try your luck with our St. Patty's day photo contest!

pic by Shannon

Sorry, I know I'm a blog slacker! Just wanted to pop in and let you know that we are having a fun little contest over at my most favorite blog... The Maternal Lens!

Send in those green and festive pics for a chance to win one of my camera strap covers, which can be found in my etsy shop.

Check out the post HERE for all the details!

it's our birthday over at {the maternal lens}

One year ago, I began a new adventure with an awesome group of mommy-photog-bloggers.

I met Megan, Meg, Shannon and Sarah on cafemom.com and we have become such wonderful friends! The Maternal Lens has been such a great opportunity for all of us to grow as bloggers and we have just begun to explore all we can do with it. The downside to being a mommy-photog-blogger is that there isn't always a lot of time for the blogging part, but I know we are all looking forward to really sinking our teeth into some juicy blogging as it becomes more and more a part of our lives.

This week we are having a HUGE giveaway to celebrate our first year! Be sure to stop by and check it out!

The Maternal Lens

Happy birthday to us! xoxo

It's GIVEAWAY time!

Hello! The girls and I are visiting down in TX, but I wanted to let you all know about some great GIVEAWAYS that are going on!

Over at HomeSpun Threads she is hosting a giveaway until Tuesday for a gorgeous ring of your choice from Tungsten Wedding Rings.

The winner can pick any Titanium ring, any Ceramic without an inlay, or Tungsten ring with a value up to $120!

Head over to HomeSpun Threads and check it out before it ends!

AND

Over at The Maternal Lens we are giving away some super cute custom bottlecap magnets! They are all the rage on fashionable fridges these days! They also make great gifts for family and teachers!

I'm not a loser anymore!

I finally won something!!!

A couple weeks ago, Aimee at HomeSpun Threads had a giveaway and I won a super cute little apron or "Mommy Pockets," perfect for toting my cell phone and the always elusive pink hairbrush around the house. I told her to pick out whatever apron she wanted me to have, and she sent me this sassy pink and green one. You'd think she pays attention or something! Thanks Aimee!! I love it! (apparently I cannot take a decent picture today!)


I also won some custom silhouettes of the kids. I just sent her the pics to work from and can't wait to see how they turn out!


Aimee is so generous, she's doing another silhouette GIVEAWAY over at The Maternal Lens so be sure to stop by and sign up to win one of your own! It ends tonight!

Finally! A finished project!

Believe it or not, I have a million-bazillion projects in the works and on my "list." Many of them are in various states of halfwaydoneness. Today I actually finished something! Yay!

I try to hit garage sales whenever I can, but I usually don't think to do it until later in the day, when they are all closed up! But, a couple weeks ago, Sarah and I made it to a few and found some treasures. We got these retro (circa 1955) metal folding chairs for $3 for the pair! I'm not sure how we'll use them, but who doesn't need a few extra chairs?!


I liked them before I even found out that they fold up, which is a super cool feature. (The legs fold inwards to make them flat for storage.)

Of course, we had to cute-ify them! Sarah and I painted them bright red and found some great decor fabric for $2/yd to do the seats. I didn't really intend for them to be so girly, but I guess it's inevitable when we're in charge.


They conveniently coordinate with Sarah's new/future pink and red color scheme, so maybe a desk chair?


Cute, custom chairs for less than $5 plus spray paint! Yessss!

On another note, The Maternal Lens is up for some blog awards! Stop by and help us out with a vote or two or three!

There is also a really neat silhouette GIVEAWAY going on until tomorrow night, thanks to Aimee at HomeSpun Threads. I'll be blogging more about it tomorrow, so check back!

Hello people! More randomness and another GIVEAWAY!

Sorry I went a little AWOL, but we were on a mission to find a house! We found one, but we still haven't gotten the offer papers from our realtor (ahem!! hurry!!!) so that we can start the process of negotiation. Keep your fingers crossed that all works out! We are in a pickle with our current house, so that's something we're hoping works itself out soon as well.

Anyway, today at The Maternal Lens we are GIVING AWAY a fabulous set of textures by Unik Design!!! They are absolutely gorgeous and any photographer would love to have them! Head over to TML and sign up to win! There's also a surprise freebie for those who stop by. :)

If you aren't familiar with using textures in photography, it's such a fun thing to experiment with. It can really change the look of a photo and add tons of depth and interest. You can find free textures on flickr.com or you can even make your own. In your editing program, you just place your texture (it's basically just a picture of something textured) on top of your photo as its own layer, reduce the opacity so that your photo peeks through and then erase away parts of the texture layer where you want your image to remain clear and sharp. These photos were enhanced with some of the textures that TML and Unik Design are giving away.

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

Sign up to win so you can play too! If you are interested in purchasing new textures, I highly HIGHLY recommend these by Unik Design! They are just gorgeous!

Here's a few other recent random flower shots. I keep taking them, but they haven't been making it off my camera!

We are so excited and need your help!!!

UPDATE - Thank you for all your votes! We took second place - it was a tough competition!

As you know, I blog collaboratively with my good friends at The Maternal Lens. We are so honored that we've been nominated as "awesomest photography blog" at http://iammommy.typepad.com/! Please stop by and help us out with a vote! Thanks!!! We are up against some big-time bloggers, so we could use all the help we can get!

check it out - I'm doing a GIVEAWAY at {the maternal lens}

Hop on over to The Maternal Lens and sign up to win a new camera strap cover, made by moi!

Inspiring minds....wanna know?

Of course you do!!! Some of the most inspiring people I know are my online peers and friends. 5 of us have started a new blog called The Maternal Lens.

It's for moms and photographers, women, artists, bloggers, everyone! Above all else, we are hoping it's a great source of fun and inspiration. Head on over, check it out and become a follower. We will have new and exciting posts daily!

If these women can inspire you even a fraction of the way they've inspired me, you'll be truly blessed. :)