Holiday Photo Special

{Basic Package|$120}

1 Location
5 Edited Photos on CD (or in online album for downloading)
1 FINAL Photo for Card
20 Cards and Envelopes 

{Select Package|$150}

1 Location
7 Edited Photos on CD (or in online album for downloading)
Your choice of 3 FINAL Photos for Card
25 Cards and Envelopes
Your choice of Black & White or Colored

{Premium Package|$180}

1 Location
10-12 Edited Photos (in Black & White AND Color) on CD (or in online album for downloading)
5-6 FINAL Photos for Card
40 Cards and Envelopes

I'm only booking a Limited Number of shoots. So be sure to book A.S.A.P.

Happy Holidays!

Homemade Sushi

So I've always want to try my hand at making sushi. So the other day I was at the grocery store and bought  stuff to make sushi. Best Idea Ever! It was very simple to do and etremely tastey. If you are a sushi lover you must try making your own.

First step is to make the rice. Follow the recipe below. It is super delicious!

Mom's Sushi Rice

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups Japanese sushi-style rice
• 3 cups water
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt

Directions

1. Place rice into a large, deep bowl. Fill with cold water and rub rice together with hands until the water turns milky white. Pour off the cloudy water, being careful not to pour out the rice. Repeat 3 or 4 times until you can see the rice through 3-inches of water.
2. Drain the rice in a fine strainer, then place into a saucepan along with konbu and water. Allow to stand for 30 minutes. Stir together rice vinegar, sugar, and salt until dissolved in a small bowl, set aside.
3. Cover, and bring rice to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to low, and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to stand for 5 minutes.
4. Scrape rice on a large cookie sheet. Stir in vinegar mixture until well incorporated and no lumps of rice remain. Allow to cool at room temperature. 

Once the rice is completely cooled, you can start making the sushi. You will be to get some seaweed sheets. I found some Takaokaya brand roasted seaweed in the asian section at my local grocery store.

Step 1**If you don't have a bamboo rolling mat you can just a use a clean dish/tea towel, (not a fuzzy one)  Lay out one sheet of seaweed on your tea towel, and cover with a thin layer or rice leave about 2 centimeters at the top. The rice is super sticky, so I use a wooden spatula dipped in water to spread the rice. Then you can spread a thin line of wasabi paste on the center of the rice, if you don't like "heat" just omit this step.

Step 2 Fill with desired ingredients over the wasabi. I used crab, cream cheese, avocado, and jalapeño. But you can use whatever combination you want. (Cucumbers, carrots, salmon, shrimp, etc.....)

Step 3 It's rolling time. Start by take the bottom part of the rice and folding it over the filling. Be sure to make it tight. Then unwrap it from the tea towel and move the roll to the bottom of the towel and continue to roll it up. 

Step 4 Once you have it rolled nice and tight, Get a sharp knife and run it under water then slice you sushi in half inch pieces. And your are done!!

Love that Blog: Talia Christine

This blog is dear to my heart. It is all about my friend Talia, her life and all that she does. I love to catch up on all the fun stuff that she is doing. And (by the way) she is one of the sweetest people you will ever meet. Please check out her blog and show her some love. 

http://taliachristine.blogspot.com/

Let's start with the basics.... Could you tell us a little about yourself. 

I feel like your average 24 year old girl. I fell in love with a bearded kiwi man and moved to New Zealand a few months ago. I spin my own yarn, cut my own hair, and bake my own bread. I'm obsessed with BBQs and cats and all things crafty. I stay in my pajamas far too often. I also play the banjo. See? Average. Right?

That sounds tooootally average. What inspired you to start a blog?

When me and the Mister decided to tie the knot and make the move to New Zealand I knew I would want to keep my friends and family in the loop with what was going on in our lives. I feel like the blog is perfect for that and it shows everyone a slice of our life! I've had lots of friends and family say that they were glad the blog was around because they feel like they know what's going on. Perfect!! I just want everyone to feel included even though we are so far away. It's also the perfect outlet for sharing my crafty side and I can share all my tips! I've made a lot of great friends through my blog readers. It's been really rewarding. 

I'm definitely glad that you decided to start this blog, I love being kept in the loop about your life. And I love all your tips and crafty things you blog about. Being that blog names are (sometimes) the most important, How and why did you decide on your blog name? 

I agree! I think that blog names are important. Unfortunately I couldn't think of anything cool or anything that really represented me, so I chose to just use my name. I really like my name! I don't know anyone else with the name Talia Christine so it feels really special to me.

Nothing wrong with using a beautiful name. What is your favorite thing to blog about and why?

My favorite thing to blog about is my handsome Mr. van der Wel, but I like to throw in some crafty stuff and pictures of cats to spice things up.

Of course the handsome misters are fun to blog about. But who wants to hear about our amazing husbands all the time. Mixing it up with the crafts and cats, genius. What is it that you hope your readers get from your blog?

I hope my readers feel inspired to make and do things themselves. I am passionate about handmade and hope to inspire others to see the beauty in it. Also, I hope to show my readers that married life is awesome. I think marriage and making a life together is a beautiful thing! It's the best journey I've embarked on.

It's definitely inspiring to me. I'm always wanting to try new crafty things. And it's lovely to see how crazy you are about your Mr. van der Wel. What are your favorite types of blogs to read?

My favorites are craft blogs! I can never get enough of them. They inspire me endlessly. Even if I don't always act on that inspiration, I super appreciate seeing others tapping into their crafty side! 

I hear you on that. Reading through blogs can easily suck 4 hours out of my day. What is your favorite hobby aside from blogging?

My favorite hobby is spinning yarn from wool. There's just something about creating something useful and beautiful out of raw materials. Also, if cats were a hobby, I might say cats. I'm crazy in love with cats. There's a million in our neighborhood and it looks like there is always a cat party going on. It's the best thing ever.

I love your yarn!! I hope your shop will be up and running soon. And lastly, What is your favorite dessert?

Chocolate! No wait, cheesecake! No wait, carrot cake!<3

My take on James Dean

To view all photos go HERE

*Sigh* It's been a great day

I spent the day at home hanging with my family all day. It has been terrific. Usually when Chris has a day off we are running errands and stuff. So to finally spend an entire day sitting at the house was great. I took Josiah outside and let him try to learn how to ride his bike. I totally forgot to take my camera outside to snap some pictures, but there will always be tomorrow ") 

We have spent the evening so far with chinese take-out and playing a game of Monopoly Streets on the Wii. I totally kicked but, Chris ended up filing for bankruptcy. I really wanted to trade him some stuff so we could keep playing but he had enough "(   (sore loser)

It has been a perfect day.

Tomorrow we are driving up to Fredericksburg for a "James Dean" inspired photo shoot. I can't wait. The guy I got to model is such a sweet kid, Will. I met him at a wedding I shot with my friend Ashtin. I think he will be perfect for my "James Dean" I love James Dean. His look was/is so classic. I just thought it would be so much fun to recreate that same sort of feel.

Biscuit's having an epic giveaway!!

30 Prizes, 30 AMAZING Sponsors! This means 30 separate winners! This boosts your chances of winning and you WILL want to win these prizes! They are epicly amazing!

Head over to her blog to enter and get more details!!

I just can't get enough

Man, I love my kids.

I love taking photos of my kids.

I want this instant camera to take pictures of my kids

I'm so tired of my blog........again.

So, I'm going to fix that. 

Look for changes to come.

")

Finished Project

Bearded Slouch Beanie

I made this for a friend of mine in New York.

I made this pattern completely on my own, just kinda making it up as I went. 

Was inspired by a picture my sister posted on my Facebook a while back.

 I'm officially in love with it.

X's & O's

My First Pattern

Here it is my first pattern I designed.  You can add it to anything your heart desires to add some texas love ♥

Try it out and let me know if it works for you. 

Carry the yarn not being used across the back. 

(click image then right click to save image file)

Please credit me if you use this pattern. Thanks X&O

My Beautiful babies

Man , I can't believe how fast my little ones are growing. Josiah is ONE month away from turning 2!! And Jocelyn is already 6 months.

We went to Seguin last week to visit with Grandma, I jumped on the opportunity to go to Starke Park. (It's so perfect for kids of all ages) I love letting josiah run around and snapping pictures of him. The hardest thing though is keeping up with him. I always end up getting pictures of his back.

Jocelyn was watching her big brother run around, I know she's already wanting to follow him around. And I can't wait until she is big enough so they can run around and play together.

It was such a beautiful day I didn't want to leave. The tempature was perfect and there was a nice strong breeze. Those are my FAVORITE days. It seems that everyday lately has been perfect, I don't know why I don't spend more time outside. I can't wait for the day I have my our house and yard. **SIGH** off in a day dream mode..................................