MAGGIE HOLMES Photography and Scrapbooking Blog

Studio Calico and the New Year

I keep forgetting to mention that the January kit at Studio Calico is available now! It is a great kit and I also got to play with some of the products from the add on kits - fun stuff!! You can see and purchase the kits here.

Here is a little sneak peek from one of my layouts:

To see all of my layouts that I created with the kits, go here.

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Hope you are all having a great start to the new year! I have been spending lots of time with my little family and thinking about some goals for this year. Here is a picture of me and Emmy Jane at the park on New Year's day! She loves to sit on my lap and swing!! Thanks mom for taking the pics! (I used my sun kissed action on this one. Changed the opacity on the sun kissed layer (the one that says background copy) to 77% before flattening the image. Typically I don't leave the actions at a full 100%. I almost always adjust the opacity down a bit or a lot depending on the original photo and what I want the end result to be.)

I always have the urge to clean and organize right after we take down our Christmas decorations. When I put back up the "normal" decorations I find that I always move things around and change things up a bit and it always seems to give me the feeling of a fresh start. Some things I leave in storage to be brought out at a later time. And I love how things seem fresh and new when they are simply moved to a new location or arranged with different items than before. 

If you remember I relocated my scrapbook room/office to a different room a few months back and it is all put together but I still haven't done much as far as decorating it or hanging things on the walls yet. I haven't been able to decide what I want to do so I have just been letting it sift and settle in my mind a bit. I wasn't sure if I wanted to just hang pictures in here or if I wanted a place to hang my current/favorite scrapbook layouts also. As I was putting some things away the other day I came across some of those favorite layouts that are just sitting in a stack in the closet. And I didn't really want to put them in albums yet, because I want to be able to see them still. It's those layouts/pictures/stories that I love and that make me happy that I do want hanging up in here so I can see them and be inspired by them! So, I have come to the conclusion that I need to figure out some sort of way to hang layouts up in here. I would also like to have some frames in here for photos so I can print my favorites and rotate through those as time goes on. 

Anyway, lots of ideas still floating around. I really want to pull it all together though and get it completed soon! If you have or have seen any cool display ideas lately (for layouts and/or photos), let me know or send me a link/photo! I want something fresh and fun!! 

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One last thing before I go.... be sure to check back here on Wednesday because I will have an awesome giveaway that is being sponsored by a really great website!! Can't wait to reveal! You will love it! Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!!

Photo Share

Just popping in really quick to share a couple of photos.

Here's what we are up to today:

swim lessons

work on some scrapbook layouts for an assignment

emily's physical therapy appointment

work on some photography stuff - edit photos and design a wedding anouncement

clean the house

... all mixed in with the regular stuff of the day - breakfast, lunch, dinner, bath, play with the boys and emily jane...

One thing that frustrates me throughout the summer is that I feel like my house is a constant mess! Even when I have it clean at night before I go to bed, it is a mess by 8:30 the next morning!! Eeek!! Does anyone have any great suggestions on keeping your house clean during the summer when all the kiddos are home from school? I try to ignore it until the end of the day and just pick up in the afternoon before dinner. Otherwise I feel like I could just follow the kids around all day picking up and telling them to pick up. But, on the other hand it drives me crazy to have a messy house all day!! Let me know if you have any good tips!! I need all the help I can get!!

I took these photos of Emily Jane when we were up in Utah back in April. I took them with my cheap little point-and-shoot that my husband got me for Christmas. On one hand, I hate using it because I have become such a perfectionist with my photos, but on the other hand I love having it because it keeps me from missing so many shots when I don't have my big camera with me. I guess it is a love/hate relationship! :) I played around with these in Photoshop - used my actions (lighten up, color pop and vintage), then I did a little more fine tune editing and added a texture. I can't wait to use these on a scrapbook page!!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day!!

Winner!!

.... the winner of the give away is:

I am a scrapbooker, but through this have become very interested in improving my photography skills. I love to see your work. What I would like right now is for you to develop your actions for Elements users, as I for one would love to purchase these.
Thank you for the chance to be entered into your giveaway.

Posted by: kathy (kathyb) | June 03, 2008 at 02:45 AM

Congrats Kathy! Email me your address and I will get your package sent out next week!

Thanks to everyone for playing and for all of your feedback/comments! I am glad to know that you all do feel inspired when you come here! I am going through all of your comments and will plan some fun things to do on here in the future, including some more give aways!!

We are heading to the pool today! The boys are already in their suits and telling me that they are going to go hop in the car even though we are not going for a couple of hours! They must be excited! Tyler loves the waterslides this year and he goes down them about 100 times every time we go! He and Matthew are both a lot less afraid of the water this year - jumping in more and not being afraid to put their heads under. We start swim lessons next week and I think they will do really well this year - hoping for lots of progress. When you move here from Utah, it is hard for the kids to catch up in the swimming department since most Arizona kids basically live in the pool from the time they are born! :) We are getting there!

I will leave you with a few more photos from a session that I did a while back. This little girl is just too cute!!

Have a great Saturday!!

Oh, one more thing. When you purchase my actions, the only email that I have to send the actions to is the email that is linked to your paypal account. So, it is critical that you make sure the email on your paypal account is your current email. I am trying to email the actions to someone that purchased them on June 6th and the email keeps getting returned to me. I have no other way to contact you so hopefully you will see this and email me with a new email!! If you have purchased my actions recently and have not received them, please email me!! Thanks!!