Sand box fun!

Sofi has a new-found love for sandboxes and loves to play in the one at our neighborhood park.

I love how you can see the sand falling out of her hand in this one!

See her pants? She likes to scoop up sand and dump it on her legs.

This is when she stuck a rock in her mouth (Don't worry, we got it out and she was fine)

Messy baby!

Photo editing tutorial with Photo Pos Pro

I downloaded a free photo editor called Photo Pos Pro and it is fantastic! It doesn't have quite as many tools as photo shop or some other more advanced editor but it is really great for touching up a basic photo. Anyways, I am just going to post a little tutorial on how to edit with photo pos pro. (and I'm sure some of these tricks apply to photo shop, too)

Here is the original picture that I started with:

Good picture, but kinda grainy

1. I used Noise Reduction twice on the picture to despeckle and make it look smoother and less grainy.
2. Increased Brightness and contrast to desired amounts. (10 brightness and 5 contrast if you're curious)
3. go to RGB and change color levels (R -2, G 5, B 5)
4. Go to HSL and change Saturation and Luminosity ( S 5, L 3)
5. Crop, if desired. 
6. Use clone brush to cover up any unwanted places.

And here is the image with basic edits applied:

But I decided I liked it better without the under-eyes smoothed over, so I undid that:

Much Cuter, I think.

Now, I decided I wanted to make it look a little vintage-y so here's what I did:

1. Go to Brightness/ contrast and turn the contrast up pretty high (I did 28)
2. Then go to Effects - Colors - Fade to Gray
3. Turn saturation down (-33)
4. Go to Effects- Colors- Sepia - Advanced
5. Adjust Tint, Level, and contrast until desired look is achieved (T 21, L 40, C 21)
6. Lower Opacity until Desired amount of color shows through (I did about half)

Here is the picture with these edits applied:

Which do you like better?

Trip to the park

Yesterday, We took Sofi on a walk to the park. We do this a lot, but we usually go in the afternoon when the sun is blazing down and this time, we went around eight at night. The lighting was so beautiful in the park, that I took a few pictures.

30 day drawing challenge: Day 1

I know, I know I'm a few days late but I promise I did draw this on the day  I said I was going to start! Anyways, this is not the greatest drawing and I half-assed the coloring but it got me drawing, which is an accomplishment. Hand drawn and colored on Photo-POS pro.

30 Day Drawing Challenge

I found this on pinterest and I am going to do it! Starting today, I am going to do each one of these drawing challenges. One each day for 30 days. Mind you, I'm no great artist, this is just for fun fun fun!

Big ol' quilt project: Part 1

For the last week or so, I have been working on this lovely quilt-along-quilt from crazy mom quilts. I am planning on making this for my friend for her birthday. (don't worry, she doesn't even know this blog exists... I hope!) Anyways, I am using a lot of green and blue fabrics in my quilt. and a lot of floral patterns!


Here is what the quilt will look like when it is finished (but with my fabric, of course!) Isn't it cute?!
I'm so excited for this project! Currently, I am cutting all of the fabric for the nine-patch pieces and then I will begin piecing the patches together!

Lemon butter shrimp with lemony rice - pin tackle

Last night for dinner I made this lemon and butter shrimp with a lemony rice. (shrimp recipe found on pinterest.) I did not take my own pictures because my camera charger is missing and my camera currently has a dead battery :(
But here is the picture from Pinterest:

And here is the recipe: SO EASY!

• 2 lbs. fresh, raw, medium or large shrimp.
• 1 stick of butter, melted
• 3 baby lemons or 1 big lemon, sliced
• Italian seasoning packet (But I used salt and black pepper)

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
2. Line a baking sheet with an edge with tin foil
3. Pour melted butter into baking sheet
4. Place sliced lemon in baking sheet
5. arrange shrimp on top of lemon
6. Sprinkle with italian seasoning packet (or salt and pepper)
7. Place in pre-heated oven for 15 minutes
8. ENJOY!

I also made some delicious lemon rice (no picture, sorry)

I just cooked 2 cups of rice in lightly salted water and then added the zest of 2 baby lemons and the juice of 1 1/2 of the baby lemons and about a table spoon of olive oil and mixed it all together. (I ended up squeezing the extra 1/2 lemon over the shrimp)

And here are the remaining recipes (I have A LOT more pinned now, but I am too lazy to put them all here, so I will add them to the list as I do them. Lazy, I know)

Jalapeno poppers with bacon and cream cheese in a crescent roll

Healthy Baked French Fries

Tie Dye cake

Buffalo chicken rolls    (I am about to do a post on these, but no pictures for this, either)

Vanilla bean cheesecake with chocolate crust and salted caramel topping (OH, YUM)

Make ahead breakfast burritos

Loaded potato and buffalo chicken casserole

Garlic Parmesan pull apart bread

Crock-pot apple sauce

Homemade pizza pockets

baked mozzarella sticks

Shrimp, pesto, and goat cheese pizza

Frosted soft sugar cookies

Soft pretzel bites

Buffalo chicken pasta salad

Baked apples with oatmeal streusel topping

Baked breaded mushroom caps

crescent rolls with spinach and feta

zucchini fritters

S'more filled chocolate chip cookie

crockpot mac and cheese

baked pumpkin spice donuts

cookies and cream filled chocolate cake

bacon wrapped smokies

Baked lemon butter shrimp

mac and cheese casserole

Chocolate chip oreo brownie cookie bar

loaded potato rounds

snowmen cupcakes

nutella cookies

Warm roasted potato salad

mango lemonade

waffle iron hashbrowns

iced coffee concentrate

baked strawberry donuts

baked donuts

pretzel chocolate chip cookies

stuffed pizza

mini meatloafs

pineapple banana pops

wonton tacos

cinnamon chile roasted sweet potatoes

shrimp and bell pepper quesadillas