A Few Changes

Changes to my little space on the internet have been a long time coming.

I started WithInMyLens over two and a half years ago and from the beginning I tried to have my blog and brand self-titled, but with a name like mine and the internet this many years into existence, it just wasn’t tangible. At that point in my life, I hadn’t thought at all what it would be like to change my brand when I got married because all of that still seemed so far away. But last year, a friend gifted me with a URL that was my first name with Kevin’s last. We weren’t engaged at the time, but it must have been obvious. So I held onto the URL with hopes of being able to use it someday soon.

JacquelineReape.com stayed vacant until earlier this year when Kevin proposed. Then, he helped me turn it into a countdown until the wedding. I thought it was absolutely wonderful but with growing blog goals and the wedding date drawing near, I decided that using it sooner might be the most efficient way to start my tiny business online. I went back and forth between creating a whole new website without my name and using this one but it just didn’t seem practical for me to buy and (have Kevin) create a whole new website just for formality’s sake. Using this URL and a private server will allow me more flexibility and less restrictions, as well as being easier to locate on the internet. All good things when trying to start an online business!

Over the past two and a half years, I have thoroughly enjoyed everything about this space. I have shared everything from the ins and outs of college living to photography to exciting events that were happening in my life. From the first post, I promised myself that I would be real and honest so that this would be a place for me to look back and remember the things that have made me completely happy. I plan on continuing to blog about similar things, but I’m also determined to be step it up and bring my passion to the next level. I am currently working on e-courses, more tutorials and even some products that will be available down the road. My new blog will make it easier to create and share all of that with you, and I am very excited about that. More information on when it will all be available will be coming soon!

If you currently keep up with my posts or would like to start, I would love for you to check out JacquelineReape.com and sign up for my emails by clicking here (when my e-course and products launch, those that receive my emails will get bonuses and special offers!).

Thank you so much for all of the love and support.
Jacqueline

Get Messy | 016

Hello, Get Messy Thursday! I am excited to be posting again after a little lull the past couple weeks. Life has been busy but exciting as there are some changes that are coming to this blog, but for right now they are all still behind the scenes. With my new adventure that is bible journaling, I have been listening to art journaling podcasts, using new supplies and trying techniques that I had never even dreamed of before!

This first page is one that came up by accident. I was trying to get a technique figured out where you mix stamps and spray inks with water to make them spread. I kind of feel like it symbolizes some kind of renewed love for this craft, since it goes from the dark colors to the yellow. I was getting kind of bogged down by posting about my art every week, but now I already have some pages that are ready to go so that I am prepared as the holidays get closer.

For the second page, I used the Tim Holtz Inks to stamp a circle in three different colors around the page. Then I sprayed water on the whole page and then dryed it with a hair dryer. I might have not been wasn’t patient enough and stamped the “cherish each day” stamp a little too early because it turned out a bit unreadable. OH WELL, the background is the bomb.

Finally, I used a stencil to pattern the background in three different colors and then I used the stencil alpha by Dear Lizzy to write the word ‘joy’. I spritz the whole thing down to get the color to spread a little. I finished it up by handwriting one of my favorite verses. I totally love how this one turned out.

Get Messy is an art journal challenge where a gang of crafty vixens are sharing art journal pages we have created to practice our skills and push past our creative limits with hopes to inspire. We share our pages without restraint every week, and once a month we create around a prompt. Go check out these crazy talented ladies who are creating pages who each have a unique perspective and style. We will be sharing our work around social media so follow the hashtag #getmessyartjournal.

Get Messy | 015

Happy get messy day. Last week, I had some pages ready to go right before I remembered that we had a prompt to do, so I had to set this one aside for this week.
I had a hard time deciding if I was finished with this one or not. I was afraid of “ruining” it with words or anything that might make it look too busy or overwhelming. So in the end, simplicity always wins for me.
I’ve really loved this quote (“Once she stopped rushing through life, she was amazed at how much more life she had time for”) for a long time. I tend to be one of those people who likes being busy all of the time, but I am learning about priorities and when I need to slow down.

Get Messy is an art journal challenge where a gang of crafty vixens are sharing art journal pages we have created to practice our skills and push past our creative limits with hopes to inspire. We share our pages without restraint every week, and once a month we create around a prompt. Go check out these crazy talented ladies who are creating pages who each have a unique perspective and style. We will be sharing our work around social media so follow the hashtag #getmessyartjournal.

Get Messy | 014

This month our prompt was to journal about things that we are thankful for. I’ll be honest, my first attempt turned out to be a pretty sorry looking page, but I have already done many collages of things that I am thankful for in the past, including this one for get messy so I decided to forgo that idea. As I was thinking about what my new page would look like, I decided to make one drawing that would encompass three different things I am thankful for: sunshine, travel, and community. While sunshine and travel might be fairly distinct on this page, I used the sharpie to make the inner details combine and work together to create the whole of the design, exemplifying community. This community being the people around me, my family, church, friends, Kevin – together we are all a community and I am learning how valuable a solid one is.

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Get Messy is an art journal challenge where a gang of crafty vixens are sharing art journal pages we have created to practice our skills and push past our creative limits with hopes to inspire. We share our pages without restraint every week, and once a month we create around a prompt. Go check out these crazy talented ladies who are creating pages who each have a unique perspective and style. We will be sharing our work around social media so follow the hashtag #getmessyartjournal.

Traveling with Instax

I’ve been considering the many positives of having my instax camera ever since I got it and especially since Hawaii, which was the first time that I traveled with it. Before I left I had done a ton of research on the camera  but I didn’t really find tips and tricks that I was looking for to take my instax photos to the next level. I’ll be honest, this camera takes a lot of practice to get used to (especially with the permanent flash) but I think that it is one that is really fun and has a good outcome if the photographer knows how to use it. When I went on vacation there were a few things that I had to think about while carrying it on the plane such as needing a bit of extra space and asking to have it (and extra film) checked through security by hand, but other than those minor details, I can’t really think of any negatives.

So whether you’re traveling with instax or just picking up this camera for the first time, here are some tips and tricks to keep in mind.

• Make sure the instax photo comes out well before shooting the next one. I think this was one of my biggest mistakes. With film that costs ~$1 / shot, it’s a real bummer when shots don’t come out as you had imagined. This happened to me when we were at Diamond Head and now I have no instax from it because I just quickly put them into my bag to develop.
  • Trick: instead of throwing these shots away, I used the over-exposed shots as supplements to my minibook by just writing on them with a non-smearable marker.
• Prevent exposure to light as soon as the photo comes out by shielding the photo with your hand. A few of my photos have not fully developed or had reddening near the edges and I have read that sun exposure can be the problem – better to be safe than sorry!
• Don’t try going macro unless you purchase a special attachment, the image will come out blurry  e v e r y  time. Shooting 2-4 feet from your subject will have the best results.
• Aim the camera slightly lower so that your subject will be centered, since the viewfinder does not align perfectly.
• Make sure that you are adjusting the setting on the top of your camera based on the amount of light in the photo. Ignoring this toggle can quickly take a good image to a useless one. Once you get the hang of it, you could try play around with to to purposefully over or under expose, though it is fairly complicated with this camera.
• Shooting right at the sun or something reflecting the sun will result in a black spot in the photo.
• Use the FIFO (First In First Out) method for your film. This means that the first film you purchased should be the first film that you use.
• This should be a no brainer – keep your camera clean and dry. This meant that I had to forgo taking my camera to the beach on windy days.
  • Trick: I bought a wristlet strap for mine – best accessory purchase ever. I didn’t have to worry about setting the camera down or little hands dropping it.
• Be willing and ready for people to comment on your “alien” camera. Ever since getting my DSLR, I have had MANY people ask if I could take their group picture. I think people just see the size of the camera and assume that I can take photographs. Well, this brought out a whole new ball game! I had tons of people asking questions and telling me how cool or how hipster I was. HA!
• Since they print out instantly, they are perfect if you are scrapbooking or making a travel journal as you go.
• If having another camera to carry around isn’t really your cup of tea, try out this awesome new printer that prints instax from your phone!

I have quickly found this camera to be irreplaceable when looking for quick prints and fun additions to any travel journal or scrapbook. Here are some more links if you are interested in reading more of my initial thoughts or about my travel journal.

Get Messy | 013

Happy get messy day, friends! I am feeling so inspired this week both by the beautiful weather here in the midwest this week and also by the gorgeous creations that my other Get Messy friends are posting.After our amazing photographer gave us our engagement photo gallery this past weekend, I decided to print a few out to use for this week’s pages. I have been trying to add new elements to my pages so when I found some little wood veneer hearts and arrows for a steal at hobby lobby, I just had to buy them and use them all up. I painted them gold and then added a faux wood look to the left-hand page to tie them together.

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Get Messy is an art journal challenge where a gang of crafty vixens are sharing art journal pages we have created to practice our skills and push past our creative limits with hopes to inspire. We share our pages without restraint every week, and once a month we create around a prompt. Go check out these crazy talented ladies who are creating pages who each have a unique perspective and style. We will be sharing our work around social media so follow the hashtag #getmessyartjournal.

Get Messy | 012

This past week, I kept a new small moleskine in my pocket. This allowed me to doodle and write during lunch and any other time that an idea came to mind.

Here are a few of my doodles from this week:

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Get Messy is an art journal challenge where a gang of crafty vixens are sharing art journal pages we have created to practice our skills and push past our creative limits with hopes to inspire. We share our pages without restraint every week, and once a month we create around a prompt. Go check out these crazy talented ladies who are creating pages who each have a unique perspective and style. We will be sharing our work around social media so follow the hashtag #getmessyartjournal.

Get Messy | 011

It’s amazing to me that I can think about this project for almost a week with no good ideas or inspiration and then it just hits me out of the blue on Wednesday nights. (And thank goodness it does, too!) I found this fall picture in one of the thousand wedding brochures that I have been handed in the past 5 months. It says, “Dear fall, please take me away. Wrap me in sweaters. Let the changing leaves fall and chai tea all day long.” I am quite pleased with the simplicity of this one. You should know that I am a huge greeting card hoarder. While looking at a stack of them, I got the idea to cut out pictures from those cards. I just know that this is going to be one of my favorite up-cycling trends because it’s sentimental and gives me something to do with my lovely card pile.
This page was made because someone told me that I am an artist. I’ve always thought of myself with separate titles (photographer, blogger, painter, art journaler) but never by this one. To me “artist” is a highly connotated word that to me feels like something to big or strong to describe what I do in this space.

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Get Messy is an art journal challenge where a gang of crafty vixens are sharing art journal pages we have created to practice our skills and push past our creative limits with hopes to inspire. We share our pages without restraint every week, and once a month we create around a prompt. Go check out these crazy talented ladies who are creating pages who each have a unique perspective and style. We will be sharing our work around social media so follow the hashtag #getmessyartjournal.

Glimpses of Fall

I’m seeing more and more of autumn showing up on my morning walks. While I’m super happy about it, I’m also bummed that the farther into the year we get, the closer we come to fewer nice days, and therefore, less walks. My walks normally consist of about three miles which is just enough time to listen to one of Elise’s podcasts and get my own ideas floating around. While I am walking for exercise, I like to enjoy myself and allow stops when I see anything worth photographing or think of anything worth writing down. The more in tune to nature and the beauty of my surroundings, the more I enjoy these sweet mornings.

Weekend Wrap Up

I am thankful for the cardinals, post-season games, and come back wins.

I am thankful for cold nights and lots of covers.

I am thankful for good food and even better company.

I am thankful for pictures of flowers during his walks.

I am thankful for fall smelling candles.

I am thankful for family (both mine and his).

I am thankful for cameras and documenting life.I am thankful for dates to the antique store with my roomie.

I am thankful for fuzzy new sweaters.

I am thankful for wedding planning and registry creating.

I am thankful for worship singing.

And, as always, I’m thankful that you’re here reading these words.

I hope you have a wonderful week.