Tammy Mitchell Photography » do it yourself

Hostess with the Mostess: Baby Shower Idea Bb is for Boy

Tammy — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 17:10:58 +0000

One of my cute friends is having a baby NEXT week!!! We had to get together to celebrate the arrival of this sweet little boy into house full of all things girly!

You know me, when somebody says party my brain goes into overdrive!! When planning a party I always think about a theme first. Whether that theme is a color palette or a style doesn’t matter….just something that makes bringing everything else together easier. I immediately thought of a vintage baby boy theme since I have some cool vintage glass plates and cups that I have been DYING to have an excuse to use, so this was perfect! You can find them pretty easily at most antique stores.

I found this cute little shop online, Pretty Little Studio, that makes the most adorable vintage baby flashcards and all kinds of fun stuff. I had her custom make some invitations for me and I think they turned out SO cute!!

We served simple breakfast foods that were yummy…a parfait bar with yogurt, fresh berries and granola, bite sized cinnamon rolls and other pastries, and a yummy drink. To go along with the theme I made a little label for each food item

I just made them in photoshop and printed them out on cute scrapbook paper. I also made one for the gift table:

Now my favorite part…the favors!! John thinks I’m crazy because I spend hours making things like this, but this is honestly the most fun part for me. These are very easy and inexpensive to make, but they are time consuming. If you have the time and love to be crafty then these are perfect for you!

to make the giant cookies find the recipe here

for the bags you will need:

a roll of parchment paper

thread

a sewing machine

ribbon

a hole punch

pinking shears

any deocrations you want for the bags

Cut parchment paper into 6.5×14″ strips. fold in half and stitch the sides up using a colorful thread and a zig-zag stitch. trim off the excess on the sides with the pinking shears. slip a cookie into the pouch. fold the top of the bag over and punch two holes at the top about an inch apart. feed the ribbon through the holes and tie into a bow on the front sideof your bag. decorate as you like.

like I said, pretty easy, just time consuming but I think the result is WELL worth it!

It’s easy to do this for any shower boy or girl, or even if you don’t know what it is just make a mix of boy and girl vintage tags! It would also be cute for a little girl’s birthday party if you played some vintage games and added a few more decorations and changed the food a bit!

Hopefully that gets your creative juices flowing for your next party!

Have a great day!
-t

make this: summer fun advent calendar

Tammy — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 16:05:59 +0000

So, have you heard it yet…I’m SURE you have. The kids (at least around here) have now officially been out of school for 5 days…it’s the dreaded “MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM I’m bored” and “what are we going to do today????”

Remember my quest to be more organized this summer?? I think I may have just managed to do it!! And, it’s not too late for you either! I have come up with something that I’m hoping will give the kids something fun to look forward to every day and keep the summer a little exciting and fresh…all while still being easy for me to accomplish!! Whew! A tall order, I know.

So, here it is…the Summer Fun Advent Calendar

The idea behind it is simple. Give the kids something fun to look forward to everyday…it can be something little that takes 5 minutes, or an all day activity. The key is to mix it up. But, the biggest excitement of all is that it’s kept a secret until the day of. They are left wondering each day what the next day’s activity will be. So far, so good in our house! The beauty of it for us moms is that it’s totally changeable if something comes up…because it’s a SECRET and a WHITE BOARD you can change activities to fit your schedule as unexpected things come up without the kids knowing anything about it! I’ve also devised a system to prevent arguments between kids as far as who gets to reveal the day’s activity. By making the squares with numbers you can assign odd/even days if you have two kids, and by making them different colors you can assign colors for more than two kids!

Here’s what you’ll need to make your very own:

Dry erase generic calendar (I got mine at walmart for $7.88)

A dry erase marker

alphabet stickers

number stickers

8 sheets of cardstock (any colors you want)

I think the instructions are pretty clear just by looking at the picture. Just make a fun header and title for it…you can definitely customize the whole thing…it does NOT need to look just like mine that’s for sure! Add your activites under each day, stick your paper on with a piece of tape and wa-la!

Now…the impotant part…coming up with the activities. Like I said, some activities may take all day, some may take 5 minutes. The important part is just to give the kids something to look forward to and something that they know they are doing that day to hopefully prevent them from asking you all day!!

I divided my activities up into categories: in the kitchen, crafts, outings, and fun around the neighborhood. I also tried to keep things very inexpensive or free to help keep costs down. Here are some suggesstions to get you started:

make popsicles

get a slurpee

have a waterballoon toss

run through the sprinklers

tissue paper art

corn syrup painting

make ice cream

go to the pool

go to the library

make tin can phones

have a lemonade stand

beach

free movies at the park

dollar tuesdays at Baskin Robbins

silly string fight

bonfire and smores

bowling

sprinkler park

make a fort

have a picnic

movie night

play a game

water guns

make iron on shirts

that’s enough to get you through a whole month!! (I only did M-F since we often have other things going on on the weekends) The best part is you can repeat many of these things! Who doesn’t want to have a waterballoon toss or go to the pool more than once during the summer??? Hopefully this will help make your summer fun and easy and minimize the curse of summertime boredom!!

I would love to hear fun ideas for things that you find in your community. Leave a comment with any suggestions you have here on this post so we can help each other come up with stuff!!

Have a great day!

-t

eat this: blueberry buckle recipe

Tammy — Wed, 12 May 2010 16:05:32 +0000

I made this yesterday for a class party at Andy’s school and it was a hit. SO yummy. I think it’s even better today than it was warm yesterday! It’s easy and tastes as good as it looks!

Ingredients

3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup butter
1 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, softened

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease one 8×8 inch pan.
Cream together 3/4 cup sugar, butter, and egg.
In a separate bowl mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir into sugar mixture, alternating with milk and sour cream. Stir in blueberries. Pour into greased 8×8 inch pan.
To make topping: Combine white and brown sugars, 2/3 cup flour, cinnamon, and butter. Sprinkle over cake batter.
Bake at 375 degree F (190 degrees C) for 25-30 minutes.

The batter is REALLY thick so don’t be surprised when you can’t pour it into the pan. You will have to scoop it in and spread it around.

Have a great day!

-t

make this: super cute fabric flowers

Tammy — Tue, 11 May 2010 15:59:42 +0000

I saw these and thought they were too cool so I had to share! Thanks to Blue Cricket Design for the idea!

supplies

jersey knit

tape measure/ruler

scissors

hot glue

cut two pieces of jersey knit about 1.5″x20″. lay them on top of each other

cut 1/4″ wide slits about 1″ down

from one end, start rolling the fabric. use hot glue to secure it every so often.

hold on to the “stem” and “fluff” the flower piece

how easy is that?? and so cute! i can think of a million uses for these! have fun crafting!!!

have a great day!
-t

{Picture Perfect} Online Digital Photography Classes and a family favorite recipe

Tammy — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 16:59:05 +0000

If you’ve been trying to decide whether or not to join us this session, you only have 3 days left to decide!!! You CAN learn how to use yor camera and take better pictures in this 6 week, low stress, flexible and fun class. Class starts Saturday. Only 2 spots left!! You can register and find more information here:

{Picture Perfect} Class Info and Registration

And, just because I have a hard time posting without a picture, I thought I’d share one of our favorite recipes. If you don’t have Tyler’s Ultimate Cookbook, I HIGHLY recommend it. I make more stuff out of that book than probably any other and my kids scarf it down!! Here’s one of our favorites that I made last night…bon apetite!

Tyler’s Ultimate Rustic Rigatoni, Sausage and Eggplant (we don’t like eggplant so I omit it!)

Ingredients

Kosher Salt
Extra-virgin olive oil
6 links fennel pork sausage (about 3/4 pound)
1 large eggplant (about 1 1/2 pounds), cut into 1-inch pieces
1 large onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 large can (28 ounces) peeled whole tomatoes, preferably San Marzano
Leaves from 1 small bunch basil
1 pound rigatoni
1 pound fresh mozzarella
Freshly ground black pepper
1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Directions

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat for the pasta. Get yourself a 9 by 13-inch glass or ceramic baking dish.

Heat a 2 count of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sausages and toss in the hot oil for 3 to 4 minutes, you want them nicely browned on the outside but still rare on the inside. Put the sausages in the baking dish.

Turn the heat down to medium. Add a generous 1/3 cup of oil to the skillet and get it hot. Add as many eggplant pieces as you can comfortably fit in a single layer and sprinkle well with salt. Cook, turning, for 7 to 8 minutes, until the eggplant is nice and browned, crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. Use a spatula to put the eggplant into the baking dish with the sausage. Cook the rest of the eggplant pieces, adding more oil to the pan, as needed, and putting the finished eggplant into the baking dish.

Add another 2 count of oil to the skillet, then your onion and garlic, and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, until translucent. Dump the whole can of tomatoes and their juices into a bowl and crush the tomatoes with your hands to break them up; add that to the pan with the basil and cook it down until pulpy and relatively thick. This will take about 15 minutes.

By this time your pasta water will be boiling. Add the rigatoni, give it a stir, and cook for 6 to 7 minutes, it should be slightly firm as it will cook further in the oven. Ladle out 1/2 cup of the pasta cooking water and reserve; the drain the rigatoni.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Chop the sausages into nice big, bite-size chunky pieces and return the pieces to the baking dish. Add the tomato sauce, rigatoni, and the reserved pasta water. Break up half the mozzarella over the mixture, season with salt and pepper, and gently mix with your hands or a spatula. Dust with the Parmigiano and drizzle with more olive oil. Bake for 15 minutes. Spread the remaining mozzarella in an even layer over the top and continue to bake for another 10 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly.

Yum!! Have a great day!
-t

{Picture Perfect} Online Digital Photography Class: Session #3 Now Enrolling starts May 1st

Tammy — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 16:32:18 +0000

I can’t even believe how much fun I am having with these classes. It is SO fun to see how everyone is learning through their pictures and the questions and emails that I get. I feel like I am making great new friends from all over the world!! It is so fun to share a common interest like photography and have a place to chat about it!

I have had several people ask and several register already, so I thought I’d let you know that if you are interested in signing up for session #3 enrollment is now open. Class will begin May 1, 2010 and run for 6 weeks. The cost is $200. I do keep class size limited so that I can answer questions in a timely manner and give the individual attention to each student.

If you’d like to join us for session #3 you can register securely through Paypal here:

This class is structured so that it is VERY flexible. The only time we have anything scheduled is Tuesday nights at 7PM PST for our weekly chat(I know, that’s right during American Idol for some of you!!! ) but if you’re not available at that time I am on the board daily to answer your questions that come up! We will cover getting to know your camera, focusing techniques, aperture, shutter speed, ISO, white balance, metering, lighting and composition. We WILL have you shooting manual and loving it by the end of this course!

I will be posting the lectures on Saturdays this session so that you have extra time on the weekends to watch and practice before the chats on Tuesdays.

A few things people are saying about the class:

“Tammy rocks! I definitely learned a lot and things I haven’t learned in other photography classes.”

“Thanks so much for doing this class. I have taken a few at the local community college and came away feeling like I should just sell this camera and pay for a good photographer every few months. Now I am actually excited to take my camera places and I’m not afraid of it anymore!! THANK YOU!!”

“I just wanted to extend another thank you for helping me to understand my camera. It felt so good to leave class knowing so much more about my camera then before I took the class.”

“You just really teach this very well…you are addicting..you are easy to learn from .”

“I just wanted to thank you for all the effort you put into making this such a great class. It was really easy to follow..leaving not too many question to be asked each week on the MB.”

have a great day!
-t

Make This: Cute Crafty Ideas for Easter

Tammy — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 09:57:46 +0000

Andy has Friday off for his birthday (at least that’s what he thinks…actually it’s for Good Friday, but when you’re 7 it’s more fun to think it’s for your birthday! ) so I’ve been trying to come up with some fun Easter ideas todo that day. Here are a few of my favorites so far:

from Ladies Home Journal the bunny pop…if you don’t want to go through the hassle/mess of making rice krispie treats omit the first four ingredients. Pre-made rice krispie treats make these a breeze!!

Ingredients

Vegetable cooking spray
10 cups Rice Krispies® or any crisped-rice cereal
2 packages (10 oz each) marshmallows
6 tablespoons butter
1 lb semisweet chocolate, melted
1- 1/4 lbs white chocolate, melted
Red food coloring
30 popsicle sticks

Directions

1. Lightly coat a 15-by-10-inch rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray.

2. Place cereal in a large bowl coated with cooking spray; set aside. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat and add marshmallows. Stir until smooth. Pour over cereal and stir to combine. Spread out in prepared pan and press firmly to flatten. Let stand until cool, about 1 hour. Trim edges and cut into 30 3-by-1-1/4-inch bars. Push a popsicle stick through one narrow end of each bar.

3. Using an offset spatula, spread a thin layer of white chocolate over tops of 15 bars. Repeat, using semisweet chocolate for remaining 15 bars. Transfer to a baking sheet and refrigerate until set, about 20 minutes. Place a wire rack over another baking sheet. Dip the white bars in white chocolate and the semisweet bars in semisweet chocolate; place on rack, allowing excess chocolate to drip off bars. Refrigerate until firm, about 20 minutes. Makes 30 pops.

4. To paint faces on bars: Add 1 or 2 drops of food coloring into remaining white chocolate and stir to combine. Using the tip of a wooden skewer or a paintbrush, dip in pink chocolate, then paint ears and nose on bars. Use semisweet chocolate and white chocolate to make eyes. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes. (Can be made ahead. Store in an airtight container, in a single layer, in the refrigerator up to 2 days. Serve cold or at room temperature.)

5. Per semisweet chocolate bar: 280 calories, 12.5 g total fat, 7.5 g sat fat, 123 mg sodium, 44 g carbs, 17 mg calcium, 7 mg chol, 2 g protein, 2 g fiber

6. Per white chocolate bar: 310 calories, 13.5 g total fat, 9 g sat fat, 152 mg sodium, 42 g carbs, 51 mg calcium, 12 mg chol, 3 g protein, 1 g fiber

OK, how adorable is this??? This comes from the brilliant minds over at eighteen25. If you can believe it it’s a tray from the $1 bin at my favorite place, Target, spray painted robin’s egg blue and the bunny silhouette was added. You know how I feel about silhouettes!!!

And finally, Andy came home with one of these today and I was in love. John has a REAL weakness for these things. I don’t particularly care for them, but when I saw this idea I HAD to share it because it’s pretty stinkin cute best of all there’s a free download so you can make your own! Download them here

I’ve got a few more things up my sleeve…stay tuned!

Have a great day!

-t

Photoshop Friday: Colors and Brightness

Tammy — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 17:07:07 +0000

I have had some interest from people over on the facebook fan page for photoshop tips and tricks, so I thought I’d share them here too for those of you that aren’t facebook users

I am NOT a huge editor. I prefer to know my camera and do my best to nail the shot without the aid of photoshop. That being said, I do adjust ALL of my photos…just minorly. There is something to be said (in my opinion) for making the image shine just a little bit more with two simple and quick tricks.

The two most used combinations on my computer are control M and control U. If you’re a Mac user they would be apple M and apple U for you. Control M will adjust your curves (or the brighness of your image) and control U controls the hue/saturation of your image. By nudging these measurements ever so slightly you can make a HUGE difference in your images.

See what I mean???

The image on the left is my sooc image (straight out of camera) and the on on the right has a teeny bit of tweaking with those two measurements. Pretty big difference, huh? Give it a try and let me know what you think!

Have a great weekend!
-t

Hostess with the Mostess: Kids Party Ideas

Tammy — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 17:52:36 +0000

This little shindig is LONG overdue for some blog love. I can’t believe I never shared it! No fear though…it’s perfect timing since it’s pallette is great for spring. You all know I’ve got a weakness for lime green and pink so this was definitely a favorite.

I think these last several years of attending and shooting elaborate parties have taught me that kids are really very happy with the simple pleasures. Sure, they love bounce houses and ponies and magicians, (and I love to plan paties like that!!!) but put a table full of goodies in front of them and let them decorate a homemade cupcake and they are JUST as happy. Just something to keep in mind for those of you planning birthday’s in the near future…that would be me.

Enjoy this gorgeous party!

Mom attended to every gorgeous detail…LOVE the white hydrangeas in a lime green ribbon wrapped box!

the butterflies on the straws…Stunning!

cute little bowls to hold the goodies courtesey of Anthropologie

the darling birthday princess

a finished masterpiece

i LOVE the lighting in these shots…YUM!!! after decorating cupcakes the kids gathered to make bead necklaces on PIPE CLEANERS. Genius!! For little kids they stay stiff enough for them to feed the beads onto…great tip to remember!! You can then twist multiple strands together to make a necklace that’s long enough.

Hope you’re feeling inspired to plan your next event!

Have a great day!
-t

make this: homemade valentines

Tammy — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 19:56:39 +0000

I’ll admit it…I LOVE valentine’s day. Not so much for the mushy romantic stuff, mor for the fun, cute stuff. It gives me a great excuse to make all kinds of cute, kinda cheesy stuff that you can get away with on a day like this.

This year my valentines have taken on a beach theme. I didn’t really plan it, I was just working around things that I had around the house. I’m fortunate in that both of my kids are at small schools with teeny classes…so I can make slightly more elaborate things without breaking the bank. I definitely wouldn’t be doing these things for a class of 35, but they are fun for the special valentines your kids may have. The other thing I love about these is that they are both great for boys. Girls are easy, because they can give things that are in primary colors and nobody thnks anything of it, but boys are hard. So much of the valentine’s stuff out there is pink and purple and mushy. I’m happy to say these are BOTH great for the little guys (and gals) in your life.

i dig u

i hit the dollar bins at michaels and found some cute shovels to make these with. Here’s what you’ll need:

-inexpensive shovels

-small clear bags of some sort (clearbags.com is a GREAT source for celophane bags of all sorts. you have to buy them in bulk, but they are relatively inexpensive and i use them for EVERYTHING!!)

-candy(i bought cady that had wrappers that were in primary colors so they would match my shovels…something to think about. it’s a sickness…I know. )

-ribbon

-cut out heart shapes (an extra large heart punch or die cut machine of some sort works great for these!)

-alphabet stamps (or you can print on the paper with your computer before you punch out the hearts)

-a hole punch

-scissors

-tape

1. put you candy in the bags and seal. punch two holes at the top of the bag about an inch or so apart.

2. string ribbon through hole on the right

3. place candy bag in your shovel and wrap the ribbon around the back of the shovel handle.

4. pull ribbon from behind shovel handle through the hole on the left hand side ofthe candy bag to bring the ribbon together in the front so you can tie a bow.

5. cut out your hearts and stamp with “i dig u”

6. tape hearts to front of candy bag

7. hand out and enjoy!

have a ball, valentine

supplies:

-beach balls

-tags

-ribbon

-string (i used embroidery thread)

-tape

-hole punch

these are super easy! i found my beach balls at walmart for 77 cents each. my ribbon is from a giant spool at costco and the tags I made in about 5 minutes in photoshop…good news…here’s a free download of the tags for your own use!

Have a Ball

1. take beach balls out of their package and roll up. tape into place.

2. tie ribbon around balls

3. cut out your tags and punch a hole in the top

3. use the string to tie your tags around the knot in the bow to secure them to the balls.

done!

Hope you have a happy valentine’s day!!

-t