{Love That Shot} Autumn

I've been visiting more and more photography sites lately. I'm hooked! There's one that I found that I really like called "Love That Shot". They have lots of great information, tutorials, a photog community as well as link-ups. A link-up is when they request the readers to submit a link to a photo based on a theme they are discussing. This week it's the first signs of Autumn.

Last weekend we were in Westchester at a state park in Croton. The view was breathtaking. It was a perfect Autumn day and the leaves were already changing color. I took a lot of photos that day but this is one that really stood out to me.

My little one was playing in a pile of leaves. I bent down behind a picnic table and shot this photo looking at her through the table.

Stats: Canon Rebel XSi, 50 mm, ISO 200, f/4.0
Editing: CS4, Crop on left, adjust levels, sharpen head slightly

Looking forward to seeing the other links!

Halloween Inspiration - Magazines

I LOVE magazines! I am definitely a magazine junkie. It's such a thrill to buy a new magazine and flip through the pages, oohing and aaahhing over all the great photos. (once in a while I'll actually read an article!) Some magazines I buy, read, tear out the pages I like and throw out the rest. Other magazines I keep. Especially those for Halloween. I love to refer back to them year after year. There's always something new I find that inspires me that maybe I just didn't notice the year before.

My collection keeps growing. This year I added 3 more to the group Two from Martha - given to me when I stopped by their booth at Maker Faire, the other from Phyllis Hoffman. Two of my favorites are from Matthew Mead - can always count on some great eye candy!

Do you have a magazine collection? What are your favorites?

Halloween Tricks For Your Treats

Isn't Halloween so much fun? I just love it!

I wanted to share with you some simple ideas on how to dress up Halloween candy. These ideas are good if you are planning a party, going to a party, or just want to give someone a nice Halloween gift without breaking the bank.

I like to start with simple items and dress them up. Here are 3 examples of easy ways to get fancy for Halloween.

1 - Candy Corn

A classic Halloween favorite (NOT one of mine...eeek!)

Let's say you have a friend or a client that you know absolutely LOVES candy corn and you thought it would be a nice gesture to send it to them for Halloween. How nice of you! Most candy corn can be found in any grocery store usually like this...

How boring is that?

With some simple changes - a clear cello bag and some coordinating ribbon, your boring grocery store item now looks like this...

Big difference, right?!? Now you have a real gift!

2 - Party Favor

This next idea can work in so many different scenarios. Party favors, place settings at a Halloween dinner party, or even little gifts for your employees. Little gestures go a long way!

You can find inexpensive Halloween containers at any dollar store right now. I found these small plastic cauldrons.

I think they came in a pack of 6 for $1. Great deal!!

You can fill them up with whatever you like. I used Hershey's mini chocolate bars that I wrapped with a personalized wrapper, filled the cauldron and tied a polka dot ribbon on one end.

So cute and it was so simple!

3 - For my next "trick", I'll show you how to dress up this plain black gable box.

I like keeping a bunch of these boxes on hand because they are perfect for so many types of gifts. I try to stay with the solid colors because I can use them for so many different occasions. No sense in getting stuck with a ton of pumpkin themed boxes that you'd have to wait till next Halloween to use again. See, always thinking!

When I was at Costco this weekend I saw that they had their holiday ribbon out. They have amazing deals on ribbon at this time of year. You should definitely check it out. I saw one that was white and had a black velvet design on it. I knew I could use it in an elegant Halloween design as well as for other future events.

I made a double bow with the decorative ribbon and then used an orange satin ribbon to give it a pop of color.

Can you imagine if you were invited to a Halloween party and showed up with a gift wrapped in this elegant design? You know you'll be invited to next year's party for sure!

The funny thing is, as I looked at this ribbon even closer,

I started to see skulls!

Do you see it also?

Am I crazy? Now I can't STOP seeing it!

Here's the recap of the before and after:

Do you give gifts on Halloween? Do you do anything special to celebrate?

{I Heart Faces} Fix It Friday #74

I know it's Saturday but my day was so crazy yesterday!

Here are my photo edits for this week:

Original Photo (not mine)



My edited version:


I use Photoshop CS4

I did an inverse selection on the dog and adjusted the levels

Did a separate level adjustment on the dog

Cropped and deleted a small portion of a pumpkin on the right side

{Field Trip Fridays} A REAL Pumpkin Patch

Today I'm taking you out of the city. Way way waaaaaaaay out of the city to an area called Washington, New Jersey. You're not alone - before my cousins moved there, I hadn't heard of it either!

Once a year about this time in October we make our annual visit. Between our families there are lots of birthdays in September and October so we get together to celebrate them all at once.

As we're driving further and further west, deeper into New Jersey, the familiar scenery of crowds and skyscrapers quickly fades changing into open fields, rolling hills and cornfields.

Yes folks, we are definitely not in the city anymore!

On our visit this time they decided to take us to a pumpkin patch. In the past when I've been to pumpkin patches, the pumpkins are all neatly arranged by size. You select the ones you want, and check the price chart to see how much you owe - usually they are priced by size. Even when we lived in Florida, we would go to a pumpkin patch and do the same thing. It definitely had a different vibe though since we were usually STILL in shorts, a tank and sweating like there's no tomorrow. The calendar said October, but it still felt like summer.

This was a completely different experience for us! Maybe not to some of you out there, but to us city folk, we were in awe!

The place we went to was called West Portal Pumpkin Patch - actually a bit out of Washington into another town called Asbury.

As far as your eye can see (and even further) there were pumpkins. And they were still on the vine!

You literally needed to "pick" off anything you wanted. Besides pumpkins, there were other members of the squash family.

I think my girls wanted these as pets!

One of the things that was great about this place was it provided a perfect backdrop for some Autumn inspired photographs! I didn't do much picking, but I certainly did a lot of clicking!

My nephew,

my little one,

I forget what she was mad at - probably me and my camera!

A group shot of the cousins

and more picking!

There was even a haystack maze! Super fun for the kids!

Instead of a sand pit they had a corn pit filled with corn kernels for the kids to dig around in,

a hay ride

and a blow up haunted house.

There were plenty of wagons to cart our pumpkins around in.

This is the stash we ended up with...

At 55 cents a pound, you couldn't go wrong!

It was time to pack up and head on back to the city.

Definitely a fun activity for the whole family.

I made the butternut squash this week - came out really good!

The hubbs said "these sweet potatoes taste amazing! What'd you do differently?"

"I turned them into squash."

Have you gone pumpkin picking yet? Do you have any fun Fall traditions?

First Photos Published!

I've been meaning to share this with you and because things have been so hectic I completely forgot. Then when I went to my "Blog Ideas" folder to figure out what to write about today, I came across this...

You're probably thinking 'So what?!?"

I'll tell you what! Some of my photos were published!! YAY!!!

Remember back in the summer I told you about how I took photos at my daughter's theater camp for their production of "Beauty & The Beast"? Well, I put the photos on a disc and the Riverdale Y (where the camp is held) liked them so much they asked if they can use some in their Fall Program Guide.

To say I was excited was an understatement. Photography has been such a passion of mine for so long that to have someone want to publish my photos was unbelievable to me. I know it's not a book or anything but small steps, right?!?

They used a couple on a flyer promoting their theater classes,

and 5 in their Fall Program Guide.

Two of them made the front cover!

The top one wasn't from camp but a festival they had during the year.

Then if we flip on over to page 19, there's one from the show WITH a photo credit!

On page 20 there are 2 more from the show, also WITH photo credit!

It was funny because my mom received the guide in the mail before I did and was all excited and called me to say "the girls' pictures are in the Y catalog!"

Absolutely NOTHING about the fact that they were MY photos, with MY name in the credit.

My sister and I don't exist anymore. It's all about the grandchildren.

But, I'm still excited!

Anything exciting happen to you lately? Would love to hear about your victories -- big or small!

Colors of Autumn

Yesterday the girls were off from school for Columbus Day so we decided to go visit my mom. Yep, we had to go a whole 10 blocks! The really pathetic part (and I almost hate to admit it) is that we DROVE! Could I be any lazier? I'll just blame it on my girls.

Even though we do live so close to each other, there is a distinction in neighborhoods. She's considered more Northern Riverdale whereas we're in Central Riverdale. The only time I really notice a difference is in the weather. Back in August there was a tornado in her area and my little one and I happened to be driving right past her building just as it was happening. Very scary! 10 blocks south in my area, it was a mere drizzle. So crazy!

Yesterday I also noticed a difference. When we got to her building we saw a beautiful site! It actually looked like Autumn!

There was one tree where the leaves had already started changing colors. It was so beautiful!

Even my girls stopped and took notice.

A second later they were yelling at me to hurry up and put my camera away. They were hungry.

And there went that moment.

Back in my neck of the woods, we're still green. Looking forward to the Autumn colors making their way down my way!

Does it look like Autumn yet where you live?