From the category archives:
The winner of Kellie Hatcher’s color and b&w presets is …
Congratulations, Annie, you lucky lady!! I will email you shortly with details.
Sorry for the late’ness in choosing the winner – busy weekend with my girls.
[yogurt piled high with all kinds of yummy candies for Emma ... dairy-free orange sorbet for Lucy]
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It’s no secret I love Kellie Hatcher. She is easily one of my most favorite photographers – she plays with light like no other photographer out there. I’m not just saying that, either. You NEED to check out her blog when you have a minute … or an hour, because you’ll get sucked in for at least that long. I promise.
If you remember, we gave away a set of her black and white film Lightroom presets way back in April, and she has since come out with a color set, as well. Also moody. Also film-like. Also amazing.
She has created the presets I’ve been wanting ever since I got Lightroom, and I’ll be honest … I begged, pleaded, groveled and offered to send her my firstborn [sorry, Emma] to get on her tester list. It wasn’t pretty. And I am lucky lucky lucky to be able to use these all the time.
And YOU are lucky lucky lucky, because Kellie has so graciously offered to give one of YOU these presets.
But WAIT! There’s more!! [I suddenly feel like I'm on "Let's Make a Deal"]
She is giving away BOTH SETS – the lucky winner will get both the color presets and the b&w presets.
And then you will live happily ever after.
[please note: both the b&w and color sets work in both Lightroom and ACR]
To enter to win both sets of presets, leave a comment here telling me your favorite cookies to make. Or make and eat. Or buy and eat. Or just eat. Let’s just talk about cookies, okay? I’m pregnant and hungry and this baby has a sweet tooth.
For additional entries …
1. “Like” Kellie Hatcher Photography on Facebook and then leave a separate comment here telling me you liked it. [Kellie did not ask me to do this as a stipulation of the contest - I just think everyone who's smart should like her page and keep up with her photography]
2. Share this contest on Twitter or Facebook and then leave a separate comment here letting me know you shared it.
That’s three opportunities to win as long as you follow the rules, yo.
Comments will be closed on Friday, December 16 at 10:00pm’ish EST. Or the next morning if I fall asleep before then. And then I will announce the winner shortly thereafter.
Good luck!!!
So I’m not much for bandwagons, and “bento lunches” seem to be the latest trend. Cutting food into shapes, using cutesy toothpicks to hold food together, carving fruit, etc. I’ll be honest … I thought it was kind of nuts.
But then I noticed that Emma was coming home with the majority of her lunch still in her lunch bag, and she’d be hungry all afternoon. And if there’s one thing I hate more than bandwagons, it’s wasting food.
So I pulled out our Easy Lunchboxes and started loading them up with the same stuff I was fixing for her. But instead of doing a baggie of fruit, a baggie of crackers and a sandwich in a baggie, I put it all in a box.
[ham and mustard sandwich [I let her pick the shape], slice of cheese, goldfish crackers and grapes]
And lo and behold, she came home with a handful of goldfish crackers and 3 grapes.
Wednesday was much of the same …
[ham and mustard sandwich, olives, cheese, goldfish crackers, yogurt-covered raisins]
And today’s lunch …
[this week's letter is "J" so I made her a "jet" ham sandwich, a pickle, strawberries and goldfish crackers - not seen: pudding cup for a Friday treat]
So far, this is really working out great, and she is eating quite a bit more than she ate before. And honestly, it’s not any harder than what I was doing before. I still give her the same food, but for some reason, having it like this makes it more appealing to a 4-year old.
I look to Wendolonia.com for inspiration, because she makes beautiful “bento” lunches in a way that I prefer, which is making what I would normally make, but making it more fun for Emma.
And one more positive is no plastic baggie waste!
If you’re interested, here is what I used this week …
Now, before I forget, I wanted to announce the two winners of the Vintage Pearl giveaway!
Congratulations to …
#72 is Mrs. H
#14 is Laura H.
I will be emailing you both shortly – congratulations! And thank you all for entering. Remember, all items ordered from the Ready to Ship page by December 15 will make it in time for Christmas!
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I love my latest advertiser – The Vintage Pearl – and I have several pieces from there.
And if you’ve been on the internet in the last few years, you probably know about and love them, too. Erin is such a beautiful soul, and you can see the love she has for her work in the various pieces she and her team create … down to the wrapping.
So anyway, I have the most gorgeous antique-setting wedding set, but it sits up really high, and I don’t wear the engagement ring part of it very often since I’m always toting Lucy around and changing diapers and brushing hair and tucking shirts into pants and a gajillion other things that cause scratches galore. I have wanted a simple band for YEARS, but every Christmas or Mother’s Day or birthday, I end up with something photography-related instead. Not that I’m complaining!! That’s just how it works out. And this Christmas, my wish list consists of a vacuum cleaner and a Keurig coffee maker. Whoo-boy, it’s getting crazy up in here.
Anyway, thanks to The Vintage Pearl, I finally got my wish!! And I chose a beautiful simple message ring to wear on a daily basis.
I asked to have the words, “i carry you in my heart,” stamped on it, and Erin suggested an actual heart in place of the word. LOVE.
Absolutely perfect. Now, I have unique proof of my marriage that I can wear daily without worrying about gouging my kids. Or myself. I would have posted a picture of me wearing it, but … well … I have the ugliest, wrinkly hands. Just trust me when I say, I haven’t taken it off since I received it.
I also received a beautiful vintage keepsake ornament that is personalized with our family name, and it. is. stunning.
You guys, the workmanship of The Vintage Pearl pieces is absolutely outstanding. I look forward to hanging this on our tree for years and years and years to come.
You have GOT to get your hands on something from there very very soon.
Oh wait.
I can help with that.
Erin has graciously offered to give a $25 TVP gift certificate to TWO lucky readers!
So how do you win?
Go visit the store and choose something that you would like to have … then come back here and tell me what you have added to your Christmas wish list.
* To get another entry, post this giveaway on Twitter and then come back here and tell me that you did. For example,
* And for another entry, go “like” The Vintage Pearl’s Facebook page and then come back here and tell me. You can even leave a comment on the page if you want to make them smile.
[And while you’re over there, feel free to like my Facebook page, but it won’t count as an additional entry.]
I will keep this open until Thursday, December 8th at 10:00pm … if I’m still awake at that time [unlikely], I’ll close down the comments and announce a winner then or sometime Friday morning.
Sadly, it’s too late to order a custom to get here in time for Christmas, but anything on the ready to ship page can be ordered up until December 15th to make it in time for Christmas. And you can always still order a custom that will be yours after Christmas. You can blame that on me – I dropped the ball on getting this post up in time.
First of all, a huge thank you to Easy Canvas Prints for sponsoring this giveaway – they are totally awesome to work with, and I highly recommend them!!
Now … onto the good stuff.
The winner is …
Congratulations, Dawn!! I will email you sometime today [during naptime or quiet time or one of those times when I’m hiding from my kids in the closet]
On a completely unrelated note …
Can I just get something off of my chest?
TGIF!
This has been a … week. And I am so looking forward to having a teammate home with me this weekend. Let’s just leave it at that.
I hope your weekend is as delicious as Lucy’s supper …
I mean, really. I hope you enjoy your weekend so much, it gets all up in your eyelashes and EVERYTHING!
And if you’re lucky? A kitchen sink bath!
Okay … so that’s might be weird. ‘Cause if you’re reading this blog, you won’t actually FIT in a kitchen sink. Unless you have a tub-size kitchen sink. Which would be AWESOME, except for the fact that I would never do dishes … since I only do dishes when the sink is full.
So don’t have so much fun that you end up in the kitchen sink. Or … I guess … do. That might be interesting.
Happy Weekend!!
[Ken brought home sparklers for Emma. She is now scared of them. Welcome to my life.]
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