i heart faces - People's Choice Week

This week over at i heart faces it is People's Choice Week where photographers of all levels can submit their favorite face photo for May and everyone can go vote for their favorite starting on Thursday.  I just had to enter this photo of my youngest that I took on Mother's Day.  I absolutely cannot get enough of him in this adorable hat!  He has the matching shorts too! (from Old Navy)

To see all the other great faces for May and vote for your favorite starting on Thursday, click HERE.

Etsy Inspired Challenge #139

Hello all!  It's time for another Etsy Inspired Challenge!  This week we have a cool home decor shop for you to be inspired by... Paula Art.    I really like her industrial and recycled items, especially this candle holder. 

I was inspired by the colors and simplicity of the photo/item to create this layout.

 This layout is one of my One Little Word assignments to write a letter to myself about my life right now.  It was a wonderful process and one that I will do again, along with writing a letter about where I see myself in another year.

Our sponsor this week is a great digi shop that specializes in digital papers...Shery K Designs.  Personally, I love her fun polka dot banners and scalloped borders.

The Etsy Inspired Challenge is now bi-weekly so you have more time to create a project for your chance to win great prizes!

- Visit  Paula Art  and find an item that inspires you.
- Create a project of your own and post it to an online gallery or blog.
- Link your project up to the Etsy Inspired Blog by Friday, June 3rd at noon for your chance to win a fun prize from our sponsor or featured Etsy shop!

Visit the design team for more inspiration!

Angi

Ashley

Carole

De

Ellie (May Guest DT)

Emily B

Jackie

Joy

Kerry

Ruby

Savannah

Sherry

Virginia

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend planned!  I am busy working on a special mini album for my mom for her birthday!

i heart faces - Motherhood

 I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day!  I was showered with hugs and kisses from my boys all day long and a lovely dinner with my mom too...it was a great day!   This week over at i heart faces the theme is motherhood.  Here is my favorite photo from today celebrating the joy that comes with being a mother.

To see more great motherhood photos click HERE.

For My Mom - Etsy Inspired Challenge #138

Hello friends!  So I have to admit that lately I have not done much crafting.  I've really been focusing on my photography (see post below) and I'm loving it!  But with Mother's Day coming up and a lovely shop to be inspired by, I made sure to get out my supplies to create a card this week. 

Are you needing a little inspiration too?   Look no further than our featured Etsy shop, Bear Creek Design & Felting, which has some of the sweetest looking animals and they even have kits so you can create your own needle felting project!  I was inspired by this pretty flower.

So, I know this is not my best work...I think I'm a little rusty! :)  But my mom of course will love it and I do love this Stella & Rose paper by My Mind's Eye.

I also took this sweet picture of my boys in our front yard...I love that the flowers are finally starting to bloom!

Our sponsor this week is Claudia & Company,  a great online shop that carries tons of crafting goodies, including all the 'big names'.  I have my eye on the new Lime Twist collection by My Mind's Eye...can anyone tell me if the patterned papers are thick like the Stella & Rose collection or thinner like the Alphabet Soup collection?

Are you ready to play along?  Guess what?!  The Etsy Inspired Challenge is now going to be bi-weekly, which means you have more time to create a project for your chance to win great prizes! 

- Visit  Bear Creek Design & Felting  and find an item that inspires you.
- Create a project of your own and post it to an online gallery or blog.
- Link your project up to the Etsy Inspired Blog by Friday, May 20th, at noon for your chance to win a fun prize from our sponsor or featured Etsy shop!
Visit the design team for more inspiration!

Angi

Ashley

De

Ellie (May Guest DT)

Emily B

Jackie

Joy

Kerry

Savannah

Virginia

Wishing you all a wonderful Mother's Day!

Photography 201 - New & Improved...Thanks Elisha!

Well, my photography class with Elisha Snow ended and the final assignment was to take 10 pictures of the same subjects/theme as we did before class started so that we could see how far we've come.  Oh baby, have I come a long way!  :)  I absolutely loved this class...if you enjoy photography, I highly recommend Elisha's classes.  In fact, I'm planning to take another class from her this month.  It's called Photo Finish and I know I'm going to learn a lot about using Photoshop/Elements to take my pictures to a whole new level.

So, I wanted to share with you all my new and improved photos!  First, check out my pictures prior to taking Elisha's class HERE.  Even though I do think some of those first photos are good, none of them were taken in full manual mode and I know that overall my skills have greatly improved, as I'm sure you'll agree after seeing the pictures I am now taking in full manual mode.  Ready?! 

1.  Someone you love - (my youngest son)

2.  Two people you love (both my boys)

3.  Your favorite food

4.  A flower, tree, or plant.

5.  A landscape. (I think this is better than my 'before' landscape picture, however, really I just need to go to a beach or somewhere besides my neighborhood to get a really great landscape photo.)

6. A person in action (love the blurred background on this...makes it seem like he was really going fast!)  I created this photo by focusing on my subject and panning with him as I took the picture.

7.  A candid photo

8.  A self-portrait (HUGE improvement...yeah!)

9.  A favorite object in your home (the leaves definitely look better this time around and for the 2nd photo I had to deal with glass and a mirror and was still able to get it to turn out great!)

These thankful blocks were my first published project and now they have a special place in my home.

10.  A group portrait (I have a few but none I can show...you'll just have to trust me that they look better too! :)