Wednesday ~ Heart Flutter

Recently someone special to me decided that she wanted start her very own blog so she could share her lovely photography with the world.  After a few days of pondering names, design, photo art, etc...she asked me to create this fun banner for her with photos of most (but not all) of her pets.  As you can see she just loves animals : )

And well, today it's my heart flutter.  Every time I visit her blog i get all happy inside and an instant smile.....I just LOVE it!  So sweet!!!

What is making you smile today?

<3 Carrie

Adventuresome & Sweet Photos

Beauty and folly are old companions. - Ben Franklin

She loved life and it loved her right back. - Kobi Yamada

Once in a while, right in the middle of an ordinary life, love gives us a fairy tale. - Author Unknown

We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open. - Jawaharlal Nehru

Love, Gloria and Carrie

Project Monday

Hello Lovelies!  Happy first day of your new week!!!

Today Nely and I are super excited to share with you our ideas on how to use your photo(s) from our last photo prompt!  So, let's get to it!!!

For my first project, i decided to create some sweet little tags with pockets.....

As you can see in the collage above, I used my photo prompt photos in three different ways.  For example one, the image on the left is my mossy background photo used as a background image for the woodgrain text.  For example two, I created the woodgrain text using my woodgrain photo.  The third example is the photo on the right with my actual tag punched out of (again) my woodgrain image.  Apparently I am loveing woodgrain right now! LOL!!!

Above are the six different tag designs I created to make a fun little set.  And below you can see the front of the tag with the to and from (again using text I created from my woodgrain image), and the back of the tag with plain scrapbook paper for writing a little note : )

Below are all the pieces I used to put my tags together.  Color Me Miki is our Project Monday sponsor for this month, so you can get the colorful bakers twine (in almost every color), Hambly overlays, and pretty tapes from this lovely shop.....

OK.  Now for some fun stuff I did in photoshop with my photo prompt photos!  I used the same photo of my nephew for all three photos so you can see the difference with each layer.  First, my nephew peeking through a thick window with raindrops.....

I love the photo above because to me it looks vintage in a very cool way.  To create this effect, I used a photo I took of my nephew at an outdoor mall and then layered my raindrop image over it.....now it looks like he is peeking at you through a window.

The photo below is the same thing, but with natural lighting and the raindrop layer is not as opaque.....

And for my final example I layered my nephew over my cloud image.  I could have layered him over the clouds completely opaque, but I kinda like that you can see the clouds through him.....

Well, that's it for my ideas on how to use your photos.  I had a lot of fun with this one, using your own background images in your projects feels great!!!  If you have any specific questions about my projects or photoshop stuff, I am happy to share so just leave a comment, and I'll answer it by adding to this post.

Also, I wanted to mention that if you follow me on Twitter, I tweet every time I publish a post.  So, you'll know when a Bubblegum Life post goes up : )

Have fun with your photos this week!!!

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And now for Nely's awesome project.....

Happy Monday!  Wanted to share with you the project I created with one of the photos I took for my Appointment with Friday!  I decided to use my palm tree background.  I printed the image on 81/2 x 11 paper, and then created a layout on top of it.  Used some green patterned paper, some fab rips from studio calico and red prima flowers.  The little tot is my niece.  I took this picture last year during a trip to the local pumpkin patch.  I felt this picture went well with the palm tree background.  It was pretty fun using a picture as background!  Can't wait to see your projects!!

Love, Carrie & Nely

Your appointment with Friday

Welcome to our first photo prompt of the year!  (You can view last years photo prompts by clicking on the "photo prompt" category on our sidebar.)  Boy, am I excited for this one.....for a couple reasons.  First, Gloria is still on break, so we have the lovely Nely from the Pink Ninja Addicts as our guest for this week!!!  And just wait till you see her photos.....soooo inspiring!  Second, this photo prompt has so many possibilities, today I will be sharing some of the fun photography techniques I used to take mine, and next week when I share my project, I will have lots of ideas for different ways to use your photos.  So, without further ado, the photo prompt for this week is.....

The backdrop of our lives.

I idea for this prompt originally came from thinking about using layers, textures, and background photos in my projects.  So, I set out to take photos of my surroundings.  As I began this process I realized that taking photos of the moss that only grows during the winter (rainy season) in my backyard, the wood in my living room that I see every day, the shop lights from getting frozen yogurt with my nephew, along with all the other photos I took was documenting the backdrop of my life.  All the details that I don't often think about, but are there just the same.  Kinda cool, huh?!?  Well, from then on this prompt took on a whole new meaning.  With each project these photos find a home in, a piece of me that I hadn't used before is now present.

When you go to take your photos, look for the tiniest of detail, and then maybe step back and look at the big picture.....do you see something new?  What is present in your everyday life that you don't normally think about being there?  What does the fabric on your dress or bed comforter look like today?

Now that you have an idea of some interesting shots, here are a couple techniques I used for my photos.  I don't at this point have a macro lens for sweet Clem, so taking close-ups is a little tricky.  I found that changing the F-stop to 4.5 or 5.0 and then switching the Manual-focus ON, helped be "zoom" in to a specific focal point with the rest of the photo being blurry.  An example of this would be the photo of the raindrops and also the moss.  They are totally different styles of photo but I used the same technique on both.  Also, something you will find quite common in my photos is when I get down to the subjects level and shoot straight on or even sometimes a little up.  An example of this is (again) the moss photo.  During the summer I would not even question getting down on my belly to get a cool photo of the grass or moss is this case.  However, during the winter when the ground is sopping wet, you can either squat to try and get your shot, or like I did in my photo...hold the camera close to the ground and just shoot.  The cool thing about about the latter is that you sometimes get very unique framing.....try it and see if it works for you : )

See ya next week for Project Monday where I'll share ideas of how to use your photos, along with examples from my completed projects.  Have fun this weekend!

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The backdrop of our lives. 

  

Hi everyone!  Let me first start off by saying that I'm super excited to be participating in this photo prompt!  When Carrie asked me to take photos about our backgrounds and textures, I immediately took to our backyard!  I started taking tons of photos because I was seeing so many fun textures and backgrounds!  I took a picture of the grass, a flower, a palm tree and a leaf!  It made me appreciate all the small things I usually take for granted.  Plus I got to explore my new backyard.  It was pretty fun being able to explore.  So I hope you show us your daily backgrounds!!!

Love, Carrie & Nely