Sometimes, random is all I got. Today is one of those days.

First of all, those color presets I’ve been hinting about? They have been released!!

straight out of my camera:

and after Kellie Hatcher’s beautiful color presets:

I am telling you, folks, these are simply amazing if you are a fan of the more moody and film-like look to your images. Now, what I LOVE about these is what it does to the light … Kellie is one of the most amazing light-finding photographers I have ever seen, and she created these presets to showcase that type of work.

If you are looking for some fabulous clean editing presets, check out One Willow’s new Beautiful Things collection. Absolutely gorgeous. Her presets are always just the right amount of change … they enhance the beauty of the image without turning it into something else. Clean and pure and subtle.

straight out of my camera:

after One Willow’s Beautiful Things presets:

There are a handful of beautiful black and white film presets included, as well:

Anyway, check these out if you get a chance!

We’ve been enjoying the cooler weather lately and embracing the cloudiness without complaining … because we are FINALLY spending time outside without needing sunscreen or hunting for shade.

Granted, we don’t have the sidewalk on our side of the street, so we’ve taken over our neighbor’s sidewalk [and sometimes … his yard] but he busted us the other evening … I think the cuteness of my girls won him over.

And sometimes, the girls have those days where I just know we need to take a walk.

I wanted to say more, but editing and putting together those pictures took way more time than I expected, and I have to get up in approximately 6 hours to run 4 miles. And by the time this posts, I’ll have already done it.

I’ll have more random stuff to say [and more pictures of neighbor front yard creeping] in future posts.

Who is with me on the weekly Pinterest challenge for this Friday? I’m … ummm … not quite finished with mine, yet, but I will be by then! [I hope]

It was a Sunday. We had been going going going all day long. Never really had a break.

And then I remember … project 365! Still going strong, 254 days in, still need to get a picture, still need to check that box off for the day.

Check.

And for real, you guys are going to fall out of your desk chairs when you get your hands on these soon-to-be-released color presets from Kellie Hatcher. They are ah-mazing.

I “met” Jessica Paige on Flickr a long long time ago, and I thought she was amazing. I was in awe of her and just wanted her to like me. Seriously.

Now, she is a friend, a fellow contributor on I Heart Faces, a phenomenal photographer and someone I still admire greatly. And she’s even more amazing than she was way back then, if that’s even possible.

She has also created some of the most beautiful Lightroom presets that I have ever found. And I look for good LR presets a LOT. Her presets really enhance photos without overdoing it. [Just say no to orange skin!]

You might have heard of them? One Willow Presets. If you want to see her amazing photos that are processed with these presets, go here.

But I thought I’d throw out a few before/afters of my own, if that’s okay.

From the Timeless collection …

[sooc first]

Lucy says, “Power to the people. The people who use Lightroom.”

Jessica’s amazing presets even make dirty feet look prettier … sort of. Okay, so she can’t work miracles, but that’s what baths are for.

The Timeless collection is wonderful, because it doesn’t go crazy on your images. It tweaks them *just enough* without causing crazy effects and weird colors.

And for the fans of more vintage’y processing [me! me!!] …

From the Fairytales collection …

And finally, a gorgeous black and white set that I just can’t get enough of …

MAGIC!!

There is also a fourth collection called Retro Candy, but in the switching of my computers, I forgot to move those over to my laptop. But you can see for yourself, they are just as amazing as the rest of these collections!

So that’s it. That’s all I’m going to write about today.

Ta-ta!

…………

………………

Just kidding!!

Jessica has graciously offered A $50 GIFT CERTIFICATE to One Willow Boutique to one lucky reader. One seriously lucky reader. I mean, really really lucky.

I assure you, your workflow will never be the same.

So here are my rules for how this is going to go down [and how you can get THREE entries!]:

First entry: Leave me a comment telling me which preset collection you would buy if you could buy one collection right now at this very second.

Additional entry: Go be a fan of One Willow Presets on Facebook. Jessica did not tell me to do this … I just think you should all be fans. It’s one way to find out about new presets and get your hands on freebies! Feel free to leave her some love, too. But you must come back and post a comment telling me that you “liked” OWP.

Additional entry: Tweet, Facebook or blog about this giveaway. If you do any or all of these, you’ll get that many entries. Of course, please leave a comment saying that you did this … I can’t read your mind, you know.

I will close down comments on Saturday, June 4th at 10pm EST and will then use the random number generator to pick the lucky lucky winner shortly thereafter. Good luck!! And go tell your friends!

So remember how I said that I’d announce the winner of Kellie Hatcher’s Lightroom/ACR Presets on Friday night or Saturday morning? Augh. I thought maybe you’d forget.

I was literally drinking coffee at 9am on Saturday morning when I realized that we were supposed to be at a wedding in Georgia at 2pm. All four of us. And Ken still had to go play tennis at 10am.

So it was a busy morning of getting ready while Lucy napped and then driving down, wedding’ing and then driving back. And the nap Lucy took that morning? Only nap of the day. Yowzers.

And then Sundays are always just crazy insane busy. I thought Sunday was supposed to be a day of rest!?! Yet, it never is.

And it’s now 4pm on Monday, and I’m just now booting up my computer. Okay, I’m lying … I booted it up hours ago, but I’ve been updating the spreadsheet for our hospital bills and working on a brochure for Emma’s preschool.

And … and … and … [there is always an “and.”]

SO, the winner [chosen by random number generator] is …

Congratulations, Kim!! I will email you with more information.

Thank you all for entering!! And the rest of you … go treat yourself to some presets!

Now, I must go fold some laundry and feed my kiddos.

Thank you for all of the comments on yesterday’s post. I think it was the first time I actually slept on a post and thought twice [or fifty-seven times] about publishing it. But I’m really glad I did.

The one thing that I didn’t mention [I was hoping it would kind of jump out from between the lines] was that I am not judging the handful of things I discussed. Obviously, I am not saying that there is anything wrong with cloth diapering or extended rear-facing or breastfeeding or co-sleeping or babywearing. I have done or am doing all of those things. I, personally, think that they are all great and wonderful and awesome.

But it’s not the ONLY way to do things. And doing those things does not make you a better parent than Sally Jane who formula feeds, uses disposable diapers, turns the carseat forward facing at the AAP recommended age, crib sleeps or uses a stroller to push around the baby that she loves with all of her heart. Because, as different as you may parent your children, you both love them. THAT is the point I was trying to make.

The sole purpose of that post was “a call for peace … a way to get some perspective.” [credit: Megan] It was not a judgment of those people who are currently doing those things. It was a plea to cease the judging of those who don’t. That is all.

Moving on …

Due to the overwhelming response, I completely forgot that the deadline for the Kellie Hatcher Lightroom/ACR presets giveaway was last night. Whoops.

So I’m giving it one more day … until 10pm EST tonight [Friday, April 8] to be exact.

I will pick a winner either later tonight or tomorrow morning. Trust me, you do NOT want to miss this opportunity!

One more thing …

Google Friend Connect. Do you use it?

If so, I added the little gadget over there ———————->>>>

Please feel free to connect! I mean, if you want to. No pressure.

Oh my goodness, guys … I am SO EXCITED for YOU!!

Do you know a photographer whose editing is JUST RIGHT on every single image? Like, the image was just made to be processed that way? That’s how I feel about Kellie Hatcher’s images. She takes an already amazing photo and then nails the final product every time.

So imagine my delight when I saw that she was developing her very own black and white Lightroom presets.

I had the amazing opportunity to test these, and I fell in love instantly. INSTANTLY.

In fact, I love them so much, I had to share them with you!

That’s right, Kellie is generously giving away one set of Lightroom / ACR presets to one lucky reader!

And as an added bonus, you’ll get two versions of a fantastic color preset, as well!

So, let’s recap … there are 11 phenomenal black and white presets included … PLUS 2 bonus color presets!

I am going to give you a chance to have TWO entries:

1. Leave a comment here stating which preset is your favorite … that is, if you can choose just one.

2. Go “like” Kellie Hatcher Photography on Facebook [don’t forget to leave her a nice message, as well!] and then come back here and leave another comment letting me know.

I will choose a [very lucky] winner on Thursday, April 7th at 9pm EST.

Good luck!!

I’m moving my photos for the Joy of Love project to Flickr … I really want to keep doing it, but I just can’t keep blogging about it. Blogging about each image creates too much pressure to say lots of stuff when I don’t have much time these days.

Why, you ask? Well…

Emma is producing more snot than a Mucinex commercial. And while she can blow, she can’t wipe it away. Just imagine that for a second. Blowing snot out of her nose, not wiping it away. Yes, it’s just as gross as it sounds.

Lucy has her first ear infection. And this is after having to wait 2 weeks for her reflux medicine to climb out from under the snow in Missouri, filling a $90 prescription that doesn’t work that well in the meantime.

Trying to book our vacation has become a calamity of epic proportions. When they say owning a timeshare makes things easier, they are apparently 84 year olds who are bored and have plenty of time to sit on the phone and chat with various resorts.

Our house is a wreck because of the above issues.

I’m trying … I’m really really trying to find positives, so here we go.

My girls are awesome.

My Emma is loads of fun, even when she’s sick.

My Lucy is growing and changing and becoming so much more active, and I adore every chubby lubby inch of her.

Sometimes, I actually get a nap from both girls at once. It’s like the heavens open up and angels start singing.

I don’t have to rearrange work schedules or caretakers or daycare when my girls are sick. I get to stay home and snuggle with them and watch movies and nurse the sick baby around the clock without having to worry about anything else. I am so very very lucky to be able to do that.

{I hate my hair right now}

I love the gobs of natural light in my house. I wouldn’t know what to do with a flash if it walked up and slapped me in the face. Of course, if a flash could walk and slap, then maybe I wouldn’t have to know what I’m doing … maybe he would just do everything. But anyway, I couldn’t get half of the everyday shots I get without our light.

I have the opportunity to test some amaaaaaazing black and white Lightroom presets from Kellie Hatcher, and they are fabulous. All of the b&w images (except for the first picture of the girls in their tubs) are processed with her presets. LOVE.

So there we go. I’m feeling better already.

I love Photoshop Lightroom!

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom is a photography software program developed by Adobe Systems for Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows, designed to assist professional photographers in managing thousands of digital images and doing post production work.

One of the best things about Lightroom are the presets, which are basically quick edits that can totally change the way your image looks. In Photoshop CS or Photoshop Elements, you have to do each individual step (change hue, sharpen, add layers, etc.) to make an image look one way – whereas in Photoshop Lightroom, you just click the preset that you want to apply to your photo and then you can make changes to it.

Or you can just leave it, which is pretty much what I always do because I’m rushing to get photos edited. ;)

There are a ton of websites that have free presets already – just download and import into Lightroom.

ALL OF THAT TO SAY …

I created a LR2 preset!! I am seriously obsessed with Picnik‘s cross-processing effect.

But since I have this amazing program at my fingertips (for which my husband shelled out his hard-earned money), I figured I better get some use out of it. So I created a preset that’s a slightly softer version of the Picnik cross-processing effect.

I also added rounded corners to the preset, because I am in love with rounded corners.

| before |

| after |

So there it is.

If you have Lightroom and want this preset for your very own, it’s all yours!

Click here to download Keli’s Xpro LR2 Preset

And if you’re all, “Dude, what’s with the rounded corners?” then I have a version w/o rounded corners just for you.

| before |

| after |

Click here to download Keli’s Xpro LR2 Preset No Rounded Corners

Click here to see how to install presets – thanks, Matt!

Enjoy!!