RHagler Photography and Design

Downloaded a Few New Photos

I have a new goal.  Every time I download photos, I have to process them.  When I get 50, I upload and print.  Well today, I downloaded photos from both cameras.  I actually have 50 to print, but I am waiting on a sale.  Anyone know of a print sale I can upload to?

I thought I would share a few with you.  Here is the big girl in her dorm room. She got sick this weekend and I ran up to take care of her.  Then, I had her in Ikea while she was on pain meds. She would walk a minute, then rest a minute.  But we had fun!

Then these are from our Labor day trip to the beach.  Okay, I got them out of order.  Sorry, I don't scrap in order either.

And finally, here are a few from the Jaguars 9 to 4 victory over the Panthers.  First a great warm up shot, them a couple from the game.  It was a night game and not well lit so I didn't get many.

Well, that's it for me.  I got new portraits of the little boy, but typepad is major slow tonight.  Maybe I will upload the new portraits of him, and the one of DD later this week..

  

My Nook

Can I just tell you that I love my nook.  Of course mine does NOT have a Kate Spade cover (that thing is $125.00).  But it does have a brand new pink neoprene cover headed this way.  It has been one of the best purchases I have made in quite a while. (DH might not think so, but I do.)  I just spent the last 30 minutes moving several PDF file ebooks of crochet patterns to my nook.   The pictures are not in color, but it is fabulous to be able to read the pattern in LARGE print on my little nook.  I am looking for a few scrapbook epubs.  I really want some sketches to put on there.

Not only can I get free ebooks online and put them on the nook, but the e-books from Barnes and Noble are way cheaper than their hard copy siblings.  So far, I haven't spent more than $6.00 on a book yet.  Gotta love that.  Right now, I am finishing up Dear John and looking for a good, easy read.  Any suggestions are welcome.

So, that is my PSA for today.  Get yourself a nook if you don't already have an ereader. 

Have a great one.

Getting a Little Crafty Here

After a fairly long hiatus away from crafting, other than my crochet which is flight friendly, I decided to make thank you gifts for the people in my group who do my support work.  I think they turned out pretty well given the fact that I could not find red glimmer mist at any of the big box stores (do they just not carry them?). 

These were super easy to make.  The tree cut is from designer calendars cartridge, the tag from the  Base Camp cart, boxes were pre-made from the dollar tree (in the weddings section), memory mist from Hobby Lobby, glitter is spread out stickles, red bling from my stash.

Thanks for looking.

  

Laissez les bons temp rouler!

Good Evening blog world!  It is Mardi Gras season here on the Gulf Coast.  In our little town, it does not mean wild and crazy partying like in New Orleans.  We more or less celebrate with a bunch of parades and a few balls.  This is our first parade season and my kids (including that big one who is my husband) are really enjoying it.  I went to one so far, but the cold got to me.  Everyone else has done at least two.  I do plan to take the small one back tomorrow, but I do not plan to catch anything cause those beads hurt your hands when they come flying down.  Plus, we have at least FOUR garbage bags FULL of beads, teddybears, toys, cups and frisbies that they have caught.  We have even given a bunch away.  Oh well.  Here are a few picks from the one parade I made it to.

   

  

   

If you look carefully at this one, you can see a shower of beads falling down.  Like a huge handful at a time.

 

Here are the kids, both big and small, scooping up the beads.

 

I love this shot.  I love the motion in it, even though the child is perfectly in focus.

 

 

 

 

The last are us with of our loot.  And this isn't even all of our stuff.  Anybody need some beads?

For my Camera buds:

Manual mode, ISO 1600, AV 4.0, TV varied, handheld for most shots.

Catching Up a Bit

I can't believe it has been 2 weeks since I last blogged.  I have had sooo much going on.  Last weekend, I went away to a weekend scrapbook retreat with my friends.  We spent 3 days cropping away at the beach.  So much fun.  Here we are at the Pajama Party on Thursday night.

 

I managed to finish an entire calendar for my office as well as a book of blessings mini album for an assignment.  I finally downloaded the pics of the calendar to my computer, so I will try to get photos of the calendar up this week.  I can't wait to show you the mini album. It is beautiful.  If you haven't sat down to think about how blessed you are, you should definately attempt one of these little minis. 

In addition to a ton of cropping, I have managed to keep up (in my own way) with Project 365.  I decided early on to make it low stress.  So, I try to get 7 photos a week, rather than one a day.  I actually have more photos than I need in my 365 folder.  At the end of the month, I will decide which go on my digi pages for this month.  Here are a couple of my faves from the last two weeks.

 

 

The first is the veiw from our hotel room balcony.  The second I am sure you will recognize.  Seems like I pull through there at least twice a week for lunch (salads these days as I have signed up for the meltdown at church!).    I am learning a ton from this exercise.  First off, manual mode is not as hard or as slow as I thought it would be.  Secondly, it is THE ONLY way to take pictures in a basketball gym. Lastly, my life is not as boring as I thought it was.

Anyway, that's a little of what is going on in my world.  I will try to get the calendar up this week.  Have a great one!

ROLLLLL TIDE ROLL!!!

Did you watch the game?  No more raised fingers, cause the Tide just rolled.  I even cooked for this game. We had full game regailia, including wings, rotel dip and chips, taco soup (I had to have SOMETHING remotely healthy on the menu), and taco salad or tacos depending on who was eating it.  Man that was good.  We also got the kids some flavored sugar water (Hawaiian punch), so they are wired up tonight.  I am headed back as soon as I post this for more chips and dip.

Since the camera was in the car and I did not get pics, I will leave you with this one I forgot to post from homecoming.  This is my little man getting Rashaud Johnson's autograph. 

My Mom had gotten the Game Day shirts for he and his cousins.  When they got the opportunity to get the autographs, they decided to get the back of their shirts signed.  How cool is that. 

Well, off to eat more Rotel dip and chips.  Like I seriously need those calories.

Our Christmas Card

After messing around with a bunch of different varieties, I finally came up with something for our card.  It took me forever to get the orientation done.  But after that, it came together fairly easily and I think I might just like it.  It is not a good as the hand tinted ones from years past, but I can deal with this. Now to find envelopes to fit a 5 x 7 card!  Elements from Jessica Sprague's LivEdesigns SSunfun kit and Kate Teagues berry christmas kit.

I ran out Thursday and picked up a Cricut Create.  Love this thing.  DD is cutting out wall sized letters to put over her bed.  Doesn't take much to entertain her.

Gotta run now.

Sunday Sketch and a Project Share

Good Sunday Evening!  I am a little late with the sketch today.  I seem to have picked up a cold while traveling and can not shake it.  I finally sent DH out for some Puffs plus with lotion for my sore nose.  Hopefully, it will go away in a few day.  Luckily, Tuesday is a holiday, so I only need to work Monday and will get another day to rest up.

Here is the sketch for today. It is a layout sketch, based on a recent layout that I completed.  I used a journaling spot peeking from the bottom of the pictures, but I forgot to sketch it in  when working [blame it on the cold ; ) ].  Anyway, as always, embellish as you choose and make it your own.  Link me up to what ever you decide to create with it.

And, here is my hook case!  I finished the base while traveling.  I came home and added a single crochet around the edges, and then made the Picot Flower using a pattern I found at Ravelry.  I need to post it there, but have to figure out Flickr first.

Sorry for the bad picture.  I asked DD to photography it for me, and she did what teenagers who don't want to be bothered do, half did it.  She is about 1/4 the way finished with this hooked bag.  It is pretty big, but she is making serious progress on it.  I am starting a purse too, that is done is squares first, then stitched together.

Anyway, gotta run.  I can not seem to stop this sneezing.

Proud to be an American

I never thought I would see this in my lifetime.  I always thought it would come in my childrens generation, but not mine.  I never thought so many people of all races would come together to make a historic change happen.

I am so proud to call America home.  America, you did good!

A Sure Fire Sign That It Is Getting Cold

There is a sure fire way to tell the weather is getting colder around here.  And it's not the temperature reading on my computer monitor, or the local weather station that is announcing a freeze warning here.  As soon as the weather gets a slight chill in it, the yarn comes out.  A couple of years ago, I was into loom knitting.  Then two years ago, I learned to knit (a little).  But I decided that knitting took way too long and never kept it up. 

Many years ago (when I was a little girl), I learned to crochet at the knee of my great grandmother, who had actually raised my mother.  We made tiny doilies with really thin string like thread.  She died when I was 12, and I have always wondered what happened to the hand made doilies she made.  For a long time, I had a decorated doll with a crocheted dress, that she made for me.  But after I left home, I am sure my Mom gave it away when she cleaned my room out. 

Years past before I picked up a needle again.  Then, in high school, I used to make all kinds of afghans.  At that time, I taught myself the very basic stitches of a granny square and went to town making HUGE afghans.  My mom still has one on her sofa that I did for her. Most were in the most beautiful 70's colors (think avocado green and dark gold).  Luckily, the one she chose to keep is a timeless burgandy, black and cream.

By the time I got out of college, crocheting had gotten old again and I put the needles away.  Then...when DD and I were learning to knit at our workshop two years ago, the instructor suggested that she also learn to crochet.  She gave DD a quick lesson, and I tried my best to remember what my grandmother taught me.  Needless to say, that was many, many years ago and I could not remember the correct stitches to teach her.   DD figured out single and double crocheting on her own and has gotten pretty good at making things sort of from her head.  Neither of us really used a pattern or anything and we only knew a few stitches.

   

Well, this year, as the temp is starting to drop and my urge to play with yarn grows, I decided to teach myself the correct way to crochet and read a pattern.  Luckily, we have You Tube and tons of free videos.  After a few days of video watching, along with studying tutorials and pattern sites, I ran in Hobby Lobby and picked up a set of cute new acrylic needles and a magazine for inspiration and have been sitting in front of the computer learning the proper way to do a single crochet.  And it looks REALLY good.  I plan to work at this stitch until I have a peice long enough to fold over into a needle case and then learn another.  I also want to learn to make those cute crochet flowers.

I am also terribly facinated with Copic Markers and the blended coloring techniques in stamping.  Again, while exploring You Tube, I found a cool video showing how to get a Copic look with the way cheaper Bic markers.  Sooooo, you guessed it.  I bought a few Copics while Hobby Lobby had them on sale, a good black inkpad,  and the 36 count set of Bic's from Sam's Club.  I got a few small stamps at Michael's, but am eyeing a few CUTE sets from Cornish Heritage Farms that I will be ordering this weekend when I can really sit down and figure out what I need.  And, even though I got the Bic's, I LOVE the colors from Copic.  So, I will be gradually adding to my collection when Hobby Lobby runs them 30% off again.

Well, that's all  the obsessions passions that I have going on with me now.  What do you find yourself drawn to when the weather gets cool?