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A Project

Monday, April 22, 2013

This post will be a little lengthy (especially compared to my most recent activity, yikes) but I promise it’s worth it. I’ve been very busy and stressed and tired lately, but I feel like it’s mostly for good reason. I’ve been making some serious headway in getting Hello Cheeseburger back open full time (May 1!), running things at my big girl job, and working on this awesome fundraiser/collaboration I’ll be writing about today.

The Edna Adan Mother’s Day Project is a collaboration between myself and Lacy at Living on Love. While we are calling it the Mother’s Day Project, I feel like it’s also a project about women and the beautiful things we create in our own lives. I’m not a mom yet, but I guess you could call the design below my baby.

I worked for days on this piece, and I’m so happy with it. It brought me back to watercolor, which I’ve been neglecting. I was patient. I sacrificed some sleep, but I feel like it was worth it. The best part about it is that it could potentially change lives (you’ll read more about that below.) I think the quote Lacy chose for the center is just perfect. Being creative is a struggle for me at times, and I’m thankful for the timing of this project to show me that I still got it. Together we created this print and I can’t wait to get some for the ladies in my life.

Now for the life changing part. We are selling these prints for just $30, with half of the proceeds going to Edna Adan University Hospital. From their website: “The health of the people of Somaliland is among the worst in Africa, with one of the highest Maternal and Infant Mortality rates in the world. Every year, one baby in eight dies in infancy while nearly 4000 Somali women die in childbirth. This tragedy can be attributed in large part to the long civil war which brought about the death or departure of nearly all of the country’s trained health care professionals.” The good news is that this hospital is working to change these statistics and improve maternal health. From educating midwives and fighting female genital mutilation, the Edna Adan University Hospital is making big changes for the people of Somaliland.

Some facts about the project:

  • Mother’s Day prints will be for sale on Storenvy beginning Monday, April 22.
  • Prints are $30 with free US shipping. They will ship in 3-5 business days of order and will arrive before Mother’s Day, May 12th.
  • Half of all proceeds will be donated to the Edna Adan University Hospital.

By selling these prints, we could be helping so many people. Just with my little watercolor painting. It’s a great feeling, and I hope you’ll join us. I’d love it if you could help spread the word! Pin, Share, & use the hashtag #Give2EdnaAdan on twitter.

Just for fun, here’s a photo of me & my mom:

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Some Rambles

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

I don’t want to turn twenty-six. It just sounds like a bad age. I’m thinking about staying 25, then turning 27 next year. My birthday is on Friday, so we’ll see how it goes.

Up above is Ruby, Dalton’s dog. She is just the sweetest. Crazy as can be, but so sweet. Below is my new favorite song. I want to lie in the sun and listen to it on repeat.

After talking to a friend (hi, Ashley!) I’ve decided to start cutting back on my screen time. For starters I’m going to stop checking email between 7pm – 7am. Hoping I can do it!

Happy April 2nd, all.

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wants

Monday, March 18, 2013

a good day

sunshine

health

happiness

peace

sleep

a corndog

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An Update

Friday, March 8, 2013

I feel like I’m saying this all the time, but where does the time go? It feels like I just wrote my last post yesterday, yet it’s been nearly a month since I hit Publish.

It seems like I’m on an upswing, but I still have days where I feel like I just don’t have it together. I think I need more fruits and vegetables and sleep – I’m having a tough time convincing myself I need to nourish my body and mind.

I have been having a great time resurrecting Hello Cheeseburger and hope to find a way to make that last. It’s been great to get feedback and connect with customers, and I’m hoping it’ll be the boost I need to get my out of my funk. (Living on Love is hosting a giveaway of a necklace – check it out here!)

I think it’s time to get back to glasses and diy projects and lip stains.

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Transitions

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

I’m not sure if it’s the weather or what, but I have been in a weird funk for weeks, maybe even months.  Disappointments hurt worse, things make less sense, I can’t speak a proper sentence. As much as I’ve been trying to be more present, I have feelings like I’d rather be more alone. My hair is now half pink, not sure if this has anything to do with anything. I’m trying to eat more fruits and vegetables. Where am I going with this?

This post makes no sense, but it’s indicative of life right now. Hoping to write something more positive soon. xo

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DIY: Make Your Own Homemade Photobooth

Friday, January 25, 2013

As promised, this is the second part of yesterday’s post. It won’t be nearly as involved or quite as elaborate as our booth, but you’ll still have fun with it and take funny photos! You’ll need a few things:

  • A DSLR Camera This can be a Canon or Nikon, or even Pentax. You’ll need to check the support page on the software I’m about to recommend…
  • dslrBooth This software will make your booth work. At $50 it may be more than you’d like to spend for an at-home booth, but you can play with the trial and even continue to use it after your trial ends. I personally think it’s worth it – but I also plan on using it regularly.
  • A wooden box You could go the route I drew out above and build one or convert an old stereo cabinet.
  • A light source I would suggest a desk lamp, as you get a good directional light.
  • A computer This will run the software and allow you to save your photos.

This is definitely a quick and dirty way to do this. The hardest (but not hard) part is setting up your computer and the camera.

What you’ll want to do is take your wooden box and build two shelves inside: one for the camera to sit on and another for the computer. (You can also just use a table for this if you don’t care if they’re enclosed. Or heck, use a tripod!)

To set everything up, place your box in the location where you’ll be taking the photos. Stick your camera on the shelf, then line it up with where you’re shooting. Grab your USB cable and connect your camera to your computer. Open up dslrBooth and make sure you’re up and running. Grab your lamp and stick it on top of your box, pointing at the focal wall. Plug it into the power strip that you already set up without me.

Turn it on, grab some funny hats, and hit Start on the program! (You can also buy a remote for your DSLR and shoot from the front.) It will count you down and makes everything super easy. You can even connect your printer if you want prints immediately!

I hope this was helpful. If you have any questions, please ask!

 

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DIY: Our Homemade Photobooth

Thursday, January 24, 2013

I hoped to share how to make your own photobooth in this post, but it got lengthy and I want to be specific.
Check back tomorrow for the how-to on setting up your own photobooth!

This is one of my favorite projects ever. It can actually be fairly simple if you know what you’re doing (I sorta did) and have the necessary equipment. Though ours has a few extra perks (hello, mirror &  printer) you can set one up fairly easily that performs the task of taking a photograph (of your friends in funny hats.)

I won’t go into super detail about our booth because 1) that would take forever, 2) we didn’t work off any plans or specifics, 3) I honestly can’t remember how or why we did some of the things we did. That being said, you can totally make your own by using ours strictly as inspiration because there’s less to it than you may think. There are definitely better and more professional booths out there, but ours serves our purpose very nicely and it’s adorable to boot. I’m going to fill in any gaps in photographs or descriptions with illustrations. Let’s go!

(I would like to add this small disclaimer: these photos could be better. It was cold and my hands were shaking. I also forgot to put the light bulbs in. Use your imagination.)

This is what our booth looks like. Dalton had originally built the cabinet to look like an arcade game to set his Nintendo 64 inside of. It ended up working perfectly for this! We cut it in half (it’s two pieces that lock together) so that we could move it more easily. He had already stained the plywood that nice dark color, so we went with it when choosing our sign colors.

The mirrored front is a scrap piece of mirrored plexiglass I got from work. We applied vinyl cut with my Silhouette Cameo so people would know where to look when getting their photo taken. The black box at the bottom of the booth is where the printer sits. There’s a hole in the top that allows for the cords to be fed through and plugged in or connected to the computer.

For our signage, we chose this amazing celery green spray paint (Valspar’s Color Radiance in Flat Guilded Pesto, if you’re interested) and used it to paint some masonite boards we cut to size. I then used my Silhouette Cameo to cut our design in vinyl that was applied to the boards. We sealed it all with some satin polyurethane and crossed our fingers tightly that they wouldn’t get scratched. When we mounted them to the piece Dalton used brass screws and washers.

To install the lights, we grabbed 3 cheap fixtures that we had at my work. They look like this when you buy them:

Basically it’s a glass globe that sits into a brass (or white, or nickel) fixture. They are reeeeeal cheap. We scrapped the globe and modified the fixture slightly so it would fit into our space. Dalton measured and marked where the openings for the sockets should be, then used a key hole saw bit (are you impressed that I know that?) to drill out the holes. We installed the fixtures from the inside so all you’d see from the from was the sockets. Then I asked a coworker nicely (this is very important!) to wire them together for us. He installed a plug so we could plug them into our power strip.

This is the back. The bottom holds the printer (black box you see from the front), the power cord to make it all work, and a place to put all the miscellaneous supplies you accumulate (40 watt light bulbs, photo paper, ink, etc.) The top half has a hinge which opens up the back, allowing you to get to the camera and computer and plug everything in. There are screws that we tighten down when we don’t need in the back to keep everything secure. (The inside isn’t very exciting, but if you’re curious to see it shoot me an email and I’ll be happy to share.)

Please stop back by tomorrow and I’ll show you how you can set up a booth of your own!

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Teaser

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

 

I was supposed to be sharing our DIY photobooth today, but I made the brilliant decision to paint my desk this morning and my computer is in pieces on the floor (I’m using the community PC) and it’s cold out in the barn where it’s being stored. Real problems, I know.

I snapped the above shot with my phone last week but I promise I’ll have better photos tomorrow when I write my actual post. Be prepared to learn about:

  1. How to convert something your boyfriend built for himself into a real 95% perfectly working photobooth.
  2. An awesome and reasonably priced software option to make it all come together.
  3. How to get someone else to wire light fixtures together to be a functioning set of lights.
  4. Why the Silhouette Cameo is awesome.

I hope I piqued your interest enough to check back tomorrow!

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It’s Monday, Again

Monday, January 21, 2013

Last week was a very long week. I had the brilliant idea of creating a photobooth for my aunt’s birthday party, and Dalton and I set out to do just that. Somehow the project went together almost perfectly, and then at the party we had printer problems! Ugh! We worked them out though, and the booth was a success. I’m going to try and post about our booth tomorrow or Wednesday, so stay tuned if you’re curious as to how it was done. I’ve fallen pretty hard for it.

I didn’t do a lot besides work and build a photobooth, so I don’t have as much to post as I’d hoped. There’s always tomorrow, right?!

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Untitled

Friday, January 11, 2013

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