Fun

12.04.

Let it Snow!

First off, let me just say that I hope you had an AMAZING Thanksgiving. My family visited me and I’m so thankful for it. I’m also thankful that know one got killed in the process, seeing as this was the first time we tried this! LOL!

While my family was down, I decided to have some fun and take their family pictures. I love fun, creative pictures, so I searched and searched Pinterest for some great ideas. I stumbled across the idea of using glitter.

The idea is to stand in front of the camera and blow the glitter towards the lens. The end result is supposed to give a cool effect. However, I wasn’t too keen on the idea of glitter getting stuck on my lens so I bought some big fake snow flakes to play with instead. They were only $5 from Target.

We thought it would be fun to act like the snow was falling down on everyone. So one by one, we had my sister’s husband sprinkling the snow from up high down onto whoever was the subject.

I wanted them to look like they were standing out in the snow and just loving it coming down on them. I think it turned out so sweet.

The trick to getting these shots were to use my 50 mm. I’m not sure the look would be the same if I had used my regular lens. The 50mm blurs out the background better and concentrates on the person or object in front much better, making the picture pop more!

My poor niece got it on her eye lashes and being the good Aunt that I am…………….

told her to sit still so I could take a picture of it!

Doesn’t that look cool? Of course, I helped her afterwards. LOL!

For my sister and her husband, we thought it would be sweet to make it look like they were kissing in the snow. I love how this turned out!

If you could have seen what it really looked like throwing those flakes, you would have died laughing! I was standing on the back of Z’s truck while my 9 year old daughter was literally throwing the snow by the handfuls at them while standing next to me. Let’s just say I have a new major appreciation for what goes on behind the scenes of a photo shoot! Haha!

He decided to dip her and I think it came out ADORABLY! 🙂

The snowflakes are in the Christmas decorations at Target. I wasn’t smart enough to take a picture of them before I threw the bag away. 🙁 They are only $5 like I said before, so for an inexpensive price, I think you can have such a cool look for your Christmas pictures this year.

The only downside to this is that because the flakes are so large, you look like you have MONSTER size dandruff flakes afterwards! LOL! Just make sure you shake a lot afterwards or go home after the shots.

Oh yeah! And don’t eat it either! I’m thinking you might get a big tummy ache! LOL!

Isn’t she cute? Um, I should probably add she didn’t really eat them! 😉

I definitely do NOT claim to be a photographer by any means, but this was so much fun to do and I just had to share them with you all!

Happy Holidays!

XOXO,

Esther

Tags: 50 mm Lens, Christmas Decorations, Christmas Pictures, Creative, Family, Fun, Kissing in the Snow, Photography, Pinterest, Snowflakes, Target

08.15.

Why, it’s GREASE lightning!

grease

One of my favorite movies of all time is GREASE!

I remember when I first saw it. How, right before my cousin let me watch it, she had asked me if I had ever seen it. I remember I kept thinking how dumb a movie would be that was called Grease? I just couldn’t wrap my head around it.

Now, I know the entire movie, word for word, song for song, and dance move for dance move!

Now, let me just say that I have this incredibly crafty friend. She always does these themed Family Nights with the coolest ideas and I am just so jealous of how she pulls these things together.

I have been wanting to do something like that for the longest time but just couldn’t get it together and come up with anything……. UNTIL a light bulb finally went off. “DRIVE-IN MOVIE THEATER NIGHT”!!!! This “theater” would be showing Grease!

So, I got to work!

I went to Lowe’s and bought 3 Large sized moving boxes that we would later turn into their “cars”. I let the kids pick their colors, so I left with 2 cans of spray paint and then just used some left over paint we had around the house for the 3rd one.

Here is the one for my Purple Girl.

Little man had to have black.

And there would be no other color for Em than blue…… light blue. 😉

I ran by the grocery store and picked up some white paper plates that I spray painted black. These would be the wheels.

Next, we cut little white circles from drawing paper for the center of the wheels.

We found this great post from Parenting.com that shows you step by step how to cut a card board box into a car! What are the odds?

You can check the same post out here.

I hot glued red plastic plates to the front for head lights and hot glued the wheels on as well. You can’t see it, but I also cut out rectangles from the red plastic plates and hot glued them onto the back for brake lights.

(At the Drive In, waiting for the food they “ordered”.)

(Hot dogs, French Fries, and the one and only Glass Bottled Cokes.)

I was really surprised at how spacious the boxes were. They were able to sit their food down in front of them and still be comfortable.

Which proved to be VERY disappointing for Buster, who was hoping someone would drop something…… anything!

We even had room for pillows. 🙂

The BEST thing about this “Drive-In” was

that it only cost me $25 !!!!

The Breakdown:

Cars: $10.00

Movie: $5.00

Food: $10.00

I can’t remember ever having a fun family night that only cost me $25. That was the cost for our entire family.

Granted, we stayed at home. However, being able to do this and have something the kids could play with even after Family Night was worth it for me. It took me the afternoon to make the cars, but the longest part was allowing time for things to dry.

Plus, this “Drive-In” was extremely FUN!……….. Rain or Shine!

XOXO,

Esther

Tags: Black, Cardboard Box, Cheap, Coke, Drive-In, Family Night, French Fries, Fun, Grease, Hot Dogs, Light Blue, Lowe's, Movie, Paper Plates, Purple, Spray Paint, Theater

09.14.

What’s on your Playlist?

(Thanks to Apple for the picture)

This week I have been trying to get back into my “workout routine”.

Ever since we moved, it has been out of wack. Like wiggidy wiggidy wack! (Sorry, I had to)

I happen to be lucky enough to have a treadmill in my house. I am also lucky enough that it hasn’t kicked the bucket on me since it is over 10 years old.

Oh no, “Ole Betsy” hasn’t kicked the bucket yet, but the day she does will be a bad day. We have had a love/hate relationship over the years, but for the most part, it has been more of a loving one.

This is “Ole Betsy!”

AND, just in case you were wondering, she is a :

She can even double as a clothes rack from time to time, so I would definitely recommend the brand.

SO!

Getting back into the groove of things made me start to take a look at my Playlist for my workout. Don’t know if this is the fact that I’m a girl, but I have songs on there that wouldn’t strike someone as the “workout” type of Playlist. The wierd thing is that I actually can workout to these. Now, some of them are definitely high packed energy songs. BUT most are not!

I thought I would share them with you, so here they go. It is such a mix of genres, it is ridiculous!

I’ll even attach the youtube versions, so you dont get bored. So sit back, hang out a while and listen to some music. (P.S. : If some have odd videos, do not hold me accountable)

1). Set Fire to the Third Bar – Snow Patrol featuring Martha Wainwright

2). Paperweight – Schuyler Fisk and Josh Radin (*You have “Dear John” to thank for these)

3).We are Young – Fun featuring Janelle Monáe

4). Yellow – Coldplay

5). Every Teardrop is a Waterfall – Coldplay

6). Paradise – Coldplay