World Traveling Military Family

Photography DIY Easy Color Filters

By: Mrs Bcomment

Yesterday I had to create a ‘special effects’ photo for my photography class. I’ve never used color filters before and decided that not only would I give it a go, that I would make my own color filter to use as well!
All I needed was a Ziploc bag (I used snack size) and some BIC Mark-It markers, which was great because I had tons of colors to choose from…I only had a red & black Sharpie lying around. Basically I colored one side blue and one size in a rainbow theme, then I pulled it apart on the seams so it was one piece of plastic.
While I traced the lid and kept the colors inside the outline I could’ve easily just colored rainbow lines across the whole bag and it would’ve been fine…no circle is needed 🙂

Blue, I was worried that it would be too dark, but it worked out great
Then I went to work trying to figure out HOW to use it, LOL! You do NOT put it in front of the lens….well unless you want a blurry blob of color. After a quick visit to google I was able to find that I was supposed to hold it in front of the flash. You also do NOT hold it directly on top of the flash or in front of it. You need to hold it back just a bit so the flash can bounce off it. I still don’t ‘get’ how it works but really just knowing that it does work is good enough for me 😉
Then I played around with it and ended up with these:
Using the blue filter

Rainbow filter effects

And my favorite…creating an Antique/Vintage warmth without the computer! I just used the yellow/orange part of the multicolored filter.
I’m not sure that I’ll use colored filters much BUT now I know that if I need any I can make them quickly and for free!

DIY Christmas Tree Decor

By: Mrs Bcomment

I’ve been wanting to make some Christmas Tree decor since Oct, I finally got around to it a few weeks ago…I know and I’m FINALLY blogging about it! In my defense I’ve been very busy during Christmas break trying to get ready for Christmas, Boo’s birthday, and having the kids at home 🙂
Back to the tree decor…
These are the completed trees, below is the process:
The candlesticks, I actually bought 2 of the glass ones to stack but ended up not making a 3rd tree yet so maybe I’ll add it next year or use them for another project…

I then bought 3 Styrofoam trees BUT found a crafty way to make the trees without the cones so I only used 1 of the cones, I got the large one for 40% off with coupon

I started with the large tree, ribbon, and a hot glue gun (low heat) FYI I ended up needing 3 rolls of ribbon and only bought 1 each time so I had to stop and get more, next time I’ll by extra to begin with!

Then I cut part of the Styrofoam out to fit the candlestick, I just used a steak knife…I know risky considering our family history with steak knives, but thankfully I did so without incident

I started by gluing the ribbon to the top center

Then curling it around as I went gluing it down. This is where the low heat glue gun comes in so you don’t burn your fingers!

Here it is when I ran out of the first roll of ribbon

I then decided to glue on the decorative ribbon on the base, which I scored in the clearance section for 30 cents with another piece of ribbon!

All glued on

Close up of the bottom half all completed

Whole completed tree

Next I decided to try the cheaper route, I wrapped scrapbook paper around the Styrofoam cone and used the paper cone as my tree. That make it way cheaper than $3.99! I then cut some strips of green burlap that I scored on clearance and used the hot glue gun to glue on.

I glued a piece to the top

Then started cutting and wrapping the strips around and fraying the bottoms

After much trial and error I found the quickest process to be to hold up the above layer with a hair band (pony tail holder) and glue the next one underneath, fray it, then fold it up with the hair band and repeat.

Next I needed to figure out how to get it to stay on the candlestick since I was no longer using the cone. I quickly ate 2 Mott’s Applesauce and ‘recycled’ the containers after a quick wash & dry. I accidentally tore the whole lid off the first one but I just hot glued it back on.

Then I shoved them both up in the scrapbook paper tree and set it on the candlestick, pretty nifty huh?!

The finalized trees with my Willow Tree nativity that I scored guess where…yep New In the Box from the thrift store! 🙂
Final cost:
Ribbon tree- candlestick $4 (which I only paid that much for because I really liked it, it was already ‘finished’ and I’ll probably reuse for something else as well), ribbon $3 (50% off), Styrofoam cone $3, and base ribbon 15 cents for a total of $10.15. I could’ve done it for cheaper ($7.25) IF I’d figured out the scrapbook paper trick with this first tree as well.
Burlap tree- candlestick $1, spray paint $1 (because I still have a whole can for other projects), burlap $1, applesauce containers (free had at house), scrapbook paper 10 cents for total of $3.10

Spray Painting Candlesticks!

By: Mrs Bcomment

Once again I’ve been compelled to try a project from Pinterest, LOL! The problem was that in order to do the project I needed candlesticks…so I set out for the local thrift store and scored some. But I hit a snag when I could only find 2 that I liked and one that I could not use as it was. I called a friend and asked her to google if I could spray paint it…and sure enough I could! So here is my candlestick spray painting project:

I started off with this candlestick that I bought for $1 at the thrift store
When my friend was researching spray painting candlesticks she found that most people were recommending Krylon Fusion, so I went with the recommendations and bought a brown Krylon Fusion with a textured shimmer for a unique look.
I gave the ceramic candlestick a few coats and this is what I ended up with:
Viola! A brand new candlestick! Now every time I’m in thrift stores I look at candlesticks differently knowing that I can make them be whatever color I want them to be and those of us on Pinterest know there are tons of candlestick projects, LOL!
And what did I do with this and the others…that project tomorrow 🙂

Happy Birthday Mac

By: Mrs Bcomment

Happy Birthday Mac! Mac is 3 today!

He’s so ‘grown up’ yet still cute as ever 😉

I have no idea why Boo was acting like he was sleeping…maybe he was hoping that if he played ‘sleeping’ I wouldn’t take a photo, LOL!
And some Flashbacks:

Wow, look there is Boo play sleeping again…I see a theme going on here 😉

I’m amazed at how fast 3 years has gone by!

Holiday Market

By: Mrs Bcomment

A few weeks ago I participated in a Holiday Market that my friend convinced me to do 🙂 It ended up being lots of fun and I even made some $, which is always nice 🙂

Here are some of the items I made/sold:

These little ornaments when like hotcakes! I was surprised at how well they sold!

Notecards

4×6 prints

And the Family Name Houses 🙂

Wooden Photo Displays

By: Mrs Bcomment

I finished the rest of my photo displays! I do have to say they are quite fun and addicting!

For the flowers I just used ribbon and found some ribbon flower tutorials online

Good old twine

Ribbon with ribbon flower & button center

Wooden Photo Frames

By: Mrs Bcomment

Some of my crafty Pinterest friends wanted to make Wooden Photo Frames for teacher gifts for Christmas. We have 1 male teacher so I wasn’t sure about the idea but I decided to give it a go 🙂 Basically they were taking a block of wood painting/distressing it and then putting a photo on it with pushpins/nails and a burlap bow, I was not feeling male teacher with that idea 😉 Not having a photo of an idea, just a description from my friend I decided to put my own spin on it and LOVE the results!
I started with a ‘naked’ piece of 8×10 in wood and mini 2 in clothespin
Then I stained both the wood & clothespin with 2 coats of pecan stain, sorry this photo gives it a weird look but my ‘good’ camera was charging for a photo shoot later today 🙂 I have been wanting to stain ‘something’ for awhile, I was quite surprised by how easy it was!
Naked wood with the stained wood, coloring is a bit off in this one

I then remembered that I’ve seen some really cute stuff online with twine…so I decided to add some to mine. I nailed it onto the side with a tiny nail that Mr. B had in a ‘nail bucket’ in the garage 🙂 Then I printed a photo I made, and clipped it to the diagonal twine and Viola! Project done! I love that the teachers will be able to easily change out the photo as desired. I had thought about gluing the clothespin but this provides much more flexibility

Loving it! Not sure what I’ll do yet for the 2 female teachers but I still have a bit of time to work on it 😉

Fireman Birthday Party

By: Mrs Bcomment

A few weekends ago I had the opportunity to take pictures at a birthday party that my friend threw for her 3 year old twin boys. It was great fun and a good ‘hands on’ learning opportunity for me 😉 While I personally do not enjoy planning birthday parties, thinking of decor, ect. I do love going to the parties and appreciating all the work and effort. Everything was so stinking cute!

Here are some of the photos:

Wooden Pumpkins

By: Mrs Bcomment

Earlier this week I got together with some friends for a ‘Pinterest’ party where we made these super cute pumpkins! And of course I had to take my camera with me to document the process 🙂 Also I highly recommend having a Pinterest party it was so much fun!
Here they are cut with the divots (I guess that’s what they are called, LOL!) in them ready to be painted. Luckily my friend was able to have her dad help her cut the wood and put in the lines in them. She was then able to manhandle them with the belt sander to sand down all the edges 🙂

Pumpkins & stems (There were 4 of us so we needed 4 sets)

I painted my pumpkins with this lovely Terra Cotta color, love how it turned out

First coat on

Second coat on

Pumpkins & stems drying

Then we glued the stems on with super strength glue and left them to dry overnight…
I picked mine up the next day and brought them home and tied on the twine. Right now they are happily ‘resting’ in front of my Japanese glass fishing floats until I can find them a permanent location 🙂
Again this was another Pinterest project that we all decided we just ‘had’ to do 🙂

Photo Cube Decor

By: Mrs Bcomment

When I seen the photo cubes on Pinterest I just knew I had to make them!! Thankfully this blog even had a template all ready to use! I’ve been taking a Photoshop class, so it was a breeze to pop the photos right into the spots and make my blocks.

I wanted to make 8 blocks so I just chose 3 photos for each block, made them black & white and duplicated them in another layer in PS to make 6 photos, because you don’t see all the sides at the same time anyways…kwim?!
To get the different sizes I just reduced the scale when printing to make some smaller, I also saved the files so I can go back and print more anytime I want.
I got moss from the Dollar store and put it in the bottom, I LOVE them 🙂
See my one empty jar just waiting for a project to fill it…..

This is what they look like fresh out of the printer, you just cut and glue and viola instant photo decor!

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