Blowing bubbles in Winter

I've had several people share this article with me about gorgeous frozen bubbles and suggest that I give it a try. Since I live in the Land of Lincoln, the land of weather extremes, I knew it was just a matter of time before a nice cold day would come around. 

Enter Winter Storm Ion.  I sent KJ out the the garage last night to bring the bubble mix inside. It was frozen solid. I was really excited by the prospect of super-cool science and photography all mixed together!  Geeked out!

We went out this morning, with the dog.  Winter is fun! Snowstorms are exciting. The dog loved it for five seconds!  Woo hoo!  Snow! Wind! Doggie winter coat! (She secretly hates us.)

After we put the dog back inside, we got the bubbles out and couldn't wait to create gorgeous bubble art (in15°, 20mph wind weather.)  Yay! Frozen bubbles.

More like, "Yay! Frozen bubble solution." Within 5 minutes, I had bubble slushie.

Sure, I was able to blow bubbles, but the 20 mph winds took them away faster than my frozen fingers could get the camera out.  And even if I had been able to get the camera out, there's no way I could have actually found the bubbles in the viewfinder.  Between the gray sky, snow-covered background and swirling snow, I could barely find them with the naked eye before the wind demolished them. Boo.  Stupid Winter Storm Ion.

There was one that froze and then started to pop and drifted about in the the sky like a deflated balloon.  I consider that my victory.  It was awesome.  Can't you just imagine it?

So, those lovely, frosty bubbles, the ones that look like broken glass that the mom in the article managed to capture with such beauty?  Not so much.  Here's my Central Illinois version of gorgeous, frozen, broken-glass bubbles.

See them there, on the stick?

Nailed it.

A Moment

It's 12:23 am on December 23. I just walked the puppy and now am lying on the couch with her so that she will calm down and go back to sleep. 

I should go to bed. 

I know that Chester will have me up in less than 5 hours so that she doesn't die of starvation 

I should go to bed. 

I have cookies to bake and errands to run and presents to wrap tomorrow. Today. 

I should go to bed. 

But the lights. The glow of Christmas lights fills me with peace and wonder and serenity. I am alone with my puppy and my two cats and my thoughts. 

I don't want to go to sleep. 

Tomorrow will be chaos. 

I want to enjoy the lights. 

Photo Recipe: Winterizing a Photo

We got a puppy yesterday.  We've had cats for all 17 years of our marriage and while I love animals, I love cats for their lack of neediness. (Read: we can be gone for hours with no worries.)  But when my in-laws' dog had seven puppies in September, I knew we were toast.  How could we not take on of Bella's puppies?
Rue joined our family yesterday.  Boo and I went on a shopping spree at PetSmart last week and decided that she needed a winter coat.  She is a short-haired dog, after all and and it's supposed to be one doozy of a winter here in Illinois.  When my daughter got home from school, we dressed her up to go outside and of course, I had to take photos.
{Nikon D7000 | 55-300mm lens @ 85mm | f/5.6 | 1/125s | ISO 1000}

This is what I started with:



I'm not one for posing (and 10-week-old puppies and 11-year-old girls feel the same way) so we took a bunch and this one was by far my favorite.  I first adjusted the levels to get the black of Rue's fur a little "juicier." Then I decided the whites weren't white enough.  I went to Love That Shot's Simplicity Photo Veil Collection to see what I could do.  I chose Chamomile an applied it at 25% in overlay mode.  I was pretty happy with the result.  Rue's black was blacker and her whites were definitely brighter.



I am never happy with just one adjustment and I wanted a little more vignette, so I went back to the Simplicity Collection and added the Fairy's Frock Veil. I made sure to choose a veil in the cool range and with the purple-tint of this one, I thought it might be perfect.  I added it at 50%  in overlay mode.



I liked it more, but wasn't quite satisfied, so I added a hue/saturation layer and decreased the saturation to -25 to take a little of the color out of my daughter's hat and coat.  And then I discovered one more veil to really make things look ice-cold:  Vanilla Twilight.  I added this at 50% in soft light.



I really liked the end result.  I think the photo looks plenty chilly now!   If you enjoy simple ways to play with your photos, check out what they have at Love that Shot.  Misti and Michelle will take care of you!

Photo Recipe: My Moody Winter Sky

I was was so proud of myself for keeping up with my thankful posts even as I struggled because I didn't want it to turn into an inventory of the reasons my life is awesome (I didn't want it to feel braggy.)
So, one co-old morning, when I opened all of the shades completely to let the sun shine in and warm the house (total opposite from a typical summer day,) I realized what was what I was thankful for that day: the warmth of the winter sun.  I went out on my front porch, in my pajamas, and tried to get a photo of the winter sky.  I wanted leafless tree tops and that cold blue sky and that quality of the sun that just hollers "It's winter!"
Now, my house is across the street from the Junior High School where my son is an eighth grader.  I did not take the time to play with a lot of settings because I didn't want his buddies to look out the window and see crazy Mrs. K on her hands and knees taking pictures of the sun.  They all know the camera is attached to my hip, but still...
So, I came inside, loaded the photos and this is what I ended up with:



Bleh.  I like the silhouette of the trees, and the sky definitely doesn't look summery, but I just didn't love it at all.

Three days after this, we had horrific storms (I live about 9 miles from Washington, IL) and all I could think about was what a moody, fickle sky we have.  With that in mind, I decided to aggressively edit the photo to make it moody.

I am an experimenter and I picked some different textures from the Love that Shot Collections to see what they would do with my photo.  I started with "Wicked" from the Fairytale collection.  It has a nice midnight-blue feel.  At first, I had hoped it would give me a little blue in the sky, but that's not what happened.  But I loved the way it looked:



I next decided that I wanted a little more color variation, and more texture (remember, I am not subtle) so I chose a texture called "Mauna" from the Kalani Collection.  I loved the colors it added to the photo around the sun:



Finally, I decided to completely embrace the dark, foreboding feel that this photo was taking on.  I went to the Olde World collection (my favorite of all of the collections) and chose a texture called "Calais" for its dark vignette and ancient feel.  It reminds me of old parchment that has had ink spilled on the edges.

After I added that, one, here was the finished product:



In review, I added Wicked from the Fairytale Collection (overlay, 75%) then "Mauna" from the Kalani Collection (overlay, 75%) and finally "Calais" from the Olde World collection (overlay, 75%.)  Here is the comparison.



I like how my winter sky now looks like a creepy full-moon Halloween night!  I didn't end up with what I had intended, but sometimes that's just how life is.

If you'd like to learn more about Love That Shot's Photo Veils and Textures, just click here! Experiment and enjoy!

Thankful. November 10.

It feels very strange not to have a photo to go along with this one, but I don't.  Well, I could, but I am not going to take the time to dig out and scan old photos.
Today, I am grateful for moving.
I had moved 16 times by the time I was 14 years old.  I have lived in 5 different states, and while I have lived in the same house for the past 14 and a half years, I still consider myself a bit of a nomad.
If I had not moved like that, I wouldn't have an appreciation for different parts of the country.  I wouldn't have many of my friendships.  I may not have become as obnoxiously outgoing as I am.  I would be much more uncomfortable with change.  I wouldn't understand that friendships ebb and flow and that's ok.
My family always talks about that last move and the opportunities that it brought to me and my sister.  The move to Princeton, IL was a fabulous one for our family.  Princeton instantly felt like home.  I felt accepted and I was able to be highly involved at the high school.
One of the coolest experiences of my high school career was my volleyball team winning the State Championship in 1990, 23 years ago today (ahhh!  There is a connection.)  If we hadn't moved to Princeton, I wouldn't have had that opportunity.
I am grateful for the  moving.

Thankful. November 9.

I find friendships fascinating.  They ebb and flow and some stay true while others fade away.  I am so very thankful for the friendship that exists between these two families.  The M family moved to the next town several years ago, but when the kids get together, it's like nothing has changed.
Sometimes I think that the space makes the friendship better and that if they actually all went to school together, they might not be friends.
Stupid adolescent weirdness.
Anyway, I am glad they don't live near each other so they can be friends and have fun without the pressure from cliques, etc.
Whew!

Thankful. November 8.

Sometimes it is the little things in life that make one happy.  Today it is craft projects.  My daughter can spend hours happily crafting away.  She has found instructions online for creating the little Minecraft objects out of those little melty plastic beads. 
I think it's awesome.
I miss crafting.