It’s just past midnight right now and tomorrow is supposed to be a bright and beautiful day in the T-dot (aka. Toronto, Canada) so I gotsta get to bed so I can wake up early, slap on the SPF and enjoy the sunshine. We’ve had really bad weather this spring so this is very exciting. I can finally pack away the winter clothes (fingers crossed).

Thank you so much for all your sweet blog comments in response to my post revealing the latest ‘Minty Mystery’. Understandably I could not keep those pictures to myself, they were just too funny not to share. I got a call shortly after posting from Mr. Firemint who said ‘have you checked your blog lately?’ To which I replied, ‘OMG what did you do?’

The answer:

Mr Firemint. aka: Firebunny ! Says:
April 28th, 2011 at 4:14 pm

Its really weird to have a girl follow you around with a camera all the time, always bugging me to put my uniform/bunker gear on…! At first I never understood why, but now I get it…its a marketing ploy….lol

In all honesty, I’m very flattered as well as honored to be “whored out” Pamd makes it fun, sometimes she makes me pose and yells at me…kidding ! but mostly her and I have an awesome time making each other laugh with her crazy ideas…and let me tell ya, some of the stuff this gal thinks of…..Ummmmmm there are special blog sites for that….lmao kidding! I’m one lucky dude to have Miss Mint in my life, I never thought at the age of 37 I would be scrap booking with my GF on Saturday nights…who knew ! Seriously though, she is an awesome catch and she reminds me every week….and I wholeheartedly would have to agree with her…. Love ya babe. D

Isn’t that so sweet you could just barf? In the best possible way, of course. I swear I didn’t put him up to writing this and I would just like to clarify that we do not scrapbook together every Saturday night.

That would just be lame.

Last weekend we watched Toy Story 3.

Yup. We like to LIVE IT UP.

I cried and will forever have anxiety when tossing anything away. As if that old Ikea lamp commercial didn’t do enough damage (anyone remember that one?) Yes. I did feel sad for the damn lamp and I hope the clock I tossed today doesn’t take it personal.

Switching gears, I’ve been designing up a storm and have been working on some fun stuff that I’m REALLY excited about. I LOVE how this stuff turned out and I can’t wait fo you guys to get your hands on it.

Care for a sneakie peekie?

Working on a few other things so be sure to save some pennies for PC!
Nighty night!

If you’ve been following the Peppermint Creative Facebook Page in the last several months (and if you haven’t, shame on you. Go do it now…all the cool kids are doing it) you may have wondered to yourself ‘who is this DUDE that keeps ‘liking’ Miss Mint’s stuff?’

Well here’s the scoop. Last spring Mr. Mint and I decided to split. I didn’t mention it at the time because well…I was in no mood to blog about a break up as it was happening, and after it was all said and done I felt the moment had passed and there was really no reason to publicly post the news. The worst part of the story is that my sweet little puppy dog Chase went with the Mint-ster. (It’s ok, it was a group decision) which is why you haven’t heard any ‘OMG I found pee in my shoes’ stories for a while.

So I spent a good part of last summer dating for the first time in 7 years. It was fun, interesting, educational and at times a little horrifying…as you might imagine. You have no idea how BADLY I wanted to post play by play reports all summer long about all my interesting, funny and creepy experiences but being that this is a public forum that probably wouldn’t have been too smart.

So why am I blogging about this now? Because I’m very VERY happy to let you know that I’ve had a new man in my life for the last little while and I want you guys to meet him! ;) He’s been the dude ‘liking’ pretty much everything I post on Facebook. LOL. I have no idea if anyone has noticed but I sure do.

In all fairness when we first met I flat out told him, “Listen, I have a website and at some point I will be giving you a nickname and whoring you out on my blog for all the ladies – I hope you’re ok with that.”

So he knew what he was getting into.

Then it came down to a name.

Mr. Mint 2.0 just doesn’t do my man justice!

So I’d like to introduce you to…Mr. FireMint

{SWOON}
Anyone want to guess what he does? LOL.

Ok so now you may be asking, why do we have a picture of a Fireman opening Easter Eggs in the kitchen?

So glad you asked.

I thought it would be fun to do a grown-up Easter Egg hunt. So I filled about 20 eggs with some adult treats (chocolate, snacks, chapstick, BOOZE). Some of the treats didn’t fit into the eggs (damn those tiny things) so I printed up tickets that read ‘Congratulations, please redeem this coupon for treat #3’ and then I wrapped the gifts up with coordinating numbered tags that I just gave him when the tickets were found.Two of the eggs had tags that read ‘Bummer, you found a dud.’

This event was a complete surprise to Mr. FireMint which was the real fun of it. So while he was busy making us dinner (YES, he cooks too! SCORE.) I was casually shoving eggs in my pocket and under my shirt while making up reasons to visit every room and open every door and closet in his house without arousing suspicion. I was pretty sure the jig was up when he noticed the green plastic egg on top of the fridge.

The actual conversation went like this:

Him: “What’s this?”

Me: “Don’t touch that, that’s mine, put it back.”

At this moment I’m convinced I’d been found out and he must realize what I’ve been doing all this time wandering from room to room. I’m preparing some lies to through him off course.

But he shrugs and says, ‘OK’ … and puts it back.

Really.

Can you imagine if the roles had been reversed? I don’t know if it’s because I’m female or just incredibly nosey but I’m pretty sure the conversation would have gone something like this:

Me:  “What’s this?”

Him: “Don’t touch that, that’s mine, put it back.”

Me:  “But what is it? How’d it get there? What’s inside? Why can’t I touch it? Why is it on my fridge? How long has it been there? Why did you put it there? Who gave it to you? Seriously….what is it? If you don’t tell me I’m going to be mad. Like, REALLY mad. Just tell me. Seriously.

Is it just me? His indifference and non-interest still makes me laugh.

But back to the story. For some lucky reason he didn’t clue in, so when the time was right I presented an Easter Egg Hunt invitation (slightly modified from the Hoppy Easter Printable Party set and placed a basket and bunny ears on the table.

And the hunt was on.

I’ll admit I wasn’t 100% sure how this whole idea would be received. According to my calculations there was a 25% chance he would have looked at me and said ‘you’ve got to be kidding.’ But I’m happy to report that he was a good sport and he genuinely enjoyed it likely in part due to the sneaky/surprise factor. He kept saying ‘when did you hide these?’ and was a little disturbed to find out I’d done it right in front of his face which, he realized, showed just how little attention he’d been paying to me while cooking. I’m sure he was wondering what else I’d been doing while he wasn’t looking. 

And so after all the eggs were found we ended up in the kitchen to open them. And after the 700th picture he was like, ‘stop taking pictures, I know you’re going to put them on your blog.’ And then I jokingly said something about a fire bunny and being the good sport that he is, he surprised me and went to put on his coat…and actually (kind of) let me take a few pictures.

While I had my fire stud dressed up in his coat (which is rare occasion) I requested that he lose the ears so I could get some more shots ;).

And THAT my friends, is how we end up with a picture of a Fireman opening Easter Eggs in the kitchen ;). Is he the cutest?! 

So that’s my story! I did sneak him into a page I made a few months ago which perhaps some of you may have noticed. Or not.

Either way, I feel thrilled to tell you all now so I can share more stories with you in the future. I felt like I was tip toeing around it and it was making it hard to blog which was tough for me because despite the fact that I don’t post often I really do like to talk and once you get me started….well, let’s just say you’d better cancel your dinner plans.

And with that said, I think I’ve rambled on long enough for today.

Thanks for reading! ;)

Before we get started with Mint-spirational Monday I just wanted to say WHOOHOO! I’m featured today at The Daily Digi. Head on over to check out my feature along with the brand new kit I designed for the April edition of the The Digi Files. What are The Digi Files, you ask? It’s a collection of products from the featured designers of the month. It’s a great way to test out some new stuff from different designers. You can pick up my new iRock Kit along with 7 others from the wildly talented Sara Gleason, Jacque Larsen, Quirty Twerp, Libby Pritchett, Studio Q and 9th & Bloom for only $6.95. Quite the BARGOOON. It is a truly awesome site full of inspiration, articles and digi goodness…and don’t you just LOVE this little graphic? LOVE! I have to steal this idea. So cute.

This kit will be available at PC in May if you miss it over at TDD. Now back to our regularly scheduled program. Hold onto your hats, it’s Mint-spirational Monday, our spotlight on the best pages and projects of the week from the Peppermint Creative Gallery. Let’s take a gander at this week’s stand out works of digital (and hybrid) art:

Easter Canister | Gabby
I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter. Gabby was busy crafting while saving the environment one Crystal Light container at a time. I just love this idea to repurpose your used containers and create an awesome work of art that anyone would really appreciate getting. Just fill with chocolates and it’s a guaranteed hit!

Easter Treat Cone | rjcjme
Hooray! I posted a tutorial on these adorable Easter treat cones earlier this month and it’s a real thrill to see them being made. I just think these are so dang cute and perfect for any occasion. I think these were delivered as classroom treats.

Easter Fun | hmlentz
How awesome is this?? Tay’s Egg Hunt Vector was used here to create that ADORABLE door sign. I just love it, not the mention that awesome wreath!

A Love Story | Gabby 
So pretty!!! Love this page!!! From the untraditional colors to the minimal use of elements it’s just so cool! Love how the title was done AND I also think the filled in brackets are really awesome.

Easter | iScrap
This beautiful page is so soft and pretty but it’s that cute face that grabs my attention. I love the peek-a-boo window effect with the papers around the photo. Very neat, it reminds me of those floating frames. I’ll have to give that a try!

Littlest Pet Shop | Lijezz
Another cute page! Love the splatter paint behind the photos, not the mention the color scheme and the overall layout. CUTE!!

One of this week’s Minty Mixed Bag Challenges is to create a page incorporating some part of the lyrics from Katy Perry’s song Firework. All the entries are just SO good and I love how they’ve each chosen different parts of the lyric to create completely different themed pages. Here are a few:

Come On, Let Your Colours Burst | rjcjme

Rainbow| therapy97

You’re Original | Lijezz

Awesome right? When I heard that this week’s song was Firework I was thinking everyone would be making firework pages (where’s your creativity Miss Mint?!) but clearly one song can provide an enormous range of inspiration!

Thanks for posting ladies! Keep the creativity coming and you might just see your pages posted here next week! ;) Ciao for now!

Happy almost Easter! ;) I’m back in sugar cookie mode and was working on some Easter cookies yesterday. This was Sugar Cookie Project attempt #3. Since batch #1 I’ve picked up a few tips and a few more tools to make the job a little easier including some plastic squeeze bottles for the flood icing. These REALLY made the process cleaner, quicker and more enjoyable.

I was feeling kind of cocky after I pulled off these adorable cookies for my brother’s engagement last month. Considering this was only my second time doing this I think they turned out really cute. I had been told to make birthday cookies so I ran out a bought a set of birthday cutters and at the last minute was told about the engagement so I decided to switch theme without much planning. I turned the birthday cake shape into a wedding cake which was super easy.

And then I Googled ‘wedding cookies’ and found this idea to turn a heart shaped cookie (which luckily I had the heart cutters from batch #1) into a wedding dress and tux. 

I still have to work on getting the icing smoother and the lines straighter. I messed a bunch of them up by putting wax paper over them overnight before they were completely dry. GAH! I also didn’t match my outline to my flood color either because, well…I didn’t feel like making 3 outline colors.

But the moral of the story is that I tried and once they were packaged up with some simple tags that I designed on the computer and then punched out with a 1.5” scallop paper punch everyone at the engagement dinner wanted to know where’d I’d ordered them from.

So back to the Easter cookies…I had envisioned something much more detailed and intricate with different outline colors for the top but I was low on icing sugar and everything was closed yesterday so I ended up decorating them all in white. I was a little disappointed with the outcome but my icing lines were a little smoother than last time so I was happy about that. It was going pretty well until I opened my Tupperware cupboard (right above the stove) and two lids slid out and landed right on two of my freshly iced cookies despite my best efforts to avoid the tragedy by yelling out NO! NO! NO! while it was happening. Sigh.

I have found that I really love packaging stuff. I guess I feel like it just gives whatever I’ve made that extra something, something. So I hopped on the computer and designed some 2” circle tags. To do this in Photoshop (which I shockingly just recently discovered) go to your Elipse Tool (U) and then on the top toolbar you will a bunch of shapes lined up (circle, square, line, weird blob). Beside the blob there is an arrow. Select the arrow to open a dialogue box where you can choose your shape options. Select Fixed Size and enter your dimensions. I entered 2”x 2”. Then when you click on your document it just creates a circle in the size you entered. This is a great way to create tags for whatever sized punch you happen to have.

But this time, instead of making tags, I made stickers by printing on some sticker paper. I used Avery Full Sheet Labels 08165. This way the entire sheet is sticky so you don’t have to worry about lining up your design to any pre-cut areas on the sheet.

   
I was low on plastic baggies so I wrapped each cookie in plastic wrap.

And stuck the stickers on the back. Naturally I photograph the cookie with the brown back!! LOL. Only a few got a little too much color.

And I put the cookies into these ADORABLE plastic take out boxes that I found at the dollar store.

I was able to fit four cookies per box.

I also experimented with making some bite sized cookies which were not as much fun to ice as I thought but they were really fun to eat! Then I added a tag from my Printable Easter Party Set.

I’ve already given them all away to ensure that I would not eat them all myself. Once you start you really can’t stop. Just thought I’d share as this might spark some last minute ideas for your yourself. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Night or Low Light photography, if done well, can result in very dramatic and beautiful shots. Of course for many of us night photography can be a bit frightening. Not because of what goes “bump” in the night, but more due to the technical details, which can seem overwhelming. Night photography is no different than daytime photography, it just might take a little more work & patience to get the perfect shot.

Here are a few things to keep in mind.

*Use a tripod or some type of device to stabilize your camera. With low light or night photography, your shutter speed is going to slow down, thus creating the need for stabilization. When doing long exposures (which is usually the case for night photography) you want to prevent camera shake and keep the image clear & crisp. Make sure your tripod is on stable, level ground as much as possible.

*The tendency when shooting in low light is to bump up your ISO. But if you’re shooting on a tripod, using a shutter release cable or self timer and are capturing a still object, you can keep your ISO low (in the 400 or lower range) and prevent the all too common problem of “noise” or lots of grain in your photos. (Of course some people like the texture the “noise” gives their photos and do it on purpose, if you’re one of those, by all means, crank up the ISO!) =)

*Typically when shooting night/low light photography, it’s a landscape of some type. So the same rules apply when shooting landscapes in the daytime. To shoot landscapes, you usually want the entire depth of field to be in focus. To achieve this you have to have a smaller aperture (usually F11 or higher). If your aperture is smaller, then your shutter speed is going to be slower, to let in the right amount of light to expose the photo. (thus the need for the tripod.)

*When focusing at night or in low light situations, your auto-focus may not work as well, or at all. Try switching to manual focus when shooting at night. Bring a flashlight or spot light and illuminate what you’re trying to focus on to help achieve correct focus. Sometimes you can use the auto-focus to get close and switch to manual to complete the focus.

*It helps to bracket your exposures for night photography. Most cameras have an Auto Exposure Bracketing system. Using this tool will help you capture the right exposure.
*Take lots of photos. The more you take (varying the settings), the better chance of having a perfect shot.

*Night & Low Light Photography can be tricky when it comes to setting the white balance. Sometimes the camera can be tricked by various light sources. Sometimes the results can be pleasing and create an interesting look & other times, not so much. You can set a custom white balance or play around with the different white balance settings to see which ones gives the best color cast.

*Before heading out to shoot, review the weather conditions. Check when the sun will rise or set, what the forecast is calling for, etc. You don’t want to plan a night shoot of the night sky only to go out and it’s completely cloudy.

Scenes that make for great night or low light shots:

Cityscapes: All the colors of the lights against the night sky is a very beautiful image.

Sunrise or Sunset: The change of the light during these times of day has dramatic effects.

Reflective Surfaces: Ponds, lakes, streams, rivers, wet pavement, the extra light helps your exposure and the reflection adds another dimension to the image.

Night Sky:  Especially full moons. The night sky can be a very dramatic photo opportunity.

Here’s an interesting tidbit: Night time photos made to look like they were taken during the day: Night to Day Photos

ISO 400
AWB
F18 aperture
1/50 shutter speed
300mm focal length

ISO 400
AWB
F10 aperture
1/100 shutter speed
70mm focal length

ISO 125
AWB
F3.4 aperture
1/50 shutter speed
10mm focal length
(shot with a P&S)

ISO 1600
AWB
F1.8 aperture
1/160 shutter speed
50mm focal length

ISO 1600
AWB
F5.6 aperture
1/80 shutter speed
32mm focal length

Check out More Cool Night/Low Light Photography Shots

Article & Photography by: Sarah Harbuck for PeppermintCreative.com

_________________________________________________

Want more? Check out other related posts:

• Understanding Shutter Speed
• Understanding Aperture
• Understanding ISO
• Understanding White Balance
• Understanding Depth of Field
• Understanding Basic Composition
• Understanding Natural Light for Portraits
• Understanding Camera Lenses
• Understanding Histograms
• Photography Tips: Taking Great Self-Portraits
• Photography Tips: Pixels, Resolution, Format & Memory Cards
• Photography Tips: How to Take Better Candid Photos

Want to practice?
Join the Click-a-Pic Challenge where every week we post a new challenge prompt. Snap away and post your favorite picture in the gallery for your chance to win a Minty Buck! (This month only, winners get $5 MINTY BUCKS) The more you play, the more you win and the more Minty Bucks you can earn. Come check it out!! ;)

The weeks are just flying by it seems. It’s mid-April and it snowed in Toronto today. Last week I was sporting sunscreen and a hoodie. This schizophrenic weather is driving me bananas! This sh*t is bananas B-A-N-A-N-A-S.

The good news is, is that’s Monday and that means we are about to enjoy another edition of Mint-spirational Monday, our spotlight on the best pages and projects of the week from the Peppermint Creative Gallery. Let’s take a gander at this week’s stand out works of digital (and hybrid) art:

Birthday Milk Carton | mj.johnston
Well first of all I LOVE this template so you really can’t go wrong. I think it would just be SO cute as a take away gift for a party, event or even a wedding OR left on each guests plate. You can customize it any which way. I love the party theme that Mary Jo chose and I really love  the way she photographed it. I so want one of those cake stands!

Easter Hat| kirstiegai
This fab Easter treat is seriously STUFFED with elements. It feels so fun and springy (is that a word?). This is an awesome ‘flip’ of this month’s PMP template. If you haven’t downloaded yours yet, get to it! Then post your Pepperminty pages in the gallery!

Earth Hour | rjcjme
Such a striking page! I love the choice of the black background. It really highlights the theme of the page well. Love the photo. The glow of the candles makes for a really interesting photo and really captured my attention.

Therapeutic Riding 2008 | Jodimc
I just think this page is so cute. I really love the photos (he looks so PROUD!) and the choice to convert them to b&w. The clean and classy page design is just great.

Snow Day | mj.johnston
The queen of cards pulls the wool over our eyes with this cute card. At first glace it looks like all the items were carefully hand cut (as Mary Jo usually does) but the truth is this card is almost completely digital. MJ’s awesome use of drop shadows gives each element such a realistic sense of depth and dimension that it looks totally real! But it was designed in Photoshop and then printed.

Gimme Chocolate | rjcjme
I have a soft spot for doggie pages. I just love the overall design and use of elements and of course that sweet puppy’s ‘GIMME’ face. SO CUTE! Just a reminder with Easter right around the corner to keep an extra eye on those chocolatey treats before your dog makes off with them.

In Love | therapy97
The split scalloped edge caught my eye with this page. I also like the way the title was done with the heart and of course those cute pics!

Work of Art | shutterspeed
I love the balance in the design on this one…and the use of the stacked photo templates. I just feel like this page has a good flow with the splatter in the top left corner all the way down to the opposite corner with the bundle of elements.

Thanks for posting ladies! Keep the creativity coming and you might just see your pages posted here next week! ;) Ciao for now!