Picture it...

First off... Chrissie from Flip Flops & Applesauce is having a hard time getting a hold of the winner of the camera strap slip cover... she said she knew me through one of my friends, but her blog is private.... So, the winner is:

wilderlamb

If you are wilderlamb, or know who this is, please help me track them down, so I can inform them that they are the Winner!!!!! :D Thank you!


Ok, back to our regular scheduled post....

A couple of days ago... I saw this amazing sight in the sky...





I couldn't believe my eyes! It rained a few days last week... poured at times! Can you believe it?! It was such an amazing feeling to have rain. Doesn't happen here much. The rainbow(s) went in an arch across the whole sky! It was amazing. :)

And, this is what we've been doing for the last couple of days... [forgive the blase*ness of these pictures!! I can not figure out why blogger makes pictures look all blah!]























And, of course Santa is joining us for the next month. Say "hi" Santa! ;)



And, Angelina & Zoe got their own little Christmas trees in their rooms. :)



And tonight, I made an amazing dessert! I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I was going to make -- Caramel Croissant Pudding. Remember? A dessert "fit for angels". And it was!!! It wasn't hard to make either! You should definitely make it... HERE is the recipe. And, I took some pictures while making it too. Would you expect any less? ;)









Yummmmm!! I had a little helper too!



Tonight we had movie night. We seem to be starting a weekly family movie night... awesome! ;) We watched Kung Fu Panda tonight. It was really cute!





Our Thanksgiving was nice. It was strange not spending it with my parents, though. The holiday season was a special time for us all, and we would normally spend a lot of time together - more than usual. Time of togetherness. But, not while living here. So it's hard. But, I am trying to make the best of it, ya know? Plus, I have been incredibly busy this month with orders. Total is at 58 as of right this minute. 58 orders in November! That's incredible!! I am so thankful for my customers! :) So, sewing orders, plus all the holiday projects looming over my head are plenty enough to keep my mind off not spending this holiday season with my parents. At least it's enough for now.

Tomorrow Mike and I will be taking the girls out so that I can take pictures of them for our Christmas cards. Destination will be told when I upload some of the out takes. ;)


I'm gonna go now. I am relaxing by the Christmas tree, and I think I will knit some. How are all of you doing?


xoxo,

Shealynn

Tagged! 7 Random Things

OK, so I am supposed to be up in less than 4 hours to do some Black Friday shopping!!! What am I doing awake?! It's almost 1am! I am MUST be crazy... so, let's make this quick, shall we? This lovely girl tagged me - here we go:

1. I LOVE cloudy, rainy, gloomy days. Yet, I live in "The Valley of the Sun".

2. I wear sweat pants most days, but think about dressing nicer -- some day. ;)

3. I have had 53 orders so far in November!

4. Mike and I got engaged after only 3 months of dating, and then married 6 months later. 7 years later, we are still very happily married. :)

5. I HATE to cook.

6. I want to move to Montana, raise Alpacas, shave off their fur, and use it to spin my own yarn. Seriously... this is something I have recently really wanted to do... check back in a year... maybe my mind will be changed, but for now... I think that idea is fabulous.

7. I am in no way, shape or form a morning person. But, I am a night owl. I guess you figured that since I am still up at 1am... which reminds me. I have to be up in 3 hours!!!!!!!!!!!


Night!!

xoxo,

Shealynn

All Because Of Orange Thread

I know I have said a few things on here about orange thread and my sewing machine. Well. Today Mike just said, "Just go get another sewing machine!!" Just.Like.That. So, I did.



And, I am SO happy!!!! I can sew with orange thread, and white thread, and I am sure red, green and blue thread too. I am so relieved! :)

Anyway, now I am able to sew an ENTIRE camera strap slip cover with no mishaps! Relief is washing over me.

I was tagged to do a little questionnaire, but I will do that tomorrow. For now, though... here are some pictures of miss Zoe from today looking cute...

















And, here is a picture of both of my girls on Saturday night. Mike rented Wall-E. So, we had family movie night with popcorn. It was so fun. :)

Etsy Finds Monday

Welcome to my first installment of "Etsy Finds Monday". I thought it would be great to share some items I have found on Etsy with all of you once a week. And, with Christmas coming... you never know what you may see and want. ;)

So, here we go.

The item on the top left is a baby wrap and they make awesome photography props... I am totally going to make some of these. Anyone interested?? They would also be fantastic to put baby in when going out for walks to keep warm. Almost like a swaddling blanket, but better. ;)

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade Shealynn.etsy.com

Hope your Monday is going well! Mine was pretty low key [as usual]. Had lots of sewing to do. And still do. But I am happy to report that I got 6 out in the mail today, and 2 out waiting to go for tomorrow. :D Progress. Feels good... except when it comes to orange thread. Ricci -- it's still happening, and I even went and bought new thread... but, I am trudging through it. The orange thread and my sewing machine are not friends, apparently, because they don't want to work together. So not nice. We'll see what tomorrow brings.


xoxo,

Shealynn

New Me!

Hello Friends! :) Hello Visitors!

Hope everyone is doing well this Sunday evening.

My photo shoot was postponed today. Bummer. But, I didn't mind much - since I have been so busy! I have gotten 3 more orders today!! busy busy!! But, I like it.

So, I have some SNEAK PEAKS! No photo session, so that meant I could do the sneak peaks of holiday crafts that I am making - so far.









That's all you'll see til later. ;)

I got a new 50mm lens to replace the one Zoe accidentally broke!!! :) SOOOO happy about this.



OK, so I got my hair cut today!!!






Want to see it?






How bad?






Really bad?







Are you sure?




ha ha ha! OK!!!




I LOOOOOOVE it! So, that's me WITH BANGS! :)


Have a great night.


xoxo,


Shealynn

hi.

You may not see me around these parts for a bit... my total orders for this week? 22!!! Wow!!! Thank you so much to all that ordered. :) That said, I am busy! I have a photo shoot with a very large family on Sunday, but before that, I am finally getting my hair cut... busy busy me. Plus about 12 more camera strap slip covers to sew. But, pictures are coming... I got a new 50mm lens today! The replacement of the one that my lovely 2 year old broke a few months ago, so I am thrilled beyond words about that!

I have some plans for this blog... I am going to do a weekly "Etsy Find" day. I am going to feature several shops on Etsy that sell things that I have stumbled upon, and love. So, stay tuned for that. *If you have an Etsy shop that you would like to have me feature, please email me: shealynn[at]gmail.com*

I am thinking that I will also do a weekly craft post as well... something that I am working on.

I was told that I should do a "life in Arizona" post once a week too, but since I don't get out much... not sure if doing that would be a good idea... you'd probably just hear about what I am doing in my house in Arizona. And, I will spare you the mundane details! ;) We will see, though. Maybe I will do a monthly thing on Arizona life instead.

I find myself inspired often by others, so I thought that I would share things that I am inspired to make or that I find extremely amazing and then in-turn share it with all of you. :)

What do you all think about these ideas? What crafting ideas are you thinking about or working on right now?

OK!! It's getting late... seems like I have blogged at really late hours lately! It's after midnight, and I am TIRED! Talk to you later!


xoxo,

Shealynn

Twilight The Movie

Mike and I went out for our Anniversary tonight. It was so nice to be alone just the 2 of us!! :)

I was super excited to see the movie Twilight!! Some of you are wanting me to do a review... OK. So here goes...

The book was better. I expected that. :) It was a good movie. But it could have been better. I am not going to say too much... I think those of you that read the book should go see it, and then come back and talk to me.

I did like it, though... and Robert Pattinson played a fantastic Edward Cullen!! Mike is now "Team Alice". ha ha!!!


Forget stupid critic websites.... I never listen to those, because half the time I have the opposite thoughts that they do. GO SEE THE MOVIE... then come back and tell me what you thought... or if you saw the movie, leave me a comment with your thoughts.

It's 1:30am! TIME FOR BED!


Night!!!!

xoxo,

Shealynn

On My "Desk" Right Now

Happy almost Friday!! :) My girls are sleeping, and I so need to be sewing right now, but I am here on the blog instead. Sewing to come as soon as I publish this post.

First order of bloggy business...

I see there are a lot of newcomers today! Welcome!!! Take a look around. I so hope you enjoy my little piece of the blog community. :) Feel free to leave me comments and say hello, or whatever you feel like saying. I will come visit your blog too!

Just a little reminder... if you are wanting to order a camera strap slip cover from my shop, all orders must be in no later than December 15th to ensure on time arrival for Christmas. The earlier the order the better.

This week has been a busy giveaway week for me! There is the giveaway going on over here, and here for 2 weeks, and lastly, I have been featured, on Today's Creative Blog!!! There is also a giveaway going on over there as well, but it ends TOMORROW at 8pm pacific time! So, go enter! She gave me one heck of a feature too! I was blushing while reading it! So So nice... Thank you Kim!!! If you have never been to Today's Creative Blog, GO! She features some really creative and cool people!!

I have now officially sold 13 camera strap slip covers this week!! I have finished about 6-7 of them, so I need to get my tushy in gear. ;) I have no sneak peeks of my Christmas crafts quite yet, but, I PROMISE to get them up soon... maybe this weekend. Not tomorrow evening, though. ;) I will be out to dinner and then going to see TWILIGHT with my husband for our Anniversary! I don't need to tell you how excited I am... I think it's self explanatory... but, a friend of mine, Suzanne, asked me to do a review of it after I saw it, so look out for that too, if you're interested.

Speaking of my friend Suzanne, she suggested that I do a "what's on my desk right now" post. I am happily obliging to that. :) Seemed like today was as good a day to do it as any other...





Orders are on my desk! LOL.

OK! Must go "work". Oh, and by the way... the Twilight Soundtrack is amazing!


xoxo,

Shealynn

My Parents Rock!!

As most of you know, my Christmas tree is still in North Carolina... you know the most important part to decorating for the holidays? Sorry, but Christmas just isn't the same if you don't have a tree. Anyway, so I was freaking out that my glorious tree wasn't going to get here in time, because I hadn't thought about this "minor" thing until last week.
Skipping all of the long mundane details... this is the point. I called my neighbor last night to ask him to get all of the pieces together so that my parents could make sure it was packed and ready for shipping labels, etc. I called my mom to inform her of this today, and you know what she says?!

"Shealynn. You're Dad and I already shipped it out to you!! You should have it on Monday. We weren't going to tell you, because we wanted you to be surprised, but since you are so insistent, Merry very early Christmas!!"

Seriously?! They wanted to surprise me? Well they sure did!! I was so surprised, and SOOO ecstatic! LOL. I was even clapping! My parents totally rock!!!!!!!

Thank you Mom & Dad!!!!! You're THE BEST!

Once that tree gets here, I am going to be giddy with Christmas delight! :)

I was going to do some sneak peaks of some Christmas projects I am working on, but I didn't have a chance to get pictures of them today, so maybe tomorrow. Maybe. I have gotten 10 orders so far this week for camera strap slip covers, and I plan on sewing them ALL tonight... we'll see how that goes. It should be fine... I am feeling much better today! Thank goodness. There is no way I wanted to feel like I did yesterday, today. Oh no! I don't think so. I felt so horrible yesterday. Today I am just coughing a bit.

Oh, and I bought our tickets to see TWILIGHT today!!! :D We have a sitter and we are going out to dinner and to see it Friday night! I seriously can not wait!

Ok, so lastly, I wanted to leave you with the "One Word Game". Here goes...

Where is your mobile phone? next to me
Where is your significant other? California
Your hair color? brown
Your mother? amazing
Your father? handsome
Your favorite thing? Christmas
Your dream last night? don't remember
Your dream goal? fashion photographer
The room you're in? living room
Your hobby? sewing, photography, knitting
Your fear? spiders
Where do you want to be in 6 years? where ever God wants me
Where were you last night? home
What you're not? flaky
One of your wish-list items? Canon 5D
Where you grew up? California
The last thing you did? tucked in girls
What are you wearing? pj's
Your TV? Sony
Your pets? dog, frog, cat, ferret
Your computer? Mac - of course! ;)
Your mood? relaxed
Missing someone? definitely
Your car? fantastic
Something you're not wearing? make-up
Favourite shop? Etsy, Target, Old Navy
Your summer? HOT
Love someone? Forever!
Your favorite color? Turquoise & Orange
When is the last time you laughed? today
When is the last time you cried? last week

Play along!! Consider yourself tagged. As you can see... not everything is just one word, but whatever. Did my best. ;)

So, Katchen... am I doing better at the Daily thing? ;)

"See" ya tomorrow!

xoxo,

Shealynn



P.S. Giveaway info below!! Scroll down.

Spotted - ANOTHER Giveaway!!!

First off, WELCOME visitors! Where ever you are coming from! Would love to meet you, so head on to my comments section and say hi -- please. ;)

So, my shop, *Shey*[B] is being featured on the amazing blog, Grosgrain!! This woman is an OH SO TALENTED sewer! She has featured my Etsy Shop, and is doing a giveaway!!! How fun, right?! :) Want to enter? Go to Grosgrain then! She laid out an impressive giveaway feature! Thanks Chrissie! Take a look around at her blog too! She has a website where you can purchase clothing items she makes too!

he he!

Night!

P.S. Stay tuned for a few more giveaways - yes, you read that right. ;) Scroll down to enter in the giveaway over at Flip Flops & Applesauce too! Take a look around at her blog as well! GREAT stuff on there for kids, and mom's alike!

P.S.S. Want some inspiration? See this blog! I wish I could make quilts as amazing as she does!

hi again

OK, so I guess I couldn't stay away long. Mail came, and in it was a movie - Jumper. Watching that now, and resting. Zoe is in bed... laughing and squealing. hmmm. She should be sleeping! :)
I despise being sick... I don't get sick all that often, but when I do, I get the worst of it - so it seems.
Mike is sick too. Poor guy. And, we have no more soup. Oh poo. But, we have a lot of tea! Tea is good.

So, Ali from Domesticali asked me what the oddest thing in my kitchen is right now... I like that question!

The oddest thing in my kitchen right now is: sunscreen. ha ha! There is also a power wheels charger in there for Angelina's Barbie Jeep.

Is that odd enough?

Oh, and just so you know... Sew Mama Sew is having a Give-A-Way day on Dec. 3rd!! I am participating, so check back here for a giveaway!!! There are going to be lots of others doing giveaways too! Sounds fun!



My brain is fried! Time to really rest...



xoxo,

Shealynn


P.S. See the below post for a giveaway going on right now.

another one

another giveaway over at Flip Flops & Applesauce. Click here to enter.

mike is out of town, zoe's been getting into everything, and i am pretty darn sick... hmmm. fun times. all i got for now.


xoxo,

shealynn

Best Gift E.V.E.R.

Besides my husband and children, of course!! ;) ha ha. What am I talking about? Take a look at what my husband got me for our Anniversary...



I LOVE IT!!! Yes, again from The Vintage Pearl. :D Can any of you guess where the quote is from? Leave it in the comments if you know. I helped Erin come up with this necklace, and told Mike a little bit about it... so, he has been conspiring with her for about 2 weeks to do this necklace. Got so many excuses from Erin as to why she couldn't complete the necklace "right now". ha ha ha! Now I know it's because she was making me one! ERIN! IT LOOKS AWESOME!!!

Mike is out of town for the week. Boo hoo. I have lots to do, though! Always plan many things when I know he is going out of town. Being busy is the key to making it through the week. ;) I also have Friday to look forward to for other reasons! Mike and I are going out for our Anniversary. He is taking me to dinner and to see Twilight!!!! Woo Hoo.

OK, I am off to knit while Zoe sleeps! Here are a couple pictures of Angelina for ya!

I have found my pictures stolen before, and I know some of those people are still browsing my blog. So, I feel a need to remind them - you know who you are...

ALL images are the property of Photography By Shealynn. Please do not save to your hard drive, download, print or post any image from this blog.

I refuse to make this blog private, but will if I must. There are sometimes when I don't mind a picture being used, but ASK MY PERMISSION FIRST! *** To clerify... I don't mind if you use my camera strap pictures on your blogs to announce you are the winner of a giveaway or to promote them. :) It's the pictures of my kids that were stolen. ***

OK, sorry for everyone else! I needed to say that. Anyway, here the pictures!!! :)








XOXO,

Shealynn

7 Years & Counting!!

Yep! That's right! Mike and I have been married for 7 years as of today!!! Wow! It's been an amazing 7 years - of course with it's hard times, good times, scary times, emotional times, memorable times, and unforgettable times!
Mike and I have been through a TON throughout our marriage, but we have grown stronger because of it. I truly know that I am the luckiest woman on earth to have found my soul mate!


This picture is not the greatest... I look horrible! But, Angelina took it. :) Here ya go Emily! A picture of me, and my husband. ;)


Happy Anniversary baby!!! Here's to 70 more! ;)


XOXO,

Shey

Well...

Since I didn't get much help in the "give me ideas to blog about" area, I will just improvise. :)

I did get 1 question from Emily -- "What are the ages of your children?". Angelina is 6 and Zoe is 2. And, Emily. I will post a picture of me soon.

So, still nothing really interesting to write about - I am working on a holiday project, but that will have to wait until next week or the week after, until it is finished.

I was reading this blog today. I really like this woman's blog! Some great ideas on there... seems like she always has something interesting to write about. ;) ha ha. Anyway, she posted a video on her blog of this woman that cooks AMAZING food. So, I thought I would share a couple with you as well.... All I have to say is, I want to run out and get what I need to make Caramel Croissant Pudding RIGHT NOW!! Yummmmmm!



Or how about some French Toast?



mmmmmm!

That's all I got for now! Seriously!! What are some interesting things I can blog about? IDEAS WANTED! ha ha ha!!! I am open to anything really... have a photography question? Have a sewing question? Knitting? Not that I know a ton about sewing or knitting... ;) truly I don't.

You know what would be fun? Ask me the FIRST question that pops into your head! Or suggest the first idea that pops into your head! Random is always good. ;)

And, after you do that, go make some Caramel Croissant Pudding!I sure want to! But, I think I will knit instead! Speaking of which, I finished my last class today! I now know how to do the purl stitch, Stockinette stitch, rib stitch, & seed stitch!! I also know how to increase and decrease stitches as well as binding off [getting the completed knitted project off your needles]!! I would say that taking the knitting class was worth every penny. ;)


XOXO,

Shealynn


P.S. I also started a Flickr group today!! It's called "The Fashionable Camera Strap". So, if you have purchased [or plan on purchasing] a camera strap slip cover, go on over to my Flickr group and join!! Just take a self portrait with your camera strap on. Take a picture in the mirror or a shopping mall window [or something else that gives a reflection]. This is going to be fun!

Daily

OK, so I have been informed that since my blog is called "The Benner Daily" that I need to blog every day. ha ha! Not an easy thing to do when you frequently run out of interesting things to write about. So... I thought that I would go to my readers for this one.

This is going to take all of you, so COME OUT OF LURKER*VILLE! Don't be shy. :)

What should I write about? Do you have any questions for me? Give me some ideas!!!!! ALL of you!


This should be interesting... because I can't imagine there is anything ya'll are going to care enough to ask me, but I could be wrong! SO, come on. Join in the fun!!!

Leave me a comment with your questions, interesting statements, or just ideas for things I should blog about! Or if you want me to do some sort of craft or something, then leave that there too. ;)

Looking forward to seeing what your ideas/questions are!!! If I get any. ;)


XOXO,

Shealynn


Random picture of our fat cat, Seuss. ;)

Time & Magazines

Have you gotten that feeling that Christmas is coming... and coming F.A.S.T.? I mean really fast? After discussing Christmas with Mike the other day, and then all but demanding that he get a label prepared to send to my mom so she could ship our Christmas tree here... I realized something. In a [little] more that 2 weeks - Christmas decorations will be going up! I am getting that feeling... which in turn makes me feel freaked out and rushed! I have many many projects I want to do, and suddenly, as I sit here this morning in bed, I wonder if I will have time to get them all done. I really wish that I could tell you about my biggest project, but I just can't. You understand I'm sure... you know with certain people that read my blog and all. ;)

And, yes, I did say "as I sit here in bed this morning". That is exactly what I am doing, and it is nice. Mike takes Angelina to school usually, and Zoe is currently still blissfully sleeping, and I am typing to you - from my bed. ha ha. One of the many perks of having children 4.5 years apart! You writing these benefits down, Katchen? ;) ha ha. Since you are the only friend of mine that will soon know what I am talking about.

I haven't been sucker punched with orders this week, so I have had some time to get orders done and sent. Along with some time for myself, which included a few magazines, and a knitting book. Suzanne... I got the book "Stitch 'N Bitch" yesterday. This book was recommended to me while at knitting class too! So I got it. ;) Read through it a bit last night. Looks interesting.

So, yesterday I went to the mall, because a few days ago I read that some actors from the up and coming Twilight movie were going to be at Hot Topic... ha! Like the idiot I am, I went not really sure what to expect... but what I should have expected is what I actually saw. Hundreds of teenagers, and moms alike waiting in line with tickets that they had gotten at 3am that morning!! So, needless to say, tickets were sold out. ahhh, well. I didn't even stay to get a glimpse... at least it was only the actors/actress that have a small role. We can't all get lucky and get the big shots... ahem - Suz. ha ha. So, instead, I went to Borders. And along with my knitting book [mentioned above], I got these:




Yes, I know some of you have a distaste for Twilight, or don't even know what Twilight is. But, I LOVED these books [incase you didn't know- I read each one 5 times]. So, I am sharing these... Skip down if you don't care. ;) LOL. The current issue of Entertainment Weekly - Twilight on cover. :D And, the Twilight Complete Illustrated Movie Companion. :D The movie comes out 1 week from tomorrow! Yipee!!!

I have also been reading through a few other magazines.


LOTS of great ideas in this magazine!!! But, did you ever doubt Martha Stewart? She always has the most amazing ideas... except when it comes to the stock market. ;)



I SO want to make the quilt on the front of this magazine!!! It doesn't look complicated, either! Maybe that will be next! ;)



And, the other day, Mike was going to the grocery store, and I added "Entertainment Weekly" to the list of things to get. Well, they didn't have the correct ET, because I wanted the current issue... so, because he knows me SO well, he comes home with this instead:



The whole thing is about Twilight the movie, and it's got behind the scenes stuff in it, and other stuff. Ahhh, yes. Nothing like mindless reading! ;)

So, other than finishing up a few orders, reading magazines, knitting, spending time with family, thinking a lot about Christmas, and an attempt to see actors like the crazed Twilight fan I am... nothing much going on here. ;) ha ha!!!!

I have made a few new camera strap slip covers!! They are all in my shop.

Speaking of!! Orders for Christmas MUST be in NO later than December 15th to ensure on time delivery! That is 1 month to get your orders in everyone!! Ordering now might be your best bet... since I am just telling you, and there are some strap covers that are *Limited Edition*. Wouldn't want to miss getting one! ;) So, go now, and order before it's too late!! They do make great gifts for any photographer!!

Leave me a comment.... what kinds of things are you making for Christmas? Anything?


XOXO,

Shealynn


P.S. Did I mention Christmas is coming FAST?! I am about to do the happy dance... or maybe I will just jump on my bed... since I am already in it. ;)