a bag of chips

Sneaks!

Here are some sneak-o peeks at some of my layouts for the August kit and add-ons at Studio Calico: 

I've got an insanely busy next two weeks with a quick family vakay and then CHA next week. I'll be back with details on August 1st.  

Be well my friends!

Happy Monday!

We had a nice weekend! The weather was gorgeous (getting warmer!). We spent most of Saturday at the pool at my mom's new house but I didn't have my camera. GASP! I was a bit bummed that I didn't bring it, but I know we'll be up there many more times this summer. 

And yesterday I took The Bigs to see the new Ice Age movie. We didn't see it in 3-D but it was still fun. But the funniest thing was when we were leaving the theater and a humongous, nearly full cup of Sprite slipped out of my hand and fell to the ground perfectly upright, creating a Sprite volcano that shot up all over Aidan and me. And I stood there and laughed so hard that tears were streaming down my face. Have you ever laughed like that? I mean, it was funny as all get out, but it wasn't THAT funny. I guess it's what happens when you combine PMS, embarrassment, stress, and the shock of a very cold Sprite shower in the middle of a crowded theater. 

This summer I decided to do some container gardening and grow some tomatoes. Now if you knew what a death sentence this would usually be to any unsuspecting plants, you would wonder why I ever bother trying to grow anything but hair and fingernails. I've got a certified black thumb.  But guess what? I'm growing tomatoes! There are about fifty baby tomatoes of various sizes on my plants and many, many more flowers still blooming all over.

And my pink, green and red quilt is all done:

I'll be working on that disappearing nine patch quilt next. I might even attempt to machine quilt that one. We'll see how brave I'm feeling when it's time. 

Okay. Now for another photography tip.  It's a basic one, but I think it bears reminding.

The other day the kids and I were at our local aquarium when I spotted a mom taking some pictures of her kids. She had a pretty decent-sized camera bag, though I never really saw what camera she had. Not that it really matters. Anyway. At our aquarium, as you approach the entrance courtyard, there are three whale statues that stick way up out of a fountain. Way up. And this mom was trying to take a picture of her three kids at the base of this sculpture and fit the whales into the frame. As she kept backing up away from the scene to compose her shot, I kept waiting for her to turn her camera on its side to take a picture in portrait orientation which would have been the optimal way to photograph such a scene.

Portrait orientation is like my quilt photo. You achieve this by turning your camera on its side to compose your shot. It's called portrait orientation for the reason you might assume. It works best for portraits because it allows your subject to fill up the frame and, if you compose a portrait correctly, the eyes will be at that sweet upper third line in the invisible thirds grid that I swear is tattooed on my cornea. It also works best for any kind of shot where your subject matter is tall. Like a Mars-bound whale. 

For my tomato photo, I used a landscape orientation. And not just because the subject is a plant, either. Holding your camera right-side up gives you a landscape orientation and it's how almost all DSLR, film and point-and-shoot cameras are naturally oriented. This orientation is best for, you guessed it, landscape and other settings where your subject matter is wide rather than tall. There are many great portraits taken in landscape orientation, and it's usually the way I prefer to shoot groups of three or more close up. 

By taking the photo of her kids with the whale without turning her camera on its side means that she had to move her body far away from her subjects (the kids) in order to get the whales in, which means she also got the street, the trash cans, the buses and the very sunburned tourists from Iceland in her shot as well. And her kids are now cute little blond blips in her photo because she had to move so far away from them. 

Here are some more examples of portrait and landscape orientation from my photo files:

If you haven't really tried changing the orientation of your camera when taking your photos, I urge you to give it a try.  

Make the most of your photos!

Photography + Tutorial

It's been a while since I did anything really photography-related here. Lately it's been all about quilting and sewing and scrapbooking - which is all good and fine - but underneath it all I'm still a photographer at heart. 

And since it's been such a long time since I talked about photography, let's run down my list of goods:

Canon 5D (still going strong at nearly 100K clicks though I'd sell my eyelashes for a new 5D MKII)

Canon 24-70mm 2.8L - This is my most-used and favorite lens - it rarely leaves my camera and was well worth the vehehehehery big price tag and the strain on my wrists (it's quite heavy with a camera attached to it).

Canon 85mm 1.8 - I love this lens for portraits. Not so much for fast-moving kids where I really need a zoom, but for grown-ups and even sleeping babies if I have enough room to maneuver.

Canon 50mm 1.8 - This feather-weight and very inexpensive lens packs a punch. Tack-sharp focus and great depth-of-field make this a must in any photographer's bag. Another fabulous portrait lens and one I use quite often, especially for photographing babies.

Canon 100mm 2.8 macro - I really like this lens, but I don't use it too often. It's big but not too heavy and gives me that extra reach when I need it. Great for portraits and babies.  Amazing depth of field close up.

Crumpler 6 Million - I love my camera bag. It's tough, it's red and it fits everything perfectly. The velcro part of the closer is very loud and needs to be done away from sleeping babies, but it's perfect otherwise.

Photoshop CS4 - I upgraded to the Mac version earlier this year (see posts from earlier this year about how fun THAT process was) when I upgraded to a Mac from a PC. I had been using CS2 for Windows before the platform switch.

Itty Bitty Actions - My first action set and one I continue to use now and then. 

Totally Rad Actions - I probably use actions from this set most often. 

Pioneer Woman Actions - A great freebie set of actions!

Coffee Shop Actions - Actions for Lightroom, Photoshop and Photoshop Elements - free!!!

Okay. So that's the basics. 

What I'm going to talk about today, though, you don't need actions or really a fancy camera and lenses to accomplish. What you will need is Photoshop, though most of the things I'm doing here should be able to be done in newer versions of Elements, too. But I'm just talking about CS4 here today.

Here's my original photo, of the darling Emma. Donchya love red hair???

It's a bit dark and a bit too blue.

I cropped it, and then to help with the blue tint, there are two things you can do. Go to Image>Adjustments>Photo Filter and choose a warming filter, adjusting the results to taste, or you can play with the color balance by going to Image>Adjustments>Color Balance and playing with the yellow and red sliders until you like the results.  I chose to do the Color Balance method:

Next, I lightened my photo using Curves. You can either do a curves adjustment without layers by going to Image>Adjustments>Curves, or you can do a Curves Adjustment layer in your layers palette. I adjust lightness in Curves by grabbing the center of the diagonal line and pulling it up and to the left.  This adjusts the darks and the highlights quite nicely.

So now my Color Balance and darkness issues have pretty much been resolved. Now, let's add some color and some wow.

Go to Layer>Duplicate Layer>OK and you'll see the layer in your Layers Palette. (Or you can create a duplicate layer using the Create New Layer icon on your Layers Palette.) Then, in the drop-down box in the upper left of the Layers Palette where you see the word "Normal", click and then scroll down to Overlay.  You'll see vibrant color - don't freak out! What we need to do is adjust the opacity to about 65% or what ever is pleasing to your eye:

So here she is with the overlay applied at 65%. I love the rich colors but it's darkened her face a bit too much. Easily remedied!  Using the Lasso tool at a 125px feather, select the area around her face:

Now we're going to do a Levels adjustment to brighten up the darkened midtones in her face. I moved the middle slider to the left to 1.15:

Looking good! Now I'm just going to do some sharpening to the photo overall and then to her eyes to really add some realistic sparkle:

And now the eyes. Using the Elliptical Marquee tool at a 5px feather, select just the color part of the eye. We'll apply an Unsharp Mask to each eye for sparkle:

After the eye is selected, go to Filters>Sharpen>Unsharp Mask and enter in the numbers shown on my screen. If it's too much or not enough, adjust the Amount and Radius sliders until you like what you see. Then drag the selection to the other eye and hit Command+F or Control+F to repeat the USM.

Voila! Here's the edited image in just a few quick steps and without any actions. In real time and with practice, this process can take less than five minutes.

Before and after: 

Let's do a black and white conversion using my favorite method, okay? It's easy!

Using your edited color image, go to Image>Adjustments>Gradient Map:

And there's the B+W conversion. No other adjustments needed.

Thanks for stopping by today!

If I Can Sew, You Can Sew

You might have noticed that I've been on a bit of a quilting craze lately. I mean, I needed another time suck like I needed a sixth toe or extra belly button. But I'm seriously addicted to it now. I don't think an intervention is in order just yet, but it's good to know you've got my back.

I've been getting most of my inspiration and encouragement from sites like these:

Film in the Fridge

Moda Bake Shop

The Purl Bee

The Sometimes Crafter

I plan to do these "If I Can Sew, You Can Sew" posts now and then, but probably not on any regular basis for now. But the idea is that if I can make these things, anyone with the desire to quilt and make cute things can totally do this, too. 

Here are the tools I use:

Inexpensive sewing machine (like this one). I don't have a wide variety of sewing feet (darning foot, walking foot, etc.) with mine, but that's okay since I'm just tying my quilts for now, and not machine quilting them. I got this pair of scissors from Target and a few boxes of pins and a new iron (since my old one sucked and blew crap all over my projects instead of steam). I also made my own little pink cushion (the old-fashioned pin tomato is my portable sewing stash). 

Self-healing cutting mat, rotary cutter, grid ruler things. I got these at Michael's using the coupon.

I also have this handy tote box for carting around the house with me.  Pins, safety pins, scissors, thread, needles, seam ripper (my new bestest friend), and flask of vodka. (Kust jidding er...just kidding about the vodka. It's really gin.)

The one thing that truly inspired me to get started quilting was seeing one of these for the first time:

These are called "jelly rolls" and these are by Moda fabrics. I saw them first last summer while in Fort Morgan at Sweetwater and we wandered into the local quilt shop. And there it was. I bought three rolls and two patterns (one of which you can see in the photo above).  Some of the things that always kept me from starting quilting was the idea choosing all the different fabrics and the cutting of all the teeny tiny pieces. And what discovering these pre-cut products did was to let me know that quilting doesn't have to mean teeny tiny pieces if you don't want it to or hours spent at a fabric store, glassy eyed and overwhelmed. Most of the cutting is already done for you and everything is color coordinated. All you gotta do is sew.

These two quilts were made with pre-cut fabrics. The pink and green one was made from five-inch squares, called a charm pack, and the one on the right was made from a jelly roll. 

Through the wonderful, wonderful internet, I learned how to make the quilt sandwich (quilt top, batting and backing) and how to bind and tie my quilts. 

Here are two more I'm working on right now:

This one was made with a charm pack (5" squares) with each charm cut in half and made into a coin quilt. I'm in the process of tying this one. For the ties, I'm just using yarn tied in a box knot. For the backing I used flannel in a soft, muted pink and white check. 

This one, also created with a charm pack, is done in a pattern called a disappearing nine patch. Sew nine charms together and then cut into quarters. I love how this one is coming together. I just need to add the sashing to the outside and then sandwhich, tie and bind. 

I have two other quilts in the works and I'm even thinking about making some coordinating pillows with a few of them. I don't know. We'll see.

And, because I've been feeling more confident in my sewing abilities (never mind that I ended up sewing my fabric upside down) and because I found a great and easy-to-follow tutorial, I made this market bag from oilcloth, modeled by my two girlies:

So, if you've been wanting to quilt or sew stuff, and if you're hung up on some of the things that I was about quilting, rest assured that if I can do it, anyone can. I'm not a very patient crafter and I'm somewhat notorious for starting and not finishing projects. Um, not anymore my friends. Seeing my kids wrapped up in their quilts while watching Home Alone 2, spilling popcorn everywhere and laughing their cozy little heads off is such a wonderful sight.  

And the awesomest thing is that, much like scrapbooking, I am creating something lasting and meaningful for my own family and for gifting to friends and family. (Ho ho ho!)

Anyway, on another note:

Today is GIVE AWAY DAY at www.writeclickscrapbook.com and the fabulous prize is a $25 gift certificate to Scrap Diner!  And while you're there, check out what the fabulous Linda Barber's 

been talking about this week. She's got a great sketch and lots of scrappy eye candy waiting for you!

Happy Birthday, America!

Celebrate safely!

Layouts galore!

WOW! Two posts in two days? Miracles do happen, you know. 

Today is the 1-month anniversary at Write. Click. Scrapbook. YAY! Today was also the launch of the July gallery over at Write. Click. Scrapbook. July's theme is The Love of Color and I must say that the layouts the team submitted are stunning. The coolest thing about having such a large and quite diverse group of hugely talented gals is the variety of styles and perspectives. Each of us brings something unique to the table and that, my friends, is what makes our new site spectacular. 

Here's the layout I created for the Color theme:

Autumn Baldwin is hosting the Write. Click. Scrapbook. blog this week and she's doing an amazing job discussing journaling and digital scrapbooking. Last week was Elisha Snow's turn - she's such an amazing photographer and scrapbooker and her boys are so dang adorable. We've also had Ann Costen and Melissa Kaiserman who did such great things as our inaugural hostesses. Thank you ladies!

Tomorrow will feature a Q&A interview with Renee Pearson (yes, THEEEE Renee Pearson) and word has it she'll be giving away an awesome prize as well.  She is such a lovely lady with some mad digital design skillz. I always try to run into her at CHA and when I do, it's one of the highlights of my day. Tomorrow's interview should be awesome! 

Also, my buddy and WCS co-founder, Elizabeth Dillow, was interviewed today on the Diva Craft Lounge

about WCS and how we got started. If you want to hear some of our story, check it out!  And be sure to check back at the Lounge on the first and third Wednesdays of each month for interviews with the rest of the Write. Click. Scrapbook. team members. 

Whew. There's been a lot going on lately!

Including the reveal of Studio Calico's July kit, Documentary. 

Even though sometimes, when I open my monthly box full of goodies, I'm a bit overwhelmed and unsure of what I'm going to do with it. And then, without fail, every month, I end up completely loving every single thing. I also love how I'm starting to love things that I might not have bought on my own, browsing through a store. I love stepping outside my scrap box and trying new things - it's very liberating!

And then a little card I made with the stamp set in the main kit. I love that balloon stamp.