Hey That's Pin-tastic:Taking a Christmas photo using just an iPhone and a Dollar Store Wreath

I, like most women, absolutely love Pinterest, despite the feelings of inadequency that I get looking at all those homemade crafts and meals and gorgeous houses. Yet I continue to look and pin and every now and then I will even attempt something that I found on there. After I did two little projects this past weekend I decided I would link up for the first time with AP for

 

 I'm sure many of you have seen one or both of the two pictures below floating around Pinterest.

 

 

 

 

 

 Well I tried recreating these photos with my little Christmas baby this weekend and I must say that despite not having a fancy DSLR camera or great photography skills I think my photo turned out pretty good. I've gotten a lot of compliments on both Facebook and Instagram so I guess it turned out okay.

 

Basically all I used was:

A decorated Christmas Tree

Extra Christmas lights

A cute baby wearing a Santa Hat

My iPhone

Instagram

 

I decided to use my iPhone because it's the easiest for me to edit using Instagram and also the easiest for me to upload. I barely ever use my point and shoot and don't even really know how to use all the settings. If I did I'm sure I could have gotten an even better photo but I'm not that patient.

 

After decorating the tree, I stripped Hunter down to his diaper, placed a Santa hat on him and let him play with the lights (Yes I know, not very baby friendly but I was watching him closely and it only took a couple minutes to get some good shots). I also turned off the rest of the lights in the room. Then I uploaded to Instagram and used the Hudson filter and also made the background a bit blurry using the blurry filter (not sure the real name for it). And below is the final look.

 

 

I also played around with the different Bokeh filters on Picfx but didn't like how it looked.  Even though I don't think mine turned out as good as the ones on Pinterest I'm pretty pleased with it. The only problem is I already ordered all my Christmas Cards, otherwise I would have used this photo.

 

Here are a couple other cute shots I got but decided not to use. None of these have been edited.

Chewing on the lights doesn't look very safe. Didn't want CPS called on me.

This one came out a bit blurry.

 

There is too much of a shadow on his face and you can't see the Santa hat as much.

 

Also, I decided to make my own wreath this year. I didn't find this on Pinterest but came up with the idea using items I bought at the Dollar Store. This wreath took me about 10 minutes and cost about $5.

 

Since Hunter was napping and I was in a rush I didn't take any before or during photos. But I just used a wire wreath base and wrapped some sparkly, green garland around it (tucking the ends in to the wire). Then added some bows by twisting the ties that already came on the bows around the garland. No staples or glue. It's not the fanciest thing ever but it was easy, cheap and I like how it looks on our red front door.