A new camera accessory

Look what I got in the mail the other day - a fancy new camera strap!

Besides being pretty and super comfy, it's got an attached pocket to hold my lens cap.

But best of all, it's got quick detaching straps for the 90% of the time when I don't want a strap attached to my camera while taking photos!

My only qualm is it's a little long, so I have the adjustable straps almost as short as they'll go, and there's all that extra strap just hanging around. But then, I'm pretty short, and it doesn't take a whole lot of strap to have my camera hanging down around my belly button! I had them cinched up most of the way on my Canon strap too.

Like it? Go get your own at Made By Meegz on Etsy.

On a side note, taking photos with my old FujiFilm REALLY makes me appreciate my Canon!

Friday Favorites - Feb. 17

Been a couple weeks since I found time to put  one of these together.

Mare and foal watercolor painting - CrystalCookArt

I love that little brushy baby tail! I like the colors in the shadows as well. You usually don't think of shadows being colorful, but it works in this painting.

Equine graphite drawing  - frayserstudio

Lovely detail! Look at the veins in the neck and face!

Batik yoga pants - Batikwalla

I'm obsessed with the colors!

From Pinterest:

Any photographers on a budget? Here's a simple way to set custom white balance.

A fun way to use up any old/unwanted photos you have lying around.

A good way to hang things without putting nails in the walls.

Enjoy your weekend! I get to spend mine recovering from a lingering cold.

Friday favorites Dec. 16

I promise one of these days I'll get back to blogging something besides my Friday favorites. It's been a bit of a crazy week at work with the ad designer out sick for three days and having to do her work plus my own and then having to put together the Christmas edition.

But for now, some things I found to love on Etsy this week:

Gorgeous candle holders from blueroompottery. Love the color, and I'm obsessed with candle holders that throw shapes or colors on the surroundings.

Exquisite Andalusian drawing from EquineTreasures.

A super neat horse shoe star from BurdetteIronworks. I've seen lots of things made from horse shoes, but never anything like this.

From Pinterest:

Peppermint swirl cookies - I have so many Christmas treats made already, but I might have to make time for one more - only three ingredients too!

How to protect your camera in cold weather - I never would've even thought about condensation inside a camera, but it sure is easy to protect it.

Sesame chicken recipe - I LOVE sesame chicken, but there's really only one place I can get it, and it's 45 min. away and drowning in grease. Now I can make it myself and maybe make it a bit healthier.

I've been collecting a lot of Christmas goodie recipes this year. If you have any good ones, I'd love to have them!

Friday Favorites Dec. 9

From Etsy:

Horse-shaped soap from Melsfunsuds - how neat is this? I'm amazed at how detailed and real looking they are - I thought it was a plastic model!

This white chocolate hot cocoa from tetoncocoacompany sounds especially good today since the temperature outside is ZERO!

This unique ponytail holder from Vacationhouse would be great to make an everyday ponytail a little special.

From Pinterest:

Beginner DSLR buyer's guide - Oh, so helpful since I'm starting to save/look for a DSLR!

Pesto rolls - Yum!

Getting great color in your photos - Can't wait to be able to experiment with these.

Friday favorites Dec. 2

Wow, can you believe it's December already? I sure can't. I've started playing Christmas music and doing some Christmas baking, but I think until I get the tree up, it won't really hit. It also doesn't help that merely a week ago, I was walking around outside barefoot - that just doesn't happen in Minnesota.

A couple new Etsy favorites:

Rustic wreath from WildRidgeDesign. I love that it would work for so many seasons - Christmas, fall, Valentine's day, heck, add some white and blue ribbons, and it'd be 4th of July!

Some beautiful Friesian horse artwork from JoanneKilner. I love the composition, the simplicity, and the depth of that eye.

What I'm loving on Pinterest this week:
I want this menu planning board!
This is a genius idea - a cutting board right above the garbage.
These garlic knots look so yummy!
A huge list of good ideas.
A simple tool to help with hanging frames.

Craft it Forward

Sorry for the absence lately. November was a crazy month. I was out of town two whole weekends, and another was Thanksgiving of course, leaving only a single weekend free. We also just went through computer problems and then updates at work, so my computer has been down and/or being worked on, and I usually get a large part of my blogging done during my lunch breaks.

I'm working on some Project Pinterest projects including a lot of Christmas baking, and I'll be posting some about that in the coming weeks.

In the meantime - a post I started almost a month ago but never quite finished...

Perhaps you've heard of Craft it Forward - receiving a handmade item from someone and, in return, sending something handmade yourself to five others.

I received an adorable fabric flower clip from Tweal (blog or Etsy shop) several weeks ago. I'm ashamed to say it's taken me that long to get this post up, but since I finally have something resembling a light box, I finally got some halfway decent photos which is hard to do when I'm leaving for work in the dark and coming home in the dark.

Would you like to participate? I still have openings for people who'd like to receive something handmade from me. All you have to do is shoot me an email telling me you're interested or leave a comment with your email address and I'll email you (you will have to provide your mailing address, so we'll have to deal through email). 

Then you spread the word and find five people to send your own handmade items to. Even if you don't have a blog, you can still take part. I've seen people posting about craft it forward on Facebook and other social media.

Let's craft it forward!

Birthday favorites 11/11/11

I'm not one of those people turning 11 today, but I still get to claim to celebrate a birthday on 11/11/11.

From Etsy this week, a few things I'd be thrilled to receive as gifts:

Love the colors in this fantasy photograph from DovieMoon - would go great in my future peacock-colored studio.

I love horses' eyes, and this equine eye photograph from theartofequus is no exception.

On the same note, a horse's eye painting from RobyBaer.

And a beautiful journal or sketchbook from MusedBooks.

From Pinterest:

Garlic Parmesan Fries - I've never liked making fries at home - they're just not the same - but these are AMAZING!

Curl your hair with a sock - for those people, like me, whose hair doesn't set well with heat, now curls are available instead of just waves.

Peppermint Bark Snowflake cookies - these have got to be the prettiest cookies I've ever seen.

Cookie cutter gifts - Bake brownies or make fudge right in cookie cutters, decorate, and give as gifts.

Easy way to transfer designs - just use newspaper!

Friday favorites Oct. 28

Found on Etsy this week:

Fantastic barnwood crosses from TexasTrashDecor. I collect western crosses, and this would be a perfect addition to my collection (hint hint to any family members who may be reading this!)

Very pretty wrap top from Marsilia21.

I'm a big fan of moccasins like these from MoccasinWoman.

This African print dress is so fun!

I love this western saddle painting from BrucknerCowboyArt.

Found on Pinterest this week:

Bread for beginning bakers - I've sworn off buying bread and am making it in the bread maker, but I don't like the shape it comes out, so I'm thinking about trying to make it the "real" way.

Magnetic menu planner - Such a great idea! I'm going to have to look for this "magnet paper" they talk about.

Angel food cake chunks on skewers with strawberries and drizzled with chocolate.

Homemade pizza dough - I've stopped buying pizza and have been making my own instead, but I'm still buying ready-made dough. Going to have to take the next step.

Start each day new - great quote.

My weekend plans include the wedding of two friends and a mini getaway with my husband. We finished up harvest this week, and I'm desperately in need of some time with him. He's been coming home after I'm asleep and leaving before I'm up in the morning (he can run on 6 hours of sleep, but I need 8).

Halloween will be Monday, but I already dressed up in my costume two weeks ago for my friend's bachelorette party, and I have no reason to wear it again this weekend. That's one thing that really stinks about growing up - you have to have a reason to dress in costume. I remember having a "dress-up closet" and doing it just for fun when I was a kid!

Any big plans for the weekend or Halloween? What's your favorite costume?

Friday Favorites Oct. 21

Love the colors and Asian patterns in this quilt from DesignerDahliasEtc.

Adorable little Halloween unicorn from DragonsAndBeasties.

Beautiful dress from 8fantasie8!

One of the most beautiful ornaments I've seen! It's actually a beadweaving kit to make this ornament cover from BeadSphereJewelry.

From Pinterest:
Making a light box - I will be doing this in the near future!
Whole wheat pita recipe - I love pitas! But they are always so stiff and tear when I try to stuff them. Making my own fresh one's sounds like a much better solution.
Decorated Pringles can cookie tins - I'm thinking I found my solution to wanting to make all kinds of Christmas cookies but not daring to because I'd eat them all. Give them away! This is such a cute way to package them.
Great daily planner page - This is probably the best planner page I've found! (And believe me, I've looked at a LOT!)
And a little bit of sass! - Maybe only humorous for a woman who's tired of being asked when the babies are coming, but I think it's great!

Friday Favorites Sept. 16

Haven't done Friday Favorites in a while, but I've been browsing around Etsy a lot again lately, and I want to share some of the beautiful things I've found.

Equine photograph from thezencowgirl on Etsy

In love with this photo! Beautiful composition, love the braids and the lighting, and I'm such a sucker for unique angles.

Camera coozy from xcessrize on Etsy.

Such a great idea! A protective "coozy" for those times you don't want to carry your whole camera bag - your camera can still have some protection in your purse or other bag.

Arabic calligraphy print from EveritteBarbee on Etsy.

This is simply amazing. The entire "drawing" is actually a written out poem. Art made from words has always fascinated me!

Cowboy boot drawing from KimbersFineArt on Etsy.

As a pencil artist myself, I can definitely appreciate the work that went into this! It also reminds me of my own cowboy boot drawing.

Rim light horse photograph from HorsephotosPro on Etsy.

Stunning! I don't even have words for this one!

Thank you to a generous artist

A while back, as I was starting to think about what crafts I should choose to teach for vacation Bible school this year, I stumbled across a shop on Etsy with the most beautiful suncatchers/ornaments ever! After a few minutes of looking at them, it crossed my mind that this could be a great crafts for kids! A little nervous about asking, I wrote a note to the seller, explaining that I had no intent of profiting in any way from her ideas, but asking if she would share some tips for making her suncatchers.

The response I got back was more than I could've ever hoped for. I was overwhelmed with tips, suggestions for materials, and links to videos and suppliers.

I decided to go with it, and I spent the past couple days watching kids ranging from 1st-8th grade enjoy this craft! They had to practice a little patience as they had to wait for an adult to bend the end of each wire before starting on the next, but it seems like when they really enjoy a craft, suddenly they have way more patience than you'd ever expect!

So today, I want to give a big THANK YOU to Diane of dragon144 for her tremendous generosity in sharing her craft with 30-40 kids.

A few examples of the fruits of their labor:

And mine:

Here's a few of my favorites from Diane's shop:

Make sure you go check out her shop to see more!

Curling up with a mug of cocoa

... I wish! With the single digit temps outside, my drafty old farmhouse isn't exactly pleasant right now. I'm trying to delay going outside, but I will have to at some point as I have a package to mail, and my horse might want to be fed sometime today too! Hopefully, the clunky old diesel pickup will start.

Today, I looked for items that let me at least pretend to be curled up with my cocoa:

Mug Cozies from By Camille

These are so cute! Crochet always reminds me of my great-grandma who taught me to crochet. Even though I haven't crocheted in years (since I took up quilting), seeing crocheted items always makes me smile.

Striped Agate Bracelet from Hog Wild Jewelry

Doesn't that rich brown with swirls just remind you of hot cocoa? Looks good enough to drink!

Brown Agate Necklace from Exquisite Studios

Ditto for this one!

And now that we're all curled up with our cocoa, we'll need a snuggly friend to share it with:

Stuffed Lamb from White Dandelion Works

I think that photo speaks for itself! :)

I did spend some time today in my sewing room/guest room (warmest room in the house - go figure!) working on my current sewing project - a jersey top with one of those strange twists in the front that I could never figure out how they do.... now I know!

The front is done now. The next step is sewing it to the back and then adding the sleeves. I do kind of wish I'd been told how difficult jersey is to work with BEFORE! :) I love the feel of it though, and I can't wait to see how this turns out.

Dreaming

That's right - dreaming... what I wish I was doing right now! I'm running on five hours of sleep instead of my usual eight, and I really feel like I never woke up and am still in dream land. Not a good state for someone who's proof reading a newspaper being readied to send to print. Thank goodness for lunch break!

So in honor of my stupidity in staying up half the night, here's some dream-inspired finds from ArtFire:

Moon and Stars Necklace from Exquisite Studios

This necklace is just gorgeous! From the deep blue color of the pendant to the little gems accenting the stars on the chain to the delicate cut outs in the moon. It's just perfect!

Turquoise and Lapis Necklace from Hog Wild Jewelry

Another gorgeous necklace! Very southwestern style, which I love. I'm a huge fan of both deep blue and turquoise, but I don't see them together very often.

Blue Chandelier Earrings from Kats All That

Does jewelry remind me of dreaming or what? This is the last of the jewelry for today, I promise. I love the design in the silver accenting the crystals in these earrings.

Music T-shirt from Bad Ink

Yes, I know, I like blue! The musical notes design on this tee could sing me right to sleep. I like the tops in this shop. Most times, you buy a top with a design just on the front, but these have a little extra embellishment on the back making them extra special.

Ribbon Pine Cone Ornament from Curiosity's Piqued

Isn't this adorable?!? A little pine cone made from ribbon. I love the pine needles and holly accent as well. These are available in a few different colors, so go check them out.