DIY Sheer Blooms

Today on the Imaginisce blog, I have posted a tutorial on how to make these beautiful flowers in three simple steps along with a few ways to use them in paper crafting projects.

As a thank you to all my blog readers, I have a fun giveaway courtesy of Imaginise.  Just post a comment on this post to be entered into the drawing.  The winner will be announced on this blog by the end of the week. Thanks so much to all of you for visiting.

Happy Camper

The projects I have to share today feature the brand new "Happy Camper" line by Imaginisce.  This line couldn't be more appropriate for our household as I have two happy campers who can't wait to pitch the tent again.

all Supplies Imaginisce except letters (October Afternoon & Rose Moka) 

Cricut & Cindy Loo cartridge used to make tree.

 

All Supplies Imaginisce except album (Karen Foster), Woodgrain Stamp (Stampin' Up), Chipboard Frame (Maya Roads)

Be sure to pop on over to the Imaginisce blog for more camping goodies and as always, a chance to win.  Thanks so much for visiting.

EDITED TO ADD:

Look for the mini album in the Create: Mini Albums Idea Book in June, 2012

Sisters & Friends

Supplies:  Paper (Best Creation Inc.), Handmade Buttons & Flowers (Purple Pumpkin Designs), Wood Art (K & Company), Journaling Sprout & Letters (Jillibean Soup), Die (Spellbinders), Twine (The Twinery), Date Samp

This page was based on the May sketch over on the Purple Pumpkin Blog.  I gave the sketch a little twist to accommodate a portrait photo.  That's the great thing about sketches;  they are so versatile.

I used Best Creation's "I love America" line for this page.  I took the die cut and removed the themed outside edge leaving me with the red and white star border only.  This allowed me to adapt the line to a more generic page.

I paired this line with the Boat Kit by Purple Pumpkin Designs.  The blues and reds pair beautifully with this line.

As you can see, I still have plenty left over for some boating pages this summer.  If you have yet to discover all the handmade goodies at Purple Pumpkin, I urge you to pay them a visit.  You'll be glad you did.

I'll leave you with that for today.  Thanks so much for visiting.

"Hello" Card

I have a quick post for you today, a card.  As you might notice in the photo, the rain is streaming down the window.  It has rained for the better part of this month so I decided to make a happy card with some fun colours and flowers.  I used the "Gone Camping" line by Best Creation Inc. in conjunction with a few of our product partners:  Helmar adhesive, Spellbinders dies and Epiphany Crafts' Shape Studio Tools.

Before I sign off, I want to share with you one other photo.  We have asparagus growing in our garden this year for the very first time.

I think next to the warm weather, our vegetable garden is my most favourite part of summer.  You can expect more of these kinds of photos as the season unfolds.

Thanks so much for visiting.

Photographing Projects - the inside scoop

**This is a post I shared on the Imaginisce blog a couple of weeks ago. I thought I'd also share it here for those of you who may have missed it.**

Taking great photos of crafty projects is difficult.  It really is. In fact, I believe it is an art of sorts too .  While I won't profess to have all the answers I have spent a fair bit of time working on my technique, reading about what others do, and finding a method that works for me.  Today, I have been asked to share some tips on how I get that "perfect" shot of my projects.

Location, Location, LOCATION:

While shooting outside is ideal, that is very seldom possible for me.  It's either raining, snowing, too windy or too bright when I want to take my photo.  So when I can't go outside, this is what I do.  I find the brightest place in my house, my sunroom.  Patio doors are a perfect place to take photos of projects.  This is where I take 95% of mine.

STAGING:

Layouts:
I place my layout on the floor in front of my patio doors. I use the floor tiles to line it up square. Standing directly over the page and looking down, I take the photo. I use the automatic setting with no flash. I usually take a couple, checking the display each time to see if I need to make any adjustments.  Is the photo straight?  Are there any shadows?  Is the focus OK?

Cards, Mini Albums:
I do this one a little differently.  I place two sheets of patterned paper on a chair, one up the back and the second on the seat. This gives me a place to position a card while also giving a nice back drop. I position the chair so that is is fully light by natural light and take the photo. 

Sometimes, I will set my piano bench in front of the patio door and use it to place "hard to photograph" projects.  As long as my stage is well light with natural light, I am good.


EQUIPMENT:

I shoot with a Canon 60D but you don't need a fancy camera to get a great photo.  Don't get me wrong.  It helps for sure but if you don't own a dSLR,  you can still get great shots.  To prove just that, I dug out old point and shoot Fugi S5000 bought in 2004 for the photos in this blog post.

So if the camera isn't the secret, what is the secret?

POST PHOTO EDITING

It took me awhile to figure out that even with a great camera, photos can still use some editing to tweak the sharpness, colours, contrast and lighting.  I use Photoshop Elements 6.0 to edit my photos.  There are newer versions available but this is the one I own so that is what I use.  There are some great auto functions under the ENHANCE tab.  Something as simple as the "auto contrast" function will sometimes go a long way to brightening up a layout.  I use either "AUTO LEVELS" or "AUTO CONTRAST" on most every photo.  Try each one individually and see which one works best for your individual photo. 

Take a look at these examples:

This is a cropped version of the layout I staged above.  I have not done a single other thing to this shot.

(For full design details on this page, visit THIS LINK.)

Adjusted Coloring:  On this photo, both the auto contrast and auto colors functions didn't really do a whole lot to change the photo (wouldn't you know it!) so I dug a little deeper in the menu and adjusted the colours for skin tones.  Notice how grey my daughter's skin tone is above.  By adjusting the skin tone, the entire page warms up and looks more natural.

Once you have chosen the "adjust color for skin tone" feature, simply click anywhere on the photo where there is skin and watch the colours change.  Because my daughter is so fair, this function works really well for me. There is a menu that comes up where you can use the sliders for different skin tones but I have never used it.
The last thing I do to my photos before saving is sharpen them.

Now I will admit that those are some of the most basic photo editing functions that I use.  If you want to delve deeper into this topic, I would recommend taking an online course.  I chose one by Jessica Sprague called "How to Edit Photos Like a Rockstar".  This is the single moment where my photo editing changed dramatically and to a point where I was really starting to be happy with my end result.  I edit all my photos now in RAW and have developed a work flow that works for me.  This is what you will need to do as well - find a work flow that works best for you.  Start by trying a few of the things I've mentioned here.  I use that skin tone trick alot.  I also use the auto functions alot.  Experiment a little bit and try not to tackle too much at once.  All of the little things I've learned have been over time.  I'm still learning.

Additional Tips:

Photographing Shaped Layouts:  Place the layout on a piece of white poster board.  I place the poster board in front of my patio doors like I do with any other project and take the photo.  Crop the photo like you would any other layout and adjust colours and contrast as needed.  Then, in Photoshop Elements, use the Paint Bucket tool on the white colour setting to make the white background "disappear".  Click on the photo where the poster board is and everything around the shape of the layout "should" turn perfectly white.  You may need to click on more than one area if it all doesn't turn white at once.  If you have shadows on your photograph, you may have difficulty.  Just play around with it and don't give up.  This tip only works well if your shaped paper is not white or very light in colour.  In this case, use black poster board and black on the paint bucket tool.

So there is it, in the smallest nutshell I could, some of my tips for making your projects shine when photographing them.  I hope you are able to take at least one thing away from these tips and apply it to your arsenol of photograhy tips.

Mixin' & Matchin' Upsy Daisy Style

Today is my day to post a challenge on the Upsy Daisy blog and I want to share a few design details on my blog of the two pages I created for the challenge.

"The Great Outdoors"

Supplies:  Paper, Brads (Upsy Daisy Designs), Sticker (Best Creation Inc.), Pins (Making Memories), Letters (Jenni Bowlin), Chipboard (Technique Tuesday), Twine

One thing I like to do with Upsy Daisy brads is add a mini letter to the center.  They are perfectly sized for this and make an interesting way to add text and titles to pages.  For another example, check out THIS PAGE.

"This is Love"

Supplies:  Paper & Bradds (Upsy Daisy Designs), Acrylic (Tattered Angels), Canvas Flower & Pearl Flourish (Prima), Chipboard Flowers & Journaling Sprout (Jillibean Soup), Chipboard Frame (Technique Tuesday), Stamp (Unity Stamp Company), Lace (Dollarama), Letters (Jenni Bowlin)

This page is all about texture. I added an oversize canvas flower, lace trim, acrylic, chipboard, metal brads, pearls and gems. I really love to create pages with layers of texture.

I also re-purposed the packaging from the Prima flourish.  I used it to stamp the word "love" for my title and to fill the inside of the acrylic frame above it. I really like how so many companies are making packaging that can also be used a design element.

Be sure to pop on over to the Daisy Diaries for specifics on the products I used above and to play along with this month's challenge.

Thanks so much for visiting.

Bunny Love

As promised, here is another project using the new fabric roly rosies flowers, only this time I chose to use them rather unconventionally. Check out this page:

"Bunny Love"

Supplies:  Paper, Border Stickers, Flowers, Brads, Glam Rock, i-Rock, Fabric Petal Roller (Imaginisce), Chipboard Frames (Technique Tuesday), Letters (Basic Grey, American Crafts), Floral Vine & Trim (Prima), Die (Sizzix)

For a totally different look with the fabric flowers, I cut all the petals apart and used them to line my frame.  What a fun way to add some interest and texture to a page.

The large sheer flower was handmade using a variety of sheer blooms. Look for a tutorial on this in the near future.

That's all I have for today. Have a wonderful weekend!

Roly Rosie Projects

The projects that I have to share today use the new fabric roly rosie flowers to make matching head and wristbands.  I'm really getting into the whole hair accessory thing so I started a "Hair Accessories" label on the side bar of my blog so they would be easy to find. 

To create this XL fabric blooms, I used three - four rolled flowers.

Directions:
1.  Roll 3-4 fabric blooms with Fabric Petal Rolling Tool.  Once each bloom is removed from the tool, set it on a flat surface and let it unfurl as it wants to.  The longer it sits, the larger it will become so start with your bottom layer first.  Roll the fabric so the pattern is rolled inward.

Notice how they are all different sizes.  The newprint one was rolled first and hence has unfurled the most. 

2.  Starting with the largest bloom and your i-Bond Tool (glue gun), layer the flowers, one on top of the other, securing with hot glue and you go.

So far, I have only put glue on the circle pad at the bottom.  I will attach all the side pieces as needed at the end.  This will allow me some flexibility to shape my flower.

3. Continue adding layers until you have the desired fullness.

At this point, you can add another tightly coiled flower like I did with the wristband or add a fabric topped brad like I did with the headband.

4.  To make fabric topped flower center use i-Top Tool, a small white flower and gems.

I like to wrap the flower around the top piece of the twist (brad or snap) daddy myself so I can really pull that flower tight and then I insert it into the tool. 

It will look something like this when you are done.  Because the flowers have holes in the center, I cover those with gems.

To Assemble Headband: 
Put a hole in the center of the XL flower made above and thread it onto the screw post of the headband.  Top with custom flower center.  Note:  I used hot glue to adhere mine as the headband was made with larger size twist daddies.  Add ribbon details to complete hairband.

To Assemble Wristband:
I had a premade one so I just added to flower to jazz it up a bit.  If you don't already have a band, you can make one by sewing a length of elastic to sheer ribbon.

And here they are being modelled:

I'm thinking I may have to make some more headbands to go around as everyone wanted a chance to wear this one.

I have another fabric roly rosie project to share but I'll wait until tomorrow.  Be sure to check back then. 
Make sure you stop by the Imaginisce blog and comment for your chance to win your very own Roly Rosie prize package.

Thanks, as always, for visiting.

Beautiful Girl

Today on the Imaginisce blog, I've been asked to share some tips on how I photograph my projects. The page that I used in the post is called "Beautiful Girl" and I thought I'd share it on my blog today with some notes on the design.

"Beautiful Girl"

Supplies:  Paper, Die Cuts, Glam Rocks, i-Rock, i-Top & Flowers (Imaginisce), Die (Spellbinders), Letters (Pink Paislee), Ruffle Trim (Prima), Mini Flowers (Maya Roads), Butterfly (Jenni Bowlin), Ribbon (Offray, Webster's Pages), Frilly Trim (Dollarama)

Design Notes: 

-To create the flower centers you see here, I used the i-Top tool.  I wrapped brown flowers around the medium Snap Daddy and the added the flower behind it and a bobby pin.  I basically recreated the hair pins I made last week for my girls and used them on my layout.  The i-rock tool and new accessories worked great for adding a touch of glam to the flower centers.

-All the fuzzy trim you see inside the circle was one of my amazing Dollarama finds.  The trim is really wide, about 3 inches, and I simply cut a circle from chipboard and layered the trim on top of it in layers until the whole thing was covered.  It gives such great texture to projects.

I'll leave you with that for today. Thanks so much for visiting.