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he’s growing too fast…Photo Tip

January 7, 2009 –

First let me say THANK YOU to all of you that left comments for Corbett yesterday. It was his first day back at preschool, so when he got home I told him some people wrote notes to him about his pictures. He stood next to me as I pulled up the blog. I wish I could have gotten a picture of his face as I read the comments. We read them again at bedtime. He just kept beaming. It was priceless. When I was finished he said, “Mommy, they all think I am a pretty awesome photographer - just like you.” Cherished moment…thank you!

He’s pulling up on everything, but hasn’t figured out the art of getting down. He hasn’t mastered the staircase, but stands holding the bottom step and gazing up with intent to follow his brothers up. He’s too much fun :)

Here’s a little photo tip:

I have had several emails asking about lighting and why pictures turn out orange. The orange is due to the lighting in your house. If you come to a SnapShop I’ll go into more detail on ways to solve this. In the meantime, if you are able (if there is enough light), turn off your interior lights and use natural light coming from your windows. You can tell on the pictures above that from behind there isn’t much light on Rett - not a lot of detail comes out. However, when I moved closer to the window and used the window to light his face….adorable baby boy!

NOTE: When I talk about using natural light (like in the Christmas tree post and here) through your windows I wasn’t clear to say that the best time is when the sun is not directly shining in. Typically mid-morning to mid-afternoon when the sun is over your house is the best. You should be able to look out your window and not squint because the sun is in your eyes….

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DIY {batik printing}

January 5, 2009 –

I thought I’d share another idea…something I made for Christmas gifts. In middle school I had an art teacher named Jennifer Brown (I had her husband Rob Brown in high school too). In 7th or 8th grade she taught us how to do batik printing. I had so much fun and have always wanted to do it again…now decades later I finally did it! If anyone knows the Browns (I think they are still local) you should send them a link to this! It is pretty simple to do - in simplistic terms you:

Melt wax (I used beeswax from Hobby Lobby)

Apply wax to fabric (I used wood block and rods, flour sacks from Walmart for towels)

Dye fabric (I used Rit liquid dye, added HOT water & salt)

Dry fabric, iron out wax

Wash

Now those directions won’t really help too much. You can find better ones HERE courtesy of Martha Stewart.

Here’s my supplies, the wax melting, the fabric after the wax was applied


The dyeing process (some I dyed wine, then denim blue hence the purple), drying process

The final product…cute custom dish towels

There are endless options of what you could make and dye. This is a bit of a long process depending on how much and how big you do. It was a lot of fun for me though…I’m thinking of what I could do next!

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DIY {cakestands}

December 30, 2008 –

I haven’t disappeared…we just returned from spending time with family for Christmas. I have a ton of pictures, but haven’t even begun to get them off my camera and onto the computer. I thought I’d share one of the Christmas gifts I made this year. I posted a link to this idea before Christmas and I’ve heard several of you made these as well. It is so easy and addicting….they are so fast and it was fun searching for plates I thought people would like….

You will need:

Epoxy

Plate, platter, bowl, etc.

A base that is wide enough to make the stand stable

Books for weight

Step one: Wash and dry the plate and base

Step two: Find the center of the bottom of your plate and mark it

Step three: Mix your epoxy and apply a thin layer to the base

Step four: Attach the two, turn upside down and use books for a little weight

They dry in about 5 minutes and are ready for use. I bought candlestick holders from Hobby Lobby for my base and plates from Southern Hospitality on Main St. in BA.


For those wondering, yes one of the bases is an old coffee can. That is the one I made for myself. No one else likes it, but I do and it is in my house so that is all that matters to me. When I showed my mom she smiled and said it looks like something I would like….:)

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Photo Tip {candlelight services}

December 23, 2008 –

This is one of my favorite Christmas 2007 pictures…it is Corbett and Chris at our Christmas Eve Candlelight service. Part of the challenge for candlelight services is you can’t use a flash…for one it is hugely distracting and two it destroys the feel of the moment. So here are some tips depending on your camera and understanding:

If you have a point and shoot or a dslr, but don’t really understand more than automatic shooting you will need to first turn off your flash. If your camera has a night mode, try that. If not use the auto setting and either hold your camera very still or sit it on something sturdy for the shot. Using the self-timer option will also help with keeping it sharp. You will need to be steady and still.

If you have a dslr and understand its manual settings….flash off, use a high ISO (mine was around 600), slow shutter speed (mine was around 1/60), low aperture (mine was f/2.8) and a sturdy hand/lap/tripod.

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Photo Tip {Christmas Present opening}

December 22, 2008 –

I know a lot of moms who are getting cameras for Christmas or recently purchased a new one, so I thought I post a little note about Christmas present pictures. I’d encourage you to pick 1-2 presents for each kid that you know they will be overjoyed to open….then do the following:

1. Take a picture of the present before it is opened

2. Take lots while your child is opening it from several angles (lay on the floor, stand over them, close ups of their hands opening it, every possible detail you can get, etc.) You’ll have to move fast for this….

3. Take some of your child playing with the gift…and you or your spouse joining in the fun.

Then after you have fully captured a few presents being opened, set your camera down and be fully present with your kids as you finish up the rest. Too often parents, myself included, get so wrapped up in taking pictures that we aren’t fully involved and a part of the moment. I will enjoy having pictures in the future, but my kids want me in the present. And really…what are you going to do with tons of pictures of every present being opened? Enjoy your kids and breathe in those moments with them….

Tomorrow I’ll post on getting great Christmas Eve candlelight service pics…

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Photo tip {Christmas tree pics}

December 4, 2008 –

I thought I’d share a little tip on taking pictures of your kids (or whatever else) in front of the Christmas tree. Most that I see have the child right next to the tree and the picture is taken at night using a flash. I am guessing the reason for taking it at night is to see the lights on the tree. On the pictures below you will see the common way to take tree pictures on the left. On the right, I took this during the middle of the day. Our front window was to a bit behind and to the left of Rett. As you can see the lights still come out great and the lighting on Rett is much more natural.

To do this I recommend:

* Put your child a bit in front of the tree, not right up next to it

* Get natural light on your child’s face. This means you might have to move the tree a bit and put the child between the window and tree with you next to the window - if you don’t have great natural light already

* Use the Av mode (set it to the smallest number) and turn off your flash

Do you find posts like this helpful? Let me know and I’ll try to do more every so often if you like them…

By AshleyAnn | Comments (22)

Photo Tip {the details}

November 21, 2008 –

Happy Friday! I thought I’d share a little photo tip/challenge for the weekend. To me photography is about telling a story - especially when it comes to my kids. In 20 years I will look at this picture and remember who Hudson was at 2 years. You pretty much never see him without cars in his hand and most recently he always has is Lightning McQueen rainboots on. So this weekend challenge yourself to tell the story of your kids in the details….I’d love to see what you come up with, so email me some or leave a link in the comments.

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Christmas Gifts….{water}

November 20, 2008 –

Poor you….with less pictures now some posts will have more words! I always love to hear ideas from other parents on things they do with their kids, so I thought I’d post a few of mine. First let me say I used to be a reader. Back in the days before kids I had favorite authors, favorite books, I would pour over one sentence dissecting the meaning. I have three boys. Chris had some ‘get to know you’ questions he was using for a meeting and one was “Who is your favorite author?” I asked him if Grace from the Design*Sponge counts. I no longer pour over books, instead I am pumped when Cottage Living arrives in the mailbox and I can find 5 minutes to fly through it. All that to say, my very favorite magazine arrives in November each year. It is the Samaritan’s Purse Christmas Catalog. This marks the beginning of Christmas for me. We are pretty active in social issues year round, but the Christmas Catalog is a highlight with the boys. I sat down with Corbett and Hudson to pick out what they wanted to “buy”. Hudson was a fan of milk, Corbett liked that he could help buy a house, stock a fish pond, buy chickens - he basically liked it all. What really stood out to him was a picture of a child with a dirty glass of water and a clean glass of water. Corbett’s FAVORITE drink is a warn glass of water. We talked about how some kids don’t have clean water and how we can help buy water filters and pumps to allow them to have clean water. The next Sunday my church played the following video - it is well worth your time to watch:

To bring it all home we now have a glass of dirty water sitting on our kitchen table. It reminds Corbett and Hudson to pray for those that don’t have clean water and it reminds us to give to enable them to enjoy a clean glass of water like we enjoy everyday…..

Every 21 seconds a child dies from a water related illness

If you are interested in giving to help provide clean water globally here are two organizations to consider (many more can be found online):

Samaritan’s Purse

World Vision

Gift Ideas:

1. Combine a contribution certificate with a cool water bottle as a stocking stuffer

2. Combine a contribution certificate with a new set of kitchen glasses. You can find cool old vintage ones at flea markets.

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DIY {misc. projects}

October 3, 2008 –

Inhabitots Custom Freezer Paper shirts….’alternative’ way to do homeade shirts

Super cute FREE gift tags you can download from SugarLoop - way cute if for Christmas

Shrinky Dink key chains from How About Orange - I’m going to do this soon with the boys

Martha’s Candy Wrapper Buckets - cute for storage in a kids room (recycle all those Halloween wrappers)

Design*Sponge’s Catch all Shelf - pure genius…now I have to find a corner in my house to do several stacked

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Science Experiments {Eggs & Oil}

October 2, 2008 –

Corbett and I did a couple of science experiments…from a really old Martha Stewart Kids magazine. The first one involves dissolving the shell off a raw egg.

1. Place an egg in a glass jar

2. Cover with vinegar & refrigerate for 24 hours

3. After 24 hours, pour out vinegar and cover with fresh vinegar

4. After another 24 hours pour out vinegar and the shell will have dissolved

The egg becomes translucent and you can see the yolk rolling around inside. Don’t squeeze the egg…Corbett did and discovered it is still a runny raw egg


The second experiment teaches how oil and water are different but both liquids…you can get more in depth educationally with your kids…

1. Put about 2 tablespoons of oil in a glass container. Squeeze several drops of food coloring in. You will notice the food coloring stays as droplets.

2. Pour the oil mixture into water and watch as the food coloring slowly dissolves.

Corbett said next time he wants to put the food coloring and oil into a jar with an egg and vinegar to see if the egg will change colors…

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