Nikon CoolPix and a Handmade Wool Felt Case

01/11/2011

Jason got me a new digital camera for Christmas. It’s a Nikon CoolPix S205 that we snagged at Target’s Black Friday sale. I LOVE it!

Someday I’d like a nice, fancy DSLR but the truth is that I don’t really know enough about photography to use anything other than auto-mode most of the time anyway. I love that this camera is 12 mega pixels and it’s smaller than my cell phone. My brother-n-law swears by Nikon cameras and so far I’m really pleased with the photo quality, even with the flash. My old Kodak EasyShare DX6490 was terrible with indoor pictures. The flash blew everything out and without it the pictures were almost always dark and grainy.

It didn’t come with a case or protective sleeve or anything so to protect my little baby, I decided to make a cute little pocket pouch for it. I used olive green wool felt for the outside and light green fleece for the inside. (By the way, this is my first time working with wool felt and I love it! I bought it almost 2 years ago and I’m finally getting around to using it for something!)

I found a big gray button in my stash that matched the gray contrast stitching (really I was just too lazy to change the thread in my sewing machine) and some green ribbon to make a loop to close it up.

I’m happy with how it turned out and I’m confident it will protect my tiny, slippery little camera. That and making sure I utilize the wrist strap!

Sidenote: I was using a 128 MB memory card with my 7 year old 4 MP camera. It was sufficient for about 100 pictures or 10-15 minutes of video. With my new 12 MP camera, it was only enough for about 30 pictures or a 1.5 minutes of video. I just ordered a new 16 GB memory card (for only $25 on Amazon.com, by the way!) and now I can take over 2,000 pictures or 25 minutes of video. Yay! Also, my 4 MP camera cost over $400 in 2004 but this 12 MP cost less than $100 in 2010.


Snow Day

01/10/2011

Nashville got hit with another major snow storm — the third this winter. And by major snow storm, I mean we got about 2 inches. Thankfully, my office was closed today. I am fully equipped to work from home but since they only allow me to work from home one day a week, I figured, ah screw it. Instead I’ve been cleaning the house, doing laundry and dishes, watching TV,  sketching ideas for the garden and home, and soon I’m going to tackle a sewing project I’ve been putting off for months. Maybe I’ll even cook dinner. It’s been a very nice snow day. 🙂


Phone Photo Friday

01/07/2011

Branson, MO


Before & After: Little Birdie Planter

01/03/2011

A quick before and after post to start out the new year. Just a little spray paint and a cactus made this $2 estate sale bird planter a little more classy.


Phone Photo Friday

12/31/2010


Phone Photo Friday

12/24/2010

One of my fellow graphic designers surprised me with an Angry Bird for Christmas!

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Merry Christmas All! Thanks for reading my everyday ramblings and leaving me comment love just often enough to keep me from quitting. 😉  Hope you have a great weekend celebrating with your loved ones!


I made cookies.

12/23/2010

I had plans to walk you step by step through my favorite cookie recipe—Peanut Butter Blossoms—and a new recipe from my neighbor that I tried for the first time—Peanut Brittle—but a) I don’t have time, b) I’m too lazy to dig the recipes back out of the recipe box, and c) you are done making Christmas cookies and treats by now, anyway, right?

I’m eating both right now and they are delicious! That’s all you really need to know, really.

Speaking of our recipe box, a friend gave us this one as a wedding gift. Susan, I think of you every time I’m digging for a recipe!


Nashville Christmas Parade 2010

12/22/2010

A couple of weeks ago I went to Nashville’s Christmas tree lighting and parade. It’s on a Friday night downtown, which I thought was so weird when we moved here but I guess it makes sense with the lights. This is the first time in 7 years I’ve made it out to watch the parade. Usually we forget about it until we’re stuck in a traffic jam due to the closed roads. Anyway…

My friend Laren and I went down to Public Square to meet our friends Kala and Nate. Nate was busy doing some video thing for work so the three of us waited for the tree to be lit. (Jason was on the road with a music gig, in case anyone is wondering.)

I was glad I had my new hat cuz it was COLD!

Waiting … waiting … waiting …

There it is!

As soon as the tree was lit, fireworks started going off … 2 blocks away! We could hear them echoing through the city streets but we could barely see them. I love fireworks! Who planned the timing and location of these 2 events? Oh well. We set off to find Nate, who didn’t have his phone with him.

Found him and a high place to stand and watch the parade.

Music City offered some pretty good marching bands.

And several fun Christmasy floats. They were really the only thing worth photographing from our perch. A candy cane, followed by a bizarre bloated rocking horse…

A Jack-in-the-Box…

A big green donut…

A T-Rex … wait a second … what does this have to do with Christmas?!

A Godzilla-size Gingerbread Man …

And an ornament.

According to tradition, the parade ended with Santa Clause. I didn’t get a good picture of the big guy because we had moved over by this propane heater to thaw out our feet and make awkward conversation with the other people huddled around it.


Modern Gingerbread House

12/21/2010

I wish I could take credit for this but alas, I cannot. I saw it on a blog last year and saved it in my inspiration files. (The blog is now private so there is no point in citing it.)  Maybe it will inspire someone else out there, too!


Phone Photo Friday

12/17/2010