Holiday Card Templates

Here's a sneak peak from our digiscrapstudio . . .

2007 holiday card templates by studiocharm.com

{here's a sample 4x8 card design. Simply place your image into the design and customize any text. Our entire collection of 2007 designs will soon make their debut!!

To see more designs visit the card studio here.

Storybook Action

Here are a few samples from a storybook photoshop action I am working on. It goes especially well with grassy, nature shots!

and one "non storybook but definitely child friendly shot":

{Hope you loved one big dose of summer photos, as we are now in autumn mode!}

Counting the Days

Excitement for any holiday, any cause to celebrate and eat more chocolate is growing around here. Now that my dd understands how calendars work, she keeps very close track of the days--and especially the holidays. Today was rainbow day at school, in fact. It was quite the thrill! Here's S's punkin drawing with a little Halloween festivity courtesty {me}:

She's a Winner

I have to document many "firsts" that happen around here. Here's a little something that may often be overlooked on the list of firsts:

FIRST TIME TO WIN A PRIZE.

My dd received a call from our local library yesterday to inform her that she had won a contest. We were to pick up the prize at the library. I don't think A. knows what "luck" is, but once she saw the prize, she was feeling like one lucky duck! Here she is!

Can you remember the first thing you ever won? Mine was a cakewalk at the Halloween carnival when I was in first grade. I was wearing strawberry shortcake sandals (she was popular back then as well) with my pink bunny rabbit costume. I won the biggest cake EVER, and I even shared it with my siblings. I was on cloud nine. It was covered in chocolate frosting, and I felt like I had won the lottery (or at least the cakewalk)!

Downtown collage

Here is a design I am having printed as a 24"x36" gallery wrapped canvas. Yesterday I took the kiddos on a photo adventure "downtown" in our hometown. There are some great old brick walls with chipped paint and old wooden doors that make a great backdrop. I love the urban-vintage feel it creates, even with the silly expressions and poses offered by my darling, wiggly children.

Someone said to me today, "I bet your kids love having their photo taken." I wish I could say I never resort to bribery . . . but my kids know me all to well. Our little field trips always seem to coincide with photo shoots. Needless to say, I brought along a bag of peanut m&m's for this shoot and we did have a great time. I will post a photo of the finished canvas when it arrives next week!!

I must mention that my oldest dd really gets into it when I allow her to shoot a few photos with my camera. She snapped the one of baby brother on the lower left corner. Looks like I've got a great assistant/ competitor in the making!

Noisy as a Firetruck

One day I felt the need to go out on a photo journey and find something unique to photograph. This firetruck caught my eye, and I asked the owner if I could snap a few pictures of it. He offered to let me sit behind the wheel (which I did) and he told me about all of the truck's features. He was planning to restore it to a state of firetruck splendor--I personally loved the old worn parts and the character of rusty, painted metal. Here she is . . .

{I used a PS action on these photos which mimics the effects of using a lomo camera. It really enhances the deep colors and vintage look of these photos!}

There She Goes

. . . growing up so fast, like they said she would. She's off to kindergarten and there's no turning back. Please allow me to get a bit sentimental, as I am not prone to crying but I do feel the same emotions minus the tears.

This girl is normally not so chipper in the mornings, but all last week she was eager, giddy and just so excited to get to school. After summertime boredom at home, I think she was ready for a solid routine and some action-packed fun and learning.

So the first day of school arrived- and it took almost a month worth of her crossing out the days to get here! On the way to school I told S., "Do you know that you could make 20 new friends today?" Her eyes widened with excitement at that amazing possibility. Here are some images that capture that first day of school:

{Ready}

{Time to go?}

{Giddy. Anxious. Sweet.}

{There she goes. She gets so focussed that she almost doesn't look back, but she knows that I need her to --and for my sake she does.}

Here's to the next 13 years until her HS graduation . . .

Note- I didn't have time to cry after dropping her off, because it immediately began to rain and we had to quickly run for cover.

My LBFF

The son keeps us on our toes these days. He is a stair-climber, potting-soil digger, unidentifiable crumb tast-tester, emotion detector, and true sweetheart. It has been said of M. that I am his "BFF" (ie. "Best Friend Forever"). I can attest to this, and I will be the first to admit, I do make a great friend. I keep this boy safe, fed, clothed and loved, and that is HARD WORK!

{This is M's "I'm drooling, I'm teething. See my two-teeth grin, with eyes bluer than blue" look}

{This is M's "laugh-out-loud, how can you resist me mom, I'm a sweetheart" look}

{This is his "catch me while you can, don't you love my beautiful lashes" look}

Love you, my little best friend forever.

This Is Crowded Happiness

Here's a recent digital scrapbook layout I created. The journaling reads,

"At times I am overwhelmed as a mother to three. They all need my attention, and usually at the same time. Last week while sitting on the stairway reading with S. and having little sis and baby bro climbing on us, I felt a surge of frustration hit me.

S. exclaimed in her cheery 5 year-old voice, 'This is crowded happiness!'

She was right! It brought a smile to my face and my attitude improved. Find the joy amidst the chaos. ~August 2007"

Puppeted Woodland Fairies

My two girls have a vast collection of hand puppets. This is because I love puppets and secretly wanted to be a puppeteer after attending a puppet show as a child. So I buy them. They come out to play once in a while. One day they became the ultimate fairy fashion "must-have" and I just had to document them. The following fairy wardrobes were completely designed by my 3 & 5 year-old daughters. I hope you get a laugh out of them, as I surely did!

{You may recognize the stylin' curly hair-do. It was a vital component of Daddy's Napoleon Dynamite Costume a couple years ago. He even won a costume contest with it!!}