My husband, daughter and I moved back to Nebraska when my daughter was one, which was 6 years ago. The year we moved back, we started a family tradition of visiting the local pumpkin patch near Halloween. The first year we took my husband's parents and my grandmother. Subsequent years have included friends and other family members, but we have always managed to go. This year we went with my father, step mother, my brother and his new wife and baby. This is a tradition that I really enjoy and look forward to each year. This year I kept looking at the clock thinking about how slow time was going, as I really wanted to leave! The kids have grown to understand that this is something we do every year, and they are still young enough to not find it boring and really enjoy the trip. We have many other family traditions, but this is one that we have created ourselves.

Each year I've created a layout of our trip and it's fun to sit down and see how the children have grown through the years. I've created one for each year, each showcasing the photo that I've loved the most out of all the one's I've taken.  With my daughter being older now, she has a sense of appreciation of the layouts and photos and will sit on my lap for hours looking at herself as a child.

We have another tradition with taking photos of the children at the local zoo.  They have a brass otter statue, and each year that we visit the zoo, I have had the kids stand next to the statue.  Having an object that is the same, while the children get bigger, is a wonderful way to see the growth of the children!

What traditions have your family created that you look forward to each year?  What techniques have you used to scrapbook your traditions?

The last couple months we have talked about creating a digital scrapbook all about you.  I hope that you have been inspired to create something that you can pass down to your children or grand children while celebrating a very important person, you!

Recently, my friend and I decided to check out our cities camera club.  I've been looking for an outlet to prompt me to make time to take photos, as I've been slacking a lot on this lately.  We went to our first meeting and had a blast, and I plan to continue going.  I started thinking of ways that I could encourage myself to take even more photos, and started looking on the internet for sites that had weekly or daily challenges for photography. 

I started with Flickr.  Flickr is an image and video hosting website and online community platform and a popular website for users to share personal photographs.  I've had an account with them for a couple years (you can take a peek here), so I figured this would be a good place to start.  

Doing some searches, I stumbled across a site called PhotoChallenge.org.  This site gives a new theme each day for you to focus on and it's up to you to interpret the theme.  I am always captivated when I see how people interpret a theme.  On October 1, the theme was "Out of Place" and the photos that were taken were so inspiring.  Talk about thinking outside of the box!

One of my all time favorite sites is the DPChallenge site.  I have never participated here, mainly because the level of talent these photographers have is so incredibly intimidating, but I have spent countless hours looking at the photos and having my breath taken away.  I want to be some of these photographers when I grow up!  Even though I don't participate, I have gotten a lot of ideas on how to do the photo myself, and have experimented a lot using the techniques that they talk about and show in their photos.

Photo Friday is one site that I have participated in.  Each Friday they post a new theme, and like the others, you have to interpret the theme.  This site is fun because the members get to vote on their favorite photo for the theme. 

We also have a couple of photography challenges at Gotta Pixel!  Photo Scavenger Hunt, Pick A Something Photo Challenge, A-Z Photo Challenge. 

My challenge to you is to get out there and challenge yourself to take more photos, and not just photos of your family!  Take pictures of things that you wouldn't necessarily think about taking photos of, and interpret life in your own unique way!

When I was a child I had this odd little knack of being able to figure out clocks.  It didn't really matter how complex, new or old they were, I could sit down and within minutes figure out how they worked.  My grandmother would put clocks aside with the mental note to have me  look at it when I was over next.  I was unique that way.

Unique is described in the dictionary as being the only one of its kind.  It's no mystery that each of us have things about us that are unique and extraordinary.  Some of those unique things about us are things that our friends or family know about, but there are other things that may only be known to ourselves.  Whether it be a private or public uniqueness, it is ours and we should own that uniqueness proudly!

Layout created using Julie Marie Design's Tranquility Page Kit

What makes me Unique...

My food can’t touch... I can’t eat soggy bread... I like to paint my toenails green... I sleep on my right side... I hate to fly... I can tell what direction is north almost 100% of the time... I have beautiful dark brown eyes that look almost black when I’m angry... I'm addicted to my blackberry... I hate the taste of syrup and put peanut butter and jelly on my pancakes and have since i was little... I'm sensitive to sounds; chewing, breathing... I'm slightly OCD (or is that CDO?)... I love to wear Birkenstock's... I really want to get my nose pierced... I get excited about learning new computer code... I don't like other people to drive me, so i drive most of the time... I love taking pictures of bugs and spiders, even though I was bit by a brown recluse that made me really sick... I had eye surgery when i was five and was hit by a car the same year... I had to redo kindergarten... I used to have my left ear pierced 4 times and my bellybutton pierced once... I've had my appendix taken out and have photos of it...

Creating a "Why I am Unique" page is a wonderful opportunity to give your family a look at a side of you that is outside the box.  When I sat down to make this page I thought about the things that my daughter always says "Oh mommy, you're so weird" to, or the things that kind of make me proud (like always knowing which direction we are driving when my husband can't even figure out what town he is in).  What are things that you like to do that isn't necessarily mainstream; like belly dancing or holding the record in your town hula hoop contest.  Think about what makes you unique as an adult and what made you unique as a child.

What makes you unique?

My grandmother has been in the process of writing her autobiography for some time now, and I've had the pleasure of reading most of it.  Her stories are so eloquently written and talk about how, while living during the depression, she and her family survived living on a farm.  As I read her memories of how the second floor of their house was so poorly made, that snow would come through the cracks while she slept, or how they stored apples and other fruits in the basement during the winter time or how they would make only one trip a year to the grocery store... the continuous thought in my head is that this is a story worth telling.  My grandmother is such an incredible woman and I'm blessed to have her in my life and to know who she was.  The underlining aspect of her life is that there were always positive outcomes, even during the greatest adversities.

I sat down a couple weeks ago to work on my childhood pages with the hope that I could overcome my strong hesitation about doing them.  I have a hard time putting into context that when my children see this book, they will be older and will be able to understand more than their 7 and 2 year old brains do now.  I've debated back and forth to what degree I tell the truth, and what things I sugar coat.  Finally, after throwing out about 50 different layouts, I decided to close my eyes, take a deep breath.. and just go with it.

When you sit down to write your childhood page, throw away the preconceptions of what you thought you would write, and just write.  Your childhood help make you the person that you are today, and that includes all the good memories and all of the bad memories.  Sometimes you have to divulge some of those bad memories to explain how you overcame them, or how you pledge to never repeat them. If you don't want to touch base on exact things about your childhood you can focus on things that you remember about your childhood.  Here are some ideas:

• Your first memories

• Your favorite childhood vacation spot

• Your friends as a child

• Funny things that happened to you

• Family traditions

• People who were influential in your life

• Special family activities (like playing games every Thursday)

• Embarrassing moments

• Talk about your family home

• What did you want to be when you grew up

• Your bedroom as a child

• Your favorite stuffed animal or blanket

• Hobbies as a child

• Sports you were involved with

• Favorite foods

Talk about things that your children or grand children know nothing about.  When I was a kid, we were slowly moving out of vinyl records and into tapes.  Neither of these things are objects that my daughter even knows about, as she has only been exposed to CD's and DVD's.  I remember how excited I was when Friday came around because they had Friday Night Videos, and my parents allowed me to stay up late to watch them.  Or how in the 8th grade I came home, sat down in front of the TV, and turned on this incredible new TV show called "MTV".    I know that as I read my grandmother's autobiography I was amazed as she explained how they made sorghum, and how the entire community came together and collaborated in making the final product.  She explained in detail how it was made and the thoughts and feelings she had as she helped her parents work.  Bring your children into your world so they can see through your eyes!

Here are some more excellent page kits to use for your All About Me album.  Don't forget to pick up this weeks Praiser Templates too, they are free!

I've been walking you through creating your About Me Album, and this week, the focus on how you met your significant other, and the story behind how certain people came into your life.  I've been looking forward to these pages, mainly because they don't necessarily focus on me.  Please don't feel confined to only focusing on children and significant other.  Branch out to the adoption of the family pet, the purchase of your first house, or any other person or thing that has played a huge part in your life.

For this week's blog, I scrapped three of my pages.

• How I met daddy
• The birth of my daughter
• The birth of my son

I wanted the page about my husband to really focus on who he was when I met him and who he is today, but more through the images.  For my children's pages, I wanted to create like pages, so that no one could say "but their page looks better than mine!" 

Layout created using BellaGypsy's Fort Wannahockaloogie page kit
and her Sketchology: Work of Fiction templates.

Layout created using BellaGypsy's Love, Lori page kit.

Layout created using BellaGypsy's Let's Hear It For The Boy page kit.

When you are journaling, think back about how you felt at the moment you met the person.  Talk about your thoughts and your feelings, and include quirky and unique things about the relationship.  Don't be embarrassed!  The story behind how I met my husband is horribly embarrassing, but it's my history of how I met the man I've been married to since 2001, and I can't edit it to make it "pretty"!

You may have noticed that I used some templates this time around to create my "How I met your Father" layout.  Check out my blog on Using Templates to create your Digital Scrapbook Layout, and don't forget to pick up this weeks free Praiser Packs as well!  Enjoy these two 12 x 12 templates, FREE for all registered Gotta Pixel store members! These pages were put together by one of our wonderful Pixel Praisers. This Praiser Pack will be available for ONE WEEK only, before it is moved into our Subscribers area. All templates contain PSD, TIFF and PNG files so they can be used in a variety of editing programs, and will be available for one week

When I was young, my grandfather would occasionally bring out the slide show projector and we would go through the slides, looking at pictures that were taken in the past.  I remember seeing photos of me sitting on a motorcycle, and sitting with my grandparents, and even now, I can close my eyes and visually see those memories.  My grandfather would narrate what was happening when the pictures were taken, and it seemed like he took great pride in these photos of his family.

When you are creating your album about you, don't forget to include your family members, focusing on how they make you feel, or memories about them that you may only remember.  Telling these stories passing on your memories to everyone who reads them, and gives an insight into who you are and who your family members are.  For my family page, I wanted to focus on my husband and children, and what aspects of them are most prominent right now.  I wanted to give some insight on their personality and the things that they enjoy.  I used the page kit "We are Family" by She's Full of Scrap.

The journaling reads:  this... "This is my family. Eric, the kind hearted man who would do anything for his family. the man whom the children know as dependable, caring and compassionate. Shaylee, the girl who revolves around her world of dinosaurs, dragons, snakes and bugs. her expressive nature brings forth such incredible thoughts and ideas and I'm constantly amazed at how she thinks. Ian, my son, who has more adventure and spunk than all of us put together. no fear and no stopping him when he sets his mind to it. my adventurer. my thrill seeker." 

For your family page, you could also show your family tree or include information about your parents, or siblings, or even your pets.  These are all things that encompass our circle of family and they are definitely worth scrapping about!

Here are some other wonderful page kits that you could use to create your About Me Album and your Family page!  Don't forget to pick up this week's Praiser Packs!  Enjoy these two 12 x 12 templates, FREE for all registered Gotta Pixel store members! These pages were put together by one of our wonderful Pixel Praisers.

Last week I introduced you to the idea of creating an album about you.  If you're like me, you are busy scrapping all about your family or pets, or vacation, but scrapping about yourself really isn't a focus that you've had.  I wanted to have something that my children could look at when they're older to learn more about me, so I decided to take this opportunity to do that and I welcome everyone to join in this scrapping journey!

The first page of my album I wanted to focus on just a picture of myself.  I didn't want to really clutter it up with anything else besides some elements.

Layout created using Laura Burger's ME So Happy Scrap Kit

When you're working on your About Me, focus on things that you believe make you unique, or things that your family may not realize or have forgotten.  I plan to include somewhere in my book about how my hair used to be as straight could be, but became curly after the birth of my son, or how I remember I had to redo kindergarten as I wasn't ready for 1st grade at the time I should have been.

Don't be afraid to scrap the silly things about yourself, or the embarrassing things.  Scrap about the real you.  Try to use a lot of journaling in your book, so that you can tell your stories on paper.  MyOwnFont by Karen, at Gotta Pixel, can turn your handwriting into a computer font so that you can use your own handwriting to create your layouts, which gives it an even more authentic flare.

Though I know many scrappers want to use the same page kit for the entire album, I've decided I want to use a different one for each page, as it helps me set the overall mood of the layout.

Here is an About Me page that I made in 2006.  I wanted to include as many aspects of "me" in the one layout as I could.

I would love to see what you are creating for your About Me album!

I'm horribly about scrapping about myself.  I don't really like to call attention to myself, as I'm more of a wall flower in social settings, and I have maybe 4 photos of myself in the thousands of photos on my hard drive, so scrapping about me is not a top priority.  However, recently, while my daughter and I went through a book we picked for her grandfather, that lets him answer a whole bunch of questions about himself, I thought about what type of visual memorial I will be leaving my children for their future, and realized that right now, it's not much of a memorial, so I'm determined to change that by creating a book, all about me!

I first sat down and charted out exactly what I wanted to scrap about, so that I wouldn't lose motivation or ideas as I go through this.

1. This is me... This page will showcase a picture of me today.
2. My family
3. How I met daddy
4. The birth of my daughter
5. The birth of my son
6. Growing up; where I was born, where I lived, how many times we've moved.
7. My favorite childhood memory
8. What makes me unique
9. I am grateful for...
10. What makes me happy or sad
11. What makes me laugh or cry
12. What makes me angry or nervous
13. What I wanted to be when I grew up...
14. My Favorite Movie
15. My Favorite Color
16. My Favorite Foods
17. My Favorite Music
18. My greatest loss
19. What I want to be when I am 40+
20. What I want my children to remember forever...

Next week I'm going to share with you page one of my book.  I would love for you to join me in scrapping All About You!  Please feel free to share your layouts too!  You can upload them here at AnnTheGran, or at Gotta Pixel in our gallery.

We have a couple new designers over at Gotta Pixel that I wanted to share with you as well.  MyOwnFont by Karen has brought a wonderful service to you.  She takes your handwriting and turns it into a font that you can install and use on your computer for everything; you scrapbook layouts, your email signature, word documents.  She is also providing some wonderful fonts that you can purchase and use in your layouts to a creative flare.  DoohikeyDesigns joined us a couple weeks ago and she has brought such an eclectic line of creative and fun products to use with your digital scrapbook projects.  Finally, Bella Gypsy joined us this week and we're super excited to have her fun products in the store. Don't forget to pick up this weeks free Praiser Packs as well!  Enjoy these two 12 x 12 templates, FREE for all registered Gotta Pixel store members! These pages were put together by one of our wonderful Pixel Praisers. This Praiser Pack will be available for ONE WEEK only, before it is moved into our Subscribers area. All templates contain psd, TIFF and png files so they can be used in a variety of editing programs, and will be available for one week

A blank canvas is not a bad thing!

My living room has been bugging me lately.  All of the walls in our home are painted white, and for some very odd reason I have not gotten around to actually putting pictures up on the walls in the living room.  I've spent many minutes standing staring at the big white wall that is the focal point of the room and pondering all the creative and exquisite things that I can do, and I keep coming back to a thought... less can be more.

I'm a huge fan of white space; both in my home but also in my layouts.  Effectively using white space has become very popular amongst many of the digital scrapbookers.

When I took this photo of my daughter, I literally fell in love with it.  I knew that I needed to create a layout of it that could be framed and put on my wall, but I also knew that the photo was what I wanted to be the absolute focus of the overall layout. I took the photo, lightened the background so that it was a crisp white and placed it on a white canvas and using an alpha and one butterfly element, created the title.  Anything more on this layout would simply take away from the happiness that I feel the image creates.

This layout, created by Armina, really caught my eye.  She clustered the leaves and flowers around the photo so that your eyes are instantly drawn to the beautiful smiles in the photo.  The placement of the word art, beautiful, and the background text that says little lady is superb and helps to balance the page.

I adore this layout created by Laura Bobaura!  Using just a few elements she created a storyboard that shows such a cute story of "Super Daddy".  I love how she has cut out the photos and she has really done a great job adding realism to this layout with drop shadows!

Finally we have a layout created by LorieM.  I love layouts that showcase the scrapper and give them a little peek into who they are.  Notice the subtle explanation of "who" she is under the words Simply Me.  This layout uses so little but creates such a bold statement.

Show me your layouts that really utilize white space!  I would love to see them!

Don't forget that to pick up the July 28 Praiser Pack over at Gotta Pixel.

Enjoy these two 12 x 12 templates, FREE for all registered Gotta Pixel store members! These pages were put together by one of our wonderful Pixel Praisers. This Praiser Pack will be available for ONE WEEK only, before it is moved into our Subscribers area. All templates contain psd, TIFF and png files so they can be used in a variety of editing programs, and will be available for one week, before they are put into our Subscribers Club.

These are free for you to download and we would love to see the layouts that you create using them!

In 2002, I sold my film camera and went 100% digital.  Since then, I have accumulated well over 17,000 photos that equal roughly 34 GIG on my hard drive.  Unlike film photo, there are no negatives that you can pull out if a photo is ruined.  If your hard drive crashes and you don't have a backup, everything is lost.  The thought of losing photos of the last 7 years of my life, which includes the birth of two children and the transition of their lives, sends me into panic attacks!  So I'm diligent about making sure that my photos are secure and safe if anything happens to my hard drive.

Backing up to a second home computer

Did I mention that I'm a bit paranoid about backing up?  As well as using an online storage company for a backup, I also backup my photos to my daughter's computer.  

I've been using Handy Backup for several years now and it's a wonderful program that runs on your home computer with several backup options, including backing up to another home computer.  I have it scheduled to backup during the early hours so it doesn't interfere with the time I am on the computer, and it is set up to only backup files that have actively changed since the last backup.

Online Storage

In the last couple of years, online storage sites have been cropping up that offer an incredible amount of space and ease of use, for the normal personal computer user.  Online storages gives you the advantage in that it's hosted outside of your home.  If something were to happen to your home, and that was the only place you had your backup stored, you could very well lose all the hard work you put in backing up those files.  The following are just two examples of online storage companies that are currently available.

This is the online backup that my husband uses to backup his laptop.  They offer you 2 GIG of storage  for free.  If you need additional space, you can upgrade at a cost.  50 GIG costs $9.99 a month and 100 GIG costs $19.99 a month.  You download and install their software and after it's been installed all you have to do is drag and drop the files you want to upload to the DropBox on your icon bar.  I found it pretty easy to use.  They also have a referral program, so if you refer a friend who signs up, you receive additional storage space free of charge.

This is the service that I personally use.  They offer you 2 GIG of storage for free.  If you need additional space, you can upgrade at a cost.  You can get unlimited storage space for $4.95 a month.  You download and install their software and after it's been installed all you have to do is drag and drop the files you want to upload to the DropBox on your icon bar.  I found it pretty easy to use.  They also have a referral program, so if you refer a friend who signs up, you receive additional storage space free of charge.

When you sit down and look at these services, it's a good idea to look at what you want to backup.  If you were asked how much that information was worth to you, what would your answer be?  I know that my photos are simply priceless.  I can never get back photos of my daughter or son's birth.  Their first smiles.  Birthday parties.  These memories mean everything to me, so I figure the cost of backing everything up is well worth it!

Don't forget to stop over at Gotta Pixel to pick up this week's free Pixel Packs!

Enjoy these two 12 x 12 templates, FREE for all registered Gotta Pixel store members! These pages were put together by two of our wonderful Pixel Praisers. This Praiser Pack will be available for ONE WEEK only, before it is moved into our Subscribers area. All templates contain PSD, TIFF and PNG files so they can be used in a variety of editing programs, and will be available for one week, before they are put into our Subscribers Club.

This tutorial was written for Photoshop CS, but can easily be converted for Photoshop Elements.

The Orton Technique consists of combining two photos of the same subject, one in focus and the other out of focus. The purpose is to add a glowing halo effect to the subject.

1. Open the image that you want to work with.

2. Open the Layer Window and click on the bottom image layer and on the top toolbar go to Image > Apply to Image. Change the Blending to SCREEN and the Opacity to 100%.

3. In the Layers Window, right click on your image layer and duplicate it.

4. On the duplicated layer you are going to apply a blur. Make sure that the new duplicated layer is selected then go to the top toolbar Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. You want to lose some of the focus on the image, so mess around with the radius until you do that. The amount really depends on the size of the image. For this example, I used a radius of 10.

5. On the Layers Window, change the blending mode from Normal to Multiply.

Here is another example.

Don't forget to pick up this weeks Free Praiser Template Pack over at Gotta Pixel! Enjoy these two 12 x 12 templates, FREE for all registered Gotta Pixel store members! These pages were put together by our wonderful Pixel Praisers. This Praiser Pack will be available for ONE WEEK only, before it is moved into our Subscribers area. All templates contain psd, TIFF and png files so they can be used in a variety of editing programs, and will be available for one week, before they are put into our Subscribers Club.

In every photo shoot that I have ever done, I take tons of photos and only a handful are truly worthy of being called “perfect”.  The rest have my child’s head chopped off, they are making a funny face, or something is just way off.  These are the “imperfect” photos.  I used to look at these and just shake my head at the opportunity lost… but then I realized that an imperfect photo could actually be perfect!

One of the first real photo shoots I did with my daughter was around Easter time.  There were some gorgeous photos that came out of it, and then there were the one’s where Shaylee moved too far, and got chopped out of the photo.  I used to delete these kind of photos until I did this layout.

I loved how this layout turned out, because it really showed the true personality of my daughter.  I found that after I did this layout, that I really should start to look at photos differently.. kinda like a diamond in the rough.

I was making a layout for a contest that I was participating in and needed a photo of Shaylee holding up a sign.  She needed to look sad though.  Do you know how hard it is to make a happy child look sad, and make them not laugh?  I finally got the photo I wanted, but I also had all these other one’s that were just silly… which ultimately inspired this layout.

I have also found that taking imperfect pictures make for good stories.  I was taking photos of my daughter, and her cousins in the back yard.  I caught the girls in their car, and caught my nephew playing around in his car.  Two separate times in taking the pictures, but when you put them together, you could make a very cute little story!

So, the next time you take some photos, look not for the perfect photo, but look for the one that gives you the most happiness.  Sometimes those are the photos that no one else would give a second thought to..

Don't forget to pick up this weeks Free Praiser Template Pack over at Gotta Pixel!

In February, I introduced you to what digital scrapbook templates were and since then, I've had several people contact me asking for more information about them and how they can be used.  I wanted to use this opportunity to show you how versatile templates are.

Connie Prince, at Gotta Pixel, has made some wonderful templates in her career.  Here is her Full of Heart 12x12 Template pack.

The first layout was created by CindyB and the second one was created by wagsmom.  Using the template as their inspiration, they both came up with two very unique and different layouts.

Kristmess has a wonderful template called Easy Page 1. 

The first layout was created by jojo and the second was created by pewtertm.  Two very different page kits were used for the layouts to create two very different results.

Each week, on Tuesday, we have been releasing free templates to our members.  They have been created by the wonderful staff that we have at Gotta Pixel.  I would really love to see what you can create with one of this week's templates.  Click on the picture below to go to the Gotta Pixel store and order the free templates!  Post a comment in this thread when you're done with a link to your finished layout!

Because I'm not a traditional paper scrapper, I have had to pick up some supplies along the way to do the hybrid projects I've been working with. I have found a few ways to decrease the costs involved and wanted to share those with you now. 

A small disclaimer though. If you are going to be working with photos and are working to create something that is going to be long lasting, you did need to be mindful of what products you use to make sure that they are acid free. Not everything I'm going to suggest below fall under this category. These money saving tips are more aimed for projects where longevity of the project is of the utmost importance.

Glitter Galore

Check out the glue glitter bottles. The size is comparable to scrapbook glue glitter, however, the ratio of it coming out of the bottle is a little more thin, but not enough not to use it. There is a wide range of colors to pick from and the bottles are bigger.

Go to the fabric aisle!

Instead of heading towards the scrapbooking isle at your local craft store, go to the fabric aisle instead. Here you are going to find a ton of ribbon, buttons and other doodads that you can easily use in your projects. You will find that there is usually a wider selection, and you typically can get more yards for the price. I picked up some gorgeous buttons to use on my projects for a small price. I do have to cut off the button holes on the back if they are equipped with them, but that is easy enough with a pair of wire cutters I've gotten a lot of other things; like velcro fasteners, eye hole fasteners, etc. from the fabric area and they have worked really well for my needs. Don't forget the large tapestry area as well. I picked up fringe for this project (purse project) there as well as the cord for the purse.

Raid Grandma's Button Drawer

My grandmother has been collecting buttons ever since I can remember. I remember as a child going through the button drawer looking at all the wonderful buttons. Try using some of those buttons for your project.

Pick a boutique of flowers

I love flowers on my projects, but to me, the limitations that is out there for flowers that are specifically marketed for scrapbooking is to small. I need a flower to match a yellow paper I was using in this project and couldn't find anything that worked. I headed over to the silk flowers at the craft store and found the perfect flower! I bought it, took it home and took it apart and was overjoyed with the way it looked when I put it on the project, not only that, I still had about 200 more petals to use for more projects. Storing them is nice as well, leave them on the stem and put them all together as a boutique and when you're ready for a specific flower, just pick it off and take that bud apart. You can use the leaves as well from the flower!

Wait for Sales

If you can, wait for sales for all these things. They had glitter glue on sale for 50% off, and picked up all the colors I was missing. Check the clearance isle as well.  I picked up some perfect ribbon recently for a project and it was exactly what it needed!

So these are some little ideas to help you save some money doing the hybrid projects.  I would love to have any tips you may have for saving money for hybrid projects!  Don't forget to check out the hybrid tutorials we have at Gotta Pixel!

I'm not a winter person and that usually means that the number of photo shoots that I do during the winter are few and far between. Now that it's spring time though, I've been trying to have a photo shoot every weekend that we go out to my grandmother's after we attend church. My grandmother's house is rich with interesting things to photograph; from her peacocks to her old and rusted bicycles that she has to decorate her lavish flower garden. With the bugs emerging from their inner sanctity, my absolute favorite time to photograph is upon me, when it gives me the chance to photography bugs with my macro lens. I've always had this dream of doing macro photography, and now that I have the equipment to do it, it gives me so much joy and excitement!

Macro photography is the method of getting up close and personal with your subject using either special lenses or special settings on your camera. Almost all digital camera's now have a macro setting which will allow you to get in close. However, there are limitations with the point and click macro settings. If you are using a Digital Rebel dSLR like myself (I have an Xti) you can purchase special lenses for the camera that will allow you to to get very close to your subject. Currently, I own the Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro Lens, but there are others, like the 60mm that will fit many needs with a smaller price tag.

I've gotten one family member and several friends hooked on taking macro photography and I have found that it doesn't matter how young or old you are, or where you live, taking this type of photography is accessible to everyone.  

Here are some tips to get you started.

• Open your eyes!  Until you start looking for them, you don't realize how many bugs there are around you at any given moment.

• Do not breath directly on the bugs.  They are sensitive to carbon dioxide, except for some beetles, who will freeze when you breath on them.

• Carry a spray bottle to add droplets to your photo.  It creates an incredible effect in the photo.

• Bugs are sensitive to shadows.  If possible, approach the bugs so that you don't cast a shadow around them.

• Outdoor lighting is the most ideal.  If you are taking photos indoors, you will want to add additional light with a flash.

• Carry some type of windbreak for windy days.  It's impossible to take pictures of the flowers or bugs if it's windy.

• Stabilize your camera with a tripod to avoid the shake of the camera.

I would love to see what photos you have taken up close and personal with nature!