Fall Picture Display Using Fall Paintings

The leaves are falling and starting to change colors and we've had some beautiful days in our neck of the woods. Fall is my absolute favorite season and because of that I love decorating our home for the Fall. If you have been hanging out on my blog for awhile now you will also know that I love photography. I have all these cute fall photos of my kids from previous years that simply sit on my computer. So I decided I needed to figure out a way to display them with my Fall decor.

 I wanted to somehow incorporate the girls fall art work with the Fall photos. With a little brainstorming and a walk through Michael's Craft Store I came up with our Fall Painting Picture Display. We have been reading books and talking a lot about Fall and all the changes that come with it. Ahead of time I set up an invitation to paint using Fall colors and canvases.

My 5 year old immediately started to experiment with different strokes. She did circles and then ended up with lines.

My 3 year old seemed to focus more on the specific colors, announcing every time she switched colors.

I did encourage them to cover up all the white spots since I knew this would be used as the photo back drop.



Once they were done and the paint dried I attached some Fall colored ribbon around the top of the paintings and tapped it to the back. I also used mini clothing pins and attached those to the top of the ribbon.

Ahead of time I had printed my favorite Fall photos of the girls from last year.  I wanted to be able to change out the photos year after year so the clothing pins were added to be able to display the photo without having to secure/tape it down.

Now its easy peasy to change it and every year I can display the previous year's favorites!

The girls loved paining on the canvas and once they were done it was super easy to complete!

The final products looked great when placed together with some of our Fall decor!!

There you have it! Our Fall canvas painting picture display!

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My Favorite Photography Tip in Capturing Those Genuine Moments

I've posted a few photography-kid related posts in the past and I often get the most feedback from those types of subjects. While I plan to still have many play based early learning posts on here I do want to continue to open up this little space of mine to a wider range of kid related topics including sharing my passion for children photography every now and then. It's been so much a part of me these last few years that it would be silly to keep it to myself.

On that note I wanted to share a few shots from our Father's Day photo session. Last year we started this tradition of taking photos of the kids to present to my hubby on Father's Day. He loved them and uses them to frame at his work. It's also great excuse to get updated photos of the kids all together.

We went to our local Botanic Gardens to do the session. I brought Grammy and Papa along to help entice smiles and giggles and had my lollipops ready for bribes!

It took all three of us singing and making silly noises just to get them to all look at the camera!

This is the picture (below) we ended giving to my husband for Father's Day and as you can see we have one half smile and the other two are all but frowning. Lollipop bribing and silly animal noises were not doing the trick for my little crew. Since this was the best out of all the shots we went with this one. Of course he loved the photo but in my photographer brain these aren't the expressions I had envisioned.

And then not even 2 minutes after I told them we were done taking pictures this happened.....

I just happened to still have my camera in hand and sitting in the same spot so I snapped away!

They are not sitting perfectly smiling looking at the camera but it was truly a genuine moment!  She was talking to him and playing and then leaned in to hug him.

In my years studying photography the #1 tip in my opinion for capturing those genuine moments is to

Sit back, Watch and Be Patient. Let them be themselves and let things unfold naturally.

I am the first to admit this is so hard to do especially when you have little ones involved and you are crunched for time but it is SO WORTH IT! I don't always get lucky but more often than not when I take this advice I walk away with a cherished memory forever captured in time!

One more thing to note, I obviously have a big fancy camera and some photography classes under my belt but you do not need to be a professional to capture those genuine moments. I've captured some pretty great moments with my iphone taking this same advice!

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Preschool Summer Bucket List {Instagram Style}

Well it's that time of year where everyone seems to be creating their summer bucket lists! If you browse through Pinterest you will see so many fabulous ideas and suggestions related to the summer bucket list!

Today I wanted to share our summer bucket list that I created with the girls.

Last year we simply jotted down all our ideas on a piece of paper and then my 4 year old liked to cross off each one as we completed them. This year I wanted to create something a little more hands-on and interactive.

I wanted to make sure this was a collaborative project and involved the girls in every step of the way.

I gathered some old scrapbooking paper and chip board letters that I had on hand from my scrapbooking days.  I taped the scrapbooking paper to a poster board and the girls helped me spell out Summer Bucket List with the letters. We then glued them to the top of the board.

We used index cards (cut up into small rectangles) and wrote each idea/activity on the cards. The girls helped me create our list together. We attached velcro stickers to each card and stuck them to the poster board. I also made an envelope for the bottom of the board. My 4 year old wrote "We did it" on the envelope. This allows for the girls to be able to easily pull off each activity upon completion and place in the envelope entitled "We did it".

They had fun practicing this over and over!

Our completed list, all ready to hang up for the summer! We also left some open spaces with velcro on the side incase we want to add some more cards to it in the next few weeks.

Now for the fun part!

Are you on Instagram? I have been having so much fun over there following so many fun kid bloggers, photographers, and friends.

Let's share our adventures this summer and tag #SBLwithkids each time you post an activity/idea off of your summer bucket list! I'm so excited to see what you all have in store and how fun will it be to inspire one another!!

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Gearing up for Project 365 2013

Besides early childhood education one of my other very favorite things (if not my favorite) is photography. I may have mentioned I am a member over at Clickinmoms and have been for a few years now. If you want to learn more about photography at any level this is without a doubt the place to be!!  Nearly everything I have learned about photography came from Clickinmoms.

Last year in 2011 I was inspired and encouraged to tackle project 365. A photo a day for one year. I knew it would be hard and difficult to finish. I also knew it would improve my photography and I would never regret having captured 365 little moments of my young family.

As I started documenting 2011 what I didn't know was that this was the year we would find out we were expecting our 3rd baby and our last full year as a family of four. I also didn't know that we would find out my mom had cancer that year. If I hadn't done my 365 there are so many moments I would have missed. Sure I would have had the camera out for big events like Christmas and Birthdays but I was able to capture tiny little moments with my mom and the girls and the everyday memories and details that otherwise may never have made it to our family albums.

So yes I became a better photographer and yes it was hard, even daunting at times but what my 365 really did for me was it served as a reminder that you simply never know what a year can bring.  I have a year of 365 moments that will forever be archived in a tangible collection of our family's year.

That said, I'm gearing up for the challenge again for 2013!  Have you ever considered doing project 365? Have I convinced you yet to try one for yourself? I highly encourage any level of photographers to take part.

I'm going to be documenting my project over at my family blog Scribbles From Tricia and would love to have some friends follow along. Please let me know if you decide to participate and let me know where I can follow you....blog? Flickr? Instagram?  I also hope to join a Flickr group with fellow 365 friends and I will share that info once it becomes available.  Let's support each other!

If you have any questions about the project, How to get started? How to keep the momentum? Where to share the pictures? etc. Please contact me. I'd be happy to answer them!

If you want to check out my complete 365 from 2011 you can find it here on Flickr:  Flickr Project 365

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iPhone photography with the Olloclip

Often I get asked about my photos and photography on here.  While I take the majority of my photos with my Canon 60D occassionally I include an iPhone photo. Recently I upgraded to the iPhone 4 (not a typo-it's indeed the 4 not 5) yes I know I'm a bit behind but I wanted to wait until my carrier allowed for the free upgrade and finally I have it in my hands!

I was beyond ecstatic because after reading many reviews I knew that the iPhone 4 had a MUCH better camera than the iPhone 3 I had been carrying around for the past couple of years. Although I adore my super fancy SLR camera the truth is I don't want to always lug it around.

You probably heard of the saying "The best camera is the one you have with you." Well for me and many others these days that's the smart phone. Ever since the upgrade I have noticed a world of difference in the quality of photos and as a result I have been diving into the world of iphoneography!

I've always LOVED Instagram but now I'm becoming addicted to this fun little app! If you're on instagram I'd love to follow you. Leave your link in the comments.

You can follow me here: http://instagram.com/trishm/

Aside from all the fun photography apps I have been having the most fun with this little gadget I recently purchased called The Olloclip!

Have you heard of this? It's a lens for the iPhone 4 that includes the fish eye, macro, and wide angle lens all in one. The fish eye is one side and you flip it around for use of the macro and wide angle.

Holy smokes have I been having a blast with this!! I have seen some amazing pictures taken with the iPhone coupled with this little gadget. Then throw in some fun photography apps like Instagram and there's a world of fun to be had!

I'm still learning but here are some of my iPhone pics taken with the Olloclip (plus Instagram).

Fish bowl

Wide Angle

Macro (kind of a creepy pic but you get the idea...)

If you or anyone you know love taking pics on the iPhone I highly recommend the Olloclip! Could be a great gift for any iphoneography fan! 

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Free Facebook Timeline Templates From Album Cafe

Have you seen these new and FREE holiday timeline templates from The Album Cafe?

I just replaced my timeline Facebook photo for my personal profile as well as for Imprints From Tricia Facebook Page with these adorable templates!

I LOVE the Album Cafe and have purchased there collage templates for my blog(s). They have super cute choices and very reasonable prices! Just wanted to share a free find that I thought others might enjoy as well!!

Head on over to The Album Cafe and download them for free here: The Album Cafe

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