Friday Q and A

I’m going to make this a regular on fridays, what do you think?

I get a lot of questions throughout the week either by email or in the comments and I think this will help me better keep on top of them – I’ve been fairly hit or miss in the past on getting back to people. Since being away from the computer so much over the past few months its made me so much more aware of how much time I spend on here and I’m trying my best to keep it to a minimum.

In an effort to do this I’ll be addressing as many of your questions as I can here on fridays. So if you don’t hear from me right away, don’t fret. Friday’s will be fun don’t you think? If you have questions just ask away, I love getting them and I’m willing to share whatever information I can (in depth photoshop tutorials aside) with you.

So here we go…

1. This questions was from Jodi on my Projetct-365 blog.
Hey where did you get your COOPER letters…they are SO cute!

I actually got them at the Pharmacy here in town. But. They do sell the same letters at Freddy’s Paint in Lethbridge. Or…if you aren’t from around these parts they are made by these people. The ones I have are 8 inches tall. I reeealllly want to spell out the kids names above their bedroom doors next but will have to save up a bit for that. 😉

2. Susan asked on another project-365 post Oh my goodness! That is an amazing storage room! How often do you go food shopping? And I have to quickly mention that you should have seen the storage room before we started organizing! You couldn’t hardly see the floor. Its been a big project but we’ve gotten rid of a lot of junk and now we’re working on stocking up our food storage

I don’t go on a big grocery shopping run any more than once a month I don’t think. I make little trips into the grocery store in town here to grab odds and ends a few times a week but I’m lucky that my husband works in the nearest city (about 20 minutes away) and he will do a lot of the big costco runs for me. It saves us the gas in and frankly, the whole shopping thing lost its appeal to me about the same time three kids happened. 😉

I’ve really felt the urgency recently to get our food storage in order and so thats been my focus for the past few weeks. We had some extra money and decided to put it towards getting a good chunk of our food storage this month. (I’m planning a whole post about this soon. I’ve found some great resources that have helped make this intimidating project seem much more doable so stay tuned. )

3. I recently got this email from Sheri…I bought your book and must say, it is by far my favorite scrapbooking resource yet. I love your style of scrapbooking and was wondering what program you use for all your journaling?

I use Microsoft Word to create most of the journaling on my scrapbook pages. Occasionally I do use Photoshop. This leads me to another question that I’m often asked and that is how I get the white text on my pages. I usually refer everyone to the simple scrapbooks website for instructions from the master of reverse print Cathy Zielske but they were on the old site and they don’t seem to be on the new one yet. So here are my quick (lame-o)instructions and a few bonus images of this mini album that weren’t included in my book to illustrate the technique. Hope this makes sense:

First I create a textbox the size I need and then choose a fill color for that text box. Fill ‘er up. Then change the color of your text to white. Getting the colors to match is sometimes a little tricky. I’ll play around with it and do a test print or two until I’ve got it where I want (I just print a small square, instead of the whole text box while I’m doing this so I don’t waste much ink). And you know what, sometimes it isn’t perfect – and that’s ok. Good enough is my motto these days and I’m sticking to it.

4. From Sara B. I just have to say how funny it is seeing your kitchen. Mine is almost the exact same. Maybe different layout but same cabinetry (almost) with same drawer pulls, etc. Anyways, what is the crock pot looking thing? Do you love it, how do you get it? Thanks Rebecca!

That is actually a Bosch mixer. It was my Christmas gift this year and I’m loving it. Its my first real mixer and I actually attempted making bread in it the other day for the first time in my life (translation: I didn’t use the breadmaker)….and it was edible! Oh ya! I’m loving it. A lot.

5. I’ve gotten several emails about paint colors in our house and in the living room/kitchen area its Benjamin Moore Beach Glass and my office is Benjamin Moore Mount Saint Anne. This photo was taken in my office with the wall color as a backdrop. I just love it.

6. Another frequent question I get asked is what camera equipment I use. My list isn’t extensive but my wishlist sure is. 😉 In my bag right now I carry my Canon 5D Mark II (which I just upgraded to from my canon 30D), 50mm 1.4 and 50mm 1.8 fixed lenses, a 28-135mm IS zoom lens, a 530 EX flash and a Gary Fong lightsphere. I edit all of my photos with Photoshop CS4. I am an all natural light photographer, though given the length of these canadian winters and my unwillingness to be outside during them I am seriously looking into setting up an indoor studio. Its in the works.

7. I got this comment from Noreen the other day…I too would love to know what kind of camera you use as well as some of your photography tips and tricks! Also…do you “photoshop” your shots afterwards?

I edit all my client photos in Photoshop afterwards. I shoot enitrely in RAW and with a properly exposed, sharp photo as my base I love tweaking things here and there on my own and also have some favorite photoshop actions that I tend to turn to again and again. Among my favorites are a BW and Color set I purchased from Christy Nichols. It was a while ago now and I can’t seem to find a link?? Sorry. Anything by Nicole V or Leah Profancik. I have also used and love these by Anna. Those are just a few, there are so many great actions out there. Hers look fun. These textures are great. Of course these are to die for. There are even some are great free ones out there.

8. That font from my Photography logo is Felix Titling Talia. 🙂

9. I’ve had a number of emails over the past few months asking where to purchase my book so here are a few places that I’ve found online. I also saw it a few weeks ago at our local Michaels.

Creating Keepsakes
Amazon
R&R Scrapbooking
Scrapbooker’s Paradise
Scrapbook.com
Barnes and Noble
Chapters

And If you’d like to join me on goodreads please stop by. I’d love to see what you’re reading!

10. And last, but not least. I’ve been asked a lot about what I’m going to do with my project-365 photos when I’m done and you know what, I don’t have a clue yet?? It will be something simple, that’s all I know for sure. I was really hoping to snag me one of the kits but it wasn’t meant to be and I am keeping my ears open to see if they are able to get more. I’ve had the chance to work with Becky’s kits in the past and the quality is so great and I just love idea of not having to put much of my own thought into getting this project together. Becky’s cute brain already did all the hard work for me, all I have to do is add my photos and journaling. So while I hold out hope of possibly getting a kit, I’ve been thinking of backup plans and will share ideas with you as they come to me.

For now, to those of you who have mentioned to me that you could *never* remember to take a picture every day I’ll let you in on a little secret. Neither will I. In fact I’ve already forgotten a couple of times, so on the days I do remember to pull the camera out I usually snap a few different photos and can then use them when needed. Its not cheating. Really its not. Its all in how you look at the project. What I hope to have at the end of the year are 365 photos representing our life, that’s it, when I take them is not a detail I’m choosing to get hung up on and its made it all the more fun.

That’s it for today. If you have any more questions ask away, I look forward to doing this again next week.

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Rebecca

Rebecca Cooper is a 42-year-old wife and mother of four from Alberta, Canada. As a photographer, crafter, author, and blogger, she finds joy and fulfillment in celebrating everyday moments. She loves to read and eat chocolate, and is a firm believer in afternoon naps. Rebecca shares her family’s adventures, photo tips, simple craft projects + more right here at Simple as That.

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