luka bella photography (real families, real life)

Feels like fall!

Today it finally feels like fall. I love it! It makes me want to snuggle up inside my studio with a latte and some glue. So that is exactly what I am doing. I have been putting some Halloween things up around the house. Did I mention how much I love Fall!!! Take a peak.....

 

   

 

Nothing says Halloween like a big jar of candy corn! And no Kimi, I have not eaten the whole thing.

 

 

 

 

Look at those eyes. Speaking of eyes, Cherya talked us all into going to the movies last night. We saw Nights in Rodanthe (I have no idea if I spelled that right) I balled like a baby, I thought this was a happy movie, not so much!! I think Kerry cried hard the hardest, good times!!!!

Happy fall, I have some more creating to do!!!

Fall and Pumpkin Spice Lattes

YUM MM!!! I am sipping a pumpkin spice latte and it is actually a little cool this morning. I am sure we will be back in the 90's a little later today. How I love the beginning of fall. It is times like this that I wish we lived in the Midwest somewhere. With yards that have no fences and lush green forests with wild berries growing in them. I have tried like crazy to figure out Starbucks Pumpkin spice latte recipe with no luck, but I did make up my own that I must say is pretty tasty. I also came across this cookbook, I think this is why I am thinking of the Midwest.

 

See what I am talking about. I want to live there and have a table set just like that!!

If I did I would for sure invite you over for a Pumpkin spice latte and let the kids bob for apples or something.

 

I have two pumpkin Spice latte's to share this one is from the cookbook above, "Coming Home with Gooseberry Patch"

PUMPKIN LATTE

4 c. milk

4 T. canned pumpkin

3 T. vanilla extract

1 t. cinnamon

2 c. strong hot brewed coffee

Garnish whip cream, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon sticks

stir together milk and pumpkin in a saucepan, heat over low heat until steaming. Stir in vanilla and Cinnamon. With a hand held blender or electric mixer, blend for 15 to 20 seconds, until thick and foamy. Pour into 4 to 6 mugs or tall glasses; pour in hot coffee. Top with whipped cream; sprinkle with spice and add cinnamon stick stirrers. Serve immediately. Makes 4 servings.

My quick way:

I measure nothing just eyeball everything and it will be fine (just don't tell Martha).

Open a can of pumpkin pie filling. I stored it in Tupperware in the fridge and spooned it out as needed. I scooped about 4 large spoonfuls into a glass measuring cup then poured in some milk to make it soupy, I then added about 1 tsp of vanilla extract, I did not measure I just poured some into the measuring cup. Stir it around heat in microwave until hot a little over a minute. I then made two shots of espresso (I have a espresso machine) if you have a french press (you can get them cheap at Marshall's or Ross) use that and make a strong batch of coffee or be creative ladies and just brew a ridiculously strong cup of coffee.

I poured a little vanilla syrup into the bottom of my cup ( the syrup you can get at starbucks, the grocery store even Marshall's and Ross carries flavored syrup) I then poured my espresso into the cup, now pour the pumpkin stuff into your cup until your cup is halfway full, I then poured steamed milk into the rest of my cup. You can steam the milk on your stove top or microwave, just don't let it boil. Grab a bottle of whip cream, yes the cheap stuff (well not so cheap anymore I think it was almost $3 bucks at the store) and squirt it into the cup, and pinch some nutmeg out of your spice jar and put it on top. Girls, absolutely delicious. Martha Stewart would be proud she might even say that it is " A good thing."

Enjoy this beautiful day that God has made and let me know how the latte comes out.

 

Is it too early for pumpkins and another flower turorial

Lots going on all week. Our new bible study launched and it was great!! How exciting to see how God unfolds His plan. I finally finished some wedding proofs. I had some great shoots during the week with some adorable little angels. My mom got me the cutest pumpkins from a little boutique that I could not wait to decorate with. It seems a little early for Halloween decor but I could not wait. Is there any rule on this in some decorating guide 101 somewhere?? Here they are:

 

Do you see why I could not wait!

And I have another Flower Tutorial. Felt this time . I love working with felt. The first reason is that it is so  cheap, and another is because of the texture. I love making my own embellishments. I used the circle layered flower from previous post and the vintage flower also from a previous post in the center of a bow on some baby gifts last week and you would not believe the response. Anyway here you go, just grab some scissors, three felt colors and a needle and thread.

  Here is what they look like:

 

I used a pencil to draw a circle on some white felt and then cut it out (it does not have to be a perfect circle)

 

Then start cutting little pie shapes around the edges to make the flower shape 

 

  

See not hard at all. Then grab another color of felt and cut out a smaller circle.

   

Now grab another color felt to make an even smaller circle. I grabbed my button jar and traced around a button to give me the size I wanted.

 

Cut out your circle for the middle and grab a needle and thread (use a bright color thread) to make an x in the middle holding all three pieces together.

 

 

And there you have it. Cute, cheap, bright and funky felt flowers. Start with different circle sizes and you can make a whole bunch of different sized flowers.

Here is a layout with the Vintage paper flowers that I showed you how to make on a previous post.

 

and here is another lo that has nothing to do with anything. However had I made the felt flowers before I made this lo I would have used them on it for sure!

What a glorious day!

Today my oldest was baptized. You have no idea what that felt like. What an amazing moment to watch your child commit her life in such a way. She is growing into a woman before my eyes, it is painful to see her spread her wings and so exciting at the same time. I mean painful in a way that is just hard to let her grow up. This girl loves God in such a way that amazes me. She spends hours with me at church on Sundays with never a complaint. She just lights up when she is worshiping. What a testimony to the Glory of God. Look at how beautiful she is (not to mention completely accessorized).

 

 

 

 

Look at her cheering section. What an amazing group of friends and family that I have. Thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus. I know that their are some people reading this that continue to slander me and want so badly to bring me pain. But I wallowed in that pit for far too long and by the saving grace of God, I have JOY!

Vintage Flowers

I am having some computer issues and I can not add pictures but for some reason at the moment it is working. So here is a cool and cheap (just use scraps) vintage flower tutorial. Grab a circle cutter of any kind. These are "vintage" creative memories. Cut two circles of different sizes.

 

Cut 12 1" width x 3" length strips of two different papers. Then distress the edges. I even sprayed them with water to break up the fibers a bit and crinkled them together.

Take the larger of your two circles and put some tape on it to begin sticking your strips. Alternating colors.

Keep going till you have filled up your circle. Then start folding over strips and stick them down.

It is taking shape. Grab you smaller circle to stick in the center.

Then grab your jar of vintage buttons. I have oodles of them from my dear sweet grandma.

Just stick as many as you can in center until you like it.

Or shake it up a little.

You can use fun colors too!

There you have it. Simple, cheap, homemade flowers.

Living proof

Have you ever searched and searched for something and every time you got what you thought you were searching for it did not satisfy you the way you thought it would. I spent many years trying to fill that emptiness that I felt inside. It was like a hole in my heart an emptiness that I don't know how to explain but if you have felt it than you know what I am talking about. I thought it could be filled with stuff! I thought if I got married that would fill it. So I got married, that filled it for a while but then that "emptiness" came back, so I thought a bigger house would take care of it, got that and sure enough the "emptiness" came back, I thought when I had kids it would be filled, a new car, new things the list goes on and on. So I kept searching and nothing worked. After a while the pain became destructive and I lost control. Man, I can guarantee that Satan was smiling.

Let me tell you something, I knew of God. I asked Him into my heart as a child because I was terrified of the "H" word. However, I had no idea what it was like to have a personal relationship with Him. A man at my church that new my story invited me to a bible study that changed my life. He told me when you are ready to surrender it all to God than you will finally be set free. I had to think on that one for a while, I still wanted to control so much of what was going on. Until one day I was alone in my house and my chest started hurting so bad that I thought either I have some really bad gas or was having a heart attack. I do not know what came over me but I made a choice. I got on my knees and surrendered it all to Him. I was given a new life offer and that was my saving grace. In the arms of His mercy I found rest. Unbelievable rest!

Now don't get me wrong it was very easy to let my self doubt, guilt, shame get the better of me. But the more and more that I pressed into God during those moments they were defeated. And after a while the most amazing thing happened, that "emptiness" was gone. It was filled with something that I am not sure how to put into words. Love, Joy, Peace! Peace, like I have never felt before in my life, and the joy, how do I explain the joy. God gave me hope. Hope that I can share my story with people who feel beaten, joyless, desperate. He gave me hope that with Him I can endure anything. He was waiting for me this whole time.

I am living proof that no one is beyond Gods reach. I am so hungry to get to know Him. I want you to have that hunger too. It will change your being. The love that I have for Him is so alive inside me that I know He is smiling down on me. My light has been turned on. Through darkness, ugliness, and sin, He found me, ME!

I found this quote somewhere and I can't remember where:

" Live your life in such a way that when your feet hit the floor in the morning, Satan shudders and says, "oh no, She's awake."

                                         Author unknown

How many of you feel defeated, or are searching for that "something" to complete you?That "something" or someone is just waiting for you to invite Him in.

Some of my words are from some songs I heard on the radio today. I listen to air one. I have no idea what songs, I was driving and as lyrics spoke to me I just wrote them down. Just wanted to add the disclaimer in case someone wants to say I lyric lifted.

O.k. on a lighter note I have a finally finished a layout. I also have a really neat tutorial on paper flowers. They are different than the circle ones from a previous post. I really, really like these. So cool, and so easy. I will share the tutorial later.

Here is my lo, I hope it makes you smile. O.k. typepad will not let me add a picture at the moment so come back later. God is good, so, so good!!!

Laugh out loud

That is what I stared at for over two hours in the dentist office. There was a sign with that in the middle of it in the exam room. After I was told what kind of dental work needed to be done on my youngest that was all I could do, Laugh out loud!!! So I am know working on a theraputic layout with that as the title.

Speaking of layouts here is one that took me forever to complete. I took a class online with Lucy Folch, that chic can work it out!!!

Shoe stalker

Totally weird! Yesterday on my front porch someone left me a pair of red shoes. Not just any red shoes, really cute high heeled, red ones. What is even weirder is they were in a box with a paper that had my full name and address printed on it and folded in half (inside the box). They were not delivered by the post office they were left on my porch!!!!  So who is the shoe fairy????? I called all my girls and the only one that would be spontaneous enough to do it completely denies it. So now what? Do I have some weird shoe stalker, that wants to see me wearing red pumps. The shoes where my exact size! What up with that. I must say I was a little freaked out, until I put them on and they look just glorious. So shoe stalker if you see a pair in yellow bring it on!!!!!

and a view from the side!

Told you they were cute!!

Amplified

O.K. so today I woke up and am feeling a bit amplified. So I ate a cucumber sandwich. I totally started to vogue my way through my shower watching a music video( I know every dance move to Madonna's song by the way.) I got out of the shower and strutted my own make believe runway having flashbacks of my heavy metal and psychedelic wearing days. Maybe I should not have eaten the cucumber sandwich for breakfast??? Anyway, as I was styling my hair I had a flash back to my platinum bling hairdo from the 90's. And no I will not share any pictures. I peeked into my closet and found the perfect green charcoal outfit that gave me just the edge I need for the rest of the day. I am feeling amplified!!!!   I just may yell the word "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious."   out the window when I am dropping the kids off at school. I am sure my middle schooler would love that!

I know by know you are wondering if I need to be medicated. Why that is up for debate grab a cup of coffee and check this out "Available For PreOrder Until 8.24, Spend $50 and Get A $10 Gift Card!"  oh all this will make sense when you visit here http://sistvboutique.com

A little eye candy to get you going this morning. If this doesn't work go make a cucumber sandwich.

I survived the first day of middle school

Well today is a good day. I was plagued with diarrhea all morning yesterday. I was so nervous for my oldest's first day of Middle School that I spent half the morning on the toilet.  When she got home yesterday she could not stop talking about how much she liked it. She said she feels like a "grown up." So this morning my tummy troubles are gone! We said a family prayer before we dropped her off at school and I know that He will sustain her all day. It is so reassuring knowing that the Lord is walking right along side her all day.

I finished a layout, this one just makes me smile.

I was tagged by Heather, Amanda, and T so here it goes.

10 things are you kidding me!!!!!!

1) I have watched The Phantom of the Opera about 50 times

2) My third toe on my left foot is longer than the rest of my toes

3) I had my appendix removed a few years ago

4) My favorite color is pink

5) I love glitter

6) I bite my finger nails

7) I have been married for 12 years

8) My best friend was born in a manger and was nailed to a cross

9) I enjoy antique shopping

10) I am afraid of heights but love rollercoasters (go figure)