buy my living room

so I wanted to try my skills at making digital scrapbook stuff and here's the result

the living room kit

this kit is inspired by my living room

and it's $4.50 in my etsy shop

tou on this is personal use including your own blog design (banners and buttons and things) if you link to me or my store

50 items

18 of those are 12 inch paper

all 300 dpi

jpg paper files

png everything else

paint

I've been asked about paint colors I've used before and hooray! i'm finally answering

I wish I had some cute little paint shop I went to and used benjamin moore or martha colors and odor-free green paint but the truth is our town only has a couple options and walmart is usually the quickest and most convenient when out paint shopping with the kiddies

so here's my story

i painted these chairs (and table) because they were much too boring for me

the MOST important thing I'm sure I did was prime them. I was going for the little-bit-of-weathered look like they'd been outside many a lazy summer to watch kids run in the sprinklers but not so much look like your cheap paint just wiped off hours after finishing such a laborious task

so use zinsser primer. it's amazing. zinsser b-i-n is shellac based and while incredibly stinky, when I first used it I ran up and down the streets proclaiming how wonderful life had become

when I painted the chairs I didn't yet know that this primer also existed in spray can form, so I just used brushes.

either buy really cheap brushes and toss them after or plan on cleaning them with even-more-stinky ammonia

the paint colors were then a little bit of see how it goes and keep going until you like it. so i mostly started with these colors (which I had around leftover from other things)

but then rain lily was much too pastel to fit in so I mixed in some brighter yellow spray paint until it ended up something more like this

then each chair ended up getting a double coat in a different color. and that ended up being my most favorite part about them. go light on the coverage so it doesn't get too blobby.

if you're not into all the dings then go ahead and spray poly over the whole thing when you're done.

if you're still with me you're probably into reading about colors so here's a few more

my living room walls are mostly sage smoke but one wall is streambed. if you are an end table that lives in my home chances are you are getting attacked with one of those blues

also lizzie remember a long long time ago you asked about max's room? well it's just plain old medium gray. most of the things in his room are bright red

then lily's room is the room that still makes me crazy. originally I thought jamaican dream would be awesome but there is a full can of it in my basement showing otherwise. way way too dark and bright. so jade bath was my calmer solution but ever since it was done like a year ago it even bugs me. the ceiling is low and the room isn't very light so everyone in it looks underwater. too much. next time I get the urge to torture myself for a couple days I'm going to paint it milky jade and hope that does the trick.

last, spray paint colors. I use krylon from walmart. it's fantastic but what do I know?

our pink picnic table was painted watermelon. not surprising since lily picked it and check out the krylon color page. it's a pretty princess color. perfect.

unpacking

we've been all around everywhere this summer having 56 people's worth of fun and been photographed doing it.

this week has only one hour of preschool teaching at the park on the to do list.

hooray.

here's a few random/what's been uploaded so far.

deciding

the longest part of editing a photo session for me is whittling down however many I start with to however many I'm planning on ending up with

I go back and forth comparing similar shots. try to decide on a top 25 or so based on what makes me happy, what moms are going to like seeing their kids doing, who's going to think they look too dorky and collecting a good representation of everybody

this family took 2 tries to get enough good ones due to the craziest thunderstorm ever

then I somehow ended up with 437 pictures

I'm at least half way there and plan on finishing tonight

here's a couple from the keep list so far

lenses for sale

UPDATE

35mm is sold and shipped

zoom one's price is lowered to $80...anybody?

here's the story. I have these. I don't use these enough anymore. Someone else (that likes a deal) might use them more. neither was a kit lens, I bought them on purpose for different reasons. both are for nikons. also neither will work with one of those d40-style cameras with no internal focusing motor. ask if you need to. both are in perfect condition (once I clean them well) and have their caps.

so this is the nikon 35mm f/2

read about the exact one here

it is a great lens. from my spot on the couch i just took these in program mode

i've used it plenty for portraits and things. good for families because you won't have to back up across the street or be right up in their business.

$250 and i'll pay for shipping

next up, sigma (for a nikon camera) 18-50mm 3.5-5.6

read about it here

plus mine has a lens hood

i bought this for a trip to England.

i really wanted the 18mm side (so you can see a lot of area through your viewfider)

while not quite as good for just portraits, it's great for "stuff"

i recently posted all those pictures of my house.

both the befores and afters were taken with this.

$120 and i'll pay for shipping

email me quick if you're interested.

plan on using paypal if you can.

alliehoopes@yahoo.com

speaking of father's day

ours was lovely.
backyard magic.
the cafe chalkboard menu.
derek. dad. one of my grandpas.

root beer guzzling babies.

but really, what can you get an 86 year old?

that's a lot of father's days.

my dad and sisters put together a coupon book for grandpa.

notice i did not say that derek and i put together a coupon book for grandpa.

or even knew about the coupon book being put together.

given from my dad and mom and sisters.

and not from derek and i.

but look at what the coupons said.

our kitchen table has been getting neglected lately

but I don't think it minds. it's only temporary while the lovely summer nights last.

we've had many a pool party, impromptu dinner get-together, photo shoot, pizza-grilling competition and family flower-planting evening

here's the dinner menu from father's day that my sister who doesn't get that she's amazing drew for me. lily helped....can you tell where? :)

i swear i'm getting my next family pictures taken right here

Wyoming is awesome. junky and old and grungy and awesome.