so here is my christmas tree. it is our new christmas tree that sits in the corner of our dining room. yes the star is crooked. it wasn't, but then i moved the tree a little bit and it somehow shifted. of course, i am too lazy to fix it. in fact, i have been taking photos of this tree all day and still decided against getting up on a chair and fixing it.
but there it is and i love it!
we don't really have a theme to our tree. some people only use certain colors and what not, but not us. we do have a tradition of picking our own ornaments out every year. and one day when my kiddos all move away and have their own trees, they will have a collection of ornaments for their tree and can continue to build on that collection.
i enjoy seeing how their interests change each year. mackenzie loved hannah montana a few years ago, but isn't really all that into her now. she has a hannah montana ornament from that year and this year she made the comment that she hated that ornament. what she doesn't see like i see is that looking at that tree with all those ornaments tells a little story of our lives.
here are some of my favorite ornaments on the tree.
- our favorite sports teams - carolina panthers, georgia bulldogs, and duke blue devils.
- handmade ornament from one of my favorite parents when i worked in childcare.
- handmade ornament made by my mom. it is made from an old lightbulb.
- pickle ornament given to me by my dad and (step) mom. i saw it in a magazine and thought it was unusual but loved it and especially loved the story of the pickle ornament.
- little mouse with his camera on a roll of film. i don't know where i got this but it is one of the first ones i always look for when i open the ornaments box.
- another one of the ones i look for first when i open up the ornaments. the flash bulb on the camera is actually a bulb from the lights that are strung on the tree.
- an old santa i found at a thrift store. he is missing one of his boots. this ornament reminds me of a vintage christmas tree and i just love it.
- spinning teddy bear. he is plugged up to the string of lights and he spins around and around on his little top.
i am linking my ornaments up over at hi, baby, where melissa started this great idea to show and tell about her favorite ornaments.
i wanted to work on some bokeh shots of my christmas tree because to me they are the easiest way to practice.
check out the christmas tree we have in our kitchen. it has colored lights and i tried to focus on the one branch in the front to get this affect.
last year, i was reading kevin & amanda and i came across her tutorial on how to make your own custom bokeh. last year, i also had a different camera, so i wasn't able to recreate my custom bokeh quite like hers. so, today i decided to follow her tutorial again and give it a go.
i don't know what i am doing wrong, but mine just aren't as beautiful as hers. perhaps it has something to do with the fact that i didn't have the cute punches she has. i had to do it the old fashioned way and use scissors to cut out a star and a heart.
i kept using this miniture ceramic stocking as my foreground focus because my models were not wanting to cooperate today.
here are two of my best shots from today.
STARS
HEARTS
tell me what you think. if you decide to try this out, i would love to see your photos. just leave me a comment.
