Happy 4th of July!

Hello! Long lost blog! I have neglected you. Sorry. Forgive me. This post will be somewhat random as I attempt to bring you up to date on all of my adventures in the past month.

I hope your fourth of July was awesome. Justin and I had a great day yesterday. I cooked some bbq ribs (nothing is more American than bbq, right?). We hit up a couple of fireworks shows in the past couple of days. We've been getting a lot of rain here in Texas, so it was nice and cool at night. Here is a shot from the fireworks show last night. I might need some more practice taking pictures of fireworks though. They are a tricky subject. Anyway, once again hope your Independence Day was great!

Next on the agenda...I turned 25 in June! I have mixed feelings about birthdays these days. Presents are great! I love the texts, calls, and facebook messages from people I don't hear from frequently. But getting older? Not quite as fun. I know 25 isn't old at all, but I think it's more the promise of what is sure to come after 25. You know, 30, 35, 40, 50!! Those crazy years. Oh well, I guess a new year is here and I'll make the best of it! (Note to self: plan fun things to happen in your 25th year.)

On to the cooking portion of this super long post. I made some caramel apples and they were delicious. I haven't really been in the baking mood for the past 2 months. It's about 1000 degrees here everyday, and I don't want to add to the heat with my oven cranked up to 350. We have been eating quite a few ham sandwiches for dinner. Poor Justin. Luckily, caramel apples are his favorite, so I redeemed myself as a good wife! These were really simple. Just take 3 cups of sugar, 3/4 c of light corn syrup, and 1/2 c of evaporated milk and stir over medium heat until the sugar dissolves and the mixture comes to a boil. Add in 1 1/2 cups of evaporated milk and 2 tablespoons of butter and boil that all together until it gets to the soft ball stage (or 240 degrees F). Dip in your apples and let them cool. This amount will cover between 10-12 apples. Enjoy!

Final stop...crafts! I had some fun with some baby blankets this past month. There are 3 girls in my Bible Fellowship class that are pregnant and we had a baby shower for them recently. I decided to use my newly discovered sewing skills to whip something up and I found a great, simple baby blanket. The babies are all due to arrive in the fall, so I figured it would be perfect for them to cuddle up with on those fall and winter nights! I had a lot of fun picking out the fabric and making these. Justin was pretty impressed, then he asked me if I wanted to make our clothes. Um...no thanks, honey! Here are a few pictures of my baby blankets.

So that, in a nutshell, was my June. I am hoping and aspiring to be a better July blogger.

Quilting-My New Love

Last night I took a quilting class. And I fell in love. Move over knitting, you've been replaced! (Really though, I'll eventually get back to Justin's scarf. It's quite a while until winter.)

This square is what I made last night and it's the barnyard door pattern. Tonight, I went back to the fabric store to scout out my next design. I love how creative you can be with your fabrics. Quilts can truly be works of art. I sure hope mine are one day. There was only one slight snag in my new found love. It requires sewing. I don't know how to sew. Yes, I took Home Ec in high school, but the apron I made looked terrible and it's been 10 years since my freshman year when I took the class. (That makes me sad. I'm getting old.) Anyway, the hardest part of sewing the quilt pieces together was threading my machine. But, I think I got the hang of it and I'm happy with the way my first quilted piece turned out. Next week I am taking a binding class that teaches me how to put the backing in and finish the quilt. I'll keep you updated on my quilting adventures!

Another New Hobby: Photoshop

I have a new love and it's name is photoshop. Sorry Justin! (Oh, and I'll also need to take over your computer for hours on end, since it's not downloaded on mine. Thanks!) I have been playing around quite a bit with just one particular photo and I'm really excited about the results I've been getting. Justin and I both love this photo that we took in the Valley of Fire. I think I blogged about it sometime last year. Well, this photo just got a face lift! I have 6 different varieties of the photo to show you and please let me know which one you like best. The first picture at the top is the original. Now let's get into the remakes!

1.

So this was my first creation. I like the added color that it gave the rock and the sky. It was just the Auto-Fix button on Photoshop, so it didn't really require a lot of creativity from me. How can something be a hobby if you have a computer do the work for you? And if you click on the picture and make it bigger you can see a tiny magenta dot at the peak of one of the mountains. I have no idea where it came from, or how to fix it.

2.

Second attempt, this is one of Justin's favorites. I really wanted to get a more dramatic sky in this one. So I added more blue and more contrast to the sky. I think it looks like a stormy night and I like it, but it kind of takes all the drama away from the rocks, which is what this picture was about to start with.

3.

My third attempt. Here I got into googling how to do certain things on photoshop and I think it really made a difference. This version helped me to understand a few more technical elements of the program. I think the color is so vivid that the photo looks somewhat surreal. I personally love this version. I like the sharpness of everything and I think the sky adds some calmness to the photo.

4.

Neither Justin nor I were a big fan of this one. It appears washed out after the vivid color of #3. I can see using this technique that I used to bright up some food or people's faces, but it just doesn't do justice to the landscape here.

5.

Alright, my black and white attempt. I wasn't really excited about doing this photo in black and white because I think the color of the rocks is what makes this photo amazing, but I was actually somewhat impressed with this version. I think it is a nice change and it certainly has some drama to it. I'm excited to use this technique on a photo that doesn't rely so much on color.

6.

My final attempt, thus far, sepia/vintage. I really like this version, mainly because of the texture that I gave it. Throughout the journey of playing with this photo, I have been discovering new tricks and tools to play with and I can't wait to use this one again. I have always wondered how photographers gave their photos such interesting textures and now I'm on my way to finding out all those secrets!

Ok, those were my versions of our Valley of Fire photo. Tell me, which was your favorite?

My New Hobby: Knitting!

I've taken up a new hobby here in Texas. I am now a knitter! I recently took a class at Joann's Fabric and I'm excited to learn even more. I have lots of projects in mind...scarves, hats, socks, stockings for Christmas, etc....

But for now, I'm just a beginner and this is my first project. I am making a blue scarf for Justin, and I'm sure he'll appreciate it next winter! Wish me luck!

Next up in May: Quilting!