Hello All!

It is Monday, again! That means it is time for our 'Monday Mania' post and to set the tone for this upcoming week. Hope everyone had a great Father's day yesterday! I spent the day at the part time job and stayed super busy all day, a full 12 1/2 hour day, boy was I tired when I got home!

News...

• New Products:

         It is my goal that this Thursday I will be able to debut a Libby & Jean feather bouquet!! Yay, bout    
         time:) I have been working on bouquets made of feather flowers and just the right amount of
         vintage jewelry as well as fabric flower bouquets made of re-worked fabrics and vintage ribbons.

• New Projects:

          In order to further a longtime passion of mine I decided to take a digital photography class
          dedicated to teaching me how to 'shoot in manual' with my fancy camera (in other words,
          bossing my camera around-love it!). I came across Bella Pop online photography classes and the
          talented Brandy Frank, who is not only an extremely talented photographer but also teaches her
          class in such an easy format to understand, ie lots of pictures, haha:). I decided to take the plunge
          and take the course for a couple of reasons,

                    1.) I have tried numerous times to read my camera's manual and am still lacking that "aha!"
                         moment where everything just comes together and makes sense.

 and

                    2.) I have an insane and often very time and focus consuming love for wedding
                         photography and would love to be able to create my own unique and personal take on
                         recreating some of those shots I love on behalf of my branding for Libby & Jean. And
                        who knows, maybe some creative expression of a budding wedding photographer. I can
                        dream, right?:)

          Basically, what this means for everyone here on the blog is that I will likely be sharing some of
          the pictures I take for shooting practice for the class. I am super pumped to really be able to
          control all of my camera's settings and play around with the cool effects. Why have a fancy
          camera if I can't really use it right?!

Like for example, these two pictures I took in our garden while playing with the aperture speed and my light meter:

Completely over-exposed but cool effect nonetheless.

Just the right amount of light:)

• New 'Words to live by':

          I have recently fallen in love with another creative minded blogger, Lucy Ledger, of Lucy
          Ledger Designs. She is an illustrator and collage artist and uses her amazing skills to create
          stunning 'shabby chic-floral' and vintage inspired stationery. Just take a look at her blog, I am in
          love with the line of ribbon that runs the top of her blog page, it looks like I could just reach out
          and pluck it off the page! Besides being enamored by her talent I also love the fact that she shares
          what she thinks, what has worked for her, and some great solid advice about keeping your chin
          up while trying to accomplish your dreams. I decided to borrow a brilliant quote found on her
          blog for my 'words to live by' this week:

Image by Lucy Ledger Designs

Happy Monday All!