Last week was a pretty nice week for taking pictures! It just flew by and I missed a couple of days, but oh well!

I found this huge clover in a patch of weeds in my yard. It was like a gaint compared to the rest of them! Taken with my 50mm lens: f/1.4; 1/640 sec.; ISO-100.

Some of my beautiful lilacs. I wish you could smell them… their fragrance is heavenly! Taken with my 50mm lens: f/1.4; 1/125 sec.; ISO-100.

This is in the parking lot of Albertson’s! I was in the car waiting for Aaron when I noticed the gorgeous sunset. One of the lucky few times I had my camera with me! (No, I don’t carry my camera with me wherever I go! I wish I was one of those people, but seriously… life, with two little girls, happens and I don’t always remember to bring it!)

Taken with my 50mm lens: f/1.4; 1/400 sec.; ISO-100.

Saturday my sister, Misti, and I went to the park to shoot a new photography video for our website, OpenScrapbook. (It will be coming very soon! Keep your eyes out for it! ) There were geese everywhere! We saw this momma and her babies coming out of the pond. I caught this little guy shaking off the water!

Taken with my 50mm lens: f/2; 1/4000 sec.; ISO-100.

Sunday we drove out to Aaron’s parents house for Mother’s Day. On the way I noticed the beautiful sunset and the gorgeous light it was throwing everywhere! All the plants were just glowing! I asked Aaron if would mind stopping so I could snap a few pictures. (To many of you, that would be no big deal! But for me, it is! I never ask to stop anywhere to take pictures…I always plan trips to go shoot. But I’m trying to be more spontaneous so I don’t miss anymore great photos!)

Taken with my 50mm lens: f/1.4; 1/500 sec.; ISO-100.

The 365 Project is still going strong! Well, trying to at least! This has been such a fun thing to do this year, and I have to admit, it’s been a little tough. I’ve missed some days here and there but it’s ok. I went back and looked at my photos from the beginning of the year and I was amazed! I think I have already come so far in my photography! I can’t wait to see what the rest of the year brings!

I am going to be posting my 365 photos on Mondays now. I think it will be a lot easier to keep up with, for posting on my blog. So, here are last week’s photos!

April 26, 2010 – 116 { 365 } … Taken with my 50mm lens: f/1.4, 1/640 sec., ISO 100.

April 27, 2010 – 117 { 365 } … Taken with my 50mm lens with 2 extension tubes attached (36mm and 20mm): f/4.5, 1/40 sec., ISO 200.

April 28, 2010 – 118 { 365 } … Taken with my 50mm lens: f/1.4, 1/2500 sec., ISO 100.

May 1, 2010 – 121 { 365} … Taken with my 50mm lens: f/1.4, 1/1000 sec., ISO 100.

It’s been a rainy day again today and I got rained out in my backyard getting pictures! As I was running back into the house before my camera got soaked, I go past my burning bush and see this. It looks as if the taller branch is leaning over to protect the smaller one from the rain. It reminds me that we all need a little protection from our rainy days. For me today, it’s my vitamin c helping me while I’m sick.

Hmm… maybe I shouldn’t have been outside in the rain while I am sick!

Saturday we took our boat out for the first time this year. I’m so happy it’s getting be warm, I love being out on the boat! We went up to one of the reservoirs and had a barbecue. I shot some pictures in the gorgeous sunset light. I love how it throws a dreamy haze over everything!

If you’re participating in Project 365, check out my friend Tasra’s blog. She has a great Twitter Tuesday feature going on every week!

My lilacs are starting to come out of their “shells!” We’ve had some rain today and I thought I could maybe capture some water drops on them, but those lilac blossoms are sucking up all the water! They must be pretty thirsty! If you look closely, you can see some of the rain near the inside of the leaves. I’m getting really excited to see these bloom now!

My fellow I Heart Faces contributor, Miss B, opened a new class for her Souvenir Foto School six weeks ago and we were assigned to pick one plant and document it every week for six weeks. I chose my lilac bush and it’s been so much fun to see it grow! This is the last week of the class, but I think I’m going to continue on until these finish growing completely!

I haven’t been processing these too heavily, I have found I love them as natural as can be. I’ve just enhanced what’s already there! On this photo, I used a new action from a set I’m working on. They are based on my Photo Veils and they are turning out so neat! I can’t wait to share them with you all!

Here is my photo for today. My weeping cherry trees are blooming so I pulled out my extension tubes and got up close! I used all three tubes for this one, these buds are tiny let me tell you! It’s so amazing how much texture and detail are these things! Check out my friend Tasra’s website, she does a Twitter Tuesday feature of fellow 365′ers. There’s lots of great inspiration!

And for the fun news, scroll down…

I was featured on a great photography website this morning! My Twitter friend Travis runs Shutter Photo; it has so much wonderful information, reviews, inspiration, articles and more. I highly recommend his site if you’re into photography! Go check out my feature and stay and look around awhile! You will love it!

I think spring is the perfect time for macro shots! Everything is so tiny and new! I’ve included some before and after photos, I love to see start to finish results! It’s so interesting, so I thought I’d start posting some in case you guys like to see them too!

On the second photo, I used two of my Photo Veils: Northern Lights and Grass Stains. You can find my Photo Veils and lots of photography tutorials at my website OpenScrapbook!

Last week I saw green for the first time on my lilac bush. Today I see the buds opening! I have never watched nature doing its job like this before, and I totally love it! It’s so neat to see how much can happen week to week!

I am working on a tutorial on how I processed this photo. It will be up at OpenScrapbook in the near future so keep your eyes out!

I found this teeny, tiny waterdrop on my lilac buds today. It was the only one I could see. I wonder how it’s lasted in this strong wind we’ve been having.

So sorry for the lag in blog posts! I got a little overwhelmed with posting everyday on top of all my other responsibilities, so I’ve decided to post my 365 photos weekly instead of daily. I think that will free me up so I can create more great tutorials on products for you guys, as well as some more quality posts for my blog!

We are seeing some signs of spring! Our grass is starting to turn green and we’re getting some tiny buds on our trees and bushes! I can’t wait until my weeping cherry and lilac trees start to bloom! I love this time of year!