"Elf Yourself" Ellisons

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Sweet Dreams

I Heart Faces entry - WEEK 48 - December 7th - "Sweet Dreams" -



A group of us moms like to take our little children on a train ride on an old style train called The Blue Bird. The gentle train rocking lulled little Billy to sleep. If you knew Billy, then you would know that he 110% energy and a 110% boy. Makes this photo especially sweet.

Pink

I Heart Faces - Week 40 - October 19, 2009 - Pink challenge

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month...My mother is a survivor and has been cancer free for over 19 years. It came a year after my father died. That was a trying time. We all probably know someone who is going through this right now. I know two wonderful women that come to mind. I pray that they can recover and grow closer to God during this awful time. Please stay positive-minded. Here is my darling daughter, almost 3, all dressed up in pink. Photo taken specifically for "Pink Week".

Excited!

I Heart Faces - Week 40 - Oct. 14 - Excited! -

[Excited = All photos entered this week need to feature a person in them that is clearly excited and enthusiastic about something. The emotion should be easily conveyed when we view the photo.]

Is this shot for the pink week? Or excited week? I think definitely Excited! Vista's 'scarf princess dance outfit' is a big hit in our house. She was spinning around and so excited.

Blue

I Heart Faces -Week 38 - Sept. 29, 2009 - "Blue" photo challenge

Fiona in her blue tie-dye shirt, playing in the blue water area of Legoland. I like how the afternoon sun is shining on her face.
I had a lot of "blue" choices, including "blue" faces,( not just the color blue). But this one really says "BLUE" to me.

Completely Candid

I Heart Faces -Week 37 - Sept. 22, 2009 - "Completely Candid" photo challenge

I have more posed shots than unposed shots. If a person sees the camera, then it's not "completely candid" right? That's a tough challenge. Here is my completely candid shot. While on vacation this summer, we had the kids put on their bathing suits and cool off in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah. The fountains shoot up out of the ground in a somewhat unpredictable way. My two year old was frightened. My husband Jack, is hugging her for comfort and protection. I just love this shot how daddy is a solid protector of my precious with all the spouts of water shooting up around her and the laughter looks on people in the background.

My 1st Fix-it-Friday submission. I use CM's MM 3.0

My first submission to the I Heart Faces Fix-it-Fridays:



Here's the original and how I got to my finished image:



The original is a good shot. If there was only one thing to improve it would be to crop it. Do you see how the arm in the forefront is bigger and way more in focus than the girl's face? This is for I Heart Faces, not I Heart Forearms, so cropping to a square is my first thing. I use Creative Memories Memory Manager 3.0 for my photos.




Then I click "Auto Color" and "Auto Contrast" and "Sharpen (lightly)". This image didn't need any extra adjusting in my opinion.



Then I click on "Touchup" and "Lighten" and I lighten the whites of the eyes and catch light just a bit. And I lighten the teeth, just a bit.


Now I think the image looks great this way. Green and red are complimentary on the color wheel so they look very nice to each other. But the green is very strong and competing with the girl's hair. What to do? The finishing touches for me are still under the "Touchup" tab. I "Decrease Color" and brush that on the background. Then I notice some fly-away hairs, so I use the "Clone" feature to copy the background over her fly-away hairs. I'm not very good at cloning so I can see my work, but I'm including it here in case you have any tips for me. One last thing, under "Adjust" and "Color Balance" I removed 10 points of Blue. Here is my finished submission:






If you think you would like this program, please visit my Creative Memories - LisaBE and check out the Memory Manager 3.0.

Contemplative part 2

While looking for "Contemplative" images, I thought of this one of Ari from a photo session we recently had.

Contemplative

I Heart Faces -Week 36 - Sept 14th - Contemplative -

I've been told by doctors that my son, Lars, "thinks differently from other children his age".
I look at this photo and just wonder what he is thinking.
Lars looks like he has so much on his mind.

Before & After Challenge

I Heart Faces -Week 34 - "Before & After" Challege - September 1, 2009

We’d love for you to still share photos during this week, so we are going to try out something new this week…a “Before and After” feature where we all can write about just how much our photography and photo editing has improved since we first became seriously interested in photography. ...(read all the details on their website)

I think this week might be my chance to express my feelings about a few things. I almost always prefer the image that is closest to the original. I do not care for over-modified, over-stylized, over-processed images. WYSIWYG, or What You See Is What You Get. That's my motto. I will never win a contest at I Heart Faces, because I do not alter my photos very much. A little contrast difference, a little dodging or burning, but not much more.

Whew. I got that off my chest. OK, now to submit some photos for this week. I have learned that my digital photos sometimes do need a little enhancing. Photo #1 is from 2005, and photo #2 is from August 2009.

photo #1, I had just started using a digital camera. Vista, age 1.



photo #2, from August 2009. Vista, age 5.

Nostalgia

I Heart Faces -Week 30 - "Nostalgia"
- Tuesday, August 25, 2009 -
Here's the link to the I Heart Faces website - http://iheartfaces.blogspot.com

Wonderful newlywed nostalgia, April of 1996. We didn't have a place of our own when we returned from our honeymoon. We quickly found an apartment, and this is our first dinner in our first apartment. Look at the love! That was thirteen years ago.

Funny, Silly Faces

I Heart Faces -Week 29 - "Funny, Silly Faces"- Tuesday, August 11, 2009 -Here's the link to the I Heart Faces website - http://iheartfaces.blogspot.com/

"Funny Fiona."

After 3000 miles of sittling in her carseat, Fiona flipped her wig and started making this face. Oh my! She was making this face at my friend, Lorie, while we visited in California, July 2009.

The Summer Edition

I Heart Faces -Week 30 - My Story In Photos: "The Summer Edition"- Tuesday, August 4, 2009 - # 2 of 2 I Heart Faces website - http://iheartfaces.blogspot.com/

"Our little (mafia) family"
Our family vacations include self-family-portraits. I set the camera to timer and run into the shot before the button goes off. This one is my favorite from this year's holiday. Just kidding about the mafia in the title. This one is from Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona. I love photographing old abandoned buildings and such along side of the road and this seemed like a great place for a family-self-portrait. Unfortunately, we didn't see the 'do not climb on this' sign until we were done with our photo shoot.

I Heart Faces -Week 30 - My Story In Photos: "The Summer Edition"- Tuesday, August 4, 2009 - # 1 of 2 I Heart Faces website - http://iheartfaces.blogspot.com/

"We are Joshua trees."

Our family vacations include self-family-portraits. I set the camera to timer and run into the shot before the button goes off. This one we wanted to pretend to be Joshua trees, reaching our arms up to heaven. This was at Joshua National Monument, California this July 2009.

At The Beach

I Heart Faces -At The Beach photo challenge- Tuesday, July 28, 2009 - I Heart Faces website - http://iheartfaces.blogspot.com/

"Beach Imaginations"

Huntington Beach, California, June 30, 2009. I like how three of my children are all doing their own thing, in their own world. The stripes of color, sky, dry sand, wet sand, water. And the pink bucket just sitting alone.

Foot Challenge

I Heart Faces - Foot Challenge - Tuesday, July 21, 2009 -

Here's the link to their site - http://iheartfaces.blogspot.com/

Last summer, my two youngest were playing in the sandbox while I was snapping pictures. I love their sandy feet. Makes me want to squish my toes in the sand right along with them. This foot belongs to Fiona. She was one and a half when this shot was taken.

Why SCAMPER Artistry?

I'm quite new to the blogger world, and I'm not sure I know what to do with this. I can tell you how I came up with the name "SCAMPER Artistry". For one thing, I didn't choose my kids' names because for one, I am more than my children, and for another I have four and the names would take up a lot of space.

I had always thought Scamper was a cute little penguin from an animated movie we own. The definition of scamper is to run nimbly or playfully about. My son Jared, in 4th grade at the time, learned in his LEAP (gifted & talented) class, that SCAMPER is an acronym for useful list of words that can be applied as stimuli to make you think differently about the problem area.
Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put to other uses, Eliminate, Rearrange.

That acronym sums up my life and my mind-dwellings right now. I see something around the house and I think of what to do with it. My Darling Husband (DH) would like me to concentrate on the Eliminate. Maybe someday, but right now, I need to create something out of something else.