Thank you for stopping by my blog. Lately I have been reviewing books and haven't had as much time to scrap. Hopefully soon I'll get back to scrapping and creating some new files. Thank you for your patience.

I have made files available at absolutely no charge. I do this for fun. I am learning the wonderful Make The Cut (MTC) program and trying to improve my skills. Most of the files have been created from free coloring sheets online. You will need MTC software in order to cut these files. Please use these files for your personal use only and if you want to share them with others please direct others to my blog. I hope you enjoy these files. Comments are always appreciated. If you are not a follower please consider doing so. I have lots of new files that I want to add over the next few months.



PLEASE DO NOT USE MY FILES AS YOUR OWN AND DO NOT POST THEM ELSEWHERE. IF YOU WANT TO SHARE MY WORK WITH OTHERS PLEASE DIRECT THEM TO MY BLOG. THANK YOU

Friday, May 13, 2016

Little One, God Made You Special

Little one, God Made you Special written by Amy Warren Hilliker and illustrated by Polona Lovsin is a cute little board book that will make any toddler understand that God made them special. The book is very durable for little hands and I absolutely love the illustrations. The animals all look so sweet and cuddly it makes you want to smile. “God made you special, little one. There’s no one like you – no, not one!”
Perfect little book to teach your baby and toddler just how special they are. My little one loves to read it together over and over.  I received this book at no charge from www.booklookbloggers.com in exchange for an honest review.

Understanding Exposure

Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson 4th edition “has taught generations of photographers how to shoot the images they want by demystifying the complex concepts of exposure in photography.” Bryan Peterson explains how to move from using your camera in fully automatic mode to fully manual mode to get the most from your camera.
In this book you will learn fundamentals of light, exposure, shutter speeds, apertures and all written in easy to understand methods. He uses many of his own photos as examples and his instructions are very clear. I own an earlier edition of this same book and was curious to see how if any had this edition. The biggest difference in my opinion are the photographs he uses. The methods and explanations are basically the same so either edition is nice to have.  I didn’t really notice any big changes.
If you are wanted to get the most out of your DSLR and are a beginner I would highly recommend this book. I have read a lot of photography manuals and Bryan Peterson is by far the easiest for me to understand and I have learned so much from all of his books. I would suggest beginning with this one and then moving on to others that he has available.
In this book you will learn how to adjust your camera to make your shutter speed and apertures to work together in order to get the effects you want. You will be able to become more creative. Learn how to adjust you aperture to blur your background or adjust your shutter speed to show movement in your pictures.  Your photography will definitely improve if you use his techniques. I love his analogy on how to get correct exposure using the “Sky Brothers” and their cousin “Mr. Green Jeans”
He also gives you tips and techniques to adjust your settings in tricky lighting situations such as night time cityscapes and high contrast situations. He talks some on using flashes and filters and what you can do to get the most out of them.
I believe novice photographers will get the most from this book but just about anyone can learn something from it from the extreme beginner to the expert.  The book is full of beautiful photography, the paper quality and print are exceptional and will lend itself to being read again and again. I often find myself needing a refresher and I’ll pick it up and read through it again and again.
I highly recommend anything by Bryan Peterson but I have to say Understanding Exposure has probably helped me the most. I received this book from www.bloggingforbooks.com in exchange for an honest review. You can purchase a copy here.

Monday, May 2, 2016

Wonders of Creation

Wonderland



Wonderland by Amily Shen an adult coloring book that is based on Alice in Wonderland. Amily Shen is Taiwanese  illustrator who has really outdone herself with this book. I really like this coloring book. An excerpt from the book: Do you know Alice’s story? Do you draw pictures in your head while reading” Strange conversations with a strange cast… has the story been transformed? If you too jumped down the rabbit hole, who would you meet? What colors would you encounter? Take up your colored pencils, and together let’s make a book. Read with your colored pencils and give Alice a new adventure.

This coloring book is a coloring book and story combined. Left to color by your imagination. I wouldn’t say it is what we typically see Alice depicted as. It isn’t the traditional looking or Disney looking Alice in Wonderland. I really like that aspect of the book.  It is broken into 9 chapters In chapter 3 there is an activity that helps make the book interactive. I’ll leave that for you to discover. Don’t worry the answer key is in the back. There are so many different aspects to this book. It isn’t your ordinary adult coloring book.

The book itself has a very nice dust cover that can be colored. The actual book has very interesting cover but I’m not sure it would lend itself to coloring with just any media. Maybe markers but I haven’t tried them. I think it is way too slick for pencils.  The pages are all double sided and printed on very thick pages. There is a slight tooth to the pages. I would be afraid to use markers for fear of bleed through and I wouldn’t want to damage the reverse side page. I will stick to pencils with this one. There are several types of drawings some more detailed than others and some being double page spreads. The pages have lots of details without being extremely tedious to finish. There is a little bit of everything in this book: mandala style pictures, animals, flowers, buildings, etc.  The pictures are quite whimsical and fun. It is going to be a fun book for me to color.

This will make a great addition to your adult coloring book collection especially if you love Alice in Wonderland. I received this book from www.bloggingforbooks.com at no charge in exchange for an honest review. I love this book and you can purchase your very own copy here.