Photography Archives - Page 2 of 3

Princess Crowns Tutorial

July 8, 2013 by girlinspired 50 Comments

One of my most favorite DIY projects EVER are the lace princess crowns I made for the girls’ birthday parties. I was pretty pleased with myself last year when I made the first set of crowns, adding color and glitter to the ideas I’d seen online. Since then, I’ve made several more crowns and after Addison’s Princess and the Popstar party a couple weeks ago, I have some updates to my original tutorial to share.

Choosing Synthetic laces vs. cotton lace – the synthetic laces seem to hold their intricate detail/shape better than the soft cotton laces, such as the vintage trims I used in the past. Look for wider designs with a lot of variation in the trim for taller crowns.

Saturate the trim in fabric stiffener, swipe off excess with your fingers, lay the lace flat to dry in a straight line on waxed paper. Turn several times to ensure all of the holes in the lace are clear of excess stiffener.
This is an excellent summertime project (particularly here in the dry heat of CA – not sure how humidity effects drying time). I was able to add stiffener, dry out the lace, paint, and glitter the crowns all within about a half a day. When I made them previously in January, it took several days. After each step, I set the lace outside to dry – temperature was about 90 degrees that day.
Apply one coat of acrylic paint to both sides in the same color as the glitter you’d like to apply. Allow to dry.
To add glitter: choose a very fine glitter – this makes all the difference. This glitter from Martha Stewart Crafts worked a million times better than anything else I’ve tried.

Use a foam brush to apply a thin layer of Mod Podge over the painted lace. Sprinkle with glitter. Shake off excess glitter. Set out to dry (this doesn’t take long). Flip over. Apply a layer of glitter to the other side.

Immediately overlap and hot glue the ends of the lace together to form a circle. Use this tip to dry the crown into the perfect circular shape. Set outside to dry for several hours or overnight.
Store crowns the same way you dried them. I have mine all stacked on one take-out container after the next.

Super cute, right? I love these crowns!!! And I love knowing that I can make them in a snap in this hot weather! Have you made one yet?

For more details and pictured instructions, you can see my original tutorial here.

More Princess and the Popstar Party Details

Lace Princess Crowns - DIY

DIY Disco Ball Pinata

Princess and the PopStar Birthday Party

Princess Dress Sewing Pattern for Girls

Microphone Craft Party Activity

Make a Photo Backdrop Anywhere!

March 20, 2013 by girlinspired 29 Comments

I am loving the warmer weather and beautiful light for taking pictures this spring. It’s always a challenge to photograph one of my children, trying to coordinate their mood with available time, perfect lighting, cooperating weather, and a great location. Spring weather definitely works better than winter weather! However, it’s not always possible (rarely, actually) to get the pictures I need at exactly 1.5 hours before sunset outside with the right backdrop. My main living area has direct light coming in from the west all afternoon and evening. It’s my favorite place to be and it provides great lighting for a longer period of time than if I’m trying to take pictures outside. BUT, I don’t have any empty walls where the kids can stand and pose. I have been contemplating various solutions and have a few ideas for DIY backdrops. Today I thought I’d show how I made a backdrop for several of my recent photo shoots. It is so simple!

I picked up a cheap clothing rack from Home Depot – just $17 – to use for hanging the baby layette at my cousin’s shower last fall. I was able to come up with a more decor friendly solution for the shower, but I held on to this rack for experimenting. I spent some time looking at vinyl backdrops online, but they are pretty pricey and they all looked so nice, I couldn’t decide on just one that I’d use forever. I like the idea of being able to switch out the backdrop and have some variety. Then I looked at my stash of fabric.

With a couple yards of fabric and two clamps out of the garage, I just clamped up the fabric that I want in the background and I have an instant backdrop behind the girls. So simple! And then you can change out your background however you want. Use a sheet, use a curtain panel, use a fun quilting cotton design. Since the clothes rack can be expanded about 5 feet wide and 6 feet high, it really gives you quite a bit of space to work with. You can also drape your fabric out on the floor in front of the clothes rack if you wanted your subject to stand on the fabric, too. And you can snap your pictures no matter what the space looks like around/behind the backdrop. Here are a couple recent pictures I took with my instant fabric photo backdrop:

Then, there are days like Monday when the weather and the kiddo did cooperate and the perfect backdrop was waiting just outside. Head over to Alida Makes today to hear all about Grace’s photo shoot and her new skirt I made for the Calling All Kids series. Go here!

I’m also over at Project Run and Play today answering a few questions for the designer introduction interviews. Fun!! Come say hi!

Newborn Photos

January 18, 2013 by girlinspired 18 Comments

I have been waiting to get my hands on a baby to photograph and my sweet cousin let me play with her precious little girl for hours last week! I was making the drive toward the Bay Area and the skies got gloomier the further I drove – what would we do without light?? I used my new, handy 50mm 1.8 lens for all of the pictures. That, and the dining room table pushed up to a nice, little window provided enough natural light for some gorgeous shots.

We had a chance to put this cutie in the tiny newborn ruffle jumper that I made her as part of her baby shower layette. So cute!!

These parents were nice enough to oblige when I tried to recreate another photo I had seen. I like how this picture makes me feel like I’m peeking in on their newborn bliss!

If you follow me on instagram (girlinspired1), you know that I decided to take up knitting. Knit or Crochet have been on my “try that someday” list for a long time – so far I’ve knitted a couple straight stitch scarves and this baby pod. At 7 pm, the night before this photo shoot, I decided that we needed a pod – you know me, when I get an idea in my head….

The sweetest family picture ever. The sweetest family, too.

Mel asked me to bring the lace crowns. Why, of course!

Awwwww, cute squishy happy baby. i love her.

Photography Tips and Ideas

Holiday Photo Tips with Pattern Anthology

School Art Auction Class Photo

Picture Perfect Flower Headband (Tutorial)

January 8, 2013 by girlinspired 8 Comments

I made these great flower headbands for a photo shoot last year and I finally made another one last week so that I could share the tutorial with you! I absolutely love the drama and sophistication that these flowers add for a special occasion. Ready to make one?

You will need a very lightweight synthetic material, I used the lining from an old bridesmaid dress. Why synthetic? So that it will melt when you singe the edges of the flower petals rather than burn. The lighter the fabric, the more it will curl when you singe around the petals. Thicker fabrics singe, but retain more of a flat shape and aren’t suitable for this type of flower. You won’t need more than 1/8 yard of fabric though, so if you’re not sure, just buy small amounts of a variety of synthetics. Once you’ve experimented a little at home, you’ll have a better idea which fabric to use in the future.

Okay, so you’ll want to cut a good number of “petals” in 3-4 sizes, progressively increasing in size. Try cutting a few petals and then singe the edges to see what the finished size will be. I set my petals next to a ruler to give you an idea of my sizing (prior to singe). You’ll need approximately 4-8 tiny petals, 10 small petals, 15 medium petals, and 10-15 large petals. They don’t have to be exact.

Now, you will need a flame to singe the petal edges. It’s easy to light a candle, so your flame is at the ready. But, a little kitchen torch works really nicely, too. Pass the flame near the edge of the fabric until it melts and curls. Singe all the way around each petal.

Stack your prepared petals in groups by size.

To make the flower, I like to use a needle and thread to sew the petals together. This gives me a lot of control over how the petals are arranged.

Start with four small petals (not the tiny ones, those can be added to the center at the very end to cover your stitches). Point each of the smaller ends in toward the center. Poke your needle up from the bottom through all four layers at the center and then stitch back down, up once more and down again to make a little x. Now you have your center foundation for your flower.

With your needle and thread through the top of the flower center, place a couple more small petals below your center foundation. You’re just going to start adding petals, moving in a spiral, spacing each subsequent petal so that its center rests below the space between the two petals above it – does that make sense? Once you have used all of your small petals, start adding your medium, then large, adjusting the number of each size petal for your desired fullness. Each time you add a couple petals around the base, poke your needle down through the center and back up again to catch the new petals and secure them in place. Cup the flower in the palm of your hand as you add petals to make sure they are placed where you like. Finish your flower by poking the needle down through the bottom, tie off in a knot, and clip the extra thread.

This is how the bottom of your flower will look when you’re about done. See the spiral of petals?

Now you can finish the inner center with a button or by gluing a cluster of the tiny petals to cover the stitching inside.

To attach the flower to a headband, you will need a small circle of felt and a matching headband.

Use hot glue to secure the back of the flower onto the topside of the headband (figure out where you want the flower positioned by holding it up on the model). Glue the circle of felt on the center back of the flower with the headband sandwiched between. Done!!

This is my friend’s daughter, Maddy, by the way. Isn’t she gorgeous? I got to take some pictures of her and her brothers last year – such an honor. I love it when my friends humor me and let me photograph their families. These pictures kind of take my breath away, still.

This is also the way that I made the Christmas headbands for Addie last year – you can see what the picture perfect flower headband looks like in red, here.

Canvas Photos DIY Revisited

May 10, 2012 by girlinspired 31 Comments

This is a post I have been meaning to put together for quite a while now. You may remember last year when I posted about putting photographs onto canvas using Mod Podge. I receive comments and emails with questions about this project on a weekly basis; it has been pinned over 100,000 times. 100,000 times!!!! So, it seems like it’s of interest to people (wink!) I had a friend from Grace’s gymnastics ask me to come into her husband’s photography class a few weeks ago to demonstrate the project and I got really excited to gather and show the various projects that I have done. I thought it would be good to do an update here also to address some of the most common questions about this project and show a few more examples.

If you are new to this project, the basic idea is that you use Mod Podge to glue down and seal a photograph and decorative paper siding on a store bought canvas. A relatively inexpensive and quick project for displaying or gifting photographs! For the complete instructions, see the original canvas photo post.

Let me first try to answer some of the most frequently asked questions:

Q: What type of Mod Podge do you use? Can you use spray acrylic to seal the picture?
A: I use MATTE Mod Podge. I haven’t tried it with glossy, but some readers have. I think it comes down to personal preference. Some suggest making your own mod podge formula by mixing white glue and water – I’m not gutsy enough to try it, plus I used a coupon and bought a lifetime supply of Mod Podge. As far as sealing the Mod Podge or sealing the picture for humid climates, I’m not sure. I’m really curious to hear if anyone has tried this and what the results were?

Q: My photo bubbles up/the ink on my photo smears/what kind of paper do you print your photos on?
A: DO NOT USE photographs printed from your home computer. For the best results, get your pictures printed up at a photo processing center. I like Costco. I always get my photos printed in a MATTE finish. Also, when you glue the photo on the canvas, be sure to lay it face down on a clean work surface and smooth out the photo from the back of the canvas in addition to smoothing it down well from the top side.

Q: The paper around the edges bubbles up while it’s drying/doesn’t lay flat.
A: First of all, use a heavy cardstock/scrapbook paper. My favorite brands are Basic Grey, American Crafts, and My Mind’s Eye. A good quality paper will make all the difference in your mod podge projects. It smoothes out nicer, doesn’t crumble or bleed or deteriorate while you’re smoothing it down on the sides of the canvas. Also, cut your paper pieces just a hair smaller than the surface; it’s much more difficult to get the paper to smooth out if you have to press it around a curve. Use a better quality canvas. I really like the canvases from Joann’s. The brand that is sold at Michael’s seems to be a lot bumpier where it’s folded at the corners; I did not like the results of my canvas photos when I used the bumpy canvases. Finally, let the paper dry and most of the bubbles/bumps will likely smooth out. I walk past my drying projects every now and then and just press out any bubbles/bumps.

Q: Have you done a larger photo and how did it turn out?
A: I have only put up to an 11×14 photo on a canvas – it turned out awesome. I did a bit of a larger photo (12×18) on a slab of MDF and it was more difficult to work the bubbles out – though it did dry without any bubbling under the picture. I sort of rolled the picture out onto the base, smoothing out the bubbles little by little.

Q: I can see lines in my finished canvas. Is this right?
A: I use a wide foam brush to reduce the number of overlapping brush strokes as much as possible, BUT the finished product will have visible lines. I LOVE this effect – it gives the canvas some texture and character.

Q: Can you use this technique on wood or other bases?
A: Why not!! I used some scrap 1/2″ MDF, sealed it with Mod Podge, and did all the steps exactly the same, and it turned out perfect! Actually, the paper smoothed out around the edges even EASIER. I did NOT sand the edges at all before gluing everything down. Makes the project even cheaper if you have scrap wood/wood-like product in your garage!!

So let’s look at some more examples.

10×10 photos on canvas in the girls’ room. These were thicker canvas and I LOVE how they look. I did not paint the edges of these. I wanted to maintain the bright, cheery pop of color in the photographs and on the decorative sides.

Next up – can you spot the Mod Podge projects in my family room?

The photo up on the mantle was an experiment with the MDF and I will replace it with a larger version when I find (or take) the right photo. I’m liking it right now as a placeholder. The larger photo wall was my big project last December. I can’t get a good picture straight on of this wall because of major glare, but I’ve just mixed a bunch of random photos and frames and canvas. I kept everything in black and white to pull it all together. You can see I still haven’t done anything with that couch…maybe this summer.

The picture that I put on canvas here is one that my internet bestie, Londen, at Sixty-Fifth Avenue, sent to me. The photograph was taken of a door in Barcelona – so incredible! I love having it up in my house – it’s a fun reminder of the amazing friendships that have developed through this blog.

I love how easy it is to throw the pictures on wood scraps, too. It’s kind of hard to tell from the pictures, but you might be able to see how smooth and crisp all the edges and corners finish off on the MDF below.

I grabbed a few of my wedding proofs to do this set of 3 – 4x4s. I used these to demonstrate the project in the photography class I was telling you about. I prepped the canvases at different steps so that I could show everything, but skip the drying time. Made me kind of giddy like I was on a TV show or something. You know, like when they put the casserole in the oven and set the timer for it to cook while simultaneously pulling a finished bubbling dish from the oven below? Anyway, I think these are going to become part of a photo collage in my master bedroom if I ever get around to decorating in there.

And finally, I got this next idea when I saw Ashley at Lil Blue Boo use flat canvas panels to make art portfolios. I have been needing a way to organize and store the girls’ school and art work. In Photoshop, I added text to a photo of each of the girls with their name, the school year, and their grade. I had those printed up and mod podged them onto the flat canvas panels. Then I followed Ashley’s instructions to turn the panels into portfolios. I hot glued a piece of ribbon inside each side and tied them to close.

Okay! So that’s what I’ve got. I hope this helps to clarify the process a bit and inspires you to get crafty with your pictures! Feel free to share links to your canvas photo projects in the comments.

Lace Princess Crowns – DIY

January 18, 2012 by girlinspired 106 Comments

The lace princess crowns we made for Grace’s princess party continue to receive much wear around here. When the girls put on their leotards or princess gowns for their nightly performances, they now bring crowns and bobby pins to complete their look.

The little girls enjoyed helping when the crowns were made and we thought we’d share how we did it so that you and your little princesses can make some crowns, too. I got the original how-to on Jessica’s blog, Joyfolie, which you can check out, here.

We used a variety of vintage and newer crocheted lace pieces (we made a total of 10 crowns) cut to about 15″ long. Pour a good amount of fabric stiffener into a wide cup and place the lace pieces inside. Wearing gloves, work the fabric stiffener into the lace until they are completely saturated. Spread the lace pieces out onto washable mats or wax paper and allow to dry. While the lace is still very wet, flip the pieces every now and then and make sure that the liquid does not form “windows” in the lace holes. We left the lace to dry overnight and it became very stiff. Then we painted with acrylic paint in several colors of gold, silver, bronze, pearl, and pink. (Actually, for the silver, I used spray paint which was MUCH faster!)

After the paint was dry, we spread mod podge on the lace and sprinkled on glitter, obviously an optional step. This was definitely the girls’ favorite part! Shake the excess glitter off and leave the lace pieces flat to dry completely. Once they were fully dry, I gave them a couple coats of clear spray laquer to try to keep the glitter under control. Then, form the lace into a circle and hot glue the overlapped ends (match the pattern). Done!

And here’s the birthday girl in her crown!

I’ve created an updated post with LOTS of TIPS to make your crowns even better! Click here for more tips!

If you’re planning a princess party, you might also like these tutorials, click on the picture to go to the post:

Lace Princess Crowns - DIY

DIY Disco Ball Pinata

Princess and the PopStar Birthday Party

Princess Dress Sewing Pattern for Girls

Microphone Craft Party Activity

Newborn Photos

Photography Tips and Ideas

Holiday Photo Tips with Pattern Anthology

School Art Auction Class Photo

Picture Perfect Flower Headband (Tutorial)

More Headband and Accessory Tutorials

frayed flower and headband how-to

5-Minute Headbands

Glitter Bow Headbands DIY

Picture Perfect Flower Headband (Tutorial)

Zippered Pocket Scarf and Pattern Book Giveaway!

Infinity Scarf - Kids Sewing

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