Neverland Party - Setting Sail

Neverland is a dream party theme because there are so many elements to use - each part of Neverland is literally a childhood happy thought - pirates, mermaids, treasure, Indians, a treehouse, and unlimited freedom to roam and explore. Here's a little mock up of a Neverland map whipped up in 10 minutes on the kitchen floor, made out of crayons and Amazon's packing paper that was literally laying around:

I decided that since pirates were the most accessible genre, they would take over the kitchen and living room. One I took down our Christmas tree, I had a huge open 11' wall to work with that just screamed for a big decor element - enter the photo backdrop!

I used two rolls of background paper (like giant tubes of slightly thicker wrapping paper) from a teacher supply store. I believe they are intended for bulletin boards, and recently I've noticed some JoAnn stores carrying them too, so you could use a 40% off coupon.  One was sky and one was "under the sea." I used blue painters tape to paste them up, and they looked adorable! We got a pop up "Bucky the Pirate Ship" (from the new Disney Jr. cartoon "Jake and the Neverland Pirates," which TC also loves and takes place in Neverland). I thought it would be great to take gag photos of everyone "sailing away" on the pirate ship. Of course on the day of the party I was too busy doing everything else (especially eating cupcakes) to remember. Oops! 

But the area was still enjoyed, and the few photos we did get are adorable :)

The Cupcake meets Santa

We never made it to Santa last year, I had good intentions but froze up whenever I saw the price list for photos, or didn't like the outfit she was wearing, or the mood she was in, or just in general thought I could do better and so I ended up with nothing. This year could have very well been the same, but we took advantage of several happy coincidences and ended up with a sweet snapshot:

 

 

I'm not very happy with the low resolution (we bought the file, for $35 or whatever ridiculous amount I paid I should get a good resolution file) but the pics are cute and made for some adorable holiday cards (cropped a bit). We didn't intend to see Santa that day, we were just wandering the mall and admiring the lights when we came across his cottage with no line. And then we realized The Cupcake was wearing a red plaid tunic, and I had the weekend off to work on Xmas cards if we could get it together, and really wouldn't it just be the perfect opportunity...

 

And then she freaked out when we tried to send her to the big guy, ugly crying and all.

 

So maybe not...

 

We took a detour to the food court, ate some fried rice, and I combed her hair with a fork (where my Little Mermaid fans at? Dinglehopper FTW?) and bought a couple quick hair ties and some bows at a Claires.

 

And with the help of Santa's special bribes (stuffed animals, cookies, patience) we got a few good memories.

 

And I ordered my Xmas cards that night.

 

Mom wins. Claim them when you can.

 

Take a picture, it will last longer

I was REALLY excited this morning to attend Heather Barta's "Life at Play" photography workshop geared specifically at moms interested in photographing their children. I've had my "nice camera" for a couple years now (wow! More than that even, now that I look!) and I've pretty much only used the manual settings and never been able to figure out lighting/flash use very well. a

The Cupcake doesn't hold still for long (or at all) these days, and while she is cute as a button in "real" life, she's not terribly photogenic, and I keep catching her at moments like this:

(no, we didn't feed her lemons. Pretty sure that pucker is all about teething - bringing on the molars).

Much to the grandparents' dismay, I've been struggling and not really taking a lot of photos or getting good shots lately, so this came up as a great time.

I didn't learn anything groundbreaking, but I learned exactly the basics I needed to dramatically improve my photos - the basic shutter/aperature/ISO triangle and how to change said settings on my camera (a few things that were NOT in the manual!). We had a short "lesson", fiddled with our cameras, and then got to practice on Heather:

And then she brought in some of her clients for us to practice what we had learned on:

We descended like paparazzi :)

Perhaps the biggest "tip" I got was the advice to buy a new lens - the "kit" lens most of us had only went down to a 3.5 aperature, which meant we needed a very high ISO to counter for the dreary day, or indoors in general. Even then, I felt like my pics were a little flat, or the high ISO risked being grainy. Heather let us try her preferred 50mm/1.4 aperature and the difference was AMAZING:

it felt a little weird because you don't have zoom, you have to mover yourself instead. But the difference in photos was instantaneously apparent. Since one of my major problems has been lighting, the larger aperature helps immensely - letting more light in without trying to manipulate the flash is easier and more flattering. I was convinced. I hit National Camera on my way home and came home with a similar lens - 35mm 1.8 aperature, which allows me a slightly bigger field. I raced home and couldn't wait for The Cupcake to wake up from her nap so I could try it out:

AND I LOVE IT!

SUCH A DIFFERENCE!

I FINALLY FEEL LIKE I'M USING MY CAMERA!

I still caught a few pretty terrible/hilarious faces, such as this shriveled gnome during dinner time:

But even then, it's well lit and a way better photo overall! (She was actually laughing, but I guess it's an ugly laugh. I about had tears when I saw it, from laughing so hard myself!) That's banana all over her nose.

I'm definitely looking forward to getting some egg gathering shots tomorrow if the weather agrees (and if I can chase TC quickly enough). Grandmas, I'm working on sending you both some photos! I promise now! And while it may be bold, I'm also ready to cross off the other half of #12 on the bucket list - Learn to take great photos and get a “real”
camera. I'm sure I'll continue to improve, but I think I've taken a GIANT leap forward and I'm feeling pretty good about it so far!

Now if only I wasn't already 13 months behind on scrapbooks...

:)

Heather's Mailbag: Hello, Cupcake!

I've mentioned my cousin Holly before, she's an avid scrapbooker and queen of pretty presents. A few weeks ago she send me a delightful surprise in the mail, a chipboard album in the shape of a cupcake!



She had personalized it with images of my wonderful surprise party:



It's so stinkin' cute!



Each page is embellished too - she put a raised "30" in place of the candles on the cake page above. Such attention to detail!



Ahh, I can relive the fun each time I look through it :)

Thanks so much Holly, I love it!

Valentines I should have made...

Adorable

More Prize Purchases: Camera Case

I spent more of my Amazon card. The first big purchase was exciting, but now I'm to the point where I'm hoarding it and nothing seems "worthy" enough of my last few credits. But this was an awesome and definitely worthwhile purchase - a neoprene cover for my new camera.

I knew that most often when I set out with my camera, I'd also have a purse, so rather than carrying two giant bags, I wanted to be able to put the camera in a purse and still be protected. My solution was this "Flex Armor", a spongy fabric case like a laptop sleeve that provides cushion and scratch protection without adding a ton of weight and girth. So far I really like it!

Costco Photo Collages

Not all of the gatherings in a lifetime are cheerful affairs, but funerals and memorials are still events which require thought and planning. Last weekend we hosted a memorial luncheon for hubby's grandmother, for which I put my event planning skills to work once again. I wanted to be sure and give a follow up to the post on Costo's Photo Collages I did a while back, this time with actual photos of how mine turned out. I had previously scanned in all sorts of photos from throughout Gloria's life, and separated them into groups by era - I did four collages in all, first one of her childhood (some photos over 80 years old! That one of her in the baby carriage, lower right, just amazes me). Again, I give full credit to the Heritage Makers scanner, these photos were originally wallet sized and blew up BEAUTIFULLY:



I also did one of her early marriage and raising children, one of the 70's - 90's with lots of Polaroids and funny fashions, and one with more recent photos.



I was extremely happy with the results, and I think that they really gave a sense of purpose to the memorial. Family and friends were able to reminisce about memories they shared, or gain new insight regarding her life by visiting the various boards placed around the room.

Preparing them is simple - go to costco.com and log into your photo account, choose "gifts", photo collages, and set the size at the largest. Choose your orientation and photos, you can customize your background, borders, and even add a title (I chose not to). You select your photos and the computer lays them out for you at various sizes. If you dislike the way they come up with, you can "shuffle" again. They are printed in an hour, and I just used double sided tape to adhere them to standard sheets of foam core. Total cost is around $10 each. This is MUCH easier than pasting on individual photos, and it looks very clean and professional. I highly recommend this route for funerals, memorial services, or even graduation parties.

And no, Costco didn't pay me to say any of this - THOUGH YOU ARE CERTAINLY WELCOME TO, COSTCO! :)

Like it's 1999 again...

My parent's named me "Heather Eve" because I had the poor sense to be born on New Year's Eve. I won't whine too terribly long about how annoying it is to try and get a restaurant reservation or how everyone has a holiday hangover this time of year, but since I'm hitting the big 3-0 tomorrow, what better time to reflect on what the past decade has brought me than the eve of the eve?

This is actually kind of fun, going back through my photos and major events. Ten years ago this week I was in Disneyworld with my family. We spent Y2K at Disney's MGM Studios watching Cheap Trick and O-Town, drinking champagne and swing dancing at the Copa Cabana. Some people thought the world would end that night. You could still bring toothpaste, lighters, and pocket knives on an airplane.



The rest of my 20's brought:

- Meeting & marrying my husband


- Renting my first apartment, second apartment, moving away, moving back, renting a duplex, renting a house, finally purchasing a home of our own.


- Changing majors, changing schools, taking some time off, and eventually going back to the first school. Finishing a BA.


- NORM!


- Travelling to Ft. Lauderdale, Washington DC (twice), New York (3X), and back to Disney


- Waitressing, catering, and retail work, finally getting a "real" job, seeing the aftermath when the 35W Bridge fell down outside my office window


- Making new friends, losing old friends, re-connecting with lost friends...starting the Halloween Party tradition.


- Walking 60 miles to fight breast cancer. Then 60 more. Ending up with skin cancer. D'oh. Getting it chopped out. Getting bangs to cover the scar. Hating them. Growing the bangs out.


- Getting a little color. Getting a little ink.


- Starting a blog. Starting a bucket list. Crossing things off of the bucket list.


Hellos, goodbyes, sickness and health - all this, and so much more, in just 10 years. I'm heading out soon for my free birthday meal at Noodles & Co. (they have the best B-day deal, though I also have coupons from Melting Pot, Timberlodge, Campus Pizza, and Famous Daves. Could be a tasty week!). Tomorrow I'm ringing in the new year (and the 3-0) with an AMAZING dinner (details forthcoming) and a cocktail party with friends. Not a bad way to end 29. Or 2009. What did the past decade bring you? What will the next one hold? If you post a similar list on your blog, leave the link in my comments.

More Craftastic Giving: Photo Necklaces

Looking back, I actually did quite a few personalized gifts this year. I didn't set out with any specific idea to do that, it just sort of happened, and I think it worked out really well. Most of these I did through Heritage Makers, and I'm very happy to report that EVERYTHING was well received - the Christmas Cards, the canvas, a calendar for Grammy (post to come) and these great photo necklaces:



The above is a shot of my mom's gift, it's a 3-pendant necklace with photos on both sides. I did a charm for each kid (me, sister, and brother) with a recent photo of us on one side, and a photo of the couples (me & hubs, sister + her new hubs, and brother & his GF) on the other side. It's really adorable! I modelled it as soon as it came:



Another great parent (or grandparent) gift idea would be to do a photo of grown children on one side, and baby or child photos on the other. They're hard to photograph because of the glare and tiny nature of the pics, but they were really cute. Brother's GF also got a photo necklace, a single pendant one with two cute photos of her & my brother together, yoinked stealthily from her facebook page. Since the photos are so small, quality isn't really an issue, and a facebook photo worked just fine.

The chains are very thick, chunky almost, and it was a lot younger and hipper vibe than I was expecting. I like it, and plan to make myself a necklace eventually as well. It'll coordinate well with my treasured Tiffany bracelet.


My mom loved hers so much, she showed it off the next day at another family Christmas gathering. I guess that means it's a hit!

Classic Cupcakes for Christmas

I'm still struggling with indoor shots and balancing light/shutter speeds, but dang if my new camera doesn't take the prettiest dessert photos:



Mmmmm. This was a last-minute addition to our rescheduled Christmas Day meal, finally held last night when our Wisconsin family was able to battle through the weather. It was definitely a hit with hubby's two cousins, age 2 and 5. Claire in particular (the toddler) found it amusing to individually remove ever sprinkle and eat it separately. At last count she had 3 cupcakes for the evening.

These were just vanilla with chocolate and vanilla frosting, white sprinkles on the chocolate and multi on the vanilla. I love the look of a classic, simple cupcake.

Costco Photo Collages

Hubby and I had a super romantic Costco date this weekend, but it was actually really beneficial. We picked up the last of our holiday gifts, some socks that go above his ankles (long story), and I picked up four photo collages that I made up for Gloria's memorial in January. They turned out SO NICE! I don't have a photo yet, but here's an example I found on google images from some stranger's website:


These are SUCH a good deal! A poster size print is just $8.99. The quality is absolutely amazing - since I was using old scans of Polaroids and nearly 90 year old prints, I didn't expect nearly the quality I got - I give all the credit to the Heritage Makers' scanner, which must have really preserved a high quality image of each photo. Most of them are actually blown up even LARGER than their original size, but they are reasonably clear still.

You don't have total freedom to customize the Costco collages - you select a range of photos, and they randomly lay them out in some mathematical configuration that works for the sizes and orientations you included. You can add borders and a title, and choose portrait or landscape, and if you hate the computer's layout choice you can shuffle them a few times till you get a prettier poster. They actually have a wide range of sizes and price points available, and I've made lots of the smaller ones for everything from craft fair applications (showing pics of all my aprons) to documenting service projects for my philanthropic groups. I highly recommend the Costco photo centers, they're the #1 reason I maintain my membership - I love being able to upload all my photos from home/work and have them ready when I get there. They're editing is easy to use and I've always had good quality prints.

Heritage Makers Holiday Cards

Now that most of my holiday cards have been received, I feel like I can finally share them here! I used Heritage Makers, and this was the first time I had made anything besides a scrapbook through their system.

I'll be honest, I had been planning to just make cheap Costco cards which run around $0.25 each (with the right coupon). They're quick and easy and cheap - but not very personal. As soon as I saw our fall photos from Olivia I knew what I wanted to do for a "theme" - but none of Costco's designs worked for me. I thought for a while about my options because Heritage Makers is not cheap - flat cards run about $1 each, but they are fully customizable on both sides, so I could use the three photos I really wanted to, and my own wording. I put in the order with other credits I was purchasing for myself and for gifts, and basically I was able to get my holiday cards free with host credit. Here's how they turned out:



Isn't that cute? I love it when you greeting and photos can work together in a theme, aka the "HUGS & KISSES" with the photos of us (including Normy) giving hugs and kisses :) Then on the reverse of the card, I wanted to use one larger photo, and have a little place to write:



I included the white space at the bottom so that I could write a personal note and sign each card, I think that is a nice touch. I didn't use a template, but stayed pretty simple - the background is all one piece (the red, gree, and gold stripes), I added the frames, the snowflakes, and the text piece by piece.

The cards are bright and professional, and they're on a slightly glossed cardstock which feels more substantial than photo paper and is much easier to write on. One thing I was really surprised about was the envelopes - they were REALLY NICE. This isn't a huge deal, but it was a little something that stood out to me - with photo center cards you usually get really thin, cheap envelopes. With Heritage Makers I got thick, textured envelopes, which I don't think I've seen outside of wedding invitations for quite some time. Very impressive.

Overall I was really happy with Heritage Makers' cards, and I think I might be hooked :) I just love being able to design my own from scratch, match the colors and themes I want to, and have something truly one of a kind in the end :)

More Heritage Makers Goodies - bracelet

Here's another fun Heritage Makers project from the big order I received on Tuesday, and this one is just for me!



It's a 6-charm photo bracelet! I think it turned out pretty cute. I used photos from our first anniversary shoot with Olivia, that was such a pretty summery day and there is a great green color running through the backgrounds that is bright and fun. Now that I've taken down the large prints from that shoot (replaced with our new ones)I still wanted a way to showcase the great images from that day, and this is perfect! I also wear a lot of green, so it fits in with my wardrobe :)



I'll be honest and say I wish it were a higher quality - sterling silver, or at least water proof would be nice. It is neither. These run about $50 so I was surprised that the separator beads were just plastic, but I went ahead and ordered it anyways. I like the size, the photos are big enough to see but not too chunky to wear.



At first I wasn't sure if I'd like that it was stretchy, but I find that I really do - it doesn't twist and fall as much as a chain would, and it's pretty comfortable. Mine is the 7 inch, but you can make 7.5 inch for the same price if you need to.



If you are interested in making one of your own, feel free to contact me - right now there is a special if you want to purchase a credit for one bracelet + one single pendant necklace for $49.95, or a bracelet + 3 pendant necklace for $79.95. Credits are good for 1 year, and you can use them separately or give them as gifts. Visit my Heritage Makers site to sign up for a free account and start playing around.

Photo Realism

You can imagine that winning a big prize to spend on practically whatever you want might lead to some bucket list accomplishments. Such as:


#12 Learn to take great photos and get a “real” camera

I can only claim to be 1/2 way there on this one, but hopefully the great photos will fall in line soon! That's right, prizes # 4 & 5 are my very own DSLR camera and a huge zoom lens!

I already had a very nice point & shoot, which has served me well and will continue to be my "go-to" for daily use (it's so convenient, and fits in my pocket) but as I get more involved in digital scrapbooking, travel, and making photo gifts, I realllllllllly wanted a "real" camera. It was hard to choose, but I read a lot of reviews, got suggestions from friends, and finally settled on a Nikon D3000. It seemed to get a lot of kudos as far as being easy to use, but still having a lot of functionality, which is important since I'll definitely have to "grow into" this camera! I also ended up ordering a big memory card, so that's prize #6 I guess :) Of course as soon as it arrived I had to put it together and start shooting! Norm wasn't the most willing subject (and he licked the lens right off the bat) but I think I got some pretty great shots of him! Here were my first few attempts with the new toy:

Saying Goodbye

I have lots of stories and photos to share, but unfortunately it's been a busy couple of days. Hubby's grandmother is in hospice care, so he's been spending most of his time there with the rest of the family. She's on a morphine drip and moved to an end of life room. I had to work today but spent a couple hours going through photos, and pulling out some great memories of her. A couple months back I scanned in a bunch of historic photos that just amaze me:



That photo is over 70 years old, can you believe it? And how about this one of her "Mammy" who essentially raised her:



Isn't that amazing? Grandpa was reminiscing about Grandma this week and remarked how awe-inspiring it was that she grew up in the segregated south, and just voted for the first black president. What a lifetime.



Gloria, I wish you peace and love. You are in our hearts forver.


***UPDATE: Gloria passed on about 8:30am Wednesday, surrounded by her husband, all of her children, and many of her grandchildren. Goodbye, Gloria.