Purchasing Tamron 28-75MM F2.8

Now that I've learned a bit more about DSLR and lenses, I simply can't resist shopping for a better lens for my T3i. As I shoot mostly indoor and I love those beautiful portrait photos, I wanted a lens with longer zoom and faster aperture. I don't really like to use flash because even if I bounce it and I actually use a bounce card backward (I used the black part) to keep the flash from flashing directly or near the eyes, it's still pretty uncomfortable and I honestly do not want to subject my daughter to the discomfort. And so began my search for the near perfect camera. I actually went through a couple of lens before decided on it but I'll talk about that in another blog.

To make it short, I settled on Tamron 28-75mm f2.8. It has a constant f2.8, which is fantastic and one of the reason I didn't choose Sigma's 17-70mm. Plus, I like the extra 5mm and don't really need the wider range. The problem is that it seems that it's quite common to get a "bad" copy of the lens. I really dreaded that because Indonesia's return policy is non-existent. But the photos I saw in the Tamron 28-75mm's flickr group is gorgeous and the review of the lens is generally good. So I decided to give it a try.

The main complaint about the lens from what I've read is that front and back focus problem so I went to the camera store prepared with a focus test chart I downloaded from here: http://www.focustestchart.com/chart.html

I conducted the test without a tripod and without the perfect lighting, but I wasn't too concern about it. I'm not looking for a tack sharp enough but just tested to see that it can focus where it's supposed to focus.

The results seemed to be quite good:

I also took a couple of random test at different zoom range:

So all seemed satisfactory and I bought the lens and brought it home. I'm really loving it. I think I've found my near perfect lens.

*New Release* Just Another Romance

 It's Grab-a-Byte time again! The second week of every month is always really the busiest with GAB at Scrapbook Byte and Gotta Grab It at Gotta Pixel. The color palette for November's GAB is beautiful with darker colors  of red and blue

Just Another Romance is currently on sale for $1.00 each pack so it's $3.00 only for the whole bundle.

Elements
Paper
Worn Papers
Artistic Smears

 

Here's my layout with the kit.

Kelly Moore's Hobo Bag

This is very scrapbook related as one of the most important aspects of scrapbooking is photos. To take photos we need cameras and to carry camera around we need.....CAMERA BAG.

I just received Kelly Moore's Hobo Bag today and I'm so excited. Honestly it's so hard to bring a DSLR around. Most of the camera bags at camera stores here are quite manly and ugly. They are generally black and hard-case. I guessed for guys they would be ok as typically guys don't carry a bag so it won't be weird for them to wear a camera bag on their shoulder or carry a camera bag.

However, for us girls, we're already carrying bag for mobile phone, wallets, hairbrush, lipstick, tissues, and those are just the basic stuff. Imagine carrying a bag + a camera bag. I did try it and it did look quite silly. I felt that I'm being weighed down with so many gigantic bags. Plus I need to carry my daughter. So my daughter in the middle, a sling camera bag on the right and a sling bag on the left.

Getting a camera bag that doesn't look like a camera bag AND can hold all my bag's basic stuff is THE DREAM. So I did some googling and found a couple of designers/stores that sell camera bags that are more stylish and girly.

Kelly Moore 

Epiphanie

Jo Totes

Emera

Shootsac

Ona

Theit

Porteen

In the end I decided on Kelly Moore's Hobo other than I like the color and style, it's one of the smallest size bag I could find. I was actually very interested in Epiphanie's Lola bag too but in the end decided that it's too big. I'm happy that I chose the smaller size camera bag because it's easier to carry and fits me quite well. For everyday use I plan on just using it to carry my 600D with 18-55mm lens, 320EX flash unit, and the rest will be my basic bag stuff. So I don't need a too big bag for couple of lenses. I'm not very tall so I'm also concern that I'll look quite ridiculous with an oversize bag. I'll post a photo of me wearing it when I got the chance to use it.

From a quick first look the camera bag looks quite sturdy. It's quite soft (synthetic leathery soft) and not stiff like some Canon, etc. camera bag. The zipper is just a tad difficult to open at the "slope" part when I wearing the bag but it's not such a big deal.

Here are the photos of my Hobo bag.

Free Template

As I mentioned before, I planned to be more active in blogging and livened up my blog. One thing I plan on doing is giving out a free template every week. Currently, there will be no "fixed" day on when the template will be available as it depends on when I have time to make and upload them but there will definitely be 1 every week. The download link will only be available for 1 week (7 days) so please download them asap.

This is not a "fixed" rule of course. I welcome comments and suggestions and will probably revise according to situation.

So here's the first template freebie of the week. I hope you like it.

Click on the image preview to download.

New Grab Bag by Connie Prince

I'm so lucky to be guesting for Connie Prince in the month of October - November. She's really a talented designer and her kits are just so popular. I've had created several layouts that I simply love during my guest time with her.

Today she has released her 2nd Grab Bag for the month of November: Give Thanks. 5 full products for $5 only for 1 week. It's filled with tons of goodies. You can grab the kit at either of these stores of hers:

Scrapbook-Bytes

Gotta Pixel

Here is my layout, which I'm so happy with. I am kind of experimenting with photo blending,which I'm not exactly very good at yet. But I've watched a very helpful tutorial from the 5 Star Digital Scrapbooking website. They do have a lot of good video tutorials.

Blogging Plan

I have decided to blog more often to kind of share what I'm doing in the scrapbooking world, what new things I've learned, what kits I've worked with, basically anything scrapbook related. I will of course be giving more freebies too. I'm planning of releasing 1 template freebie every week. So please drop by often.

The first step of course, is the update my blog's design. After all, the previous design was created when I've only been scrapbooking for around 2 or 3 months. I've learned a lot since then. The kit I used for my blog design is Scraps of Ellay's newest kit: Hipsta Chic. It's really a cute and hip kit. I love the character doodle, as you see, I use one of them for my blog title. I think that one totally resemble me with the straight long hair. I love the color of the kit too, especially the purpleness of it. Take a closer look at the kit here:

 

Here's my layout with the kit. I especially chose the polka dot background because I think the polka-dottiness of it matched my daughter's clothes and definitely show her sweet and sassy side.

Exclusively at Scrapbook Bytes

For those of you who doesn't know yet, Sugary Fancy has closed her shop at Scrapmatters and is currently guesting at Scrapbook Byte (SBB). She has released exclusive kit and template for SBB. I especially love the alpha and word-art in the Being Myself kit. I like the cursive-handwriting style but still very eligible. The handwriting feels more personal and fun.

Being Myself available at Scrapbook Bytes

 

 And here is my layout.

 

Fave Sandal and Quickpage Freebie

Hi all,

Recently I bought a new sandal for my daughter and she simply fell in love with it. She refused to wear other sandals/shoes if she sees it. I find it quite funny and wanted to scrap about it, of course. I wanted to use a kit that has the color of the sandal and rummage through my stash. The kit I found was A+ Designs' She's All That. So I made my layout and somehow also created a quickpage freebie with it. So take a look at this gorgeous kit and the sandal layout I made, and don't forget to pick up the freebie at A+ Designs' Blog.

My Sandal Layout

 

 Quickpage Freebie

Click on the image preview to download at A+ Designs' Blog.

INSD Celebration

Happy International Scrapbooking Day everybody! I'm so excited. This is my first INSD. So many sales, events, and freebies everywhere. Here's a summary of what my designers are doing. And of course, there's a freebie from me to celebrate INSD.

Gotta Pixel

Tons of Mel's kits are on sale including her newest collaboration with Danimoy Designs.

Funky Playground Design

It's an excellent time to grab Kiki Halbert's new kits.

Scrapbook Byte

Scrappity-Doo-Dah

A variety of sales from different designers 40% - 75%. There are also a lot of $1 kit including Crystal's Creations new Acid Berry Pop.

Template Freebie

Click on the image preview to download my fabulous and free template. Pretty please with a cherry on top leave a comment if you do take it. Then I'll know that you like it and will create more freebies for you.

Crystal's Creations: Nautica

Hi all, I would like to introduce to you all Crystal's Creations kit: Nautica.

 

 My layout

Ok, the photos are from a long long long time ago but honestly I don't have too many beach-ocean photos. It's not that I don't love going to the beach, but it was a bit too much a nuisance to bring camera as all of us want to take a dip in the ocean and no one wants to watch all our stuff.

Here is a brag book set freebie that I created from the kit. Click on the image preview to download.

Tips for Increasing Journaling Visibility

As a new digital scrapbooker, I am forever searching for tips and tutorial to improve my layout. Here is one tips I find very useful for increasing journal visibility created by Misty Cato Design. This tips is created for Photoshop CS user but could be adjusted to different version. Click here for the tips: Tips for Increasing Journaling Visibility

Here is an example. Layout created with IvoryKeys Digital Dreams's kit What a Gem: March.

Before

After

Following the tips I added Color Burn, Stroke, and Outer Glow to the text. The tips could also be used for alphas. I added stroke and outer glow to the alpha. It definitely made my journal more readable.

 

 

Kiki Halbert Designs Opening at Funky Playground Designs

Kiki has opened her Kiki Halbert Designs line at Funky Playground Designs. Make sure you visit the store today for lots of grand opening sale and goodies. The whole store is 20% off this week, and if every 5th person who purchase her new kit: Periwinkle Sighs will get a Gift Certificate equivalent to their purchase at her store. Don't miss it! Visit her store now and you might be the lucky person.

 

My Layout:

 

New Kit by Crystal's Creations: Acid Berry Pop

Crystal's Creations has released a new kit to welcome summer: Acid Berry Pop. I especially loves the color and bubbles element in the kit. The color is not typical summery color (yellow, brown, orange, etc.) but takes on a more popsicle color but still it is very summery.

To celebrate new releases, we must of course, have a FREEBIE. Scroll down below to download the Pre-deco paper freebie.

 

My layout:

And now for the Freebie. Click on the image preview to download.