Friday, December 24, 2010

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the Harveys!

I think everyone has gotten their Christmas cards in the mail now,
so it is safe to share the family photo we sent out ~

Family Shot Goof-up

Hahaha. Here is the real one we sent out
(sadly, that one was not staged to look 'awkward') ~

Family Christmas Shot

Along with this ~

Reindeer - happy

It's like... painfully cute. And here are some bonus shots in the reindeer outfit ~

Reindeer - earflop

Reindeer - blanket

Reindeer - surprised

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Heart Designs

"L&D" Heart Design

"L&D" Heart Design

"R&S" Heart Design

"R&S" Heart Design


"Ethin" & "Emily" Heart Design

"Ethin" & "Emily" Heart Design

"Vanessa" & "Jamison" Heart Design

"Vanessa" & "Jamison" Heart Design


This one is hidden away among some tribal work ~

"Kyle", "Luke", & "Benjamin" Heart Design

"Kyle", "Luke", & "Benjamin" Heart Design



And a couple of other shapes!
"HPT" & "HET" Star Design

"HPT" & "HET" Star Design

"Brock" & "Jenna" Bow Design

"Brock" & "Jenna" Bow Design

Friday, December 17, 2010

Custom Bokeh

I saw one of the funnest projects linked on a blog recently & had to share it with you while you still have time to play around with Christmas lights.

Orson with flower tree

It's so awesome ~ if you have a lens that can get a nice bokeh effect you can easily change the shape of the lights in the background! Create a paper cover for you lens with this great tutorial and go crazy cutting or punching out shapes. I know I did! By the end of the night already had 7.

Indy with star tree

Now, there are a few things that I learned playing around with the filters & photos that weren't mentioned in the tutorial...


1) Ideally the shapes need to be around 3/4" wide (or larger), which unfortunately means most paper punches are too small. After playing around with several shapes successfully, I was having trouble getting the camera to focus with one. No matter where I pointed the camera, it just would not focus, and the manual focus is covered by the paper cover! Finally I decided the shape must be a tad bit too small, since the others were not having trouble. I re-cut it at about 3/4" (like the rest) and there were no problems!

In the tutorial she mentioned needing to use a tripod for the shots with a subject in the front, but I had no trouble getting a clean image without one (other than the fact I was taking these at night). I attribute this to the slightly larger shapes letting in more light for a clearer picture. So ~ go ahead and use that snowflake paper punch, but you might need to set up a tripod & have more troubles focusing. I was able to cut one out by hand, but it was tricky!

Snowflake tree

(To take pics of the tree by itself ~ focus on your hand in front of the camera, then remove it and take the picture, or use a close object nearby.)


2) You don't have to be very far from the tree, but you need to be pretty close to the subject. If you are too far away from your subject, the tree lights will look normal. Move a little closer, and they will be small shapes ~

Pic taken further away

Move even closer for nice large shapes ~

Pic taken closer up

I think the further you are from the tree, the further you can be from the subject as well, but I'd have to try a few more shots to see for sure. I am definitely going to be playing around more with the filters over the next week or two (I'll share the other shapes with you then), so expect more pics, but I wanted to get these up quick to give you time to try it out yourself!

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Ambigram Drop

"Aspen" Ambigram

"Aspen" Ambigram

"Bélanger" Ambigram
"Bélanger" Ambigram


"Sagacity" & "Integrity" Ambigram

"Sagacity" & "Integrity" Ambigram


"Canadian" & "Musician" Ambigram

"Canadian" & "Musician" Ambigram


"Element" Ambigram

"Element" Ambigram


"Vive" Ambigram

"Vive" Ambigram


"Roman" & "Oliver" Ambigram

"Roman" & "Oliver" Ambigram


"Rising Design" Ambigram

"Rising Design" Ambigram

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Bread Cornucopia

Quick! Before we hit Christmas I have to share my Thanksgiving craft.

When I saw these directions for shaping a cornucopia out of bread, I knew I had to make one for our Thanksgiving Day centerpiece! It's one of those things that looks sooo complex but was pretty simple to put together.


Bread Cornucopia

I used a soft pretzel recipe for the dough, but I really need to find a new one because the one we use just does not stretch & roll very well. I basically had to squeeze the dough into a coil & hope that it didn't fall apart on me! I skipped the baking soda bath you normally use for pretzels & brushed on some egg at the end to get some nice browning on top.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Ambigram Customer Pics

Some more pictures of ambigram ink!

"Create" Ambigram Tattoo
(This ambigram as a finished tattoo.)
"Create" Ambigram Tattoo

"Chantal" Ambigram Tattoo
(This ambigram as a finished tattoo.)
"Chantal" Ambigram Tattoo

"Michaela" Ambigram Tattoo
(This ambigram as a finished tattoo.)
"Michaela" Ambigram Tattoo

"EMZ" & "RAZ" Ambigram Tattoo
(This ambigram as a finished tattoo.)
"EMZ" & "RAZ" Ambigram Tattoo



And I'm always excited to see ambigrams used for something other than tattoos!
This customer had their design engraved to create an awesome pair of cuff links ~

"Marcus" & "Amanda" Ambigram Cuff Links
(From this ambigram.)
"Marcus" & "Amanda" Ambigram Cuff Links

"Marcus" & "Amanda" Ambigram Cuff Links 2

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Ambigram Drop

"Treasure" & "Here & Now"
Ambigram


"Treasure" & "Here & Now" Ambigram

"Nielsen" & "Hayward"
Ambigram


"Nielsen" & "Hayward" Ambigram


"Diplock" Ambigram

"Diplock" Ambigram


"Believe" Ambigram

"Believe" Ambigram


"Eric", "Jacob" & "Joshua"
Circle Ambigram


"Eric", "Jacob" & "Joshua" Circle Ambigram


"Amanda" & "Marcus"
Ambigram


"Amanda" & "Marcus" Ambigram


"Araceli" Ambigram

"Araceli" Ambigram


"Charlotte" Ambigram

"Charlotte" Ambigram

Monday, December 6, 2010

Disk Dogs

My to-do list has been a little overwhelming lately. Taking a few days off for Thanksgiving during the Christmas rush really kicked my butt! Then there is all of the Christmas shopping, errand running, and this year we are determined to send out Christmas cards for the first time (with a family photo, which lead to photo shoots). I am so behind on photos & posts ~ hopefully I will be able to catch up when Justin is home for Christmas break. Wishful thinking!

Speaking of being behind on posts, back in October we visited the international Disk Dog championship again. We weren't able to stay for long at all ~ the sun was *insane* that day and there is not much time between Orson's naps, but we saw a few dogs. I had a great time taking pics while I could (Here are the pics from last year.).

Disk Dogs 22

Disk Dogs 4

Disk Dogs 7

Disk Dogs 9

Disk Dogs 8

Disk Dogs 10

Disk Dogs 17

Disk Dogs 14

Disk Dogs 19

And there are a few more over at my Flickr!