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Printable Holly Jolly Christmas Gift Tags

I’m excited to share this little Christmas tag printable with you this week. The idea may look familiar to some of you. The kids gave out some similar treat bags to their friends a few years ago but we’re repeating the same gifts this year. Why? Because they’re easy, inexpensive and if it works, why reinvent the wheel, right? 🙂
I updated the tags from my previous version and we used some Jolly Rancher crunch ‘n chews that we picked up at the local bulk barn. We printed out the tags {each sheet has 9 tags in the color of your choice} then using 3 1/4 inch wide cellophane bag we packaged up the treats. Fold over the top of the bag and stapling a tag on the front to close it.
I did leave room at the top of the tag so you could punch a hole and tie with ribbon as well if you’d like. You could use these as Christmas party favours, gifts for friends or teachers or for Christmas classroom treats. You’ll find links to download the tags in blue or green below. 🙂
Please remember that all free downloads are for Simple as That followers.
You can follow via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or sign up for updates via email here.
Thank you so much! Hope you enjoy this fun {and oh so simple} little gift idea!
Download GREEN holly jolly tags here.
Download BLUE holly jolly tags here.
 
For more Christmas ideas from Simple as That you may want to stop by these posts:
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MORE PRINTABLE CHRISTMAS GIFT TAGS

Simple Mason Jar Gift Ideas and Printable Gift Tags

Simple Mason Jar Gift Ideas with Printable Tags

Retro Type Printable Gift Tags

christmas_tags1

Disney Frozen Gift Tags

frozen-post11

EOS Lip Balm “Candies” and free Printable Tags

balm-tags4web

Teacher Gift Idea and Printable “Mint to Be” Gift Tags

mints1

Minecraft Creep Candy Boxes and free Printable Gift Tags

minecraft3web

A Month in Photos – November 2012

November 2012
I’m so late with November’s collage….yikes! The Christmas rush is on but I’m determined to finish off this month in photos project for 2012! I can’t wait to get all these collages put together in a book in the new year! 
November was a great month around here! Lots of exciting things happening. 
We celebrated Carson’s 8th birthday and his baptism.
The hubby and I worked on a little DIY project for the little girls Christmas present.
We spent some time as a family at the skating rink and Carson’s loved getting back into hockey.
We trimmed the tree and decorated the house for Christmas. I’m usually a ‘wait until december 1st’ kind of girl – but we just couldn’t wait this year!
We wrote our letters to Santa and have been enjoying all the other little things that come along with getting ready for Christmas.
How was your November?
If you’ve created a collage of your month-in-photos, simply post your collage somewhere online, copy and paste the html code for the month-in-photos button below and include it in your post,  then come back here and leave a link to your collage so everyone else can see your fun photos! 



I can’t wait to see your month in photos!

For more info about the month in photos project go here.You can download any of my free collage templates or use your own collage and join in the fun with us each month! Just think of the incredible collection of photos we’ll have put together at the end of 2012!

Simple things Sunday Photo Link Party No. 110

Welcome to Simple things Sunday everyone! It was so great to see all your gorgeous photos last week and a special thank you to Kristen Duke  for joining the simple things fun this week! You can see Kristen’s guest post here where she shared her photo features from last weeks party along with some great photo tips! If you have a moment be sure to pop by and leave her some comment love. 🙂

Now onto this weeks party…

SIMPLE THINGS SUNDAY No. 110
Yesterday we celebrated my hubby’s 36th birthday with yummy food + good company. I love this man so much and appreciate all the sacrifices he makes for our family. We had a great night out finishing up the Christmas shopping {yay!!!} and ended the evening with the most delicious filet mignon + cheesecake! Thanks for dinner R+J we had lots of fun! 🙂
Now it’s your turn. What simple things are you celebrating this week?
If you’re new to Simple as That I’d love for you join us in this weekly tradition. Scroll down to the bottom of this post where you can find all the details on how to share your photos with us.  We’ll be taking a short break from our simple things special guest series while our friends in the US celebrate thanksgiving.

THE SIMPLE THINGS ON INSTAGRAM

Don’t forget you can share your simple things photos via instagram! Simply post an insta-pic of a simple thing/moment using hashtag  #thesimplethings and be sure to tag me @rebecca_simpleasthat so I can check out your photos! *This is new:  Each week I’ll be highlighting four of your simple things photos posted via Instagram in my instagram feed. I can’t wait to feature you on instagram!

Just a few quick rules to play:
1. Grab a button and include it in your simple things post.

2. Link back directly to your simple things post not your blog/website.

No links to other linky parties, giveaways or craft projects pretty please. 
This linky is all about the photos.

3. Be sure to pop by and visit at least 3 other links and leave a comment.

Leave as many as you can.

 

Simple things Sunday special guest series

I’ve invited some incredibly talented photographers to join us for our simple things party each week and today I’m thrilled to welcome Kristen Duke of Capture Joy! 

Keep reading for some valuable tips on getting out from behind the camera and in more photos! Be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the post where you can find Kristen’s photo picks from the STS party along with links to where you can find Kristen online!

Hello there! I’m Kristen Duke, and I’m delighted to be here today! I admire Rebecca’s sweet and simple style, and her blog reminds me to do just that—sloooow down a little! She and I share a common passion, not just photography, but photographing the simple day to day in life. I like to encourage moms to get out from behind the camera and get IN pictures with their kids!
  

I don’t have a problem handing my camera to my husband or friend or stranger to take a picture of my kids and I, because I want to remember these moments, and I want THEM to remember me loving them like this, in case there is ever a doubt.

The second shot above, my neighbor took of my son and I as we parted ways in the elementary school in the morning. She was so thoughtful to take this, and it means so much to me because this is how we say goodbye each morning–with a high five. I didn’t even ask her to take it, she just knew I’d love it, and I DO! I shared a post a while ago about just that: thoughtfully taking pictures of your friends/family with their kids.

 I am also very passionate about Decorating your home with portraits of your family. Research shows that children feel more of a sense of security and family love, which builds their self esteem and confidence, when daily seeing that family love displayed often. I’ve had 2 month long guest series with other bloggers sharing how they decorate their homes with pictures of their families. Here is a wall in my home using our family portraits on the beach, displayed in vintage window panes. 

I also like to emphasize capturing candid photography, not always posey-posey stuff. Here are a few from a portrait session I took in the families home, just being themselves. 

I blog at Capturing Joy, and I aim to do just that–capture and share the joy I see in life from my family, photographing life around me, beautifying my home, and feeding my family. Along with photo tips on my blog, I also have a beginner book called Say NO to Auto, with simple steps to shoot in manual settings with your slr camera. I’d love for you to stop by little corner of the web and say Hi! 
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Thank you SO much for the great tips Kristen! You can follow Kristen online for even more photography inspiration here:

 facebook | twitter | pinterest | instagram

Here are just a few photos of YOUR photos that caught Kristen’s eye as she browsed through the links in our simple things party this past week.

Thank you as always to everyone for linking up each week! I can’t wait to see your photos tomorrow at our 110th Simple things Sunday party! The party starts at 8pm MST.


If your photo was featured make sure you snag yourself a featured button! 


 

Simple as That 2012 Kid Friendly Gift Guide

So, how is everyone doing with their Christmas shopping? I’m excited to kick off the weekend with a post jam packed with Christmas gift ideas for baby, toddlers, preschoolers and big kids – just in case you still have a few items to cross off your gift list!

 I know how hard it can be to find something perfect for the little ones on your list…something you know they’re going to love. That’s why I’ve compiled a list of items that we’ve purchased in the past and are tried and true favourites or items we plan to purchase soon! I hope you enjoy this list and feel free to add links of your best gift purchases through the years in the comments below so we can check them out too!

Have a great weekend everyone! We’ll see you here tomorrow when I’ll be welcoming Kristen Duke of Capturing Joy as our simple things special guest! 🙂

GIFTS IDEAS FOR BABY:

Swaddling cloths from Basic Grey. I loved swaddling my babies and would have loved to wrap them up in these darling little blankets from Basic Grey. They’d make the perfect gift for baby or any mama to be this Christmas.

Tea Collection has so many cute {cute, cute!} fashions for baby. Newborn, toddler all the way up to size 12, they have a little something for everyone, including mom!

We love Karen Katz lift the flap books around here! Even though my baby is nearly three, she still loves these darling books. When asked to choose a book at bedtime these are the ones she runs to almost every time! They’re so well loved that she knows the words herself and likes to read them to me now! 🙂 Some of our favourite titles include: Where is Baby’s Christmas Present? Where is Baby’s Belly Button? and Where is Baby’s Mommy? 

I just love these organic developmental toys from little sapling toys! So many gift ideas available on their website. Isn’t that camera too cute for words!? **ETA: Little Sapling toys would like to offer all Simple as That readers 10% off any purchase now through January 7th, 2013. Just use coupon code SIMPLE10!

Order personalized prints for baby from Baby Bird and Bub Bub! Love their simple, colorful designs. and there are so many prints to choose from!

GIFT IDEAS FOR TODDLERS:

Raspberry Kids has a huge selection of unique Christmas gifts for toddlers! Their selection of Le Toy Van products is to die for and I know first hand how incredible their service is! I recently ordered some items for the little girls dollhouse from Raspberry Kids and our package arrived on our doorstep in just two short days! Shipping was within Canada, but they do ship elsewhere and they accept paypal! For even more gift ideas from Raspberry kids check out their gift guides for baby, toddler and kids! 

We have the farm animals Melissa & Doug Cube Puzzle pictured below. I purchased it after a visit to local building supply store where they had one in their children’s play area and it kept both my daughters occupied for over 1/2 an hour while I shopped for supplies for a project. Even my older kids love doing this puzzle. I think the simpler two block version for younger kids is great too!

We had something similar to this Fisher-Price Poppity Pop Muscial Dino toy and my two youngest loved it so much that its one of the very few toys we packed overseas with us when we moved to the island. Sadly we had to leave it there when we moved home, but we loved that little ball popper and wouldn’t hesitate to buy again and again for the toddlers on our gift list!

We’ve owned two of these little Hello phones by Parents.com. After the first one got lost I purchased another for Alivia {now almost 3} and its one of her favourite things to carry along with us if we’re going somewhere in the car. I love the fact that the sounds aren’t too loud or annoying and that you can voice record. The kids get such a kick out of recording their own voices, or hearing a message from mom on their phone!

GIFT IDEAS FOR PRESCHOOLERS:

After borrowing my sister in laws little balance bike for the summer for Alivia {2 years} I am sold on these fun things. Alivia had such a fun time scooting around on hers and was elated to join us on family bike rides like a big kid! I’ve been shopping around and am really liking these Kazam Balance Bikes! Love that spot for them to put their feet when they’re gliding along. 🙂

We got each of the little girls a Baby Alive Splash N Giggle doll for Christmas last year and we’re still getting lots of use out of them! We toted them along to the swimming pool, the lake all summer long and they’re always ready for bath time!

We bought this princess castle play tent for Addie for her 5th birthday and these girls have gotten hours of pretend play time out of it! I can’t say enough good things about this little tent and if it wears out before they’ve outgrown it I’ll certainly purchase another. One of our best toy purchases ever!

Kiwi Crate monthly craft kit subscriptions would make a fabulous gift this Christmas! My kids had a blast with their Antarctic Adventure Kit this past month! Visit Kiwi Crate for subscription details and stop by their blog for even more kids crafting inspiration!

GIFT IDEAS FOR BIGGER KIDS:
My mom has such a knack for finding cute and one of a kids gifts for my kids. She recently gave this Chronicle Books Princess Matching Game to my 5 year old for her birthday and its quickly become a favourite. The illustrations are gorgeous and oh so princess-y! It truly is beautiful. We’ve been taking such good care of it so it can last for years and years – I can see Addie playing with her own girls one day!

I purchasesd this book for my 8 year old son, 100 Paper Planes to Fold and Fly, and its been a huge hit!  He really loves the fact that he can make them all on his own. We’ve got plans to hang some of his favourite airplanes from the ceiling in his room as they’re just too cool to throw away!

Here’s another favourite gift that my mom got for my oldest daughter Emily: the My Friendship Bracelet Maker Kit. It came with a DVD on how to create some really cool bracelets along with all the supplies needed to get started. Love that the container holds all the supplies and the clip on the top is so great for bracelet making!

My mom got these Wedgit blocks for my son a few Christmases ago and he’s gotten hours of fun out of them. Kids can use their imagination to create with these rhombus and octahedron shaped toys. The design cards offer a fun challenge with instructions on how to create simple or ellaborate designs. My husband and I even had fun creating with these unique blocks!

Have a young crafter in the family? Craft-a-Day: 365 Simple Handmade Projects from Quirk Books is perfect for beginning crafters. Inside you’ll find a super cute, simple project to complete in a variety of different themes! This book is a family favourite. See a more detailed review plus a peek inside of our copy of this fantastic book here.

Really loving the look of this sail away paper play kit from you-make-do.com. It comes with all the supplies to have a fun filled, creative day of cutting, creating, building and learning!

GIFT IDEAS FOR LITTLE ONES LIVING FAR AWAY:

Have a child on your list who doen’t live close?
Here are a few gift ideas perfect for mailing + even a few e-Gift ideas!

We love apps from Night and Day Studios. Our latest favourite in their Peekaboo series, Peekaboo Presents, is oh so cute and the kids have had a ball playing with it! Did you know you can gift apps? In the itunes store simply click on the drop down arrow next to the app and select gift this app. My mom did this for us when we were living overseas and it was such a great idea!

More apps that we love from Night and Day Studios include:

DC super friends: race to save Christmas
counting with the very hungry caterpillar
go away big, green monster
peekaboo fridge

The illustrations in these cute sticker books by mudpuppy are to die for! Lots of different themes to choose from and they’d even make great stocking stuffers!

Love the idea of these Non-Toxic Talking Animal Hand Tattoos! So many fun possibilities and super light weight – perfect for mailing!

Simple + Inexpensive Christmas Gift Wrapping

Christmas gift wrapping doesn’t need to be elaborate or expensive in order to be special. A simple, handmade touch really can make all the difference. In wrapping up books for our annual Christmas book advent I wanted to get a little creative and here’s a sampling of what I came up with using leftovers from our little book page stocking bunting + a few other supplies I had on hand.
I had a lot of fun with a roll of brown packing paper from the dollar store as my blank canvas. With just a few paper scraps, punched circles and other small details, these boring brown packages were made beautiful in a matter of minutes. There certainly isn’t anything fancy here, but I do love the way 
they turned out. 
To label each package for our Christmas book countdown I created two pages in photoshop with 12  blue + red circles on each. I added the numbers 1 through 24 in the circles, printed them on 8.5″ X 11″ white paper and punched them all out to attach to their corresponding package. 
I used one of my new favorite fonts ostrich sans. 
See this post for a list of favorite Christmas books that we’ve used in our annual book countdown.
If you enjoyed this post you might also like the little book page stocking bunting that I created using the same papers pictured above. I had 1 of each 12 X 12 sheet of paper and I still have some leftover after creating both the bunting and wrapping all 24 of our Christmas books!

Blast from the past: Christmas Project Roundup

Just popping in today to share a few links to some older Christmas posts and roundup what holiday stuff I’ve shared so far this year! Enjoy. 🙂

Silly Reindeer Christmas Hairdo

Get in the holiday spirit by dressing up a simple bun with this Silly Reindeer Christmas Hairdo!

Last week the kids had pajama + wacky hair day at school. After a quick search on pinterest for silly hair dos I stumbled across this cute idea and knew we had to try it! It was really simple and turned out super cute! I love that it took us less than 15 minutes to do and we had all the supplies on hand!


Here’s how to create your own Reindeer Hairdo
1. Start with a simple bun. Ours wasn’t anything special. Just a quick bun held tight with a few hair pins.
2. Gather supplies: pipe cleaners, hair pins, large googly eyes or draw some on paper, red pom pom and some small scraps of felt.
3. Using the pipe cleaners make two small antlers.
4. Now add googly eyes + pom pom to hair pins so they will stay in hair. Cut out small circles from felt for the backing. Slide your felt circle inside the hair pin. Using a hot glue gun or other strong adhesive glue pom pom or eyes to the felt. One section of the hair pin should be glued between felt and the eyes or pom pom as shown below:
5. Once you have all your reindeer pieces assembled its time to put them in your hair. The antlers go in the top of the bun and ours stayed in great after just poking them in a little ways.
6. Add the eyes then the pom pom nose to the center of the bun and that’s it! A cute and simple little Christmas hair do!

Simple things Sunday Photo Link Party No. 109

Welcome to Simple things Sunday everyone! It was so great to see all your gorgeous photos last week and a special thank you to Anna Jones for joining the simple things fun with us! You can check out Anna’s guest post here where she shared her photo features from last weeks party along with some great tips on making the most of natural light in your photos! If you have a moment be sure to pop by and leave her some comment love. 🙂

I’m thrilled to welcome Kristin Duke photography as our simple things special guest this coming week! She’ll be stopping by some of your STS links throughout the week and I look forward to her guest post on Saturday! 🙂

If you entered the Christmas card templates + Real. Life. Photography eBook giveaway this week scroll down to the bottom of this post for the announcement of the three winners!

Now onto this weeks party…

SIMPLE THINGS SUNDAY No. 109
This week has been all about the holiday traditions – old and new. It’s our very first time year for elf on the shelf and little Harvey seems to be making himself right at home. 😉  I’m so excited about this new Christmas tradition in our family and the kids are just eating it up! We also kicked off December 1st with a North Pole breakfast. Such yummy fun with aebleskiver sprinkled with ‘snow’+ candy canes {bananas and strawberries} + hot chocolate. We started our book countdown advent today using many of the books from this list. I’m so excited to read these books with the kids by the Christmas tree each night. We also hung up our little snowflake Christmas countdown and the first activity was to go ice skating as a family. We’ve had lots of Christmas fun this week and can’t wait to continue making these special family memories throughout the month!
Now it’s your turn. What simple things are you celebrating this week?
If you’re new to Simple as That I’d love for you join us in this weekly tradition. Scroll down to the bottom of this post where you can find all the details on how to share your photos with us.  We’ll be taking a short break from our simple things special guest series while our friends in the US celebrate thanksgiving.

THE SIMPLE THINGS ON INSTAGRAM

Don’t forget you can share your simple things photos via instagram! Simply post an insta-pic of a simple thing/moment using hashtag  #thesimplethings and be sure to tag me @rebecca_simpleasthat so I can check out your photos! *This is new:  Each week I’ll be highlighting four of your simple things photos posted via Instagram in my instagram feed. I can’t wait to feature you on instagram!

Just a few quick rules to play:
1. Grab a button and include it in your simple things post.

2. Link back directly to your simple things post not your blog/website.

No links to other linky parties, giveaways or craft projects pretty please. 
This linky is all about the photos.

3. Be sure to pop by and visit at least 3 other links and leave a comment.

Leave as many as you can.

 

Christmas Card Templates + Real.Life.Photography. 
eBook Giveaway winners!


Congratulations to the following three winners! You’ll each receive a copy my 2012 card templates + my eBook Real. Life. Photography!

Winner No. 1
Entry 464 Olivia Wright

Winner No. 2
Entry 49 Bethany Rodriguez

Winner No. 3
Enter 485 Melissa Cordle

Please send me an email ASAP at cooper{dot}rr{at}gmail{dot}com to claim your prizes! Congrats again and many thanks to all of you who entered! 🙂

Simple things Sunday Special Guest Series

I’ve invited some incredibly talented photographers to join us for our simple things party each week and today I’m thrilled to welcome Anna Jones of Indie Art Photography! I’ve long admired Anna’s beautiful photos and it’s such an honour to have her guest posting today! 

Keep reading to find some great tips on making the most of natural light in your photos and be sure to scroll down to the very bottom of the post where you can find Anna’s photo picks from the STS party along with a special discount on Anna’s Indie Actions!


Hi!  My name is Anna Jones, and it’s so fun to post here on Rebecca’s blog!  I love portrait photography and especially High School Seniors!  I have three little sisters, and when we were young I would dress them up and do “photoshoots” all the time [you should see the home videos, ha!]  Fast forward 15 years and not much had changed. I started taking photos when my baby sister was a Senior in High School, and I took her Senior pictures [see below] and then her friends asked me to take theirs, and it grew from there. I did paid sessions for several years and also developed Indie Actions, but a couple years ago my boys started school and I started working and haven’t had the time I used to.  I still love it and do Senior sessions once in a while.  My photo editing has remained pretty consistent – I really love Photoshop, but I try not to go overboard. 

My two favorite things about photography are: finding sweet light and shooting wide open.  They make me giddy, and I think these two things are the secret to any good picture I’ve taken.  The first key to beautiful photographs is using only available, natural light.
Every time I take pictures it’s like a light hunt experiment, and there are many forms of “good” light, not just one. If you’ve ever wondered how someone gets that clarity/rich color/beautiful skin tones/beautiful black and whites/you name it – it’s my opinion the answer is light.  Photoshop helps, as does a good lens and camera, but you can do so much just using light and get incredible pictures no matter your equipment.  Here are 3 of my favorite “sweet light” go-to’s:
Sweet light type #1 = Edge of shade in doorways/alleyways:

I hold out my hand and find the “edge of the shade” in a doorway/alleyway where natural light is reflecting in, and then position my subject very particularly there. Usually the sun is behind me.  There’s a line where the sunlight meets the shade, and I position my subject right on the edge of that boundary, where light bounces up on them. 

Doorways force the light into that space and creates beautiful, sweet light. That’s the secret to these images below; in both, they are positioned carefully on the edge of shade in a doorway:

Sweet light type #2 = Backlight/sun flare:

When the sun is coming from behind your subject and you’re facing it, it’s called back light.  I usually do this when the sun is about to set and is low on the horizon.  There are two different effects you can try to do: silhouette or sun flare.  Silhouette is when there’s a kind of glow around them or a line of light around them. Sun flare is when you get these kind of colored rings of light that show up or rays of light.


When I take backlit pictures, it’s typically a big experiment, where I’m moving around a ton – up, down, side to side, looking through my camera and trying to figure out what’s going to work.  My subjects usually have to be patient while I try to get what I’m after.  A lot of the time I have to squat down really low to get the angle right, but I always have to figure it out on the spot and it usually takes me a minute.


My tip is that, first of all, be apprised that a lot of the time you’re looking right into the sun through your camera and almost can’t see at all!  In my experience, that’s normal. So if the sun is so bright that the camera can’t even “find” your subject, then what I have to do is, as I hold the camera with my right hand, shade the top corner of my lens with my left hand in order to slightly block the sun momentarily while I lock focus on my subject’s eye by holding the button down half-way.  Then, I quickly remove my left hand and take the shot. Hope that makes sense!


Another tip is that I find I can usually only get those flares when there is something I can use as a partial sun obstruction.  For example, the horizon line, trees, the edge of a tall building, etc.  If you look at the examples, there’s usually only flare rings where there’s something that can act as an obstruction. It usually takes several tries, and my backlit settings are just kind of normal, usually around f/1.4, iso 200, shutter 1/100 for silhouette and f/1.4, iso 200, shutter 1/300 for flare, just to give you an idea.

Sweet light type #3 = Low-light/almost completely dark:

Try shooting when it’s almost totally dark.  I think these example shots have an interesting look to them, and the secret to the color is that it was so dark when they were taken. 


You have to shoot super wide open and push the limits of your camera, using as low f-stop as you can, as high an iso as you can and as slow a shutter as you can.  You will experience some grain.

I shoot at f/1.4 probably 99% of the time. Choosing lenses is so hard and also very personal, but I found that I prefer “fixed” lenses, because they enable you to shoot at wide-open apertures, and I’m addicted to that super-blurred background look!  If you’re feeling sad right now because your lens doesn’t go that wide, you could ask Santa to bring you the 50mm 1.8 lens available for Nikon and Canon and costs just over $100! I highly recommend that lens. I usually buy from B&H Photo Video online.


Shooting wide open with that lower f-number allows more light into the camera, so you can shoot in very low light conditions…like by the Christmas tree!  Using only the light from the tree usually means you have to use a very low f-stop number (like f/1.8) so that as much light as possible can flow into the lens through as large of an opening as you can get in your lens.

I usually have to also have a very high iso and a very, very slow shutter speed.  So my example settings would be something like f/1.8, ss 1/15, and iso 800. If you can’t figure it out, try shooting in auto first to get a starting point on your camera and adjust from there.
And my final tip is that Photoshop can be a lot of fun and enhance your images:

I try really hard not to go overboard with Photoshop, but it is a lot of fun to play around in.  Every image is different, for example, the image below I felt needed some color adjustment, but that’s not usually the case. 

Here’s a before and after with my processing steps:

1. Ran Indie Subtle Color action, which i use as a basis for my ps’ing (that or Color Foundation).

2. Re-touched skin very slightly – I make a duplicate layer & use the healing tool [looks like a 
band-aid.] When i’m done re-touching with the healing brush, I turn the opacity down on the top layer anywhere between 70-90% to restore the original texture a little – it’s magic!

3. Added red and yellow in “Color Balance”

4. Did a slight s-curve

5. Re-size and sharpen for web (crop around 600 px on long side & then Filter>Sharpen>Unsharp Mask using my favorite numbers: 500, .2, 0
BEFORE:

AFTER:


Hope that helps and have fun experimenting!

– – – – – – – – – – – – –
Thank you SO much Anna for all the fabulous tips! When I first started photography Anna’s photoshop actions were some of the first I purchased! Lucky us, she is offering an amazing discount for all Simple as That reader. Purchase her Indie Action Set for only $10 {normally $30}! To purchase visit the Indie Actions site HERE and on the “Purchase” tab send PayPal payment to Anna at [email protected] and with “Simple As That” in the subject line to get the discount. That’s both of her sets for $10!! Thanks so much Anna!

Here are just a few photos of YOUR photos that caught Anna’s eye as she browsed through the links in our simple things party this past week. You can read her comments and find links to these ladies lovely blogs below!



missing flowers | mona
 love the tones and depth of field. It seems I’m always drawn to weeds, dead foliage, neutral earth tones, etc., too!

simply blue | kerri
What a beautiful shot!  Again, love the depth of field and the composition, and nice capture of what I’m guessing was a very fleeting moment!

winter flavors | pieni
I always love simple shots like these, with lots of white and simple subject, color and composition!

fall in NY | erin
Sweet capture of a Fall moment!  What a cute little boy and I like the tones and simple composition.

If your photo was featured be sure and grab yourself a button!

Thank you as always to everyone for linking up each week! I can’t wait to see your photos tomorrow at our 109th Simple things Sunday party! I will be announcing the winners of my holiday card template and Real. Life. Photography. eBook giveaway, so stay tuned! 🙂


 

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