play

Thursday = release day at Design House Digitals and new releases are 30% (I love a sale!). Today that includes Sara Schmutz's Star Spangled kit. The kit contains 24 papers, 2 alphabets, 12 bottle cap elements and 13 tag elements. I had fun using it to scrap these photos of Dylan playing last August: The orange title letters are one of the alphabets included in the kit. I used the 'stroke' command in Photoshop to add a 50px white border around...

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Shoot and Edit: Sunrise

A look at the sky this morning just after 7am ... ISO 100, ss 1/250, f8.0 Join in the fun with Jill Samter Photography and Ramblings and Photos...

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stylin'

A couple weeks ago I stepped out of the room long enough to put something in the kitchen (in our small house the living/dining/kitchen form an 'L' so I was just out of eye sight) and when I returned I found Dylan brushing his cousin's hair. It was so precious. Completely his own idea. He found his brush after I walked away. I was worried what the silence could mean but it was just the two of them having fun. As the pictures show, Lily was all grins...

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first cone

Dylan had his first ice cream cone a couple weeks ago. He was a little confused when Trent handed it to him, but mastered it quickly. He had a happy, messy grin when he finished it. :) Supplies: Jennifer Valencia's Blueprint template for the DHD June Blueprint Challenge; Sara Schmutz's Sweet Shoppe, Summer Picnic and A B C kits and Back to Basics White Frames; Karla Dudley's Digi Essentials 2 kit; Giddyup Std, Maiandra GD and Pooh fon...

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Shoot and Edit: Father's Day edit

I really liked my SOOC shot this week and kept my edit very simple. Funny thing about it, I realized while writing this post that I pretty much did the exact same edit on another photo of the two of them for the Family theme. Ran Ashley's Nice & Easy action. Adjusted layers to suit. Merged all layers. Ran Vintage action from The CoffeeShop Blog. Adjusted the tint and color layers. Used clone tool to remove sippy cup handle. Cropped image. Join...

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First Swim

One of the downsides to digital scrapping? Sometimes I close Photoshop and forget when I return that I was working on a layout! Case in point, I found this page about Dylan's first time swimming in progress and finally finished it this week. Supplies: Carina Gardner & Crystal Wilkerson's Oh Boy - The ABCs kit; Karen Funk's One Year Older solid papers; DHD Fall Digi Blog Hop kit (paper 3 by Karla Dudley); Erica Hernandez's Isabella mini kit;...

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Wordless Wednesday: my 6am

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Chimney Rock

Last fall we were invited to a friend's wedding in the western part of the state. We took advantage of the opportunity and had my mom watch Dylan so we could take a weekend away just the two of us. That Saturday morning we headed to Chimney Rock Park for a little light hiking and sightseeing. It was an absolutely gorgeous fall morning. We couldn't have asked for better weather. Supplies: Tiffany Tillman's Lefty Righty 9 template; Sara Schmutz's...

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Father's Day

Love this photo I captured of Trent & Dylan yesterday morning. For Trent's gift, I put together a photobook of the two of them with thank yous (ie, thanks for teaching me how to kick a ball). This was Dylan's first time seeing it too and the excitement shows on his face. :) ISO 2800, ss 1/60, f5.0 I am so glad they both liked it! I made the book as much for Dylan as Trent. Being a stay-at-home mom, Dylan and I have lots of adventures together...

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Shoot and Edit: Bubbles edit

I finally have a completed edit for last week's Shoot and Edit photo. I started on it last week and became frustrated so I shoved it aside. After a clean edit, I wasn't seeing a great deal of change so I decide to experiment for the fun of it. I played around with layers and masks - but was fighting with Photoshop through it all. Just not getting what I wanted. Midway through this week, I realized I had a setting wrong! Somehow I had the brush opacity...

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News & a layout

I was quite excited when I recently learned I was accepted on the Creative Team for Sara Schmutz Designs. As such, Sara sent me her newest digital kit to play with. It's called No 1 Fan and is available starting today at Design House Digital. The baseball themed kit features 16 papers and 25 elements. I dug around in my archives and found the perfect photos to use with the kit. They were taken two years ago when Trent, my sister & I went to...

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Tablecloth to Pillow Shams

I've wanted to recover the pillows on our living room sofas for a few years now. I still love the fabric & pattern, but it's a bit dark for this time of year. Plus there are a few pulls in the material. I didn't want to replace them as they are perfectly good pillows. Just needed refreshing. I looked periodically for store bought shams without finding anything I really loved enough for the price. I did once find fabric I loved to make my own...

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bubbles

Dylan loves bubbles. And, being a toddler, wants to do it all by himself. He wants to dip the wand and blow without help. Sometimes it worked great - other times we had small "disasters" such as dumping out the entire bottle of bubble soap. Then Trent & I found him a wonderful small bubble holder. It's the perfect size for his little hands and doesn't spill. Finally, successful independence in bubble blowing. ;) Supplies: Simply Tiffany Studio's...

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Airplane Birthday Card

I made this card for Trent's birthday last week lifting Soar Card by catheris at Two Peas: Supplies: Recollections cardstock; We R Memory Keepers, American Crafts & Little Yellow Bicycle patterned papers; Sara Schmutz's Blustery Sky paper pack; Bradley Hand font; Making Memories letter stickers; QuicKutz circle die; rub-on; Micron black p...

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Wordless Wednesday: Sharing

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Elmo & Numbers

I've had fun creating cards and crafting birthday gifts for Dylan's friends. At 2, they are all beginning to have fun little personalities. The latest celebration was this past weekend and I knew there were two things this little guy likes - Elmo and numbers. Elmo is an obsession. ;) And in the last few months I've been so impressed with his number recognition. First I caught him pointing them out so his mom would say the names out loud. Now he tells...

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Shoot and Edit: Bubbles

Having fun in the backyard playing with bubbles. Found these wands stashed away that we bought years ago from Old Navy. They are perfect for using with a toddler. Just dip and then swing them through the air for lots of bubbles. ISO 400, ss 1/640, f4.5 Join in the fun with Jill Samter Photography and Ramblings and Photos...

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Shoot and Edit: Looking Up edit

Going into my edit, I knew I wanted to crop the photo and lighten it up a bit. I felt like it was a little dull. I started with a clean edit and then added a vignette following the video tutorial Ashley embedded in her post. Next I ran the Perfect Portrait 3 action from the CoffeeShop blog. I don't use actions a lot and, I confess, the long instructions plus numerous layers this one added intimidated me a bit. Nonetheless, I slowly worked my way...

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Robot Birthday Card

We're surrounded in birthday fun around here lately with two more celebrations coming up this weekend - Trent's birthday and one of Dylan's playgroup friends. Two weeks ago (and I can't believe I forgot to share this until now!), another playgroup buddy turned 2. Here's the card I made for him: Supplies: Cosmo Cricket patterned papers; American Crafts ribbon; staple; Pebbles Inc rub-on sentime...

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Shoot and Edit: Looking Up

I took this photo of my son last month during the mamarazzi photography class my friend, Allison, and I took. One of my first manual shots. I love that look of pure happiness on Dylan's face. :) ISO 400, ss 1/320, f5.3 Join in the fun with Jill Samter Photography and Ramblings and Photos...

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