The Pop Art continues!

Yesterday I was lucky enough to photograph my good friend Beth and her amazing little family. You can check out the photo shoot at my photography page.

I did a few things with this family that were really fun, and I think the pictures turned out nicely. I am really proud of these pictures, actually. But, if you want to see them, you can check out the link above. I want to share with you my continuing love for my version of Pop Art. Please enjoy.

POP ART FEATURING THE TAYLOR FAMILY!

 

I don't know, I still am really digging this. 

With Love, 

Suz

Creative Writing Class

Well, yesterday was the last class of a community creative writing class I was taking with my friends Olivia and Debbie. The teacher was Annette Lyon, and she was so great. She was not only a great teacher, but she is also a published author. I loved taking the class from her. Not only is she completely knowledgeable, she is fun, energetic, approachable, and very talented.

Last night, there was a showcase of all the classes that the community had throughout the last six weeks. Each teacher was supposed to pick some students to represent what the class had done, and learned. There were classes in drawing, oil painting, sewing, ballroom dancing, bluegrass, songwriting, and creative writing. My friend Olivia and I were picked to read one of our homework assignments in front of all the students and their families.

I was very, very honored that Annette picked me. I respect her a lot, and her opinion of my work meant a lot to me. It made me feel like this is something I could definitely do, and do well at.

She picked a dialogue scene that I had written, and it needed some tweaking. She gave me some ideas, and I edited it before the show. She hadn't gotten a chance to read the rewrite before the showcase, but after I read it, she came up to me and told me that the rewrite was excellent and that she was happy to see that I was able to take what she had said, and come back with a scene that she thought was very good.

It is very hard for me to share things I have written with others. I don't know why, but it is. So, this was very gratifying in the fact that someone other than my sweet husband thinks I am talented and can write well!

It was an honor to read my dialogue for the showcase, and just to prove it, here is a picture of Olivia and me after the showcase ended.

 

I also want to say that Olivia's reading was AWESOME! She is very talented, and the scene that she read was really, really good.  And on a side note, isn't Olivia's hair so cute?!

All in all it was a very fun day yesterday, and I left feeling better about my writing capabilities! 

With Love, 

Suz

Pop Art

I have been really in to Pop Art lately, and decided to try to learn how to do it using photoshop by checking out online tutorials... It is really hard. I don't know photoshop well enough.

Here are some attempts.

 

First attempt... not exactly what I want, but I still like the feel of it. 

Second attempt. This is closer, but still not quite right. I decided to scrap this idea, because it was consuming a large portion of my free time. 

 I ended up finding a tutorial that taught me how to do this, (very easy) lithograph. It isn't what I wanted, but it is still something I really like a lot. I would absolutely frame this and hang it in my house. 

Goodnight! 

With Love, 

Suz

My new wreath

I decided to take down my Valentine's Day wreath and make a new Springtime wreath. It only took me about 20 or so minutes to make, and I think it turned out nicely. I love these colors, and just looking at it hanging on my door makes me feel a little warmer!

Dear Springtime,

Please come soon. I am tired of shivering and looking at brown grass. 

With Love, 

Suz

Unexpected Present in my inbox!

After the photo shoot with Elise and Kyle, I emailed these two pictures

to Katie Sokoler of COLOR ME KATIE, (which I blogged about here and here ) because I find a lot of inspiration from her photography. So, I sent it off, thinking, she would NEVER have the time to write me back, and when I opened up my email inbox a few minutes ago, here is what I found.

Hi Susan,

Thanks for contacting me! I'm so happy you enjoy my blog. Your pictures came out great. I love the red shoes =)

 

Katie Sokoler

I know it's not much... but it made my day! It's so funny, when someone you admire pays you notice, it's like being contacted by a famous person or something! ha ha.

Anyway, no big deal, I just wanted to share my fun little email with the blog-o-sphere.

With Love,
Suz

MAKE-UP TIP MONDAYS

Going along with my idea for make up tip Mondays, I am going to write a little post about EYELINER.

I like to use eye shadow sometimes. Okay, most of the time. I think I get a better outcome with it. I use it with a flat head brush. Usually the brushes are designated either for eyeliner, definition, or eyebrows. Either way, a flat head brush is awesome for this task!

I love to coordinate my eyeliner with the shadows I'm wearing, so it's nice to use eye shadow to line with.

I suggest using a shadow that can be applied wet or dry. Lancome, MAC, Loreal (HIP) Maybelline, all have eye shadows that can be applied wet.

To start, I take my brush and wet it. You don't want it sopping wet, but definitely damp. Squeeze the tip between your fingers if you think there is too much water in the brush.

Take your brush and sweep it a few times across the eye shadow.

Take your brush, and, starting at the outer corner, get as close as you can to the lash line and use light, sweeping motions towards the inner corner. Try to make the outer side a little thicker than the inside, (tapered).

Now, some people, for some looks, should stop there. But, there are times when I want more. So, take your brush, and sweep it across your eye shadow again, and go underneath your eye and gently press it right up against the lash line. Again, taper it so that it is a little thicker towards the outer corner. I recommend going no further than 3/4 the way across your under eye. Try to make that line almost disappear across your eye.

The last thing you want is a heavy line under your eye that just stops.

If you line all the way around your eye, it can make your eyes look smaller, (especially if you line the inside of your eye).

I do use black a lot, but it CAN be too heavy if you aren't careful.

 Try a deep PURPLE, or BROWN liner to make eyes really pop. Purple is amazing on Green and Brown eyes.

Hope that helps! Sorry for no visuals. The last one I did scared people.  Ha Ha.

With Love,
Suz

What I have been up to...

Last week was kind of busy for me.

I helped plan a baby shower, by sewing this banner,

 

putting together the time consuming party favors that I was in charge of, 

and helping out at the party for the next two hours. Because of the baby shower, I missed my creative writing class that I am taking with Debbie and Olivia, which made me sad, because I look forward to my time with them all week. However, it was okay, and I was happy to be at a party for a sweet girl, and socialize with some other sweet girls.

After the party, I had to run over to my father in law's house to apply make up on my sister in law (who came up from Vegas) for her engagement photo shoot. We had a lot of fun, and here are some of my favorite shots.

 

They were a little sketchy at first about trying some of the things I asked, like the last shot of her flying away, but they were good sports, and we got some good shots. 

I then went in and photo shopped about 20 images, but some I left untouched, (like the last one for example) which took about 2 1/2 - 3 hours. Elise was right there with me, and she likes a very high contrast in pictures, and so most of the pictures came out looking a very specific way. She was extremely happy with them, so that took a lot of pressure off me. I was nervous that none of the pictures would turn out because of the weather. But, I surprised myself, and this weekend was just what I needed to boost my confidence. 

Last night, I had to go online and check out tutorials to try and figure out how to make a wedding announcement for them. This is my first attempt. 

 

Elise wasn't crazy about the fact that it said: TOGETHER AT LAST. They have been together for about 7 years now, so she didn't want it to emphasize that fact. So, she decided to use a quote from Thomas S. Monson that says, "CHOOSE YOUR LOVE. LOVE YOUR CHOICE." And that is what we ended up using. Here is the finished announcement. 

 

They both were very happy with the shoot, and all the edited images, and the final announcement. So, that makes me happy! As I already said, it gives me more confidence in my abilities to photograph more than just Ez. 

So, all in all, it was a busy weekend, but it was fun, and very helpful for me. 

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend, that was busy and fun as well! 

With Love, 

Suz