Unwilling Subject

So I just finished the last week of Candice Stringham's "Portraiture 101" class at JessicaSprague.com. It was totally worth it, and I learned a lot...almost as much as I did in "Oh, Shoot."  However, to look at my assignments, you'd never guess. Jack is now an unwilling subject.  The sight of my camera elicits the same response I'd get if I told him I was giving him a vaccination. Still, I did catch some lighter shots.  So even though I did not bang out a photographic masterpiece this time, thanks for getting me back behind the camera, Candice.

This is why I must now have lightning fast reflexes.  That ball is made of foam, but you get his drift...

Staying Busy - and Happy Mother's Day!

Well it's time for another Inspired Blueprints Sketch reveal -

This one had me at the photo strips.  For your viewing pleasure, here's Sketch 73:

And here's my take on it.  I didn't have the plethora of Easter photos I had last year, mostly because Jack was sick for the better part of Easter week. Things were pretty low key around here, but we did hit the high points of the holiday.  Like the eggs? They're Jack originals produced at daycare.

My other little endeavor this month is a photography class I'm taking online.  If you have the chance, "Portraiture 101" taught by Candace Stringham for JessicaSprague.com is worth the time and money. I'm learning a ton about taking better portraits (and candids for that matter).  Now if I could get Jack enthused about having his picture taken. I didn't think I'd get this week's assignment done...thanks Brian for keeping him busy with the soccer ball while I snapped away.  Saved me having to slip Jack a mickey.

Last week's assignment was to practice using window lighting in a posed portrait. This was my attempt at side lighting.  Ideally the subject stands parallel with his or her back to the window, then turns shoulders toward the window until there is a nice effect (and not a "phantom of the opera" look).  Jack refused to look over his shoulder.  He said he "didn't want to stand like a girl."  Sharp kid.  So I spun him around, still parallel to the window but looking back at me to the side.  Clutter on the table aside, I love this picture.  Hard to believe a child who pitched such a fit about having his boring picture taken could produce such a genuine grin.

On that happy note, Happy Mothers Day!

Another Sweet Sketch

This week was the reveal for the lovely and talented Sketch #71.  Isn't this fun?

Being the graphic, linear scrapper that I am, I wasn't sure I could love the circle.  Enter sewing machine....

How fun is it to just sew big imperfect circles? I started out with a mixing bowl as guide for the first lap, then went to town. I was going to put some bling on the circles, but it's such a boy-page that I opted for the brads instead.  The papers come from Backporch Memories here in Fairbanks. 

And on a hoppy note(groan), I hope the Easter Bunny was good to you!

Afterglow

Jenny and I had so much fun this past weekend at the Tanana Valley Kennel Club agility trial! She finished her Novice Jumpers with Weaves title and earned two more legs on her Open titles...and all before she turns two.  Kind of dulls the pain of not trialing with Chena. My friend Patty had a good weekend with her labs, and I confess I had a little retriever envy. Oh, well...

Here's a video of Jenny's last run of the weekend.  On Sunday I remembered to bring my camcorder - film courtesy of Andrew Walsh. I used to write down the stats of each run, but I do enough paper work at the clinic.  I've dumped the "record book" for video files. Watching these is way more helpful (and fun).

Today Jack, Brian and I took in a matinee after kindergarten.  We took Jack to see "Hop."  He said he enjoyed it but it was kind of long. We can't wait for the new "Cars" movie to come out this summer!  I think talking cars will once again trump talking animals...though the bunny was pretty cute.

Inspired Blueprints News..

This week Inspired Blueprints introduced their new design team for May - September...and yours truly is on it! This is my "design team" debut, so I'm pretty excited. A new sketch will be introduced each week, and I'll be adding mine to the mix twice monthly.

Here's the lovely and versatile Sketch 69:

And here's my take on it: 

Thankfully, most of that snow has melted.  Yay, spring!

In other news, Jenny and I have been competing in the Tanana Valley Kennel Club agility trial this weekend. She earned her second leg in open standard yesterday and finished her novice jumpers with weaves title today. She's running beautifully and would be qualifying on all runs if she had a better handler!  I couldn't be more pleased with my little fireball.

Have  a great week!

Such a Slacker!

I've totally fallen down on my blog-upkeep duties!  My excuse was another busy week.  We're enjoying a lovely spring...the temperatures are toasty but the ice makes playing outside a little dicey. We did have a fun weekend - PAWS training with Chena on Saturday morning and agility run-thrus with Jenny and Jack in the afternoon, then Yukon Quest raffle and dinner at the Badger Den. Jack spent the evening with his favorite sitter Sarah.  On Sunday we went to church, hit the grocery store then came home for some quality time with the washer, dryer, and vacuum cleaner. Sunday afternoon Chena and I joined Susan and her sweet golden Sam for some day-old trails.  Didn't those girls do a nice job!  Now another work week has begun...

Another layout to share...

Our RV trip to Kenai last Labor Day was so much fun - with the price of gasoline we will likely stay closer to home this summer...but maybe not. Fingers crossed!

Thursday nights with Jenny...

After a long day at work (and I mean L-O-N-G), nothing is more fun than running agility courses with Jenny. We're in the advanced group from the kennel club that trains at Camp Li-Wa.  It's a small group, and Joelle designed a lovely fast jumpers course for this evening.

Jenny did best on the first run, then started improvising and running her own sequences.  Apparently she thinks she can read numbers.  She had some brilliant moments (nice weaves), but I see we're going to need to work on control a bit.

In any case, it was big fun...and helping with the intermediate class following our class is always a treat.  What a nice group of handlers and dogs!

So this brings to mind this layout I did for Jen as a puppy. For the record, this is my first and only layout published in a national magazine.  You may have seen it in Scapbooks Etc. "Reader Gallery" in the October 2010 issue.  Yup, I'm "rdagdag."  Not really. I'm not sure where that came from.  In any case, back for an encore...

Doesn't she just look like she's going to be trouble? At nearly two, she's turned out to be a fun little dog...quite a handful, but a joyful little thing.