Cynthia Shaffer

The Studio is Ready!

Photography 101 class is tomorrow and the studio is all set up and ready to go!

And with a little luck the rain will stop right around 2:00 so we can go outside and get some great photos of the neighborhood.

In the studio I have a few different vignettes set up ready to be shot.

And then at the tables I have small pieces of art, cookies and flowers ... just waiting to be photographed.

If this group of ladies is anything like the last class ... everyone will love playing with this set,making this fabulous bokeh.

So ... stayed tuned and I'll post some photos of our fun day together.

Carving Rubber Stamps : : A Duet With Jen Osborn

I've been carving rubber stamps lately, something that I thought I would NEVER do ... but I have to tell you, it is SOOOO much fun. 

Yesterday I woke up to a text message from Jen Osborn, we are friends on facebook and from time to time we chat back and forth ... I love her art. There weren't any words in the message, just a photo of her 2 latest paintings. 

So fun don't you think? 

I got inspired ... and I loved her barn, tree and of course her signature skeleton head ... I decided to carve some rubber using her images as inspiration.

I know, I know ... the barn is falling over ... oh well, it happens.

So simple and yet soooo Jen!

 

Of course I couldn't well enoguh alone ... out came the Glimmer Mists.

 

So sweet don't you think? Love this one ... I couldn't stop stamping ........! 

Here's what you do:

Find a simple image that you like and simply sketch it out onto an eraser or this pink rubber. Next, using the smallest carving blade, outline the image and then cut out the details.

For larger shapes just use a scissor or a craft knife and cut out around the image, then carve out the interior details.

Thanks Jen for the inspiration! 

Happy carving.

 

Bokeh and Bees

The weather is soooo beautiful these days and the bees are out in full force! 

(50mm lens, 1/160 sec @ f/2.2, ISO 100, flower filter ON!)

In my backyard I have a few fruit trees ... a pink grapefruit, avocado (Yum, my favorite), an apple tree and a peach tree!

(50mm lens, 1/800 sec @ f/2.2, ISO 100, no filter.)

And let me tell you ... they are all in full bloom and the bees are hard at work pollinating and buzzing all around!

While I was shooting away here, I noticed all the nice bokeh, so I went and grabbed my flower filter that I made ... tutorial is here ... then went back out to shoot another round of the bees hard at work.

These filters are so much fun to shoot with. You can see the photos that have the filter and those that don't. 

Love this guy coming in for landing ... and that shadow ... so cute don't you think? Might have to go back out and shoot something else ....

There is a shot of one of the last stalks of Lavender, hanging around ... I might just have to paint this photo! I'm loving the colors!

Friday Featured Artist

I know I'm a bit behind here ...  but last Friday I was featured on Harmony Pypers blog as her Friday Feature Artist! Oh, this is me ... I needed a new head shot ... and check out my uniform ... I've worn it for 6 weeks straight and still loving it!

Anyways ...what a privilege it was to be interviewed by Harmony ... such a sweet, sweet soul!

I first met Harmony  a few months ago. A bunch of us had gathered to paint together at Studio Crescendoh.

The next time I spent time with Harmony was when she enrolled in my Photography 101 class. That's where I really got to know her ... what a doll and so driven to really figure out her camera and man oh man has she caught on ... her blog has such great energy now that she's shooting in manual mode! Oh, and she's funny too! Go read some of her posts!

Anyways ... check out her blog and her Friday Feature Artist interview ... I kind of just tell it like it is ... and so far nobody has been too offended. I don't think.

Jennifer Mercede : : Amazing Class!

Can I just tell you something? Jennifer Mercede's class this weekend was amazing. This was her first class she has ever taught and let me tell you ... it was amazing, and she was an amazing teacher!

This is the one painting I did finish ... and I love it! It's actually really big, like 30 x 30 inches. I loved all the doodling and and all the layers and then more layers ... then more doodling ... then we covered it all up and started again.

On Saturday, the morning started out with a few fun warm-up type games ... so fun!

then Jennifer talks with all a little about how the weekend was going flow ... and what we were to expect ... and she was constantly asking us if the pace was ok, or if she could help in anyway ... so sweet!

And in no time were all blind folded and had to doodle all over our big canvases! So fun.

I thought I had covered my entire canvas ... or that the pen was not working at all ... 

Next we were to pick just one color and slather it all over the canvas ... not paying any attention to what was being covered up.

Then came the doodling and mark making ... and random words, what ever words were popping into our head were to be written down.

Next ... more doodling and random painting dripping and splattered.

And most of this painting so far has been done with these random house paints that I picked up a Home Depot for little to no money!

I was really having fun with the doodling ... these marks were all made with my left hand!

And just about the time I was kind of liking my painting ... we had to cover up 90% of it with random paint! I cringed at first, but then fell in love with it again.

Of course there would be a final challenge ... we had just one hour to finish our paintings ... needless to say ... I was sweating at this point ... but I did it ... I even had a chance to get some advice from Jennifer on a few things that were not feeling right.  Finished with a few monents to spare and  I loved my painting all over again!

This is one other piece I started to work on ... but ran out of time ... not sure where it's headed!

And this piece is still in the works ... hmmmm ... What to do next? Maybe more doodling ... always a good thing to do when you're stuck! I need to remember that!

 

Tag Explorations

 

Crescendoh is featuring my tags this week ...

You can find the entire tutorial here in the Gallery section!

Enjoy and Happy Crafting!

Fast Cars and Kimchi Tofu Korean Soup

Jenny and I made plans to go out to dinner tonight to her favorite Korean tofu soup restaurant ... I volunteered to drive.

She could hear me coming from way up the street ... This 1980 Z28 Camaro is my husbands car ... actually the first car he owned and drove while in high school back in his hometown in New York.

We had the car shipped to us way back when ... like 18 years ago or so. The car sat in our drive way for a few years until one day we decided to have the smog stuff fixed and order those California plate. Right around this time I met Jenny Doh and we became fast friends with our kids the same ages and lots of things in common ... then the licences plates arrived in the mail ... really ... 3 DOH634 ... what are the chances?

So Jenny jumped in the car and off we went to dinner. She had never driven in the camaro before so this was going to be a treat. She will tell you that she was scared to death, gripping the arm rest with all her might and at one point, when I accelerated on the freeway, you know, trying to get the hood vent to fly open, she screamed really loud. Hilarious!

Dinner was amazing ... Kimchi pork Korean soup and BBQ ribs ... so spicy, literally boiling hot, with flavor that's to die for. 

Loved the miniature clothing framed on the walls.

And I'm thinking this sign says ... "Really yummy food inside ... Welcome." I could be wrong ... Jenny had to give me a quick Korean restaurant etiquette lesson before we got there. She didn't want me to embarrass myself. Too funny!

 

 

I Heart Laguna Beach

The above photos were all taken at Tuvalu and if you ever get a chance to visit this store be sure to bring your camera ... There is eye candy everywhere!

And then there are lots of fun furry friends out for a day at the beach.

There are really no words need here ... The Candy Baron has every type of candy under the sun!

While the sun never made an appearance today, the overcast sky's gave me the perfect amount of filtered light to shoot and shoot and shoot ... Field trip anyone?

One Photograph : : Many Presets

I was out in my front yard talking with my neighbor the other day and at the same time we both turned around  and noticed these little tiny white berries on a very barren tree.

(Untouched original photo)

I had never noticed them before. I grabbed my camera and started shooting away. I fell in love with this photo ... Oh, can you imagine it layered with another photo? 

Then I started playing with it and applied a bunch of different presets. 

Preset: WOW-Antique 10

Preset: Color Creative - Yesteryear 1

Preset: Creative - Split Tone 3

Preset: Color Creative - Purple Glasses

Preset: WOW-c HSL-Only_BRown

Preset: General- Auto Tone

Preset: WOW-c_BnW_02, WOW-d_Bnw_02

Preset: BW/Bodie/Lite

Preset: WOW-f_Vignette_Lt-07

Preset: Color Creative - Cold Tone

Preset: B&W Creative - Antique Gray

Some of these presets are included in Adobe Lightroom3, which is the photo editing program I use, and then some of the presets I have purchased here at RadLab and them a few are from onOne Prefect Presets. 

Oh sure I could monkey with all the sliders in Lightroom 3 and get these same effects, but why when I can just push a button and get these great effects in seconds?

 

Nutella Chessecake : : My Latest Go To Dessert

Nutella Cheesecake ... yup ... the taste is amazing and .... oh, so  easy to make! I found the recipe here, and yes, her's look better than mine, but I'm sure mine tasted just as good! The recipe is so simple I've memorized it ...  

Here's what you do:

Grab about 12 or more oreo cookies and 3 T of melted unsalted butter and pop them into a large zip-lock bag and hammer and crush the cookies.

Press the cookie mixture into small jars ... These are the jar that marinated artichoke hearts come in!

Next, combine 2/3 C Nutella and 8 oz. softened cream cheese and 1 tsp. of real vanilla and cream together with an electric mixer.

Then fold in by hand 8 oz. thawed whipped topping and fill the jars. Top the Nutella cheesecake with whip cream and toasted hazelnut and then chill for a few hours before serving!

So yummy and soooo easy!

Uniform Project : : The Making of the Little Black Dress

After a little bit of brainstorming, I was off and running, searching for the perfect black/dark gray fabric to make our uniforms from. 

We decided on the middle fabric that I found at Fabric Land, my local high-end fabric store. Here's a couple reasons why we loved this fabric ... First we all liked the deep dark color and secondly, the fiber content is a polyester and rayon blend. Easy to wash and wear, and that poly will make the dress industrial strength and the rayon adds a little bit of fluidity and swing.

After taking Jenny's measurements, I then drafted a pattern for her, referring to a little sketch I had drawn and shared with everyone. OH how I love to draft patterns. It had been a while since I had really drafted a pattern and had to use my skills from my days in the garment industry. I loved it then and love it now. There's a bit of creativity in drafting a pattern ... your brain needs to be able to think in 3D terms and there is also a certain amount of math and science involved, which I also love! 

After cutting all the pieces out, I then over-locked or serged all the edges and did a quick stay stitch around the neck front and back and marked the center front with a long hand sewn basting stitch.

Next, I pinned all the pieces together and then basted all the seams together, yes, I run over the pins with my sewing machine!

This dress can be worn forwards or backwards and the insertion of this little pleat in the back or front, depending on how you are wearing it, really gives the dress that extra little flare.

After fitting the dress to Jenny, little to no alterations were needed, so I sewed over all the seams and then pressed them open, set the sleeves, dropped in the facings, marked the buttonhole placement and then stitched the 10 buttonholes! Yes, 10 ... count them. Oh, then came the buttons ... I decided to just use a random assortment of vintage and not so vintage black and gray buttons that I found in my black button mason jar.

And then to finish the dress ... the hem!

Check out Jenny's blog today and check out how many people are receiving fresh clean water! 

She's got this dress all dolled up and ready for a day out!

 

Project Home Ec and Water.org

Have you visited Jenny Doh's blog in the past few days? If you have then you know that she is at it again. This time, in the spirit of the Uniform project, Jenny is wearing a uniform, a little black dress (designed and stitched by yours truly) everyday for the next 365 days, all in an effort to raise money for Water.org.

There's a few of us that will be doing the same, but probably not to the extreme that Jenny is taking it. My promise was to wear my not-so-little black drees, whenever I take a class, teach a class or meet with friends or am at Bible study and so far ... that has been 18 days in a row now!

In addition to wearing the black dress daily, we have all agreed to not purchase any new clothes for a year and instead, make do, mend and alter what we already own.

Welcome ... Project Home Ec.

Come join us won't you? 

 

Photography 101 : Bring It On!

I just spent the last several hours setting everything up for my Photography 101 class tomorrow and I can't wait!

There's 1 spot left in tomorrows class, and a few spots still available in the March 17th class.

Small vignettes and sets are peppered throughout the studio, so that after everyone has a pretty good grip on the basics, it will be all about playing and practicing!

I'll be shooting while tethered to my computer so everyone can see what happens when I change aperture, lenses and perspective.

If you're interested in joining us, check out the class registration information here!

 

Japanese Candy Wrapper Collage : Tutorial

My Husband just called to inform that he will be traveling in the upcoming months ... It's Japan again ... my favorite place!

He travels there often and always returns home with some very interesting candy for my kids. We never know what it will be and I have to tell you, I have only actually tried a few of the 'sweets' he has brought back.

Why you might ask ... well here's why ... I learned early on in his traveling days that a lot of the Japanese candies are made from bean paste ... and I love beans, but here's where I have an issue ... I can not wrap my brain around the idea that beans are a sweet treat. To me the are salty, savory and are often slathered with onions and cilantro. So ... do you understand my problem?

Here's a funny story ... so my mother had a Japanese foreign exchange student named Yoshiko come to live her for a year. We introduced her to all of our favorite foods, including refried beans ... she tried them and nearly spit them out on her plate ... she could not wrap her brain around the idea that they were not sweet! 

Japanese Candy Collage and Doodles

The wrapping and presentation is a feast for my eyes ... I love all the color and love the attention to details.

Japanese Candy Wrapper Collage:

 Unwrap and flatten colorful candy wrappers ... feed the candy to your children!

Cut out random shapes and swirls from the wrappers.

Using a glue stick, randomly adhere the pieces to a panel of watercolor paper.

Free motion stitch the wrappers in place and then onto the card in swirls and loop patterns.

Add some color with watercolor pencils and doodle shapes with a black marker.

Here's to Japanese candy, happy and safe travels for my husband and crafting and doodling!

Doodling Days

Let's just say that I a little bit of time over the holidays to play around with doodling ... I call them doodling day!

While visiting my in-laws in Michigan, I sat for a few days with pens and journal and doodled away.

Some pages were collaboratives with my sister-in-law Brenda ...

And some were just simple faces ...

And simple wispy flowers ...

And at one point a series of bumble bee looking things started showing up in my journal. That's the fun part of doodling, or at least doodling without a plan ... just start and see where it leads you!

Doodling Days = Happy Days!

Bokeh LOVE : : Fun Filter Tutorial

It's all about the bokeh these days ... you know the blur you get in the background of a photograph when you open up the aperture on your lens and then focus in on a subject that's pretty close. This works best with a focal length of 50mm or more and a wide open aperture! 

One important element that helps to accentuate this effect are twinkling lights in the background. It doesn't need to be twinkle lights really but just bits of light shinning through trees will help you get that effect also.

With a little bit of patience and practice you can add some really fun, cool affects to your photographs.

While focusing on a particular subject can be a little challenging, the look is just way to fun to not keep playing till you get a photo that really speak to you. LOVE this love photo!

Ok, how much fun is this photograph? The only thing missing are raindrops on the flower petals.

So ... here I'm purposely out of focus to accentuate the bokeh shaped raindrops.

I love this filter I made. Can you imagine photographing a church or an outdoor wedding using this effect? BEAUTIFUL if you ask me!

Here's what you do:

Trace the lens cap onto a black piece of card stock and cut out circle.

Using a light colored pencil, draw a small shape in the center of the black circle and then cut out using a craft knife.

Cut a strip of black card stock the circumference of the circle and then snip into the strip.

Wrap the clipped strip around the black circle and tape in place.

Now ... go play and experiment!

As you can imagine, the sky is the limit here!

Here are a few other bokeh filters I made. I shot all these at night ... forcing the bokeh effect with the twinkle lights that are hanging from my back patio all year long!

If you're new to this whole photography thing and want to take that DSLR out of auto mode ... You might want to consider taking this class I'm teaching ... Photography 101: Shooting Beyond Auto Mode. I know that the february date is nearly full, but there are still a few spot open for the March 17th date!

My Word ... My Words

I'm not so inspired to find a word or words to live by each year partly becasue it would be the same two words each year. Go. Do. Nothing has changed, I live by those two words every day. Every day I have things I must do and I don't want to do, but I do them anyways ... Go. Do.

I want inspiration to just leap out at me and cause me to create masterpieces ... instantly, but this is  almost never the case. Instead, I must go, do anyways ... just start.

Go, do ... without a plan, just start putting color on a canvas, just start stitching on a piece of osnaburg.

Go, do ... put random words or phrases on that canvas and then add another layer of color ... don't think too much, write what comes to mind.

I love to sing Amazing Grace. It's the song I sing in my head all the time ... those are the words that spilled out of me while I was journaling on this canvas.

Go, do ... cover up the chaos with yet another layer of paint. Watch as the words are washed away with transapent paints. Not gone entirely but covered up just a bit.

And then ... know when to stop and start it all over again.

Go. Do.

Paper Towel Art : : It's all about the details.

Just playing and exploring here.

Trying some new techniques here.

Remembering just how much I love to sew.

Machine stitching, hand sewing and couching ... I love it all.

I love the small little details ...

I love to move fast while I'm creating, not thinking much, just doing ...

Just doing and remembering ... remembering just how much I love to craft and create!

Want to know more about these inky paper towels? Check out this earlier post HERE!

Inkodye : : Apron, Ink, Doodle

Ok so, I have been crafting for lots of years, and tried lots of different products that do lots of different things, but when it comes to something quick, simple and super fun ... Inkodye is it.

So i was moving fast here,not wanting to spend too much time on an apron that is going to get used while I'm painting ... in other words ... there will be paint everywhere on this apron in no time.

First off, I just painted the apron with a red and orange, blending the colors a little. The ink goes on sort of clear, so blending can be a little difficult. Next I place this stencil on top of the apron, the placed it in the window sill for just a few minutes.

You see, the ink is light sensitive, so when it's exposed to sunlight the color develops right before your eyes.

And here it is after I rinse, washed and dried it .. so fun!

Next I tried it on a file folder with this alphabet stencil ...

So fun ... to be used in a future project.

While I was on an apron kick, I decided to use masking tape to mask off strips ... The colors are sooo rich and yummy.

And here it is after I rinsed it and peeled off the tape. I love the way the tape worked ... possibilities ... endless!

Oh, No, I couldn't leave well enough alone ... no, no ... out came the black permanent marker for a little doodling.

Then I white permanent marker , just to pop some of the doodles.

I love the quick transformation of these very simple aprons. Possibilities ... unlimited.

What a great thing to do at a kids party ... they would think it's all so magical!

 

Photography 101 : : Shooting Beyond Auto Mode

I am so excited for this new year and to have the opportunity to teach Photography 101 ... Shooting Beyond Auto Mode. 

With just a few basic skills ... ISO, aperture, and shutter speed, and a little bit of knowledge of camera lenses under your belt, you will be up, off and running ... and then practicing what you learn.

The first part of the class will be very hands on ... in the studio shooting little vignette I will set up and ... learning and ... making mistakes.

The second half of the class time will be spent outside, shooting each other and the great architecture found in the area, then back into the studio for some uploading and photo manipulation. 

The time is now to capture great photographs of your art, family and details of everyday life. 

And trust me ... once you learn what your camera can do in the creative manual modes, you'll never turn that back knob to that green box again!

Ready? Sign up here ... Photography 101