Civil War edits

For this week's photography assignment, our instructor wanted us to use whatever photo editing program we have to make some edits to some photos. Currently, I have Photoshop Elements 6 which is an older version of this program. I am waiting for Lightroom 4 to arrive which should be an easier program for me to navigate through.

While we were at a Civil War reenactment over the weekend, I took quite a few pictures, but here are a couple of my favorites that I decided to play with for my assignment:

 Both of these photos are straight out of the camera. So after spending a little bit of time adjusting some settings in my elements program, here is the after:

 

So what set do you like best? Originals or edited?

Compassion's Christmas Gift Catalog

Compassion's Christmas Gift Catalog is now available online!

 

You can view all of the gifts online, but you can order a catalog here.

 

Have some questions about the gift catatog? You will find answers here.

 

I love that there are so many choices to help make a difference! You can $4 to help protect one child from parasites...

 

...you can also share in the gift by helping to provide a roof for a highly vulnerable child and family.

 

We have already had a family discussion about scaling back our Christmas gifts this year so that we can make a purchase from the catalog to help spread some Christmas joy!

 

What gift are you drawn to?

 

 

 

The Joy Dare - restart

Back in January, I started a new journal. I was determined to make an effort to follow The Joy Dare. How hard could it be? Every day, write down three things that you are thankful for. Well, as life would have it, my journal has been neglected for most of the year.

Rather than feel defeated, I can do a restart! When I look through my journal, I can see that I actually have made some progress. Not consistently, but there are 291 entries. That is 291 things that I have taken the time to write down that I am thankful for this year!

Has your Joy journal been neglected lately? Let's purpose together to continue these lists that can help us change our attitudes, help us to see that He is with us in the little things that we encounter as moms each and every day.

286. candlelight
287. raindrops
288. orange mums
289. homemade toasted cheese sandwich with sweet pickles and dijon mustard
290. blue sky peeking through a cloud-filled sky
291. afternoon Bible study

Window Light - Take 2

One thing that makes it a little difficult to plan out window light shots at my home, we have no windows on the south side of our home (except for little bathroom windows). So the best time for me to try good window light shots is either morning or late afternoon right now. Of course this will be different depending on the season.

So last week after I did my window light still shots in the morning, I convinced my kids to let me practice on them...again... :o) Some of these shots are from one afternoon, some I did the next day.

Which one is your favorite?

InstaFriday

Time for a review of my Instagram photos from the past week!

 

 I was inspired last week by one of the InstaFriday posts to do some organizing in my kitchen. I decided to work on my cupboard at a time. Here is the contents of one cupboard.

 

The picture on the left is at after photo of the cleaned out cupboard, the picture on the right was the one I needed to tackle the next day.

 Compassion Event Volunteer Time! I love being available to help find sponsors for these kids at events and concerts.

 

 The concert we attended this time was really close to home this time. And, the Compassion table was set up inside the auditorium. We enjoyed listening to Heavens to Betsy, Dara Maclean, Jason Castro, and For King and Country. If this concert comes through your town, be sure to go! It was a great night of worship!

 Day 3 of kitchen cupboard cleaning...the dreaded baking cupboard! Yikes!

 

 Ahhh, so much better! And look, there is room on the top shelf!

 

 On Wednesday night, Kelsey decided the two of us should play a game of Scrabble. We only had just a few tiles left by the end of the game.

 

 Even though my photography class was postponed last night, I decided to work on my homework. This little guy sits on a shelf in my entry way. The 'trust God' sign was made by Matthew a really long time ago. Isn't it the perfect reminder for all of us? So simple and so profound...

 

 Another amazingly full cupboard! I believe I have enough tea to last me for years to come! Tea party anyone?

 

Petite Vanilla Bean Scones - these are for Kelsey's game night tonight with some of her friends, but I am exchanging a few of these with a young lady from our church. She made coconut macaroons last night and posted a picture on Instagram. So tonight I will be able to have scones and macaroons...maybe with some tea!

 

Are you on Instagram? Let me know in the comments and I can follow you! Be sure to link up with Life Rearranged each week for our InstaFriday posts too!

Photography Homework: Window Light

Last week in my photography class, we were learning about using window light. Because I didn't have any willing subjects this morning, I improvised with a couple of different stills. Our assignement was to have the subject facing you, have the subject face the light, and try to get a couple different expressions. Working with what I had, here is what I shot:

 

 1/320s, f/5.6 at 40.0mm iso100

 

 1/320s, f/5.6 at 46.0mm iso100

 

 1/320s, f/5.6 at 24.0mm iso100

 

 1/320s, f/5.6 at 36.0mm iso100

 

 1/200s, f/7.1 at 55.0mm iso100

 

And here is my first attempt at a Photoshop Elements edit. Not really sure what I was doing (layers?), so I need to spend some time learning what I can do in this program.

Stay tuned, because I was able to use live subjects tonight with window light on the opposite side of the house. :o)

Pinterest Christmas Ornaments

Every year since I can remember, I have purchased Christmas ornaments for each member of our little family.

Source: sewmamasew.com via Yvonne on Pinterest

But with all the creative ideas I have seen on Pinterest, I decided to make our ornaments this year.

I did all the embroidery on these last week at our Pinterest party...

Today, I took the time to finish them up a bit...

I wanted to back them all with a bit of felt, so I removed the embroidery hoop, placed the fabric on top of the felt, then added the hoop back onto the fabric and the felt.

 Then I trimmed off the excess fabric and felt around the embroidery hoop.

 I added a touch of glue around the cut fabric to seal the edges.

 

 Added some ribbon around each hoop...

 



...and a bit of ribbon at the top so these can be hung on our Christmas tree this year. One more completed Pinterest project!

 

Have you completed a Pinterest project lately?