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Wednesday, September 13, 2017

Picture Practice - An eBook

Back in March, our Instagram challenge was titled Picture Practice and each day was devoted to learning about our phone cameras, new techniques for improving our photography and practicing that technique. I blogged for 31 days straight!  I know, right?!?! Well, I have taken ALL of that information, edited it and added to it and compiled it into a downloadable eBook! Whoa! It was quite an undertaking, but I felt like it would be so much easier to review or refer to if it was in a single document.

The name of the book is: Picture Practice: Taking your photos from "so-so" to "WOW"!
This book is 150+ pages of information, photo examples and comparisons and includes information for both iPhone photography, as well as Android phones.


I even added info about the new iPhone7+, even though at this time I am still coveting it in the stores. The book is available for purchase as a single download in the shop over at Dot To Dot Connections. And guess what?  For a limited time, it is also on sale! Hooray! Just in time for those beautiful fall colors, special programs at school and holidays. Just add it to your cart and check out and you will immediately receive an email with a link to the download.

I hope you enjoy the book and will send me some examples of your new and improved photography skills!
Wednesday, September 6, 2017

Dot To Dot Connections

I started this blog quite a few years ago. In fact, it is really hard to believe that I have posts dating back to the year 2007!!  Is that crazy or what?!?!  In scrolling back through my posts, it is easy to see that my posts ebbed and flowed along with life in general. If I had a big project underway, or had done some traveling, I posted more regularly. As things got busy in my work or personal life, I backed way off of blogging.  This blog has always been a personal thing--a way to record some of what is happening in my life and to share some of the DIY projects that I always seem to be undertaking.

I plan to keep on blogging occasionally here, but as you know, I have also started another blog related to a small business I am beginning. There, you will find information that is related to the business, as well as ideas for activities to do with kids, product reviews and suggestions, etc.

Today, I am happy to announce that the entire website is now up and running!!  
Along with it, I am introducing my first subscription box---COLOR MAGIC! It is a box full of materials to complete a variety of activities with your child. The directions are all there, with easy-to-follow steps and there is a great book to read as well. Finally (my favorite part), there are journaling cards with question prompts for you to complete with your child. I really love this box of activities, but I'm already working on the next one. I have so many ideas and it is hard to narrow them down!

This whole business thing is kind of a "leap of faith" experience. I have had this dream going on in my head and finally decided to act upon it. I have no idea how it will all turn out---which twists or turns it may take--but, I don't ever want to regret not trying. I hope you will hop over to the website and take a look around and please invite others as well. If you would like a free activity to download for your child, be sure to sign up on the Dot To Dot blog. I promise not to fill you inbox with spam, but I will let you know when new products/boxes are available, as well as future freebies.

Hill Country

Ron's work has been relentless this year, with the installation and implementation of a new software system at each of the hospitals. He has not been able to take off any days for quite some time, so with a long Labor Day weekend looming, and a slight break before the nest installation begins, he was able to take off one day to make a 4-day weekend to visit his oldest son, Terry and family. Then Hurricane Harvey hit and suddenly traveling that far became questionable because of the shortage of gasoline. At the very last minute, after phone calls back and forth and a trip to buy gas cans and gasoline, we decided to go. I didn't take my DSLR with me, so all my pictures are from my phone.

Friday morning we loaded our suitcases and full gas cans in Ron's truck and hit the road. Along the way, we passed lots of emergency sign and vehicles. We stopped for a picnic along the way and to top off our gas tank when we saw stations with gas. Once we got past Waco, gas became more scarce, with most stations closed or only offering diesel.
We stopped at one point to get a better look at  some wildflowers that we'd seen growing alongside the road. While they appeared solid white from a distance, they were actually variegated green and white and were Snow-on-the-mountain. We learned the hard way that they can cause both skin and eye irritation.  Oops!
I took Archer one of the new car play mats I had stitched and he really loved it, playing with it at dinner, through the weekend and even sleeping with it!
It was such a nice, relaxing weekend with visits to tiny Ingram, lunch at Bridgette's Baskets and a visit to Stonehenge.  Wait!!  Stonehenge??? Yep! Who knew that you could find a 60% replica of Stonehenge? A bit weird, but kind of fun, too. And it was the perfect place to let Archer run around.
Terry and Jaylynn have just moved into a new home, and are remodeling parts of it. Ron was able to help assemble Archer's new "big-boy bed", which he LOVED!!!
Jaylynn is a runner, too, and Terry has just begun running, so we headed down to their River Trail on Sunday morning. The temperatures were in the low 60', and the scenery along the trail was great! We saw a bunch of deer wandering around eating their breakfast and wished we had a similar running trail in Shreveport. Of course, we would never get any PR's if we did since we stopped to look at the deer every time we saw some.
We spent the rest of the day just relaxing and playing which was nice for all of us.
Terry put some deer corn out along the road by their house in hopes of drawing out a few more deer. It worked for one buck, and the boys sure had fun watching for them.
Even though we spent a lot of time on the road, it was such a good time. Jaylynn and Terry were wonderful hosts and it was great to spend time with them in their new home.

Archer took this group photo of us.  Not bad for a 3-year-old!
Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Special DIY Baby Shower Blocks

Earlier this year, I helped host a baby shower for a sweet lady from our church. Jessica and her husband had been hoping for a baby for a while and everyone was thrilled to learn a new baby was on its way. They chose to be surprised as to the gender, so we wanted a gender neutral hostess gift for the baby. I also wanted to do something special that they would be able to keep and enjoy for a long time, so inspired by a shower that Jana recently gave, we decided to make baby blocks at the shower.

I gathered all of the supplies for the craft and tried to make things as easy as possible for those attending.  Here are the materials you will need:

  • Unfinished blocks
  • Patterned or solid scrapbook paper
  • Old children's books that you can cut pages from
  • Scissors
  • Pencil
  • Glue
  • Fine-tip permanent pens
  • Mod-Podge
  • Small Foam brushes

I ordered 2" wooden blocks from Glitz Star from Amazon as the base for our design.
These blocks were perfect! It might have okay to use a slightly smaller block, but I really liked this size. In addition, the blocks came in a drawstring bag that was perfect for gift-giving!

Since her nursery colors were gray and yellow, I spray-painted the blocks light gray. They required two coats for even coverage since they were unfinished to begin with. (I set them inside the Amazon box to spray them so I didn't get the paint all over my carport.)

Each person at the shower was to make a block by adhering colored paper to each side, and signing their name on one piece of paper. I chose some simple dotted scrapbook paper that coordinated with the invitations I'd made. While it would be very easy to cut squares with scissors, I used my Silhouette to cut squares (with rounded corners) from the paper.

For the signatures, I used the print & cut feature of my Silhouette to make a signature square. I just printed it onto the same patterned paper (similar shown here) and then fed it into my machine to be cut into rounded squares, as well.  You could also just let each person sign one of the squares of scrapbook paper, if you'd rather.

Last, but not least, was my favorite part. I purchased some classic Golden Books, The Poky Little Puppy and The Little Red Hen and cut small squares from them as well. Because I wanted to be sure I included the faces, etc., I fussy-cut these by hand rather than using the die-cutter.

On a table, covered with a plastic tablecloth, I had set out all of the painted blocks, plastic plates with Mod Podge in them and a cup to hold pens and paintbrushes. I divided the blocks into patterns pieces and book pieces and had directions posted on the table, but I also supervised the table to be sure everyone understood how to do the activity.  (As another part of our hostess gift, we gave a set of melamine dishes that matched the books, so I used these in the setup of this table.)
Directions for the blocks that were posted on the signs were:

  • Pick 4 pictures from one of the books.
  • Pick 1 patterned piece of paper
  • Pick 1 piece of paper with "Made by"
  • Sign your name on the "Made by" paper and glue to one side of the block with the Mod Podge.
  • Glue the other pieces to the other sides of the block.
I took all of the blocks home and gave them another coat of Mod Podge before delivering them. That was it! Super simple, but they turned out really cute and made such a sweet, memorable gift for the new baby--who turned out to be a baby girl!! 

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