A House of Color

Photos

I'm really excited to share this with you all! I painted a wall in my living room and I'm LOVING it so much! The color is exactly what I imagined. I plan to add a lot more photos on the wall but for now I'll show ya what it looks like.

It's definitely a feast of colors :)

I spent a lot of time editing photos the last couple of days and I'll be adding them to my etsy. But they won't be just prints. I'll be selling them seperately but they will be sold *with* the frame--the same frames that I used on my green wall. And get this...it will only cost $5! :) so spread the word!!! hehe.

Here's a closer look at some of the photos I'm putting up

There are A LOT more in my etsy :)

Some other things I will be putting in my Etsy shop will be *original* pastel drawings...not prints---originals. And they will  be under $50 to boot!
Another thing I plan to add are some paintings...but that won't be for a while :)

Hugs, Adrienne

New Years

So a new year is right around the corner :)
What do you have planned?
I'm not sure what I'm doing just yet but I've been thinking of resolutions and decided that I am going to really put the effort to losing weight. It shouldn't take too long to reach my goal weight...3 months at most but I decided to really buckle down this time :)

I didn't send Christmas cards this year so I decided to send New Years cards instead :) so I made these photos of Bruiser and tweaked them in Photoshop :)

and I sent a couple more films to Nelsons but I won't get those back for a while.
and guess what????
Today I bought this:
A new tv!
and get this.
you know how you sometimes see something on sale but when you bring it to the register it doesn't show the sale? Well
I experienced the opposite
The tv was $35 cheaper than the price tag!! That was a fun moment.

And yesterday I got the "Scrap!" Magazine issue which has my interview in it so I'll share that when I get a chance to scan it in. It's in dutch though...and they called me the doodle queen hehe ;) they really know how to turn on the charm lol.

Hugs, Adrienne

a real life ghost story :)

So today I thought it might be fun to head over to Old Town San Diego. There's a lot of history behind the city...but moreso I wanted to see the Whaley House. Some of you might of heard of it :) because it's considered the most haunted house in America. Apparently there are only two houses in California which are certified as haunted--the Whaley house is one of them. I know I have a lot of "visual" readers hehe so here's the pics:

Yes I believe in ghosts and I'll tell you why :)
When I was a kid (I think I was like 4 or 5 years old) my mom told me to get my dad for dinner which required me to open the laundry room door and then open the door which leaded to the garage (supposedly my dad was working in the garage). Problem was...the second I opened the door to the laundry room I saw this "thing" just THERE. Standing there as if it were just simply waiting for me. It was all black this "thing" and most of it was pretty hard to make out but I do remember seeing a portion of it's distorted face. And though this "thing" wasn't clear as day...it was *definitely* not a shadow.
Growing up I always remembered that day. I only remembered my mom telling me to get my dad and then seeing it. For some reason I couldn't remember what happened afterwards. I was 16 years old when my mom finally asked me what I remembered from that day. We never really talked about it until that point--I think mostly because as a child she just wanted me to forget about it--as so not to create anxiety. I told her what I remembered and she asked if I remembered what happened after I saw this thing. My mind drew a complete blank...until she started explaining and then I swear to you I felt like I was reliving the whole thing over again. She started to tell me that I screamed bloody murder and as I was running for dear life to the complete other side of the house I kept screaming "mommy!!! mommy!! mommy!!!"  It hit me like a ton of bricks. I finally remembered. I remember depsperately thinking that this thing killed my mom (because my mom was right next to the door and I ran past her like a bolt of lightning). I remember (after what seemed like a century for her to catch up with me) trying my hardest to tell her what I saw but I was so badly in shock and so frightened that all I could ask was if she was ok and if it "got her". I remember feeling the worst kind of horror you could ever imagine.

and to tell you the honest to god truth, I think this very day is the reason why I am *deathly* afraid of the dark.  Most people sleep with lights off but I don't. In fact, I'll bet most peoples nightmares are about being chased by a killer or something like that. Mine (nightmares) almost always include a ghost, all of my lights flickering off, or both lol.

I used to tell people this story but soon realized it was a waste of time--people roll their eyes and come up with scenarios to explain this terror that I experienced...really though, when it comes down to it I know what I saw and only I will ever know. So this is why I truly believe they exist.

While I was at the Whaley house I didn't see, smell, or hear anything out of the ordinary--which is probably a good thing lol. As I was leaving I heard this really beautiful bird song and when I looked over it was a little hummingbird right there on the branch. Just sitting there singing a song--it was amazing. Totally grabbed my camera as quickly as possible and was able to get about 6 pictures until it flew away :) it reminded me of Sarah Bowen who is a total animal lover so I'm gonna make a print of these and send them to her as a "just because" gift :)

Last night I started making a mini Holland album. I wasn't sure what to do because there are A LOT of photos that I have from going there, but it would take me a century to scrapbook it all, and on the other hand if I do a mini album I can't get bigger pictures into it ya know? So I used this Maya Road sheer tab book album and I decorated the tab plastic pieces as if those were my scrapbook pages and then for each section I can just punch holes into the pictures and add them. I'm really happy with the outcome so far since I can still get those bigger pictures in there :)

My fam is in Germany right now so they gave me a key to their house so that I can still come over and relax. It's really nice of them to let me still go over there even though they won't be home because they have a lot of fun gadgets I can play with...like my uncle has 4 different kinds of awesome guitars (yes I play hehe), and they have the Wii with a couple cool games for it. My aunt even left me a little something which is in a shoebox in her room so its kind of exciting to see what that is :) and one of my favorite things is that they have direct tv and tivo so she saved a bunch of fun episodes for me to watch. I don't have cable right now--I just can't be paying $65 a month to watch tv which I hardly ever do to begin with lol. If it was free I'd be all over it haha but thats just too much for me to spend just to watch it myself ya know? So I always get caught up on things when I go to my aunts house :)

Anyways, I'm leaving tonight and I'll be back on Tuesday :)
Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and please don't forget the reason why we celebrate this special part of the year :)

hugs, Adrienne

Patience PAYS!!!

After work I scampered off to Nelsons to FINALLY pick up the developed pictures I took with my new Holga. Ok, so I didn't have to wait THAT long but the excitement was killing me. All over the internet I saw Holga shots that were so beautiful and I was HOPING that they were true--versus photoshoped ya know? I tried not to let the excitement get to me too much the past 3 days...because I was almost SURE that my photos were not going to be as gorgeous as the ones I've seen.
I was wrong.
I was soooooooo wrong.
I'll be the first to admit that I know I'm no pro when it comes to photography. In fact I would be more apt to claiming I'm the total opposite--which is why I typically rely  on photoshop ;) . But when I went to pick up my pictures I was shocked.
totally shocked.
there were even BETTER than I had ever hoped for. They have that artistic edge I was looking for all along...
and go figure,
its from an $80 camera...
with a PLASTIC lens.
unbelievable. :)
(oh and ps--just to show how incredibly cool this Holga camera is..i did not alter these pictures in ANY WAY AT ALL! This is exactly what I got back from the lab!)

This one was done from 120 slide film which I cross processed in C-41 (basically when you do this the colors are super saturated):

This one is where I shot two frames on the same exposure (cross processed slide film):

Normal 120 film:

Cross processed slide film:

Normal 120 film:

Cross processed slide film:

I love this one! This is actually normal 120 film but I snapped about 3-4 frames on the same exposure.

Again, normal 120 film but I snapped several frames on the same exposure:

NOW can you see why I was so excited to get these back? I mean the way the picture come out with the vignette along the corners and edges and how parts of the picture are super soft and others are sharp and consice...I'm SO IN LOVE with this Holga camera!!!! :)))
hugs, Adrienne

news

Ok so I'm at work.
I'm bored.
I'm ready to go home (there's news lol).
Some newer layouts:

This was created using Rouge De Garance papers:

These are the Urban Lily Secret Keeper cards:

And did you know that Prima is having a design team call to make a few additions to their current one? I soooooooooo entered!!! What girl doesn't like flowers??? lol.

You can enter too!! It ends on December 30th so you still have time to enter! Check it out on www.pubcalls.blogspot.com :)

Remember I mentioned that I was designing an exclusive paper collection for Treasured Memories in Canada? Well friends, I have finally completed it and I'm really happy with the results! Here's just a small peek at one of them:

Do you know who Kerry Lynn Yeary is? She makes layouts like this:

and this:

You probably do because she is super creative! Well anyways, she will be holding an online course on how to solder...basically how to make neclases like this:

in January!!! How cool right? She is so awesome for sharing this with us all! You can find out how to register Here :)

Hugs, Adrienne

wooHOo

Today after work I get to pick up 4 rolls of Holga shots including one slide film roll which I cross processed in C-41!!! This is really super exciting for me :) since these are my firsts with the camera. I'm trying not to get excited about it because a part of me almost *knows* that they won't be as cool as I am imagining but the anxious-ness is totally building up hehe. My only concern is that I loaded and unloaded the film in partial sunlight (in my car in shade but halfway in a backpack), which ultimately can cause some light leak...but I guess thats almost the point with Holgas haha. Anyways, I'll be sure to share the results with you all! hugs, Adrienne

excited

Excited doesn't even *begin* to describe the child-like-candy-store feeling I have right now :)
so I looked it up.
The word "excited"
in the thesaurus just to see
if there truly exists
a word that describes the most incredibly most happy feeling ever.
thrill (yawn), galvanize (what?), arouse (um.), agitate (no no no), energize (too scientific), brouhaha (thats a REAL word??--moreso...thats another word for EXCITE?), flutter (um..like I'm SO fluttered right now. um no.), hoopla (you'd think I looked up antics and not the word excite).
but there *was* one.
One word that caught my eye that is the closest to how I feel right now.
Electrified.
Electrified with excitement my friends!
Because I just got back from Nelsons.
Who's Nelson?
Nelson is a professional photo lab and they are a huge store that carries
pretty much everything related to photography here in San Diego.
120 film--they got it. 220 film--they got it. slide film--they got it.
But Nelsons doesn't just have it.
he has it in *several brands* so that Adrienne can have a variety to choose from.
and oooooooooh did Adrienne shop. lol.
I love pay-day. I love it when pay-day falls on a Friday...
that comment was clearly random.
Moving on.

You may wonder what I was doing at Nelsons buying up the store? Well it's because of my Holga camera. You see, even though you can modify it to take 35mm film (which I did), it actually is *supposed* to be used with 120 film. 120 film is actually what professional photographers use because it scans larger at the lab. 120 film is really hard to find. You can't go to your local wal mart to get it. And on the same note...120 film is also very difficult to process. You also cannot have it processed at your local wal mart.
and the Holga book tells me all of this...
and of course I STILL go to see if they have it because
well...
it's WAL MART
they have EVERYTHING.
Convenience plays a huge factor in all of this.
Nelsons sells and processes 120 film.
Nelsons closes at 5pm everyday.
So until today I wasn't able to get the film
to take the pictures
to have the pictures processed
because I couldn't get over to Nelsons in time.
Which is why I modified my Holga to take 35mm film---which didn't come out all that great but was good for my first few rolls of film to get the feel of the camera and how to shoot with it.

So WHAT does this all boil down to? Does Adrienne have a *point* in all this text???
I got the film now. The good film. The 120 film. I even got the slide film which I will cross-process in C-41<---this is the COOLEST THING EVER (you should look it up).
I bought 10 rolls of 120 and 3 rolls of slide.
dude.
And tomorrow (saturday) I'm going to go around San Diego
with my Holga
with my tripod
and my 13 rolls of film
and do some experimenting
and just take pictures
all day long.

and THAT my friend is some MAJOR
electrifying excitement.
for me at least ;)

Hugs, Adrienne

newest layouts

HellooOOoo :D

Just sharing some recent layouts :)

In this one Diane (JJ's real life sis) was making dinner for all of us...it was really fun looking at these pictures since everything looks the same except that Diane is in a different position each time a new shot was taken. I used the new KI Memories chipboard embellishments, the Hello City Zing Boom kit papers, new Doodlebug sugar coated chipboard letters, Heidi Swapp puffy centers, paint, hambly, and some corrugated papers :)--most of this stuff is in the SIS tv boutique.

This one is of Jody in all her cut picture-taking-playful greatness :)
I used the new Urban Lily papers, Heidi Swapp letters, the new KI memories chipboard embellishments, MM epoxy flowers and I think thats it--most of this stuff can be found in the sis tv boutique as well.

I saw Elsies fridge at CHA and almost died. It was so beautiful and full of imagination and funky--I knew after that I would NEED this on my fridge and I wanted to scrap about how people I've come to know about in scrapbooking have affected my "everyday" life :) . I used a lot of new KI memories stuff like the bedazzle paper, chipboard letters. Also used Hambly Mod tree rub ons in yellow, Prima pink polka dot flowers, and swedish felt flower, some buttons, brads, doodles and one VERY awesome thing--a handmade yellow-button felt heart made by Gigi Kennedy :) she so rocks the felt!

Ms Ashley Wren. You just won't know what I'm talking about until you meet her. She is the kind of person who you'd BEG to keep talking because she makes you laugh so hard. She's magical :) I used some Autumn leaves (the black pp) and sassafrass lass (the skull), Doodlebug sugar coated letters, MM epoxy flowers, and lace. 

I know, I know, boring post haha. That is all for now. :)
hugs, Adrienne

Congratulations!

To Caroline Abdallah for her winning entry to "The Doodle Transformation Contest"!!
Her layout seen here:

Goes to show you that you can transform ordinary papers, cardstock and embellishments to create something extraordinary just with doodling! I loved looking at each inch of this to see all the little details she included like the doodled borders and the funky flowers. One of the coolest parts I think is that I can't even recognize which manufacturer made this paper--now THATS some major transformation hehe.
Congratulations Caroline!

There were a few others who I would love to share with you as well.
The honorable mentions go to
Jennifer Lee
Nancy Doren
Ayesha Duran

For their imaginative creations! I adore how each entry really took the concept to a new level :)

Congrats to all!
hugs, Adrienne

Spotlight on Epson PictureMate Dash

I've compiled a review for the Epson PictureMate Dash www.epson.com. Same as the other review...I didn't sugar coat it. It's truly how I feel....and for some reason I feel like a sales person--but honestly this printer freakin ROCKS and it's like I want to tell everyone about it!! :)

Hugs, Adrienne