First Day of Kindergarten

Dylan won't be 5 for a few more days, but he officially started kindergarten last week! We have year round elementary schools here and were excited to be assigned to one. This means he gets a break every 9 weeks plus holidays and has one week off between school years.

Being the scrapbook/photo book/photography loving mom I am, I knew I wanted to do cute first day photos. I liked the idea of a chalkboard sign and recalled seeing a kit from Hallmark's Pics 'n' Props line last year perfect for school photos. Of course, I'd forgotten to buy it. I asked on a Hallmark Facebook group I'm a part of if the kit even still existed. Yes and no. It's been discontinued, but can still be purchased if a store has it in stock. Imagine my surprise to find a package on my doorstep last week with the kit and a handwritten note inside!

While we took photos on his first day last Monday, it was also his only day last week as our school system has "staggered entry" for kindergarteners. He eagerly posed again for photos this week as he began his first full week and was excited to do so with the new sign from the Pics 'n' Props kit. Big grins before heading to the bus stop for his first bus ride to school (another exciting milestone - he's been asking us to please let him ride the bus).

Thanks, Hallmark, for the gift! We were all surprised and appreciative. Between Dylan and his sister due to arrive in October, we'll be using this kit for first day of school photos for many years to come.

*Find tips on taking Picture Perfect Back to School photos from Hallmark here.*

Disclosure: The Pics 'n' Props: My First Day of School Kit was sent to me free from Hallmark, but no post requirements or other compensation were made. All opinions are my own.

Read More

England, the photo book

This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.

Before our trip to England, I bought a Smash book with full intentions of creating a traditional scrapbook. Somewhere between losing the glue stick cap on the end of the pen mid-trip to returning home and waiting on prints, I lost steam. I still have the book, photos, and assorted memorabilia stacked in a corner of the craft room waiting for me. In the meantime, I decided to jump on a special Shutterfly was offering and create a photo book. Here are a few pages ...

Cover

Title Page

Itinerary

Oxford

Oxford & Train Ride to London

London

I'm thrilled with the completed photo book and finally having an easy way to share our adventures.

Read More

Superhero Photos

FTC Disclosure Statement: This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.

Preparing for our pregnancy announcement on Facebook, I had Dylan pose for "big brother" photos. I had a superhero theme in mind. My original photo plan didn't turn out. Instead, I ended up with a couple shots that I liked even better. Love it when it works out like that.

The first awesome shot made a perfect banner for my Facebook page. I added the text "Every Superhero needs a sidekick. Mine is arriving October 2014" and posted along with a new profile picture of one of our first ultrasound images.

I then used a second photo from the day to create a Mother's Day card design for both my mom and my mother-in-law. I cropped the picture in Photoshop and added the bottom blue box and text. Then uploaded to Treat for printing and shipping.

For the Mother's Day cards, I used a full photo front option and deleted the text offered by Treat. Then wrote personalized notes inside of each card. To further simplify things, I had Treat do the shipping for me. All I did was request a delivery by last Friday to ensure they arrived on time. Both moms loved their cards. It really is an easy way to create a beautiful card even if you think you are creatively challenge and/or lack time.

I hope all of the moms (and moms at heart) had a wonderful Mother's Day yesterday!

Read More

Friday Freebie: DIY Sports Room Poster

I'm still playing around a bit with decorating in Dylan's "big boy" room. Thus, I keep failing to share the after photos to follow up the toddler room post. But, I did want to go ahead and share the latest artwork creation I made for it. I wanted to add a little bit of personalization and goodness knows I take a LOT of photos so a large photo collage made sense.

I used 16 photos and left the bottom blank for a few ticket stubs. Three shown are currently under the glass. I'm searching out a couple more to add (one of those things I know I save too many of and, of course, am now struggling to find!) and then will rework it under the glass.

I created a similar poster using his artwork. Still need to choose a frame and location for that one.

Feeling inspired? I'm sharing the template I made to create the collage pictured above. It's 11x14 and contains masking for 20 photos so you can choose to leave a blank row as I did or fill it full. The template is free for personal use only.

Click here to download 11x14 Poster Template

Enjoy! And, please, feel free to link up your creation. I would love to see.

Have you missed one of my previous digital freebies? Click HERE to find them. And, don't forget to subscribe to my feeds so you won't miss future freebies!

Read More

Wordless Wednesday: Snow Jabba

Linking up to Wordless Wednesday

Read More

Travel Photo Contest Entry

For the last couple of years, I've intended to enter the local paper's annual Travel Photo Contest. I procrastinated and never did. This year? I procrastinated to within 2 hours of the end of the submission period. But, I got it in.

Part of my issue has always been picking one photo. I love lots of photos I take for various reasons, but wanted to select just the right one for this. There were 3 categories and you could only enter one photo in one category. Trent helped me choose and we settled on this one:

Secret Garden (click to enlarge)

I took it on our third day in England last month. It was my second day alone while Trent was working. The sun was out after a very cold, rainy day the day before. I was determined to get out and explore Oxford. My first plan was to tour Christ Church. I walked through the Meadow on my way to the public entrance and after crossing a small bridge, I saw this garden hiding on the other side of a wall. The details caught my attention. The softness and vibrant green of the moss against the cold, gray hard stone. The sunlit garden in the background. And the door. I wasn't able to see where it leads, but, given the connection to Alice in Wonderland, I like to think it's a secret door. Where do you think it goes?

If you like my photo too, I'd appreciate a vote (or 5 - max allowed per hour :) ). You can find it here: http://triangle.upickem.net/r/5JvCPwJXTYN?r=419324 Voting ends at 5pm on December 27th. Thanks!

**Updated: thank you! I was thrilled to receive 6,080 votes for my photo and top the list for the "Scenery" category. **

Read More

Instajunction Photo Gifts

Take a lot of Instagram photos? I do. Print a lot of your Instagram photos? Neither do I. Which is sad because I share a LOT and (may I toot my own horn here?) I think a lot are pretty awesome so I really should. Thus, I was excited when given the opportunity to try Instajunction - a new company in the UK dedicated to turning your Instagram photos into beautiful gifts.

A few of the products offered from Instajunction

Honestly, the hardest two decisions are choosing a product and which Instagram photos to use. The product options range from magnets to framed prints, from wall calendars to coasters, and more. Once you make your selection, link your Instagram account and begin picking which images you want to use.

One tip when selecting, if you think you might want a photo, click it. If you change your mind later, you can delete it easier than going back to get it. The right arrow will take you further back in your Instagram feed, but clicking the left will reset you to the most recent.

Also, photos will fall into place as you select them. You cannot change their order and they don't necessary match the shown order when printed. Ie, for the minibook, the photos were not in the order shown on the screenshot above. This was okay for me as I was creating the minibook for Dylan. He won't mind the order but will enjoy flipping through the pages looking at the photos. Thankfully, the paper is a nice thick card stock with a simple plastic cover so it should hold up pretty well with a 4 year old.

Small Instajunction Minibook

I may have to make one for myself next. It is a cute way to show off your photos and also comes in a larger approximately 4x4 size.

I also selected some Polaroid Style Card prints for the scrapbook I'm working on of our trip to England. They are printed on the same thick card stock as the minibooks and came packaged in a special envelope ensuring they held their smooth finish and sharp corners during shipment.

Packaged Polaroid Style Cards

 I was pleased with how the images turned out and think the white space will be perfect for journaling. Watch for a future post where I will share the scrapbook and how I used these.

Instajunction Polaroid Style Cards

I did notice that all of the prints had a bit of a grainy look. I think this has more to do with the saved images from Instagram than a printing issue as I've seen the same thing in prints from other companies. I'm mentioning it purely for a complete, open review. Overall, I'm very happy with the quality and price. I would order from Instajunction again.

Interested in ordering your own prints? Get 15% off your Instajunction order using code FR10BT6X. Expires December 31, 2013.

Note: A £25 gift code was provided to me to select product(s) for review. The opinions expressed are are strictly my own.

Read More

December Daily: days 1 - 3

A small glimpse of the first three days of our December:

How has your month started?

Read More

Alice, Narnia and Harry Potter

Part of the fun in Oxford earlier this month was learning a bit of literary history. Several famous authors and their stories have a tie to this beautiful city and the University.

On St Aldate's St is a shop with a red door - Alice's Shop. It's where the real Alice, inspiration for Alice in Wonderland, actually shopped and the shop itself was the inspiration for the Sheep Shop in Through the Looking Glass. I did step inside briefly to look around (no photography allowed) and it was full of Alice in Wonderland related items.

Across the street from Alice's Shop is Christ Church where her father was once dean, and Lewis Carroll a student and teacher.

Inside the Great Hall at Christ Church is a blending of two fictional worlds - Alice and Harry Potter. Alice came first. The long neck brass firedogs that can still be found in the fireplaces - remember how Alice's neck grew after she ate a bite from the cake marked "eat me"? These were Carroll's inspiration for that.

A newer tribute to the author and story were pointed out to me by the Custodian on duty. A section of stained glass windows features Alice, Carroll, their characters and others in the stories including the White Rabbit and the Queen of Hearts.

The Great Hall itself? A replica was created for Hogwart's in the Harry Potter movies.

Scenes in two of the movies were actually filmed in the stairwell that leads to the Great Hall. I took photos of this simply because I found it architecturally beautiful. Only later did I learn the bit of cinema history as I've never read the Harry Potter books nor seen the movies (perhaps I need to add them to my list?).

Another tribute to Oxford's history both fictional and nonfictional is told throughout the city in its gargoyles. They are everywhere and feature faces as well as animals and nature. More recently a new set was installed on the northwest side of the Bodleian Library that was the result of a competition requesting ideas from children to replace aging, deteriorated faces. The winning designs included a couple characters from Alice in Wonderland - the Dodo and Tweedledee & Tweedledum - as well as Aslan the lion from The Chronicles of Narnia.

Narnia, too, has ties to the City and University as the author, C.S. Lewis, was a faculty member at Magdelan College. He also was known to spend time along with several other writers (the 'Inklings') at a pub that still exists today - The Eagle and Child.

These photos and bits of stories are just the tip of my experiences in Oxford. Truly a lovely city rich in history.

If you could follow in the footsteps of a favorite author or character, who would you choose?

Read More

Last Week

Trent & I spent the past week in England splitting our time between Oxford and London. Although we returned on Friday afternoon, I'm still absorbing everything we did and saw in that time. Our first visit ever so we packed it full. Here's a small glimpse ...

The Headington Shark

Chapel ceiling at Queens College

Angel carving in the chapel at Christ Church

Horse Guards, London

House of Parliament, London

More to come as I have time to reflect and tell the stories. I did start a Smash book (my first) and just ordered photos to add so there will be an upcoming post sharing details of it soon.

Read More

Wordless Wednesday: Downtown Durham

Linking up to Wordless Wednesday

Read More

NC State Fair in Photos

Last Friday, we spent the day at the NC State Fair with Trent's aunt, uncle and cousins. We had a blast. Here's a glimpse of our day in photos and proof there is a lot more to the Fair than just food & rides ...

Read More