Fix It Friday!

I love Fix It Friday. I don't get to do it very often, but I really want to make the effort more in the future. Fix It Friday is where you take a specific photo, done by someone else, and make your own edits to it and share how you went about it. Here is this weeks original photo.

Such a cute little girl and fun to edit. Here are my edits in color and black-and-white, along with my process.
-cropped   -healing brush touch up on skin   -adjust levels   -remove color cast   -bump curves   -s curve   -contrast   -resized   -sharpened

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sweet baby bug

sweet baby bug, originally uploaded by smallfrynotables.

My adorable new great-niece has been keeping my attention this weekend (along with all my cuddly hugs). She is so sweet with her squishy cheeks and soft auburn hair. Do you know what I love about having my first great-niece? I get to hug on her AND sleep through the night! Just kidding...not really. :)

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The Sweetest Celebrations...

Yummy, candy-coated colors with visually edible details that make them so enticing for a sweet celebration.

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Cupcake-rrific Party Activities

The girls were excited to get the party started! They each had a personalized apron at their seat (tutorial on this later) that they (and I!) loved.


Then the decorating began... The first cupcake was not the edible kind. Painting ceramic cupcake boxes, the girls were deep in concentration. I just loved how different each one turned out.

I joined these parties:
More the Merrier @ The DIY Home Sweet Home
The DIY Show Off Parade @The DIY Show Off
Just Something I Whipped Up @ The Girl Creative
Show Me Monday @ Fashion Diary of a Mormon Girl
Manic Monday@ SewHappyGeek
Who's Got Glam? @ Giggles, Glitz & Glam
Homemaker Monday @ 11th Heaven Homemaking Haven
Life Made Lovely Monday @ Blessed Little Nest
Creation Mondays @ The Life of Me
Craft Catwalk @ Embellishing Life Everyday
Weekend Wrap Up @ Colours Dekor
All About You Monday @ Texas Monkey
Polly Want a Party Monday @ Polly Want a Crafter?
Pink Hippo Party @ Pinkapotamus
Made with Love Monday @ Sew Chatty
You're So Very Creative @ Me Making Do
Mad Skills Party @ Mad in Crafts
My Crafty Weekend @ Until Wednesday Calls
Motivate Me Monday @ Keeping it Simple
Market Yourself Monday @ Sumo's Sweet Stuff
Craftastic Monday @ Sew Can Do
Craft-O-Maniac Mondays
M.M.M. @ C.R.A.F.T.
Made by You Monday @ Skip To My Lou
Anything Goes @ Type A Decorating
Santa's Gift Shoppe - Year Round
Amaze Me Monday @ Dittle Dattle
Marketplace Monday - Finding Fabulous
Making the World Cuter Monday

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A Sweet Tablescape!

A Sweet Tablescape!, originally uploaded by smallfrynotables.

This was the scene as you entered From Art to Zebras for my daughter's 10th birthday party. It was a sampling of the cupcake decorating celebration to come.

Each place setting had a chef hat and tiny cupcake lip gloss to match the cute cupcake decor. The kiddos had bright colored Crush sodas in glass bottles and colorful bendy straws, so no cups were needed. Next up, some sweet activities...

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A Perfectly Cute Cupcake Invite!

A Perfectly Cute Cupcake Invite!, originally uploaded by smallfrynotables.

My youngest just turned 10 years old! My babies are both now in the double digits. It goes by so quickly.

My kiddos are both great with coming up with ideas and running with them. We needed a theme that was great for multiple ages of girls. My daughter had just finished taking a cake decorating class with our homeschool group and we thought that would be a "sweet"idea, lol.

I wanted to make some special invitations for her big day and had an inkling of what I wanted. One afternoon, while demonstrating some techniques for one of our art classes, I did some cupcake doodles and loved them so much I wanted to include them on the invites! So the cupcake graphics and paper layers are all hand drawn and painted and the invites are digitally created and printed on glossy cardstock.

We were both so excited about how they turned out and think it was a great peak at the party to be. I will post more picts of the favors and activities later so stay tuned!

I linked up to the following parties:

Ten Buck Tuesdays @ Young Nesters

Creative Share Wednesday @ Trendy Treehouse

Frugal Friday @ The Shabby Nest

The DIY Show Off

Friday Free For All Party @ Sassy Sites

Just Something I Whipped Up @ The Girl Creative

More the Merrier @ The DIY Home Sweet Home

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Fix-It Friday

Life has hit me hard the last couple of weeks. Between unexpected travel and a houseful of flu, I'm ready to burst! Luckily the Fix-It Friday on I Heart Faces came about just in time to save me today. :)

So here is the original photo, shot by Andrea Riley, straight out of camera.


The first thing I did was crop the image. Then I bumped the curves, added more contrast, reduced the red, burned the background, and finally sharpened the final image. This is my edited color version.


And here is my version in a soft black and white (my fave)...

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A Dino-Mite Party Idea!

Here is my FIRST treasury on Etsy! WooHoo! This was really fun to put together. I just love these dinosaur items for a little boy's party! I do really like the cutesy kind of dinosaurs, but the "big" boys tend to think they are too babyish. These are that perfect medium between cute and downright scary!

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Dino-Mite! Party Invitations

dinosaur-invite-2, originally uploaded by smallfrynotables.

I made some invitations for a little boy that is having a dinosaur birthday party at the studio soon. I had so much fun with it, that I ended up making a series of eight different invites. I wish my young man was still at an age to enjoy these...Oh well, at least I get to make them for others! I will be adding these to the online store soon as well as smallfrynotables. These would be cute for a baby shower to if you were looking for something not quite as traditional. They are all 5.5"w x 8.5"h and printed on glossy cardstock with recycled kraft paper envelopes included.

I joined the party at:
Market Yourself Monday - Sumo's Sweet Stuff
Toot Your Horn Tuesday - A Silly Little Sparrow
Frugalicious Friday - Finding Fabulous
Feature Yourself Friday - Fingerprints on the Fridge
CraftOManiac Monday Link Party
Tot Tuesday - My Delicious Ambiguity
Marketplace Monday - Finding Fabulous
Take-a-Look Tuesday - Sugar Bee

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Quick and Easy Spring Crafts for Kids

From Art to Zebras had so much fun at the March of Dimes walk this past Saturday doing crafts and glitter tats with the kiddos. It was delightful for the little ones up through the teens! Imagine that!

beaded-chick-craft, originally uploaded by smallfrynotables.

This beaded chick was super easy! With just two wooden beads, markers, a feather and chenille stem, these were cute! We had the kids color the beads first, fold a 6" chenille stem in half and tuck the feather into the fold. Next, thread the smaller bead (head) on the unfolded end of the chenille stem, then the larger bead. Lastly, fold up the ends to make a couple of little feet. Your little ones can make a whole peep of their own chicks! Have fun...

Joined the party at:
Tots Tuesdays

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Funky Little Toadstool Houses

toadstool-houses-closeup-2, originally uploaded by smallfrynotables.

The kids in our Draw/Paint/Sculpt class had so much fun designing and creating these little toadstool house. They used some old plastic bottles as the foundation and then added paper clay to create the houses. They started designing them on paper first and then painted away. These are SO cute and would make a wonderful little village.



Links to party with:
We Made It Friday

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Handmade Mother Goose Stationery

recycled-envelopes-3, originally uploaded by smallfrynotables.

If you know me, you will agree I like books. I love books. Okay, I may be considered a hoarder when it comes to books. Some of my books are no longer easy to read because of missing or damaged pages. I still can't part with them. Sometimes I will use them in my artwork to add a bit of whimsy.

I love upcycling and being able to use these books for an entirely different purpose. I used some of the pages from a Mother Goose book that were undamaged and handcut each envelope. These are so cute and have been very useful for quick thank you notes. I slipped some recycled colored cardstock into each one along with a matching address label with a star shape cutout.

I love these and can't wait to make more! You can get some of your own in our studio or check out our etsy shop, small fry notables.

Link parties to hang with:

Super Crafty Sundays
Check Me Out Saturdays
Metamorphasis Monday
Show & Tell Wednesday
It's a Hodgepodge Friday
Make It 4 Monday
Tots Tuesdays
Do It Yourself Day
It's So Very Renovated Tuesday
Show and Share Day
Toot Your Own Horn Tuesday
Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays
Making the World Cuter Monday
Talented Tuesday!
Creative Cats!
Trash to Treasure Tuesday
Penny Pincher Party Wednesdays
Lucky Linky Tuesday
Simply Designing Link Party
Made by You Mondays
Whatever Goes Wednesdays
Weekend Wrap Up Party
The DIY Show Off
Just Something I Whipped Up Monday
Made It Monday
Tip Junkie's Tip Me Tuesday
A Little Craft Therapy
Look What I Made
Whatever Goes Wednesday
Make It Yours Day
Get Your Craft On Thursday
Frugalicious Friday

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Star Wars Paper Mache Fun!

Star Wars Paper Mache Fun!, originally uploaded by smallfrynotables.

We had a fun get together for a newly turned nine year old boy and a few of his friends today at the studio. He really likes Star Wars, so we decided upon these figures. They really got into it and were busy bees hard at work!


This is also a great recycling craft project. We started off with a drink bottle with the cap removed for each child. They balled up some aluminum foil for the head and glued that on the top. We used wire for the arms, then layered on the newspaper strips coated in glue. The finished with a layer of paper clay on the head, paint, and glued on the finishing touches.

This is definitely something you can at home, just be prepared for a LARGE mess!

Joined the Party at:
What are little boys made of? Weekly Round Up
Penny Pinching Party Wednesdays - The Thrifty Home

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Car Themed Photo Invitation

Car Themed Photo Invitation, originally uploaded by smallfrynotables.

I just finished this super fun car themed photo invitation. It is really an attention grabber with its bold primary colors. I can make your child part of the action! You can check out more of our custom invitations at: From Art to Zebras or Small Fry Notables.

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Planning Fall 2009 Session at A2Z

We are planning away at From Art to Zebras! We would love to have your input on the classes and times your family may be interested in. Just follow this link and complete the few questions. That's it!

If you know anyone else that may be interested, please send them a link as well. The more the merrier!

In return for you help, we would love to offer you 25% off any one item or event just for answering a couple of questions! Thanks so much for your support of From Art to Zebras! We look forward to spending time with your family this Fall!

--Michelle & the Muses at From Art to Zebras

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