Brina's Blog

HOW TO: End of Year Collage

2012-01-21T18:04:15Z

I have SO many photos of my kids and my life that by the end of the year I feel totally overwhelmed with them. There are some really great photos and lots and lots of just OK photos - but those are our memories of our little ones. This year we welcomed our little girl into the family so the majority of 2011 was all about pregnancy and then her birth and newborn months.

Here's a great way to create a visual representation of the year with a Photo Collage - and if you are decent at PShop, it should just take a few minutes to create.

Start in Picasa. If you don't have Picasa already, I urge you to use it. It is a great way to organize your photos, edit them and keep an online selection of them in albums. Google offers free storage that lasts a long time and has several partner sites which make it easy to print the photos after you upload them to your online web albums.

Step 1: Create a collage in Picasa. I went through the year's photos and selected the ones that stood out to me. I put them in the tray and pinned them. After I was done, Picasa's collage tool did the rest. I selected a grid format. I don't like the way some of the photos go horizontal or vertical so I went in and changed some of those. Lost interest (and ran out of nap time) but you get the idea.

Open your collage file in PShop.
Create a new layer and make your bold numbers. I chose Impact but get create and try out a lot of fonts.

Control click the numbers layer to select just the number area. Go back to your collage layer and select the inverse. Then, delete. Now you just have the collage in the shape of the numbers.

Now, I like the numbers against a black background but play around with it. One thing that I didn't like was the way that a lot of my photos were cropped out when they were between the numbers. Another font or squishing the numbers closer would solve that but try different effects.

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HOW TO: Funky, Fresh, Framed Silhouette Prints

2012-01-16T18:56:56Z

This is not an easy project but if you know your way around Photoshop and Illustrator, it's a cinch. We use this technique of creating scalable vectors in Illustrator and then pulling them into Photoshop a lot. It's a great way to make use of the small, unusable graphics you find online.
Any profile photograph will do but in a perfect world, place your kidlet in front of a light colored wall. A solid colored background will make this a little easier to do.
Prepare your images by cropping them and then desaturate them in Photoshop. Give them a tint so that the background will be a different hue from the blackened silhouette in the next steps.
Print your images out on a piece of paper. Ink jets work better than laser printers because the ink is absorbed into the paper and you have a more porous surface to write on for the next step.
Use a black marker to draw in your silhouette shape. Really, don't over think it. Just trace the outline with a thinner marker and then use a thicker marker to color it in. Make sure the entire shape is really black. You can really see where I missed some spots in these photos - I had to go over them again.
Scan the images back into Photoshop.
Here comes the tricky part. If you selected a nice, solid, light background for your images, you won't have to do much but if not, you want to use the the brightness and contrast adjustment to lighten your image and then add contrast between the blackened silhouette and the background. Keep doing this until you can only see the silhouette in black. Use a hard black brush to fill in any light areas you missed.
Select just the blackened silhouette and inverse your select and delete the background. You now have just the silhouettes.
Drag your image into Illustrator and use the LIVE TRACE function. Adjust the sliders until you are happy with the shape. Then, expand it and ungroup it so you can remove just the black silhouettes.
Create a new Photoshop document which will be for your final artwork. Make it 300dpi at least and the size you want your final print to be. If you plan on matting the image, make sure you print the final artwork smaller to allow for the mat.
Now drag your vectorized silhouette shapes into Photoshop, size them and rasterize the layer. You can now make the shape any color you like - or leave it black against a white background. Making it white against a colorful background gives it a fresh and modern feel, me thinks. Add your child's name in a funky font. Print it, and frame it. You're all done!

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Lesbian Wedding Cake Toppers

2012-01-11T19:46:48Z

Let's face it - there just isn't enough gay and lesbian wedding accessories available on the market today. When lesbian couples are looking to make a statement with their cake and feature a cake topper that symbolizes their love, they might have a hard time finding a commercially available option.

Enter custom wedding cake toppers by yours truly. We can create a fully custom wedding cake topper just for the couple that looks just like them and include their clothing, faces, hairstyles and accessories. Check out some of the great lesbian wedding cake toppers we have created for past clients.

Shania Twain's Wedding Cake Topper

2012-01-05T22:46:30Z

Guess who had the honor of making a custom sculpted wedding cake topper for none other than Shania Twain and her new handsome hubby? US! Shania and Fred were married in 2011 and when it came time to wow his new bride with a custom gift, Fred selected The Younique Boutique to make this adorable and funny wedding cake topper.

New! Personalized Graphic Accent Pillows

2012-01-05T22:42:15Z

I just love this new line of personalized pillows. We start with our 18 x 18" 100% hand sewn unbleached white pillow covers and transfer one of many available customized designs. The covers are removable and hand washable or dry cleaned. They come with a polyfil pillow insert so they are ready to go on your couch! Perfect for personalized wedding gifts, wedding anniversary gifts and really any occasion.

Christmas Gifts for Parents

2011-11-10T22:33:25Z

Looking for some great Christmas gifts for your parents? You have come to the right place! We specialize in unusual Christmas gifts for parents and unique Christmas gift ideas for mom and dad.

Everything you see on our site is handcrafted with love and personalized just for your parents. We specialize in hand painted ceramic Christmas plates and Christmas platters. We have some beautiful and colorful Christmas plate designs you will love and Christmas platter designs for the whole family.

Our Christmas Wall Plates are hand painted and decorated with your choice of personalized design. We have a snowman family plate, a Christmas stockings family plate and a penguin family plate. We also do some really cute and colorful Christmas Photo Plates. Create a whole set! They make great holiday gift ideas for your parents!

Our Christmas Family Platters are another great gift idea. Let us know the names, ages and details of your family and we'll create an adorable portrait of the whole brood on a hand painted ceramic platter. This makes a great Christmas gift for your Parents! Even if you can't get the whole family together this Christmas, a Christmas Family Platter will be the perfect reminder of this year's festivities.

Another great Christmas gift for parents is a Christmas Signature Platter that everyone can sign every year! Just use our special ceramic marker on a hand painted, personalized plate or platter and collect the well wishes and sentiments of your friends and family at Christmas time. Bake the plate or platter in your oven for 30 minutes and the platter is now dishwasher safe!.

If personalized ceramics aren't your thing, how about a Christmas Photo Quilt? Photo quilts are the perfect Christmas gift idea for your parents, in-laws, brother, sister, aunts, uncles, children, grandchildren - just about anyone you love! Collect up to 45 of your most precious photo memories and create a soft, cuddly quilt that they will treasure. We also sell a great line of photo blankets and photo pillows!

Check out these and other great Christmas gifts for parents here.

What's New at The Younique Boutique?

2011-05-11T03:22:57Z

We've been busy little bees this Spring! Our new line of custom wedding cake toppers has really taken off and with all the interchangeable options available, we are creating some really interesting combinations.

Our Superman Groom cake toppers are as popular as ever. There is something about the idea of the groom revealing his true identity under his wedding tuxedo that is very appealing to grooms everywhere! Over the past few weeks, we have see our Superman Groom appear with rock band logos, University logos and Armed Forces logos.

Military cake toppers are very popular these days too. We have created a Marine Corps cake topper, a Navy Sailor groom and we are working on an Air Force captain groom this month.

We have been amazed at how our Thumbprint Guest Book Tree Prints have taken off! We are printing at least 10 prints a day and loving the fun combinations of colors our brides are coming up with.

Perhaps most exciting of all - we are growing a little baby brother or sister for Ryder! CEO and owner of the boutique, Brina Bujkovsky, is expecting a second child in early October of this year. Big brother Ryder is very excited to meet his new sibling - he'll be 27 months when the baby is born.

Marine Corps Wedding Cake Toppers

2011-04-22T23:44:32Z

If you are marrying a Marine Corps officer, you are just as big a hero to us as he is! Thank you so much for your service to our country. In honor of the marines, we are please to offer our custom marine corps wedding cake toppers. The heads are sculpted using your photos so that the finished product is realistic and adorable. They make an excellent conversation piece at your event and an even better keepsake for years to come.

Pirate Wedding Cake Toppers

2011-04-22T23:37:33Z

Yo, ho, yo, ho, a pirates wedding for me! Pirate themed weddings are all the rage these days. What with the gorgeous, deep jewel tones, rum cocktails and visions of Johnny Depp they inspire. We're proud to feature our own custom pirate wedding accessory for your mateys with our custom pirate wedding cake toppers. Submit your face and hair photos and let our talented team of artists sculpt your cake topper to look just like ye - I mean you. We can further personalize with color and nameplate. Arrr!

Hockey Wedding Cake Toppers

2011-04-22T23:18:06Z

We think this new style will really get your team in a frenzy! Our custom hockey wedding cake toppers are perfect for hockey fanatic brides and grooms everywhere - not just Canada, eh? We customize the team jerseys with any team logo, name and number you want and as with all of our custom wedding cake toppers, the heads and hairstyles are sculpted from your photos to look just like the groom and his bride. We can even add a black eye! Nah, don't do that.

Thumbprint Trees

2011-04-19T03:21:58Z

A new twist on the old traditional wedding guest book - our thumbprint guestbook tree kits are perfect for any event. Guests "leaf" their thumb prints and sign their name to create a colorful little leaf. Kits come framed with a black wood frame, glass and off-white mat as well as your choice of ink pad.

We offer three styles of thumbprint trees - our wedding tree, family tree and baby shower tree. The tree itself along with the personalized text can be any shade. We offer our water based stamp pads in lots of pretty, coordinating shades.

Perfect for weddings, showers, engagement parties, baby showers, anniversaries, family reunions and more. The next time everyone is getting together, create a lovely keepsake! Comes in 2 sizes - small: 11 x 14 and large: 16 x 20.

New Custom Wedding Cake Topper Styles!

2011-01-13T21:18:32Z

We are so stoked to introduce to you our 12 new cake topper styles. We think these modern styles will be the perfect compliment to any wedding cake. The grooms are dressed in elegant tuxedos - some with neck ties, some with bow ties and even one with tails and top hat! The brides are wearing very contemporary bridal gown styles - from A-line strapless gowns, to pick-up style ball gowns. Like all of our custom wedding cake toppers, the heads are sculpted custom based on your submitted photos. So, send us your pictures and let us get started on the perfect wedding keepsake - a personalized wedding cake topper!

My Brilliant Boy

2010-12-20T16:02:44Z

Ryder is just a bit over 17 months and his intelligence has far exceeded both dogs for months now. His father and I consider him very lucky to be both handsome and intelligent. Kid has it made.

Here is a list of all recognizable words my baby smarty-pants can say:

Mama, Mommy
Dada, Daddy
Mimi (older ladies)
Papa (older men)
Stella (our little dog)
Turtle
Woody (from Toy Story)
Buzz
Minnie (Mickie Mouse)
Na Na (food)
Juice
Book
Ba Ba (pacifier)
Phone
Keys
Spoon
No
Uh oh
Shoes
Toe
Nose
Mouth
Eye
Belly
Pee Pee
Poo Poo
Hat
Teeth
Animal noises on command: woof, moo, baa, nee, cock-a-doodle-doo, elephant, meow, quack quack, oink

Additionally, we have been able to confirm that he understands what the following words are:

Shirt
Pants
Head
Hot
Hands
Feet
Tongue
Car
Upstairs
Downstairs
Blanket
Table
Chair
Sofa
Floor
Ceiling
TV
Tiger
Lion
Bear
Bunny
Goat
Chicken

He has become an expert level pointer and lately, he has been associating hand gestures to words. He is very funny and his comic timing is getting better daily.

It is my understanding that folks don't like bragging moms all that much so I will save my gloating for this blog. My kid is friggin' adorable and the light of my life. I just can't contain myself. Last night, we took him to El Torito and he sat in a booster seat at the table the entire meal like a little angel. He tried to make eye contact with the other diners and say "hi" to everyone but besides that, he was engaged with us and easily entertained with a Thomas the Train catalog and some nifty stickers. We split the kids fajitas and he helped himself to the fresh fruit bowl. I was majorly impressed.

Not to mention our trip to the book store yesterday. My little man loves himself some books! We spent about 45 minutes at Barnes and Noble picking books and then taking them to the little bench to read them. He was the best behaved boy there. He easily enters a situation with other children and has no problem saying, "hi," sharing with the others and leaves playtime easily when it's time to go.

He is a joy. :)

Photo Gifts Seen on Good Morning America

2010-11-16T17:19:59Z

We are excited at the boutique! World renowned commercial children's photographer Jade Albert will be the feature expert on a segment of Good Morning American next week and Jade is going to show off some of her classic photos on The Younique Boutique's photo gifts! Some of the gift items featured in the segment will be:
Toddler Photo Nap Set with blanket and pillow in cuddly polar fleece!
Our gorgeous Microsuede Photo Pillows with customizable fabric color on the back - available in 2 sizes.

I think we will also show the large jumbo photo pet bed - which also can be made into a fun playroom floor cushion. We also make a round photo pet bed.
Photo Plates are fun and inexpensive. Create a whole display on one wall with all the kids or grandkids.

Te combination of Jade's fantastic photography with our high quality, washable photo gifts is going to make for a perfect segment on GMA! Photo gifts are great gifts for the holiday for anyone on your Christmas list.

Hand Painted Ceramic Christmas Plates

2010-11-05T02:52:24Z

Just in time for the holidays, I have introduced two new holiday styles to our Hand Painted Ceramic Christmas Plates line. Plates are personalized with names and dates along with your choice of color borders and design. Take advantage of the FREE Ground shipping!