Sneaky Father's Day

I was sure Father's Day was next week, but no, it's this week. Last year I saw a gift idea that I really wanted to do, but it just didn't happen. So I did it this year, and I'm so excited! I'm pretty sure DH doesn't read this, so I'll tell you about it. I realised this morning that if I was going to do this, I had to get it done today, while DH was at work. For setup, I taped a navy blanket with masking tape, in the corner of the foyer. The foyer gets great morning light from about 9 to 11. I dressed one child up as Work Daddy, and one child up as Weekend Daddy. Instead of changing the camera settings, I decided to rely on Picasa and my editing skills to make them into great pictures. Good lighting and the little guy's nap time coincided, so just getting the pictures was the most important thing. Turns out, good lighting can really help-some pictures all I did was crop. I did have to accept some slightly blurry photos, but they aren't noticeably so. I wanted to show them from unedited to print; in an effort to hide all the evidence, I've deleted alot of the unedited photos, but you get the idea.


Here's a picture that was just cropped-




I wanted to be able to see the logo on the shirt, but he was fading fast. Again, all I did was crop the photo.



This next one is a good example of why you would want to invest in a tripod-




AACCKK!! I took five of these, and didn't realise until I saw them on the computer that four of them were crooked, like this one! Thankfully, one turned out well, and sometimes, that's all you need.





I sharpened this next one, and adjusted the color a bit.



My how dark it is! Used the light tool, and you can see on the one after this what a difference that made!








I only printed the three with titles, my mom has the frames, so we're all set. I just have to pick up the prints. Oh, and keep the little lady from spilling the beans between now and Sunday. Maybe it was a good thing I forgot until today;)

Now you see that it is possible to get good pictures in a hurry. True, I had been thinking about this for a week or so, but I threw it together in less than a half hour. The picture taking took maybe 15 minutes- I could have taken longer, but I didn't want to push my luck. There you go, Happy Father's Day and Happy Thoughts as well!

Unfortunately short post

I've been having trouble finding a good time to post. This is really getting frustrating. I believe I will have to start posting when I first get up. Which is around 5 am. Anyways, what's been going on in the world of Lee and Loren; I finished the dress, and managed to avoid touching the zipper-it looked great when she tried it on, so that was a relief. The ring stacker was a learning activity. I learned that the difference between iron on and sew in interfacing is that when you try to sew in iron on, it's extremely slick. And even if you take the time to pin it, a lot, it will manage to move. a lot. I really thought I had just become incompetent until one day as I was moving the fabric I noticed the telltale little bumps, indicating iron on interfacing. And, believe it or not, I actually agonized over whether or not to just iron in it or cut and use the sew in. In the end, ring stacker #1 has iron on interfacing, we'll see what the difference is with sew in interfacing with ring stacker #2. My next project was going to be stuffed dinosaurs that you can dress up. This idea comes from combining my little lady's two favorite things-dinosaurs and dress up. I have a great name for them; Dress-Up Dinos. Start off with a Triceratops and a Brontosaurus-think I'll call them Trisha and Betty. You may have noticed that I used past tense. We have a big family drive to Georgia coming up, and in this caravan we'll have two 1yr olds, two 3 yr olds, one 41/2 yr old, one 8 yr old, and one 12 yr old. This is my target market, so I thought I'd get some stuff done that they can play with in the car. I thought they could give me feedback, and so could the adults driving the cars. The trip is 4th of July weekend, so I don't know how much I'll get done, but hey, ambition is a good thing, right? And now, I have to go, b/c children will be getting up, and I want to get some sewing in. Happy Thoughts!

Has it been so long?

Well, plenty to blog about, but not enough time right now...the ringer stacker episodes...the denim dress, the making of a mobile for the little guy, yes, I've had enough going on to go on for days, alas, I have to end this now b/c I have to go. Will make it up to you all later, I promise! Check back in a couple of days, and there will be a plethora of pictures and funny stories. (funny now, frustrating when it happened)Happy Thoughts!