More Photo Fun

I was bored a few weeks ago and ended up working on this picture. It's from when my fam, Kevin, and I went to Silver Dollar City in May 2007. We had so much fun!

Out on the town

Today my mom and I hit the town. We started out by meeting my dad at The Corner Cafe, a local diner on *in big epic voice* THE Historical Route 66! It was a cute little place that was bustling with activity. They had the most delicious club sandwich.

After lunch we went to some area thrift stores. At the first one I got a vintage tree topper and a sewing box, both for half price.

(This is not a picture of mine, but looks almost just like it.)

Then we hit the jackpot of all jackpots...it was book-a-palozza! By that I mean we got like 22 books for under $21. The majority of the books are quilting books that my mom likes, some are about building your own home (which we're going to do soon!), and I got Christopher Reeves' autobiography and a Lawrence Welk autobiography that is autographed by Tom Netherton. I know that sounds like a lot, but really the sale price on just one of the quilting books is $21.95. So mom and I are very proud of our thrift store treasures!

Christmas

I hope everyone had a great Christmas! My family got up, opened presents, then we played Scene It for most of the rest of the day. (It was one of my sister's gifts).

So I guess I am the only one in my family who likes to wrap presents so I was talked into wrapping all the presents except the ones going to me. I decided that this year I would only use paper that has been used before... hey if I'm doing all that wrapping then I can do it however I want to....right?!? It ended up being like a wrapping adventure. I know, I know...I'm a nerd. Anyway, when my mom started wrapping my presents I told her that I love unwrapping so please don't use many gift bags.

Long story, short to say that she wrapped one of my presents like this...




















All reused paper which I opened to find another wrapped box. I opened that to revile yet another wrapped box. I opened that to see another wrapped box...Jk it was a CD inside. However mom said that there would have been a fourth box but she couldn't find one :) It was so much fun and so cool that mom went to all that work for me because I told her I liked to unwrap presents. So I pretty much have the coolest mom in the world.

BTW is it possible to have Scene It withdraws in only one day since my sis is gone?? Anyway...wow I really strayed off topic. Christmas...it was fun...lots of quality family time happened. I think that was the point of this message. I think...

A new apron for mom and a new purse for me....

Ok...so a few weeks ago I mentioned that I had made my mom a Christmas present...and I can now say what it is! I made her an apron using this site. Now that it's after Christmas I can post a picture of it. I got my mom to model it but I'm not allowed to actually show her :) There are cute little pockets on it but I didn't really get a good picture of them...if you follow the link to the tutorial it gives close-ups of what they look like.

So while buying fabric for the apron I had no idea how much to buy, so I got a yard...leaving me with more then half a yard and no idea what to do with it. Then I ran across a page I had bookmarked more then a year ago. It was this tutorial on craftster for a messenger bag. After mentioning that I had no fabric to use for the lining, Mary Ann sent me this adorable fabric to use along with a cute little card.

Today I put all my fabric to use, along with a zipper, overall fastener, and two buttons I found around the house...and I made this....

I even took the time to make sure that the picture of the kids ended up front and center! I love it and I'm so proud of myself and how well it came out! :)

Merry Christmas...

So I got the idea while I was laying in bed Sunday night that my sister, my parents, and I should take a family picture while we're all in the same town. Here's what happens when a crazy family like mine tries to take a portrait...




















Ok...so our original intent was to take a photo that looks similar to one of our early family portraits. (We're so cute!)




















The first one is our Christmas attire and the second is dressy.




















Merry Christmas from my crazy family to you!

A Silver Dollar City Christmas...Part 3

Ok so once it got dark at Silver Dollar City the park got even more beautiful and magical then before. As I was walking around all I wanted to do was capture the magic on camera. So here are my attempts. They aren't perfect but I will show you what I did to improve them.

When trying to photograph Christmas lights there are a few things to remember. The flash is going to ruin it. I'm serious...

The first photo was taken using flash, the second was without a flash.

The colors are much more brilliant in the second photo because the photo allowed more of the surrounding light to come in. The problem with the second photo is camera shake. The way to avoid that is a tripod. However most of us don't carry a tripod strapped on our back at all times....I know I don't :) In order to get the effect of using a tripod find any steady object...a fence post, trash can lid, table, etc. and rest your camera on it while still holding on to it to take the picture.

With both sets the first pic was taken just holding the camera; for the second I used a fence post to keep my camera steady.

These pictures took 15-20 seconds each to take in order to allow enough light to get into the camera. Because of the long period of time anything that is moving in the camera view ends up blurred. That is why people look a little ghostly. (That can be used to your benefit at times...but that is a whole other story and in fact a project I did for photography II class). I hope my information and tips are helpful to you and don't come too late to take some great photos during this holiday season.

A Silver Dollar City Christmas...Part 2

If you missed part one...I took a trip to Silver Dollar City with my parents last Friday and I'm writing a kind of photo journal on here about the trip and will include some photo tips on Christmas lights.




















You can't go to SDC without taking the classic picture in front of the giant sign...whether it's your first or more like the 70th time to be there. So after hanging out with Santa I sat down with my parents to listen to the Cajun Connection (a zydeco style band including an accordionist, piano player, drummer, bass player, guitar player, two dancers, and Washboard Leo...he really plays a washboard!).

Then I took off to ride some roller coasters...and left my camera with my parents. (I'm kicking myself for that because there was the most beautiful sunset behind one the coasters and was a picture perfect moment). *kicking myself*

Then the festivities started up with the lighting of the 5-story Christmas tree in the town square. It's huge. It's beautiful. And the lights on the tree change color and pattern to the music as well as all the other lights in the square.

Ok...my next post will seriously include the photo tips. I just had to show off my other photos first :)

A Silver Dollar City Christmas

My parents and I made our annual Christmas trip to Branson (Silver Dollar City in particular) this weekend. It seems like we went just in time. We got there on Friday, spent the day at SDC, then spent the night at my grandma's in Arkansas. On Saturday when we left to come back home it was 62 degrees and it dropped 18 degrees in about 10 minutes. Anyway, I took a lot of photos at SDC that I want to share and I also have a few photo tips to share on taking pictures of Christmas lights. So here goes...this could take a few posts.

As soon as we got into the park at SDC we stopped to listen to some singers and they said that there were free carriage rides. So we of course wanted to ride! While we were waiting to get on the horse/mule/thing stuck it's tongue out at me :)

My mom got kind of hidden behind me in the pic. I was so excited...I got to ride up front with the driver :) Then I went and found me a new boyfriend, but he didn't look to interested.

So I gave up on him and went to hang out with the big guy himself...Santa.

To be continued...

Mini-scrapbook

Earlier this week I made a mini scrapbook (called a meandering book) using a pattern from the 2005 Winter edition of Cloth, Paper, Scissors. Cindy was so nice to send me the pattern when I commented about how cute her meandering books are and how I wanted to make one myself. At first I couldn't decide on a theme and finally settled on love. I'm please with my finished book; it's not perfect, but for a first try I think it turned out good. Now I'm going to make a little envolpe to put it in because the book folds up to a 2 1/2 by 2 1/2 inch square.

Snowman love...

Finding homes for the snowmen...and women...

This afternoon mom and I hit the local flea market and we found some adorable little snowpeople that need a home. So we brought home a snow couple who are believed to be candle holders, not totally for sure on that. We also got a cute snowman bank. After the 20% off special the three were only a little over $3.


I had already put the snowmen with the rest of our collection (I'll have a picture later) then I decided to take a picture of the three we got today. I took the first picture without realizing that the girl snowperson was turned away. Once I uploaded the pictures I saw that she looked flirty...so that picture is the keeper :)

New Sites

I've noticed some new blogs lately that I wanted to share with everyone. The first is by Mary Ann called indie-pendence. Every few days she writes an article showcasing an independent designer. It's a really neat site and it's fun to see what artists are out there waiting to be discovered.

The second blog I want to point out is very new and is...my dad's. He saw how much fun I was having with my blog and wanted to have one himself. My dad is a fan of Branson and classic country music (that's where I get it from). So his blog is entitled "Why are they not in Branson..." For each post he chooses a someone who is a "big name" in classic country, writes some about the person, and why he thinks they would be a perfect candidate to have their own theater in Branson. I had to help me dad figure out the whole blogging thing and trust me it was a long process *cough* I mean lots of fun ;)

I hope you check out both of these sites and enjoy them as I have.

Goodie Bag

I fell in love with this little bag tutorial from Fiona last week. I just had to make one for myself. So when I got up yesterday I started right in. I did make one change to the bag...I left out the pvc. My bag isn't to hold make-up so I really have no need to make it spill proof. I made my bag using fabric that Kevin's grandmother gave me a while back. The outside fabric is French Fryzz brand vintage fabric. I don't know much about the brand except most of the French Fryzz fabric was printed on potato sack like fabric. I googled the brand and couldn't find this fabric so I'm wondering if it was printed in limited supply. *shrug* If you know anything about this brand please let me know because I would love to learn more about it.














This bag was pretty easy to make considering this was only my second attempt at a zipper. I plan on making another bag soon and will post pictures of each step. Hope you like my new little goodie bag.

Photo tutorial

As promised here is the tutorial on photo editing…turning a photo B&W or sepia while leaving one object in color. I did my editing in Paint.NET because I don’t have Photoshop on my laptop. Paint.NET is a free editing program that can be downloaded to your computer. I did learn these techniques using Photoshop and they can be used on any program that has the capability to edit multiple layers. I used the Print Screen option on my keyboard in order to have step by step pictures to show.

First you must choose a photo and open it in your program. I choose a photo that is a favorite of mine. Not only is it of my Kevo, but he’s wearing the shirt that I really like.
















Ok, once your photo is open make a duplicate layer.

















You will want to change the top layer to either B&W, sepia, or put some other effect on it.
















Once the effect is on the top layer you will only see the original colors in the toolbox at the lower right hand side of the screen.

















In order to bring back the original colors you must choose the eraser icon in the left hand toolbox, choose a brush size, and begin to erase the areas you want to be in color.

















Use a larger brush size for the large middle areas and gradually go to a smaller size as you get near the small corners and edges. Zooming in helps for more accurate erasing.
















Tada…a neat-o looking photo, but you’re not finished just yet. You are still left with two layers and while that’s ok in the editing program it isn’t okay anywhere else. So select the flatten button in the image drop down list.

















Once the image is flattened into one layer you are done. Just save the photo (preferably under a new name so you still have the original) and show it off to all your friends!

Stay tuned...

I have had several people ask me lately how to edit pictures leaving one/several objects in color and the rest of the photo in B&W/sepia. I am working on a tutorial to show just how to do that. I regret to say that it will take a little longer then I thought to get it on here because my power cable went out today for my laptop :( I will get it on here as soon as possible.


An example...

If a picture is worth a thousand words...

...then here's fifteen thousand for ya'.


I got this from Mary Ann. The rules are 1. you must use a picture to answer each question. 2. the picture must be found by doing a Google image search. 3. the image has to be found on the first page of results from the search. So here goes...

Age on next birthday:




The twenty-one, not the elephants :)









A place you'd like to visit:

All the way down Route 66 baby

One favorite place:

A favorite object:









The two cameras I own







My favorite food:





Mmm...cherry cheesecake, especially mom's







Favorite color:













Favorite animal:




I used to want to be an orca trainer for sea world, who would have thought?!?








Name of first pet:









Where I live:






"Ooooooklahoma" doesn't that make you want to break out in to song?!?









First grade teacher's name:


















My middle name:











A bad habit:





I grew up not having a television and now I can't pull myself away from it









College major:

No...that man is not my major. It's mass communication.

My favorite holiday: