Friday, May 21, 2010

Scrap Whispers Challenge #64


This week's challenge over at Scrap Whispers is to use a favorite movie as inspiration.
One of my all time favorites is Back to the Future. I used the song The Power of Love (Huey Lewis and the News) from the Movie as my title.
If you scrap, come play along. There's a great prize up for grabs this month!
If you take a peek at the Sussie Blog today, you'll see this LO over there too. I used LOTS of leftover Sussie supplies for this one.
Have a great weekend everyone!

Monday, May 17, 2010

White Balance, Low Light, and a Gray Card

*A small tutorial on White Balance*
If you're here for the Scrap Whispers Blog Hop, scroll down or click HERE.

If you have a camera that you can control the settings on, one of the main things you want to have right is your white balance. There are other things too, but for the sake of this post, we're just talking white balance. Most cameras have several auto options for this, but since I learned how to set a custom white balance, I try to do that as often as I can.
Having a correct white balance (WB) ensures that you won't have unrealistic color casts, so that objects which appear white in person are white in your photo, as well as getting a "true" rendition of all other colors too. The "color temperature" of a light source, will greatly affect color casts. It's much easier to get a proper white balance in natural light, and when taking pictures indoors with low light situations, you can very often end up with a very orange/yellow color cast.
Here's what I mean:

Before I set a custom white balance, I snapped this picture of my daughter.
To set a custom WB, your camera's manual will tell you exactly what to do. It usually involves taking a picture of something white, finding the custom WB setting on your camera and setting it to the picture of the white object. I recently purchased a gray card. So I snap a quick picture of it in whatever light situation I'm in and then set my WB to that picture.
So after I set my WB, this is how it looked:
Notice how the yellow cast is gone? I really do love this new gray card because my house gets practically NO natural light inside. We have very few windows AND are completely covered up in trees. I am not a fan of using a flash at all, so being able to set a custom WB (along with a few other settings that need to be right), I can take pictures under bad lighting conditions and get results I am happy with.
After my new gray card came in the mail, I played around with my camera a bit. These are all straight out of the camera (no editing) and NO flash. It really helps to have kiddos who don't mind the camera in their face all the time :). I actually had to tell her to quite posing and just let me take pictures.





Often times when people first start trying to learn how to shoot in manual mode, setting the white balance gets lost in the mix and often ignored. So find something white and set a custom white balance. :)

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Scrap Whispers Blog Hop

Hello!! Thanks for joining me on the Scrap Whispers Blog Hop. Thanks to Kelly for sending you this way. If you did not start at the beginning, you may want to head back to the Scrap Whispers Blog so you don't miss anything.

I have several friends with upcoming new arrivals so I chose to make a baby themed waterfall card. Here's how mine turned out.




Thanks for stopping by! You can head on over to Helen's blog to see hers as well as the rest of the SW team's.

Friday, May 14, 2010

Scrapbook Sussies *May Reveal*

*Edited to add one more page.. scroll to bottom of this post for Scrap Whispers Challenge*
This month's Sussies kit features Pebbles and K&Co. I'm sure I've said this before, but one of the things I love about these kits is that they have 2 themes, or two color schemes. So it's like getting two kits in one!

So here's what I did this month.



Just a few days before we found out the gender of the baby, we had a challenge over at Scrap Whispers to do a page related to the future. This was the perfect chance to journal about our upcoming arrival.


Be sure to check out the gallery and see what the other girls did with this kit!

*Edit*
I whipped up one more page using the May Sussies kit for the Challenge that went up just a bit ago at Scrap Whispers. Come play along.. there's a nice huge Bo Bunny prize for this month's winner.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

One of Those Days

Today has not been a very good day so far for me. Not because of anything that's happening ( I have PLENTY to be thankful for.) but just one of those days I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. I've been in a bad mood pretty much since my feet hit the floor. My patience has run thin with the kids, my house is a complete disaster, and I'm tired.

Natalie had a picnic today at her school, and if I'm being completely honest, I just didn't want to go. But I packed up a lunch, dressed the girls in their cute new dresses, and went anyway. I even said a prayer on the way there asking for help with my attitude. I wanted to snap out of it.
But when we got home, I wasn't much better. I started a load of clothes and put both kids down for a nap. Natalie doesn't normally take one, so I actually hear her playing in her room, but a little quiet time was needed. Especially for me.

So I decided to sit here and download the pictures I took of the girls before we left for the picnic.
And this is what I found.


Seriously? How can I possibly be in a bad mood when I have these two? Honestly? Does it get any better than this? I love those girls more than words can ever describe. And I have NO REASON to have a bad day. So what if the house is a mess. THIS is what matters.

Thank you Lord for answering that earlier prayer.

Monday, May 10, 2010

It's a.........

So we went to the doctor today... no need to keep you in suspense!

It's a ............


And a couple more pics...

(Lovin' Abigail's face in that one ^^.)
These two were right after we left the doctor's office, in the parking garage. Trying to get the girls to hold up the letters.

There is absolutely no doubt that it's a boy. We got quite a view.. not the least bit shy at all. :)
I have to admit it's a little strange, and feels kind of weird. John and I both were expecting it to be another girl. That's just what we're used to , I guess. But now that we know, we're excited. Especially since this is our last baby. Now to pick out a name!

Wednesday, May 05, 2010

Dixie Pieces Reveal - May 2010

I have lots of pages to share over the next few days! Starting with the May kit reveal for Dixie Pieces. Another great Monthly kit is available at Dixie Pieces.
May's kit is called Vintage Summer, and it worked perfectly for some Summer Beach pictures I haven't scrapped yet.
Here is everything I created:



And then here are a couple of cards:

Make sure you check out the DT Gallery to see what all the other gals did!

Saturday, May 01, 2010

Today is National Scrapbook Day!

I meant to get this post up earlier, but I was behind in some of my assignments for today, so I've been busy scrapping!
There is lots going on in the cyber world this weekend. I've been involved in two online crops!

Scrap Whispers is hosting a May Day crop, and you have until tomorrow night to participate. Lots of challenges on the forum.. you can go HERE!

Dixie Pieces is also having a crop today and you actually have until May 10th to upload your layouts if you're interested in that.. check out the forum HERE!

So I've been busy, busy.. and have lots to show you since it is the first of the month and I've got kit reveals.. but I'm saving that for a little later..
here's what's on my desk right now:


Used the May kit from Dixie Pieces for this one and it's for a challenge over at Scrap Whispers. Hope you're having a good National Scrapbook Day!!