmas season. Not your run of the mill boring Christmas stories. You'll see Christmas in a wonderful new way! They're finally back in print again, and available through CBD.

Home made beauty dish

 A few photographer friends asked me to show the steps I used to make this homemade beauty dish.  Here's the supplies I used: A potting bowl from Menards (about $4.00) Single Gang Box Extender (BE1-2CS) which is an out-lite extender, 1/2" long 1/8" dia. Round Head Stove Bolts, and empty 50 CD/DVD case and mirror, spray paint, white lining material. The whole thing cost me about $8.00 (but I already had the spray paint and material).  The website I saw this on recommended spray paint for plastic. That may work better than what I used.

 Draw around the inside of the out-lite box on the bottom side of the bowl with a Sharpie.

 Cut along lines with a utility knife. It really cuts pretty easy if you use a new blade. :-)

 It took me a while to get an exact fit. I kept shaving away till I got it fit snug.

 Shaving away a little at a time. I'm sure some of you could get it right the first time, but I'm not that skilled.

 When it fits flat, you know you've got it.

 Then draw on the CD/DVD base and start cutting. This is showing the back side. It's a little harder to cut than the pot, so be careful. It also cracks easily, so be careful not to break it.

 Fit all three pieces together. This is a view from the inside of the bowl.

 Drill holes for the bolts using a 9/16 bit. (By the way, cordless drills are some of my favorite tools.The first one we owned my husband gave it to me for my birthday and I was thrilled. We later replaced that one with this one for his birthday, but I still use it more than him.  He always teases me, that I should belong to the Handyman of America club.)

 Here's an inside view with the bolts in place.

 Tighten the bolts and get ready to paint.

 I spray painted the outside black, just for looks.

 On this one, I spray painted the inside silver. My first one I did with white glossy paint. And yes, I use plastic gloves, I hate paint on my hands.

 To make the diffuser panel, I used white lining material. (Left over from my daughter-in-laws wedding dress) Measured, 2" outside the dish, all the way around. (I used a disappearing ink pen, but that's not totally necessary) Make a casing and run 1/4" inch elastic through it, till it fit tight.

 Picture #1:Here's the dish upside down ready to be measured out for the diffuser panel.

Picture #2:Here's what the diffuser looks like finished.

 The inside of the CD/DVD dome I glued a CD first (with craft glue, but hot glue would work too). Then I put a mirror in the center (a cheap one from Walmart, found in the auto department).  I still would like to find a mirror that fits the whole case, but haven't found one yet.

 Here's what it looks like all assembled. (This is my white one) Someone asked which size CD/DVD to use. The website recommended a 50, as a 25 was a little too short, and a 100 too long.  Of course you can use with or without the diffuser, depending on what you're looking for in the lighting.  You loose a stop or two this this set up, so adjust accordingly.

With the diffuser on and my Nikon SB800 speedlight. The out-lite extender fits so tight, I don't use anything else to hold it on. On the website where I saw this, they used some Velcro, which you could use for extra support.  I know the SB900 is a little bit bigger, so the outlite extender would probably not fit. You could use a drain spot extender (I don't know the correct name for it.)  Just take your speed light with you to the hardware store (I did). :-)

   Hope this helps, and happy creating. It took me about 30 minutes to make, plus the paint drying time.  I was a little slow in cutting the hole so it could be done quicker, if you're better with an utility knife than I am.
  For you Cannon users, I have no idea if this would fit a Cannon Speedlight. Like I said before, take it with you to the Hardware store and see what fits your Speedlight.

Philip and Football

Philip came home tonight for Thanksgiving. As always it's so fun to see your kids when they come home. He wanted me to make a poster of him playing football. Here's what I came up with tonight for him.  Since I'm just learning Photo shop I felt it wasn't too bad.