Timeline Cover
Treat bags
A personal note to teacher
Thin Crust Pizza Toppings
Hand Made Birthday Card

Facebook Timeline

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May 8, 2012 by

Maybe I’m one of the minority but I LOVE the new timeline in Facebook. I really like the layout and being able to have a custom header is W A Y cool, in my opinion.

This is the header I have on my personal page and here are a few example I have done for others.

If you are interested in having a custom timeline header for your Facebook page, shoot me a message, I’d love to do one for you. Check out information here on my SERVICES page. Or there is a great resource for making your own timeline cover here.

Kisses of Sunshine Photography Banner  & logo (see below)

Here is how it looks on Facebook (note: there is room for her featured image which happens to be her TOTALLY FABULOUS LOGO).

Heather Meyer Designs & how it looks on her Facebook page (since we used her logo in the timeline header, she has a nice, personal touch, with her photo as the featured image).

 

Filed Under: design, services, tutorials ·

Birthday party treat bags…

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May 7, 2012 by

We are super excited around here!! Getting ready for Collin’s big #8!!! I can’t believe my baby is almost 8, time is fleeting…

Collin has been awaiting this day like no other! It’s almost here. Sleepover time is coming!! 7 boys and a ton a fun this upcoming weekend!!!! Exciting!

Since we are having a sleepover we tried to stick to a camping/boy theme. For the treat bags we are going to give each guest some fun stuff:

Metal, outdoor flashlight (Home Depot_

Glow bars to wear at night (Dollar Store)

Pop It’s (Dollar Store)

Sparklers (Dollar Store)

Card Game: this reminded me of camping. (Walmart, we purchase Phase 10)

Candy – no “treat” bag is complete without candy!! My son love sthe wax candies with the gel inside so that;s what we added to the bags.

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Teacher Appreciation

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May 6, 2012 by

 

We really do appreciate our teacher’s (and because I was a teacher I can especially appreciate them). Anyone who spend 5 days a week, 8 hours a day with my kids will always get a “Thank You” from me!

This year the boys helped me put together these easy & fun treats for their teachers.

Supplies:

1 planter pot (purchased at Walmart for under $2!!!)

*Best part about the planter pot (we did red) is they can reuse it)

Candy – we purchased larger, movie sized candy at  Walmart : Milk Duds, Licorice, Hot Tamales,Etc.

Popcorn – of course we had to put popcorn in our “move” themed gift

Optional:  Red Box Gift Card or Blockbuster or even the local movie theater gift card.

A personal note: I had my boys write a little note to each teacher (my youngest has 3 teachers in his classroom). I think a little note from the boys just helps to add that personal touch. And it includes them in the project that much more.

 

Filed Under: family ·

Thin Crust Pizza

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April 26, 2012 by

A YUMMY TREAT THAT THE HUBBY MAKES – Thin Crust (home made) Pizza  {drooling as I write}

This is a simple and yet superb meal to make at home.

#1. THE STUFF (& PRE HEAT THE OVEN TO 425 degrees, please)

Flour (wheat or white… we’ve made both. Sean prefers white flour for the thin crust style) about 2 cups

A bit of salt

Olive Oil

Yeast (1 pkt)

Water (3/4 – 1c. warm water)

toppings of choice

#2 . MAKE YOUR DOUGH GROW

First, soak the yeast for about 5 minutes.

Second, add flour and salt to the yeast and kneed/mix until well blended. Cover for about 15 minutes and let the dough rise.

#3. ROLL YOUR DOUGH (roll it to fit your pan)

We roll it right on our kitchen island. We are totally classy and wrap the island with some super-duper saran wrap, add a few dashes of flour and our trusty rolling pin… and away we he goes (there is no “we” here, who am I kidding, Sean does ALL the cooking).

#4. DECORATE YOUR DOUGH

Splash on some olive oil… you don’t need a lot but don’t be shy either

Add your Mozzarella cheese. A few handfuls should suffice. No need to over do it.

#5. IT’S ALL ON TOP

We LOVE salami on our pizza, our boys can’t get enough of it. We also add Ricotta cheese (dabs of it here and there), garlic, basil and bell peppers (and depending on our moods, we give and take in the toppings department).

#6. LETS GET THIS BABY COOKED

Over should be preheated to 425 degrees.

Slap that bad boy in the oven. Wait about 10-12 minutes, check that the cheese is melted and if so, it’s ready!

#7. EAT & ENJOY!!

Filed Under: family, tutorials · Tagged: , ,

Baby Girl Gift

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April 20, 2012 by

This past weekend I whipped up this fun little gift for our friends who are expecting a little girl in May.

Supplies:

*  Piece of wood, sanded and one coat of white (or a light color) paint applied. I used left over shelving, the size was 12 x16″

* ribbon

* scrap card stock for triangles

* lettered sticker (Michaels Craft Store) any color if fine

* acrylic paint(s) – I used yellow and aqua

* paint brush

*optional – vinyl decal made on Silhouette Cameo machine (I designed and cut out the large “Lucy” shape that you see on the board.  Stars, a moon, a cute animal sticker… anything of that nature would work well here. Or the entire board could be a poem, not special shape needed, just the letters. :)

#1. I had a scrap piece of wood that I painted with some left over wall paint. My wall paint is a really light blue, almost white, Martha Stewart in Eggshell. So I lightly sanded a scrap board, and painted it. After letting it dry for 24 hours, then I started my project.

#2. Apply the vinyl decal (used my Silhouette Cameo and their vinyl)

#3. I drew straight lines (in pencil) for my quote “Miracle in the making”

#4. Centered the quote and stuck the letters onto the board. Once I liked them, I went over them with my finger nail and made sure they were stuck on well. Didn’t want any gaps or bubbles.

#5. FUN!! now I painted over everything. I am not neat nor am I worried about perfection so I just squirted some yellow paint and some aqua paint and mixed it together. I painted all one direction and over ALL the letters and the “Lucy” decal. This was easy!

#6. Wait for acrylic to dry, but don’t wait over 2 hours… too dry makes it hard to peel the stickers off. PEEL OFF THE STICKERS. S – L – O -W – L – Y

#7. I hot glued ribbon right across the center and with that ribbon I cut some cute triangles out of scrap card  stock paper and hot glued those on too.

TA-DA… a super cute, personal baby gift.

Hope they love it!

 

Filed Under: design, tutorials ·

Fun Birthday cards

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April 15, 2012 by

Collin is quickly approaching the BIG #8…

A sleepover is in order! Since he was only inviting about 5 boys, we decided to give the new Silhouette Cameo machine a whirl. What a great little machine (and since it was an early Mother’s Day gift I feel great using it on a mommy-son project).

I found free SVG files on a google search and had the machine cut the tent shapes and the trees.

Collin cut out the 12×12 card stock. We only needed two full sheets and that gave us eight squares to use as our main background (the plaid paper).

Collin folded construction paper for the front to write information on, and he glued it right on the cardstock. Easy peasy. Then we took turns writing information on each card (thank goodness there were only 6 to make, he was tired of doing this after only two cards!).

I was happy to do these with Collin and he was so proud to pass them out to his buddies because he made them!

Great memories.

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Birthday Count Down

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April 10, 2012 by

We have a new tradition around here… the Birthday count down chain. This started with my youngest son, he asked me everyday, sometimes 4 or 5 times a day “how much longer until my birthday?”  In an effort to help him understand how long it would be until his big, special day, we mad a chain.

The boys and I cut different colors of construction paper into 2-3″ strips (this is super easy). Then I helped write the days on each strip. I gave each boy about 15 days (15 strips) and they made two sections of the chain that eventually became one long section. This way they were both involved!

We used glue at first them ended up with the stapler to put the strips together.

It’s almost finished!!

Once it’s all one, we hang it up (just use a tack) and the “soon-to-be” birthday boy tears off one section of the chain each day, and one by one the chain starts to get smaller and smaller until FINALLY, it’s BIRTHDAY time!!

Filed Under: design, family, tutorials · Tagged: , , ,

In My Camera Bag

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April 4, 2012 by

This is what’s in my bag (and a little of what isn’t and what was):

In My Camera Bag

#1. THE BAG

I love my bag. It’s easy to carry and not too big. It’s not pretty but it’s practical. When I was shooting on the beach in San Diego it was essential that I had a bag that I could carry and easily access different lenses… so, when I found this Slingshot at Costco, I scooped it up and never looked back.

#2. THE CAMERA

I love Canon. In my professional bag; Canon 5D Mark II, and I love it!!!! I especially love the large format, the 5D is amazing (IMO). My back up camera (not pictured) is my trustee ole’ Canon 20D, my first digital DSLR and yes, I still use it for events that require me to sling around two cameras with different lens sizes. I still have a Canon SLR film camera and I would love to break that bad boy out! Speaking of Canon cameras…I also carry a Powershot with me in my purse all the time (I’m a mom, and a camera always comes in handy).

#3. LENSES

Rule #1 when purchasing a lens (for me): no adjustable f/stop!!!  My goal: Go all prime someday.

My first lens and the love of my life: my 50mm. Everyone should have a 50mm! Someday I will upgrade to the lower f/stop but I have had my 50mm for over 8 years and I wouldn’t part with it, I always have it with me. Great portrait lens!

85mm – love it

24-70mm – great lens but it’s finicky and it’s a zoom lens so I feel lazy using it (just a personal thing). I do use this lens a lot, more than I’d like to admit {wink, wink}.

SOLD IT – 70-200mm – amazing lens but it was HUGE and not really what I needed for my photog biz. at the time, so I parted with it. I know it’s with someone who loves her better than I ever could.

WANT IT – 135mm – {drool} I can’t justify purchasing this lens right now but someday I will!

#4. FLASH

Canon Speedlight – I use this like 10x a year! Seriously, this is the least used item in my bag but I have it for those RARE occasions. I alway prefer NO FLASH but sometimes there isn’t a choice. I do love that I can rotate this flash and pretty much direct the harsh light to bounce off any surface I choose, so that’s nice.

#5 LIGHT METER

Minolta Light Meter – no longer in production. I have had my meter for years and I LOVE it. I used it in my studio for every session and I try to use it on my sessions outside. I love my meter and when I am not being lazy, I put her to good use.

#6. CHARGER & BATTERIES (not pictured)

I always carry extra batteries and my battery charger, A MUST! :)

 

Filed Under: photog ·

The Cottages Logo

Comments
March 30, 2012 by

A logo/brand for a brand new housing development

This was a recent project for a brand new housing development in Flagstaff. I was graciously contacted to add my artistic abilities to help Paula and Mike (the realtors) come up with a logo and marketing booklet for the new development that they were promoting.

Because the development was in Flagstaff I decided to stick to natural elements and colors.

These homes are brand new and at great prices the realtors are hoping to draw in a wide range of clients; from first time home buyers to second home owners.

I love design and this project was a lot of fun to be a part of.

Here is just a small sample of the project. Check out the MLS listing for these great new homes here.

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