Santa Flying Layout & Bokeh

So, it's been a while; as normal seems now-a-days. Last Friday, we opted out of the typical 'oh my G-- we forgot to take Zoe to see Santa, we'd better hurry this weekend!!' and took her on a Friday afternoon. Luckily, I'd gotten her 'dressed' that morning (which is totally out of our ordinary, since she normally chooses her own outfits; especially on a Friday since it's our 'short' day at work (Doodlebug Sportz for your paintball and extreme sports needs& Used HD Parts on Ebay for Harley Davidson parts).

So, we all know I broke the law here; by photographing a photo I had to pay for, but honestly they basically raped us for the one photo ($21 for a wimpy 5X7, which was more of a 4.5X6.5 anyways...) so here is my big girl with Santa! She was thrilled to tell him all about the 'teeny, tiny, little house' she wanted (being a doll house) 'like Phenyx has' she mentioned; hopefully Santa knows our good friends Phenyx & Keelen, eh?

I've made it into a Christmas Layout, using the My Mind's Eye Winter Wonderland Paper Stack and solid papers as well as some Tim Holtz Distress Inks and my Cricut Expressions, and Gypsy (with my FREE Christmas Cartridge I hadn't even looked at yet!) A HUGE thank you to Lauren, over at Lauren's Creative; because honestly; I had no clue this image was on the cartridge until I saw a layout she did using it with her adorable daugher on it.

Here is a close up of the sign I used, it's also from the 'Christmas' Cartridge that I got on my last Gypsy Upload for FREE!

I distressed the 'wood' of the sign using Antique Linen, Tea Dye and Walnut Stain Distress Inks, and then embossed it using the Cuttlebug Branches Folder.

Isn't this little image adorable? I had to copy Lauren on the faux stitching too... thanks Lauren! :-)

Totally off the topic, I've been checking out Kevin & Amanda's Blog lately, I used to use it for the Peas for Fonts Section, where you can get hundreds; literally HUNDREDS of adorable fonts for scrapbooking, signs, etc for FREE! Amazingly, Amanda creates them based on submissions people make and lets everyone have them for free! I use them all the time for things around my house and even at work when I need signs, and my handwriting isn't 'pretty' enough but normal Times New Roman or Tahoma isn't personal enough; feel me?

So, back to the topic ( I get excited easily... lol) and she did a post on Bokeh photography. Bokeh is actually just a 'background' if you will, and I was intriqued. Of course, being me I searched and searched on how to do it perfectly, and realized that she has the best description and directions anywhere on the web (better than my fellow photographers even!). So, using this tutorial; I took a few little shots of things like this--

Isn't it pretty? The christmas lights on the tree really make it sparkle. :-) So, a thanks to Amanda too; because she totally motivated me to try something new, and I may even use this in my photography shoots throughout the year now. By the way; have you looked at my photography site lately?

Thanks for stopping by today!

Dawn