This & That

The Pumpkin Patch

DH and AP Boy were in the hills most of last week, so the girls decided to make a trek out to the pumpkin patch to check out the pumpkins. The growing part of the patch is very large, but the actual display place isn't that big...just the right size for little kiddos.

They have a little maze made with straw bales, but the SPGB saw that they had put some plywood over the top of one section to make a tunnel and she wasn't going for it.

She looked around.

And looked some more, and finally found the tiniest pumpkin in the place. That was the one she wanted.

Loved these little egg gourds that they had displayed in egg cartons.

And here's the Little Gal and The Girl.

Candy Corn Cupcakes

These are fun for this time of year, and work pretty well if you want to show your granddaughter something a little "magic" when you turn the cake batter different colors. The Girl thought they were magic when she bit into one and found the two-tone cupcake. I found the original recipe here.

Candy Corn Cupcakes

• 1 white cake mix
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup sour cream (lowfat works fine)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• Desired garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cupcake pan with paper liners.

Combine all ingredients except garnish in a large bowl. Blend well and then beat on medium high speed for 3 minutes.

Divide batter in half and color one half orange and the other half yellow (this is the magic part).

Fill paper liners with about 2 Tablespoons  of yellow batter. Then top with 2 Tablespoons orange batter. Bake about 15-18 minutes. Cool cupcakes and frost with your favorite white frosting. Garnish as desired. Makes about 18 cupcakes.

Exposure, Focus, and the Miracle of Friendship

This week's work was centered around using the exposure meter, overriding it if we want and switching auto-focus points. I learned a lot....I think. And in all honesty, I have become increasingly frustrated with how my photos look on the blog here. They aren't quite true to the colors I see when I print them out...they seem a little greyed-out. Ah well, you're just going to have to take my word that things look how I say....really, lol.

Again we have the brow-beaten Girl as model. We were supposed to post a camera-recommended exposure and the post what we think is the proper exposure by being the boss of the exposure meter. These are the 2 photos I submitted for that part of the assignment.

It has long been my contention, that my camera slightly over-exposes photos, causing my kids, especially The Girl, to look really pale and washed out. So I will often under-expose by a click or two, to get more saturated colors and what I feel are better skin tones. You tell me your opinion. The top photo is the camera's suggestion and the bottom is mine and is slightly underexposed.

Next we were supposed to do a shot in full Manual mode that we felt was properly exposed.

I had moved The Girl around the house a little for this one. I like the skin tones here. I like that she's not scowling, and I think it's fairly well composed.

And lastly, we were supposed to twiddle with changing our auto-focus points. That's something I'd never done before, so it was a cool technique to learn. I changed the focus to the right side of the grid, so The Girl is in focus (and look! She's smiling....the miracle of having a friend here) and her friend (who came over very willingly to help with this assignment) is not. I can also change the focus to the left side.

See? Magic.....

 

September P12

Just posting my September Project 12 layout. The design comes from this post.

 

More Cards

A few more card takes from the Kristina Werner Holiday Card series. I am trying to do a couple of different versions of each one. It's been a nice break from the LOAD frenzy last month.

The colors scanned kind of funny on the above image. The reds are more the same, IRL.

I bought the punch and stamps to make the one above...totally cute, I thought.

Her original design was the bottom card. I loved how my version turned out with different papers and stamps. It was a little more "formal" looking than her example.

And the Changes Continue

I wish the golden days of fall lasted a little longer.

The days where it's still comfortable to be outside and things are so beautiful to look at.

Late September and October just moved too fast for my taste. Can I just say I love these wreaths? The apples and cinnamon are just fall.

That Didn't Take Long

The photos you saw yesterday of the birch tree were taken last Saturday morning. This is what the tree looked like yesterday afternoon.

Most of the leaves have fallen.

In fact, Monday afternoon when I was sitting in the room where I scrap, I watched it literally rain golden leaves.

The Birch Tree

I've talked before about how the Red Maple tree in my front yard is my favorite. That hasn't changed, but I went outside the other morning to get the newspaper, and the sun was just coming up through the trees and put what looked like a big spotlight on this birch tree.

I like this birch tree a lot, too.

It sits just outside where I do my scrapbooking and such and when the light is just right in the fall, it casts this golden glow into that room.

It's one of the prettiest things about fall at my house.

Now what I want to know is why summer drags on endlessly, and falls just rushes by?

This Is Big

This is a big deal. The Girl has earned her Young Woman Recognition Award. It's our church's equivalent to an Eagle Scout for girls. She has been working on it for 4 1/2 years, did lots of reading, lots of service, and 8 projects that required at least 10 hours of work each.

It's a big deal, and I'm really, really proud of her.

Five Chip Cookies

Every once in a while I really try to make something that's way outside the Mom Food comfort zone. I go for some exotic ingredient or technique that I think will somehow be delicious. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, which is why we're not going here today:

Usually though, I stick with what works, which is why the recipe for today is for

Five Chip Cookies (originally from Taste of Home)

• 1 cup softened butter
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup old-fashioned oats
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup EACH milk chocolate chips, semisweet chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, vanilla chips and butterscotch chips

In a mixing bowl, cream butter, peanut butter and sugars. Add eggs, beating well. Add vanilla. Combine the flour, oats, baking soda and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture. Stir in chips. Drop by rounded Tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool for 1 minute before removing to wire racks. Makes about 4 1/2 dozen.