A study in Elle

I've really been playing around with my camera a lot trying to get more comfortable with the settings that used to leave me frightened and confused before.  I asked Elle to be my model for a few quick pictures yesterday.  She wasn't thrilled with the whole thing bit I love the results. I don't mind the milk mustache or the bug bite on her nose.  In fact, I think they add something.

Maternity photos

My best friend is pregnant with her second child and this past weekend she did me the incredible honor of letting me take some maternity photos of her.  I know that I am so very much a beginner at this stuff but we had so much fun and I was really happy with the results.  It reaffirmed for me that I want to continue to practice and to get better.  Here are a few of my favorites from our little photo shoot.

Pictures of her

I'm attempting to become a better photographer. Don't laugh.  I recently invested in a pretty nice camera plus a "here's how you use this you moron" book to go with it.  I use Elle as a practice model a lot because a) she's always willing to have her picture taken and b) she's the most gorgeous child on the face of the planet c)she works for Tootsie Rolls.

Here are a few of the pictures I've taken of her recently.  I think my practice is slowly starting to pay off.

Obviously I did a little photo-shopping on these.  I have a nice photoshop program but all of these were done with Picnik.  It's easy and you can get some neat results pretty quickly.  They have a free version but the paid version is not that expensive and really, really worth it.  (I was not paid to write this, I'm sharing because I really like the site.)

Minnesota Zoo Photo Contest Entry

The Minnesota Zoo is currently running a contest on Flickr where you can submit your own zoo pictures.  The grand prize is a camera.  More specifically the exact same camera that I just bought.  I know I don't have any chance of winning but I was pretty satisfied with the the pictures I entered.  I think they turned out ok considering that I took the with my old crappy camera and edited them with pretty basic tools.  So, without further ado I present to you...

Barnyard Animals category

Tropical Animals category

Deep Sea Wonder category

Butterflies category

People and Places category

Northern Trek category

Beany builds a table!

Do you covet Pottery Barn furniture? Of course you do! Everyone does! That's why they're able to charge so much for their products. Did you know that if you have a little time, a little work space and a little self confidence you can build your own Pottery Barn knock-offs for way cheaper than you can buy them? Seriously! Ana at Knock-Off Wood can show you how.

I admit that I myself am a little intimidated by building my own furniture because I once nearly severed my little toe while using an electric drill. Don't ask. You know who's not intimidated though? My aunt Dorene. You can call her Beany because that's what I call her. That's what everyone in my family calls her and I think I was like 14 before I realized that wasn't her real name.

But I digress. Beany is crafty and awesome and brave and took on one of the projects on Knock-Off Wood. She made this lovely table. From Beany:

This isn't a step by step tutorial, but Ana from Knock-Off Wood does that so well it seems silly to re-do it. I will tell you that we are definitely amateurs when it comes to furniture building and we are so pleased with the results. The only change we made to her plans was adding a second board at the bottom. And we only did that because we cut an extra. Although I do like how it turned out. If you haven't checked out this amazing site yet, get going!

See?  It looks all professional and whatnot.  She said it cost about $30 to build and that's a heck of a lot cheaper than you could get it for at Pottery Barn.

Clearly Beany rocks because she managed to a) build something b) take a picture of it c) write something about it.  This is why I'll be having Beany guest post sometimes on Problem Girl Creates.  In fact, she might be doing all the posting here as I'll be busy with my new blog, Problem Girl Delegates.  So be nice to Beany!  Otherwise she'll come to your house and ... build you a table.

Textures

No time to talk! I've discovered the joy of adding textures to my pictures and I plan on spending the next seventeen years of my life photoshopping lacy overlays onto all of my pictures.




here
I'm just starting to play around with this but I think it's a lot of fun. With some practice you could take a boring picture and turn it into something arty. Give it a try, you know you want to! (You can find more of my textured photos here.)

I use Photoshop Elements for all my photoshopping needs and I got all of the textures from here.

Four Sundresses for Elle

I am attempting to make a couple of sundresses for Elle. I am facing a couple of obstacles. A) My sewing machine is in storage in preparation for trying to sell the house. B) I've never really sewed anything before. C) I work on them about once a month. I expect to be done with them by the time she's seven. At least the fabrics are pretty.