A little catch up.........

**Warning this post is very long and lots of pictures!**

I am going to try an catch up on everything that you have missed in the past month.

Lets see.... Where should I begin?

I guess where I last left off would be a good place to start.

Remember the beautiful couple from this post? Well, they held the wedding in a little sanctuary in the mountains. It's actually her father's property and I cannot even begin to tell you how amazing this place is! He has taken several old, abandon homes and refinished them. They are all on one piece of property and they all share the most amazing forest of trees, swinging bridges, gazebos, two zip lines, bouncing spring swings, a Joey, and pathways from gazebo to gazebo.

It is the coolest place. My kids were in heaven!

Here are a couple of the lovely pictures.

The leaves have been falling like crazy too! My yard has been covered in leaves several times over. The kids absolutely love this time of year.

Here are a couple of the Fall pictures I have been promising.

I also have them listed in my other Etsy shop.

Speaking of Etsy shops.............. I have totally stocked my shop with lots of yummy items for the holidays. Here are a few.........

And the girls from Trendy Textiles have been having a game of Mistletoe Marathon. Stop by and check it . It lasts for a couple more weeks!

Well, I think that is enough for one catch up post.

Buy three, shipping is free!

Just listed these cuties for your fall accessorizing and I'm offering free shipping on your purchase of three or more clips from now until the end of October!

Oh and remember this post?
It snowed yesterday.... It caked us with about 1/2 inch of the fluffy white stuff. The kids made a snowman and stomped around in it for a while. Then it melted and it was nothing but a muddy reminder. Keeping my fingers crossed for just a few more days of sunshine and less than frigid temperature.

I still have lots of fun fall pictures to share, but they had to be on the back burner, because I needed to get these photos edited first.

Congrats to this beautiful couple! I will post a few shots from the wedding after the weekend.

Halloween is in the air.....

While the sci-fi channel is hosting their 31 days of Halloween....

I will be hosting contest to show a much cuter side of Halloween. For my fellow members of the Etsy street team Trendy Textiles, I am going to be hosting a costume contest!

The best part of all...........

You guys are going to be my judges!!!

I will post the fun entry photos here and on November 3rd, the voting will begin. So stay tuned.

A snowflake I see?

Not quite, but it seems to be in the near future. The temperature has drastically dropped this past week as the wind has whipped through knocking all of the beautiful red and gold leaves from the trees. Fall is a beautiful time, but it always brings the chilling reminder that winter is near. I'm not ready for winter yet. The house is still only half painted, the wood is not chopped, and I'm not ready to be cold again.

Ok, now that I've complained, I can move on the fun part of winter. Hot chocolate and marshmallows, and Smores..............

It's bright... It's flirty... It's so much fun, you almost forget it's winter when you see it!

I just listed it on eBay today with AbbeyRoad and guests.

Little, T had so much fun with this photo shoot. I just have to share a few more pics with you, because she was such a little poser. My family will like this, since this is about the only time they get pictures of my kids anymore, lol.

As for the falling leaves and chilling air... We took a drive Sunday afternoon and I got some great photos. I will post them next. (first I gotta get 'em out of the camera)

TTYL,

Mandy

Wordless Wednesday.... Christmas Portraits

More Wordless Wednesday

Just when I wasn't looking

I fell into love with photography all over again.

I stumbled onto this really cool style of photography. No, I didn't find a pause button for my kids or hire a maid, but I did find something new to love and another reason for people to look at me funny as I take pictures of random things. My kids love it too. They always ask when we can go out and find something cool to shoot.

All of a sudden completely boring things are brought into a completely different light.

-

-

-

Thinking ahead....

I am already thinking Spring, but with the holidays quickly approaching, I have been thinking about the dreaded Christmas cards. Now don't get me wrong, I love to receive Christmas cards. In fact, the more the merrier, but when it comes time for me to send out our family Christmas card, this means gathering ALL 5 of my rambunxios little children together for photos.

Last week I took them out for some picture taking and the poor dolls really tried, but I only ended up with one that actually had all 5 looking in the same direction at the same time! And we took over 200 shots. Now they weren't posing in all of these shots, many were just pictures of them playing and just being kids, but the ones we tried to pose for turned out as I had expected.

Oh well, I did end up with some great outtakes and one good photo, but I can't show them yet. You will have to wait for Christmas:)

It did inspire me to create a set for a little girl with some very cute vintage fabrics that I aquired from a very sweet lady and some of my vintage trims that I told you about this summer.

It turned out so cute that I almost don't want to part with it. It's a size 24 month/2-3T or a small 4. I have all the details posted in the auction on ebay. This is one of a kind and will never be reproduced by me, so please bid accordingly.

It is ready to ship so you will have plenty of time for Christmas portraits of your precious angel.

Click on the photo to see the auction.

Wordless Wednesday

More Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday..... Fall Photos

More WordlessWednesday

Fall Pictures

I love the colorful changes of fall so much. Yesterday, we took a drive in the mountains with the family and it was so beautiful, I took a ton of pictures. The colors are so vibrant that they are almost florescent. I have some pictures from yesterday to share, but will have to post them tomorrow. For now I will share the ones we took last week, which are beautiful too.

Wordless Wednesday...... Tent in a windstorm

More Wordless Wednesday click here

Update: After a few tireless rounds with the wind, the tent was victorious!

As the stakes were pounded back into the ground, the wind retreated.

Thanks for asking,

Mandy

Wordless Wednesday

more Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

More wordless wednesday

A change of pace......

Well, the fair went well. It was busy busy, but I did get a chance to check out some of the items entered. It was exciting to see how many talented locals there are around here. Even the children are spewing talent.

There were some spectacular photos and art exhibits, as well as veggie art and the quilting exhibits were tdf! Lots of wood works and even a skate park made out of Legos.

I took home one first place and on second place ribbon on my photos. I was excited and reassured. Thanks to all of the kinds words and support in my steps toward growth.

School started today and we always try to get away before school starts, so we took the the camper out for a few days of quiet time. We waited for the weekend to end and most of the campers had to go back to work. So we had the place all to ourselves for 3 whole days! The kids played in the creek until they couldn't stand it any longer, we lounged enjoying the cool breeze as it renewed our tired souls. I can't tell you how nice it was to get out of this heat and enjoy some cool refreshing air. We even had to turn on the heater one night, because it got chilly.

And my little one has officially joined the terrible two's, although, I think she joined them several months ago. We just had a birthday to make it official. We are still on our journey down the potty training road, but making progress. She speaks in sentences. She actually talks so fast, it makes it very hard to understand her and then you add her accent into the mix and she has her own language. She gets so frustrated when we don't know what the heck she is talking about.

I've also been slowly adding to my Etsy store again and I am working on some new things for fall and winter. Now that school is in, I have so many more hours in a day, my creative juices are flowing again and my state of mind is on the rise again! Yay!

Growing Pains

My palms were sweating and my heart was racing as I approached the fair ground buildings. I had my photos ready to submit, but were they good enough? Would people look at them and think to themselves, or worse, whisper to a friend, "What was she thinking? Does she actually think these are good?"

I pushed forward and entered the building against the will of my mind and body. After entering the building I see many others who are also entering their photos. They seem confident. Oh their photos are absolutely beautiful. "What am I doing here," I think to myself forcing my feet to take another step. "I am putting myself out there for judgement and against others who are obviously so much more experienced than me.

I take another step up to the table and begin the registration of my photos. My hands are shaking and I seem to have forgotten which category to list.

"Why am I so scared!" I scream to myself. I continue to fill out my stuff, as another participant approaches me. "Your photos are amazing" she tells me. At this point I am shocked, because she has what I would call an "amazing" photo.

Once again, I ask myself, "Why am I so scared?"

I proceed to enter the other photo and move on to enter my last photo into the agriculture contest. More compliments received.

By the time I left the building, I was exhilerated and yes still shaking.

I have come to the conclusion that I am nuts. My sweet husband assures me that I am not crazy, just a "sissy". Well, call me what you will, it was just crazy that I would be so afraid of something so simple.

However, I have trimphed. Whether I win or not, is not important. The important thing is that I conquered my fear. Well maybe not "conquered", but deffinately faced and

persevered! And second, I shared my fear with all of you. (which was not easy either)

From this I shall grow:)

Sincerely,

Mandy

Here are some snapshots of the three photos that I submitted. It was a painful process choosing only a couple, but at $8.00 a piece for printing, matting and such, I could only choose a few.