Photo Blog and GIVEAWAY

***This Giveaway is Closed!***





Hello, wonderful F&J readers!  This is Jeannine, the "Jellybean" of Fireflies and Jellybeans.  Though you don't get to see too much of me, I am here in the background.  Fawnda and I talk almost every week, tossing around ideas for this blog, as well as keeping up on each others' lives.  We've been best friends since junior high, and it's been so fun sharing this blog.

Aside from F&J, I also have a couple other blogs.  One is my family blog, where I post pictures of my kids and family activities, mostly for the benefit of the grandparents. 

My other blog is my photography blog.  Ever since I was seven years old I have been taking pictures of anything and everything.  I am fascinated by the tiny, often unnoticed details of daily life.  I love how, though time flies faster every year, we can capture those moments with a camera.  So often, photographs bring up emotions associated with memories, or things we love.  I love to capture those memories, and those moments.

No two sunrises are the same, no two flowers are exactly alike.  Those things last only a few moments, or if we're lucky, a few days or weeks.  Our children grow up so fast, and we can never have those moments back.  I love that I can use my camera to make those things last forever for me.

I am now offering my photographs for purchase, directly from my blog Creation Held Captive.  My favorite way to sell photos is as note cards (I'm also a very practical person, and love to see things have a purpose).





As kind of a Grand Opening celebration, I am giving away a set of 8 note cards ($20 value).  All you have to do to enter is become a follower of CHC, send me a comment (here on F&J) saying that you're a follower, and telling me which photo is your favorite.

Over the next couple weeks, I'll be posting a whole bunch of my faves for you to look through, and at the end of the contest you'll be able to choose which photo you want to see on your note cards!
 
This giveaway will end on Monday Oct 11th!  we will announce the winner on Tuesday Oct. 12th!  For US residents only!

Jessica From A Few of My Favorite Things! {Blog Anniversary Celebration!}

This week Fireflies and Jellybeans is turning 1 year old! I cannot believe how fast that went! It is true... Time flies when you are having fun!

Who wants to work on their Birthday? Not me! So, I have lined up some GREAT guest posts and some FABULOUS giveaways for this week!

First up is Jessica from My Favorite Things! Jessica takes some AMAZING pictures so I asked her if she would share some tips with us!
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Hi Everyone! I am really excited to be posting on Fireflies and Jellybeans! I have received so many nice comments on my blog from so many of you from Fawnda's Mclinky parties.

I wanted to share just a few tips that will help the everyday mom taking pics of her kids, or grand kids. So, I'll just get right to it...

1. Backgrounds:
Try to keep the background as simple as possible. You can change angles to move unwanted objects, or just physically move objects that you can. It is a lot harder to take them out in photoshop.

Shot in middle of day with my point and shoot camera (Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS):

If you own an SLR, pay the $100 for a 50mm lens, 1.8 aperture to make your backgrounds blurry and blend together to a beautiful mush.

2. Lighting:
Try not to shoot in direct sun in the middle of the day...if you do, use your flash for fill light to fill in some of those shadows...or, even better, find shade...

This pic was taken in the middle of the day in the shade:

If you have an off camera flash, you can set it somewhere you need more light and it will be set off by the flash on your camera.

You can also bounce your flash off the ceiling by pointing it up instead of directly on the subjects, which distributes the light more evenly and makes it less harsh.

If you are using an SLR, learn how to shoot in manual and learn how to use your in camera metering.

If you are shooting in your home, try to use windows for natural light rather than the flash on your camera.

Flash vs. Light From Window (both shot with a point and shoot camera):

3. Sharpness
For me, a good picture HAS to be in focus...otherwise I just delete it. The best thing you can do in portraits is focus the subject's eyes.

I also use Pioneer Woman's Actions in Photoshop. They are free and you can download them here. I use Slight Sharpen in almost all my photos. Her B&W Beauty is my 2nd favorite action.

This picture is mostly blurry, but since her eyes are in focus it still looks good.

Black and White Beauty:

4. Color
If you have an SLR, shoot in RAW mode. When opened in photoshop, you have complete control over the image. I especially like to play with the white balance to get my color just where I want it.

If you don't have an SLR, make sure that you change the white balance in every different place you shoot. It is easy to do in point and shoot cameras and TOTALLY worth it.

This photo was shot with my Canon (point and shoot) camera. The color in this photo was adjusted in photoshop using "Selective Color." You can also use "Color Balance" but the best thing is to adjust your White Balance on your camera and get it right the first time.

Well, there is TONS that I could talk about...and I would go on forever, but I hope that these tips will help some of you for now, and I plan on doing some more tutorials and even some Q&A's in the future on my blog. Thanks for having me Fawnda!

Stuies Photography

I'd like to introduce you to Sara, a wonderful photographer. She sells her work at her etsy Shop: Stuies

Here is what Sara has to say about her inspiration:
"I love photography and have been working in the industry for 25 years. I have tons of fine art work that has never seen the light of day and Etsy is a fantastic resource to highlight that work.

Once digital photography flooded the industry, B&W became a rare event. So, as an exercise in loyalty I starting carrying my Holgas (plastic toy cameras) around with me shooting B&W film. The simplicity of the images are really beautiful to me.

Photographers say the best camera is the one that is with you. As a result I shoot a lot with my iPhone! The images are actually processed in the iPhone with different apps and they turn out really vivid and playful. All of my prints are printed with archival inks on rag paper in order to preserve the work.

As a photographer I believe the best pictures touch people in ways that only our hearts can understand. My images are a simple narrative of the natural world.
I love what I do. It's really that simple!"

Don't you want to hang out with her... go on a walk and take a bunch of pictures...I totally do!

Here is some of her work:

Some Valentine fun

iphone art

Holga art

Her prints are the perfect size to fit an Ikea RIBBA frame.

I bet you want to talk and walk with her now! Do the next best thing and go check out her photo art at Stuies!

Photo Giveaway and Etsy Grand Opening

Hi Everyone,
This is Jeannine. If you've been following our blog for a while, you may have figured out that, while I do enjoy crafting, my favorite artistic endeavor is photography.

I have recently re-opened my Etsy shop, and it's full of new photos. I am selling 8x10 photos for $12, 5x7 photos for $8, and sets of 12 blank note cards for $22.

To kick off my re-opening, I am going to be doing a photo giveaway. Click on the link to my shop on the sidebar and check out my photos. Then, to enter the drawing, leave a comment on this post letting me know your favorite photo and whether you'd like a photo (and what size) or a set of note cards. I'd also love to know what you will do with your prize if you are the winner. I will close the contest on Friday, August 28th (in honor of my daughter's 3rd birthday), and post the winner on Monday, the 31st.

FYI: I also have a blog where I have posted MANY other of my photos. I've only put my favorites in my shop, but I would be happy to make your prize from any of those photos if you prefer.

Here's a quick sample of some of my faves:

Rehab Frame

This is a gift I made for my mom for her birthday. While all the grandchildren were in town we had a photographer take pictures of the whole group. All the kids were very well behaved except my son who screamed and cried through most of the shoot, and now we have it professionally persevered to remember forever! : ) I made this 3-d frame of the photos from that day!


I found 3 frames I already had at my house that we were no longer using! I sanded them down.

I spray painted them with a cream base and waited 1-2 hours for it to dry.

I spray painted a cinnamon red crackle paint over the cream for a distressed look.

My Dear Husband made this AWESOME mat from scrapbook paper for the big frame and we placed the photos in the frames (one 8X10 and two 4X6's). I hot glued the smaller ones to the big frame on the corners to give the 3-d effect. My mom LOVED it!

I just love using things I already have in the house!

Check out some more creative projects at Poppies At Play!






See other DIY projects at A Solf Place To Land!

How to Reuse Framed Art

Join the Garden Party! Have you done a project for or from the outdoors? In this project I am using pictures from my backyard!

I had this framed art hanging in my dinning room. It is not bad, but I am a little over the Tuscan decor that I had from when we moved into our house 7 years ago. We have decided to go with more of an Asian themed decor (Since we adopted our son from Korea). Tuscany's Alleys are in no way Asian themed, but this frame is still good.

My Dear Husband (DH) took these pictures of our lilacs from our back yard. If you want to know how to take great pictures click here)



So I thought I would replace the three pictures of the alleys with the three pictures of the flowers.

1.I removed the cardboard backing from the frame. Is used a needle nosed pliers and a screwdriver and some elbow grease to help with this step.

2.) I used the screwdriver to flip up all the staples holding the mat, pictures and backing in.

3.) This framed art had glued the print to the mat so I had to carefully rip them apart.

see the glue marks:

4.) my pictures did not cover the old pictures so I made some mats out of some scrapbook paper that I had. I used the old picture as a guide of where to place my new mats and pictures. I taped them into place once I was ready.

It is hard to see but this is the tape

5. I than placed the original mat back of top to make sure everything lined up correctly.

On the original mat, they had written Tuscany Alleyways #1 and on the other side the Photographer's name... since these were no longer alleyways I wanted to cover this part of the mat some how.

My DH came up with the great idea to cut out something nature-y to put in the corners. We found these two plants on some Asian themed scrapbook paper I had. DH used an X-Acto knife to get the nice close cuts and we measured to make sure that they would cover the words. We also like that it overlapped the pictures a bit... adds dimension I think!

6.) We placed the mat, pictures and backing back into the frame and pushed all the staples back down to keep them in place

7.) we also decided to remove the staples on the frame that held the cardboard backing in place as they would have probably scratched our walls!

DH wanted you all to know that he helped! : )

Finally we hung it back on the wall! I think it looks pretty great!