Painting...FAQ... and a winner.

 Hi guys!!  Gosh it feels like I've been away forever!  I'm popping in with photos from some fun pottery painting I did with another one of my besties, Nurse Nicki.  That girl... she's like my little sister.  She will let me talk her into anything.  She had never painted pottery before (gasp! I know, right?) so I made her accompany me.  She loved it and even said that it felt very peaceful while we were there.  I am creating special birthday plates for each of my hoodlums (as birthday season feels right around the corner- it's not... but I like to plan ahead).  I did JJ's plate and will come back (next paycheck) and do Ava's. LOL

 I truly adore this place.  Nurse Nicki got creative with some tape and we were both loving the ombre look so she did the inside of her bowl with that, and I worked a little Katie Daisy-esque paint magic with a monogram.  Love it and can't wait to see how it turns out!  (They take a few days to fire and glaze.)

 The Irish girl in me got a kick out of this...

 

 Changing gears... I get asked a few questions with regularity and wanted to post them so I can add them into my FAQ tab. 

 One question I get asked all the time, are the names of various paint colors in my home. 

A: I recently dipped some paint sticks in each color and then stamped them with all the information I need for future reference.  For those of you who wanted to know colors of walls, trim, cabinets, island, my front door, kid rooms, and table, here you are!  (I threw in the color of my dresser though I still haven't shown it yet... my closet is a long work in progress and someday I hope to show it.)

I get this question emailed to me at least once a week.  And it totally endears you to me, just so you know. I get asked the color of my lipstick.  I love being a girl. 

A: I wear Satin Plum by Revlon. (#643) If you see me with sheer, glossy lips, it's "Dolly" Buxom lip gloss, made by Bare Escentuals. It's quite a bit more expensive than a tube of Revlon, so I make it last as long as possible.  I have been known to cut a tube in half to get it all.  #gettingyourmoneysworth I love both colors and if Revlon ever quits making my lipstick, I will cry.  I'm just saying. 

I still get asked about my camera and lens a lot, and because I've changed lenses this year, here's the scoop.  
A: Still shooting with a Canon Rebel XS.  I loved my 50 mm lens to death.  But I wanted a zoom-just a bit- so I traded both my kit lens and 50 mm for a Tamron 28-75 mm F 2.8 macro lens.  It's not the lens for everyone, but it was perfect for how I use a lens and I'm thrilled beyond thrilled with it.  I can't remember exactly when I purchased it, but I think it was in early Summer. (I need to update this information in my FAQ section in the above tabs.)

 

 This last question came to me as I was typing this post so I decided to tack it onto the end, as it's also a frequent inquiry. Flor asks,"Do you keep all the pictures that you take? and do you only edit (do you even edit?? your pics look very clean and clear) the "good" pictures? my hard drive is starting to fill up and i'm struggling with how to go about being more selective with my pictures.  i struggle with projects like project 365 because i forget which picture is for what day (if i don't download them immediately from my memory card on my camera which is hard for me to do) so i end up never completing a 10 on 10 or project 365. this year i want to be better but not quite sure where to start."
A: I don't keep all the pictures I take.  I am a deleter.  Most of the photos I take for my blog aren't photos I care to reprint, but the ones I love go into a special file for printing, photo book making, etc.  I take a ton each day and I delete all the ones I don't want immediately to avoid build up.  I use Picasa for my storage and the space has been fine with consistent cleaning and removing of unnecessary photos. I only do minor editing for most photos and the main edits that I do for my blog photos are resizing, watermarking -and the occasional under eye wrinkle diminishing. (wink)  For my 365, I kept a monthly file, depositing each photo at night into that month's file, and because I did that, it kept them in order.  That made it easy to mark the dates onto each photo when I edited them for my monthly 365 posts.  Once the month was over, I simply dumped the entire month's worth of dated photos into a file for the current year, and started all over with the new month.  (Then at the end of the year I had organized, dated photos ready for a photo book!)

 Before I go, the winner of the calendar giveaway by random drawing, was Mary who said, "What a beautiful kitchen!!!!! ;)  and believe me, i NEED that calendar! :) xo" 

Congratulations Mary! Please shoot me an email at lemonademakinmama@comcast.net and I'll hook you up with Betsy to claim your prize!