Fabric Camera Strap

Happy Friday. This week has been a great change weather wise around here. It's been in the 60's. So good to see the sun shining. Although it's still a bit cold with the wind blowing, I wouldn't trade this for snow!

Today's post is a sewing share. I've been revisiting my fabrics lately. They are like papers, they have many designs and the possibilities are endless. And I'm proud to say that I know now how to add a zipper to my sewing projects now. Woohooo! thanks mom for the phone tutorial. *wink* I'll share some of those projects soon but first let me share my new fabric camera strap...

I made one of these before for my D40 and now that I'm shooting with the D7000, I decided that my new camera is just not totally me if I don't doll it up. You can find some great inspirations and tutorial on this here.

I followed the tutorial and unfortunately it's not as long as I would like it to be but for now it'll do. I'll have to modify it next time so that the strap cover will extend all the way to the edge of the camera body.

It only took me an hour to make it and now I can say that my new equipment is TOTALLY ME!

thanks for stopping by,
Grace

Take Twelve- March edition

Did you take photos on Monday for the Take Twelve challenge? I hope you did. If you are still unsure if you can commit, I say just try it! Only twelve photos on one day, you can't get any more laid back than that. Pull out your camera today and take a "dry run" for April's Take Twelve challenge. *wink*

Here's mine....

1. Started off the day by changing my bed sheets. One of my Monday routines.
2. This morning I went out. I had my yearly OB GYN appointment and everything checked out clear. Whew!
3. Stopped by my local scrapbook store to check out some paper yumminess. I had to control myself not to buy the whole store. :)
4. After that I went to the library to pick up some books for the kids. I was so sick last Friday that I just had hubby return our overdue Library items so today I picked up our weekly supply of books.
5. Had leftovers for lunch. Yummy!
6. Finally registered my new camera at Nikon.com. One of the many things I've procrastinated to do for a while now.
7. Worked on some crafty assignments. Love my job!
8. Checked on dinner cooking in the crockpot. I started this beef and bean dish this morning before heading out to my doctor's appointment.
9. Prepared the kids' lunches for the next day. I like to do this task the night before so my mornings are not too hectic. Their meal contents- sandwiches (peanut butter for Marcus and Jelly for Maddie), grapes, popcorn, water and rice pudding with raisins. Marcus gets a granola bar since he's in school longer than Maddie.
10 and 11. I chose two photos from our Family Home Evening game of Cadoo because a. I love this game and b. We always get a lot of laugh and learn new things when we play this game. BTW, the boys won. bummer!
12. Worked on more crafty projects when the kids have gone to bed.

So my Monday was a bit manic but I wouldn't have it any other way. :)

BTW did you know that Spring Training Camp registration is starting now at Ella Publishing? Check it out here.

Till next time,
Grace

St. Patrick's Day ideas

I'm not Irish nor do I fancy Leprechauns but something about St. Patrick's day always gets me excited. Here are a few things I found on Pinterest to will get me started on this year's festivities.

Printable subway art for framing

Outfit for the day. Make a mental note...find a green sweather!

a cute way to pack lunch for the kids

a cute treat to share

green slushies

a fun game to do with the kids

and how about making this contraptiom to capture some naughty leprechauns!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope this inspired you to create a fun St. Patrick's day festivity for you and your loved ones.

Till next time,

Grace

Project 365 Week 10

It's Project 365 show and tell today. Here are my latest ones. I have found that I'm not working hard to have more creative images and that's what I'm going to focus on this week. Photographing my week in all sorts of angles and views. :)

Till next time,
Grace

PBK cards and a Family canvas

Happy Monday everyone. A few things I'd like to turn your attention to today...

Today's the 12th and I hope that you'll participate in Ella Publishing's Take Twelve challenge today. Bring out those cameras and take 12 photos representing your day today. To find out more information on this, you can always check the website here.

I have a blogpost up at Paper Bakery kit today and I'm sharing some vintage inspired cards made with the March Add on kit which goes live on Thursday, the 15th. It's a wonderful kit and I hope you can get your creative hands on it before it sells out. :)

a close up of the adore you card. Check out the rest of this card set in this blog post here.

 And finally a personal project....

I've had this canvas for a while and I painted it blue to make a nice inviting background for my photo and papers.

Here's some close ups....

the photo I used was from our professional photo shoot last year. We have the same exact print enlarged and hanging up in our front room. I'm not sure where I'm going to place this project yet but I'm happy at how it turned out.

So there you have it. Some sprinkling of creativity to start your week. Have a great day.

till next time,

Grace

end of week links and crafty shares

and we have survived another week! But before I start making some fun weekend plans, let me share with you some great links and projects I made recently...

Over at the Glue Arts blog, we are showcasing Kid/Teen Crafts. I made this paper bead necklace for Ms. Maddie and you can find how I made it in this post.

My March blog post went live yesterday at Ella Publishing. Check it out here.

*edited* it's not posted at the Ella Publishing blog yet but you can see it here. We are having some technical difficulties right now but I'll give you the right link as soon as it's up. :)

and because it's been a while since I've shared some cards that's just for show, how about two?!

this last one showcased some Creative Memories Divine Power Palette products.

Thank you for stopping by and have a great weekend.

Till next time,

Grace

Project 365 Week 9

Here's my latest addition to my Project 365 photos...

till next time,
Grace

Church Quiet Books

Do you have kids like mine were at 8 and 6 yrs. old still can't sit still through 1 hour of sacrament (church) meeting? I hope I'm not alone. I've always brought coloring books and crayons for them but last year my husband thought they were getting too old for those so I changed to church magazines like the "Friend". But that doesn't seem to hold their attention any and so about a month ago I started working on a new project....

These are my kid's church bags with their new quiet books

the main things I wanted this project to have is ease for the kids to use, something that we can change overtime to meet their age need and that it won't be too expensive or hard to make for me. Because after all, my sanity is important too, right?!

Anyways, I started off with two small binders (size about 8 x 6") found at the thrift store. I decided to not alter or decorate the covers because if the kids decide that they don't want to use these anymore, I can still create something for myself with the binders.

I measured the inside of the binder and sewn a pocket page from felt for each book. On one side they can store their markers and pencils and on the other side housed a pack of index cards, kept together with a binder ring and a piece of felt fabric which they can use to erase their markings.

The first thing I did for this project, before putting together the binders was to go to the LDS. org website and downloaded some clip arts and activity sheets. I printed them landscape orientation in word so I can do two cliparts/pictures per sheet of paper. I tried to personalize the pages by picking artwork that had boys in it for Marcus' and girl ones for Maddie.

I only have about seven sheets for each book but with the felt pocket with markers and index cards, the book looked pretty full and bulky.

as for the sheets, after cutting them to size and putting two sheets (back side together) together, I added contact paper around them so it'll "laminate" the sheets. I did it this way so that the papers can be used over and over again. After the kids are done coloring it with markers, they can use the scrap fabric sheet to erase the markings and start over again.

I made the bag to keep everything together. I just measured the size of the binder book, cut it out twice on fabric and then sewn the bag plus some handles. We've brought it to church twice already and they have worked like a miracle. The kids are quiet and I can listen to the talks without any disturbance.

So there you have it.I hope this little showcase inspired or helped you come up with an activity book that will keep your little ones occupied when you need them to.

Till next time,
Grace

3rd Grace Science Project

First off, Thank you for all the kind words left here and in my facebook page about our challenge right now. I feel blessed to have so many friends and family that understand our plight and are willing to share their insights with me. Thank you.

Today I want to recap our 3rd Grace Science Project process. This is our first year to be dealing with this and at first Marcus had some grand ideas. He wanted to build a ROBOT! Now I didn't want to discourage him BUT knowing him I knew that I would play a very big part in the project and I just didn't have the brain power to make a robot with him. So after talking with the Science teacher, she gave Marcus a super easy question to answer. The question was...what part of the body has the strongest sense of touch.

It took us about a month doing research and then in January we did the experiment...

the first one was getting two same length pencil and gently poke certains parts of the body to see if the person being poked can feel one or two points. Feeling two points usually indicated that that part is more sensitive.

Next we did a feeling test. Here the kids placed their fingers in a bucket of ice for 30 seconds then tried to touch the rice on the plate. The ice numbs the fingers therefore affects it's sensitivity to objects.

 After the experiment, I typed up Marcus words and findings then we put them together in a presentation board.

 Here's Marcus showing off the finished board, the night before we turned it in.

and last Tuesday, then had a Science fair where he got a "participant" ribbon and a metal paw (their school's mascot is a wolf hence the paw). It was neat seeing what everyone did for their project and it definitely gave us some ideas on what we can do next year. And no we are not going for the volcano!

Till next time,
Grace