Photography

I want amazing pictures of our little girl! Beautiful pictures! And lots of them! 

Pictures that I can print on canvas and let them surround us in our home. 

I feel like I really missed out by not getting newborn pictures, although we were really way to busy to do them (C-section recovery, moving across the state, blah blah blah). 

So I've started looking into some local photographers, and I would love to support them.... but have you seen how expensive it is to purchase the digital images? I'm not interested in having them print pictures for me, I want the digital images so that I can print them, post them online, put them in my photobook creations. But if I want good pictures several times a year, it would cost me a fortune to do that!

Because of the expense of purchasing digital images, my husband and I are looking at purchasing a DSLR, figuring out a good lighting set-up, taking some classes and figuring it all out on our own. It will definitely be a very large upfront cost, but if we stick to it and do it right, it will save us a lot in the long run. I hate not supporting local photographers, especially since so many do such great work, but I just can't stomach paying $150+ for just a few digital images, not including the sitting fees. Especially in the DIY-culture that we are a part of.

We've both always wanted a DSLR but we could never justify it enough. Now we look at our little girl and think how could we not spend our time and money documenting her life. 

So now I have another goal to add to my list of things to do right now! Learn about saving retirement, buying a house, and how to take and edit beautiful photographs. Ready... set... go!

If anyone has any advice on what cameras to look at (we're thinking one of the Canon Rebels?) or where to get some good information, please share!! I'm all ears, well, eyes.

Christmas Stocking

My first quilting project! My first Christmas stocking! My first embroidery project! All for my first little girl!

I used the pattern from this delightful blog/store. Overall, it was not too difficult to make, one of the hardest parts was finding the fabric I wanted to use. I ended up buying a charm pack for the pieced front.

Some of the instructions were a little lacking in detail. Perhaps if I had more experience, I would not have found it confusing. In particular, I did not understand her instructions for attaching the cuff along the top, but I figured out a method that worked and I'm happy with how it turned out.

This was also the first time I used the embroidery function on my new sewing machine! It was actually really easy to set up and get it going! I used one test piece of fabric to figure out what to do and what I wanted it to look like, then I figured out where on the cuff fabric I would need the name, and voila! A personalized Christmas stocking! Yay!

Has anyone made anything to use for Christmas or decorating? I'd love to see!