Me, My Girl & Iris

...did anyone get that title?!
It was supposed to be a spoof off of the movie title "Me, Myself and Irene".
Anyway, on to the photos!!



This was taken by my 5 year old son with my dslr.
I think I did a pretty good job hiding my nervousness!
;)







And here are the irises.
Normally I have such difficulty photographing these particular flowers, but for whatever reason this day was a good one!

 



Before & After:


I wanted to brighten up this shot and give it a touch of seventies.

It's Kinda Girly...

These two end of season coneflowers were swaying in the wind with not a care in the world.
I loved how those dainty petals were moving - just like a ballerina!

Bubbles always remind me of summer and I also wanted to capture the haze and humidity associated with summer, so I kept this shot slightly out of focus.

I usually take a trip to the arboretum about once a month - sometimes more.
These lovely hydrangeas were new on my last visit!

 

Summer is Here!

Summer break is upon us and that means lots of time outdoors...

riding bikes,




peek-a-boo through the "cheese holes" at the park,







and swinging with careless abandon!

On the Playground

Today is my birthday and I'm having a giveaway on my family blog for a $25 gift code to my Etsy shop!

I originally took this shot for Ashley's Scavenger Hunt Sunday challenge, but this was about the only one I managed to take, so I'm linking it up for the following challenges instead.

(Happy Moday's prompt is children, and while there are not children in this shot, this swing set is certainly intended for children, so I thought it still applied.)

 

Paying It Forward on Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!!




  


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Pay It Forward

Remember back at the beginning of the year when a lot of blogs were participating in Pay It Forward?

Well, now it's my turn!

PAY IT FORWARD - 2011

I promise to send something handmade to the first 3 people who leave a comment on this post saying that they will also participate in Pay It Forward - 2011. 

Those 3 commenters must fulfill the following requirements:

1. You must also participate in Pay It Forward on your blog, making this same offer to 3 other people.

2. The rules are that it must be handmade by you and it must be sent to your 3 people *sometime* in 2011.

I will probably send postcards or note cards and will ship them to the proper recipient once they have posted the Pay It Forward challenge to their blog.


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Questions for You
aka: I Need Your Help/Opinions

I also have a favor to ask of you...would you mind answering some questions pertaining to marketing and my etsy shop? I'm planning a March Madness month of promos and want everything to be spot on!
Answer one, or all, or none. I appreciate whatever input you have time to give!!

1. What kinds of discounts are most attractive to you?
- percentage off?
- free shipping?
- buy one get one free?
- other?

2. Would adding a photo of each print in a matted frame help visualize the print as a piece of art?

3. Is there anything that turns you off from my shop?
(please be honest with this - you will not hurt my feelings...unless you tell me I have zero talent. ;) )

4. What are the first 3 words/feelings that come to mind when you view my shop?

These can be positives or negatives.

I know many of you are busy, so please don't feel obligated to answer these Qs!
I hope you have a fantastic Valentine's Day!!

The Winner & Some Watercolors

First things first.
It's time to announce the winner of the 11"x14" photo print from my Etsy shop, MommyMakes!!

I used Random.org this morning to select the winner.
And that winner is lucky commenter number 8!

Congrats, Melanie!
(I've sent you an email.)

I also have a wonderful 30% off Valentine's Day coupon code that I'd like to share:

VDay30

It's good through January 31st and is valid on anything in my shop.

I'll be adding postcard sets in the next day or two, so be sure to stop by MommyMakes later this week!

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Now on to the photos...

My two year old daughter got a lot of art materials for Christmas!
Crayons, markers, paints, coloring books - it is wonderful!
This is the awesome set of watercolors she received.

 

And one more view of those beautiful watercolors.

One Terrific Tuesday

Bubbles in the bath.
I miss those days...for myself, that is!
;)





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Just colorful spools of thread.
No rhyme or reason, I just thought they were pretty!





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Bottles from "around the house".

I have a habit of keeping pretty glass jars. This collection is mainly jars that had a past life: an olive jar, spaghetti sauce jar, and a club soda bottle. The cute little one is from the craft store...I couldn't resist.

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SOOC:



Edited:





I use PSE 8 to edit and did the following:
Step 1. Crop and straighten.
Step 2. Ran Paint the Moon's newest freebie action, Jubilee.

Orchids on White

The theme this week at Simplicity is white on white.
This is also the very first photo I took in 2011, so that counts for the Happy New Year theme at The Trendy Treehouse, right?!

 

I added my linen texture to this, then softened and warmed it up a bit.

Tuesday Beauty

I shared this same shot in color on Sunday, but thought it took on a more 'dreaming' quality in black and white.





The theme at Simplicity is Simple Beauty. I can think of no simpler beauty than that of my daughter. She doesn't need or worry about make up or doing her hair just right. She plays dress up because it's fun, not because she's trying to impress anyone.And she doesn't fret over body parts that aren't perfect to someone else, because they are perfect for her.






We have several clumps of decorative grass in our landscaping. Normally, I wouldn't classify many of them as pretty, however this one from our backyard struck my fancy one day. The soft and subtle, muted colors possessed such a quiet beauty that I had to capture it!