A little Christmas Cheer

I have been obsessed this holiday season to get good pictures of my tree. I found many great tutorials online but decided to go with the one from Kevin and Amanda. They not only showed a great way to get my lights to pop, but they added a fun little addition I had to try. She used an 85mm 1.8, but you could easily use a 50mm 1.8, or 35mm 1.8. For my photos I used my 50mm 1.8 lens.

Nikon 50mm 1.8
Manual Mode
f/1.8
1/30 sec
3200 ISO

Nikon 50mm 1.8

f/1.8

1/30 sec

3200 ISO

For this shot I used my manual focus and simply turned it until it was out of focus. You will see the light go from small to big circles.



Nikon 50mm 1.8

f/1.8

1/30 sec

2500 ISO

This is where I used the tutorial from Kevin and Amanda. It also made it seem like I used a fish eye lens.

Nikon 50mm 1.8
f/1.8
1/30 sec
3200 ISO

Here is Elfis getting in on the fun.

Thanks for stopping by my blog. I hope everyone has a great Holiday season.

A message from Santa!

My kids are 2 1/2 this Christmas so we have started out little traditions around our house. They are learning about Santa and the nice/naughty list. Of course, we also have our Elf on a Shelf named Elfis. I am an Elvis fan so the name is very fitting. The kids always have fun looking for him in the mornings and I always have fun thinking of what shenanigans the little guy should get into the night before. If you haven't decided to get one they are a lot of fun. I would have loved it when I was a kid.

Along with our elf tradition we have a message from Santa. My sister told me about a website called Portable North Pole, which you can find here. You can customize a message to your kids and receive a video email from Santa. It is really cute, and the kids love hearing Santa say their names and talk about that special present they have asked for. You can also send them to adults which could be fun for those scrooges in the family.

I hope everyone is having a great holiday season. Thanks for stopping by.

Holiday and Pinterest fun!

I have been such a bad girl lately with not updating my blog the way I should. I have been so busy with trying to get my photography business off the ground that I have not had much time for sewing and crafting. I'm sure to get more done now that colder temps are on the way. I have several sewing ideas that I plan on sharing with you all very soon. Especially now that my mother in law has let me take care of her serger while she does not have a place for it. I'm super excited about it even though I have no idea how it works.

While I was working on my photography business I stumbled upon a new adventure. I have found a love for digital scrapbooking and digital card making. It could be blamed on my sister in law. She was nice enough to let me take newborn photos of my nephew and I decided to try my hand at making his birth announcements. Surprisingly they turned out great and a new obsession was born. I have designed a couple of cards and put them on my new Etsy store LRP Design. I am working on more and will be adding them as I have them. Right now it's only holiday cards, but I will be adding other kinds soon. Here are a couple of examples.

I also thought I would share something that I learned today. While checking one of my favorite blogs, I am momma hear me roar, I learned how to see what people are pinning from your blog to Pinterest. Copy and paste this link

http://pinterest.com/source/twininspiration.blogspot.com/

Be sure to change to your blog address. I think it is so much fun to see what people like about your blog. If you are interested in what I'm pinning you can find my page here.

Thanks for visiting my blog.

New kitchen additions

Little by little I have made a few changes to my kitchen. Since upgrading counter tops is not an option right now, I have focused on a few little changes. When we built our house I would say my style was very traditional, but now I'm not sure what to call my style. I think it's a combination of modern, a bit of retro, and a dash of vintage. Does that even make any since? I'm not sure, but that's the best description I can make.

Originally I had a bakers rack that didn't really fit in with what I wanted anymore. My original thought for the space was a buffet, but when all the ones I wanted were $500.00+, I decided to go with something else. I looked at several local antique stores, but never really found what I was looking for. After a few weeks of searching, we went to visit my mother in law. They had recently moved and didn't have the space for this desk. It was the perfect size and price (free). All it needed was paint/hardware and VIOLA!

I tried to do my own version of a wall collage. I loved my silhouettes that I printed on green cardstock. You can see my tutorial on how to make silhouettes in photoshop elements here. I also chose a couple of coordinating fabrics to hang in my hoops. I have seen that on several other blogs, and loved how simple and inexpensive the idea was. I decided to refurbish an old photo frame that held three photos, with wrapping fabric around some cork board that I had. I will be a great place to stick notes, maybe a honey do list. :)

You can see how I transferred my photo to my canvas here. This is another very fun and inexpensive project.

These are just a few decorations that were added around the kitchen. The vintage scale is my favorite. I plan on using it in some future infant photo shoots, but for now it works great in my kitchen.

My husband was given the above chair and the chair in front of the desk by his grandfather. They meant a lot to him and I was very happy with how well they worked in the kitchen. I was also happy they didn't need any work. I considered painting them but my husband was not happy with that idea. I guess I can let him have his way just this once.

Thanks for stopping by my blog.

Here are a few parties I will be linking to today

http://www.theshabbycreekcottage.com/

http://firefliesandjellybeans.blogspot.com/

http://www.somewhatsimple.com/

Abstract Art Project

I decided to try my hand at another art project. Since I am no artist this project seemed perfect for me. I found this abstract art project on one of my many visits to Pinterest. I love how each one is unique.

I chose a 12x12 canvas for this project, but you could use any size you like. I used 1" painters tape and placed it randomly all over the canvas. You could use masking tape if you have that on hand.

Be sure to extend the tape over the edges of the canvas so you will see the pattern on the sides. Now you are ready for the spray paint. You may need two coats.

When you pull the tape off you have fun stripes. How easy is that?

Thanks for stopping by my blog.

Making a Silhouette with Photoshop Elements {Tutorial}

I hope everyone is having a wonderful beginning to Summer. We have been so busy around here with swimming trips, outside play time, yard sales, two year old tantrums, etc. I wanted to take a little break from that and share a little project I did. I have plans on changing some things up in my kitchen, like painting, and some new decor. I'm really excited about it. My kitchen has not had any updates in seven years, so it's time. While blog stalking the other day I saw the post by Jessica at Happy Together. It was an awesome chalkboard wall, but while scrolling down she posted a few other Pinterest finds. I loved the wall of silhouette's by Laura Winslow Photography. I have just the place for it in my kitchen. I have made these in the past the old fashion way. I just printed a profile picture and traced it onto black paper. That worked fine, but was a lot of work for more that one silhouette. I decided to use my Photoshop Elements to make things a little quicker.

I will warn you that this post may be a little long with several screen shots, but I always do better with tutorials with lots of explanation and photos. If you are not real familiar with your Photoshop program this my be a good way to learn a little more about it. I have yet to grasp everything this program is capable of. If the screen shots are not big enough you should be able to double click on them to see them bigger.

First choose a profile picture. If you are making one of a girl/woman you may want to have the hair up. It makes the silhouette better in the end. Open the photo in your program. Go to your full edit workspace. Next your will want to make a duplicate of your background photo. You can do this by right clicking on the little photo on the right of your screen, and chose duplicate image.

Now, under the drop down arrow right above your duplicate image, you want to choose "vivid light".

At this point the coloring in your photo should have changed a little. Don't freak out, this is how it's supposed to happen. You can now flatten your duplicate image by right clicking on it, and choosing flatten. 

Now choose your magnetic lasso tool to trace around the head and neck of the photo. When you are finished double click and you should see marching ants where you traced.

It's time to fill the image by right clicking where your have traced and have the marching ants. You will choose "fill selection". Under contents choose black.

Now you should feel like your getting somewhere. Next, click "select" and then "inverse". You should now see marching ants around the frame of your photo.

Lastly, you go to "edit" and select "delete". You should now be left with your silhouette.

How fun and long was that! It seems like it takes a while at first, but after a couple it takes no time at all. Thanks so much for checking out my blog. Let me know it you have any questions. I will try my best to help.

My Etsy Store {Reagan's Creations} Now Open!

I'm excited to say that my Etsy store Reagan's Creations is now open. I opened it a while ago and didn't do much with it. I decided to start listing things because of all the encouragement from my friends and family. I love creating things, so why not share it with everyone else. Right now my store is a little sparse, but I hope to fill it with goodies soon. Right now my plans are to list PDF patterns, hand embroidery,  and other accessories. I guess kind of an assortment of things. The story of my life, but creativity can not be limited to one thing. If only my husband understood this! :)