Superhero Photos

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Preparing for our pregnancy announcement on Facebook, I had Dylan pose for "big brother" photos. I had a superhero theme in mind. My original photo plan didn't turn out. Instead, I ended up with a couple shots that I liked even better. Love it when it works out like that.

The first awesome shot made a perfect banner for my Facebook page. I added the text "Every Superhero needs a sidekick. Mine is arriving October 2014" and posted along with a new profile picture of one of our first ultrasound images.

I then used a second photo from the day to create a Mother's Day card design for both my mom and my mother-in-law. I cropped the picture in Photoshop and added the bottom blue box and text. Then uploaded to Treat for printing and shipping.

For the Mother's Day cards, I used a full photo front option and deleted the text offered by Treat. Then wrote personalized notes inside of each card. To further simplify things, I had Treat do the shipping for me. All I did was request a delivery by last Friday to ensure they arrived on time. Both moms loved their cards. It really is an easy way to create a beautiful card even if you think you are creatively challenge and/or lack time.

I hope all of the moms (and moms at heart) had a wonderful Mother's Day yesterday!

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Mother's Day 2011

I made a very quick layout for last year's Mother's Day. None of the photos were especially great. Trying to get Dylan to cooperate for a picture took a lot of work and, when he finally agreed, he wanted us sitting on the ottoman in front of the TV (I can't tell you how happy I was to get photos at the arboretum this year - so much better!).

Knowing that I only wanted the one photo and to crop it considerably, I looked to my folder of Quick Page templates. I literally just edited the photo using the Vintage action from the CoffeeShop blog to soften the colors, stuck it behind the quick page and added "Mother's Day 2011" to the frame. That's it. Done.

Supplies: iNSD Quick Page by Tiffany Bodily; Script MT Bold font; Vintage action from The CoffeeShop Blog.

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Wordless Wed: Mother's Day at the Arboretum

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Shoot and Edit: Mother's Day edit

Now that Blogger is sort of up and running again (hoping yesterday's post eventually reappears), I can finally share my edited photo for this week. It took me a number of steps including playing with the suggested gradient mapping twice! I'm not sure if this was the most direct way to get from SOOC to edit, but I am pleased with the results.

• Adjusted levels.
• New adjustment layer - Brightness/Contrast. Tweaked slightly.
• Merged layers.
• New adjustment layer - Gradient Map. I selected an existing purple/blue/green/orange option. Lowered the layer opacity to 10% and changed the blending mode to linear light.
• Merged layers.
• New adjustment layer - Hue/Saturation. I increased the saturation a bit.
• New adjustment layer - Gradient Map. This time I selected the black & white option. Lowered the layer opacity to 30% and then erased the noodles. This let the vivid colors of the noodles shine through and toned down the wood color a bit bringing it closer to it's color in real life.

Join in the fun with Jill Samter Photography and Ramblings and Photos:

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Happy Mother's Day!

A very happy Mother's day to all moms! Wishing you a wonderful day.

Here's the card I created this year. It started out as a digital design that I printed onto a white card and covers the front & back.

I reprinted the butterfly alone onto a second sheet of white cardstock. Hand cut it using my x-acto knife. Inked the edges, scored the wings along the body and glued to the card. The result:

Supplies: Recollections white card; Design House Digital's iNSD Designer Blog Hop collaboration kit; Karla Dudley's Digi Essentials 2; Commerical Script font; Stampin' Up! Daffodil Delight ink.

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Mother's Day

Hope all the mommies had a wonderful Mother's Day yesterday.  I asked my sweet boy for a hug and got several so I considered myself pretty lucky.  :)  

Here's the card I sent to my mom:

I made it a few months ago at a Stamp A Stack workshop taught by my friend, Bonnie.  She came up with some wonderful card designs for us to create and all of the pieces were ready to go.  I just had to stamp and piece together - the fun parts! :)  Check out Bonnie's blog Stamping with Klass for more great card ideas.

Supplies: Stampin' Up

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Happy Mother's Day

For each of our mothers and for Trent's grandmother, I altered brag books for them to carry photos of the newest family member. :)


Supplies: 4x6 photo brag books; Paper Salon patterned papers; American Crafts ribbon; Martha Stewart Crafts felt stickers.

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Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day, Mom! :)


Supplies: Purple Floral patterned paper from Rhonna Farrer's Color My World kit at Two Peas; Flower Spray from Rhonna Farrer's Flowers Are Beautiful kit at Two Peas; Edwardian Script font.

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Mother's Day card

Here's the card I made for Trent's grandmother. I created it in Photoshop and printed on white cardstock.


Supplies: Floral Garden patterned paper and scalloped label from Painted Season kit at Peppermint Creative; green ricrac from Twinkle Toes kit at Peppermint Creative; leaves from spiral flower in Anne Langpap's June '07 kit at Two Peas; font: 2ps Silly.

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