Creative Photography Create a Series

We had our last class in this series of becoming a more creative photographer - I'm gonna miss the class! It was great and really pushed me to think and see things differently, and to pay more attention to what's around me in every day life.

Our final assignment was to take a series of photographs that work together - either based on photos we have taken in the past few weeks of class or on a whole new idea that we want to explore. So if there was something we liked from before, or maybe an inspiration from what other people have done in class, or just an idea of something that intrigues or interests you - think of a project and build a series that if it were hanging in a gallery would all make sense and go together. She showed us many examples of professional photographers doing "series", some were funny (smashed cakes, barbies posing on the beach) or sad (homeless children), some were self portraits, street scenes...you get the picture. Whatever inspires us!

I thought of my idea immediately based on a photo I had done for the category "reminder of your past" - in that one I took a picture of a pool behind a fence because it reminded me of living in a very small neighborhood growing up and only one house having a pool...with a fence around it...that all the neighborhood kids lined up against peering in on the poor homeowners that owned the pool...yeah, I'm still a little embarrassed about doing that haha. Anyway, I decided to combine stories from my childhood with single images to represent that story, and figured out how to print words on my pictures -

I'm very happy how they turned out and think I'm going to keep working on this project even though the class is over, maybe I'll make a little book of them :).

By the way, I googled how to print text on pictures and found a bunch of sites that do that. I used
befunky.com.

You don't have to be going to a class to think about a project that interests you - maybe a hobby or love of something - and take a few photos that tell a story or represent your idea. It was so fun to work on this assignment this week! Try it!

check out creativephotoacademy.com if you want to see more on classes at Pauls Photo in Torrance, CA.

Blueberry Crumb Cake

My friend Sheryl gave me this recipe for blueberry crumb cake and it's so so good! If you like crumb cake you should definitely try this recipe - it's fabulous, and the streusel topping (the best part of course) is perfect - mmmm I love crumb cake topping. Normally it's made in a 9" cake pan but I used my giant muffin pan instead and got 8 large muffins. I planned on making this for our new neighbors but as I was mixing up the batter I found out they are out of town right now so instead of having a whole cake that I was (a) either going to eat all by myself, (b) find someone else to give it to, or (3) eat it all by myself,  I decided to make giant muffins so I could satisfy my sweet tooth and eat ONE of them and then freeze the rest for when we have company coming in a couple weeks - yes I could have made the whole cake and froze it but I'm pretty sure my willpower isn't that strong today.

I didn't change anything, other than the size. I baked the giant muffins for approx 25 minutes, let them rest for 15 minutes before removing from the pan and cool the rest of the way on a wire rack. Click here for the recipe. YUM!!

Kitchen File

This system of organizing all the manuals and instructions for household things works great for us - each category gets it's own folder and they are all hanging in a free standing file box that I keep in a kitchen cabinet so they are always handy. We pull these out all the time and it's nice to have them so conveniently located and in one place.

I have the folders broken down something like this:
-oven/stove
-fridge/freezer/ice maker
-washer/dryer
-outdoors (grill, furniture, etc.)
-small appliances (blender, food processor, etc.)
-tv/direct tv

I also keep take-out menus, pet instructions, trash/recycling info, etc. in hanging folders in another standing file box. Works great for corralling all the little miscellaneous info we need to keep and would otherwise just get piled up or shoved in a drawer!

Zipper Bracelet

I saw these bright colored zippers at the craft store and they screamed "bracelet" to me, so I bought the bright pink one and some little snaps and made this... look how cute it turned out. Normally I would use clear plastic snaps but the store didn't have those so I bought the smallest metal ones I could find. You can't see the snap so it worked out just fine.

In this first picture the snaps are under the top of the zipper edges. If you space the snaps correctly the zipper will unzip so you can wear it zipped up like this picture, or unzipped (see below).





This is a 7" zipper. I used matching thread because even though I was very careful I can see the stitches from where I sewed on the snaps...

There are 2 parts to a snap - a top and bottom; you'll sew one part of the snap on each end of the zipper. Depending on how wide the zipper is decide if you want one or two snaps. I used two so it will lay flatter on my wrist.













Sew the bottom part of the snap to the right side of the zipper at the bottom of the zipper where the stop thing is. Attach the top and bottom of snaps together - then put the zipper around your wrist and decide where you want to fasten the other part of the snap. I held the snap in place on my wrist and unsnapped it from the sewn on bottom snap. That way I knew exactly where I wanted the top of the snaps to be so the top and bottom would line up perfectly. Sew in place.

Attach the top part of the snap to the reverse side of the zipper. There will be the snap bottoms on one end of the right side of the zipper, and the snap tops will be on the other end and on the wrong side. This picture is of how it will look with all the snaps sewn in place. Make sense? You won't see the snaps when it's fastened on your wrist!

Easter Flower Ideas

Here's a couple last minute flower arrangements to take with you as a hostess gift today, or to decorate your Easter table.

The first one is a grocery store bundle of yellow flowers. My initial thought was to put them in a baggie of water, insert them in a mason jar, and then fill in around the baggie with jelly beans. (The correct way to do that would be to put the flowers in a jar and then set it into a larger jar, filling the space between the jars that stays dry with jelly beans or whatever. I don't have 2 jars that fit like that so I was winging it with the baggie idea...) So yeah, that didn't work - I was careful but water still got on the jelly beans and that made a mess. So plan B: cut them all to fit, put them in a mason jar, tie a pretty ribbon around the neck of jar. To make it a little more special I hot glued a plastic Easter egg onto a skewer and tucked that into the flowers. Then because I never know when to quit, I hot glued another egg onto the end of one ribbon :)

The second one is a little more time consuming but really cute. The inspiration came from here. I bought 2 bunches of tulips and 3 bunches of carrots with the stems on. Put a rubber band around the vase or container you are using - I used a big mason jar. Tuck clean carrots under the rubber band to hold them place (around the outside of the container), trimming the bottoms to fit. I entertained the idea to leave the carrot tops on but that looked super out of control and messy so I trimmed them to about an inch off the carrot top. Tie a pretty ribbon over top of the rubber band.

Note I did not peel my carrots (didn't seem necessary and they'll last longer I think - just brush them off so they are clean) and left more of the tulip leaves attached so it has a little more "messier" natural look then the inspiration picture. I also found that turning a couple of the carrots upside down helped them lay better against the jar.

wet jelly beans = a mess

Peep Cupcakes

Peep cupcakes - super easy and SO cute. Make whatever flavor cupcakes you want, mine are lemon.  I frosted them with marshmallow buttercream, topped each one with a bunny Peep and a few shreds of candy "grass" (comes in a bag, should be able to find now at the grocery or craft store).

How can you not smile looking at these little cuties?

To make marshmallow buttercream frosting I just add one small jar of marshmallow fluff to my normal buttercream recipe which is:

1 stick of softened butter (if using unsalted butter add a pinch of salt to the frosting)
3 - 3 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
enough milk to give the consistency I want, maybe 2-3 tablespoons. I don't measure, just pour in a tiny bit at a time.

Beat the butter until smooth, add remaining ingredients with enough milk to make firm spreadable frosting. Then blend in the jar of fluff. So good!

Kids Crafts for Easter

Brooke has a couple cute ideas for Easter crafts that are inexpensive and since there is no hot glue involved (for once), they're probably suitable for different ages of kids to make!

For the first one she is making bird's nests out of string, balloons, glue and water. Dissolve some white glue in water, soak colored string in it, wrap it around a balloon and let dry. Remove the hardened string from the balloon either by pulling it off or popping the balloon if necessary. Voilà, you have a cute string bundle that looks like a birds nest - for Easter you could fill with candy eggs, plastic grass, little chicks, etc. This is also a cute craft for other times of year! Love it, good idea B.

The second one is shown in the middle of this video - she is simply stringing plastic eggs onto string to use as a garland. She's making hers to drape over her door but you can make it as long or short as you want and place it anywhere. I've never noticed but apparently there are little holes in the top and bottom of plastic eggs, perfect for stringing them up. She doesn't show the finished garland, but after she strings a couple of eggs you get the idea of what it'll look like.

Watch her intro even if you don't want to make kids crafts - her saying how 'excited she is about Easter, because Easter means spring, and she loves spring' is super cute.

Deviled Egg Chicks

DEVILED EGG CHICKS - saw this idea on Pinterest and it's just too cute. These are a HUGE hit!

Make traditional deviled eggs (I make mine by mixing the yolks with mayo, yellow mustard and a dash of brown mustard, salt and white pepper in a food processor until smooth and creamy). To make the chicks: cut the narrow top off the egg (instead of splitting them lengthwise down the middle) and scoop out yolk. Fill with deviled egg filling mounding it up a bit on the bottom part - that's where the eyes and beak will go. Replace the top of the egg that you cut off, add pieces of black olive or black peppercorns for eyes and little bits of carrot for the beak. To keep them standing upright I put a dab of filling under each one to help stabilize it.

Easter Side Dishes

I love Easter dinner - instead of sharing main dish ham recipes I thought I'd give you a couple ideas for side dishes to serve with it. These are my usual go-to sides, they are really nice with ham but would probably work with other meats as well.



PINEAPPLE STUFFING - my friend Mary introduced me to this and OMG it's so good, very rich and very addictive. It's quite sweet and is perfect with ham.

1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 (20 ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained
5 slices white bread, cubed

Preheat oven to 350'. Grease a 9 inch baking pan with butter. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then add the pineapple and bread cubes. Bake for one hour. Let sit a few minutes to firm up before serving. Makes 5 servings.

NOTE: I usually double this and put it in a 13x9 baking dish.


CREAMED NEW POTATOES AND PEAS - recipe from Epicurious

2 pounds small red skin potatoes
1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick)
1/4 cup flour
2 1/4 cups whole milk
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
salt and pepper
16 ounce frozen peas, thawed

Boil potatoes until just tender, approx 20 minutes. Cut them in half and set aside.

Melt butter, whisk in flour for 3 mintues. Gradually whisk in milk. Bring to a simmer, stir often until very thick approx. 10 minutes. Mix in cream, nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste. Add the potatoes (note: you can make this 1 day ahead up to this point, cover and refrigerate. Bring to a simmer before continuing with recipe). Mix peas into sauce, cook on medium-low until heated thru, 8 minutes. Makes 8 servings.


ROASTED CARROTS click here for complete recipe. I double this recipe, everyone loves them and they are great leftovers, so if you end up with too many that's a good thing.

Halve 12 carrots lengthwise; toss with 1/4 cup olive oil, salt, and thyme and place on baking sheet. bake at 400'  for 35 - 45 minutes. Makes 6-8 servings.

  

How to Fold a Bunny Napkin

I found the instructions to fold napkins into bunny ears here, each one is a square napkin and a few folds - I think these are adorable and not hard to do at all!

Bunny Cakes

It's almost Easter and I have a few fun things to show you for inspiration this week. Starting with bunny cake...

I have made this bunny cake for years - as long as I can remember. I have friends that have also been making this for as long as I've known them, I'm thinking that might be where I learned this, so that means I've been making it for like 30 years! Classic :)

I have no idea where this originally came from, you can google and see tons of examples of how people have decorated their Easter bunny cake. It's made from 2 white cake layers, one you leave whole (that's his head) and the other you cut into 3 pieces (2 ears are cut from the outside leaving the center part as a bowtie). Arrange them all on a platter and decorate using thin licorice for whiskers and ears, jelly beans, coconut, m&m's, sprinkles - whatever you want!

Last year I decided to break tradition and try a different bunny cake - it's a bunny butt! So cute, might be a new tradition. It does take a little longer to make this one though, so if you want simpler/faster maybe just do the classic bunny cake!

This one is made in an ovenproof bowl along with 3 cupcakes. See here for the recipe and full instructions.

Whichever one you decide to make will be a hit - everyone loves an Easter bunny cake!

Boneless Coq Au Vin

Made this for Sunday Supper and everyone (except Patty, she doesn't like chicken thighs - but I couldn't even tell it was dark meat!) loved it. This is a winner recipe - I don't think I've ever made a dish using all thigh meat, I would normally just make it with white meat but FOR ONCE I decided to make a recipe exactly as instructed. No changes. And it's really really good! Maybe I should follow the instructions more often...hmmm.

We had it with mashed potatoes, crusty bread,  and Patty brought a lettuce salad with dried blueberries and cherries, avocado, blue cheese and a slightly sweet vinaigrette that was excellent. Janis made her famous bread pudding for dessert - we were stuffed and super happy :).

browning the chicken thighs

served in shallow bowls with mashed potatoes

 click here for the recipe.

Gimlet

This is an easy recipe for an oldie but goodie cocktail - a gimlet. These are traditionally made with gin but I like them using vodka instead, I'm not a big gin fan.

All you do is put some ice in a shaker, add 2 ounces vodka and 2 tablespoons Rose's lime juice. Shake, strain, pour into glass. Garnish with a lime wedge if you have one on hand :). Tart and a tiny bit sweet - so good!

Kids Craft: Duct Tape Pencil Holder

Yay, Brooke is back this week with a cute easy project that just about anyone can do - watch her make a pencil holder using a ziplock baggie and some duct tape (also watch her funny facial expressions when she is trying to hole punch thru the layers of tape, makes me laugh).



Supplies needed:
duct tape - she uses two different colors, you can make it using however many you want!
small ziplock baggie
scissors
hole punch

She tapes rows of duct tape over top of the baggie, then hole punches the side to be able to carry in a binder. I love when she doesn't go get her binder to measure where to put the holes and just wings it. Funny girl :)

Photo Class: Landscapes

This week in photo class the topic was "landscapes" which I mistakenly thought meant taking pictures of hills and trees - nope, it was more about paying attention to the landscape or environment you move through (both internal and external) and looking for themes that come up, repeated shapes or objects, things that remind you of your past, how light shifts, etc. As usual we were to create 20 photographs getting at different ideas we noticed, and were given a few categories to fill such as one image depicting or representing "home", one image referring to our past, and one image that is visually abstract.  There was also an alternate assignment given if we'd rather - to create a series of photos that went together (like a car collection, water towers, industrial buildings, etc.) instead of filling in the random categories.

(simple lines and form)

We studied the work of 9 photographers who are known for their specific series, ranging from cultural iconography (old signs, retro buildings) to abstract or all blurry, simple lines and colors, and abandoned places (buildings or objects). I decided to combine the assignments and took photos that inspired me from each of the 9 photographers work - so they didn't all go together other than that they represented all of the artists we studied. 

(abstract/meditation)

What was really fun about that was I got to take pictures of many different styles and objects - which I normally wouldn't do. We just shoot what we are interested in, right? So even though I'm not big on blurry impressions it was interesting to figure out how to make a cool blurry photo, and I've never thought about taking pictures of industrial buildings but I did and it turned out great. 

(power plant)

Because I was searching for different things than I would normally take photos of I ended up walking down many back alleys, the back side of buildings, out of the way places where I wouldn't normally go - Sarge loved it! He got to receive and leave "messages" in all kinds of fun new places.

(cultural iconography)

(abandoned places)

So this week maybe challenge yourself to move through your environment with intention. Pay attention to interesting things around you that you might not have noticed before - buildings, cool doors and stairways, things that remind you of your past...and explore the back sides of stores or buildings just to see some different things - it was a fun week!  

creativephotoacadamy.com for info on classes at Pauls Photo, Torrance, CA

St Patrick's Day Coloring Page

Just a quick little thing you can do for St. Patty's Day, fun for yourself or kids! I love to color (and have been buying adult coloring books for years - way before it's become popular again haha!) and when I saw this coloring page here I thought it'd be fun to color myself a pretty picture :). Download it, color it in with your preferred coloring medium (I like fine tipped markers or colored pencils depending on the picture), and relax for a few minutes! Or do what Brooke and I do and have a contest over who can color the best picture and get someone in the house to judge...everything is a competition around here. HA!

Irish Creme Delights

I made these cookies to take to photo class tonight - since it's getting close to St. Patrick's Day I've been in the holiday spirit so decided to try these Irish creme delights (click here for source). 

They turned out good, basically a frosted snickerdoodle - and I do love snickerdoodles. The only real difference is adding either coffee liqueur or instant espresso coffee to the dough, and using coffee liqueur in the buttercream frosting - you could leave that out that and just replace it with additional half and half. I would sprinkle with cinnamon if you do that just to give the frosting a little more flavor.

 The recipe says it makes 48 1" dough balls, I used my small cookie scoop and got 40. I only baked 24 of them for tonight and froze the remaining unbaked dough (in balls rolled in cinnamon and sugar)  along with the extra frosting - I put the frosting in a small zip lock bag and put in it a gallon size bag along with the dough balls.

• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1/4 cup shortening
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 T. coffee liqueur or 1 t. instant espresso powder
• 1/4 t. baking soda
• 1/4 t. cream of tartar
• 1/4 t. salt
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 t. vanilla
• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 t. ground cinnamon
• 1 recipe Irish Creme frosting
• ground cinnamon (optional)

• 1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine butter and shortening. Beat with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add the 1 cup sugar, the coffee liqueur, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Beat until combined, scraping side of bowl occasionally. Beat in egg and vanilla until combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Using a wooden spoon, stir in any remaining flour. 
• 
  
• 2. In a small bowl, combine the 1/4 cup sugar and the 2 teaspoons cinnamon. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll balls in cinnamon-sugar to coat. Place balls 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. 

3. bake in preheated over for 8 to 10 minutes until edges are lightly browned. Cool on wire racks. 

4. Spread Irish Creme Frosting over cookies. If desired, sprinkle with additional cinnamon.

Irish Creme Frosting

• 3 T. softened butter
• 1 T. coffee liqueur
• 3 C. powdered sugar
• 1 - 3 T. half-and-half

• In a medium bowl, combine softened butter and coffee liqueur. Beat with an electric mixer on medium to high speed until combined. Gradually beat in powdered sugar. Beat in enough half-and-half or whipping cream (1 to 3 tablespoons) to make a frosting of spreading consistency.

roll the balls in cinnamon and sugar before baking

these also taste good unfrosted!

I froze the unbaked dough for later, under the plate in the gallon
 size bag is a small flattened ziplock bag with the leftover frosting.
I wrote the baking instructions on the bag so I don't have to look
up the recipe when I want to bake these later.  

Ribbon Bracelet

There are some beautiful ribbons out there that catch my eye and I want to buy, but there's only so many ribbons a person needs...then I started buying just a small amount of the ones that I love and would be pretty to wear and now I make bracelets out of them. My favorites to wear are from ribbons that are soft to touch and very detailed, like this flowered one:

I wanted to make a St. Patrick's Day ribbon bracelet but didn't find any ribbon that was perfect - but I do like this green/black/white striped ribbon enough and they are pretty easy to make so even though it isn't my favorite ribbon ever I still made it and really like how it turned out. Now I'll have something green to wear on St. Patty's Day!

materials needed:
8" ribbon
20 seed beads
1 small button for closure
stretchy cord
needle and thread

cut a length of stretchy cord to make the closure loop, I cut a piece probably 10" long. thread it onto a needle, tie a knot in one end of the stretchy cord and pull it thru from the backside of the ribbon.

turn the ribbon over and add 20 seed beads to the cord, the needle probably won't go thru the tiny hole in the beads but the stretchy cord is stiff enough that you can just thread them right onto the end of the cord.

thread the cord back onto the needle and poke it back thru the front side of the ribbon right next to where the cord came up to start. this creates a bead loop for the closure.

this is what the back of it will look like after you make the bead loop and tie it off close to the ribbon.

fold the end of the ribbon over twice making sure the loop is at the edge of ribbon. sew the hem in place.

measure how long you want the bracelet to be for your wrist, add about an inch so you can fold the other end of ribbon over twice and sew it in place. sew on the button on the right side.








here's the front of the finished bracelet..

...and the back..

...and how it looks on!