vol.25

felt star garland

Hello everybody! Can you believe there is only 3 more days until Christmas? So crazily unbelievable! I'm heading over to my parent's for the day. Hoping to help with some wrapping she still has to do, and we are going to try and get as much baking done today as possible. We have vowed to keep Christmas day as free from baking as we can. :) I just despise cooking in the kitchen on Christmas day. We're going to cook a turkey the day before, and have turkey sandwiches on Christmas. There will be lots of snacking involved too. I'm making sweet and sour meatballs in my crockpot. They are super easy and equally yummy! I'm trying a new recipe this year, but the ones I have used in the past have always been good! We also have homemade salmon dip, jalapeno poppers, (delicous but somewhat of a job to make!) and a vegetable tray. Not to mention pumpkin pie, usually pumpkin rolls too, hawaiin salad, and waay too much Christmas candy. :) Every year mom says "we'll keep it simple this time"  and every year her list grows in leaps and bounds. We usually have enough food to feed an army.

....ANYHOW... I'm really just popping in to share pictures of my star garland. I finished it last night! I dont have a tutorial wrote up, but its SUPER easy.

 

Basically I cut out 7 stars. I drew one on copy paper and used it as my template. Traced the star onto ordinary white felt (stiff felt would have worked better, but I couldnt locate any) with a pencil, then cut them all out. I cut the center out of the center one, and kind of regretted it. :) It was much too flimsy afterwords.
 

I stitched the points together to form the chain. After I knew it was the right width I used a really large needle and stitched a piece of white twine to each end, and tied it in a loop. This allowed me to attach the garland to the bed posts. :)

They didnt seem to contrast enough for me, so I sprayed them with some silver spray paint we had. I also spray each star with some glitter spray I had picked up at wal-mart.

I'm looking forward to seeing how I can improve on the same idea next year. I also finished up a cupcake liner garland, but am NOT happy with how it turned out. Not sure any pictures will make it to the blog. ;)

Well, I had better run! I hope your enjoying the season and not stressing too much. :)

a quote for your week chap. 18

Photo Credit

Quote Credit

Happy Monday!! :)

December photo shoot

Hello! As promised, here are the rest of the pictures from the session I did on Friday. :) These were taken for a really good friend. This is her 2 year old daughter, and I even got to take pictures with the family's 7 week old pet datsun. He was adorable, and I wish I could have gotten more pictures of him. I was worried a 2 year old and 7 week old puppy was a recipe for disaster... but they were both so great! :) There were so many good ones to edit after this session, we went to three different locations and 3 separate outfits, and did it all within a hour. I love small towns! Of course, I stuck to my old reliable locations... so you may recognize them!

Ok doke... onto the pictures!  

she was TOTALLY determined to get her shoes off. :)

Experimenting with different light applications, and Kayleen T. Photography totally inspired me to play around with the bokeh effect. I'm not really sure I like how it turned out, but I had fun trying something new!

I'm now having puppy envy... really bad! :( I want another lhasa apso... 

You'll be seeing these pictures again,  because I've been working in my overlays!

... and having way too much fun!

Jaydon and my dad have the next few days off because they are waiting on a foundation to be poured at work before they can start on they're next house. It is nice having him home... with NO home improvement projects that need finishing. Such a nice feeling. He really doesnt know what to do with himself. ;) 

Do you have family coming for the holidays? My sister and brother in law are coming from wyoming, and my brother and his wife are coming from oregon. They are all planning to arrive on wednesday. We are *hoping* to get the kids together on thursday for some pictures. I am really not sure how that will turn out, but we'll see. My sisters boy is about 11 days younger then our Journey... and they are both at that active almost impossible to photograph stage. :) It should definitely be a challenge, but am really hoping to pull it off. We do not have any really good pictures of all four of them together. So, keep your fingers (and toes!) crossed we can make it happen. :) I'm *hoping* no colds or sicknesses put a damper on the holidays!

a teaser from a photo shoot I did Friday!

Suuuper sweet huh? This cutie pie is the daughter of a friend of mine. I'm pretty much done editing all the photos... so I'll share more soon!

btw- Used the overlays in the Child's play set... you probably recognize them by now? :)

...can you believe that this is the last weekend before Christmas? I'm in denial really. I never thought I would wish it... but I kinda miss when I was young and Christmas seemed to take forever to get here. Now it seems its gone way too fast... boo hoo. :)

What I am making right now...

I have been so busy working on other projects that I havent taken the time to work on any holiday projects this year... I seen this tutorial by one pearl button posted on handmade and homebaked this morning.

LOVE it. I had just picked up a really BIG skein (is that what they are called) of a white super soft yarn. Perfect for these adorable trees! I've already done one, and am looking forward to doing a little forest of them. I think I'll make some mini garlands to wrap around the trees.

Anyhow, another project I have in mind is to make a wintery felt garland to hang on the headboard of our bed. I strung lights, and after doing so felt it needed something else. :)

I picked up some white felt. I'm thinking either snowflakes or stars... I even picked up some glitter spray to add a little punch of bling. :)

Also finishing up some handmade gifts, Trinity has helped this year and its been fun including her. I'll be sure and post them when I can! :)

9 days of Christmas left? Its never too late for holiday projects is it?

Btw- The new bloom and blossom overlays are listed in the shop now.

That brings me to 5 finished sets! :) I'm taking a break and won't be completing anymore until after Christmas. Or at least that's my plan... we'll see how long I can keep away!

Are you still working on holiday projects?

overlay inspiration from fresh art photography

Hi! I'm making a brief appearance to share some images I thought were REALLY inspiring. Jodie of fresh art photography purchased the whimsical-ness set from me just yesterday, and already went to work with the set. She e-mailed me these images:

I love how she designed this template by simply creating a frame with the 4 corner pieces from the whimsical set.

After seeing what she did I finished up two new sets (still not released) and sent them over for her to work some magic. Jodie didn't disappoint!

 


...are these not just adorable? Super creativeness at work here. Jodie and her partner Kim have an obvious talent, I definitely recommend you check out they're website. In fact if you keep an eye on they're blog you may or may not spot the very first eye candy overlay giveaway. Ok, so you will... :) She should have the post up some tonight. So, keep your eyes peeled!

Inspiration overlay overload

I just posted this on the overlays blog... and I'll share it here as well!

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Ok, so the overlays are finally listed! Here are some examples you've seen and some new ones you haven't! I hope you enjoy them!! :)

I am grouping images from the same artist together. :)

This group of photographs is from Tania Lezak. :) I was referred to her blog by a friend!

"he loves me so" overlay from the whimsical-ness set.

flourish from the whimsical-nes set

decorative corner heart from the whimsical-ness set

hanging lamp from the whimsical-ness set

 

he loves me so overlay from the whimsical-nes set

These images are from mique of 30 days.  She planted this crazy little overlay idea in my head! :)

 

corner heart flourish from whimsical-ness set.

 

"Kiss Me" from Lovey Dovey set

heart from lovey dovey set

These beautiful photographs are from Kylie Clark! She's due in about a week and a half, and found time to play around with my overlays. Love the softness in her photographs. :) She sampled the whimsical-ness set for me. So, all overlays used in her photographs are from that set. :)

I love how she duplicated the flourish and created wings. :) 

 

she added the text "dream a little dream" it is not included in any set. :)

Amber also contributed some cute images. I first discovered her on flickr. She had posted some really cute photographs. Her family and kiddos are super duper cute...

I like how she used three different shapes to create this effect. The two sentiments and also the heart are included in the lovey dovey set... and so are the next group of photographs.

 

this last one uses a balloon from the child's play set

Also, here is another photographer I was suuper nervous about asking to test my overlays. I really figured this couple would be too busy, I mean they are Ulmer Studios after all. ;) Needless to say when she replied back and was super excited about helping I was happy! She sent this image over this morning, it uses the "he loves me so" overlay... What a cute family! :)

Well, I am onto my last photographer... Hannah was the first person I actually asked to test my shapes. She had contacted me first. She was interested in buying some of my art, and from there I noticed she was a photographer. The rest is history! :) I'm going to show images using the whimsical-ness set first. :)

 



and then these next images feature the lovey dovey set...

here she combined love with a computer generated font!

remember, you can fill in the shapes if you'd like, and they can also be stretched to create different looks. The hearts above are all the same shape.

 

Love how she changed the font to the right perspective. :)

I'm still waiting on more images from a few different photographers, so expect another "inspiration overlay overload" post in the near future! :)

I'll be posting "a quote for your week" a little later! It seems like I *just* did one. Another week gone by already? The countdown to Christmas! I'll try and post some pictures of our house decorated. I didnt get quite as much into it this year... there is just something about having your house for sale. I guess I am trying to keep it low key. :)

 

They are finally listed...

Yes, they really are! Some of you may have already seen them in the shop... but if not head on over and check them out. I really did not expect to get them listed tonight, but it feels really nice to have them available after a couple weeks of planning/prepping/e-mailing/testing/drawing etc. etc.

I'm curious, which set is your favorite?

I have a BUNCH of photographs from some amazing photographers, who were willing to test my shapes. I'll be sure and post them all tomorrow! I am much too tired to do them all tonight! :)

btw- The shapes are currently on sale at 30.00. Its somewhat of a special introductory rate, it is good until the 22nd. After that, they will be the regularly priced at 35.00. :)

Until then... here is another image from Hannah! :)

Night everyone!! :)

Overlays UPDATE!

Hello everyone! Hope you had a great weekend. :) We did. Helped my parents pick out they're tree on Saturday, then went back to they're house and helped decorate the tree... watched some Christmas classics, and snacked on fudge. :) 

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However, I HAVE been working hard on the overlays though... I mean I even set-up a new blog dedicated to the new overlays.

It is still under construction, so you'll have to pardon my virtual dust. Over time I hope I can fill it with tutorials, and examples of everyone's work! I also created a flickr group for the overlays. Be sure and join, I am sure the inspiration coming from this group will be amazing!

Ok, SO... I am finally wrapping up the last of the loose ends, and I am 99% sure I will have the overlays listed BY tomorrow (monday) morning. I'll update both blogs when they are finally in the shop. :)

I am SO so excited to get these finished! :) 

I'm going to leave you with this image from Hannah of H2photography...

She used the Lovey Dovey set on this image, and I just love it to pieces. :)

I am hoping to find a gifted tutorial writer out there....

"Hoping!" Is there anyone out there who can write me a detailed tutorial complete with screen shots (or possibly even a video?) on how to load my custom shapes/overlays? I've started writing a tutorial, but I have so many other "pieces" left to finish in this puzzle before I can list these overlays and I'd would really rather spend my time doing that. :)

So, here is what I am thinking:

What's in it for you:

I would pay you in product, (the 3 finished sets) and also include your name as the author of the tutorial.I'll send one set now, and then the other two when the tutorial is finished. :)

Deadline:

It would need to be completed no later then tomorrow night. I know this isnt giving much time, but I'm really pushing to get these overlays listed monday. If you are interested please e-mail me! vol.25 (at) hotmail.com If possible, please include a link to other tutorials you may have written. Thanks so much!!

P.S. We got our first snow today!! Not much, but the ground has been sprinkled with the powdery white stuff. :) .... and because I can't publish a post with no images/photographers, I will leave you with this shot, using sentiments from the "lovey dovey" set. :)