I ♥ Faces Fix it Friday #82

I haven't done a Fix It Friday from I Heart Faces in awhile, but I couldn't resist today! Such a darling picture of a little girl taken by Rachael Durik. Here is the original:And here is my edit:I loved the composition already, but I just punched it up a bit by cropping it in a little tighter around her face.

Then I ran Pioneer Woman's "Slight Sharpen" action. Why? It's what I do with all my pics. I am a creature of habit! Next I used the healing brush and patch tools to diminish the dark spots under her eyes.

Then I used the Hue/Saturation layer to get rid of the blue color cast and brighten up her skin. There is a fabulous tutorial at The CoffeeShop Blog that will show you how to do that! Finally I ran Coffeeshop's Perfect Portrait 2 and adjusted the layers: I brightened and defined the eyes. I also painted "eye define" on her lips to bring them out a bit. I painted "Urban Grit" on her hair to define it a little and I used the "Get the Red out" layer on her skin. And, Voila! There you have it. Whew! View all the other fabulous edits over at I ♥ Faces !

Project 365 # 4

While I was at the Cal Expo Bridal Show all day on Sunday, my husband took all three of our kids to the Jelly Belly Factory! They had a great time and ate their weight in jelly beans.

Project 365 # 5

Breakfast. Yum-o.

Project 365 # 3

My photo for today is of the glider I used to rock my babies in. I have spent many nights in this chair rocking, singing, and cuddling my children back to sleep. Lots of great memories, but now it is time to make space and move on. Posted it to Craigslist this weekend. Hopefully someone else will love it as much as I have!

Project 365 #2

Publish PostDay 2, so far, so good! It was super foggy this morning, so after dropping the big kids off at school, I bundled my 2 1/2 year old up in layers and trudged out through the fog. I had intended to take a picture of the oak trees, but this was the shot I ended up getting, and the one I liked the best! Just a simple water droplet on a chain link fence. Looking forward to tomorrow!

Why Not? All the cool photogs are doing it…. Project 365 #1

Ok, here it goes: I am going to start a project 365 (Ack!!). It seems simple enough: take a photo a day for a year (365 days to be exact). In reality, this is a huge commitment… there are days that just get so busy and out of control that pulling out my camera drops to the bottom of the list.

But, I have started to let things go and not get out my camera everyday. When I first got it I took it everywhere. I would always be on the look out for great photo ops. I would make my husband pull over and wait on the side of the road with our three kids just so I could get the perfect shot of the cherry blossoms in the spring. (Sorry guys!)

Hopefully by the end of the year, I will have a wonderful album of memories and I will have learned a few things to help me become a better photographer! I'm sure they won't all be canvas-quality masterpieces, but at least they will be moments of my life! Hey, an iPhone camera counts right? Wish me luck! Here goes nothing!

I thought I would start off with a pic of me and my camera! Not the best picture~ I can see a lot of things I don't like about it, but it's me and that is what I wanted a picture of!

Birthday Party|Folsom Area Photographer

On a personal note… My two oldest kids have been to countless birthday parties over the years. They have grown up in playgroups and had friends that they have met through school. These friends (well, their parents) have always been very gracious and always invite ALL three of my children to the parties (thank you!). Because of this, my youngest has been to countless parties as well, but not really for her own friends. Today she got to go to her very first party where she was the one who was actually invited! She got to pick out her dress (and oh boy, was she opinionated on this ~ it had to be pink, not purple, mom!) and pick out a present for her friend and get it ready for the party.

She was beyond excited and so happy to get to go to a party for her friend. It was held at a time when my older two are in school, so it was perfect!

The girls had a blast and played like crazy! We had amazing "Dora" themed cupcakes made by Angel Cake (check her out on Facebook!). They were strawberry icing on a delicious chocolate cupcake! She hand made the Dora faces and they were melt-in-your-mouth delicious!

All in all, I think the birthday girl had a wonderful day and my daughter had a blast playing with her very own friend!