Joy & Love… or something like it…

We’ve been talking a lot about pictures recently.  We talked out my Aunt Uncle and cousin’s pictures, then we saw the shots that Elizabeth took of me and Joe.  And today I thought I’d share some shots from a little photo shoot with Julie’s girls.

Thanksgiving weekend the girls came over one afternoon for a little impromptu photo session.  Now we obviously don’t have children but I have experienced the impossible task the challenge of getting a photo where everyone is smiling, looking at the camera and seem at least somewhat happy.

But all that being said – we actually got some pretty good shots.  Yes there are some where everyone is smiling but they’re even better ones that truly show the girls’ personalities’.  Some really fun ones!  Julie made the call to go with those “real” ones which made some super fun Christmas cards!  Let’s take a look at some of them!

   

**priceless**

 

 

he-larious!

And the final card:

Beautiful precious girls!  But can I just say… when did they get so big?!?!  Ellie’s wearing one of my hats – can she really be that old?  And sweet Emily and those pigtails- be still my heart!  I love these girls so much!  I can’t wait to see the Christmas card in the mail – a perfect way to say

Merry Christmas!

Banner Holiday!

I wanted to show y’all how I made our banner for our Christmas cards.

Remember these uber cool inspiration pictures:

I really liked this banner idea but couldn’t find one in a store so…  what do we do when that happens?!?!  We make our own!

So I grabbed some supplies from Michaels:

Letter stickers, tags, and leather string

I applied one sticker per tag.  Then cut short strings and tied them with a split knot.

Next I attached each word to a long string – attaching them to their own string

Super simple right!

And just in case you didn’t see some pictures with the banner – here’s how it turned out…

Love this shot!  She’s such a kooky girl!! Love her!

Oh and I’m sure this cute little banner will be making into our Christmas décor!  Score – double duty!!  Merry merry, happy happy, ya’ll!!

Holly Jolly Photos

So…  I’ve decided to take the plunge and send out photo Christmas cards.  I feel a bit silly sending out a picture of just me and Joe…  I know, it’s probably not weird but for some reason I think couple shot = just married or engaged.  And obviously we are neither of those.  But I got over it and decided to take the plunge. 

I needed to do some research on ideas for poses.  Nothing that looked too “we just got married.”  So off to Pinterest I headed…  making a board of ideas.

Here are some of my favorites… (click on the photo to take you to the source)

So with these ideas in mind…  we headed outside after Thanksgiving lunch with my sweet cousin as our photographer. 

And the winner:

I’m hesitant to show the actual card cause I want it to be a surprise for those who will be receiving it in the mail!  So what do you think?  Does it look like we’re trying to be a newly engaged couple?  Ok good!  Have you taken your photo yet for your cards.  Check back for our adventure of taking pictures of Julie’s girls for their card!  Too fun!!

Photo Challenge Week 4

It’s that time again! Here’s what we had on tap for this week:

Technically we had Day 20-24 but I left out Day 17 last week but already did Day 20 so I’m jumping around a bit!

I didn’t get anything accomplished for the Day 22 – Hands; so I’ll keep working on that one.  Have you been attempting some photography?  Don’t forget to hop over to Michelle’s and check out the Photo Party!  Oh and if you want to check out:

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Go for it!!

Photo Challenge Week 3

We’re in week 3 of the Photo Challenge with Ten June

This photo challenge really has me thinking outside the box and trying things I’ve been wanting to do for a while now but without a specific motivation it hasn’t happened!  So yippee – I’m trying to work on my photography skills and y’all are the suckers stuck checking them out.  I love a baited audience! 

This week I had a lot of fun with the editing via Picnik.  I told ya last week but I’m going to say it again. You must go play with the editing tools via Picnik!  So fun!  I thought it’d be fun to see the SOC (straight-out-of-camera) along side the final edited picture.

Used the “black & white” edit and brightened up Annie’s coat a bit and cropped to bring more focus to the eyes

“Focal black & white” with some “boost” added afterwards

All the sunlight rays were in the original shot.  Used “cross process” & “vignette” for edit

“1960’s” edit style

“Orto-nish” & “vignette” edit

 

So which one is your favorite?  Have you been taking any pictures lately – well if your answer is yes you better get over to Picnik and play with some editing features!  ☺ And don’t forget to link up to Michelle’s Party!

Check out Photo Challenge Week 1 & Week 2