A Bit of A Change

I'm reorganizing and moving things around. If you read this blog for the sewing and crafting posts, I am moving those to oddments and endments. That is a new blog I just started to talk about sewing, crafting, books I'm reading and stuff in general.

If you are here for my etsy shop and to learn with me about Web design and photography, then you can stay right here.

This blog was getting a little scatter-brained, so I am looking for a way to prevent that. Hopefully this solution will help solve the problem.

Holiday Sale

I've decided to extend the print sale through the month of December. So until December 31, all prints in my etsy shop will be 50% off. And there is still free US shipping on every item in my store until December 31.

CyberMonday Sale

Today only I will be offering 50% off all prints AND free shipping on all US orders in my etsy shop.

I've also added a whole bunch of new pendants. So be sure to stop by, see what is new and buy a few Holiday gifts for your friends and family. And maybe yourself, because you deserve a little something extra!

Featured Items

I have added on to my Website. I'm still working on it, but I am pretty happy with where it is right now. To celebrate, I've added a "Featured Item" in the shop section. These items will be offered at 50% off and will change every couple of weeks, or as supplies last. So, stop by the new Abracapocus Website and check out the featured item this week. It could be the Handmade Holiday gift you have been searching for.

Haramaki

I bookmarked this tutorial on Planet June almost 2 years ago and forgot about it. That is until 2 weeks ago when my son had a football game. It was very cold outside and I was looking for exta items to keep me warm. That is when I remembered about the haramaki, aka belly warmer, tutorial. And it just so happened that I had some knits in my stash. I sewed up one in less than an hour before my son's game. It took about 20 minutes to be exact. It worked so well, that when we got home I made myself 2 more. I would have made more, but I ran out of fabric - an unfortunate situation that will soon be remedied as I am planning a trip to the fabric store this weekend for some more knits.

I never heard of a haramaki until finding this tutorial. They were originally worn by Samari as protection. The garment has been adapted for modern times into tubes of fabric like the ones pictured above. These a are a great layering item. And that little extra band of cotton around your belly really does keep you warm.

I made them different heights just to see what I liked better and I have to say, the taller ones worked better for me. Although, this seems like something that may be personal preference. I definitely recommend giving these a try this winter. And it is a perfect beginner project for a new seamstress or someone who hasn't had much experience with knit fabrics before. They might also make great handmade gifts this holiday season.

Wallace the Pit Bull Website Redesign

As many of you already know, my brother is the human behind Wallace the Pit Bull. And he is also my biggest supporter. I do most, if not all, of his graphics and recently he let me test out my developing Web design skills on a site re-design. I was a big undertaking for me since I've only previously done simple Web pages and only 1 actual, full-blown site for a class. I learned a lot and there is still some tweaking to do as I learn more, but it's working and is getting some good reviews so far.

His original site was a bit dated and drab and did not reflect Wallace's or my brother's personality at all. And when the original Web site was created, I don't think anyone had a clue how popular Wallace would become.



Since Wallace has a documentary about his life and career coming out soon and is a bit of a rock star in the doggie world, I decided he needed a rock star Web site. He's also a very high energy dog, so we wanted a site that reflected his warmth, energy and athletic talent. And it needed a more modern look.



We chose warm colors, like yellow and orange and a grunge style for the graphics. And we are pretty happy with the results. So, stop by and say "hi" to Wallace and Roo. And leave a comment and let me know what you think of the new site.

My New Best Friend

I'm looking into a new camera. I'm almost embarrassed to admit this, but my digital photos are all shot with an advanced point-and-shoot. Almost 2 years ago I upgraded my Fuji Finepix A270 for a Fuji Finepix 5700. I wasn't really looking for a special camera. I didn't even know what a DSLR was at the time. I was just looking for camera that offered a little more creativity and had more memory than my old one for family pics and the 5700 offered me just that. It is a great little point-and-shoot with a few of the features of an SLR without the expense. When I took the camera with me on a field trip to the zoo with my daughter's class, I was really impressed with some of the photos I ended up with. They were very crisp and clear.








I posted a few of those photos online and was really surprised at the attention they got - seriously. I had people emailing me wanting to know the camera, lenses and settings I used. Well, all I had was my little Fuji, no special lens and the setting was auto. In fact most of the photos were completely accidental. But it got me curious and I marched off to the library and brought home a bunch of books on photography. I read them and started playing with the settings on my camera. I was hooked. I've even been experimenting with film. But before I traded in my Fuji for a real DSLR, I wanted to get really good at taking photos with it first, because I think the photographer makes the photo, not necessarily the camera. And if I could learn to take fabulous photos on a point-and-shoot, imagine what I could do with a DSLR.





The last 2 years have been a lot of fun. It has been such a wonderful hobby that has grown into a little business (and I do mean little, but right now I like it that way). But now I'm ready to upgrade. And I have a wonderfully generous friend who let me borrow her Canon Rebel with a 75-300 zoom lens. The camera was very user friendly. After a quick browse of the owner manual, I took a few test shots of the kids and our dog and headed out to the park near our house to shoot some nature photos.





I stuck with the programmed settings this trip. I used mainly the landscape setting and got some beautiful shots of turtles and geese and the fall foliage. Very little post-production was done on these - only a minor adjustment to the levels in Photoshop to bring out the colors.









I've heard mixed reviews about the Canon Rebel, so I have been apprehensive about actually buying one. But after giving it a test run, I am sold. It is easy to use. It took me very little time to figure out, even the manual settings which I have been experimenting with this week. This will probably be my next camera. Although, we're getting together to test out her Canon 40D next week, so I could change my mind after trying that one. Either way, I'm sold on Canon. Sorry my die-hard Nikon friends.