364/365

early morning snow. only one more day till the end of the year amazing how fast time goes

363/365

Duncan's favorite toy from Christmas. We have to take it away occasionally because it makes this sounds like a a sheep sleeping. and it gets really really annoying. he is watching me carefully while I photograph this making sure I don't take it away again.

362/365

This is the metal sculpture that my brother made for my mom. He had it laser cut from steel and then shaped in so it was curved and added some support from behind. then came the hard part about 2 + hours of torching to colorize it. you can't see it well in this picture I did put some candles behind it which helped but in mom's house its dark and flash just bounces back bad light.

anyhow everyone just loved this piece I think it would make a great fireplace screen.

361/365 more bokeh

I think I have played with this star before but oh well. it made a good subject. the house is still full of sick people and a sick dog. so no visiting the eagles today more play time. I actually took these last last night but playing with them today on the computer. I think I like the above better then the below version. what about you?

below are my failed attempts to do the fake bokeh with a star cut out of black paper and put on the front of the camera. I just am not getting it to work though and not sure why. maybe my lens aperture doesn't go down low enough.

360-365 bokeh

well the day after Christmas we were going to drive over to Idaho to see the annual flocking of eagles that come to eat but the house is sick. well 2 of us only have stiffly sinus crude but hubby was up all night with a horrible stomach flu. he has yet to return to the living so I decided to try out the pioneer woman's photo challenge . BOKEH in her words: According to Wikipedia (I was curious over my coffee this morning), bokeh is “the blur, or the aesthetic quality of the blur, in out-of-focus areas of an image.”

yes I am obsessed with her blog and website.

so as I was saying all are sick and the dog was not cooperating so I resorted to ornaments.


the bird above was my final pick and my photo of the day.


EDITED TO ADD: it took me a while to figure this out. DUH laura take the autofocus off the lens as well as the camera.

Some other not good enough for me photos. This was my very first attempt at my mom's house on Christmas eve. I think I need to get some colored lights for my tree I like them better in this effect than the white ones.



and the non qualify Duncan picture. just not sharp enough for me

359/365 christmas day

merry Christmas from our house to yours.

thanks to everyone that filled our door this year. our traditional spot for our cards

358/365 christmas eve kolache cookies

Mom's polish cookies that are a tradition in our house and a special treat.

357/365

Mom should learn never to trust Dave and myself to do a task for her. She bought the below painting while we were on Fremont street in Vegas. She bought it for my brother and left it in my hands to frame. Its done by with spray paint we were totally mesmerized by it. Anyhow we decided that on the outside my husband would draw his own very talented painting. lol

356/365 ITS here!!! my PW cookbook

I ordered this book not because I am a gourmet cook, those that know me know this to be fact, but because I adore this lady's style. I read her blog http://thepioneerwoman.com/ well all of the site the photography, cooking humor are great. Not lucky enough to get to a place where she has signed them but at least I have a book. she has her own photographs in the book, step by step instructions to her foods (cowboy foods I think my husband may actually eat as well) and more of humor in it.

if any thing check out her site you will enjoy it I am sure.

355/365 christmas chocolate sleigh

our neighbor gave us this and we thought it was way to clever and cute. its a Santa sleigh made form chocolates.

how clever is that.

354/365 baking

Hubby and I spent the day doing a little baking. His favorite is the chocolate covered pretzels. yummy.
This year we added sprinkles

353/365

Are you sick of seeing fused glass and the dog this year yet?? well I spent over an hour trying to get shots of these. next time I will wait till there is daylight because I think that might work better. Above is actually pink but it kept coming out gold colored. I made these for my coworkers. the difference in these than the day before is the top layer is the actual dicroic whereas in the other pendants from a couple days ago the top layer was clear glass. I like this look better myself but its not every ones favorite.
well the above one did not photograph well at all in fact its blurry. I think I was messing way to much with the iso at this point.

the above orange one is my favorite.


and this is the one that my husband liked the most.

hopefully everyone at work will like them. we are getting better and better at this fusing stuff. Each time we learn a little more and I think another gazilion firings we might just get it perfect.

352/365 ornaments

one of my favorite ornaments on the tree is this star. Above is taken as is off the tree. then I thought I would play a little in photoshop elements.
Above is converted to black and white. And below I played with hues and colors and came up with this.
which do you like best?? I think I like the last one.

My tree is mostly covered with birds and woodland creatures. each year I get a new ornament and below is my newest ornament

351/365

for whatever reason I felt like trying to get a picture of the dog's eye. what I really wanted was to try to get a neat reflection in it. well it was night and he was tired and getting really tired of me taking pictures of him so the above was the best of the batch. and below is his way of saying OK ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.

350/365 fused glass projects

well as the year is closing in so is this project. I have been working on for weeks. Cutting and fusing glass necklaces. what started out as a project for my mom who needed 6 of them grew into her needing 24. not only necklaces but money clips and key chains. couldn't have the guys left out could she. its funny she made one for everyone at work volunteers and a few select customers.

the only thing was this is all I have for pictures. DUH Laura you should have taken your real camera to her place and not the point and shoot.

but that isn't the half of it. I also made a snowflake that is blue/purplish for an ornament exchange and did I take a picture of it NO why why why. no clue

Nor did I take pictures of the finished crosses I made either why?? again why?? grrrrr oh well. I hope everyone that receives one of these enjoys them.

39/365 winter has arrived

Last night we had about 3 to 5 inches and another inch during the day. I took these with the point and shoot as it was getting dark and we needed to shovel not only our house but two other neighbors. will be interesting to see what the new camera takes snow pictures but that will have to wait till the weekend and I have some LIGHT this going to work in the dark and coming home in the dark is for the birds.
look I caught a rare glimpse of the rare stripped teenager at home and helping to shovel. actually he helps out whenever he can he just isn't home much. and he really hates his picture taken

look at those nice white legs. can't tell it isn't winter. well they aren't really my legs just the thermal silks that I have been wearing for the last two weeks in the freezing cold (not the same pair) it warmed up to a over 30 today first time in about 2 weeks yeahhhhhh

348/365

My husband bought this from the little neighbor boy. His church/school were selling them as a fundraiser. Its called friendship soup. thought that was so cute and clever looks like it will make a hearty meal in this cold weather. maybe this weekend.

347/365 disaster zone beware

totally embarrassed to show this photo but maybe it will help motivate me to clean it up. in my basement is our family room. it has our computers, TV, bookshelves and my area which takes up about 1/3 of the room and continues to grow. I have been stamping for about 12 years and accumulated much stuff in that time. I also scrapbook and take pictures. My husband and I recently started learning fused glass so we have that stuff. the forefront table contains that mess everything else is stamping and scrapping crap.

a friend that is doing a 365 blog posted her disaster zone

http://whateyesseedaily.blogspot.com/2009/12/disaster-area-aka-stamp-room-82365.html

so I thought well if she can have the guts to do it so will I.

so how long till you see an after picture??? whatever you do don't hold your breath because it wont happen anytime soon. I have to much on my plate but it will happen. I have started with a couple of boxes of stuff to sell off and a couple to pack up for some friends.

346/365

yahooo my table came in today. we have been looking for just the right parsons or sofa table for a long time and we finally found what we wanted at Ashley furniture. it took a couple of weeks but we had waited this long so what was a few more days. the top is slate so it goes with our wood and metal theme we have throughout the living room

345/365 christmas dog

every year we get a shot of the dog in front of the tree much to his dislike. he is not fond of the hats. I picked this one up last year on clearance the year before he was a reindeer and before that an elf.
trying to decide which picture we like best. my husband likes the top one and I like the bottom one though neither of them poor little Duncan looks to happy in.

Might need to shoot some more

344/365

I passed by a hotel that had these displayed in their entrance way and thought they were so cute had to shoot them.

I think they were advertising for the lion king that was in town but not positive

343/365

I took this picture of an ornament on my tree. I have lots of birds and creatures on the tree and I found this bevel in photo shop elements. well it took me hours to get it to work right hopefully next time it wont take so long. I feel like i need to go back to school just to learn that one program. gesh.

Anyhow this picture just called for using that frame and I was bound and determined to get it to work

342/365

well I took about a dozen pictures of this little bird on my tree. I love birds and animals on my tree and have lots of them there. this was the best shot but still a little disappointed with the reflection on his wing. going to have to try again may reposition him some where else on the tree. maybe next time I can get the whole bow in on the shot too.

any other suggestions???

341/365

The tree is up and decorated. Practiced a little with the lighting should have used a tripod but was to lazy to go find it. next time.

I did notice that photographing it this way I found where I put to many lights on the tree. Can you tell I am short from this photo???

340/365 America concert

Tonight we went to the America concert. Free tickets SCORE!! not to mention a free steak dinner. It was an awesome concert. For a couple of guys that are close to 60 they put on a great show. they sang well over a dozen songs (lost track after that)

we ended up buying the cd for me and shirt for hubby.
And we were lucky enough to be second in line for signing. Stupid point and shoot I forgot to take it off no flash which is what I shot the above with but when I shot them I didn't get it enough to focus. oh well
If they come near you the show is worth seeing.

As they say we are not oldie rock but Classic rock. Rock on for another 39 years guys.