i heart faces photo challenge - Slice of Life

This week's challenge over at i heart faces is to capture a more candid picture that represents a 'slice of life'.  Today we had family over for a Wii party and had a blast playing Wii sports.  One of my favorite photos from today is this picture of my brother trying to teach my aunt how to play.  It definitely captures the fun we had today and I love that you can see my dad in the background laughing too...it was a great family day! 

Thanks for stopping by!  Be sure to check out all the other entries for this i heart faces challenge HERE.

More Than Friends Layout - Etsy Inspired Challenge #132

 It's Saturday...time for another Etsy Inspired Challenge!   This week's featured shop is Fresh Metal Jewelry and I'm sure you'll be inspired by her pretty fabric flower necklaces...I know I was!  :)  The lovely spring colors and flowers on this piece inspired me to create this layout.

This layout was super easy to put together as I simply dug into my sticker stash and got crafting!  I mixed stickers from My Mind's Eye, Echo Park, Crate Paper, Basic Grey, and My Little Shoebox.  The two scalloped journal stickers are actually a flower and a sentiment sticker that I just put a piece of cardstock over the part I didn't want showing to allow for my journaling.

These two cute kids have known each other since they were babies and share a special bond that I just had to document.  They were born just four days apart and recently celebrated their 8th birthday together.

Are you ready to be Etsy Inspired?!  It's a great way to challenge yourself and get a project completed...plus you might just win a prize if you link up your project to the Etsy Inspired Blog by Friday at noon!   Both our featured Etsy shop and our sponsor, Amber Ink, are offering up a prize this week!

All you have to do to play along is:

- Visit Fresh Metal Jewelry and find an item that inspires you

- Create a project of your own and post it to your blog or online gallery

- Link your project up to the Etsy Inspired Blog by Friday at noon.

Be sure to visit the rest of the Design Team for more Etsy Inspired projects!

• Angi
• Ashley
• Carole
• De
• Emily B
• Jackie
• Joy
• Kerry
• Libby (March Guest DT)
• Ruby
• Savannah
• Sherry
• Virginia

Have a wonderful weekend!

Happy Birthday To You - Etsy Inspired Challenge #131

Welcome to another Etsy Inspired Challenge! This week's featured Etsy shop is Doll Birdies which offers a variety of fun bags, wallets and pouches.  I was inspired by this colorful bag, the turquoise and orange flowers especially caught my eye and inspired me to create this card.

 This card uses Crate Paper's Snow Day collection, May Arts ribbon, and My Mind's Eye Lush rhinestones, as well as a dollar stamp from Michaels (gotta love that!).

Our sponsor this week is SRM Stickers.  They have tons of great clear stickers!  I especially like all their sentiment stickers...perfect for a quick card or layout.

Are you feeling inspired?!  Then head on over to Doll Birdies and find an item that inspires you. Create a project of your own and link it up to the Etsy Inspired Blog by Friday at noon for your chance to win a great prize from SRM Stickers or Doll Birdies!  (See the Etsy Inspired Blog for prize details)

And be sure to visit these talented ladies for more Etsy Inspired projects!

• Angi
• Ashley
• Carole
• De
• Emily B
• Jackie
• Joy
• Kerry
• Libby (March Guest DT)
• Ruby
• Savannah
• Sherry
• Virginia

 Have a wonderful weekend!

Having Fun with my New Lens

Happy Friday!  We are enjoying a relaxing day at home as my oldest has no school.  Yesterday was a half day for him and the sun was shining so we headed outside for some fun and of course I had to bring out my camera and new 50mm lens.  (For Mindy, who asked which 50mm lens I have...it is a Canon EF 50mm f1.8 II)

Here are my favorite photos from yesterday:

READY...SET...

JUMP!







Can  you tell I'm learning a lot in my photography class?!  I love this last photo...the crisp focus of my son and the tree with a slightly blurred background, not to mention it just totally captures one of the many joys of childhood...climbing trees! 

 All these photos are straight out of the camera, as I still need to learn a lot more about post processing.  I think I'm going to take Elisha's new class, Photo Finish, to learn more about how to use Photoshop and Lightroom to take great photos to high quality works of art!

Have you recently posted some photos on your blog or do you visit a great photography blog regularly?  I'd love to hear about it so I can take a peek!

i heart faces - Photography Challenge: Sun Flare

Happy Monday everyone! This week's challenge over at i heart faces is to capture sun flare. Yesterday I got a new 50mm lens for my camera and couldn't wait to play with it today. It's raining here but the sun is still shining so I had my son stand by our sliding glass door and started shooting away.

Here is my favorite picture (straight out of the camera)...I love how the sun is shining on his face, his reflection in the glass, and the raindrops on the glass too.

I shot this in full Manual Mode using the cloudy white balance setting, ISO 200, 1/100, f2.8.

Click HERE to see more sun flare inspiration over at iheartfaces.

Joy - Etsy Inspired Challenge #130

Welcome to another Etsy Inspired Challenge! This week's featured Etsy shop is Artwork by Lori which has fun and unique prints and paintings for you to be inspired by.

I really liked these retro circle canvas paintings and they inspired me to create this card.

This card was super easy to put together. I just used a piece of Echo Park's Sweet Summertime paper and a bunch of the coordinating stickers too. I love when a project comes together so quickly and the result is still great...these colors and fun patterns just make me smile!

Our sponsor this week is the Charleston Scrapbook Company which offers a huge variety of crafting goodies. Would you like to win a $10 gift certificate to their store?! Or a print from Artwork by Lori?! Head on over to Artwork by Lori and find an item that inspires you. Then create a project of your own and link it up to the Etsy Inspired Blog by Friday at noon for your chance to win!

Stop by and visit the rest of the design team to see more Etsy Inspired projects!

• Angi
• Ashley
• Carole
• De
• Emily B
• Jackie
• Joy
• Kerry
• Libby (March Guest DT)
• Ruby
• Savannah
• Sherry
• Virginia

We have had a busy week and our weekend shows no sign of slowing but we will be spending a lot of time with family so I'm not complaining. For those of you who may have family or friends affected by the earthquake in Japan, my heart goes out to you...you are in my prayers.

i heart faces - People's Choice week

This week at i heart faces the challenge is to post your favorite face photo from February. While working on my photography class assignment (trying to capture sparkling eyes) I took this photo of my youngest son and just love how it turned out...the sparkle and wonder in his eyes and his sweet little smile as he is looking up at me...priceless! :) I hope you like it too and are inspired to capture the sparkle in your own child's eyes!

And...it is People's Choice week over at iheartfaces which means that all of you get to decide on your favorite face photo. There are tons of talented photographers submitting their favorite photos so be sure to head on over to iheartfaces to place your vote!

Click HERE to see all the other favorite February face photos and VOTE!

Update: If you are looking for my entry it is #277.