Flowers and Frames

I am so excited! One of the blogs that I follow, Moms with Cameras, was doing a contest the other day and the prize was a lightscoop and I WON! Moms with Cameras is a great blog full of useful info for everyone from a mom who just likes to take snapshots to professional photogo-mommies. You should really check it out.

Lightscoop is a nifty little product that I didn't even know about until I read about it on the blog and I can't wait to get it in the mail to test it out. It snaps on to your on-camera flash to bounce the flash off a wall or ceiling to create a more diffused and wider band of light for your subject. It's a nice alternative to lugging my large external flash around when I just want to take some fun snapshots.

I'll let you know how it works for me and post some pics as soon as I get it!

I took advantage of the lovely weather we are having today (I looooove North Carolina weather!!) and went to the Kernersville Botanical Garden . It was small but so pretty! I went with the goal to get some pics for the Photo Scavenger Hunt. That didn't really work out for me and I still have 7 more words/photographs to find (in 2 days!!)..but I did get some nice shots there anyway so it was worth the trip.

I'm not sure what kind of flower this was but it sure did look cool..the Carolina blue sky was a perfect complement to it!

This was a milk weed plant of some sort. Very interesting, I had never seen one before. The pod looks like it would be hard and prickly but it was actually quite soft, almost like a balloon. Some of the pods had "exploded" and white fluff was escaping..it looked similar to the dandelions seeds that you blow to make a wish.

I love focusing in on tiny details and letting everything else just blur into color and nothing-ness. It gives the photograph such an abstract quality..almost like a painting. I love all things art related, though I am not much of a painter..but the larger of the 3 photographs above really inspire me to break out the paints.

I am also very happy that I have finally completed my picture-frame needs. I have been searching everywhere for 5 picture frames to match 5 specific photographs of mine. Since I will think of any excuse in the world to stop by Marshalls and T.J. Maxx, I have been going there on a weekly basis in search of them (and getting myself a few pieces of clothing..necessities of course..in the process..). They usually have some great, unique and inexpensive frames but I could not find find the ones that I was looking for.

Finally, today I stopped by Homegoods and completed my collection and let me just tell you, I don't know what took me so long to go to such a fabulous store but now I am a little obsessed with Homegoods! It was so sparkly and pretty and clean and had every single knick-knack and decorating apparatus that you could possible think of. I NEED to go back there soon. I NEED to decorate my whole house with that store!!

Alright, that is my rant for the day, I hope you enjoyed the pictures! I will probably have new stuff up on Etsy within the next few days..so check back soon! And don't forget, if you are in the Winston-Salem area, you should definitely plan on stopping by the AFAS Festival downtown (6th & Trade) from 1-5 pm this Sunday. This is the last one of the season..it's been fun, see you there next May!