Pretty Princess - Layout Share

It's only fair that I show Solae our other American Pitbull....She is the Pretty Princess....well not so much. She doesn't have the etiquette to go along with being a princess.  She has gas a lot, she snorts and snores really loud so this page is more for laughs.  

I just had fun with it, the crown on her head is totally random and just well just plain for fun.  lol

I really wanted to use the "I MUSTACHE YOU..." stamp from studio calico and being that she is really far from a princess and does a lot of things you would expect from a man, I figured this fit the circumstances.  I used the pink and gray colors to over emphasis the princess aspect and added the rhinestones as an over the top glitzy appeal.

Don't Judge..... - Layout Share

This layout means a lot to me, my dogs are constantly judge because of their breed.  Yes, we have two beautiful American Pitbulls.  They are a  BIG part of our family....

This is my Kaos....he's 5 years old and I have had him since he was 5 weeks old. He means the world to me, he is the sweetest most affectionate dog I hate that he is judged before he is even had a chance to wiggle his silly self into your heart.

I really liked playing with the modeling paste and the paint...I added in some colored string, sequence and and some wood veneer hearts and stars.

In Loving Memory of Dejeah....

It took me a few days to muster up this post, I finished a tribute layout for her last night.  I miss her, she was like a child, I've had her since she was 5 wks old and she had to be put to sleep last Sunday and the ripe old age of 15.  It was the hardest think ever, I know she was in pain and I know this was the best for her but for my own selfish reasons I didn't want to let her go.  I mean I have had her longer than my son has been alive (he's 11).  I miss her so much and I have thought about her everyday since, I'm sure there are those that are like she's a dog, get over it but to me she was more.  She was a family member, she was a companion.

My husband has teased for a long time that she "puts on" for me.  Some times she would limp for no reason and I would baby her but that was just how it was.  She liked to get to him, she would purposely just look at him instead of getting up, almost like she was pretending to not hear him, even though she was pretty close to being deaf she could hear and she knew what you wanted her to do she just didn't feel like doing it. 

I'm going to miss her kicking her bowl around in her crate as if to say she didn't want any more and she wanted more laying down room, lol.  

I'm going to miss her yapping self when she was playing, the way she would tuck her tail and run laps around the furniture as if I was really going to chase her.

I'm going to miss how she loved to just rest her head of my shoulder while I stroked her back...

I'm going to miss so much about her, but I know she lived a long time, she was well taken care of and I'm sure she's here with me in spirit.

Here the layout I did of one of my most recent favorite picture I have of her...

And here are a few random pictures I had on hand of her....

This was one of the funniest pictures I have of my dogs....

Project Life - Organizing Part 1 & Title Page

Since I failed miserably at PL last year...I am really trying to be more organized and less stressed this year.  I am definitely doing the weekly approach and I don't plan to just use my DSLR.  That I think was another major problem for me.  I kept thinking my iPhone pictures just were not that good but I know they are fine and I just need to remember it's about capturing the time not how good the picture was, or my depth of field or white balance, etc.  I am going in as a scrapbooker and not a photographer, lol.

Organization Pt 1

I'll talk about my station organization tomorrow but first let me talk about how I organize my thoughts, ideas and the planning of pages. I love the approach and the forms that Marcy Penner uses (see them here) so I took it a step further and created some.

Project Life Planner

I created a book, it's 8.5x11 and it has a light weight chipboard cover (I just covered it with pretty paper) it's probably as flimsy as a spiral notebook you would buy at the store.  I wanted something I could bend and really use, something I would have that I can plan out pages as I go. I created the pages in excel, one for the sketch of the two page spread and one for notes about the week at a glance.  I added in some calendars and binded it with my Bind-It-All.

I started off with a cover page of course...

Then I added a 2012 Calendar...

Then I added a Holiday Schedule and a place where I could put anything thing that I know will be coming up in 2012.

At the beginning of each month I have a calendar for that month and a place for notes.

This is the sketch sheet I created in excel, I told you it looks just like the one Marcy uses.

Across from that is the week review sheet, I can put the date in and list out anything important I took a picture of or just want to remember.  For instance today my son when with his father to Houston Texan's football game, he sent me some text pictures and I told him to save the ticket stub for me, so I made a reminder to get that from him when he brings my son home.

So that is my planner....I do use my iPad a lot, but I wanted to have my sketch sheet with me and my week review with me so I can jot down things or make notes of something I want to remember.

iPad Apps

I have looked ad so many different journal apps, I promise at one point I have downloaded 7, yes 7 of them.  There was always a feature I liked but then I realized I didn't want to make this difficult and I know I only wanted a journal. 

MOMENTO

I did keep one extra app Momento, I use this to filter all of my Facebook info, my Twitter account and my Instagram account, that way I always have a way to look at what I got going on, just in case I need more inspiration or possible fillers. It looks like this one screen shows all your feeds and then another lists them out by days.

EVERNOTE

This really is the easiest way for me to journal on my iPad, it saves the writing by day.  I can make notes all day, random thoughts, quotes or just crazy little things that go on, it's right at my finger tips at all times.  At the end of the day I email it home and then use it to respond to my Oh Joy email.

MY 2012 PROJECT LIFE TITLE PAGE

Since I didn't finish last year, I have the full kit pretty much but I knew I wanted to have more fun with it and add to it, so I am using it as my base this year but mixing in some of my own stash and some new things as well.

I created this really cute symbol silhouette of my family and  I even included the three pit bulls.  I know this book will be about our family but our dogs are a big part of our life as well so I knew they would need to be represented on any thing that represented our family. Another thing you can't really see is the camera, I have tons of them save and I want to some how incorporate a camera in my weekly pages, just a little something fun. 

I added a little clipping from a mini dictionary I found at a thrift store, it's just the definition of Family.

Here are our beautiful pits....

Camera Hog, I mean Dog! - Day 14 - 25 Days of Christmas

Oh...Hi! < ---That is exactly what he looks like he is thinking.

I was trying to get a nice blurry picture of our tree today but some one thought he could be a camera hog.  None other than Mr. Kaos....he is not camera shy...in fact he has been know to go sit himself on my backdrops when am getting set up.

See the evidence below!

Hi !

Case in point -

I was just setting up and here he comes.

The nerve of him....

PITBULLS - The True Story - Houston Pet Photography

OMG...IT'S A PITBULL...RUN...........

and love it because it will love you back unconditionally.

Our family is well blended, consisting of my husband, myself, our two girls, our two boys and three amazing dogs....our Pits.  I know there is that "FEAR" of pitbulls but before you judge the breed based on negative aspects you have to acknowledge that the follow or at least one of the following are true ...poor and uneducated ownership is high, hyped stories in the media about a dog attack usually surfaces only if the dog resembles a pitbull, the inability to prove a pitbull and not a "pitbull type dog" was the aggressor, this can only be proven by DNA.

I would consider ourselves educated with the breed, we have had all three of these dogs since the age of 6wks.  The oldest being Dejeah, has been when me for over 13 years.  The other two are 4 years old and have been with my husband and myself for their entire life.  We do not chain our dogs, we do not leave them in the yard, they are part of our family, they are a VERY important part of our family.  Our dogs are crate trained and they do sleep in their crate at night, during the day they have the run of our home.  Minus one rug mishap they have been very well behaved considering.  When we have guests over other than our family and close friends they are put in their crate. 

SEE...YOU CRATE YOUR DOG BECAUSE YOU ARE WORRIED YOUR DOG WILL ATTACK....

Actually no that is not the case, I am an educated owner, I know that these dogs are loyal and very protective of our family.  Our dogs know our kids and trust our kids as our kids trust our dogs....do I worry that another child not in my family could antagonize my dog, Yes.  A lot of times they are put up because freinds that come over are scared, not because our dogs have done anything to hurt anyone but because people gather discriminating opinions about pitbulls and people have an unsupported fear, so again we crate our dogs to give ease to those that come to our house and are afraid based on their own beliefs.

THEY ACT LIKE BABY DUCKS AND WE ARE THE DUCK PARENTS....

It's true, if you see myself or my husband walking through the house you will see three pitbulls following closely behind and I do mean CLOSE.  If we stop too suddenly, they will run into us.  I promise you I have felt many a cold noses on the back of my knees.  Where ever we go they are sure to follow, they have to be close.  And CLOSE meaning too close, always under the desk if we are sitting at the desk, on any side of our bed, outside our bedroom door if we happen to close it quick enough to cut them off from folloing us in.

We love our dogs, they ARE part of the family and even though I may trip on them as I turn in place to walk out of a room, I would not trade them for the world. 

Read this: 6 Reasons Pitbulls Make Great Pets

And read this: Are Pitbulls Dangerous?

Check out our pits and read a little bit more individual info on each of them....

Kaos

Male

Blue Brindle

Loves water

Favorite activity fetching a basketball in the yard

Hates to be ignored and will demand your attention with a paw accross your lap

Thinks he is a lap dog, you can not sit on the ground near him or he will sit on you

Likes to lay on his back with his legs in the air

Solae

Female

Blue

Loves to lick any part of skin but is very fond of feet, kness and under arms....you cannot wear a sleeveless shirt around this one.

Favorite activity is chasing a laser around the yard

Can jump and grab just about anything of the top of a six foot fence

Will come if you call Kaos and will push him out of the way to your your hand on her head instead.

Is fat

Has crazy dreams in her sleep

Refuses to share her food (hence her being fat)

Drouls on site with the mention of "Treat" (hence her being fat)

Dejeah

Female

Blue (50% Staffordshire Terrier)

Likes to be left alone

Can barely hear or has selective hearing when you mention go outside

Likes to be left alone

Prefers me over any one

Likes to be left alone

Has long nails because she likes them as a fashion statement not that she refuses to sit still long enough for me to cut them

Hates water

Likes to be left alone

Won't chase a ball or a laser

Likes to be left alone

New Fisheye...

So I leave for Philadelphia today, I'm only going to be gone through Sunday but I have a great opportunity to do an Engagement Session there. I am super excited this gives me a chane to play with my new Fishey Lens.....I've already got the ideas flowing. So of course I had to play around and test it out. No one else was around but Kaos. He was the only willing model.

Kaos and his Jolly Ball. LOL! This poor ball has seen better days. He loves this thing, can't you tell.

Updated---> Kaos and Big Boi (Father & Son) Today

As I promised a current picture of Kaos and Big Boy.....Notice Big Boi's comb over? He got his ears cropped but will not hold them up for anything. To me it looks like an old mans comb over, you know when they are going bald but they comb all there hair from one side of their head to another to cover the bald spots. Now see it?







Wait...Wait...Wait....I cannot forget to add a picture of Solae....I love the sun flare in this one. She is such a sweetie.

Daddy's Kiss....in an animalistic sort of way....LOL!

This picture takes us back to about 3 months ago maybe 3.5 months.....It's Kaos and Big Boi, he was just a young lad then, small in comparison.

Well not now, he went to the vet on Monday and mind you he is 5 months old, he will not be offically 6 months until 10/7......he weighed 60lbs. Yes that is not a typo, he is really 60lbs.

I plan to get some photos of him this weekend and show him in comparison to Kaos, he's living up to his name Big Boi.