Skywatch Friday (or Thursday)

Today we are participating in a meme that our good friend Yogi is hosting called Skywatch Friday.  It's pretty simple, really.  You just post a picture of the sky in your area of the world and share it with the others.  The trick of it all is that they post on Thursday afternoons.  Those tricky tricksters.
I've seen Yogi's posts for a long time now, but today was the first time I checked out some of the others.  Apparently, I have been missing out.  There are posts from all over the world. I could lose myself for hours.
If you tend to take pictures of funky clouds or beautiful sunrises and sunsets - this is the meme for you!
Anyone who knows me even a little is probably aware of the fact that I truly hate getting up in the morning.  When my alarm goes off at 6a on the weekdays I have to force myself into motion and begrudgingly begin my day.  As a way to stick my tongue out and nanny-nanny-boo-boo the weekdays, I stay in bed on Saturdays long after I wake up.  So there, Monday - in your face!  
My neighbor and I take turns driving our teenage boys to the bus stop in the early morning hours and sit in the car with them until it arrives.  Waiting in the cold at the bus stop is one of my least favorite childhood memories, so I took that one out of the running for my kiddos.  During these treks, I see some beautiful sunrises. These sunrises make getting up so early a little more bearable. I'm still going to tell that I wouldn't get up in the morning just to see one.   I'm stubborn like that. My picture today is from last week when I was driving home from the bus stop. It's iPhonography at its best!  You know... fuzzy. It still shows you the beautiful colors peeking through the trees and houses.  I prefer my sunsets to be peeking through trees.  It shows off the intricacies of the trees with their branches with a spotlight!

I'm hoping you will participate in Skywatch Friday with us!  All you need to know is on their website HERE and their Facebook page.  Be sure to pop over and tell Yogi a big hello in the comments! We will be linking up our post this afternoon. Will you?



~ Mrs. Priss

Making the most of her mornings like...

iPiccy - Say What?!

Hi, friends! 
Over a week ago I shared PicMonkey, a simple editing tutorial with you. I got great feedback from many of you on Facebook. I loved that you tagged me in pictures that you had edited using PicMonkey. Isn't it fun to be creative with your pictures? The more you use the program, the better your pictures with look.
It was a comment that was left by one of our favorite readers, Yogi from Yogi's Den, that prompted me to check out another editing program called iPiccy. This program is very similar to PicMonkey, but you have a few more options. In a nutshell, I LOVE it. I used this program to edit this years' back-to-school photos. 
Here's a few screenshots of some of the edits I made to my daughter's picture. I'll show you the original picture first and then some of the edits. 

SOOC (straight out of camera)

Upload the photo and then hover over picture to see tool to click for editing. 

I cropped my picture down to take out the boarded area above her head.  It was a distraction for me.

I then resized my picture. When I upload pictures SOOC they are very large 

and will slow down the editing process. 

I always adjust my exposure just a little. 

You can play around with the levels and see if some changes are pleasing to your eye. 

I did adjust the levels somewhat. 

Next, I opened up the layers tab. It's under this tab that you can add text.

I added the word Freshman and the year to her picture. 

I also added a watermark at the bottom to copyright my picture. 

On all three texts, I used the fade slider to make the texts not so bold. 

I wanted them to look like they had been chalked on the brick. 

It is here that you'd want to open the "face" tab to do any skin touch-ups. 

For this picture, I did not do any touch-ups. But, had her eyes been open wider, I would have

used the "eye bright" on them. 

The filters tab is a fun tab. This is where you can change so much about your picutre.

I never use just one filter. And I rarely ever just click the filter without also adjusting it with the slider. 

This is my end result. Not too shabby for a quick and easy edit. 

Here are a few of the other pictures I took that day and edited with iPiccy. What do you think? 

This one didn't turn out quite the way I had hoped. That would have required a 

cooperative five year old. Still loved the idea I found on Pinterest for the inspiration. 

Again, I'd like to thank those of you who commented on the last post here and on Facebook. I love seeing your pictures and what you do with them. Please share your pictures with us on Facebook or tag me if we are Facebook friends. Even if you didn't use the above editing programs but got some good back-to-school pictures of your kids, we'd LOVE to see them on our Facebook page - The RHOK. 

Also, if you use a different editing program than PicMonkey or iPiccy and you'd like for me to check it out, please leave that in the comments as well. 

~Mrs. Albright Gettin' fancy with the edits, like... 

It's that time again.... Back-to-School Pictures!

I know I probably don't share most of the housewives thoughts about back-to-school time. It seems like there is a large percentage of moms who dread a new school year. Not me! I love the excitement of a new school year. I even love school supply shopping. Seriously, nothing smells as good as fresh paper and new crayons. And yes, I'm even looking forward to them being back at school so that I have a few hours to get things accomplished without the bickering that goes on between siblings. Can I get an "Amen?"  Both of my girls will be at new schools this year. That's exciting in and of itself. I have one going into kindergarten and one going into mid-high. Lots of new adventures ahead for both of them.  One of the things I look forward to come school time are back-to-school pictures and/or first day of school pictures. We've always taken pictures of the girls on their first day of school, but last year (thanks to Pinterest), I decided to take some back-to-school pictures. There are so many prop/pose ideas to choose from on Pinterest. I just so happen to have an old time school desk, so that's what we used. Here are a few of the pictures from last year's session.

My oldest daughter

My youngest daughter

My friend's sweet daughter 

Another friend's sweet girl 

My daughter and her best friend in the entire world I wish I had time to show you ALL the photos I shot last year, but I don't. But, what I really want to share with you is how easy the editing was for these pictures. I do own great photo-editing software, but it stresses me out. And, since I'm not really a professional photographer, I don't feel badly for not using it. Ha!  So, if you are not a professional photographer either,  you just may be interested in how I edited these photos. I used to use the ever-popular-no-longer-in-existence Picnik. It was free but also gave you the option for an upgrade for a measly $24.99 a year. It was SO worth that! Oh, how I miss you, Picnik.com!  I have been on the hunt for an online editing program that was at least similar to Picnik. I have found it. It's called PicMonkey.com or you can also use Google+ editing. PicMonkey is just like Picnik but with a few less features. Of course it's those features that I loved. 'Tis life! 

When I upload a picture to edit on PicMonkey I first adjust exposure, color, size, and sharpen the picture. I then open the "make-up" tab. I fix blemishes, whiten teeth, line eyes with the "mascara" (if needed - it does help brighten the eyes) and then brighten the eyes. Always use the adjustments to make things change from more to less effect. 

After I've fixed the bones of the photo I open the effects tab. It's here where you can add different kinds of filters to your photo. It allows you to adjust on each filter as well. I almost never just use one filter. Most times I've used two or three different ones on a single picture. I just work with the picture until I find what is pleasing to my eye. 

At this point I'm usually finished with the photo. There are times when I may want to put a frame around a picture or add text. You will see the tabs to do those things there as well. Here I'm adding a watermark.

I get told frequently that my pictures look great. Everyone wants to know what kind of camera I use and what kind of editing software. I do own a nice camera, but if one doesn't know how to use it properly, it's just that, a camera. Get to know the camera you own. Read the manual and learn how to use it properly. When you take a good picture you can take the credit for how it turns out - not the camera. I don't know one photographer who appreciates when someone says, "Your camera takes great pictures!"  Let me know if you've used PicMonkey or what editing programs you do enjoy using. If you haven't used it and do try it out, I'd love to hear what you think. I hope this little tutorial will be useful for you. We are here to help housewives everywhere do life better or at least easier!  ~Mrs. Albright Laughing when someone asks what photo-editing program I use, like a....

A Photo Shoot for a RHOK Star

 I was asked to take part in a photo shoot a couple of weeks ago with Happy First owner Debbie Vinyard and Turn Tulsa Pink founder Judi Grove. Let me just say if you do not know these ladies, you totally need too, they RHOK! We modeled the Super Chick shirt that I named with all of your votes-thank you so much! Happy First is donating 30% of the profits of this shirt to Turn Tulsa Pink through May 31st. Turn Tulsa Pink raises awareness and honors women and children who have been affected by cancer of ANY type. The shirt is available in black and in a white burnout. Here are a few of the shots from our fun shoot.

Super Chicks in Woodward Park- note our great taste in shirts and black & white shoes- totally not planned! 

Judi aka Talula and the "phone booth"! What? Every Super Chick must pose by a phone booth!
Note: phone booth pictures require permission

Debbie Vinyard and Mrs. Hart- Super Chicks "dig" roses, or at least we stopped and smelled them!

Mrs. Hart and her little chick.

Debbie looks beautiful in her red cape!

Just a swingin'! Judi, flying high in her pink cape!

 Special thanks to Kathleen Curran Photography for all of these amazing shots! 

Stay tuned to all of our Facebook pages for upcoming events, hope to see you at Chili's in Owasso on May 1st for Cinco DE RHOKo'! Giveaways! Free Food! And as always FUN with The RHOK!!!

♥Mrs. Hart♥

It's Hip To Be Square

When we heard about The Cubed Project, we were intrigued.  We loved seeing the pictures of people in cubes!  Why is this fascinating?  I'm not sure.  But take a look and see if you get sucked in as well.

Being on top of all that's Tulsa, we missed the first hundred collection.  Never fear, some of the housewives wiggled their way into the next thousand instead.

The funny thing is, that you get inside the cube and think... now what?
And he just waits to see what you will do.

I'm sure there is some psychological profiling available based on the poses.

Does Mrs. Montgomery feel the walls closing in?

Or does Priss feel cornered?

 Mrs. Hart looks at ease.

Does she hang out in cubes often?

 And the always cheery Mrs. Albright flirts with the camera.

And now we ask, if you were in the cube - what would you do?

It's not too late to be a part of the project.  It's fun!
The cube is in Geoffrey Hick's studio in downtown Tulsa.  He is looking for a variety of ages and types to participate.  Just email him: participate@cubedproject.com.

Mrs. Priss

A total square and...

Photo Story Friday: The Joys of Fall

This week I thought we'd try something new and do Photo Story Friday, something hosted by these lovely ladies who have some great photo skills!




Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

Today, the title pretty much tells you what the story is all about. I took a little time to myself this week and strolled along the riverparks here in Tulsa and took in some of the fall foliage.

Enjoy!

~Mrs. Sinclair~