Life in Pictures.

My Favorite Things #15-- Photo Gift Tags

Well, 3 days and counting.  In just 72 short hours the shopping will come to an end and the giving will begin.  So fun.  It truly is better to give than receive.  I LOVE giving gifts.  Especially ones that are wrapped really pretty!!  So, since we've kind of run out of time to order things online anymore, for the next few days I thought I would show you some fun and some of my favorite gift wrapping ideas.  Today I wanted to highlight these cute tags.  These are awesome!  If you have little kids that can't read yet you are REALLY going to love this idea. 

 

Can you imagine your little one's face when they can identify the gifts that are their very own all by themselves???  I just think these are too cute.  A few metal rimmed tags and a craft punch or some scissors and you can make your own.  They sell the tags at office supply stores too...but your best bet is the scrapbook store. 

Happy tag making!!

Have a great day!
-t

4 months

I had the chance to squeeze in just one more shoot this last week.  It was so fun to go hang out with these cute kiddos and their fun mom for a little bit.  Big brother was such a fun guy.  He totally reminded me of Andy.  Not a shy bone in his body.  He was anxious to tell me all about his sisters, show me his room, treat me to a snack and some cold milk, and have a dance party.  LOVE it!!  Mitt--we'll have to do it again sometime!! :)  While I Mitt and I were chatting it up I did manage to fit in a few pictures of his newest little sister...the reason I was there. :)  Thanks Raphael for inviting me into your fun and comfy home and letting me snap a few pictures of this little bundle before she gets too big!! :)

 

Does it get any cuter than this???  :)

 

Everyone was anxious to help and get in on the action.  :) 

 

in all my days of shooting babies...yes, even NEW newborns, I have yet to have one fall asleep for me.  I must have worked this poor liitle one to death.  She fell asleep WHILE I was taking pictures! ;)

 

SO precious!!

 

I'm testing out some new watermarks so sorry if you noticed some wierdness!! 

Have a great day!

-t

THE BEST Homemade Egg Nog EVER!!!!

I am admittedly NOT an egg nog fan.  BUT there is one exception.  My aunt Kathy's homemade egg nog.  It is to die for good.  I thought I'd share the family secret in case you have a hankering for some this Christmas Eve.  Enjoy!!  Thanks for the recipe Ash!

Here's how you make the magic: (double this recipe if you're making it for more than 4...trust me!)

2 eggs, well beaten
1 14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt
1 qt. whole milk
1 c. heavy cream, whipped
Grated nutmeg (fresh!)
Combine eggs, sweetened condensed milk, vanilla, and salt. Gradually beat in milk. Gently fold in whipped cream. Sprinkle nutmeg on top (fresh grated from whole nutmegs is much better than grated from the jar). Chill several hours.

Grate a little extra nutmeg over the top of each glass before serving. Enjoy!!

*Note: If you're pregnant, or if anyone who will be drinking it is pregnant, you'll want to use pasteurized eggs so it will be safe for the baby. I can never find any already pasteurized at the store, but luckily it's really easy to do it yourself! Just heat some water on the stove until it reaches 140 degrees. Use a candy thermometer that attaches to the side of the pan so you don't get it too hot. Let the eggs sit in a bowl of warm water while you heat the water on the stove. When the water reaches 140 degrees, turn off the heat and put the eggs into the hot water. Let them sit that way for 3 minutes. Take them out, and you're done!

 

Have a great day!

-t

Christmas Table Ideas

Now that the contest is officially over...THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT BY THE WAY!!  I can share more of my entries to hopefully help you with some ideas for your holiday tables this year. 

The first one I'll share is my "Classic Christmas."  I really like the bright and bold red, white and green in this. :)

 

Here's a close up ofeach setting.  The white plates are just my everyday ware.  The "placemats" are a piece of red 12x12 scrapbook cardstock.  The polka dot plates and star bowls are from pottery barn.  You can often find the star bowls (they carry them every year) on super sale after Christmas for about  $5 a piece.

 

The stocking silverware holders were a find at Homegoods last year.  They'll often have little random things like this so keep your eyes peeled next time you're there!!

 

Favors are easy.  Celophane bags (or if you don't have celophane fill sandwhich sized ziploc bags with peppermints and then cut off the ziploc part) filled with peppermints (you can find these cute round ones at CVS in bags for about $1.50 each) and tied with wired gingham ribbon. (on sale at Michaels)

 

The centerpiece is made up of strands of garland and berries (also from Michaels) and a few glass jars filled with red, white and green Christmas ornaments (thy came in a pack at IKEA and were VERY reasonable!!)

It is VERY easy to put this together.  You can put something similar together in any color scheme.  Look for items you have around your house and throw them on the table and see what you get!! :)

Have a great day!

-t

Black and White or Color??

 

 

I can't decide. :)

Have a great day!
-t

My Favorite Things #14--Manic Trout

OK, so the name may be a little different..but I promise when you see what they are selling you're going to want a pair!  They are so cute!  What do you think??

 

I know you have SOMETHING that a pair of these would look so cute with!  Best of all they are SUPER reasonable!!  Head on over to Manic Trout and see what other fun things they've got.   

Have a great day!

-t

I MADE THE TOP TEN!!!!! I NEED YOUR VOTE!!!!

I can't believe it!!  I am SO excited...now I need our vote!!!  The only way I can win is if I get enough votes from blog readers so PLEASE help me out!!!  Now, I'm not typically one to beg for votes.  But whenever I've entered one of these in the past I've been burned for not.  So, I'm gathering all my courage and asking for your vote! :)

Voting closes Friday, December 19th at 11:59pm PST. Winners will be announced Monday, December 23rd. Thanks so much for participating!

 

I AM "E" the time to party New Year's Eve Bash person. 

IMPORTANT:  TO VOTE--

go HERE.  Enter a comment saying something to the effect of

"I vote for E, Time to Party"

Heck, you can even copy and paste that in if you want!! lol!! :)

They have made it very easy to comment.  All you have to do is click on the "add a coment" button and enter your name, email address (it will NOT be used for anything other than making sure they aren't getting a ton of votes from the same email address) and your comment.  Click submit And you're done!!

PLEASE Pass it along to whoever you think might be willing to vote. 

Voting ends tomorrow (Friday) night at 11:59pm PST. 

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! 

My Favorite Things #13-- Nick and Nora Retro PJs

Have you been to Target lately???  They have the CUTEST pjs for Christmas!!  And they're on SALE!!!  I picked up this pair for Ash the other day...

   

sorry that the picture isn't th greatest...their site wasn't cooperating....but trust me THEY ARE CUTE!!!  They have sky blue ones with pink elephants wearing santa hats, red ones with gingerbread men and more.  AND they come in boys/girls and adult sizes!!  You can all match! ;)

See you at Target!

Have a great day!

-t

Watching the clock...

Remember the contest from yesterday???  Well...they were supposed to announce the top ten finalists this morning.  Now it's going to be at 5pm.  I'm going CRAZY!!!  lol!! :)  I don't know why...there were like 500 entries, so the odds aren't that great...but you know how it is.  You can't help but hold out hope until it's official!!

I had to find something else to do on this rainy day to occupy my time.  Ash and I have been crafting...scrapbooking to be exact.  She loves it.  I give her a little desk some scraps and pictures and a GLUE STICK.  She thinks life is wonderful.  Especially since the glue stick is purple. lol!  :)  I'm sure there are a million other things I should be doing here only 7 days before Christmas, but sometimes I just get the bug and I need to make something!!  It's been WAY too long and it feels good to get back into it!

I'm loving this color combination lately.  Pink, red and blue.  So fun!!

 

I used all old stuff from my stash.  Junkitz paper, Making Memories Cardstock, old pressed petals chipboard letter "h", thickers, some white office supply tags, ribbon scraps and a heidi ghost shape primitive heart.  I covered the chipboard h with glossy accents and glittered it with red martha glue.  Then I wrote the rest of the word with the glossy accents directly on the blue paper and glittered that too. 

 

This is actually just PART of the heidi ghost shape.  I actually pulled off the trim around the outside of the heart so that it made 2 hearts.  i love just this outside edge!  And, of course since I LOVE glitter...I had to glitter it too. :)

 

and of couse the tags to add a few more pictures and hide my journaling! :)

 

OK, so come back later tonight to see if I made it into the top 10!!!

See you later!!

-t

My Favorite Things # 12--Custom Silhouette Plates

I'm totally into silhouette's lately.  Maybe it's becuase I have little kids and thier profiles are just one of my favorite things....i don't know.  But these are just too cute. 

 

Here's a tip for all you So Cal locals...if you love the look of a silhouette and happen to be at th happiest place on earth anytime soon...there's a little shp on main street whre you can get your kids silhouettes cut from paper and mounted and framed for CHEAP.  That's right...I think you can get out of there for under $20 with a frame and all.  It's the best deal in the park!

But...if you're not local and have to have these adorable plates you can find them at Dolamakes for only $49.00.  Great price for a custom piece!

Have a great day!
-t