Mother's Day Button Photo Frame

Mother's Day is just around the corner, friends!  {Hooray!!}  If you're in need of a quick, cute, and easy gift project that just happens to be inexpensive too, here's One Artsy Mama to the rescue!  

BUTTON PHOTO FRAME

All About Mom Book: Review & Giveaway from Paper Coterie!

Friends, did you realize that Mother's Day is just three short weeks away?  Have you started thinking about what you might want to do for the moms in your life {and what those of you who are moms yourselves might want to ask for}?  I want to show you something today that I absolutely fell in love with at first sight.  Usually, I share DIY, or Do-It-Yourself, projects; this is a DIT, Do-it-Together, project I couldn't resist!

Take a look at the "All About My Mom" Photo Book from Paper Coterie!

Valentine Photo Prop

We love Valentine's Day in the Artsy House!  This year I wanted to take some extra special photos we could use to make Valentines for Little Crafter to give out to his friends.  So, I came up with a simple but adorable photo prop that's so easy to make...

Kisses Chalkboard Photo Prop

We actually made this chalkboard last winter, along with a green one that I use in the kitchen as a Menu sign.  Here's how we did it:

Materials: 

wooden sign 

chalkboard paint

acrylic paint

paintbrushes

chalk

STEP 1: Paint edges of sign with acrylic paint in your choice of color.

Little Crafter chose purple for the Ravens!  Look how much smaller he was just a year ago!

STEP 2: Paint one coat of chalkboard paint across the top using horizontal strokes.  Let dry for one hour.

STEP 3: Paint a second coat using vertical strokes.  Let dry for 24 hours.  I also gave the edges a second coat.

STEP 4: Condition by lightly rubbing chalk over entire surface.  Wipe clean with dry eraser or damp towel.

STEP 5: Have child write "Kisses 5 cents" with chalk.  Little Crafter had a lot of fun with that part!

The great thing is that since it's basically just a chalkboard, it can be reused for all kinds of occasions and purposes.  

To get the photos, I put his stool in front of a blank wall, close to a light.  We chose a button down shirt that coordinated with the sign, and since he had some craaaaazy bed head going on, I spiked his hair.  Of course, I forgot to wet it first, which he immediately pointed out and said, "Mommy, that's going to make my hair look awful."   Which, of course, it didn't!  Just look at these cute pics we got...

Is he a heart-stealer or what?!  The best part, though, is that for awhile yet, Mommy gets to be his only Valentine.

Be sure to check out how adorable the cards turned out!

Hugs & Glitter!

What We Wore: Color Blocking and Family Photos

Since we've been talking about photo Christmas cards, I couldn't help but think of the universal family photo dilemma.

 

 

I have a love/hate relationship with family photos.  I love, love, LOVE when I get a good one.  I hate the stress of trying to make sure everyone {especially me} looks good and the worst part of all is figuring out what we should wear.  This year, I was really excited about the outfits I came up with for all three of us...but first, let's take a little trip down memory lane.

2008: The Matchy-Matchy

Look!  We're triplets!  Except that one of us is extraordinarily tall and one of us can't eat solid food...  I had no idea what we should wear for our first official family beach photo, so we went with the old everyone-wears-a-white-shirt-and-jeans option.  Meh.  I was never a huge fan of the outfits {or of that extra baby-weight}.

 

2009: Coordination Citation

This time, I decided we needed color!  I thought royal blue would look nice with the ocean, so I packed a blue sundress and LC's Hawaiian shirt.  I then forced hubby to buy a matching polo at the Myrtle Beach Target.  We didn't manage to get an entire family pic that year, apparently.

 

2010: Opposites Attract

I knew I didn't want the all white and denim look again, so we tried a new option; black and white.  To mix it up a little, I had the boys do white shirts and black pants, while I did the opposite.  Why is it that the random stranger we ask to take our beach photo is the one who has never seen a DSLR camera in his or her life?  And who is apparently unwilling to get out of the comfy beach chair to take the picture...Um, hello, don't mind us, we're just floating in the clouds...

 

We did get this pic, though, which is one of my all time faves...

 

2011: Random Pop of Color

The motto for this one is "I forgot to plan our outfits so let's see what we can scrounge up out of our suitcases."  Hubs and I both had black tops, LC didn't.  So, he was turqouise.  It looked great in his solo pictures, but our family pic was just kind of awkward.  Icky lighting too...sigh.

 

 

2012: Color Blocking SUCCESS!

This year, I think I finally got a winning combination!  I built everything around my own outfit and the idea of color blocking.  I went with jewel tones; a royal blue skirt from Old Navy, a magenta top from NY&Co, and turquoise jewelry I made myself.

 

 

As for the boys...LC had a turquoise polo and khaki shorts, and the hubs had a great plaid shirt from Target that incorporated both the turquoise and the royal blue.  Which meant...we looked great together!  We coordinated without being too matchy-matchy, and there were enough colors to keep things interesting to the eye.

LC and I coordinated on our own, and he also coordinated with his Daddy.

 

 Our entire family beach photo was {once again} a fail...bad lighting, bad exposure.  Sigh.  One day we'll get it right.  For now, our best family photo is the one taken in the hotel lobby.  Such is life.

 

This is by far my favorite outfit combination we've come up with.  I also found that I can easily adapt my own outfit for fall by adding a cute little magenta cardigan and a turqouise belt, along with some tights and boots.  What's your favorite way to plan family photo outfits?

 

And, don't miss out on the $50 Shutterfly giveaway so you can order your own holiday cards!

 



 

Growing Your Blog: The Right Equipment

Yesterday, I shared some simple tips for improving any and every photo you post on your blog {or use personally}.  Today, I want to talk about the equipment that makes your photos the best they can be.

THE CAMERA 

Can you get good photos from a simple point-and-shoot camera? Yes. Will they be better with a DSLR camera? Absolutely.

We bought my Nikon D60 after LC was born because we decided it was worth the investment to have good quality photos of his childhood that we'll treasure forever. A good DSLR {I'd recommend a Nikon or a Canon} usually starts around $500 for the basic camera itself.

Look at these two pics of LC {isn't he tiny?!} that I took within a few weeks of each other. The first one was taken with a point and shoot. The second was taken with the Nikon D60. Look at the difference in brightness, clarity, and aperture.

In fact, I've found that I can take such high quality photos using my DSLR camera that we no longer pay to have professional portraits done.  I took these shots myself at the beach and we used them for LC's birthday photos.

To get family photos for Christmas cards and such, we just set up a tripod and get way better pictures than we ever got when we tried going somewhere to have them done.  LC is more relaxed because he's at home, and the camera does the work for me.

The only occasions when I use a point and shoot instead of the DSLR are ones where I don't want to lug the big camera {"the beast"} around...ie, when we're hiking in the woods.

I know that especially in this economy, most of us don't have $500 to throw around here and there, but if and when it's within your means, I can almost guarantee you wouldn't regret the purchase...plus, then you can make a cool camera strap cover for it and blog about it, right? 

{You can also enter to win a Canon 5D Mk III here}

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THE LENSES

Of course there are other accessories you can get too, if you decide you want to invest in them. {Or you can do what I do and ask your family for them for Christmas and your birthday...} The first extra I got was what I lovingly refer to as my "creeper lens," aka a Macro lens.  Ordinarily, the best lens for the job is the one that came with the camera.  But, sometimes it's nice having one I can switch to that can zoom in much farther.  I honestly don't use it often, but when I do, it's really nice to have.  Here are the places I've found it to be helpful:

SPORTS GAMES
Here's a comparison of how the field actually looked from our seats and how much I could zoom in on the players.

While they were warming up, we were allowed to stand closer to the field, where I could get shots like this one.

 

THE ZOO

Trust me, this is all the lens...we were nowhere near this close to the animals.

A macro lens runs around $275-300 for a basic version.  I find that it's not really necessary for any of the pics I take for my blog, but some people may find it helpful.  I just like it so I can zoom in on things at games, zoos, and the beach.

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THE FLASH

source

One of the best investments I my parents ever made was getting a Speedlight {attachable flash} for my camera.  You can bounce the flash off different spots to achieve various effects, and you won't believe the difference it makes!  Here are two photos, both taken with the same camera, the only difference being the use of the speedlight.

The speedlight I use is the Nikon SB-700, which runs beween $300-400.  I use it constantly, anytime we're indoors.

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THE SOFTWARE

No matter what kind of camera you have, you're also going to want some good software.  You can use an online editor, like PicMonkey, which is technically free but is eventually going to have a yearly subscription if you want to use all of the tools.  You can also purchase software to download and use...many companies offer a free trial version which lets you test-drive it and see how you like the features.  Here's a quick guide to what might be best for you.

BASIC: CameraBag 2 software retails for $29 {currently 25% off with the code CB2SALE} which is an affordable way to get started.  I was given a free liscense to test it out for you, and I found it to be very user-friendly.  It has great options for filters, colors, and styles as well as some borders.  If you're basically just looking to crop, resize, and adjust the color/exposure of your photos, this software is a fantastic choice for you!

Here's some pics from Mother's Day that I edited using CameraBag 2.

ADVANCED: Corel Paint Shop Pro software retails for $99 {right now it's on sale for just $49} and is for more advanced users.  It has just about every feature you can imagine.  I use this for creating buttons and headers, as well as editing photos.  It allows you to clone, fix blemishes, add text, work with multiple layers, and do all kinds of crazy things, like this.

I have some friends who use Adobe Photoshop, which I believe is pretty comparable but more expensive.  I'd be interested to know what additional features it offers, because I'm sure there's something to explain the pricing difference.

Today, I get the fun job of offering five lucky readers FREE liscenses to CameraBag 2! 

And remember, they're holding a sweepstakes on their page for a Canon camera too!

Enter here to be one of the lucky five; Rafflecopter will walk you through the entry process.  Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Grow Your Blog: Posting Better Photos

Well, friends, I've been up to my ears lately in One Crafty Contest {aren't you excited to see what our contestants are going to come up with for Round 1?!} but I wanted to take some time today to post the newest installment of the Grow Your Blog Series.

Today, we're going to talk about posting better photos!

When someone visits your blog to read a post, one of the first things he or she will notice is the photos.  Especially for those of us who blog about craft projects, home decor, fashion, and/or food, our readers are more interested in seeing what we're talking about than reading about it.  Here are some tips for making your photos the best they can be:

PREPARING TO PHOTOGRAPH:

Pay attention to your background.

 Make sure your photo isn't cluttered with a bunch of unneccessary stuff.  Try to photograph your projects on a simple background, like something white, something black, or something wooden. 

Or, you can also "stage" your project, like this photo from ArteBella Surplus.  Here,  spoon enhances rather than distracting from the beads, and shows a size reference so that customers know how big they are.

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WHILE YOU'RE PHOTOGRAPHING

Use natural light whenever possible!

It's just better.  Really.

Take multiple shots of your subject, snapping from different angles and heights.

One of the blessings of digital cameras is that we don't have to pay for photos we don't use, so snap away!  Take fifty pics, then decide which ones are the best.  You'll be surprised how things look from different vantage points, as you can see in these examples from my friend Jen at Sunny Vanilla.

Use your zoom.

Don't limit yourself to just photos of the entire project, zoom in and capture the details.  Trust me, your readers will want to see, especially if they're going to try and reproduce your project.

 

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AFTER YOU PHOTOGRAPH

Do some basic editing before you post your photos.

You don't have to be an editing pro to enhance and improve your photos.  All you need is access to some basic editing software, which you can find on the web, like PicMonkey, or purchase, like CameraBag, Corel Paint Shop Pro, or Adobe Photo Shop.  These are a few of the things I routinely do before any photo goes into a post.

Crop your picture to emphasize your subject goes a long way.  Trim out anything that isn't necessary.

Brighten photos that are too dark.

Resize photos so they don't take forever to load.  Mine are usually resized to around 600 x 800 pixels.  Then, when you post them, choose the large or x-large option so that your readers can really see them!

Add a Watermark

In today's digital world, it's very easy for someone to grab your photos right off your blog, Pinterest, or Facebook for whatever purpose they want.  I've done this plenty of times when I've featured projects, always being sure to give credit to the original source.  However, there are folks out there who {either unintentionally or not} will repost your photos without giving you the credit and link-back you deserve.  I've actually heard awful stories from other bloggers, like Allison from House of Hepworths, about people stealing their images and writing up posts about them as if they had created the project personally.  One way to combat this is by putting a watermark on your photos.  All you have to do is use the text feature in any photo editing software, type your blog name, and place it somewhere on the photo.  You can change the color and/or fade it so it has the appearance you want.  That way, no matter where the photo ends up, it always has your name on it.

Consider adding text.

You probably don't want to write on every photo you post, but if you're writing about a craft or recipe, it can be helpful to include a title on one of your main images.  That way, if someone pins it, they {and everyone else} can see exactly what it is.  We've all seen examples where people didn't bother to write a description on Pinterest or wrote something like "for Bobby's room" that has nothing to do with what the thing is, and then a bunch of people just repin it.

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I wanted to include so much more in this post, like how to equip yourself with a good camera, accessories, and photo software, but I just plain ran out of room and the post was waaaaay too long.  So, I split it up and tomorrow you can come back and read about those things.

Don't miss it; there's going to be a giveaway for FIVE free liscences to the new CameraBag editing software as well as a link to win a Canon 5D Mk III {aka a really nice camera}.

As always, I welcome your feedback and questions about anything you read here.  Talk to me!

Till then, Happy Photographing!