my life in color: December 2010

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Bokeh fun!

What is bokeh?
That lovely blurry light on the background when your camera aperture is set way open :)

I've wanted to try this little bokeh trick for some time.
I turned my Christmas lights into stars!

The fairylights on my chandelier...

..hmmm.. or maybe hearts?

*grin*

It doesn't have to be lights.. you can do this with anything that reflects light.

What is this then?

A garland on my tree :)

This is such a cool effect...

I think I'll be playing some tomorrow!

The pics were taken with my 50mm 1.8 lens.

And yes, my aperture was at 1.8.

There are a couple good online tutorials for this, with simple directions on how to make your own bokeh filter. Check them out here and here.

Now go have fun.

I was giddy from giggles as I was taking these!

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Hei skräppikansa :)

Vielä olisi tilaa muutamalle halukkaalle, jos skräppäyspäivä 8.1.2011 Helsingissä jäi kalloon nakuttamaan!

Tarkempaa tietoa tapahtumasta saat kun klikkaat tästä.

Allekirjoittanut ainakin odottaa ihan into pinkeenä kun vihdoin saa naamat yhdistettyä noihin nettinimiin :D

December Daily finished

19.
Yes we have snow.

20.
Sweet color inspiration...

21.
Game night with the girls.

22.
The tree is up.

23.
My amaryllis.

24.
The hustle and bustle of opening presents on Christmas Eve.

And yes, I ended up stopping at 24.

That is the day we celebrate Christmas.

Plus I my number tags only ran up to 24 :D
It's all good.

And now onto Project Life..ha...

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Dec 25th

Merry Christmas everyone!

Friday, December 24, 2010

Dec 24th

I had no idea what I wanted in the way of Christmas flowers until I saw the silvery branches at the garden center. I bought hose along with a red amaryllis and some small black (slightly glittery) stones.
At home I got out the big vase.

It looks grand.

And yet so simple.

Just the way I like it.

Happy Christmas Eve!

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Dec 23rd

I wonder...
..can you detect the secret ingredient in my plum marmalade?
*grin*

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Dec 22nd

What is your favorite holiday sweet?

Ever since I was a kid, it's always been these green marmalades.
I couldn't tell you why..
I used to get a box from my Grandma every Christmas.

Then my parents joined in.
Then my in-laws...

I don't gobble them up right away though.
I like to open the box and let the marmalade dry a bit, a week well hidden usually does the trick.
It's a good thing to have one box out for everyone else to eat and keep one hidden ;)

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Dec 21st

I wonder what these three are up to?

Monday, December 20, 2010

Dec 20th

Remember this sequence of pics from last winter showing the amount of snow?
December 2009, January and February 2010.

Let's take at look at December 2010, shall we?

We're way ahead of the game already...
*sigh*

Sunday, December 19, 2010

December Daily continued again

12.
Nothing beats stew :)

13.
Saw the newest HP movie.

14.
At my hairdresser's.
Admiring teh dress one of the gals got for her b-day.

15.
Dead tired.
Spent the evening unwinding on the computer.

16.
Making presents...
Gingerbread body scrub.

17.
Our school secretary retired today.
Sad day, she came to work at the school when I was on 3rd grade!

18.

Christmas shopping.
The background chocolates came out of a Åhlens department store Xmas brochure I picked up in Stockholm. Lots of cool pages in that one :)

Dec 19th

It's already the fourth advent.
I'll share all four in one post.
Keep your eyes open now to spot the differences ;)

(ooops.. someone knocked the number four askew..)

(yes, I dusted the table between advent three and four..LOL)

I picked up these black metal numbers this year.

They are pushpins :)

Saturday, December 18, 2010

12 favorites

Taking cue from Veeruliiru and picking out my 12 favorite layouts from this year.
It was tougher than I thought...
Also got me to count how many pages I've made through the year and to my awe the number is 75.
Wow.
Seventy five!