Get ready…

February 6th, 2010

…for an awesome birthday sale, a fun promo with chances to win GCs, new goodies, and a freebie! :D

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One Love | Charity Collab for Haitian Relief

January 21st, 2010

“One love refers to the universal love and respect expressed by all people for all people, regardless of race, creed, or color.”

Forty-eight designers from around the community have joined together to bring you this incredible kit with the common purpose of raising funds for Haitian aid and relief. Our theme, “One Love”, symbolizes not only our heartfelt effort to help the people of Haiti, but also encompasses the diverse styles of all the designers involved in this project. This kit represents the diversity of our community and shows that even though we are all different, when we come together the result is truly spectacular.

The proceeds from the sale of this kit will be donated to the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund. We chose the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund not only because it embodies the spirit of One Love, but also because 100% of the donations will go to the relief and recovery efforts in Haiti and because they are working to provide both immediate relief and long-term support to the earthquake survivors.

This product is only available for a limited time.

Please give back and help give hope to the people of Haiti. How much better can it get when you receive such an amazing kit in return?! I’m so grateful to have been able to contribute to this collaboration!

NEW CU Hybrid Templates!

January 21st, 2010

I had so much fun making these Chinese take-out boxes! How fun are these?! These are available for personal AND commercial use and they’re 20% off! Perfect for designers who want to make little treat/hybrid packs for sale or even for freebies (READ THE TOU in the product description for my policy on freebies with these templates… thanks).

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Cutie patootie sample project with these templates… so perfect for Valentine’s treats!

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And I’ve also released my bag templates in a CU version - also 20% off! And if you’re subscribed to my newsletter, make sure you check for a coupon to save 30% instead of 20% on both these template sets! :)

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MOO Discount Coupon!

January 21st, 2010

Have you heard of MOO before? I hadn’t until some of my photog friends told me about their business cards. I just got a newsletter from them for a code to share that gives new MOO customers 10% off their order through January 31st! The coupon code is: 7D3A29

I will receive a credit for each person who uses that discount code, but I really do like their products! I ordered some business cards through them and they are EXCELLENT quality - way better than the ones I ordered from Vistaprint. The cardstock is really thick and durable. My favorite part about them is that you can use different images on the front of your cards (kinda like a mini portfolio in your pocket). If you print a pack of 50 business cards, you can use different images for the front of each card if you like! I’ve never seen another company offer that before and it’s why I decided to print my cards through them.

They also have these SUPER cute mini cards… how fun are those? :)

FREE Baby Girl Quick Pages

January 13th, 2010

I was cleaning off my hard drive last weekend… because it’s so full that it’s running slooooooooow… and I found these two QPs I made with my Earth Angel kit. I have no idea why I never posted them! haha! Enjoy! Please leave me a little note if you download! Your comments give me warm fuzzies. :D Click on the preview to download.

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Want a CUUUUTE FREE kit?

January 10th, 2010

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You want this adorable kit for free?

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Then you gotta sign up for my Facebook fan page and the FB/Twitter accounts of all the other Scrap Orchard designers! We’re going to be giving this kit away this week, so hurry on over to this thread and read all about it! ;)

Love is in the air today!

January 7th, 2010

I’ve got this adorable new kit in the shoppe! Love Notes is a fresh and fun take on Valentine’s Day! The bright colors and super fun patterns will make for awesome printable projects and homemade Valentines! Snag it today at 20% off and get a FREE gift when you buy the kit by 1/15. ;)

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You gotta take a closer look at these awesome papers…

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You’ll get this cute little set of Valentine’s Day cards for FREE when you buy the kit by 1/15… (Valentines will automatically be added to your cart if you purchase the kit during this time)

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Check out my rockin’ team!!

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SNEAK PEEK!! Valentine’s Day Goodies!

January 5th, 2010

I had so much fun creating this and I just cannot wait to show you!! :D Coming sooooon!!! ;)

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2010 planner from Snapfish!

December 28th, 2009

I am an incredibly forgetful person. Ever since I got pregnant with Allie, it seems I’ve been losing more and more of my brain function. I swear. :p lol! It’s bad. It drives my husband crazy… and I’m pretty sure it drives ME even more crazy. So, my New Years resolution is to get more organized and write everything down so I don’t forget stuff all the time.

I’d been looking for quite a while for someone who would print a daily planner with a customized cover. I finally found out that Snapfish does it (and they’re the only place I could find to do it)! It’s on the bottom left of that page. ;)

What was super obnoxious was they wanted a square image for the cover, even though the planner isn’t square (it’s 6.5×8.75″)… and there are no templates to download to help you with it either if you decide to do a full bleed design. So, I created a 10×10 design using Zoe Pearn’s Bloom & Grow kit at Sweet Shoppe Designs, and placed my important stuff in the very center. I uploaded my first image and it didn’t work correctly (as you create the planner, it will give you a preview of your cover), so I had to adjust my image a few times. You can also adjust the crop when you are creating your planner.

Please excuse the not-so-fabulous photos - I took these way late in the day and I should’ve photographed on a piece of white poster board… the black is BUGGIN’ me! lol

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I was a little nervous about what the inside of the planner would look like because Snapfish doesn’t give a good view of it, but I was happy to find plenty of room for each day and plenty of pages for journaling/notes, etc. Each week of the year gets a 2-page spread with Monday-Wednesday on the left page and Thursday-Sunday on the right page. The days are broken up into hours of the day starting at 8 am and going to 5 pm with a spot above 8 am and a spot below 5 pm for any plans you’ve got before or after those hours.

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Anyways, for just $10, it’s a great little project and a super inexpensive planner that is customized for YOU! :D I love it! Just wanted to share for anyone else needing a daily planner… ;)

Oh, and shipping was super cheap (less than $2) and they upgraded my shipping for free to overnight… I have no idea why, but they did and it was super awesome! lol! :D

Meet my new baby!

December 8th, 2009

I am IN LOVE!!! DH decided I could FINALLY upgrade my camera as my Christmas present this year… and he let me have it early! I’ve been playing with it for a week now and I seriously am still as excited today as the day I opened up the box! :D

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I got the Canon Rebel XSi body (no kit lens) and the Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens. LOVE. IT. :) The image quality on this camera is SO MUCH better than my point & shoot… and I can actually bump up my ISO and with this lens I can open my aperture much wider than I could on my old camera.

I got this camera on December 1st… perfect timing for the December Daily project! Taking photos every day is certainly helping me get used to all the new controls and settings! Here are a couple fave photos I’ve taken….

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I’ve had several people ask me on FB how I achieved the bokeh in those pictures of my daughter in front of the Christmas tree, so I thought I’d share here!

*disclaimer: I’m not a professional photographer… so I hope no REAL photogs are reading this and shaking their heads at me. lol

First, you need a basic understanding of ISO, aperture, and shutter speed and how they work together and how you adjust them to get the proper exposure. Understanding Exposure is a great book for beginners. I also found some of the photography articles at 2 Peas in a Bucket to be really useful in learning the relationship between these: ISO, Aperture, and Shutter Speed and Exposure. Once you understand those, practice shooting in Manual. I think a lot of people are scared to shoot in Manual, but once you understand the relationship between ISO, aperture, and SS it really isn’t that hard and you will learn to LOVE having all that control over your settings to get better photos. ;)

So, to get that bokeh I try and make my daughter stand several feet away from the tree (3-5 feet) and turn on the Christmas lights. I did shoot during the day, but I didn’t have a lot of natural light, so for the second picture I set my ISO at 800 and opened my aperture up wide (f/1.8) and adjusted my shutter speed to get the proper exposure (1/125 ). Generally, I try to keep my shutter speed faster than that (1/200 or faster) because my daughter is always moving, but it ended up working this time. By opening up the aperture, it not only helps me with the low light situation, but also helps me get that nice blurry background and get the cool bokeh with the Christmas lights. When my aperture is open like this though, it creates a shallow depth of field. So, I had to step back a little bit to make sure my daughter’s face was in focus (rather than just getting one eye in focus…lol).

I have to say, I’m gonna be sad when my tree has to come down because it really makes for some pretty pictures! ;)