Cynthia Shaffer

Lightroom Tutorial : : Photographers Workhorse

Happy Dance ... more info to come ... but for now, my online Photography 101, Through the Artists Eyes, is up and selling with a great Early Bird Special! Come check out Jeanne Oliver's site right here for details! Photography 101, Through the Artists Eyes!

I am often asked about how I edit my photos and what editing program I use. The HANDS DOWN best software out there is availble here ... Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 6!

Heres a little tutorial on how I use Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 6! This is just a quick overview of what Lightroom  can do and how fast adjustments and edits can be made.

  1. When you first click on the Lightroom icon, this is what pops up. (Ok ... you'll see here that I have not upgraded to Lightroom 6 just yet, be will be doing so soon!) 

2. So now you want to import my photos or maybe you just want to edit existing photos. A panel will show up the allows you to pick an existing catalog or create a new catalog. I tend to create a new catalog for new large projects. I do however have catalogs for my blog posts, family and so, where I then divide the content into different folders. 

 3. Once the photos have been loaded up you can then start to edit them. There are a few quick things that I do to almost all my photos. Here's an example:

The left side shows the photo as it was shot, right out of my camera. Because I almost always shoot in RAW, every photo needs some adjusting. The right side shows the photo after a few quick adjustments have been made. 

4. Here's a close up of a few of the sliders and adjustments that I use to make really quick adjustments to every photo. I usually check the white balance right away and then go from there. I could spend an entire day talking about on just white balance, but I'll save that so another post! 

Often the exposure needs to be opened up or increased a bit, as well as the contrast and sometimes the highlights can be taken down a hair and shadows are opened up or increased. I usually only add a little saturation, vibrance and clarity.

I can save the adjustments that I have made here as a "User Preset" and then give it a name and then batch all the photos and apply these adjustments to all the photos at one time! 

5. Lightroom also comes with some presets that are super fun to play with! On the left panel, there are a bunch of different combinations that have been put together and with just a click of the button your photo can have a slight vintage blue look to it ... as seen below!

6. Here you can see the photo before the preset application on the left and the after photo on the right! 

7. Of course there are many, many presets out on the market to purchase! I have bought a bunch in the past and use them on occasion. For this camper photos the "Urban Collection" seemed to be a good fit. 

8. Ok, so ... I have only scratched the very surface of what Lightroom can do for your photos! Of course you can crop, make black and white images, smooth skin, sharpen and create eyelashes, upload to social media, make slide shows, add text, make books and on and on! It's a big photo editing program and so much more ... but here's the thing! It's doable ... it's not a monster program like Photoshop! Yes, I use photoshop when I have to, but the majority of time I can edit my photos right here in Lightroom. 

If your considering purchasing Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, then you'll want to purcahse Scott Kelby's book on Lightroom available here!  

The way Scott explains how to use the program is simple and to the point! It's my go to manual when I want to learn and try something new or just need a refreasher course on something I don't do very often! This is a must have book! 

Ok ... hope this helped a little and don't hesitate to contact me if you have further questions! 

Happy Shooting! 

 

 

 

Cut Out + Keep : : SEWING SUPERSTAR

  

A few months ago the kind folks at Cut Out + Keep contacted me to see if they could feature some of my sewing tutorials on their site and here it is! How cute that they are calling me a SEWING SUPERSTAR! Made me smile.

Anyways ... todays featured project is this Receipt Caddy .... 

If you want out this site everyday and you'll see a new featured sewing project! 

Thanks Cut Out + Keep! 

 

 

Free Motion Stitched Girls : : Greeting cards : : Tutorial

It's always a thrill to be asked by Stampington & Company to submit art projects ... in fact I'm working on a batch for some upcoming article as I type! 

Here's the funny thing about the Guest artist post I did for Stampington Place. I was poking around the internet one morning and I came across Stampington & Company's blog! I didn't even know that they had a blog! So I was looking and ckickin here and there and thought, WOW this is really a fun blog that I need to check often. 

I got up and went outside to water the plants ... you, know, it was Tuesday morning and that's one of the two days that us Californian folks are allowed to water the plants and lawn! 

I came back inside, check my emails and sure enough there was an email from a Sarah that works at Stampington. So I opened up the email and it was from Sarah, Stampinton's Blog editor and she was asking me if I'd like to be a featured guest artist on the Stampington Place Blog! SERIOUSLY, I kid you not ... that's how it all started! 

Hope you'll hop on over to the Stampinton Place Blog and check out the entire post. You'll soon learn that these free motion stitched girls were inspired by an online class I was taking through Jeanne Oliver, by Danielle Donaldson. Thanks friends for allowing me to post and share these girls! 

She's a little awkward ... She's my favorite free motion stitched girl! 

 

 

Coastal Crafts : : Decorative Seaside Projects to Inspire Your Inner Beachcomber

Look what just arrived from Amazon! Coastal Crafts! 

I'm so excited to share this book with you! 

I feel like I gave birth to this book years ago ... seriously, it feels like a lifetime ago that I was stitching fish garland and painting seashells! 

Here's a few fun facts about this book ... First, it's a multi craft book ... so it's not just sewing, or gluing or painting ... it's all crafty things in one book! And second, I intentionally created every project from supplies and materials that can be purchased at your local craft store like Michael's or Joann's! How fun it that? 

Yup, I painted shells all nice and white to make this heart shaped hearth wreath ...

 

These candlesticks were one of the first projects I created for the book and I think they may be my favorite too! 

 

And I covered these chuncky letters with glue to adorn my front porch! 

Here are just a handful of other projects offered in the book to really get you into that beachy, coastal mood ... you know, cause summer is here, right, and who doesn't like a little coastal craftiness in there home during the warmer summer months?

LOVE this lampshade covered with the antique nautical map! LOVE!

And ... Nautical flag garland anyone? Yes, PLEASE!

And of course ... Linen pillows with huge stenciled shells are the perfect coastal touch for any window seat with a garden or beach view!

Oh, and a little embroidery on a few dishtowels make just the perfect hostess gift! 

Or how about a little plaster and sand memorabilia!

Ok, so ... what are you waiting for ... seriously ... grab your copy of Coastal Crafts here on Amazon or anywhere craft books are sold, and get your craftiness on! Also, check out this nice post that Lark Crafts has up on their site today! 

Enjoy!
 

 

Crochet Hemp and Chain Necklace : : Tutorial

How fun is this?

And how cute is this?

My studio is all cleaned up, the laundry is done ... or at least my boxing gear is clean and ready for tomorrow, and the dishes are washed and put away. So, you know what that means ... that means I have a little free time to craft ... and so crafting I did! 

First I grabbed some hemp yarn I rediscovered while cleaning up my studio and then I started digging in my jewelry supplies and came across a few fun chains ... The idea was to crochet in and out of the chain. I didn't have a set plan, I just started crocheting.

Here's what I did:

• Cut a length of chain that measure 17 inches.
• Using a size 0 crochet hook and the hemp yarn, crochet 3 single crochets in one of the links, about 4 inches to one side of the center, chain 6, skip the next chain link then single crochet in the next link. Repeat until you have single crocheted in 6 links. Cut the hemp yarn.
• Starting back at the beginning, slip stitch into the first chain six group and then single crochet 3 into the chain loop. Chain 3 then single crochet 3 into the next loop. Repeat until you have 3 single crochets in evey loop. Cut the hemp yarn.

• Using a large eye needle, weave the ends of the hemp yarn in and out of the crochet stitches.

• This necklace is basically crocheted the same except there is one more row of crochet and instead of chaining 3, I chained 6. Oh, and the chain is longer (26 inches) and the links are smaller.

• Slipped a few beads, a metal heart and a pearl into an eye pin.

• Weave the eye pin in the center crochet group.

• Slip a few more beads onto the eye pin and then attach it to the chain link that directly above it.

• Add 2 more eye pins to either side of the center pin, or not ... originally I made this necklace with the 3 hearts hanging, but as I was photographing it, I realized I liked it better with out those 2 side hearts.

• For the smaller chain necklace, I just added a metal heart and 3 little crystal beads.

Lovely don't you think? 

Note: Crochet is not really my expertise ... sewing, yes, crocheting no ... so having said that, if you see flaws in my crocheting directions cut me a little slack ... I offer these crochet tutorials mostly to inspire you to try something that maybe you never thought of! 

And The Winner Of the Arrow Necklace Is .... Kristin!

I really didn't

forget,

Swear,

I didn't,

Life just got busy

And then

tonight,

With a bunch of people sitting around the dinner table,

I printed out the names of everyone that said "Hi"

on my blog,

In response 

to the arrow necklace

Giveaway!

And the winner is ...

Kristin!

I'll send you an email to get your address!

Mixed Media Essentials ... Giveaway and Tutorial!

I'm so excited to finally get to show everyone these super fun rubber stamps by Roben-Marie Smith and even more honored to be considered part of a design team that includes some super talented artist!

So there's a little blog hop going on right now ... come along and check out the art that everyone   created using Roben-Marie's rubber stamps. You'll soon see that the art is among the best I've seen in a long time ... and the variety is vast and great!

April Cole

Carissa Paige

Danielle Donaldson

Jen Osborn

Kristin Peterson

Lorraine Bell

Roben-Marie Smith

Sandi Keene

These are the samples I made using the rubber stamps ... One thing you'll notice is that the stamps are really big and so much fun to use in mixed media, shrink plastic and for embroidering on clothing or napkins, or ... well just about anything!

I was channeling my inner Roben-Marie when I creating this tag.

Here's the GIVEAWAY >>> This 6 arrow shrink plastic necklace ... leave a comment, or even just say "Hi" and I'll toss your name into the pot and on May 8th I'll pick a winner! 

The shrink plastic necklaces were just too much fun to make ... I couldn't stop ... It's one of those addicting kind of crafts!

And then at some point late one night, I grabed bits of odds and ends and created this little collage masking off one of the rubber stamp to show just one little cross.

And then this happened ... a little bit of embroidery on a panel that was stamped using three of the rubber stamp images and black StazOn ink and then stitched to a onesie!

Ok, I have to admit ... my pieces are a bit out there, but as I was telling Roben-Marie, I am so in love with these stamps that my mind kept jumping from project to project and I my hands couldn't keep up with my ideas!

Here's what I did to make the above shrink plastic arrow necklace: 

• Grab a sheet of shrink plastic and using black StazOn ink, stamp three arrows

• Cut out around the arrow shapes and punch small holes into the 4 corners on 2 of the arrows and 2 top corners of the third arrow.
• Using a cotton swab, lightly brush on three different coordinating chalk colors.

• Place the arrow into a pie tin and using an awl and a heat gun, shrink up the plastic.The side that was stamped on and colored on will now be the backside.

• Apply a thin coat of white gesso to the back of the shrunk arrows.

• Sand the sides of the arrows to smooth out any sharp points or edges.

• Add edge of black around the arrrows, using a black Sharpie marker.

• Link the necklace together with jump rings.
• Add a clasp to the back and then you are done!

 

 

 

Burlap Tote Tutorial : : Free Motion Stitching/Sketching

 

In case you haven't figured it out yet ... I LOVE TO FREE MOTION STITCH!

I LOVE everything about it ... the imperfections that happen because I was going too fast, or not fast enough. I Love the buttery feeling under my hands as I navigate the sewing machine over simple plain muslin.

And then to see the outcome, after a little bit of stress and tense shoulders is always worth it!

Here's what I did:

First you want to go to the Burlap Tote Tutorial I have a few days here and cut out all the parts and pieces needed to make one of those totes.

• Before I start free motion stitching I always do some warm-up panels to get the rhythm and flow going. I always have a stack of batting and muslin squares sitting right next to my sewing machine ... ready to be stitched.

• Looking at the print/motif on the burlap I choose to, I decided to free motion stitch a couple of mums and a stem and a few leaves.
• On plain white copy paper, I drew the basic shapes.
• Next I layered a panel of white cotton bating with a panel of muslin and then pinned the copy paper on top and cut out around the shape.

• Next I used a fabric glue stick and fabric basting adhesive to adhere the batting and muslin to the front panel of my burlap tote.

• Next  ...  the fun part ... Free motion stitch the mum, stems and leaf patterns, while looking at the motif on the burlap. I use free motion quilting gloves to help grip the fabric a bit.

What I did not realize was just how much the boots I was wearing was going to effect the control, or in this case, lack of control ... I had with the foot pedal! Oh, my ... total lead foot here!

• Then using sharp scissors, I cut out around the stitched motif and best I could.

 And there you have it ... Easy Peasy and one so fun ... and the perfect size and shape to hold your laptop and wallet  ... oh any you lipstick!

 

Burlap Tote Tutorial : : Easy Peasy and oh so Cute!

 

How fun is this?

And this? And guess what? They are the perfect size tote to carry a large laptop!

Right around the holidays I found these amazing fabrics ... Printed Burlap ... Oh my! I was in love and right away I knew what I was going to make with them.

When I got home from the fabric store, I started riffling through my mass of stash fabrics and gathered a few coordinating cotton for lining and jute webbing to be used as the straps. Oh and a bit of silk shantung ... Love to mix unexpected fabrics!

Want to make some? 

Here's what you do:

• Cut 2 pieces of burlap that measure 15 x 16.5 inches.
• Place the pieces right sides together and stitch down the side, across the bottom and them back up the other side, pivoting at the corners. Remember to back tack at the beginning and the end of your seams.

• Cut 2 pieces of coordinating cotton fabric that measure 15 x 16 inches.
• Place the pieces right sides together and stitch down the side, across the bottom, but this time you need to stop about 7 inches in, back tack, then start stitching again, leaving about a 4 inch opening. Continue stitching until you reach the other corner and pivot and then stitch up the other side. Remember to back tack at the beginning and the end of your seams

• Clip the corners at a diagonal. This will give the tote nice sharp corners once you turn it right side out.

• Flip the tote right side out and using a chop stick poke the corners out.

• Using an iron ... press the side seams open ... trust me, this really helps to find the side seam when you go to press the tote flat.

I was in mass production mode here. As you can see I have 3 totes in the works at one time!

• Next, cut a strip of cream color silk shantung that measures 4 inches wide x the width of the fabric. I'm pretty sure that my silk was 44 inches wide.
• Press the strip in half width-wise and then using a tape measure and a pencil make a small mark every 2 1/4 inch for the entire length of the strip.

•  Place one end of the strip under the sewing machine foot and stitch just a few stitches. Before you reach the pencil mark form a small pleat with your finger, about 3/8 to 1/2 inch deep. Stitch across the pleat and then repeat for every pencil mark.

• Pin the pleated silk to the right side of the top of the burlap tote. You may want to baste around the top of the tote to keep the silk in place.

• Cut a length of jute webbing that measures 50 inches.
• Pin the jute to the tote, centered at the side seams. Baste the straps if you feel you need to.

• Place the burlap tote inside the cotton lining, right side together and pin around the top edge. Stitch in place.

• Remember the opening you made at the bottom of the lining? Well ... here's where it comes in handy!
• Birth the tote through that hole ... I know kind of funny! That's the costume shop talk coming out in me!

• Almost there ... It can be snug, depending on just how wide of an opening you left in that lining.

• Push the lining to the inside and press the top edge.

• Stitch around the top edge through all layers, about 3/8 inch from the top edge.

• Stitch a small scrap of fabric with text printed on it ... using a zig-zag stitch and you are done!

 Printed burlap tote : : Easy Peasy!

Leather Journal : : Tutorial

It was a crafty kind of day at our house a few days ago. My son Corry, home from college, is loving the quiet of the house with just a few friends near by and the warmth pups! He was looking for something to make ... hummm.

I reminded him of all the hides of leather we recently acquired ... Ok, truth be told ... we went dumpster diving ... So worth it ... we scored 6 huge hides of leather ... and if you can belive it, we didn't take it all. There were several hides I left behind simply because I didn't care for the color. What was I thinking?

Anyways ... Corry loves to draw and paint and doodle, being the art major that he is and so he set out to learn how to make leather journals.

He was out in the man cave for hours ... reading and watching videos, trying to figure out what he wanted to make ... then, these happened!

After several hours, he mastered it! Of course I wanted a journal too and so for this tutorial, Corry made me a journal while I shot the photos and typed away ... Hope we didn't miss any steps! 

Here's what you do:

• Cut papers down to 6 x 9 inches

• Using a straight edge, tear about 1/4 inch off the short ends. Place the cork side of the ruler on the paper ... this makes for a varied and scrappy edge.

• Fold paper in half

• Gather all the folded pieces of paper to make several signatures. The thickness of the paper of the paper will determine how many pieces of paper are in each signature ... (A signature is a section in a journal ... if a signature is made with the thin paper, I will have 10 pieces of paper, folded in half to give me a 20 pages in that signature.) 
• For this journal we are mixing the papers within each signature so there will be a few thick pages made from watercolor paper and then a few pages made from marker paper. 
• There will be 7 signatures in this journal.

• Open to the center of one signature and mark the points where the pages are going to be stitched into the leather. For this journal we marked 1/4 from the top edge and the bottom edge, then make four marks roughly every 1 3/4 inch. This will give you 3 sections in the center of the signature. For the technique we are using to stitch this journal, you have to have an odd number of sections to sew in the center of the signtures.

• Using a leather needle and a hammer, poke hole where the pencil marks are.

•  Use this top piece of paper as a template to poke the holes in the remaining signatures. The paper clips help to keep all the paper lined up.

•  Cut a piece of leather that measures 14 x 6 1/2 inches.

• Place one signature 4 1/2 inches from the left edge and using a white pencil make a small dot where the holes are on the signature, and then 6 more 1/8 inch apart.

• Using the leather needle and hammer punch holes at every white mark.

• Cut a length of leather cord that measures 2 times the height of the signature x the number of signatures you have, plus an extra 12 inches.

• Place one signature onto the leather and follow the above chart to stitch the journal together. Start by going into the paper side of G4 and then on through the leather, tying a simple knot that can be untied ... leave a 4 inch tail. Then come back up through the leather and the paper at G3. Then back down through G2 and up through G1, then back down through G2 and then up through G3 and then down through G4 paper only and then through the F4 leather ... Continue up through F3 (This is the start of a new signature) leather and paper and continue in this manner until all the signature have been stitched into the leather. Your last stitch you will be going into A4 paper and leather and then back up through G3, leather only and then out G2 leather only and then in at A1 leather only and then across the top of the signatures and through the paper only from the back to the inside fold of G1.
• The below photo shows you what this stitching looks like from the outside.

•  This last stitch will bring you back to the first signature you started stitching. Untie the first knott and then tie the 2 end together. Trim the ends of the cord.

• The next step is to create some sort of closure ... here you can see that the inside flap is exactly the same width as the pages ... I may trim it by about 1/4 inch or so.

• And then the front flap doesn't goes all the way to the edge ... Not sure how I'm going to close this journal or embellish it. This is the fun part, according to Corry, so stay tuned for another post on how I finish it off.

 

Free Motion Stitching : : Sketching : : Doodling : : Painting

It was weekend of work, work and even more work ... and I couldn't stop the ideas from flowing.

In fact I got up early Saturday morning and then went to bed late that night with my mind still spinning over new ideas to stitch/sketch/doodle/paint on fabric and paper.

I couldn't stop thinking about all the possibilities for this type of organic, free motion stitching, doodling, sketching, painting ... or whatever you want to call it.

Here's what I did:

I first adhered a panel of muslin to a panel of white batting, using spray adhesive. Next I cut out a few circles in a variety of colors and glued them down using a fabric glue stick. And then the fun began ... I free motion stitched around the circles creating flowers and just random shapes. 

Next I painted the panel using these acrylic paints. I added color to the insides of the petals and to the outer edges of some flowers. At some point I even went in and added some white paint just to pop a few areas.

And then ... of course ... a little embroidery with white perl cotton adds the little perfect details that I love so much.

So fun don't you think? More samples to come ... Lord knows I made a ton!

 

Stitch . Craft . Create

Have you seen the latest edition of Stitch Craft Create?

You may remember that the first edition featured my quilted trees on the cover ... And today, they are offering one of my pieces on the Stitch Craft Create blog as a free project!

So cute, don't you think ... a quilted cozy for a bouquet of flowers, just in time for mothers day. You can find the post here along with the list of tools and instructions needed to make this cozy.

Here's a peak at a couple of the other projects I have in this latest edition ... free motion stitched infinity scarf,

A simple rolled rose necklace ... but the best part about this project is that the roses are interchangable.

The sky is the limit here with the different color combinations.

I'm so happy for the good people behind this magazine and Shannon, the editor couldn't be more professional and just really great to to work with. Congratulations F + W Media Inc. on another successful publication!

 

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.

 

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!

 

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!

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!

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!

 

Scrappy Wool Scarf : : Tutorial

The weather has definitely taken a turn around here and in fact it is down right cold out, all the time it seems ... well, not Minnesota cold, but cold for California. And, when the wind picks up a bit, and I'm outside watching a baseball game ... a wool scarf is about the only thing that really warms me up to the core.

Here's what I did to make this quick scrappy scarf:

• First I gathered a couple of wool sweaters in coordinating colors. I found these 2 sweaters at my local thrift store, and the pink one had been felted, just slightly.
• Next, I dusted off my serger and then just dove right in and serged the bottom rib, cutting off about 1/4 inch as I went.
• To make the knit ruffle, all you have to do is pull or stretch the sweater as it is going under the machine foot. If you want the serged stitch to be dense than shorten up the stitch length on the machine.

• Then, I just started cutting out panels from the 2 sweaters. Each panel measured about 8 inches wide and as long as I could possibly get. I even opened up the sleeve and found a nice long 8 inch wide piece there too.

• After I had several segments cut, I lined up the pieces the way I wanted them and then started serging the seams together. Note: If you look really close at the above photo, you can see that I have serged the brown piece to a non-ruffled pink piece, then placed a ruffled pink piece overlapping that seam but meeting at the top of that non-ruffled piece. 
• Now seam the 2 or actually 3 pink pieces wrong sides together.

• Piece the scarf together until you have about 70 inches total in length.

Ok so, as you can see these are pretty darn cute and so simple to make and makes really cute Christmas gifts! Needless to say, the cost was minimal as well ... let's see, I think each sweater was $1.90 and I still have lots of the brown sweater left to make a second one in a different color way ... 

Enjoy and Stay Warm!

 

Mustard and Gray Houndstooth : : Knitting for a Rainy Day

I LOVE rainy days.

Not only because all my plants are getting a nice drink of fresh water, but also because it gives me permission to stay home with my pups and do what I love to do ... KNIT!

When the weather changed to chilly and breezy a few days ago, and knowing that lots of baseball and rain were in my future, I took a little field trip to my local craft store and scooped up this yummy wool yarn.

Having no real plan or pattern in mind for this yarn I did remember that in my knitting group my friend Anna was trying out a new pattern that slightly resembled houndstooth and I have always loved houndstooth.

So I quick like knit up  a swatch to check my gauge and to work out the pattern and soon realized that I loved the look of the high contrast and that it did look like knitted houndstooth but much more simple than reading a chart and tracking your rows ...LOVE IT!

Look how simple ...

1. Starting with the gray yarn, cast on an odd number of stitches. the amount you cast on will depend on what you're knitting. (Think scarf, prayer shawl or skirt.)
2. Knit 2 foundation rows. 
3. Add the mustard yarn and K the first stitch, K the next stitch along with the loop right below the stitch that's on the needle.
4. Knit the next stitch.
5. Repeat #3 and #4 until you get to the end of the row.
6. Next row ... all K.
7. Now bring the gray back up .. K 2 then knit in the pattern described above, except when you get to the end of this row, K the last 2 stitches.
8. Knit the next row.

Here's to rainy days, yummy yarn, fab houndstooth and sweet pups!

Soldering + Glass + Pearls = Homecoming Corsage and Boutonniere : : Tutorial

Another high school dance has come and gone and guess what ... the corsage and boutonniere still look as good as the night they were worn!

You may remember this post last year when I announced to my son Corry and his girlfriend Dylan that I was pretty much done purchasing flowers for the dances when I discovered that they take them off when they get to the dance anyways!

This is what this years handmade "flowers" looked like. Of course they would be soldered ... that seems to be what I'm into these days and if I say so myself ... I think they turned out pretty fab!

Here's what I did:

• Using tinned copper wire, I first created a large heart shape and then another loop, just to make it look a bit abstract. 
• Then using fine silver wire I strung fresh water pearls, glass beads and some silver beads, twisting each bead in place on the wire. 
• Next I wrapped the thin wire around the heart shaped tinned copper. 

• After the heart shape was wrapped, I wrapped the curly ends and then went back and secured the center area. (Notice that at this point the red floss in the middle is gone ... since I was designing as I was going, not all the photos are super accurate and things change and I forget to re-shoot some steps.)

• Next I glued a little square of text from a Bible onto a 1" square of glass and then glued a little red heart onto the text. 
• Then I soldered just the top and bottom edges of the glass squares.

• And to anchor the wired heart to the glass, I soldered just a small spot at the top.

• Then sandwiched the wired bundle between the 2 glass squares and then soldered the outer edges several times.

• And to finish off the corsage, I cut a portion out of large jump and then soldered them to the sides.

• Then I  finished it off with a couple of lengths of cream rayon ribbon to wrap around the wrist then tied.

• The boutonniere was of course, much simpler. First I made a heart with the tinned copper wire, then wrapped the beaded silver wire around the shape.
• Next, I soldered the center to secure the shape.

• And to finish it off ... a short length of rayon ribbon wrapped around the center and a long pearl pin.

Photos of the lucky couple ... to come!