#90

#89

#88

#87

Sweet Potatoes.
Sweet Face.

#86

The Science Fair Medal. 

A rare shot; I managed to outsmart the Camera Face Monster on this one. 

#85

Tough Crowd.

#84

I'm going to be starting a little project within my project now that the weather has warmed up. I'm going to call it  something along the lines of The Summer of Sundresses.  More details later. 

#83

Spring break = knitting project!

#82

Babywearing Daddies are hot. 

#81

My friend Jenny is pretty great, too!

#80

The light in my friend Jenny's house is great. 

#79

I love this picture. It looks like love to me.

#78

A Blessingway was held for my lovely friend today who is awaiting the arrival of her first son. Sweet, special days!

#77

St. Paddy's, continued. 

#76

In honor of St. Patrick's Day.

#75

#74

#73 +

DIY Camera Bag

A photo essay

I realized at the start of this project that if I wanted to take a picture everyday I was going to have to leave my house with my camera on a regular basis. Which meant in order to keep my equipment safe, I was going to need a good camera bag. I spent months searching for the perfect one. I wanted a bag that wasn't big and bulky, but it couldn't be tiny, either. I was adamant that it HAD to be pretty. No dreaded ugly black Manbag for me, thank you very much. 

I drooled over the Epiphanie and Kelly Moore bags, but in the end decided that spending that much on a bag for a hobby I had no intention of making money on was ridiculous. I quickly realized the bag I'd been looking for didn't exist, and I was going to have to make my own. So I did. And it took me about 2 hours and cost only $36.00. 

DIY Camera Bag: 

Once I found a suitable handbag (thank you, Target!), Jason was kind enough to donate the orphaned foam mat he had once used under his sleeping bag during scout camping trips. I think we originally paid less than $10.00 for this at Walmart a few years ago. You could use something like an old yoga mat, too. 

To get started, I turned the bag inside out, and measured each section. 

I took those dimensions and then measured and cut the foam to fit each of the walls of the bag. 

Then I shaped and rounded the corners to fit. Each side of the foam padding should be about 1/4 to 1/2 of an inch smaller than each side of the bag. 

Once I got the foam contoured to each inside wall of the bag, I began cutting open the lining inside the bag. I made my cuts along the bottom edges of each wall within the bag. I used a seam ripper to cut the lining, but with this particular bag it wasn't possible to rip the actual seam, so I just cut alongside it. 

I had to stop and stitch up the hole I accidentally cut into an inside compartment. Whoops. Don't get too excited with your seam ripper, be sure you're only cutting one layer of fabric! 

I inserted the cut foam panels into the bag through the openings in the lining. Originally, I had planned to sew the lining back into place, but I quickly realized with the added bulk the foam panels added and the fraying of the synthetic lining that stitching it back together was going to be impossible. 

Instead, I turned the bag right-side-out again and hot-glued the panels in place. I then hot-glued the lining back into place as best as I could. 

I covered a few pieces of card stock paper with some pretty green fabric and created a liner for inside of the bag to hide the glued edges of the lining. 

I stopped again to find where the left over foam had disappeared to...

Found it! 

I then cut 2 more pieces of the foam to fit the inside of the bag and covered them in pretty purple duct tape to use as padded dividers. I intend to cover these in the same pretty green fabric whenever I have time to pull out my sewing machine again. 

Finished product. I've got tons of room inside! I normally carry at least one extra lens, an air blower, my flash -  and still have room left over in the center for my camera, with lens attached. I've got extra SD cards and a UV filter in the zip pouch. 

And...there's still plenty of room for my keys, phone and wallet in one of the 6 empty compartments on the outside of the bag (2 big ones aside from the main zippered compartment, 2 smaller ones on the ends, and 2 zipper ones on the front of the bag.) 

Perfection! A stylish, protective, and roomy camera bag for under $40.00. 

#72

I love Sundays.

#71

#70

Yogurt-stash.

#69

If we were at a fair, he'd take home a blue ribbon for The World's Most Unenthusiastic Photo Participant.

#68

Yet another serious baby.

#67

Another serious baby kid.

#66

A serious baby.

#65

Oh, how I wished this had turned out!

One day I want to be the kind of photographer that takes only purposeful and deliberate shots. As oppsoed to the very green photographer that takes many and wishes with all her luck that one or two will be winners.

#64

Skeptical.

#63

Serious. 

#62

#61

All you need is...Charis. 

#60