Creative Photo Class: Portraits

Week 3 in our creative photo class was centered on taking portraits, which was a little harder than I thought it was going to be.We were supposed to work on more than just snapping someone's picture - we thought about how we wanted them to pose, what feeling or emotion we wanted to capture, and not necessarily take what is considered to be a "correct" formal portrait - be creative of course. 

There were, as usual, a few categories that we tried to fill, ranging from the subject "looking at the viewer" to one shot "not physically including your subject" - for that one we should get to know our subject enough to know what they like or what's important to them and photograph that in some way. We could either approach random people and ask if we could take their picture, or use someone we know - but we needed to get 20 photographs that had different ideas and emotional tones.

For my project I did ask a few random people and got some good shots, but then for the bulk of the photos I used my friend Athena (who is a natural performer, a dance teacher, and not at all shy haha) as my "muse". We went to a local little zen garden and the first thing she said was "ok, how do you want me to pose"... I had no idea! It's hard to pose someone - I told her do whatever she wanted haha and fortunately got some good shots. For the one that she wasn't physically in the shot I took a cool picture of her new glasses laying on the floor in the dance studio.

Think about taking portraits of people, actually having them pose and not just in a "smile and say cheese" kind of way. And if you see someone interesting (like my pic of the meat guy in a mask at the grocery store) or doing something cool maybe ask if you can take their picture - it was kind of fun asking strangers if I could take theirs and no one said no. They did tell Dave no a few times, but they are strangers so who cares if they refuse - all you can do is ask :)

meat guy at the grocery store - love this picture!

As long as the subject is looking at you it's not considered a candid snapshot - so this picture of Dave and Ed counts as a portrait.


check out creativephotoacademy.com for class info if you're interested.

St. Patty's Day Table Decorations

I saw these cute little painted flower pots on Pinterest and thought they are so cute I have to make some for our St. Patrick's Day dinner party. 

To make these you'll need mini terra-cotta flower pots (found at a dollar store) - you can make them bigger of course but I like the small ones for some of the table decorations; craft paint in green, white, and gold; thin black ribbon; gold glittery cardstock; adhesive.

I made two different styles - one is painted all green with a thin black ribbon tied around it for a belt, cut out belt buckles (squares with the center removed) from shiny cardstock and glued on top of the ribbon.

The other style is painted white with a gold rim around the top. Then glue on shamrocks cut out of shiny gold cardstock or make these cute tags if you are having friends over - the pots of gold can then be sent home with your guests as little gifts.

 I'm going to fill them with little gold wrapped chocolate candies so they look like pots of gold and set one at everyone place setting.

St. Patrick's Day Decorations

Here's a couple quick little project for St. Patrick's Day using frames I found at a dollar store:

The first one is simply a print out from here that I just stuck in an 8x10 frame. I didn't take the best picture of this - it's really cute in person!

Next is a 3.5 x 5 inch piece of cardstock with the word "LUCK" cut out of glittery gold paper glued on it. Use any color paper and cardstock you like. I used a stencil to shape the letters, you can free hand or print templates out if you prefer. Then I put it into a 3.5x5 frame.

This shamrock and butterfly card takes a couple minutes longer to put together but I think it's super cute and if you have a small heart shape punch it is a simple thing to make. I got the idea here.

you need: 

• 3.5 x 5 inch cardstock
• 12 mini hearts cut out of another color cardstock
• glue
• marker

Place the hearts on the card so you have an idea where you want them, then glue in place. To make the shamrocks put 2 hearts sideways so the bottoms are touching then put a third heart straight up on top of them. 

After gluing everything in place draw the stems on the shamrocks, a dashed line to indicate the butterfly flying away from the 3rd heart and the butterfly antennae. Put in a frame.

St. Patrick's Day Indoor Wreath

I found all the supplies to make this cute wreath at a dollar store - check out how simple and inexpensive this is to make:

All you need is a styrofoam wreath, pre-cut foam shamrocks, ribbon for the bow, something to hang it with (I used a zip tie, you can use anything - a chenille stem, ribbon, twine, wire...), and adhesive (I used hot glue). 

I wanted the wreath base to be flat on the side where I was gluing the shamrocks - not rounded,  so I sawed the styrofoam wreath in half with a serrated knife. If you can find one already flat on one side get that, it was kinda messy sawing the styrofoam but it's totally do-able.

Attach whatever you are using to hang it with at the top, and tie on a long piece of ribbon at the bottom before you start gluing on the shamrocks. 

Lay down the first row of foam shamrocks, alternating colors and which way they are facing and glue them down. Add 2 more layers the same way. 

To finish, tie or knot the ribbon however you like. I looped it back and forth 4 times and tied a small piece around the center to hold the loops in place. 

Crock Pot White Chicken Chili

Made this for Sunday Supper and it was a hit (and it was SO easy, I do enjoy that)! I've never made white chicken chili before - my neighbor Midge makes a good one but I can't find her recipe so I googled away until I found one that looked good, had directions for making in the crock pot, and had good reviews.

I followed the recipe other than doubling most of the ingredients - which ended up making way more than we needed of course (I didn't want to chance it though!).

Using our friend Steve's technique for freezing soup, I put the extra in a large gallon ziplock bag, squeezed out the air, labeled it, then put it in the freezer totally flat. After it's frozen you can stack the bags or stand them up, really a great space-saving tip.

I thought I would have to remove the whole chicken breasts from the chili before serving to shred it all, but it just fell apart almost by itself when I gently took a fork and broke it apart. 

• 1 1/4 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast
• 2 (15 oz.) cans Great Northern or Navy beans, rinsed and drained 
• 1 (15 oz.) can hominy or white corn, drained
• 1 (1 1/4 oz.) envelope taco seasoning
• 1 (4 1/2 oz.) can chopped green chilies
• 1 (10 3/4 oz.) can condensed cream of chicken soup
• 1 (14 oz.) can chicken broth

Optional toppings:

• 1/2 cup sour craem
• chopped green onion
• shredded monterey jack cheese

• • Place chicken in a 4 quart slow cooker.
  • Top with beans and corn.
  • In a medium bowl, combine taco seasoning, chiles, condensed soup, and chicken broth. Pour over top of ingredients in the crock pot.
  • Cover and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours.
  • Before serving, stir gently to break up chicken, then stir in the sour cream.
  • Serve topped with green onions and jack cheese, if desired.

  Recipe found here. I found white beans with chili seasoning already added so I used 4 cans of them, 2 cans of corn, 1 envelope of taco seasoning, 1 can of green chilies, 2 cans of cream of chicken soup, almost 3 pounds of chicken, and 28 ounces of broth. Stirred in 1 cup of sour cream before serving.

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

Champagne and Chambord

Here's a simple and delicious cocktail - I've been waiting for a reason to open a bottle of champagne so I could make one! I think "It's Saturday" is a reason to celebrate, right?

This needs a better name for sure, but the title says it all - you literally pour a little chambord (raspberry liqueor) into a glass and top with champagne.

Kids Craft: Making a Travel Snack Dispenser

I finished a bottle of coffee creamer and was going to put it in the recycling when Brooke said she wanted it for a craft - she then proceeded to turn it into a snack dispenser for when her and Sydney were flying home after their visit last month. This is a great idea! 

The flip top opening is wide enough for the snacks to shake out into their hands without anyone having to touch the food, great for not spreading germs - and you can customize the snacks you put in it so it's just the mix you want (not like buying already made trail and snack mixes where there is always something in there you hate, like raisins or those yucky little round pretzel things...!). I don't have a funnel with a wide enough opening to get some of her snacks into the empty plastic bottle so we made one by shaping a piece of paper into a cone and inserting the narrow end into the bottle - she then layered m&m's, broken up butter snap pretzels, reese's pieces, and fruit snacks into the container.

wash out the container, then make sure it's completely dry before adding the snacks. here Brooke is drying it out by wrapping a paper towel around a spatula handle and inserting it into the bottle.

using a piece of paper as a funnel to pour all of the snacks into the container

before she remembered that she was sharing with Sydney! 

as long as you don't put the whole thing in your mouth first haha,
the flip top makes for a great way to not have everyone touching the food! 

Self Portraits

Week 2 of our creative photo class at Paul's Photo focused on taking self portraits - these are different then taking "selfies" in that we used timers and tripods (or in my case my homemade jerry-rigged camera holder which consists of my mini clipboard and a chopstick) to teach us about telling stories with photographs, how to set up shots with ourselves in the frame (and not our arms reaching out!), also how to photograph people in general. The thought is that by taking the time to figure out how to pose ourselves for the best shots - we are being our own guinea pigs so to speak - we will have a better understanding and sensitivity about photographing other people. Once again we received a homework assignment to fill a bunch of categories with photos of ourselves and we were encouraged to use props, reflections, and get creative about different ways to depict ourselves - some of the categories we didn't even have to be in the shot...I liked those the best. Setting the timer and then running to get in place to get my shot over and over again was exhausting! Try taking pics of yourself without doing a typical holding-out-your-arm selfie, it was challenging and fun to think of ways to take my own photo.

I decided to do a theme for my self portraits, so every one was based around shoes in some way. Here are some examples:

showing my face in a reflection

showing a feeling - I was going for "peaceful"

showing myself in my environment, I love how this shadow
makes Sarge look huge!

(check out creativephotoacademy.com for more info on taking classes if you're interested!)

Framing Calendar Pictures

My friend Candy made a gallery wall in her den with picture ledges she got at Target, and then decorated with a bunch of tropical themed things. I love her tip for framing pictures that are personal, unique, and inexpensive (other than the frames themselves) -  she used pictures from an old calendar that she's been saving because she loved the images and knew she'd eventually find a good way to use them. The gallery wall turned out so good I asked her if she'd send photos so I can share with you! Makes me wish I'd been saving all those pretty calendars I've thrown away... check out her before and after photos, isn't this a great idea?

Here is the before picture...

...and the finished gallery wall - nice!

Organizing a Spice Drawer

Super easy organizing tip - I have a big shallow drawer in the kitchen that I have all of my spices in, they are pretty much in alphabetical order so I can quickly find what I'm looking for. Some random seldom used spices are in the way back; truthfully they aren't even seldom used, they are never used and I've just decided I need to go clean them out of there! Later.

I have the spices laying down with labels up so I can easily see them. the ones
standing in the bowl are Dave's go to spice blends for grilling so I put them where
he can grab them and also put them away easily...he'd be in trouble if he didn't
 put them back in the correct alphabetical order haha!! no I do not have OCD or anything...;)