an archived personal and craft blog from Elise Blaha Cripe.
The fourth product in my MAKE29 adventure is now available for preview. Learn more about this product and the story behind it here. This edition of 290 will be available for purchase at 12PM (NOON) PST on 05/22/14. Please note, while new products will always be released on the 22nd of the month, the time of release will vary. It will always be clearly noted with the product preview a few days in advance.
Really this post could be called my favorite tricks for photographing anything. I have about seven techniques (not included here are holding an object in my fingers against a clean wall (example!) or holding an object in my palm against a cool patterned ground (example!)) that I just cycle through over and over and over again. If you've read this blog for a week or more, you've seen them all… countless times.
For me, it's not about the camera or the filters, it's about getting comfortable with my "go-to" shot set-ups that I know I love and then using them on repeat. Here are 5 of the 7 with Ellerie serving as an extremely willing visual aid.
SHOOT DOWN : I like to stand up, hold the camera perpendicular to the ground and shoot down. Works particularly good on a clean or patterned background. Perpendicular is key here to get the most flattering image.
SET THE CAMERA ON THE GROUND : I have beat this method to death and will continue to. Love the horizon it creates. Love the straight lines. Love that it gets what it gets and I get a surprise.
SET THE CAMERA ON THE TABLE : Ditto to above. The image above is probably one of my top 10 favorite photos of Ellerie ever. #talkaboutaframer. #whydoesshelook8yearsoldalready? #sheiseatingpicklesandparmeseancheese
CROP ON DETAILS : Let there be stuff outside of the frame. Get close in on details for the real magic. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE hand shots. And baby hands are triple good.
CROUCH AND SHOOT STRAIGHT : I do this all the time. ALL THE TIME. Makes for more interesting shots and gives a better idea of what's happening at Ellerie's eye level.
As you can probably imagine, 10.5 month old babies like to MOVE. I just shoot and shoot and shoot. I can't "pose" her or get her to "sit" anywhere so we just sort of get what we get… and I LOVE that.
OH MAN, do I love photos and my girl. These five images from the past few weeks are the ones that I took, looked at in the camera playback and felt my heart stop. Sometimes I cannot believe this amazing tiny human lives in my house and eats all my pickles.
Aside from that first iPhone photo, all of these images were taken with my Canon Rebel XSi and the EF 35mm lens. I added some post processing with the Photoshop Elements actions from A Beautiful Mess which I am newly obsessed with for giving images an extra POP. I tend to use Millie and Nico most often and turn down the "bright boost" on Nico a bit to better match my style.
As part of my word WHOLE this year, I want celebrate the work of others by sharing links to my friends, possible friends and complete strangers who are doing great things on the Internet. This is some of the rad stuff I recently saw online…
so excited for my friend Kayla Aimee and her book deal.
WOW: hand-stitched quilts from hand-dyed fabric.
fun DIY marbling round-up. (thanks for including me, Poppytalk!)
this wall paint treatment is crazy good.
…and the gorgeous weaving it created.
YOU ARE AWESOME, Kal. Congrats on the re-launch.
I'll happily read about how other creatives work all day.
are you signed up for my newsletter? the next MAKE29 project will be annouced to subscribers tomorrow afternoon!
my unintentional photo theme this week: books! when I was pulling for this post I noticed that I had a bunch and decided to go with it. we LOVE books.
Happy week's end.
Paul and I were chatting on Monday about how FAST this year has gone. "Do you think this year has been faster than the first three [of our marriage]?" he asked. "Oh for sure," I responded. "But think about these first 4.5 months of 2014 compared to the last 4.5 months of 2013, now that time has FLOWN."
Nothing like a monthly project, a first year residency where you work nearly every weekend and a growing baby to make you feel the calendar pages are flying off the wall at cartoon speeds. Sidenote: sometimes I wish our daily lives were recorded just so I could watch a great montage of us drinking coffee, throwing together dinners and folding laundry set to pump-up music.
It's HOT here. 100* at 11am which is making us a little stir-crazy. We're very thankful to be south of the wildfires that have been spreading in North County this week. Thank you to those of you that have checked in! We're safe and grateful. Hopefully it gets under control soon and those displaced families can return home.
Next week is our last week before our WEEK LONG VACATION and I have all sorts of good posts planned. Look for : how we've fancied up our coffee routine (I can drink it black now!), my tricks for photographing babies, how I ship packages around the world without loosing my mind and (maybe most important) my experience so far with the fitbit.
Good stuff. Stay cool. TGIF. Cheers!
seafolly goddess bikini top, my poppet DIY fabric twine, uncommon goods cheese & crackers serving board, beatice valenzuela weaving, hruskaa beaded plant hanger, joie nice sandal, urban mettle address plaque.
Just your average assortment of totally random, eye-candy splurges plus one simple enough DIY. Ideal for May and sunshine. (I should add… I tried on that bikini top and it's the most flattering two piece I've ever worn. BOLD, but TRUE statement.)
Rubber stamps, you guys.
They are inexpensive. They are customizeable. They are versatile.
Since the very beginning of my business, I have purchased rubber stamps to do everything. Make my original business cards (stamp on cardstock). Create stationery (stamp on larger cardstock). Decorate my packaging (stamp on outside of box or envelope). Add my logo to an item (stamp on backside or underside of product).
It's such an easy way to get something customized (without crazy printing costs) and push your brand a bit further.
I get a lot of questions about custom stamps and so I thought I would just share a few tips today.
I order my wood mounted stamps through simonstamp.com and have always been thrilled with their service.
I design my images in Photoshop Elements (because that is what I use for graphics) at 300dpi and always print out my design full size on copy paper to get an idea of the scale. I literally cut it out and then hold it up to items (products, cardstock, envelopes, etc) to be sure it's going to be the right size for what I need.
I get a better impression when my graphic is "black on white" instead of "white on black."
I use black staz-on ink for everything because it dries very quick and sticks to nearly all surfaces. Because I only use black staz-on, I don't clean my stamps often (or ever) but if you need to, you'll want staz-on cleaner.
Hope that helps! #stampswin
Today on ELISE GETS CRAFTY, I'm talking with Katie, the co-founder of Artifact Uprising, about how they started and branded their gorgeous photobook business. Subscribe on iTunes or stream the episode from your computer here.
see part one here!
About a month ago, following this awesome tutorial, I trimmed the leaves off my "leggy" succulent plant in an attempt to propagate (grow tiny new plants) from the cuttings. I am sharing my progress in real time, to give you (and me!) a REAL idea of how long this takes.
I currently have my cuttings sitting on top of a pie tin filled with super dry cactus soil. For the longest time nothing was happening.
And then, after about two weeks, the leaves started to send out purple roots. They are fine and long and nearly every cutting has a few.
A few days ago, I noticed baby plants growing at the base of a few of the cuttings. This is what I was hoping for…slowly, but surely, I am getting little plants. Remember, the "goal" is that each leaf will produce a tiny plant and root system and I'll be able to replant that (and discard the original cutting).
The original plant heads are starting to sprout roots of their own. Not too long from now, I should be able to replant these.
My trimmed stalks in the original pot are a bit slower to develop – offically making them the ugliest plant in the house.
But there are a few tiny plant bubbles appearing on some of the stems and I'm hopeful they will continue to bloom.
I have not watered the soil yet but both the stalks and the clippings get decent sunlight and tons of encouragement from both me and Ellerie all day long.
I'll continue to keep you posted! So far, slow, but exciting.
getting this post up later that normal.
celebrating Mama's yesterday.
listening to this little one say "uh-oh" all day long.
looking forward to watching the new season of 24 tonight.
addicted to this song.
downloaded the whole album on impulse.
seeing tomatoes on most of my plants.
drinking coffee.
feeding Ellerie leftover pancakes for breakfast.
pushing through this week (and the next!) before vacation time.
feeling like I am decently caught up on work.
leaving the card sale open today too.
walking like a crazy person to get my 10,000 steps in each day.
loving the rare times Ellerie is content to sit on my lap for minutes at a time.
planning new blog posts and podcast episodes.
wishing you a happy Monday.
As part of my word WHOLE this year, I want celebrate the work of others by sharing links to my friends, possible friends and complete strangers who are doing great things on the Internet. This is some of the rad stuff I recently saw online…
I'm totally trying these mama + baby yoga poses.
we baked this pie last weekend and it was so great.
now that my work load is decreased a bit, I'm back on the landscaping train. this is happening.
and these would look awesome on our fence.
I cannot get enough photos of other people's gardens.
a great lesson + some film photography = a blog post I can get behind.
loved this colorful home tour.
top ten free fonts (with the best ampersands!).
I am addicted to my fitbit flex.
hi friends!
I figured while I had such a random assortment of envelopes and a decent amount of interest, I would run a quick pop-up shop for my fun fill-in cards. Eventually I am going to get these cards with standard color envelopes, photographed fancy and sold in my real shop, but for now, they are rad and just sitting here and might as well get into your hands (if you're interested!).
DETAILS : folded A2 (4.25×5.5) cards, black ink on white lightly textured cardstock, blank on inside, envelope colors are a RANDOM colorful assortment.
PRICE : $3 each + $2 shipping flat rate WORLDWIDE
SALE CLOSED. (but cards are not gone for good – I will be bringing them back.) Thank you for your orders! Please allow 5 business days for your cards to ship.
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enJOY it 
