Friday, May 28, 2010

Jessica Sprague's 1st Photoshop Friday Tutorial...


This is a layout that I did from Jessica Sprague's first Photoshop Friday Tutorial. She taught me how to use the levels adjustment layer along with clipping a stroked outline to create the orange lined box that goes around the focal photos and the title. I did already know how to do this a different way, but she showed a new way to me. Pretty cool for a buck, not to mention the template.
Supplies used:
Used Jessica Sprague's 1st Photoshop Friday Tutorial and template
Papers used Crystal's Sweet SummerTime stripe no. 1
Circle Lables by Crystal W's Mini Labels
Flowers by Kitschy Vintage Flowers
NRJ Acrylic Overlay
Fonts used: Flouxitine, Sweet Blur, and Trajan Pro

The weather is finally starting to look a little more promising, and I hope to get out there and takes some photos. Tomorrow we are going to take the girls to the Strawberry Festival, so I am sure there will be plenty of great opportunities for cute shots.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Template



This is a template designed by Erin's Dreams called Happy Days that I was able to download for free from
www.shutterfly.typepad.com/digiscrap/

I have spent a good part of this evening trying to organize my digi supplies on my laptop! Wow, this is taking forever!!! So, I thought I would try out a page that all I had to do was insert some text and a photo. SO EASY!!!!

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Gotta go check out these cute little frames....


If you get a chance check out these cute frames and enter yourself to win a set at
http://paisleepress.blogspot.com/2010/05/introducing-gallery-frames-giveaway.html .
Not to mention, the scrapbook pages here from her creative team are super cute and filling me with inspiration to get back to some scrapping.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Shot of the Day...



Here is yet another of my oldest daughter Kya. Those teeth of hers crack me up, funny how we morph into big people...starting with teeth it seems. I had to use a picture from the other day since my memmory card all of a sudden wasn't working. Strange. So, I still haven't bought a new one. I might have to take a trip to the store tonight.

This Wednesday at that Flicker group I joined last week
http://www.flickr.com/groups/1165599@N25/
they will be showing pictures of skylines. If anybody is interested you should come check it out and show off some of your handy work. I figure that anything that gets me out there shooting is a good thing, as Martha would say.

Friday, May 21, 2010

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Taking a new class...

I am really excited! Today I signed up for a photography class taught by Tracy Clark of Big Picture Scrapbooking called Picture Summer. So, hopefully I will improve on my new favorite hobby! I also signed up for Tracy Tillman's Template class taught over at Renee Pearson's website.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Photo Challenge...


I was over at Shutter Sisters reading through the comments posted for todays giveaway and came across this flicker group. They post pictures each week for a year and share. I think I am going to try it! Each Wednesday they post and this weeks challenge is the color black. I better get busy!!!

http://www.flickr.com/groups/1165599@N25/

Here is what I added to this group. I know it is pretty grainy, but I think the noise adds to the picture.

Shot of the Day...



Here are todays shots, funny thing about them is they were taken maybe 15 minutes apart from each other. The weeds were taken at sunset with a very cloudy sky and my daughter in the rain outside of my car. I took some other shots of the weeds that were metered correctly, but I actually liked the overexposed one the best. I think it had a different look to it. The one of my daughter was inspired by DeeLeeO over at Jessica Sprague.com. Here is a link to her picture...

www.jessicasprague.com/cpg/displayimage.php?album=355&pos=0

I did a very teeny tiny bit of research on taking photos when it is cloudy out. The general consenses was that it is great for portraits, since it softens the hard shadows. As well as good for landscape, but that a tripod might be necessary since the shutter speed will need to be adjusted to allow more light for the photo. Or you could also always increase ISO or use a bigger f/stop and make a more shallow depth of field. (smaller f/stop number)

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Shot of the Day...



Bubbles and a toddler, not much better!

So, I was flipping through some of my photos and I noticed that when I do the vingette, it takes away some of the sharpness on the focal point (usually the eyes). I think I am going to have to find a different way to add that depth to my photos, today I just used the burn tool in PSE7. However, in this photoshop book I have been reading this is the least desirable way to vingette. I will post later my findings.

Monday, May 17, 2010

Shot of the Day...




Not really the most exciting picture, but I liked the sun shining through this plant. I took this picture in the morning and shot from under my plant to see what I would get. It reminds me of spring, seeing the sun hit the blades of grass.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Holy Cow....

Holy cow! What a day!!!! So, we have adopted a puppy and today was the day she got to come home from being spayed. When I picked her up there were strict instructions not to let the dog go up and down stairs, or be active. Okay, no problem. Wrong...

We make a quick stop at the Walgreens, so I can pick up one of the Nettie Pots for my cold before picking the oldest from school. As we walk past the darn bubbles, my 2 year throws the fit of all fits in the middle of the store. I am bright red, people are staring, she is screaming,crying, and flinging about. Straight to the back of the store I drag her along to the corner where I put that little nose of hers. It takes about 15 seconds before she calms down and I take a deep breath. I really should scrap a page about this little fit of hers.

On the way home from picking up Kya, my youngest started to complain about her tummy hurting, hmmm...she sorta had the throw up look about her too. Okay, I can handle this. I am driving really careful and keep an eye on her via my rear view mirror. Finally, we make it home...throw up free. I unload her first and she heads into the garage. Perfect, now I can grab our poor pup out of the back of the car and go inside. Nope, I open the back of the SUV and as I go to grab Roxy(the pup) I hear Isa make the throw up cry. So, like a total rookie, I run to my daughter and the dog hops out of the car on her own and yelps out in pain. Then to make it even better she is now limping. Isa doesn't throw up, so that is good...I guess.

I think that maybe Isa has to go to the bathroom, so into the house we go. Get her on the potty and she totally starts to puke all over the place. The puppy is trying to lick it up, I am trying to be the good Mommy and be there for her, but I keep gagging myself, and I am screaming at my oldest to grab a towel. The towel is important since we have these wood floors in the bathroom with lots of grooves, yes...so I did have to use a toothpick later to clean to the best of my capabilities.

Oh, and I forgot to mention. I am running a fever myself, a chest cold, a possible sinus infection, have pink eye starting, and feel like absolute doggie doo! The baby however, recovered just fine. She went straight to playing in the tub and hasn't had any issues since. I think that I gave her too much to drink and then the Starbuck's kids sized hot cocoa pushed her tummy past it's limits.

So, now I am sitting here with a SLIT for an eye opening, since I have full blown pink eye, typing on my blog. Too funny. I almost feel like posting a picture of how pretty I look right now, but then I would have nobody return here ever again!!!! :) Just felt like sharing my craptacular day. Tomorrow HAS to be better!

PS the pup seems to be doing okay!

PPS or is it PSS...anyhow, I just walked past Kya's bedroom and her and the puppy are asleep next to each other on the floor...too cute. This makes me smile and helps me stop dwelling on such a fabulous day.

Here is the puppy we call Roxy...

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Shot of the Day...



Here is a neat shot that I took on my daughter's field trip to Old Shasta in a general store from the late 1800's. Natural light was pouring into this building and I couldn't resist. Yes, I was the crazy mom crouched down by some old barrels taking pictures. I did have to use a very high ISO for this shot. I did one in the warm colors and the same photo again in black and white.

Friday, May 7, 2010

Cranking up the ISO...


Here are a couple of pictures of my poor sick little girl. Poor baby has been coughing with the croup, and these shots were when she was actually asleep in the living room. I cranked up the ISO to 1250 to even get a shot without camera shake. However, now that I have looked at the property details on these shots, I see I shot at -0.7 EV by mistake. That is something that I need to remember about my camera. It recalls the last settings for me, which is nice...except I was shooting in the dark pretty much. Oh! Well! To go back to default settings on the D90 there are two green buttons on the camera body, and you just have to hold them down together at the same time. DARN! Should of done that.
My favorite shot is the horizontal picture, except it could be in better focus. There aren't as many harsh shadows, which I like. Plus, the photo is taken from a unique angle. The vertical picture is nice, but too dark and muddy.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Day 3 Challenge Over at Jessica Sprage.com



This is actually a 12x12 page with a bunch of white space. Not too sure if it is going to show up on the blog or not as an entire page. Supplies used: list at Jessica Sprague's Challenge gallery. My battery is yet again almost about to die!!!!

Day 2 May Challenge over at Jessica Sprague's Site...


Digital Kit used by KatieF Crooked Creek use for everything but the following:
Fonts used: JailbirdJena, Century Gothic, and Highland Perk
Smart Frame by LivE of Jessica Sprague
Twill tag by Jessica Sprague

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Jessica Sprague's weekly Challenge...


Here is today's entry...a day later. Oooppss! I think I will try to actually complete today's on time. We shall see.
Here are my supplies used:
Digital Kit by R Penn Express Yourself
Papers used from kit were papers 1 and 7, along with all the flowers
Fonts used: JailbirdJena and Century Schoolbook
Brushes used:Doodle Flowers by Brush Portfolio
Not sure if anybody would want to use this technique, but in the center of the page near the focal photo I used my elliptical marquee tool with 150 pxl feather and filled with pink with the paint bucket, then used soft light to create that effect of a little glow and lastly lowered the opacity. Just thought I would share. Did you like that crazy long run-on sentence? I did!

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Shot of the Day X's 2...




Well, here are my shots for yesterday and today. I am not in love with them. The one of my daughter at the park is neat since it has diagonals going both directions, which I like, along with the angle of the photo...however she is not in crisp focus. I was trying to use manual focus the entire time to get better at it. The reason I want to be really good at manual focus is that my camera allows me to click the shutter button way faster if I do the focusing. When the camera does it for me, I notice a huge delay and miss shots. So, most of my shots were not crisp...but I am not giving up yet.

The other photo was zoomed in, and is just okay too. I think it would of been better for me to have had my daughter hold it closer to her light colored shirt, since the turtle was dark. That way the turtle would of been easier to distinguish from the dark background. But, I do like the composition of the photo with her hand filling the frame at a slight angle.

I really like doing this each day for several reasons. First, I feel like it is an assignment and I have to actually get my camera out and take some pictures each and every day. Doing this is going to make me a better photographer. I am learning how to focus manually, which like I said earlier will help me shoot faster. Also, I am working on my composition constantly. Lastly, even though I am not getting the perfect shot each time, I am able to look at my photos and critique them and only learn from my mistakes. Which there are plenty of!!! There is only one way to get good, and that is to get out there and actually use that camera! :) As my good friend Kelly would say, "DO IT!"

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Latest layout...



The place where I escape life...my tub!
Boy, this was a real challenge for me...barely made it! I can now wipe the bead of sweat from my brow. ;) Today at Jessica Sprague's website, she had a 30 min layout challenge and this was my entry.

Supplies used were:
JS Grand Intentions Digital kit
Papers: J Crowley Brown Solid, JS Yellow Solid, JS Blue Dot, Js Blue Green Mega flower, and JS Green Type all from Grand Intentions Kit. Eva Kipler half tones 6 (brown dotted paper).
Brush: J Crowley circle brush from Grand Intentions kit
Fonts: Adler and Gill Sans CT Condensed
Grunge Frame: JS Grunge Frame 1