Hello Summer | July 2017

Happy summer, friends! I The kids and I made it to Washington for our annual trip and we are enjoying the gorgeous weather here, family, friends, and cool summer nights! I can't say I miss the humidity of Florida at all... we are loving the milder temperatures and cooler evenings. 
 

My mom planted beautiful flowers again in her yard this year and I look forward to photographing them every summer. The flowers she can plant in Washington are so different than what I can plant in Florida and I love all the bright colors and textures.

I have some crafty news! I created a new Instagram account strictly for my scrapbooking and card photos and projects. My new account is @erintaylor_papercrafting . I hope you will check it out!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer! I plan to be back soon with some cards or layouts... my blog has been sadly neglected the past couple of years. Hooray for blogging!

In Bloom | 2016 Photography Project

One of my personal goals this year is to grow as a photographer. Photography has been a passion of mine for the past 10+ years and I am proud of many of the photos I've taken, especially of my boys. When they are grown and gone, I will have a cache of photos to remember their childhoods. 

However, photography is not a hobby that can be mastered. You can continually grow and learn, practicing new techniques along the way. This year I am making a point of photographing foliage, tree, flowers, and nature. Steve and I have taken several walks/hikes this year, photographing nature during each trip. I also practiced my skills while the kids and I were in Washington in June/July. My Uncle's church has a lovely garden, tended by a master gardener. I could have spent hours photographing the flowers! 

I have some thoughts on what I'm going to do with these photos. I might print them as 4 x 6 photos and create a photo collage with white frames and hang it in my living room. I also think a miniBook of all flower/foliage photos would be cool. So many possibilities!  

These first five photos were taken at the FIT (Florida Institute of Technology) Botanical Gardens. 

My love of palm trees extends to cool palm fronds. The light bouncing off the palm fronds in this photo is awesome. 

I really wanted to photograph the butterflies flying around the botanical gardens but they were stubborn little buggers. I did get some nice shots of flowers and palm trees, though. 

Flamingo Gardens in Davie, FL has the most amazing Desert Rose bush. Gorgeous hot pink flowers with almost white branches. So pretty. 

During one of our walks through Turkey Creek, in Palm Bay, I captured this shot. 

My mom planted some beautiful potted flowers on her deck this summer. I especially like this one. 

Another flower from my mom's yard. The yellow is striking against the green leaves. 

My parents took us to Seattle for a few days in June and we stopped off at the Pacific Science Center. I took this photo while we were in the butterfly gardens. The boys were being entertained outside by Grandpa. 

The gardens at my uncle's church, in Vancouver, WA, are really spectacular. I plan on framing this photo. 

So many varieties of flowers, most of them I can't name, but so beautiful.  

Another shot from my mom's garden. Her lavender plant is huge, and absolutely gorgeous. I used my 85mm 1.8 for this shot and I am super impressed with the detail it captured on the flowers.

What about you? Are you working on any photography projects right now? 

The new edition of Click magazine landed in my mailbox yesterday and I must say, it is beautiful. I had forgotten how much I love getting magazines in the mail! I devoured this issue and can't wait for the next issue to arrive. I highly recommend subscribing if you're a photography buff! 

Click Magazine

Have a great week!

Week in the Life | Wednesday

Wednesday was not a day I was scheduled to work and it was also an early release day, so I didn't have much planned. The end of the school year is so busy for the kids, and I finished up my spring semester last Friday. We were all looking forward to a day of relaxing, watching (or, as it turned out, listening) to the Mariners, and hanging out as a family. 

A few thoughts about today: 

• My DSLR is working again and the more I work on this project, the happier I am when I pull out my "big camera" vs. my cell phone. Don't get me wrong, cell phone photos are fine, but there really isn't a comparison when I take shots with my DSLR. 
• I need to get into more photos! I am terrible at this and my goal for Friday is to be in at least five photos. We'll see how that goes. 
• I'm not sure how many photos I'm going to have at the end of this project, but I'm aiming for 15-20 "good" photos per day. Wednesday and Thursday I won't hit that number, but I'll be close. Hopefully Friday, Saturday, and Sunday I can be more intentional with my photo taking. 

I woke up to Bailey taking up half the bed, per usual. She is a mama's girl and loves to cuddle with me in the morning before I go wake the kids up for school. 

Out the door around 7:40am to get the kids to school by 7:55am. The boys sometimes take cereal or a bagel for breakfast and usually finish eating it in the car. It makes for a messy car (see the fruit loops on the floor of my van?!), but they like having something to munch on while we drive and listen to music. 

Home from school and both boys plunked themselves in front of the television for some Xbox time. They played Minecraft and Sims and only argued a couple of times. It was a blissful hour and gave me time to work on a few projects of my own. 

A little drumming before chores. Lilly, who was asleep on the couch at the time, was not happy that Jack pulled out his drumsticks and started playing. She quickly fled to the laundry room, looking annoyed.
 

Evan has been pretty good about doing his chores after school with minimal complaints. He unloads the dishwasher, takes care of the litter box, and takes out the garbage for me. 

Jack helped his brother out by taking a bag of trash out to the garbage. Wearing one sock?! I'm sure there was a good reason for him to be missing a sock but I have no idea what that reason is. Goofy kid. 

Both Evan and Jack love the books they picked out at the book fair and have spent a good deal of time reading over the past few days. This is how I found Evan after he finished his chores... on my bed, under the covers and reading. Love him. 

Out the door to do some long overdue grocery shopping. We listened to the radio on our drive to Publix and one of the new 21 Pilots songs played. Both boys belted out the lyrics and I couldn't help but sing along, too. Their love of music is something I cherish. 

Half way through our Publix trip. Gatorade, carrots, cat food, gold fish, garlic, crackers, apples, potatoes, and Capri Suns. 

Only three more days to go! I can't wait to start putting the project together next week.

Week in the Life | Monday

I'm breaking back into the blogging world by sharing a few photos from today:  Day One of Ali Edwards' Week in the Life project. Oh yes, I am totally tackling this project this year. I've been "this close" to completing this project in the past but have never finished it. I've taken all the photos or done the journaling (or both!) but haven't completed the album. This year I'm hoping to keep the project up for the full week and finish my album next week.

A few observations from Day One: 

• My DSLR was having some issues this morning and I almost let that discourage me from continuing the project. Unfortunately my photos today didn't turn out quite like I had hoped, but I still got a few good shots. 
• I love black + white pictures, especially portraits. They are classic and timeless and allow the subject to shine. Plus, they hide messy car seats and bad lighting. Win-win. 
•  I need to do a better job of taken photos in the morning, before school. Jack was crabby this morning and Evan and I aren't naturally morning people so I (often) forget to pick up the camera. 
• Teaching in a window-less classroom isn't ideal. The photo of Jack sitting on a desk is lightened, I upped the contrast, then added a filter before running a B+W action. That is a lost of post processing for one camera photo! 
• I forgot to get photos of the kids at the book fair and doing homework. I'm choosing not to stress about it; there is always tomorrow. 

A before school selfie. After a good breakfast and finally getting out the door, we had a nice drive to school.

I didn't tell Jack that I was teaching his class today and he was super excited when he found out. 

I had two teachers tell me funny stories about Jack today. 

First, his math teacher told me that she made an announcement in her class last week about missing an upcoming math class. Jack then said to her "please let the sub be Mrs. Taylor". She didn't get to pick the sub and I was already booked in another classroom so she had to break the bad news to him and he was so sad! I love that he wants me to teach him. 

Then, one of the second grade teachers told me that she made a comment to another student about having a good day and offered a hug. Jack, who was standing behind her, piped up and said "I've had a great day, too!". The teacher asked Jack if he would also like a hug and he said "yes!" and gave her a big hug. He is such a sweet little guy. 

Pizza + salad for lunch, courtesy of PCCA. Yay for a yummy free lunch. 

A little reading on our way home from school. We stopped at the book fair after school and the kids each picked out two books. The spring book fair had an awesome selection for older kids and Evan didn't have any problems finding something. Jack was much more difficult. He wanted bookmarks/erasers/Lego sets and not books. Sigh. He is a great reader but all the "shiny stuff" grabbed his attention. After some back and forth he finally settled for two chapter books, which he has already started.

Pretty Mother's Day flowers from my mom. I posted a photo of them on Instagram yesterday but I wanted to include them in this album as well. I love fresh flowers and this arrangement is especially beautiful. 

Mirror selfie. I was wearing a shirt with tiny horizontal stripes that went a little crazy in the photo. I'll choose a less busy shirt for my next selfie. 

Kitty stretches in the afternoon sun. Lilly found herself locked on the patio for a bit this afternoon and was not a happy cat. She likes to go in and out to the patio but does not like being locked on the patio. Panic sets in and she meows like crazy. She was not amused when Jack accidentally locked her out there for 10 minutes this afternoon. 

A little rest before we head to the pool. Jack was super sleepy today, which probably contributed to his crabbiness this morning. 

Pool necessities: good book + ice water + sunscreen + chapstick + cooling cream + cute pineapple pouch to carry it all + beach towel. I have a "pool bag" that is always packed and ready to go. We go to the pool a lot and having the essentials hanging on a hook by the door cuts down on the amount of time we spend running around looking for stuff. 

Pool time. Evan always brings his football, and Jack brings his goggles and sometimes his rings (if he remembers). 

It was not especially warm out today (for us Floridians) and Jack only lasted about 40 minutes in the pool before requesting a towel, teeth chattering. I wrapped him up and we watched Evan play for another few minutes. 


The boys started working on a Lego set Evan received for his birthday while we waited for the pizza to arrive. Evan's favorite character from the new Star Wars movie is Kylo Ren and I was thrilled to find the Kylo Ren Lego set a few months ago. 

 Winding down before bed. Lilly has claimed the leather chair as her own and Jack wanted some cuddles before heading to his room for the night.

 Before bed reading. Evan gets a little extra time in the evenings to read before I turn out the lights. He looks so sleepy here! He didn't last very long after this photo was taken.

I always have this sense of relief when I've reached the end of the day and I remembered to pick up my camera throughout the day. I have a loose plan for tomorrow as our schedule is a little different, plus Evan is having a play date after school. Hopefully it works out and my big camera decides to cooperate. I did some Googling this evening and I think I fixed the problem. It was user error, of course! 


I was featured on the Studio Calico blog as the Member Spotlight last month. If you want to take a look at the blog post you can click here. Thanks for stopping by!

Cloud9 December Blog Hop

Good morning! I can't believe it's already time for the Cloud9 blog hop! This  month's inspiration photos are both beautiful and I hard time deciding what to create. I really like the gray walls with pops of red from the first photo, and I used that as my jumping off point for my card.

 I stamped the background with Wplus9's Background Builders Knit in Soft Stone ink from Papertrey in. The snowflakes are from Folk Art Flurries, and the sentiment is from Pretty Patches: Tree. The only non-Wplus9 stamp that I used the red stripe stamp, which is Papertrey Ink's Super Stripe. 

I used tweezers to apply gems to the center of each of the big snowflakes. The buttons were threaded with red and white twine by Stampin' Up!.

The boys cannot wait for Christmas... Jack asks me every day if we can open up our presents. He is very excited! Mark pulled out the tree last night & we spent the evening sorting ornaments & getting the tree decorated. 

White I was looking through Pinterest a few weeks ago I saw a photo that I wanted to replicate & I thought I had pinned it, but of course I couldn't find it last night. But I played around with my camera settings and this is what I came up with:

 

I wish I had put Jack in a darker shirt instead of white, but I really like how it turned out. My dad called it "artsy", and I agree. And I know when they are both 6 feet tall, I can look back at this picture of them so little, holding hands, and remember how cute they were. :-) And ten seconds after this photo was taken, Jack looked at me and said "are we done yet?" and Evan took off running into his bedroom. At least they were still, quiet, and happy for a few minutes!

Have a great week!

December Daily - Day Two

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a great weekend. I can't believe how little time I've had to post the past two weeks... we have had company for the past 15 days, plus I came down with a cold/flu that hung around for way too long. I spent all day last Tuesday in bed while my parents took care of Jack. I am so thankful they were in town to take over the household duties... I don't know how else we would have survived! 

I am working diligently on my December Daily album, but nothing is going as planned! My photo printer is out of ink, so I am uploading to Walgreens until I can get to Wal-Mart and buy replacement ink. I tried to print my journaling card with my other printer and the colors are coming out funny... maybe that one is out of ink, too? Mark is going to look at it when he gets home. I also pulled out my red StazOn ink pad to stamp on the cream album, but the ink pad has turned gloppy and chunky... definitely not what I was expecting! So I guess I need to make a trip to Michaels in the morning for a new red ink pad. 

Despite a few setbacks, the project has been a lot of fun to work on. I am using Studio Calico's December Daily kit & album, 4x6 overlays by Ali Edwards, silver super fine embossing powder by Ranger, snowflake dies (which match the stamp set Snowflake Medley), natural wafer board (awesome product!), and last month's Studio AE stamp set. 

I don't have full spreads ready yet (due to printer issues), but I can share my photo page from yesterday:

The "Merry & Bright" brush was added in Photoshop using an exclusive Ali Edwards brush from Studio Calico's 25 Days of Christmas class. The journaling font is Georgia (my go-to font for just about all my journaling). And the beautiful lazy susan the flowers are sitting on was hand made by a dear friend (hi Ray!) for Mark's college graduation. 

And a big thank you to all of you who participated in the Great Impressions + Ribbon Carousel Blog hop. Please visit the Ribbon Carousel Blog and the Great Impressions Blog to see if you are a winner! 

(Hopefully) I will be back tomorrow with completed pages and a card or two. Goodnight!

Pool Day

We are celebrating the last two days of summer vacation by sleeping in, playing games, enjoying our patio, and registering Evan for first grade. He has been getting up around 7:30/8:00am the last few weeks, and come Wednesday that is going to change! He will have to be up by 7:00am so he can eat breakfast and get ready for school.

The weather here has been hot, hot, hot, and to stay cool we've been enjoying the pool! Our neighborhood has a nice pool we can use, and we are lucky to have friends who also have a pool. We spent last Thursday cooling off in the Cate's pool, and the kids were in heaven! Evan is my little fish and is also an independent swimmer, which is great because Jack is a reluctant swimmer and takes some coaxing to get into the water. 

Evan can't swim without his swim goggles, but keeping track of his goggles has been a constant struggle this year. I finally told him that his two pairs of goggles are his responsibility, and I'm not buying another pair this year (we've gone through at least 4 pairs). He took my warning very seriously and has not lost a pair since. He has a special place for his goggles and he puts them back after each swim. Way to go, Evan! 

Jack was a little agitated when he first got in the pool. He isn't comfortable in the water and likes to spend 5-10 minutes in, then get out and walk around the pool (which I hate). Anna grabbed her pool seats and blew them up for the kids and Jack *loved* sitting in one! I don't think I've ever seen him so happy in the pool. He called it his "boat" and happily floated around the pool for a long time. 

Only two more days of summer for us! I am looking forward to the routine of having Evan and Jack in school, but I really do love having them home during the summer. 

Thanks for stopping by!