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Baby Boy Pee Covers!

November 17, 2011

Here is a little something I whipped up for our little one who is on his way…


‘=

Pee Covers!

I bought these for a friend a while back, but they were REALLY small – and she said really hard to “aim” on the kiddo’s weewee – SO, I thought I would make my own that are a tad larger.

Stay tuned for a tutorial!

They are super simple!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Wonder

November 16, 2011

Here is my little one looking up at the sky while playing outside. I love seeing her like this because I feel like I can see all of her curiosity and wonder for the world on her face!

 

Here are other great entries!

Photo Tip Of the Week (PTOW) – A Lightroom Adjustment Brush “aha” moment

November 15, 2011

Quick links:

Photo Tip Tuesday

Sweet Shot Tuesday

PHOTO TIP TUESDAY: The OPTION key in Lightroom

I have been talking to alot of friends these days about Lightroom and how great I think it is (no I do not get any kickbacks nor do I have stock in Adobe…I’m not even sure if you can buy stock in adobe… =)

So I thought I would start sharing a tip a week about photography in general with some extra focus on Lightroom.

Many times, I find that I need to bright the shadows on one side of someone’s face, without affecting the brighter side.  For that, I often use the adjustment brush in the Develop Module.  Well, while doing that, I sometimes accidentally brush over their nose or other area which is already too overexposed.  I realized the other day, that instead of having to move my mouse all the way over to the side panel and click on eraser, erase, then click back on the brush, I can just hold down the option key, and imediately have the eraser to use!   Hence my “AHA” moment!

So, this week’s tip: press the OPTION key while using the adjustment brush to quickly toggle between the brush and the eraser.

It will likely save you tons of time!

And while you are at it, click on the option key when you are doing just about anything in LR and see what other cool things it allows you to do!

Hope that helps!

SWEET SHOT TUESDAY:

We have been enjoying some abnormally warm weather the last couple of days, and I have been having fun experimenting with my camera

This is a simple pic I took from our driveway, playing around with bokeh on my wide angle lens.  Wide angle lenses on full format cameras are GREAT – the warping is so much fun!

Sweet Shot Day

IHeartFaces: Autumn Splendor

November 14, 2011

This week’s photo challenge celebrates autumn!

This is a picture of R playing outside and enjoying all the fallen leaves!

 

Check out some more great entries here!

Friday Freebie – Picture Day!

November 11, 2011

It’s time for this week’s Friday Freebie!

This is a picture of a tree I took – trying to experiment with different vantage points.  Feel free to right-click and download the picture, and use it for your computer background or other personal uses!

Enjoy!

Please note: This picture is copyright protected 2011 JAS Photography LLC, you may use it royalty free for personal applications. It is not for commercial use. Thanks!

Circular baby changing pad

November 10, 2011

I recently saw a tutorial on Lil Blue Boo for making a ciruclar baby changing pad and had to do it!

The funny thing is, a friend of mine had one of these and I fell in love with it a couple of years ago.  They are by Patemm and are awesome with really cute designs (and I’m sure way better constructed than mine), but I couldn’d bring myself to spend $65 on it.  What can I say, sometimes I’m cheap!

Sooooooo, I was very excited to see the tutorial from Lil Blue Boo, especially when I saw how “easy” it was!

Here is the one made in the last couple of days!

It was my first shot, so I made a few mistakes.  Definitely check out the tutorial to learn how to make one yourself, but here a couple of my comments you may want to read first.

1) The best time to buy these vinyl tablecloths, is the second half of summer from TJ Maxx or Marshalls when they are starting to go on sale but before they sell out.  I went around august and most were all gone!  Luckily I found 2 that I like.  You can also buy laminated cotton from a fabric store, but it is really expensive!  I bought this tablecloth for $5…sweet =)

2) I found out the hard way, that vinyl can tear pretty easily (see sad evidence below).  It was my fault though – I was using a regular stitch length.  This actually wasn’t a problem when sewing on the bias tape – a regular stitch length is fine for that.  It is more when you are sewing the lines across the whole pad that it becomes an issue.  SO, I would recommend using a LONG stitch length (I used 4.5).

(this is the small stitch length, too small for the vinyl)

(this is the longer stitch length – worked much better)

To recover from that mistake – I used nylon ribbon (the kind on the straps of backpacks) and sewed it over the 2 lines that were tearing.  I also ended up leaving a loop of it at one end to make a handle.

In the tutorial online, Ashely sews 2 lines a third of the way in to make pockets and help guide the folding of the mat.  Similar to the Patemm pad, I went ahead and sewed 2 more lines perpendicular to the ones she described.  This makes it easy to fold in both directions.  It also makes the 2 large pockets a little more usable in my opinion.  Unfortunately it blocks off little corner pockets that you can’t really use, but I still like it.

The other thing I did, was instead of using a button or strap closure, I put a piece of elastic on one end so that when it is closed up you can just flip the elastic over the end to keep it closed.  I felt like this would be faster and easier.

So as you can see again, this is the finished product!  The strap when folded, is a little longer than I intended and I’d probably make it smaller next time.  I apparently didn’t account for how it would fold up.  But this way I can put it on my shoulder like a purse and head to the bathroom!  Perfect for our upcoming baby!

Check out Ashley’s tutorial to make one yourself!  It took a total of about 2 hours, and that is WITH all my mistakes!

Have fun =)

next project

November 9, 2011

ok, found my next project: i’m going to make a peepee teepee. yup, a peepee teepee.

peepee teepee peepee teepee peepee teepee peepee teepee peepee teepee

sorry, i get carried a away sometimes…that is just fun to say! (or to copy and paste =)

anyways, I gave these as a baby shower gift to some friends a while back, and although they were really cute, they were tiny! My friends said they were hard to use because they were so small…so I’m going to make a larger version.

Keep tuned to find out how it goes, and i’m sure a simple tutorial to go with it!

Better late than never!

November 9, 2011

A blogging friend introduced me to “Sweet Shot Tuesdays” from the “My3Boybarians” blog.  So I thought I would join in the fun!  It is great to see other photography blogs and get inspired by other people’s enthusiasm and work.

So even though it is wednesday, I am going to put up my contribution to Sweet Shot Tuesdays =)

This picture is one I took yesterday for a photoshoot for a friend.  She just had the cutest baby, and I just got some fun studio lighting, so I was able to do some pix for her even though it was cold outside!

Sweet Shot Day

Quick and easy DIY cupcake toppers

November 7, 2011

Although I like to make cupcake toppers from scratch, I often find that I don’t have enough time for all of that.

So, out of “necessity” I discovered a quick and EASY way to make cupcake toppers:

with store bought STICKERS!

The great thing you can find stickers for almost any occasion to fit your party or desire =)  But you do want to make sure that the stickers are symmetric shapes.  So that when you stick them to each other, back to back, they will match.

Then all you do is take 1 sticker, put a toothpick in the middle, and then put another sticker on top.  Press firmly so that the toothpick is sandwhiched well between them, and you are done!

For these toppers, I was in a bind, so I used some scrapbooking stickers I had.

And for these halloween toppers, I used stickers from a $1 book of halloween stickers that I got for my daughter at Target.  It was awesome!

Sure you can find cuter stickers, but this was a last minute addition to the banana muffins we took to a friend’s house for dinner.  And the kids loved them!

So have fun sprucing up your cupcakes and muffins!

Friday Freebie: Thank You stickers!

November 4, 2011

It has been a while since I’ve done a friday freebie…sorry!

Now that I am not working for a few weeks, I have a little bit more time on my hands (and room in my brain!).

DIY printable thank you sticker

So today I thought I’d share a Thank You sticker that you can print and use over and over again.

Click on the image below to download a printable PDF of the sticker.

Then print it on label paper, cut or punch, and you are ready to go!

You can also print it on card stock to make hang tags.

Enjoy!

DIY printable PDF thank you sticker(and as always, please remember that this file is for personal use only)