more pretty rocks

My husband and i recently spent some time in Colorado Springs. He had a class to take for work, and it worked out for me to be able to be there with him. Colorado is one of those places I've wanted to visit for most of my life, but just hadn't made it yet. It's a stunningly beautiful part of the country and I'm so glad we got the chance to be there. I loved waking up and looking out the window to see Pike's Peak every morning (the non-cloudy mornings, anyway). Like this one.


It just so happened that some dear friends of mine were there at the same time (us from SC, them from Czech via NY…love the "coincidences" the Father arranges!) I got to spend some time with the whole family at the Garden of the gods…an open-to-the-public free city park with some truly jaw-dropping scenery. We mostly kept to the paths, but some of the rocks just asked to be climbed. Even when the sign said no.


One evening Dave & I drove through the park and took a "wrong turn." When we started heading back the way we meant to go, I found my favorite shot of the day: (go ahead and click on it…it looks better big!)

This next one made me think perhaps I had stepped into Narnia. That rock just needs Aslan to breathe on it and it will spring to life…


Always fun seeing what kind of lens flare you can get, shooting into the sun…


And even when surrounded with huge beautiful things, it always pays to keep an eye out for the small beautiful things…the little bits of beautiful the Creator scatters around.


Oh…and credit where credit is due: I've been playing around with some photo processing goodies I found here. The Narnia shot above uses her "Boost" and "Quick Edge Burn" actions. The rock climbing photos started with her Vintage action…tweaked into something different afterwards. Fun stuff that she's got done so I don't have to do all the niggly steps involved.

learning to be crafty

A couple of Christmases ago, my family gave me a sewing machine. I had discovered the world of crafty sewing blogs and was getting mildly obsessed with having my own machine to try out some of the tutorials I was finding.

Now that I am married and not punching a time clock 40 hours a week, I finally have time to pursue my crafty dreams. Some people could have handled the craftiness and a full time job, but not me. Not in my apartment with no clear surface areas! I now have an entire room to dedicate to all my creative making urges. The bummer is that I just happen to live in a town with not even one fabric or craft store.

There are tons of tutorials out there for making baby gifts. Quick to make, and using a minimum of fabric, baby gifts are a good way to learn some basic sewing skills…and it just so happens that babies are being born all over the place. It's not hard to find one who could use a few burp cloths & bibs. So that's where I started.


There's not all that much baby fabric out there that is non gender specific, so I just went looking for something pretty and not pink. I love green anyway…especially these springy limey brights. I have a few shirts in these colors. Too bad there wasn't much left over from the gift :)


The bibs were made with a pattern from the book bend-the-rules sewing by Amy Karol…one that I bought around the same time I got the sewing machine, as it seemed like it would be my kind of book…not too crazy technical, nicely designed and easy to read. I think I'm going to go back through it now that I'm actually doing more sewing and see what other projects she's got that I want to make.


I had fun with some decorative stitches on my machine and managed to come out with something I wasn't embarrassed to give away. And the mom says those burp cloths sure do come in handy. I'm just wondering about those bibs…the neck hole seems awfully small…