Shabby Blogs Team Call

I'm not going to lie to you.  My summer so far has been AWESOME!  Our yellow farmhouse has been filled to the brim with tons of family coming to visit, trips to Mackinac Island and to our little town ice cream shoppe.  Fireflies, camp-outs, Lake Michigan...my life does not stink.  :)  It's definitely hard to wipe my mascara mustache off and give up pirate adventures with my kids for computer time, but I've been able to sneak in a bit of design time here and there.  Never fear!  I've recently uploaded a bunch of new backgrounds to ShabbyBlogs.com and will be adding a whole batch of  brand new blog headers within the next few days.  (If you want to be among the first to know about things like that, make sure you "like" our new page on Facebook!)

Shabby Blogs has grown like mad since I began it a year and a half ago.  That is so rad!  It really is.  It is also a lot of work and could take up every hour of my days if I allowed it.  Lately, I've been really torn.  I want SB to continue to grow and to continue to help and encourage others.  At the same time, it is just bigger than one person...especially if that one person isn't willing to miss out on time with her sweet little family.  (My family is everything to me and that is something I just can't/won't bend on.)  Back in October, I put out a team call and was blessed to find Keren and Jessica.  To say that I appreciate, respect, and adore those two women would be the understatement of a lifetime!  They are as talented and brilliant as they are kind.  (My favorite combination!)  Now it's time to add to our team even more.  If you have any of the following skills and are interested in collaborating with or joining the Shabby Blogs family, we would love to hear from you!

*Please note the extremely professional tittles you are about to read.  :)

Expert Blog Code Person
We are working on making our Blogger backgrounds compatible with Wordpress and Typepad.  Wanna help us?  Email me!

Awesome Tutorials Person
You may have noticed, but it has been a lonnnng time since we have posted a new tutorial.  Shameful, really.  We need to get on that...and also update some of the previous ones to include tips for those using Blogger's template designer.  Does the thought of that make you all giddy with excitement?  Email me!

Digital Scrapbooker Who Loves Making Headers Person
It's no secret that I am aaaaalways behind on headers...and a billion other things.  Sigh.  If you are a super scrapper and think your style is a good fit for Shabby Blogs, email me!  I'd love to see your work!

Awesome Blogger Finder Person
Another one of those billion things I'm behind on is featuring Shabby Bloggers.  This breaks my heart because it is one of my absolute favorite things about SB.  I love shining the spotlight on people you might not know about.  There are so many amazing people out there!  I truly believe the best bloggers are often ones with only a handful of followers.  If you have a knack for finding lovely people who do lovely things, email me!

I am so excited about this!  I can't wait to add to our already super awesome team!!!

Speaking of adding to our team, there is someone I'd like you to meet.  Not only is this outstanding person the newest member of the Shabby Blogs family, but he is also a member of my family family.  You are going to LOVE him!  Everyone, this is my brother Steve:

He's the monkey on the left, not the insanely adorable little man on the right...in case you were worried about child labor laws.  ;)  Steve will be in charge of our sponsorships- so if you are a freakishly awesome blogger or business owner, you're going to want to contact Mr. Tracy for all of the details on becoming a Shabby Blogs sponsor.  I am so elated to have him not only as a brother, but as a partner.  I love that boy with all of my heart.  He is one of the most amazing, loving, strong, and admirable people I know.  You are going to LOVE working with him if you get that opportunity.  Side note: He is single.

Vintage Freebie with Keren: Scrapbooking Vintage Gnome Printable

You could find Tons and TONS of Girly Stuff out here in Blogland....BUT unfortunately not so much for Boys.  I am Totally guilty here! Being a total girly girl at heart and only having one girl, I must confess,  I have never made a boyish freebie in my life!   Until now :)
This vintage little Gnome and color palette combination, Screams, "I am a Retro Boy!"

Click HERE to download

Please Note:
Image will Look super Bright on Flickr, but When Printed out it look like example above.

It could also be  used for  SUPER Awesome Birthday Theme, don't you think?

The Gorgeous Layout Created again by
Nicole Brenna from
ScrapMeThis.blogspot.com and  ScrappingEverydayMiracles.blogspot.com using this image!

Thank you Nicole!

Would love to see what you create with it! Enjoy!

xoxo,  

Keren

www.freeprettythingsforyou.com

Photography with Jessica - Composition Part 2

I hope you've been having fun filling your frame, using the rule of thirds, and using symmetry and balance in your photos! I now have three more "ingredients" for you to add to your photography composition "pantry". These are some fun ones that I like to throw in for interest and variety!

Framing

When using the technique of framing, you'll want to look for environmental elements that you can use to frame your subject. It doesn't have to be a perfect four-sided element like an actual picture frame, but anything that can enclose your subject at least a little bit will help to draw the focus. I think it looks especially nice when the framing element is closer or farther away than the subject, making it out of focus.

Selective Focus

One way to use selective focus is to focus on something other than your subject's face/eyes. This is especially fun with little children since they tend to not only have cute little hands, but they also love toying around with any small object they might find on a photo shoot (sticks, fruit, flowers, etc). In these photos, the subject's face may be in the picture, but it will be blurry since it is not the main focus of the image.
Another way to employ selective focus is with two people and one of them is in focus while the other is not. That way the second person is still an element of the photo, but not the main focus.

Tilt

I love tilting the camera to create interest, but this is a technique that get's old pretty quickly if it's over-used! And the angle of the tilt is important too. If you don't tilt enough, it looks like it wasn't intentional. If you tilt too much, it strains the viewer and isn't pleasing to the eye. Just play around with it to find the level of tilt you like best.

And since composition is such a fun, diverse, and practically never-ending subject, I'll have even more compositional elements for you next time! Have fun photographing!

Vintage Freebie with Keren: Scrapbooking Love

I keep telling myself....ONE DAY I will sit down, finish all the scrapbooking  projects I have started but have never completed and finally have a book(s) of sweet sweet memories ready to be passed down to my Ariel.  To be honest, I really don't see That Day being anytime soon BUT for all of you that do make the time for it, THIS ONE'S for YOU!

A pretty little bracket frame big enough to print and ready to be scrapped!

Just take a look at this

Gorgeous Layout Created by
Nicole Brenna from
ScrapMeThis.blogspot.com and  ScrappingEverydayMiracles.blogspot.com using this image!

I can't help but to smile every time I look at it! :)

Please Note:

Images will Look SUPER Bright on Flickr, but When Printed out  images will look like example above

Click HERE to download original size

Pretty much, the possibilities are endless!  Would LOVE to see what you come up with!

If you love this freebie, keep an eye out  for my next one! I know you are gnome-ing to Love it ;)

xo!

-

Keren

www.freeprettythingsforyou.com

Vintage Freebie with Keren - Vintage Polaroid

Thank you Everyone for all your sweet and thoughtful comments on my last post! I tell you.. If you're ever feeling blue, the Blog Community will never let you down! :) Hope you all had a wonderful week and if not, may this pretty little ballet girl brighten up your day a bit!

Click image to save PNG file

xo,
Keren
www.freeprettythingsforyou.com

Photography with Jessica - Composition Part 1

Now that we've covered a lot of the basic technical elements, I'd like to begin a series of posts about the more creative side of photography! How a photo is artistically put together is often referred to as composition. Today I'll be introducing you to three different elements of composition. Don't think of these as absolute rules that you must follow every time. I like to think of them as ingredients you can use to make a good picture, and you're going to want some variety! Just as a good chef wouldn't just use one single ingredient all the time, no matter how delicious it may be, a photographer should try many different compositional ingredients and combine them in new ways. And once you know these guidelines, it's even ok to break them if you have something else in mind! But they are here for you to help you to enrich and diversify your photography.

Filling the Frame

This simply means getting in CLOSE to your subject so that all other distractions are out of the frame and your subject can really shine! You can either physically move closer to your subject or use your lens' zoom to get right in there. This technique isolates the subject for more impact. This can also be achieved later by cropping your image.




Rule of Thirds

For the rule of thirds, picture a grid (like a tic-tac-toe game) over your frame. You will place your main point of interest at one of the places where the lines intersect, and any strong vertical or horizontal lines in the picture (such as the horizon) will line up with one of the lines.





Symmetry/Balance

This is kind of the opposite of the rule of thirds. If an image is composed with symmetry, there is an imaginary line dividing down the middle (it can be vertical or horizontal) and the two halves look very similar to each other, almost like mirror images.




A symmetrical photo is balanced, but a photo doesn't have to be symmetrical in order to have balance. It simply means that the two sides of a photo each have something to balance out the other.




So have some fun playing with these compositional elements, and next time I'll introduce you to even more!

Do something good, get something good!

First of all, MUCHO thanks to everyone who has donated to Bike MS so far.  It's hard to even find the words to tell you how much it means to me.  Also, thank you for your kind comments and words of encouragement.  You guys rock!  As of this moment, I've accomplished 68% of my goal.  (The financial part, I mean.  My other goal, of course, is to finish the ride without dying or shaming the dear people I'm doing it for.) I said I'd randomly select a few lovely Bike MS sponsors to receive free advertising here on the Shabby Blogs blog, but I've changed my mind.  Instead, I'm going to give free ad space to EVERYONE who donates!!!  If you have sponsored my Bike MS event and your name is scrolling on my donation page, please email me and we'll work out the details.  If you haven't yet, it's not too late!  Is there a minimum donation amount?  Nope.  Just give whatever you can to this really great cause!  {I'm afraid we can't provide advertising for any blog or website of a "mature" or otherwise offensive nature, but other than that, we're happy to support you!}

Just so I don't look more foolish than usual necessary, I've been training as much as my children will let me in preparation for my ride.  In fact, I've even hired a personal trainer.  She keeps me on the straight and narrow and I can pay her in raisins so...yeah.  Win/win.

Click here to donate!

Let's do something good!

Vintage Freebie with Keren - Assortment of Pretty Blog Buttons

Here are a bunch of pretty blog buttons for you to use on your blog anyway you want! Sorry I am not very chatty tonight... My Great Grandfather Passed away last night; he was 108! I know, What did he eat right? I don't think he did anything special... We have just been super blessed to have had him with us this long. The assurance to know he is in a better place now is the only thing that keeps us going strong.  

I Love you Sweet Papa! We will hold each other again one day and Rejoice together!

xo,
Keren
www.freeprettythingsforyou.com