Hi there -

I live in a small community in Maine along with my husband, Tom and Ruger, our 6 year old German Shorthaired Pointer.   I have three children and nine grandchildren.

For ten years, Tom and I traveled throughout the entire state of Maine each and every month Mystery Shopping.  It was an exciting and ‘fun’ job until it abruptly ended June 2005 when the company we were independent sub-contractors for, shut their doors with no warning.  We would travel into NH and VT when help was needed there.  With the gas prices the way they are today, this was probably a good thing in the long run, I would not want to travel the miles and pay the gas prices today.

We own a small 10 acre lot which is half woods and half field. Our home is our 'vacation' which we thoroughly enjoy and are fortunate to be able to watch the wildlife that graces us with their presence. It seems each year we have the opportunity to observe a different animal or bird. Summer of 2006, we had the pleasure of watching an American Bittern as it wandered around our yard looking for worms and such. I had never seen an American Bittern before and understand that they are an elusive bird, yet for a whole month it came every morning and evening and during the rainy times we saw it several times throughout the day.   Jan 2007, we were graced with a beautiful Barred Owl that perched on our deck post one evening.  Gosh, it was exciting to see this night hunter up close.

I love to take walks in the woods, snow shoe, photograph and video tape the wildlife, sitting outside by the open fire with a cup of tea, just listening to the sounds of nature, crocheting and some knitting.

Upon moving here I bought a video camera and taped everything moving. I have taped the whitetail deer, wild turkeys, coyotes, a weasel, porcupines, owls, hawks and all the birds that visit our bird feeders. This past year I was able to purchase a digital SLR and have had even more fun photographing everything in sight!

I came across a site on the web, where people like me can upload our photographs, artwork and other designs, select products to have them on and then be able to sell the items.  This is a great opportunity to make a little extra money and I decided to give it a shot.  The site, cafepress.com has all the information needed there and a forum with lots of support and help from fellow shop keepers. 

I thoroughly enjoy putting the photos into a software program and creating a design sized to different gift items like t-shirts, mugs, pillows, clocks, sticker, tiles etc. I then upload the finished design to the site where it is placed on the items for sale. It is all a learning process for me as I go and the challenge is time consuming but so much fun. Every time I open the Photoshop Elements 5 program I learn something new!  My site at cafepress is called My Backyard Guests

I also have a scouting camera I put out in the woods to photograph what might be passing through.  I have gotten all sorts of animals, porcupine, raccoon, squirrels, blue jays, a barred owl perched on a low branch, coyotes, whitetail fawns, does and bucks and even a bear and bobcat!  I would like to share some of these photos with you, they can be found at E-liz Photos

I do hope you enjoy browsing through my pages, looking at my photos and checking out my stores.  Please do drop in anytime and often, I will be updating every so often and adding or changing photos - Elizabeth