Chester County Hot Air Balloon Festival 2014

So yesterday I went to the Chester County Hot Air Balloon Festival.  It was cancelled Friday night due to rain.  And things didn't go as planned yesterday either.  It was a gorgeous day, but just a little too breezy.  There was supposed to be a mass launch late in the afternoon/early evening of all the balloons, but that was eventually cancelled due to the winds.  The wind was supposed to die down at sunset, so the nighttime glow was still scheduled.  All the balloons were supposed to be inflated and tethered and light up at dusk.  Well that didn't go as planned either.  Still too windy.  One small balloon did go up, but was having problems because of the wind, so most of the other balloonists started packing up.  I patiently waited it out and eventually 3 more balloons did go up.  It was definitely cool to watch, but disappointing that I paid money and sat around for 6 hours (by myself) and only got to see 4 balloons.  But I guess it was better than none!!  Here are some of the pictures I took during the event yesterday.  Maybe next year will be better weather!!

It was a gorgeous day and the landscape views of the country were breathtaking.

Check out the kite in the middle.  If it's a good day to fly a kite, then it's not a good day to fly a balloon.

Testing the propane on one of the baskets.

Finally the small balloon decided to give it a go.  They were definitely have trouble keeping the balloon upright.

Finally another larger balloon decided to give it a go as well.  Winds finally had died down at dusk.

These balloons weren't that far apart, and look how at the difference in size!!

So pretty lit up at dusk!!

Finally after the sun had set, the special shapes decided to give it a go.  Most of the other balloonists had already given up and were packing up and leaving.

The other special shape that decided to give it a go.

Absolutely love my new 35mm 1.8g lens!!  Takes awesome handheld photographs in low light situations!!

So glad I stuck around until the end!!  

How cool are these guys!!

Even though the day didn't go as planned, I'm still glad I stuck around to the bitter end to see a few of the balloons.  All the pictures of the balloons were actually taken right by where I had parked my car.  Turns out I got there at the right time and had a close spot on the end right by the field where the balloons were.  Lucky me!!  Hope you enjoyed these photographs.  I'm really happy with the quality of hand held photos that my new lens takes!!  I guess it was worth the money!!

Until next time.

Sampling of My Handmade Cards

Here is a sampling of some of the cards I've made that are available in my Etsy Shop.  I just started making cards around Christmas, so this is all new to me.  I'm gradually adding to my supply of craft items needed to make different cards, including stamps, punches, embossing folders, dies,...  Please visit my Etsy Shop to purchase anything you see on here that you're interested in.  Or let me know if you're interested in something custom.

"Happy I Do Day" wedding card.

Flower bouquet Mother's Day card

Baby girl card for baby shower/new baby

"Just Because" bird punch card

Flower bouquet in mason jar card

"Thank You" bird punch card

Another flower bouquet card

"Hi There" owl punch card

Owl punch nurse Get Well Soon card

"Easter Blessings" bird punch card

Colorful flower card

"Guess Who Loves You" owl punch card

Birdhouse bird punch card

Leprechaun card made from bird punch

I hope you enjoyed these cards.  Stay tuned for more in the future.  Again please visit my Etsy Shop to purchase these cards and more.  Have a great weekend!!

Until next time...

Taming the Tech Stuff Workshop

So a couple of years ago I took 2 photography classes from Dazzle Photography that were advertised on Groupon.  I took these classes about 9 months after I bought my DSLR camera.  I learned a lot from them and was able to start manually setting my own camera settings and stop using the pre-programmed settings.  I attended an anniversary party for Dazzle Photography's new studio earlier this spring.  At this party he advertised some new classes he was offering and gave the attendees an awesome discount for these classes.  So I decided to take a leap of faith and sign up for a couple of the classes.  The first one was yesterday.  It is his Part 3 class which was called Taming the Tech Stuff.  It took place at Rockwood Mansion and Park in Wilmington, DE.  The first 2 classes were in a classroom, but this was an on location class with an awesome model we were able to shoot.  I went into this class a little nervous about whether everyone else would have better cameras and lenses and know more than I did, but soon realized that we were all on the same page!!  Dan helped us apply all the tech stuff we learned in the previous classes to real life shooting situations.  So now that we have "Tamed the Tech Stuff" we can just have fun being creative with compositions, lighting,…  I'm so glad that I went and had an awesome time!!  Here are a few of the photographs I shot yesterday at the workshop.

Not quite as in focus as I would like, but still an awesome photograph.

Again not quite in focus, but I still like it.

Nailed it!!!!!!!

Learned how to take silhouette photographs.

AWESOME!!

So I'm signed up for 1 more class coming up in a few weeks.  I'm really excited for what else I can learn!!  Can't wait to post some (hopefully) awesome pictures from that workshop.  So stayed tuned!! 

Until next time...

Tulips Photographs from Longwood Gardens

I was off work on Monday since I drove home from my parent's house where I spent the weekend so I could attend a party welcoming my new nephew Andrew that my sister and brother-in-law just adopted from South Korea.  He is 2 years old and the half brother of my niece, who was adopted from South Korea 4 years ago.  Anyways…So I had most of the afternoon free after I arrived back to my house and decided to head over to Longwood Gardens to check out the tulips.  It was a very sunny afternoon, and busier than I thought it would be for a Monday.  I took a lot of photographs, but wasn't entirely happy with a lot of them.  I thought the exposure compensation should have been adjusted more for the sun.  So I decided to go back early this morning, before the clouds and wind rolled in and before it got too crowded.  I accomplished both of those goals, and got some awesome photos today!!  Enjoy!!

I hope you enjoyed these photographs as much as I did taking them!!  Happy Early Mother's Day to all the special Mom's out there!!

Until next time.

2x4 Easter Bunny Crafts

Happy Easter Y'all!!  Here is the last installment in my Easter craft series.  Finished just this morning (just in the knick of time huh?!?!).  It took me a while to figure out how I was going to do the ears.  And then there were some issues with the pink fabric!!  (Like the first kind I bought at Michaels ended up being see through satin, so I had to find different fabric)  But they are finished and I love the way they look!!

I started with 8" and 4" 2x4's that I painted white.

I cut the ears from burlap and coated them with Modge Podge so the would be stiff and stand up.  I used pink bottom fabric for the inside of the ears.

I hand painted the face using paint pens for the eyes and mouth and a dauber sponge and ink for the cheeks.

I think this little guy turned out so cute!!

I cut the nose from chipboard and painted it pink and highlighted it with a white paint pen.  I used craft wire for the whiskers.

I hot glued the ears to the back and the nose/whiskers to the front.

"Hoppy" Easter Everyone!!

I just love the way the faces turned out on each of these guys!!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Easter today celebrating with family.

I have some great ideas for cards for the upcoming holidays.  Can't wait to share them with you.  Also am going to be finishing up some extra patriotic crafts for my family and to sell that I started last year.  I'm also working on some centerpieces for a party my sister is having next weekend for everyone to meet my new nephew that my sister and brother-in-law just adopted from South Korea.  The theme is Hungry Hungry Caterpillar.  I'll share my centerpieces once they're finished.

Until next time...