Cupcake

You,

little girl, 

are the icing on my cupcake.

 

luv, mom.

-------o-------
The Simple Things 
Sunday Snapshot

Autumn

I heart faces  challenge this week is Autumn Splendor

I just happened to be going through all my pumpkin patch photos last night (for this post) and came across this one from last year:

A natural unposed photo of my eager little 5 year old choosing what appears to be a.... errrr.... well, somewhat green pumpkin.
But as they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder...or picker in this case.

:)

Memory Lane, pumpkin style.

You know those things you do every year with your family? 

Those traditions you look forward to?

We have a few, and in the Fall one of them is visiting the local pumpkin patch.

Since we had the girls its been our annual pilgrimage. 

Any by pilgrimage.... I mean 3 minute car ride.

So while editing the latest slew of pumpkin patch photo memorabilia I got to wondern' about all those other years we've been there..

And so it begins... a stroll down memory lane.

2005

I was a new mother....

And like all love blind rookies I wanted to dress my new four month old up as produce. 

Why not? 

She didn't have opinions yet so she was game.

2006

Either she formed an opinion and refused to wear her duckie costume (moving away from food groups that year), or I had an opinion that wrestling a 1 1/2 year old into anything was a nightmare and decided to forego the ensemble.

Its a toss up.

2007

Awww yes! A new little sister.

Our sockless wonder who is so blinded by the sun she can't even open her little peepers.

Sorry sis.

2008

It. was. so. cold. that. year.

But nothing stopped us. We were going to that pumpkin patch come hell or high water.

(as you can see big sisters pants are 100% prepared for the high water).

2009

I got a new camera that year, a Sony Cyber shot.. see no date in the corner? 

Yay!

2010

 

Got my new Nikon DLSR camera that year. 

What a difference!

And the time of day we went that year was perrrrfect. 

 No blinding sun, and no crowds either.

I think we pulled out of the parking lot just as the sun finally went down.

And of course, now 2011

With the added bonus of a straw maze.

do do do do dooooooo....

I love this shot..the sun is terrible and Im sure there are many things wrong with the composition..but she was lost and trying to find her bearings.

It just reminds me of  whistle pigs when they peek up outta there holes to scope out the land.

heh.

hmm its late...I think my mind is starting to wonder....or loose itself.

Night!

-------o-------

And then, she {snapped}

This or That

WW

I was up until the wee hours last night editing photos from a family photo shoot I did on Sunday. 

They are such a cute little family and I think it goes without saying that their daughter is absolutely ADORABLE.

(and she is most certainly the cutest turtle I have ever seen.)

-------0-------

WW entries:

And then, she snapped

Project Alicia

The Paper Mama

Exciting news!

A few months back someone graciously nominated me for the Top 25 Photographer Moms on Circle of Moms.  I was so thrilled to be nominated and even more excited when after a slew of votes I not only made it into the top 25, but ranked in at number 17!

Hurray!

Since then I had to submit a photo of myself (eeeeks!) and answer some interview questions for the article on their site. Well today I saw its up! 

So here is what it looks like on their site:

 

And if you would like to check out the actual article and all the other top 25 photographer moms click here.

A big thank you to all of you who voted!!!

And if your a visitor from Circle of Moms a big thank you for stopping by. :)

Thanks for reading!!

The Coast

Over a year ago my girls, my mom and my grandma when to the Washington and Oregon coast for vacation. 

 

I just happened to stumble upon these photos yesterday while looking for something and decided to print a few for my photo wall.

It was a wonderful trip.

And it was so nice  being able to spend some time with my grandma. 

Since we only get to see her a few times a year. 

Looking back we made a lot of wonderful memories and
I just can't believe how much the girls have changed since then.
I hope we can take another trip out there again soon!

-------o-------

Snap and Share
and then, she {snapped} 
Black and White Wednesday

For the FUNNY of it.

Do you Pinterest?

If you said no.. let me ask you this.. do you want to find another huge fun time waster on the net?

Of course you do! 

Who doesn't? right???

Here is a link if you wanna check it out.

So, in lue of my love for Pinterest I wanted to share some of my funny pins:

 (I did not make these... just Pinned them.)

I don't think Kraft has ever prefferated mac and cheese boxes. 

They laugh at us, Im sure of it. 

But were on to you!!!

 Cute!

Errrrrr sooo we all must be going commando now??

I'm really behind on current trends.

 heh.

Soooo true!! But lets try and be a litttttle more happy about it, eh?

Which is exactly why I don't google any sort of illness and why I don't...no can't,  watch The Doctors anymore.

Hope some of those made ya smile... I laughed out loud all by myself at a few.. 

Which always makes me feel like a fun loven' weirdo.

For your health.....or something

Ahhhh yes... corn on the cob. 

A summer delicacy.... 

But, have you ever just cooked too many of these fab cobs and wondered what to do with the leftovers... Well I'm here to help.

Oh, and so is my little one.

  

Is this coveted family secret I'm about to share with you...

Scrumptious?

 Yes.

Easy to prepare?

 uh huh.

Messy?

Yup.

Fun?

 Uhhh yeah, sure, why not?

Suspiciously similar looking to normal run of the mill corn?

kinda, sorta.

The secret?

Mayonnaise.

The other secret?

The corn has to be COLD!

 Cold left over corn on the cob +  Mayo = absolute deliciousness and your friends categorizing you as weird (officially).

This recipes is recommended by four out of five dentists.

I may be confusing that with Colgate, but don't knock it till ya try it...mmmmkay?

-------o-------
Communal Global
Happiness Project

Pretty in Pink

I Heart faces theme this week is Pretty in Pink.

(I'm trying a new commenting thingy-ma-bob today, so it may be a little wacky! sorry!)

Smooth skin

Before and After comparison of making smooth skin in Photoshop:

So this technique works really well if you have a photo where someone has shiny spots on their face. Essentially, its kinda like adding virtual foundation. Oh yeahhhhh.

Lets get this party started!

First open your image in Photoshop:

This is just a random goof ball shot of my daughter from the other day.

Next, you want to duplicate your background:

I named my new layer blur, you can name it or leave it. Naming your layers only really becomes handy when you have TONS of layers going on in an image, and this simple trick only takes two!

Once duplicated, you need to blur the image to get that soft smooth look.

 You do that by going to File>Blur>Guassian Blur

 Now your duplicated image is blurry. 

You can adjust the radius of the blur to suit your needs.

I usually leave mine around 20.

Once you have the radius set, click OK.

Now you need to add a layer mask onto our new blurry image.

(See how my blurry layer is blue? That indicates what layer your working on.)

So, after making sure your working on the right layer, click on the bottom of the layers pallet and click>add new layer mask.

You will now have a white box next to your blur image.

 This next step looks crazy cause of all the arrows, but its really simple.

Click on your new white layer mask you just made then click on Paint Bucket on left hand side of screen.

If your working color isn't black in your colors pallet you need to change it.

(if you have random colors in your color swatch double click to bring up the color pallet and choose black from there).

Now that you have black as your paint bucket color click on your image.

VOILA! 

Your blur is gone!

Sounds counter-intuitive right?

Well it would  be if that was it, BUT now grab your paint brush, and change your color to white.

Taking your new white paint brush, brush over the skin where you are needing that liquid foundation. 

(make sure your on your new black layer or you will just be coloring your photo white! eeeek!!)

If the effect is too harsh, you can change the opacity of the paint brush in the option above the photo.

(If you accidentally color over eyes, or something else just switch your brush back to black and correct it.)

Wahoo! She has soft skin!! 

If the effect is still too much, you can adjust the opacity of the blur image.

T

If there are a couple of blemishes on the subject you are working on, use the clone tool first to get rid of them, then apply soft skin.

The difference can be pretty amazing!!

Here is the finished product:

I'm thinking next I will show you how to add virtual makeup... thoughts?

-------0-------

yup

Out of focus?

Yup.

A photo of myself that may come back to haunt me?

  Yup.

A morning with my bed head, silly face bundle of love?

Totally worth it.

-------o-------

Communal Global

And then, she {snapped} 

The Paper Mama

Raise your hands

A family portrait...  of our hands.

You probably won't notice, but little sisters middle finger is special.

Or as she puts it, "It got chopped off."

*cringe*

It did.

When she was a little over one year old, she was holding onto the back of our dining room chair and fell forward. When she landed her finger got crushed between the chair and the floor, taking the top off with it. It was a terrible ordeal, but its all healed now and it doesn't seem to effect her writing too much.

Plus, she thinks its cool.

This is my entry for Raise Your Hands (with special fingers) at I Heart Faces this week.

Morning

Sounding out letters with morning cartoons.

-------o-------

and then, she {snapped}
 Black & White Wednesday
Project Alicia
The Paper Mama
Deb Duty

Howdy

Well hello my little country bump-kin.

My Hero

My mom and I took the girls down the street from her house to my old elementary school to play.

We peeked in the windows of my old first grade classroom and my little first grader was in awe.

I was was too, because the room looks exactly the same....even the ceiling.

I would know, because when I was six years old I would stare at it real hard like when I was trying to conjure up brain matter to compute 2+3=___?

Back then I was sure looking up was the answer to all my problems. 

I was, what did they call it???

Oh yeah, special.

 *cough, cough*

moving on...

While there, my oldest took on the old monkey bars.

And while she poured her heart and soul into it..

 I couldn't help but peek back at her little sister idolizing her from different angles. 

The eye level approach:

The elevated, leaning into it approach:

And the eagle eye top view approach:

Once the monkey bars were conquered,

(and little sister jotted down some tips)

they moved on.

 Now, 

I'm improvising here....

 BUT, 

I'm pretty sure that's what was said.

-------o-------
Communal Global