Konexi

I recently discovered this amazing word game. It's called Konexi, and it's like putting scrabble and Jenga together! I couldn't help taking a few pictures of some of games my husband and I played. It's so fun, and so addicting. I love it!

30 Day Photography Challenge, Day 20

Day 20:
12/31/11

Challenge:
Bokeh


Bokeh is a photography element that I had never heard of before I started this challenge. I googled what it was several times, and I tried to figure out how to do it. For those who don't know, "Bokeh comes from the Japanese word ‘boke’, which means fuzzy. In photography, bokeh defines the quality of the blurred lights presented in a photo. We’re not referring to a badly taken photo that’s all out of focus, but rather the aesthetically pleasing background blur. Usually, this type of blur highlights the focused subject even more. " Taken from, http://www.photoble.com/photography-tips-tricks/how-to-7-quick-tips-to-create-bokeh-with-digital-camera

Anyway, my husband and I tried many things, but inside out home, we couldn't really think of a great way to experiment with Bokeh. I actually have a pretty good picture of my son that I took over the summer that appears to have this affect, but I am keeping this blog strictly photography and craft related so I won't post personal info about my family here. Anyway, so, that being said, this is what I came up with to sorta create "bokeh."

30 Day Photography Challenge, Day 19

Day 19:
12/30/11

Challenge:
Something Orange

30 Day Photography Challenge, Day 18

Day 18:
12/29/11

Challenge:
Something Pink






I thought it would be fun to take a picture with pink items of different hues for this challenge.

30 Day Photography Challenge, Day 17

Day 17:
12/28/11

Challenge:
Technology


I thought all day about what I was going to photograph for this challenge. In fact, I was leaning towards putting my husband's old Game Boy next to my daughter's new pink DSi. But, that would require my husband lugging old Nintendo gaming systems out of the garage, and I remembered we still use this to play CDs.

Crafty Snowmen

These are some cute snowmen I made for Christmas gifts this year. Inspired my by sister in law who loves both the Steelers football team, and snowmen, I thought a Steelers snowman would be just the ticket. I used 3 different sizes of styrofoam balls, and cut up the fabric into small squares. Taking my hot glue gun, and a screwdriver, I'd put a drop of hot glue onto the ball, then place the fabric scrap on top of that, and and push it in with the screwdriver. I would continue around the ball until it was finished. I glued each subsequent ball to the other with the hot glue. I used dowel rods cut about 4 inches as the arms, painted a light brown, and I hand cut out the mittens. The eyes are buttons with googley eyes glued onto. Craft carrot noses, and buttons around the body. I didn't put mouths because when I tried, it just looked silly. The Santa hats and the snowman hats were found at a local craft store. They stand by being held up with doll stands, hot gluing them to the stand to keep them still.

30 Day Photography Challenge, Day 16

Day 16:
12/27/11

Challenge: Long Exposure




This was taken with my Nikon D3000, dial turned to Shutter Priority. Shutter speed of 25 seconds, ISO 200.















This was practically the same settings, only the shutter speed was 30 seconds. I used my tripod for both photos. I have two tea light candles in the sleigh. I have the metering set to "spot" metering in the this photo.

30 Day Photography Challenge, Day 15

Day 15:
12/26/11

Challenge:
Sihlouette






This challenge was a little difficult for me. I immediately thought I needed a silhouette of my face, but my husband wasn't sure how to go about that, and neither was I. I had him help me create ambiance for an alternate silhouette, and this is what we came up with. He took the pictures, I moved around the background lighting.















Even though this isn't technically a silhouette, per se, this is another image we came up with, and I think it's actually quite amazing, so I felt I should include this too.

Day 14:
12/25/11
Merry Christmas!!!

Challenge:
Eyes

I love using the Cross Screen filter effects on my photos to give them a twinkling effect, such as is shown here. Nothing better than showing off the saying of "twinkle in the eyes" such is the case on Christmas morning.

30 Day Photography Challenge, Day 13

Day 13:
12/24/11

Challenge:
Me with 13 Things






With this photo challenge falling in December, there have been lots of things to make some of these challenges easier. Such as just coming home from a family Christmas gift exchange. My 13 items include:
1) The bow on my head
2) My Leonard Amurgurimi (spelling?) doll
3) My Sheldon doll
4) 2011 White House ornament
5) Cookbook
6) Wine glasses
7) Cork screw
8) Pink Flashlight
9) Wine bottle dressed like Santa
10) My Soft Kitty Big Bang Theory animal
11) Body Spray
12) Winter Cookie Pan
13) Bath and Body Works Wall Flower refills

Many thanks to my husband, Curtis, for taking this picture.

Can't wait for Christmas tomorrow. The kids are going to be so excited to see what they get!

30 Day Photography Challenge, Day 12

Day 11:
12/23/11

Challenge:
Sunset



Today is a very cloudy day again, and a true sunset I will be hard pressed to find. So, I had to scour my pictures to find an old sunset picture I had taken. I knew I had some phenomenal ones, and ta da! Here is my proof. This is taken off of the front deck of my husband's grandparents log cabin in SE Ohio in 2003. I do believe this was taken will my old point and shoot 2 megapixal camera vs the Nikon D3000 I have been using in each of the other pictures except for the Challenge Day 3, Clouds, where-en I only had my cell phone on me when I took that picture.

Dear Santa

Dear Santa,

May I please request that you work some Christmas magic with the weather? As I understand it, your sleigh works best when there is SNOW. Spring-like temperatures and RAIN right before Christmas makes it very hard to feel festive because it doesn't seem like the right time of year for Christmas. Again, I don't mind not being freezing cold, but it is DECEMBER. It is time for SNOW!

Milk and cookies headed your way,
Laura

30 Day Photography Challenge, Day 11

Day 11:
12/22/11

Challenge:
Something Blue



I love this!

30 Day Photography Challenge, Day 10

Day 10:
12/21/11

Challenge:
Childhood Memory






I grew up in Anchorage Alaska (Shout out to my homies) and my childhood church, Christ Our Savior Lutheran Church, used to make these and sell at our past annual church Bazaars. Well, a few years ago, a friend my mom had from the church had an extra one, and she sent it to me. (Obviously, I know live out of state) Now, my kids are enjoying a wonderful tradition I had a as a kid: Filling this Advent tree with Alaskan memories....and it's nice for them to have a piece of my childhood. Each ornament is something special to Alaska. Things like an: igloo, pink salmon, walrus, log cabin, Eskimo Girl, Muk-Luks, hockey skate, etc. And, since I actually have another Advent Calendar that I had made, both my kids alternate which calendar they do each day, so that they each get to do one. Works out very nicely, I'd say!

30 Day Photography Challenge, Day 9

Day 9:
12/20/11

Challenge:
Someone I Love


This is my dog Mia. She is a 1.5 year old terrier mix that my family rescued from a local humane society 3 weeks ago. She is the sweetest, most lovable puppy.

30 Day Photography Challenge, Day 8

Day 8:
12/19/11

Challenge:
Bad Habit


Because smoking it a horribly bad habit, and thankfully no one in my home smokes, I thought I would just take a picture of an Internet image of people smoking. But then, I came across this image, and it spoke volumes to me, so I thought I would use this again. Look closely, because I left the website visual in the search bar.

Kids Coat Hangers

My kids (6 and 4) were having trouble hanging their coats with the multitude of other coats in our laundry/mudroom. So, I thought I would make them their own coat hangers using the first initial of their names.
So, I bought some white letters at a local craft store, and 1 sheet of cute scrapbooking paper. I traced the letters, and then using mod podge, I decoupaged the cut out letter onto the letter shape. Then, I decoupaged the top to make it shiny. My husband pre-drilled holes to attach the white hangers I found at Lowe's, and pre-drilled two holes for hanging. We hung them on the wall, and now, it's a super fun, and easy way for my kids to easily hang their coats.

**I wouldn't hang anything with a lot of weight on these hooks. The backpack in this picture is mostly empty**

This project, for both letters cost less than $10.

Ladies Church Christmas Party

The Ladies Christmas party was such a blessing to be a part of. We put together 28 AMAZING food baskets (laundry baskets of food) for families. We wrapped up so many Christmas presents. It was such an amazing and humbling feeling. It brought back many Christmases that as a kid, if my family's own Secret Santa hadn't helped out, we wouldn't have had much. Packing all those bags of gifts for these families reminded me of my own childhood Christmas morning's seeing a big bag full of packages left outside our home from a still unknown to me Secret Santa. It is truly a phenomenal feeling to be part of something that gives back.

Pic is of the gift I brought for the gift exchange. I made the wreath and the Alaska santa ornnament (which I copied off of one I found online)

30 Day Photography Challenge, Day 7

Day 7:
12/18/11

Challenge:
Fruit

30 Day Photography Challenge, Day 6

Day 6:
12/17/11

Challenge:
From a Low Angle

30 Day Photography Challenge, Day 5

Day 5:
12/16/11

Challenge:
From a High Angle

Gorgeous Hot Pink Ball

I absolutely love this, but what should I do with it?

Fun Fabric Scraps Ornaments

Here are some of the fabric ball ornaments. I have the green santa ones, the Steeler's one, and the striped one listed on my Esty page. The white ones I made for my husband's co-worker.

http://www.etsy.com/people/LuminescentJohnsons?ref=si_pr

I'm still trying to find my "crafting deal" so I don't have much on my page yet, but if you want to purchase any, that's where you'll find them!

Fabric Balls

Like I said, I learned how to make fabric balls. They are so easy, and fun to make. Here are some pics. Aren't they cute? It will still take practice to get them rounder, but not bad for my first few tries.

30 Day Photography Challenge, Day 4

Day 4:
12/15/11

Challenge:
Something Green

30 Day Photography Challenge, Day 3

Day 3:
12/14/11

Challenge:
Clouds

30 Day Photography Challenge, Day 2

Day 2:
12/13/11

Challenge:
What I Wore Today

(My Aftershock (Christian Young Adult Group) t-shirt, and jeans)

30 Day Photography Challenge, Day 1

Day 1:
12/12/11

Challenge:
Self-Portrait

Here I Am

I have recently considered starting a blog where I can store my crafty thoughts, and photo genius ideas....so here I am! Sometimes I wonder if my Facebook peeps get tired of my constant photo uploads. Eh? Maybe, maybe not. Anyway, recently I've been working a lot of with scrap fabric and styrofoam balls. Last night, I learned how to make a fiberfilled fabric ball. And, I'm currently doing a 30 Day Photography Challenge. So, I guess there's lots of photos to catch up on, on here. So, bear with me as I learn about this blogging system--and, enjoy!