November Give Away!

Since there was such a great response to our last drawing, I'm holding another for November! This time, I'm giving away three of our photo greeting cards. These three photographs are mounted to blank white Strathmore cards. (They are shown here already in their plastic sleeves.)


To enter, leave a comment about a handmade gift you're thinking of giving this holiday season. Deadline to enter is November 15.

On November 16:

- Our luck winner is MISHKAT! Congratulations! -

Winner of the October Giveaway!

I printed out all the comments, cut them up and made it official by using my totally awesome hat. Then I made Rob pick our lucky winner ... which is Bella McBride! Congrats!

Apple-Cranberry Crisp

After dinner tonight, I opened the fridge and found nothing for dessert. The day before, I had taken down a pie crust from the freezer (I had made it previously) for apple pie. While I had the apples, I wasn't feeling pie.

But what would really hit the spot, I thought, is apple crisp. I began to search through my books to find a recipe. I finally came across one, but decided to alter it based on the ingredients I had at home. But still, it was missing something.

Cranberries! Of course! I rescued the bag of cranberries I bought at the store and had thrown in the freezer. I added them to the mix. Now I had too much apple-cranberry crisp for a large baking dish, so I got out the tiny ramekins and filled five of them up to.

I was a little nervous after I had let it cool -- after all, I had never altered a recipe that much before, but with school behind me and my confidence just high enough, I took my first bite -- delicious!

Give it a try. :)

Apple-Cranberry Crisp
4 pounds of apples, peeled and sliced into chunks (l like to use sweet apples like McIntosh or Cortland)
12 oz cranberries (1 bag)
1/3 cup sugar
2 1/2 sticks of butter
12 oz of dark brown sugar (light will work too)
cinnamon (generous sprinkling -- or at least 2 T)
12 oz pastry flour (but AP works to0)

Take your peeled apple chunks, cranberries and sugar and mix slightly. Put in your large baking tray. (Or divide into your ramekins-- but you'll need many ramekins.)

Take butter and cut into small pieces. Add that with brown sugar, cinnamon and flour and use your hands to make crumbly. Sprinkle this on top of your apples and cranberry mix.

Bake in 350 degree oven --25 minutes for ramekins, 40 minutes for a baking tray
OR
until the top is brown and the apples are tender.

Enjoy :)

Moon Over Middletown

This photo was actually taken back on October 15, the day before Allie and I started our 365 day project. Rob and I decided to try out the new camera and drove to one of the highest points in town. We didn't have much time to work with as the moon began its ascent. We took several photos, and this is the only one with the proper exposure.

I'm pretty new to night photography, so the fact that we got this to work was fantastic! It is cropped as a 4x10 photograph.

Treasury West

I created this treasury yesterday on Etsy. I really love how so many different artists can be showcased together in a way that looks like it was planned out from the very beginning! I'm hoping this one makes the front page. You can check it out here.

Love

On Sunday we had an impromptu engagement shoot with our friends Kat and John, who will be married next October. Kat wanted photos of her and John with the autumn leaves. We drove up to the reservoir and found some lovely backdrops to showcase them. They were so much fun to photograph--and were very comfortable in front of the camera, which made for some great shots! Here's a few.


We -- of course -- wish them the best of luck. :)

Smiles

We were contacted by Phyllis of Personal Treasures about featuring our Gentle Horse photograph in her blog. This matted photograph offers 100 percent of the proceeds to 3bunnies.org. Please check out the story and see the other wonderful shops she has highlighted as well! Thank you Phyllis!

End of October Give Away!

I am giving away a set of these lovely little cards (four cards in total). The image has been professionally printed onto 80# Royal Fiber Cover Birch card stock. I think they are quite lovely. But, I'm biased of course! :)

To enter, leave a comment below about something you're working on! :) I will randomly select a winner on October 31. Make sure you leave your contact info so I can later e-mail the winner for his/her address!

Runner up to Day 5

Here's the one that almost made the cut on Ordinary Matters for today. (Also from the reservoir.)

Fun with Perspectives

Rob drove me to the reservoir this morning to find my inspiration for the image of the day on the Ordinary Matters project. While I found my Day 5 image, I also had fun playing with the focal point of this image using my macro lens. In each photo, the focal point on the leaves changes. These were shot with an ISO of 100 due to the sunny conditions. (Clicking on the photo will aid in seeing the difference as well.)

The unveiling!

So Allie and I kicked off Ordinary Matters two days ago! We're both striving to produce one photo a day for a year. Allie contacted me with the idea, and we both agreed it would be fun to see what we could come up with every day. We agreed not to tell each other what we're planning to photograph, so it's as much as a surprise to us as to the blog reader. I hope you enjoy what we come up with!

I've been tagged!

I've been "tagged" – a great way to introduce yourself to other bloggers. AllieArt tagged my blog, so now it's my turn to tag a few other bloggers.

Here are the rules:
Link to your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
Share seven facts about yourself on your blog – some random, some weird.
Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs.

Here are my seven random facts:
1. I love the smell of tomato plants. It reminds me of my childhood and puttering around with my grandpa in his garden.
2. My day job involves writing and designing for children readers.
3. I drink way too much coca cola.
4. One of my favorite books is "Into the Forest" by Jean Hegland, and the last book I read (leisurely) was The Good Good Pig, by Sy Montgomery-- back in January I think. (Eep!)
5. I am happiest when I have a day free to spend with my husband. (I get very protective of these days since we're both so busy!)
6. I used to paint-- a lot. My best piece was a reproduction of Georgia O'Keefe's Red Poppy.
7. I want to get a past life reading done. I went to psychics after my mom passed, and I was told I was an "old soul."

Here are the seven people I'm tagging:
Irrational Ravings
Green Baby Art
Nicky's Magic Rainbow Dreamings
How to Disappear Completely
Ramblings By Judi
I want to Taglia-tell you something
What I Made Today

This was hard for me to do-- so good luck to the next lucky seven! :)

October Goals

I can't believe we're halfway through the month already. OK here's my latest "Think Positive" exercise:

I'm hoping to reach 700 hearts by October 31 (an impressive number given that I'm at 617 right now) and to hit 60 sales by the end of the month! I'm hoping for a steady increase throughout the holidays.

Allie and I are also planning to unveil a new project very very soon! I hope to be able to provide another update in the coming days! (If not hours! Oo! The suspense!)

NaNoWriMo!

I'm excited to confirm that I will be back for my second year of NaNoWriMo! For those unfamiliar with this crazy long acronym, National Novel Writing Month is a world-wide competition to write 50,000 words from November 1 through November 30. Last year I only made it to 26,476 words-- still a pretty good feat, considering my plot line was weak.

This year I plan to focus on my mom as inspiration for writing. I'm hoping that helps the words come a bit easier!

Good news :)

Allie from AllieArt featured my barred owl -- along with many other talented photographer's birds -- in her thoughtful post last Thursday. Please check it out here! Thank you Allie!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Now, for a dirty little secret... OK not so dirty and not so little! We've pinched our pennies and upgraded to a new camera!!
It's 15 megapixels! The ISO ranges from 100 to 12,800! The instruction booklet that arrived with the camera is a little daunting, but I think we're both up for the challenge. And we have a wedding to attend this weekend so I can't wait to break it out for romantic shots!



*Camera photo from Canon Press Release.

I [heart] apples

Just some photos from a day of apple picking.