The Daily Fuss

{Pinteresting} Keen Photography Meets Photoshop Wizardry

Technology can take photography to new heights. I embrace the potential for synergy between my camera and Adobe Photoshop, but rarely step beyond correcting the color, size or contrast of my images.

Perusing Pinterest last night, I stumbled upon one particular photographer who continues to test the limits of his (and Photoshop's) capabilities.

Jason Lee, a wedding photographer, started taking photos of his two little daughters back in 2006 when his mom was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma. The girls had perpetual bouts of colds and coughs, so weren't always allowed to visit grandma. Jason started a blog to keep his mom apprised of the girls day-to-day shenanigans without exposing her to kid germs.

Check out Jason's personal blog here.

Most of the ideas come from his daughters, Kristin and Kayla. Some of my favorites:

  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 

I am definitely going to try my hand at this at some point, because I can't help myself. If I am in any way successful, I will certainly share.

Enjoy! And, happy pinning!

 

Bridal Shower: Equal Parts Sweetness and Spice

I've been busy getting ready for Leah's shower, which we threw last Sunday. Since everyone seemed to enjoy Mairin's birthday post, I tought I would share some of the invitations and decorations I designed for the bride-to-be.

The printed pieces were inspired by a silhouette I made of the couple from an engagement photo. I added profile silhouettes of each of them to the invitation.

The favors were chocolates "sweet" and a spice "spicy" which was wrapped in brown paper to form the base of the individual topiary place cards.

For the centerpieces, I used topiary forms and tissue paper pom pons. I cut the base of the forms to fit in mint julep vases and covered the forms with potting moss.

I used my Ballard wreaths again and decorated them with ribbon. I also made "flower arrangements" from tissue flowers pinned to styrofoam ball forms.

The booklets contained a "tips and recipes" card for the corresponding spice, as well as a blank recipe card embossed with the bride's soon-to-be new name. Guests are to fill out the card with a favorite recipe and mail it back to the bride in the envelope provided.

We played The Purse Game and left right game and had a blast watching a video of the groom answering questions about the bride. We had her guess what his answers would be and, of course, it seems the two know each other very well.

Kristine from Darling Baker once again provided the amazing sweets. Look at those cookies!

What an amazing and wonderful and fun-filled day.

At this point, I am still suffering from PPD (Post Party Depression) and will likely be forced to turn my attention to another Pinteresting project to occupy my time.

Until then ... enjoy!

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Please share your bridal shower inspiration and any other ideas you've hatched or executed for an amazing event. Please post a comment and share your fuss with us.

Mairin's First Birthday: Book Party

Mairin's first birthday was incredibly fun. And, due to my growing obsession with Pinterest, I went a little overboard on the whole affair.

This post is a collection of pictures, inspiration and vendors that helped make the party a success.

For the theme, we decided on a book party. We have a ton of toys and Mairin loves books, so it seemed like an obvious choice. I tweaked Martha Stewart's book baby shower clip art for a first birthday. You can download the shower clip art here.

The girls wore pink and green BabyGap to match the rest of the pink and green decor.

I settled on pink and green tissue pompons to mimic live carnations mixed with faux boxwood wreaths and topiaries. (I had purchased the boxwood from Ballard Designs several months ago for my Christmas decorations). I ordered three hundred carnations from Fabulous Florals and they were delivered the wednesday before the party.

See some additional pinspiration for the party here.

Kristine Borzych of Darling Baker prepared the color and theme-coordinated sweets: Cookies, cupcakes, marshmallow pops, krispie paddles, lemon puffballs, chocolate brownies and milk and cookies.

Kristine also made the amazing smash cake that we all sampled after Mairin had her way with it.  The sisters shared cake with one another and eventually with mom and dad too.

Leighton's third birthday is coming up in five weeks and I'm not sure I have the energy to try to top this party. Little Lei has already declared a rainbow theme.

A very special thanks to:

Carol Deanda of Bella Photography and Deanda Photography for taking amazing pictures.

Kristine of Darling Baker Chicago for the gorgeous sweet table and desserts. (847) 322-3610

shopsweetlulu.com for festive party accoutrements and lightning-fast shipping.

fabulousflorals.com for selling beautiful wholesale carnations in small lots.

Potbelly Sandwich Shop for catering.

Mary Poppins and Grandma Freeman for wrapping books and pomping.

Have you ever gone overboard on a kids party? Did you have a special theme or exploit your DIY capabilities? Please post a comment and share your fuss with us.

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Pinteresting

I'm not exactly sure what I did before Pinterest. I believe, if memory serves, that I would hop into bed with my iPad and play Angry Birds or google an unsubstantiated health care concern.

No longer. I am one of countless (not true, someone is tracking the number) devotees of the Pinterest movement.

If you have been under a rock for several months and not checked it out ... do yourself a favor and put an end to the abstinance.

If you need a frame of reference, then I will say: Pinterest is the new Facebook. And, it kicks Twitter's butt, Flipboard style. It's a powerful, visual microblog. It's so easy to use, my mom set up her account and began using it PROPERLY in a matter of minutes. She's really good at it and her content is fantastic.

I am in love with what I've found on the site - so much so that I am going to add another segment to The Daily Fuss called "Pinteresting" where I focus on something AMAZING I would never have found, but for Pinterest.

Click on the image to my boards.

I will start tomorrow with my inspiration for Mairin's first birthday party (nearly all courtesy of Pinterest). It took me until just now to recover from the bash. Stay tuned for first birthday DIY madness and lots of photographs.

As the Pinterest geniuses know, a picture's worth a thousand words.

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