365 Project - Day 152

Today is my husband's birthday and guess who helped me mix up the batter for the birthday cake?

365 Project - Day 151

Our Rockstar in Training

Since the "big" kids have been busy with their guitar hero that we got for Christmas, Niklas has also decided he must join in with his little electric guitar that he got for Christmas. He's been watching closely and is really getting the hang of how it works!

Rock on
Hey, hey
Rock and roll
Rock on

Rock on
Hey, hey
Rock and roll
Rock on

And he loves the trashing the guitar part that comes at the end of well played rock concert!

365 Project - Day 150

I'm always fascinated with how photoshop can help to change a simple snap shot into a relatively professional looking picture. The family picture above was taken on Christmas Eve using a tripod with the camera set on timer mode. My family was anxious to open presents and were not prepared to wait while I kept checking the camera and wanting to take another picture because of someone not looking at the camera (which btw is hard to accomplish with a toddler and no one behind the camera!). I took 4 pictures on timer one after another and hoped for the best.

After looking at the 4 pictures, I choose this picture as the one I liked the best:

BUT there was another picture that actually had Niklas looking at the camera. The only problem was that Joshua was looking through his hair in that picture so I didn't want to use it:

Mirko also said that he liked the way he looked better in the second picture than in the first one. So, using photoshop I took the first picture and just switched Niklas's and Mirko's faces with those in the second picture. I also cloned the background to take out the pictures and other distracting things behind us, brightened the picture a bit and got this:

Then added a vignette which I put a plaid pattern overlay onto and added a small inset border to get the picture at the top of the post.

I really do love how photoshop and photography go hand in hand to make fantastic pictures!!

I ♥ Faces WEEK 51 "Hilarious Outtakes"

The theme for this week's photo challenge at I ♥ Faces is "Hilarious Outtakes". I had so much fun browsing through my pictures. It was a hard choice to pick out a few to display, but here are a couple of mine:

 

This is one of my all time favourites. Who needs a kleenex if you have a long enough tongue to do the job?!

 or if you don't feel like using your tongue, a finger will do as well:

surprising DaDa with the tongue while giving him a kiss:

wanting a nice smile from my daughter and getting this instead:

Be sure to check out the other great entries at I ♥ Faces: http://www.iheartfaces.blogspot.com/

taking a holiday break!

I'm taking a couple day break from my blog just to enjoy the holidays with my family and don't want to be spending much time on my lap top. I'll be back uploading pictures in a couple of days!

Hope everyone is enjoying some special time with people they love!

Day 146 - MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Christmas blessings from our family to yours!

365 Project - Day 145

While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.

Luke 2 :6-14

365 Project - Day 144

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to his own town to register.
So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.
Luke 2: 1-5

365 Project - Day 143

Bitter are the tears of a child: Sweeten them.
Deep are the thoughts of a child: Quiet them.
Sharp is the grief of a child: Take it from him.
Soft is the heart of a child: Do not harden it.

Pamela Glenconner

365 Project - Day 142

Down by the station 
Early in the morning 
See the little pufferbellies
All in a row 
See the station master 
Turn the little handle
Puff, puff, toot, toot 
Off we go! 

 

365 Project - Day 141

365 Project - Day 140

Today was a busy busy day for me. Part of it was busy baking "Zimtwaffeln" (cinnamon wafers). I'm taking part in a Christmas Cookie exchange so I make a HUGE batch of dough and got out the cinnamon wafer iron (a really flat waffle iron with one side ribbed like a normal waffle pattern and the other side has designs in it (see the above picture)). The wafers are yummy and now the house smells cinnamony (is that a word?) and  Christmasy!

Here's the recipe I used  (I multiplied it by 8 for my cookie exchange!). I got the recipe online somewhere, but can't find the link anymore to give credit for it. sorry.


Zimtwaffel
250 g Mehl (250g flour)
125 g Butter (125g butter)
2 Eier (2 eggs)
200 g zucker (200g sugar)
65 g gemahlene mandeln (65g ground almonds)
10 g zimt (10g cinnamon (I used way more)
1 essl. rum (1 tablespoon rum)

Butter, zucker, eier werden schaumig gerührt, dann gibt man die mandeln und den zimt dazu. nun wird das mehl untergehoben, bis ein steifer teig entsteht.
nussgroße häufchen auf die backplatte des eisens legen...das waffeleisen fest zusammendrücken und bei stufe 3 goldbraun ausbacken.
nach dem herausnehemn werden die waffeln auseinander gebrochen und beschnitten.

Mix the butter, sugar and eggs until foamy then add the almonds and the cinnamon. Add flour a bit at a time while mixing until you have a thick dough. Put nut sized clumps onto the iron and press down the lid. Bake until golden brown. 

Guten Appetit!

365 Project - Day 139

"From Heaven I fall, though from earth I begin.
No lady alive can show such a skin.
I'm bright as an angel, and light as a feather,
But heavy and dark, when you squeeze me together.

Though candor and truth in my aspect I bear,
Yet many poor creatures I help to insnare.
Though so much of Heaven appears in my make,
The foulest impressions I easily take.

My parent and I produce one another,
The mother the daughter, the daughter the mother."
-   James Parton, A Riddle - On Snow

365 Project - Day 138

If you've been keeping track, you'll have noticed that I did not post anything the last two days. I also did not take any new pictures on Tuesday and Wednesday. Today, I have made up for that though!! I've been so busy and going without taking pictures for two days felt really really weird! It was so great to get out on a cold winter's day with the sun shining and smash some ice together with Niklas (we stomped through every puddle we could find!) When we came to the pond, I did have to hold Niklas back a bit. It is also covered with ice but looked quite wet in the middle still. He sure wanted to get at it and stomp it!!

And to make up for no pictures the last couple days, here are a few from today:

 

365 Project - Day 135 "Winterlicht am Ludwigsplatz im Ludwigshafen am Rhein"

Yesterday we went to Ludwigshafen to take a look at the blue lights decorating Ludwigsplatz.

Niklas love being out in the dark, cold evening and was fascinated with the blue glow of the lights!

365 Project - Day 134

The Spirit of winter is here...

you can't tell in these pictures, but we are having our first light sprinkling of snow and it is getting cold!! (the coldness is something you might be able to see from the picture due to how Niklas is bundled up!) How exciting it was to wake up this morning and see a light sprinkling of snow covering everything. I would have loved to snap on my macro filters and go out and photograph some snow crystals, but I really wanted to go to church and sometimes choosing one thing means missing out on something else. Now, although it still is lightly snowing, the snow crystals are gone, but if this keeps up, I may have a second chance of getting some macro shots of snow crystals! In the meantime, enjoy my "little eskimo"!

365 Project - Day 133

Christmas is now less than two weeks away. I've decided that I also want to get lots of practice in both with my camera and in photoshop trying different things out to do with the Christmas season. The picture above was made following a great tutorial on I ♥ Faces: http://iheartfaces.blogspot.com/2009/12/inspiration-christmas-magic-diy.html If you're thinking of making your own Christmas cards, be sure to check it out!


I've started a new album on flickr to put my experiments and creations in throughout the Christmas season. The album is called "tis the season..." and can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fantasiaphotos/sets/72157622860269535/ Right now there are only two pictures to be found in it, the one above and this one:

There will be more added, so if you like what you see here, keep checking back to see what other viewpoints of the Christmas season I'll be adding in there!

"Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love."

Hamilton Wright Mabie 

I ♥ Faces fix-it friday

Time for another fix-it friday at I ♥ Faces! What an action filled picture for this week!! Here is the original:

and here is my "fix":

I did a lot of experimenting and playing around on this picture so I can't remember the exact steps I took to achieve the end result. As always, I ran the picture through noiseware first. Obviously I did a crop on it trying to bring lots of focus to the man hanging onto the bull's horns. I also did a slight omni light effect right on them to really let the light shine on them. I took a texture and did a roughened edge cut out on both the picture and the texture and then put the picture over the texture and then added the text. (those are the rough steps but I did do fine tuning and tweaking in between and lots of playing around).

Check out more fixes at I ♥ Faces: http://iheartfaces.blogspot.com/