So I finally broke down and bought a ring flash and I absolutely LOVE it! I can’t wait to use it for my photo sessions. It arrived yesterday and I got to play with it a little bit last night. So much fun!
Looking forward to playing with this gadget 
XOXO
Kim
Well… this might become a family tradition…..though I didn’t do it LAST year I DID do it the year before. I drag all of my studio photography equipment to my parents house for Thanksgiving and TRY to get some pictures of the kids (my niece and nephews). I usually try to drag my brothers and their wives in there too.
I was able to get a few cute ones this year, though SOME were reluctant :p
Thad and Jenny were willing My family rocks! I love my bro Thad and his wife Jenny
My little baby nephew Cole was all smiles for the camera. What a CUTIE-PIE! How adorable is he?!
This is my niece Lilly and my sister-in-law Jenny. Lilly was being a stinker and didn’t want to have her picture taken. So Jenny was trying to coax her by being in the picture too. I loved this shot.
Here’s the little stinker This was the only picture I got of her looking at the camera. She’s usually pretty good about me taking her picture, but I think having the backdrop and the lights set up really put her “on the spot”. This is one of the main reasons I prefer to do on-location photography of children in a park or backyard and get candid shots. Sometimes they just “clam up” and there isn’t much you can do but make the best of it She’s still a little cutie-pie ain’t she?
TREY MAN! He is SUCH a “cheeser”! He didn’t want to do it at first, but then he wandered out and said, “Okay! I’ll go I GUESS!” He stood there and said “CHEESE!” over and over again LOL! He’s a good kid
Alas I had to post another pic of Cole because he’s so little and adorable and man…. they just grow so quickly! I remember when Trey was this tiny.
I love my family so very much and I am so glad that they are willing to be my guinea pigs when it comes to me being a Shudderbug
I’ll be posting some of my OTHER brother and his kids when I finish editing them.
Hope you enjoyed!
XOXOX
Kim
Well it’s that time of year, for decorating, crafts, baking and shopping!
I’ve decided to go through some of my Christmas decorations this year and get rid of some stuff so I can decorate more “simply”. I’ve had a bunch of “mish-mash” decorations for years and years now. A lot of hand-me-downs that are tattered, broken etc. I decided this year to simplify my decorations by going with a plain wreath with green LED lights and two wire/ivy trees with white LED lights on top of the piano. I decided to go with LED this year. While they cost more upfront they use a fraction of the electricity as regular lights do. I’m kind-of a Christmas light freak so I figured I would save where I could.
I put this decoration together the other night after buying these two little trees at Fred Meyer for $9.99 a piece. The planter is a Pottery Barn planter that I’ve had sitting outside since this past summer with nothing in it. It was a gift from a family friend. The silver ornaments are leftover from a few years ago as is the ribbon. I’ve decided on a green and silver theme with a hint of red. I have a couple of other “projects” up my sleeve that I will be blogging about later (once I buy the supplies to create them).
I am almost done with my Christmas shopping this year and it’s only December 1st! I decided to get a jump start and I did a LOT of my shopping online this year. I’ve been really happy with the results. I’ve gone out to Christmas shop only once and it was NOT on Black Friday (NO WAY!). I only have one more person to buy for (whom I am waiting for to give me some IDEAS). Other than that I have a couple of silly stocking stuffer things to get. I am really happy that I will be able to enjoy December baking and doing crafts instead of running back and forth from the mall and shopping center
Speaking of CRAFTS!!! This is a little project I started last week. I’ve had this pad of Holiday scrapbooking paper for a couple of years now. I’ve used a few pieces here and there for cards and whatnot, but I’m not really into scrapbooking so I’ve been trying to figure out ways to use this beautiful paper (either that or give it away!). I decided to cut up the 12×12 sheets into little strips to fold and make gift tags. But I couldn’t stop there! I cut little white squares of paper and used my Holiday rubber stamp collection to stamp images onto the paper. After that I used an old paint brush, some craft glue and my Martha Stewart glitter to jazz them up a bit. I may have gotten a little carried away…..but I was having so much FUN with this! Aren’t they cute?!?!
I think the snowflakes are my favorites! Some of them I drew myself, like this one. I just drew the shape lightly with a pencil and painted the glue on before sprinkling the glitter. The photo doesn’t show how sparkly and glittery they are. They’re really cute!
This snowman turned out pretty cute too! This one is from one of my rubber stamps. Unfortunately I had to stop using the stamps because my stamp pads were all nasty from being in storage. The foam was starting to disintegrate and make the stamping process pretty sloppy.
This was a great project for my ADD personality. It gave me something fun to do for several hours a couple nights in a row and now I have a nice little collection of hand-made gift tags!
Happy crafting everyone! Have a wonderful Holiday Season!
XOXOX
Kim
Oh how I do love to bake during the Holidays! I don’t like to cook (I can, I just don’t enjoy it as much). But I DO love baking pies, cookies and pastries to share with and give away to my loved ones during the Holidays. It really is a warm-fuzzy for me. I turn my Pandora radio onto Holiday music, plug my headphones in and bake the night away.
That’s what I did for my Thanksgiving Pecan Pie this year. It turned out DELICIOUS and it was fun to make. I decided to document it with my camera this year.
I mixed the dry ingredients (flour and salt) together. Then I added the shortening and used a pastry blender (which I highly recommend because it’s so much easier) to blend the shortening in with the flour and salt. The trick with this pie crust is to blend and blend until there is no longer a “powdery” consistency in the flour. You want it all to be absorbed by the shortening, until it looks like large crumbs. Then I added 3 Tbs of water sprinkling it on one at a time and tossing with a fork. Then I gathered all the dough together into a ball and squished it out flat. I put it on my floured counter top and rolled it out to about 1/4 inch thick.
It can be tricky getting your pastry into your pie plate without it falling apart. I usually place my rolling pin in the center of the pastry and roll one half of it over the rolling pin then I place my pie plate right beside it and use the rolling pin to drag it up over the plate. Once I got it in the pie plate I pushed it down around the bottom before trimming off the excess leaving about an inch hanging over. Then I folded the extra underneath before putting creases all the way around.
Next it was time to get out the BEAST (aka my kick-ass Kitchenaid) to mix the ingredients for the pie filling. You can always use a hand-mixer or beater if you don’t have a beast like mine
I then mixed all the above ingredients until it was smooth. After that I added the pecans. The recipe calls for 1 cup of pecans but I usually just put the whole bag in and I haven’t had a single complaint yet! I would recommend using a spoon or spatula to mix in the nuts as my mixer tends to pulverize them :p
I took the empty pie shell and put it on the oven rack and poured the filling in. After that was done I made a “tent” out of aluminum foil to place over the top. It’s my experience when baking pies with such a high sugar content they tend to burn or scorch on top really easily. I baked my pie for the first 35 minutes with the foil on and for the final 10-12 I removed the foil so the top would brown a little bit. But keep your eye on it once you take the foil off because it will turn brown really fast. Bake your pie for 40-50 minutes until the center is set. The pie is done when you give it a half-turn and the center barely jiggles. It can jiggle a little bit because the pie will continue to cook after you take it out of the oven.
Taaaadaaaa! A delicious Pecan Pie for the whole family to enjoy! It was WONDERFUL!
Happy Holidays everyone! Share your love and caring by baking goodies for your loved ones this season The “Mmmmmmm!” sound is a gift in and of itself
XOXOX
Kim
