Thanks to the wonderful iPhone photo apps, I bring you today's glory of color.

I've recently moved website hosts which also means I have to move all my blog archives.  I've learned that there are no easy ways to archive and pull your weebly blog files from one host to the other, so I'm handling it by hand. Painful. Seems that the easiest thing to do is to copy pages into word, save then manually upload later.  Why? Because on my old host, there are no blog files with the text in them (seriously?) yes. 

Why continue with Weebly?  After exhausting as many avenues as I have and trying wordpress and blogger, I find that I still prefer the weebly interface.  By far the most user-friendly of any I've ever used. There aren't many pieces of "software", if you will, where I will continue using despite such a huge gap in functionality.  But, this is one of the very few cases. 

Still, I plead - Weebly, give us archive & restore & transfer of blog and site.  You offer your services on many hosts, you must have a product manager there considering how users needs will change over time, yes?  And if a user has reason to leave a host, and they've built an entire site on your drag & drop builder, should you also have considered an easy way to move such an easy to build site?  Seems like quite the oversight.  Especially when host tech supports don't know how to handle this type of issue well at all.  :(


So, if you'd be so kind, please hold while I make this transition.   

I took @TrophyCupcake’s Easter Decorating class last night and loved it. Never made meringue before and haven’t done any pipng, but since I have worked with clay and do a bit of painting and drawing, it felt fairly natural to me.    

The night began when we walked in the door and were offered a glass of prosecco (bubbly), some delicious foods and cupcakes of course!  Chocolate, Red Velvet and Chocolate Chip Mint. 

I loved dipping the marshmallow into the chocolate vat (also known as a french press glass).  Everyone had a grand time and was quite giddy about the dipping and flipping.  Jennifer Shea was a great instructor and so kind.  It was a lovely way to spend an evening. 

This is what the actual dipping looked like.  Above I'm dipping the first cupcake.  Below is the process of dipping the 2nd cupcake.  Notice how the woman in the background is looking on in awe?  We all did! Jaws open, staring in suspense. “Will it… won’t it… no it can’t … whoa, what! WOW! It survived!”  

Only 2 cupcakes failed out of about 30.  By fail, I mean the marshmallow slipped off and flopped into the chocolate.  And mind, I barely saved my 2nd cupcake. Had to slide it around a bit.  Boy they sure were tasty though!

I didn't know how happy I'd be to get through February, but I'm so... well ... relieved. While March in Western Washington is pretty wacky, the signs of spring often reveal themselves all throughout the land.  We get sunny beautiful days like the photo on the far right taken on March 5th.  And, we get snow (ridiculous) like we did earlier this week.   

So I decided to go at the Photo A Day challenge that @FatMumSlim is hosting Instead of waiting until the end of the month to showcase the photos on my blog, I'm sharing them with you in 5 day segments.  Mind, I'm sharing them daily on the :: Calm Under Tension :: Facebook Page and also on my Pinterest Board MarchPhotoADay.   

One thing I notice that I've begun to do with composing these photos is that I take a bigger picture with my normal iPhone camera, then crop it with Typo-Insta or PicFX.  Then, as @Fatmumslim suggested, I bought PicFrame to play around with layouts and frames to show before/after.  I am also really working on having a single subject and very clear focus on the object and minimizing the background distractions.  These apps have made it possible for me to do that.  Now I find myself just wanting to go out at compose more photos, then play with the apps and see what I can create.  

Here's something else to consider.  Have you noticed how many businesses, designers, and brands are adopting the look and feel of instagram (and the aforementioned) type photo results?  No?  Well, look at what Gudrun Sjoden, colorful and delightful Swedish fashion designer has done with her Blue Shanghai collection.  Pretty neat, huh? 

In January after I posted about my paper, I got another artist's paper in return to "art up".  This one is my mom's.  She used watercolor pencils to create a neat missoni zig-zag style effect.  As soon as I saw it, I knew it was an oak leaf.  

I don't have any formal training on how to use oil pastels or how to give something depth.  So, I just played with blues like I've seen other artists do.  When I thought it was too bright, I softened it with grey, black, white or a olive green.  I used bright kelly green and lime green and white to create accents of light.  Then, I added the words that kept running through my head and made up a poem about oak leaves and thought of how the strength of the oak can help my mom continue her success as an artist. 

I'm very pleased with the results. I like the look of oil pastels over watercolor pencils.  I'm enjoying this challenge.  It's inspiring me to break my own "can't" rules and just dig in and try regardless of whether the outcome will be good or even successful.  Quite freeing.  'Bout time I relaxed and let myself create. 

On February 2nd, through the joys of a friend of a friend's post on facebook I saw Teesha Moore's post about this February Photo A Day challenge hosted by @Fatmumslim, an Australian blogger who takes the most interesting photos.  I was intrigued and decided to play.  I needed a bit of a challenge to inspire my "quick and dirty" photography skills as I prepare for teaching my Quick & Dirty Photography workshop.  

For the FEBphotoaday challenge, 1,314 people signed up.  That's right, one blogger has inspired almost 1500 people to take one picture a day.  How amazing is that?!  And I'm half way round and right side up ;) the world from her. 

Little did I know that this challenge would teach me how to turn the mundane into the artistic, the ordinary into extraordinary. Also, prefer to show off tidbits that come across artistic than to show you a full image of my front door.  For example, for 2-9, the theme was, "Front Door".  Instead of showing off my front door, I chose to show you the front door of a really neat salvage store in Portland, OR called The Rebuilding Center.  

Normally, I wouldn't have thought folks would find interest in it, but if you enjoy Grimm (episode: Of Mouse and Man)  and you've actually scoured the corners of this store like I have, you'd like knowing that the entrance to the place is way artistic and an example of using salvaged materials to create art.  

Below is my collection of photos for February's challenge.  As I went through each day of the month of February, I pinned them to my FebPhotoADay2012 Pinterest board and on the :: Calm Under Tension :: Facebook page.  I have played with Typo-Insta before, but this really got me working through the app.  I learned lots of ways that I do and don't like pictures edited. I love having text on a photo, and I found that I can capture and create art on the fly with ease!  I've enjoyed the challenge and playing with Typo-Insta on my phone so much that I'll play again in March.    Won't you join me and expand your skills?