Relationship vs. Religion

Just wanted to share this quote I heard last night in church....food for thought.

Also wanted to tell with you that I have my very first Guest Post at my lovely bloggy friend and sponsor's home....A Girl in Flight! Go read it <here>...you might learn something new about me! ☺

Done with all my classes now...only one more chapter critique to write, 1.5 more chapter to read, one lesson plan to write and prepare to Sience demonstrations.....and I am done! Can't wait to get back on here for real.

Oh...and Mr. Patrick's birthday is this weekend....yep. Something fun planned....well the cake will look like fun....lets hope my artistic vein helps me doesn't leave me hanging. ☺ Its our first time TOGETHER on Patrick's birthday.

And....I could write so much....so much to catch up on....so many fun things...oh, I need to tell you this. I lost another glove...a blue one...and found it again hanging on a branch. Hahahaha

Goodbye my dearest friends. *wave*

From The Woods

Don't this outfit just make you think I stepped out of the woods? I love the colors of this outfit....so earthy....really what I like. Another reason I like this outfit is because of all the layers and how well the browns go together.

Nope, it is not a skirt it is a pair of really wide culottes...kinda hippy style. :D

What do you like about the outfit?

Picasa // Favorite Free Foto Programs

Today I want to introduce you to.... Picasa! I heard about this free photo manager in 2006 when I worked on my school's Yearbook (by the way...I was the 'Camera manager' ☺) and knew that  that would be one of the first things I  would download on my own computer....which I did in 2009. ☺

This program lets you download your pictures from your camera, edited them, make collages & Screen backgrounds...its my favorite free program! I really recommend you to download it if you don't have it, play around with it and I promise you will fall in love with it. You can make too dark pictures look brighter, make a pimple disappear, change a style of a picture, crop out something not to nice....

I have LOTS of pictures...16, 780+ pictures....yeah, I love taking pictures....any way....

1.) Here you can import the pictures from your stick, camera, CD, etc. You can choose all or only upload some. You can download them into existing folders and create new ones....its easy.

2.) Here you see all the folders, screen snapshots, collages, its great for people that like order.

3) You can easily search for folders...just remember where you put that picture!

Here I'll walk you through editing one picture....

 1.) This little button is a quick 'n easy fix. Very often that little touch is all you need. Just brightens the picture up a little and gives it a bit of a contrast.

2) Red eye fix...
3) Crop...I use this soooooooo often....I like making my picture 9x13 for the blog. ☺

1) Make a picture a little sharper...didn't use it on this picture but great for those kinda fuzzy pics

2) Here I made the picture look warmer to create a softer look

3) Sepia and Black&White are great!

1) On this picture I used the 1960s style and then

2) The Cross development to give it more of a yellow glow.

1) I decided to add some text with the A-B-C button. You can change size and angle, fonts, colors....

On the end just hit 'Ctrl' and 'S' at the same time....viola....SAVED!

 I made this collage before I went to college....and have made lots more since then. You can also use this techique to make a blog header though that will have to wait for another time. ☺

Here are some more before and after pictures!

Do you have/ use Picasa already? If not....go download it today!


Have you missed the other Photography related posts?

5 Photgraphy Tips by Betsy Gettis

Get to Know Your Camera

PS: Wanted to add this to my scheduled post...I really miss you guys and I miss blogging. If nothing else gets in the way I should get done with my class by the end of this week...(the big things at least) and then I have lots of sewing to do! ☺ My reading is coming along nicely and I am working my normal goals too. Good bye for now....

Treasures from "Hard Rubbish" // Guest Post

Hi, I'm Samara and I live in Australia, where everything is a bit back to front and weird. For starters, we talk with these strange accents and have funny slang words, like Maccas for McDonalds. We have other funny things too- like a little thing called "Hard Rubbish" where everyone chucks their junk out the front of their houses once a year and it gets collected by the council (this may be called something different in Germany?). If you are like me, you use this opportunity to drive by and check out any junk that you can redo. As they say, one man's trash is another man's treasure! My husband finds himself regularly pulling over on the side of the road for me to collect another piece of furniture or old frame, which I then seek to breathe new life into. I thought I would share with you two of my favourite "trash to treasure" upcycles (both involving tables) and the lessons that I have learned as a result.

The first is my kitchen table. I am so proud of this little project which ended up taking me way too long.

This is a mixture of hard rubbish, thrift store and second hand sales finds. If you want to see the before and after shots check out the post I wrote about it.

My second table redo was this table that I found sitting outside a neighbour's house. You can read about it in this post here (the whole project only cost me $25, including everything on the table!)

I love the end products, however I learnt a few hard lessons along the way that I thought I would share with you.

1. Follow the instructions. When they say "don't sand in circles", they mean it. Even if it seems easier at the time, it will leave marks on your table top. Oops!

2. Don't take short cuts. Lightly sand between layers of paint and varnish. It avoids lumps and bumps on your tables. Again, they weren't joking when they said you should do this!

3. Get a few friends to help out. I regularly ask friends to help me with big craft projects- it gets done quicker and is a good chance to chat (if you can hear over the sanders!)

4. Do not start a project before you have finished your previous project. I currently have an advent calendar sitting in my sewing room that will spend another Christmas sitting there, unfinished. This somehow manages to make crafting stressful for me and ends up being costly when you don't finish projects. 

5. Be okay with less than perfect. All my craft projects have flaws- and that's ok. If you spend too long trying to get it 'perfect', chances are you will run out of steam to ever finish the project.

If you love crafting, check out some of the other crafts I have made.

Biscuit Holder/ Chalk Board /Thank You Bag/ Paper Flower/ Scarf/ Wreath

Any DIY or crafting tips you have to share with me? Goodness knows I need them!

Samara

xo

www.thesecretlifeofsamara.com

_________________________________________

Samara has visited The Blue Birdhouse before..... Thank you so much for stopping by again and showing us all these cool things. Now I remember....I found you over Pinterest....that doily table runner and then stuck because of Nibbles! ☺ 

Oh and in Germany we say "Speermüll" which means...."Hard Rubbish". ☺ AND...we say "Megges" for McDonalds in Germany. ☺ Maybe all the German students brought that from their travels to Australia...

Peppermint Jesus // Guest Post

I met Amy through her Link Up and soon found that she writes really encouraging & thought provoking devotionals. I love learning from other people's experiences....letting their insight make me grow closer to the Lord and in wisdom. Today she has a very important message to share with us.

My phone buzzes, I look down from the Vacation Bible School missions lesson my co-teacher is presenting, expecting it to be a text from my husband, only to see a text from a sweet lady down the hall saying "your daughter has some big news for you!".

Ten minutes later, Sadie passes me in the hallway and says "Momma! I accepted Jesus into my heart!" I smile, say "that's great honey", and as she walks away I look around to see others staring at me and know they are wondering why I am not weeping and hugging and emotionally out of control. For a moment I feel like a REALLY BAD CHRISTIAN. But they don't know....

They don't know that Sadie has accepted Jesus into her heart 80 times in her bedroom. That she asks questions all the time, that she's struggling to figure it all out and reading her Bible more than I do. That she watched her friend get baptized in front of everyone in worship rally yesterday and REALLY wants to get in that cool tub. That she is in process....that she is "being saved..."

See, we've worked with either youth or college students for the past 12 years of our lives. We've seen the damaging effects that can happen when someone is rushed to say a prayer, "accept Jesus", and baptized before they really understand what it all means - then later in life they struggle with knowing if they really ever had salvation. We've seen so many kids "rededicate" their lives, when really it was probably for the first time. I have been that kid.

Not all of them, mind you. Some really do find Jesus at 7 and "get it" and never turn back. My personal opinion is that this is rare.

There is no magic in that prayer that is prayed when the lights are low, and the music is playing softly and someone is speaking dramatically hushed. I want my children to accept Jesus with their EYES WIDE OPEN, counting the cost and knowing that this is not game or a fairy tale or an emotional experience.
So, my husband took Sadie for "coffee" that night and they talked about it. We knew after the talk that she is still a bit confused. She thought you "become a Christian" after the baptism, so there's still some work to be done. He used an illustration with her that I thought was really intriguing.

He put a peppermint in her hand. He had her hold it, smell it, observe it. There is so much you can know about that peppermint just by being an observer. You could research how they were made and what herbs are in them, and know from the smell how they might taste. But, until you put that peppermint in your mouth, it is all just intellectual. There is no personal tie to that peppermint until it is in your mouth and in your stomach. You could never TRULY say that you knew peppermint, unless you've actually eaten one.

As parents, we personally believe that Sadie is holding that peppermint and lifting it towards her mouth. Her taste buds are starting to water as she anticipates the minty freshness. BUT, it's not quite there yet.

Is it for you?

___________________________________

Amy Schaffner lives in the promised land of Arkansas with her husband, two kids and two dogs that sleep entirely too close to her. She loves Jesus with all her heart, and is trying hard to figure out how to live that out in her daily job of mothering and homeschooling. She blogs about her life: the good, the bad, and the ugly – the adventures of ministry, motherhood and anxiety disorder that makes her just crazy enough to be interesting. You can find her at her home on the web at Pieces of Amy or on Facebook or on Twitter.

Get To Know Your Camera

Everywhere I turn I see people with their DSLR camera. Where do they get the money? Do they really need it? Do I need one to make good pictures? I have asked myself these questions many times. I will be the first to admit that a DSLR camera is a great camera. Once I was able to take pictures with a DSLR camera from one of Patrick's friends. Just one picture and I fell inlove. Without much effort I had sharp and clear pictures! But you know what, with a little more effort you can take some good pictures with your normal camera

I like my Camera. Something I can do with mine that you can't do with a DSLR is keep it in your pockets at all times. My camera has lots of different settings and I continue to shoot pictures I get to know my camera more and more. I don't want to make you jealous of mine but tell you to get to know YOUR camera inside and out. 

1. It does need to be a camera. The phone cameras are getting better but they still cannot show full quality as large images. Just keep on the look out. So many people are upgrading and selling their perfectly good cameras for so cheap sometimes! Mine is >here< on Amazon.

{source}

2. Get to know your cameras flash functions. When is better to turn it off? On? As much as you can do not take pictures with flash. Natural lit pictures are so much more beautiful.

3. Figure out what your close up settings are. I used to focus, focus, focus, focus...and with lots of luck had a decent picture. Just a little while back I saw I actually had a setting for close ups and it has been fun! I love close ups.

4. Just play around, take pictures in all settings...which setting good for when its dark outside. I have one setting (Auto Adjustment) that I use for detailed pictures and a simple setting (easy) for when I'm out and about just snapping picture.


Today I want to encourage you to go take some pictures now. Take a hike and just starting snapping pictures or grab your friend/ sibling and go on a photo-shoot. The next three Mondays I will introduce you to my favorite free photo programs!

The Month of March

Today, the beginning of a a whole new month and its this month is going to be a little different.

Yesterday I got done with my first Junior semester....except for one class. There were some problems like forgetting to send me my first 10 DVDs of the semester and then half way through my semester I noticed my book didn't match what he was saying....wrong book. Now I have everything but need to finish up quite a few things by the end of the month....before my next semester comes.

Sooooooo....with this said. I won't be on the blog. No journal updates on the weekend or how my goals are coming along (but I will still work on them!!!), no link ups, no worries about updating posts on social media, no reading 5+ blogs and commenting. I will miss it, I love doing it but it takes TIME.

 But it still won't be to silent here at the Blue Birdhouse. Every Monday I will talking about something new pertaining to photography. I have some modesty posts scheduled and quite a few friends that said they wanted to guest post....I will tell you about Patrick's birthday when it gets here.

I will still love reading your comments and keeping in touch....I just won't be on here regular. I also love chatting via email so write me at TheBlueBirdhouse {at} ymail {dot} com.

Oh....and  be on the look out The Blue Birdhouse is going to be renovating...

Some plans I have for while I am gone:

Read 3 book.....one for school, 2 for myself

Sew....lots of fixing and my new vintage Easter dress needs to be fitted.

Finish.....TEACHING SCIENCE...