Crafts

Jessica Sprague // Oh Shoot 2 Class GIVEAWAY

0 · May 20, 2013 · 80 Comments

This post is brought to you by Jessica Sprague.com // Happy Monday everyone!! I'm so excited for today's giveaway… My FAVORITE online learning site Jessica Sprague is launching a brand new photography class that I am sooooo excited about. It's a class for those of you who are well acquainted with your camera but who would like to learn more about composition and advanced styling techniques.

You have a dSLR camera and have already learned out to get it out of automatic – hooray for you! Now, what comes next? How about learning more about the artistic side of taking a photograph – the things beyond the words aperture and shutter speed that can take your photos to the next level?

If this sounds good to you, then we have the perfect class for you – Oh Shoot 2! Advanced Composition & Technique taught by Candice Stringham over at JessicaSprague.com. Candice is one of my all time favorite Photography instructors. She really knows her stuff!!

This 4-week long, intermediate level class will:

Review in more detail basic compositional rules
Address color theory and how it affects the mood and look of a photograph
Learn about photographing an editorial portrait
Learn about how to photograph an event
Learn about compositional rules when photographing a location
Learn tips about tabletop (small items) photography techniques

And as with all classes at JessicaSprague.com, the course materials (videos, downloadable PDFs, etc) are available to you forever! If you want to go back and retake a lesson or even the whole class at any time, everything will be available to you.

Candice Stringham, the course instructor is the real deal. An editorial photographer turned scrapbooker, Candice is a former Contributing Editor for Creating Keepsakes Magazine and was inducted into the Creating Keepsakes Hall of Fame in 2006. She has a BFA in Photography and taught at a collegiate level after she graduated. Visit Candice’s blog to learn more about her and see some of her amazing work.

The next session of Oh Shoot! 2 begins June 3^rd and registration opens tonight at 9Pm EST. There are two levels of registration available. The standard class which has unlimited enrollment and the extended class, which includes comments from the instructor on your photographs. Extended enrollment fills up quickly, so be ready right at 9Pm EST to register.

Click here for more information and to register.

Jessica and her crew have been so generous and are giving away THREE level one spots to Candice's Advanced Composition and Technique Class // Oh Shoot 2… That's a $132 value!! Just follow the instructions in the Rafflecopter box below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The rafflecopter box may take a bit to load, especially if you are on Internet Explorer 9 or a mobile device… don't you worry though, it will load.

Friday Flair Link Party // Bicycle Wheel Edition

0 · May 17, 2013 · 22 Comments

Friday Flair Link Party // Well, it's FRIDAY friends!! Time for a little R&R this weekend. We are about to head into the last week of school and I have all kinds of things on my to do list before the kiddos are home all day. I am totally looking forward to the summer, but a little nervous at the same time. When we were in Vegas we had our normal summer routines and being in a new place I'm not sure how the routine is going to shake out. Do you ever worry about that kind of stuff? I'm weird about that kind of stuff. I need to be mentally prepared and then I'm just fine. The unknown, unnerves me.

Anyway, I'm loving Spring here in Lincoln. I go outside every morning to water all of my plants and I fall more and more in love with this place. The whole idea of it NOT being 100 degrees at 6:00 am is just so lovely!! My neighbor has several lilac bushes and it brings such an amazing aroma into my yard. I LOVE the smell of fresh cut grass too! I haven't really had either one of those scents in my life for quite some time. I'm loving it.

This weeks inspriation comes from a sweet friend of mine. I had the chance to meet her at Haven last june and she is just a DOLL. Seriously, one of the cutest ladies I've even met. She created a fabulous guest post several months ago for WhipperBerry on how to make a sail cloth shower curtain. To DIY for! (get it, to die for!!) LOL!! Her name is Kari and she is from Thistlewood Farm and she made the most amazing Bicycle Wheel Wall Clock that I think is one of the most creative projects out there in blog land right now. She is one super talented lady!!

img source // bicycle wheel clock from thistlewood farm

I am just loving what you can do with old bicycle wheels. Yesterday, I posted a sneak peek at what I'm working on with my old bicycle wheel. I can't wait to see how the final project pans out. Head on over to Thistewood Farm and say hello to Kari from me. She has all kinds of fabulous inspiration for you!!

Let's get the link party started!!

Color Block // Bicycle Wheel Sneak Peek

5 · May 16, 2013 · 8 Comments

Color Block Bicycle Wheel // I have always loved finding quirky little treasures to add some character to my home. I seem to always have my eyes peeled looking for fun goodies to get my hands on. A few years ago I was junking at a fabulous junk shop called Patina close to my Mom's house in Denver and found a wonderful old bicycle wheel. It made it's WhipperBerry debut in this post and was an instant hit! For the last little while I thought it could work as a fabulous photo display, but it needed something a little extra to dress it up a bit. So, I decided to give it a little color block treatment and I LOVE how it turned out!!

I have been obsessed with color blocking along with gold accents. You may have noticed… I've created several posts lately with all kinds of gold goodies. I have Dressed-up Dinnerware, Gold Accented Picture Frame & a Bowl Refashion to name a few. I've been going to town with Krylon's Metallic spray Paint and it's been getting a lot of use around my home as of late.

For this project, I used Krylon's Premium Metallic Gold Paint and their Indoor/Outdoor paint in Catalina Mist. The only other thing I used was some painters tape to create a clean line. I took the wheel which was already painted off white and distressed and hung it up in my back yard to paint.

Then I added one strip of painters tape at two different spots on the wheel. For some reason I didn't get any photos of this, but you get the idea. No need to tape like crazy. As long as you spray carefully you won't really have any issues with it. The tape is really just to create a guide for where you want to spray. I sprayed two-thirds of the wheel with the Catalina Mist and then the bottom third, gold.

Now, this is just a sneak peek, you'll have to wait until next week to see the finished project and how I use it to display my Instagram photos from Origrami. I can't wait to show it off… It's going to look sooooo cool!!

Have you found some cool and unusual ways to display photos? Leave a comment and share your fun ideas!

Dress-up Your Dinnerware with DecoArt

0 · May 15, 2013 · 11 Comments

Tired old dinnerware… Dress it up with DecoArt

So the other day, I was on a date with my sweetheart and we were walking through Target (yes, it was a glamorous Target date) and I found these fun summer dinnerware items that had some really great texture to them. They were also on clearance, total score. I thought they would look lovely with a little hint of gold and a touch of Americana Sea Breeze…

Supplies

Some dinnerware that needs some dressing up.
Gold spray paint – I used Krylon Premium Gold
DecoArt Americana Acrylic – Sea Breeze

Painters Tape
Plastic Wrap
Sponge brush
Fine grit sand paper

Instructions

To begin, you need to mask all of the portions of your piece that you don't want painted. I only wanted to paint the handles of the salad spoons and the bottom of the goblets so I masked off a good portion of the items with plastic wrap and painters tape.

Use the painters tape to create a a clean line for the spray paint. Next, use the gold spray paint and spray paint the selected areas of your piece.

I decided to use spray paint because I didn't want any brush lines in the gold portion of the project. I wanted it to look as much like metal as possible. Once the paint was dry, I taped it off again to create another line for the Sea Breeze paint with a little of the gold peaking out. Now for this layer of paint I didn't mind the brush lines. I wanted it to be rough and look like a fine almost coppery patina.

When the paint was dry I the sanded it lightly with super fine grain sand paper to show off the fabulous texture. It almost looks like aged copper. I love it!

It really adds a fun look to these simple and inexpensive dinnerware items. Make sure you hand wash them from this point, but they should last for quite some time and add a fun look to your summer table.

This is a fun project that you could even do with your kiddos this summer. Find some fun and inexpensive dinnerware or picnic items and let the kiddos go to town.

How Do You Add Splashes of Much Needed Color in Your Life // New Crystal Light Liquid

1 · May 14, 2013 · 210 Comments

How do you add splashes of COLOR to your life? This year, that is the question I am going to answer for myself in Project Add Color. I don't know why, but I've had such a hard time adding bright colors into my home decor. I've been so afraid to commit to a color palette (paralyzed really). What on earth will I do when Pantone announces the new color of the year and it doesn't co-ordinate with the palette I had previously chosen? It sounds silly, but really! When you invest in decor for your home–and it IS an investment–how sad will you be when that color palette is no longer relevant? You don't want to be the one house on the block with a kitchen full of avocado appliances and an avocado porcelain sink when the new trend is white.

How do you take a blank space in your home like the one above and add a little color to it? I took some inspiration that I've found all over the place lately and gathered some fun fabrics and placed them into embroidery hoops for a fun little pop of color!

I peppered in a couple of other fun objects to give the display a little extra texture, like the mirror and framed print. It's amazing how simple it is to do–just a little fabric and a couple of gathered inexpensive pieces can add such life to a bland little corner!

The same goes with fashion and so many other things in your life. How do you attack your wilder, more colorful side of life? How do you had a splash of color into your boring cuisine? How do you turn up the dial on your plain jane water and add a hint of flavor? Crystal Light has introduced a new line of products that can add a splash of color and flavor back into that lackluster water. The new Crystal Light Liquid is a fabulous way to add that splash of color without the added calories.

The new Crystal Light Liquid comes in six different flavors: Iced Tea, Peach Bellini, Pomtini, Strawberry Lemonade, Mango Passion Fruit and Blueberry Raspberry. The flavor combinations are endless.

I fell in love with the Peach Bellini, but quite honestly I think they are all fabulous. The nice thing is you have so much control over how you design your drink. You can add just a hint of flavor with a few drops or you can go extra bold with good squeeze. I have to say I'm a middle of the road kind of girl. More than a splash, but not so bold it blows my socks off.

It's the same with your home decor. If you are feeling timid you can add just a few little splashes of color with a couple of throw pillows or you can be bold and add splashes of color EVERYWHERE!

Where do you find your inspiration? How do you add that color into your life? Come share and you will be entered to win a $100 Visa giftcard!

Rules:
No duplicate comments.
You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:
a) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
b) Tweet (public message) about this promotion; including exactly the
following unique term in your tweet message: ""#SweepstakesEntry""; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post"
c) Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post
d) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.
This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
The Official Rules are available here.

This sweepstakes runs from 5/14 – 6/4.
Be sure to visit the Crystal Light page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ reviews and find more chances to win!

Crafts

Let's get the link party started!!

Supplies

Instructions

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