Life in Pictures.

Your Vote Can Make a Difference! Vote in the best of OC bloggers contest!!

 

Do I sound like a politican??? ;) Well, I'm going to play one for the day. :) I just got some exciting news and feel like I have been nominated for an academy award!! Well, in the blogging world this is just about the same!! :) Here's the scoop...

"Congratulations! Your site has been nominated for the 2009 "You've Just Been Spotted" Orange County Blog Awards. Of all the fantastic & incredible websites, Your site has been chosen by our readers as one of the best & brightest that Orange County has to offer."

Whoo Hoo!!! If you haven't heard of Just Spotted it is pretty much the coolest site for those of us living in the OC. If you need any information about cool haps, great eats and fun things to do then you need to head on over there and check it out!

Anyways, I've been nominated in the best of "lifestyle and design" category and I would LOVE your support and a vote (or 50!!! ;)!! You can head on over to just spotted and vote in the poll on the left hand side of the site under lifestyle and design where it says "tammy mitchell." Thanks a TON!!

For those of you new to the blog....welcome!!  I just changed formats this week...what timing, huh? :)  All new posts will be found at www.tammymitchellphotography.com from now on. :)  Come check it out! :)

We'll have a little blog party if we win! :)

Have a great day!

-t

Drumroll Please......

the secret's out!!!!!!  i have a new address...come and join me!!! 

tammymitchellphotography.com

 great things are in store!!

have a great day!

-t

More fun 4th of July Crafts and Party Ideas

I was checking out one of my favorite blogs--twig and thistle and ran across these SUPER cute sparkler covers and matchbook covers.  What a great idea for your guests and they're super easy to make so you can whip them up easily before Saturday!!   There's even a template to print out to make it extra simple!

 

 

 

 

Check out the post here for all the instructions and templates. :)

Have a great day!

-t 

Let's Party: 4th of July Crafts and Party Ideas

I LOVE the 4th of July!!!  It's right up there with Christmas and Halloween as far as I'm concerned.  Something about all that red, white and blue just makes me happy.  What can be better than fireworks, the warm summer night, amazing food and celebrating our beautiful and awe inspiring country.  I thought I'd get you started thinking in that direction since we only have a week left to prepare!!  Here are some fun images and ideas for you...

They sell these fun beverage containers everywhere these days.  Homegoods, Costco, Crate and Barrel, you name it.  Fill them with Fruit Punch, Sprite and Blue Kool Aid and you automatically have a fun and festive and practical centerpiece!

 

I'll do a little tutorial on how to make something similar to these fun decorations later this week.  SO easy!!!

 

You can find this great table runner at Social Couture. 

** Money saving tip**  Think of what you have around the house...do you have a fun red, white and blue quilt that can substitute as a table cloth for the day??   

 

a couple more fun table ideas rom social couture...you can find the red and white striped popcorn bags and boxes at your local Cost Plus World Market.  Love the simple idea of strawberries in white buckets with ribbon tied around. 

**Money Saving Tip** Make your own "white buckets" with some inexpensive terra cotta pots that you paint white with a 99cent bottle of acrylic paint.

 

This banner is SO cute!!!  Check out how to make it and a bunch of other great crafts with this 4th of July Crafts Tutorial from Country Living. 

 

another super cute placecard idea from Country Living

 

and finally Martha.  We must remember our party favors!  Keep your guests cool on the warm summer night with these adorable DIY patriotic fans...

 

Here's the fan tutorial.

Hope this gets your creative juices flowing!!  I'll be back with more fun ideas for the 4th later in the week!!  

Have a great Monday!!

-t 

Calling All Kentucky Fried Chicken Lovers: Free 2 Piece Meal Coupon!!

 

To go along with their new "unthinkkfc" campaign, KFC is giving away a FREE 2 piece meal with 2 sides and a biscuit!!!! 

The coupon is printable until tonight (Wednesday May 6th) at 9:59pm CDT.  There are no strings attached!!!  The coupons are valid from 5/5/09 to 5/19/09.  They are NOT valid on Mother's Day. 

Go here to print your coupon.  

Have a great day!!

Happy Eating!

-t 

Free Digital Scrapbooking and Photoshop frames, borders, fonts, storyboards, kits and more!

If you do, I wanted to share one of my favorite sites for great digital freebies.  They come up with really fun borders, frames, alphas, journaling spots, titles, etc all for free!  They of course have an awesome store too where you can purchase great scrapping kits, papers and more...but I like to check the blog regularly for the freebies too! :)

Check these out:

 

 

 

Aren't they cute??  Just a sample of some of the cute things you can find at Little Dreamer Designs. 

You'll want to check regularly because a lot of the freebie downloads are only available for a limited time! :) 

Have a great day!

-t

Video: How to make your own Glitter Embellishments

A while ago I made this video and then forgot to share it here.  If you are familiar with my scrapbooking then you know that I use a LOT of glitter.  I think it makes everything look better. ;)

Usually when I go to the scrapbook store I can't find that perfect embellishment to go with the project I'm working on...not to mention a lot of times the pre-made glittered embellishments are WAY expensive...so I figured out a way to make my own...and even a way to keep the glitter from getting everywhere! :)

If you are a crafter hopefully this will help!! :)

Have a great day!

-t

Let's Party: March Madness Party Ideas

It's that time of year when brackets are being filled in and people are huddled around the tv watching college hoops around the clock.  I have to admit, even though I'm not a huge basketball fan, I do like to participate in the festivities.  Let's face it, I'll never give up a chance to throw a party! ;)

Here are a few ideas to get your party started...

Invites don't get much cheaper and easier than an "evite."  I love the idea of inviting your guests to wear their favorite teams colors or jerseys.  I think it adds to the spirit of the party.  So, when I saw this evite I thought it was perfect!  If you want to remain neutral since you're the party host..throw on a referee jersey! :)

 

Watching the game can get a little long for some of your guests so why not introduce a little competition of your own.  If you own a wii or xbox, why not host your own tournament.  Set up a bracket on a large piece of poster board.  Have guests enter as a team and then have them play eachother on the wii until someone wins the championship.

Serve "stadium food."  Not only is it easier for you to make, but it's easy for your guests to munch on finger foods while standing around watching the game.  Chips and dip, cold sodas, hot dogs, pizza and sweets will keep your guests happy and full.  Even though it's stadium food you can always dress it up if you want to add more of a gourmet touch.  Do fancy pizzas and dips!  One of my favorite dips that is ALWAYS a crowd favorite is SUPER easy to make (but not fancy!) is:

1 can of chili

1 8oz brick of cream cheese

8oz of cheddar cheese shredded

melt together in a crock pot and serve warm with fritos for dipping.  YUM!!

Here's another yummy treat courtesy of epicurious.com

 

Chocolate Whoppie Pies

Decorations can include basketball balloons and team pennants.  Whistles would make fun favors and so would a little celophane bag with a few of these in it..

 

the basketballs of course!!  just make some simple sugar cookies, ice them with orange icing and lay down a few black stripes! :)  Cute favors in a flash!

I hope this gives you a few fun ideas and inspires you to throw a little March Madness get together this week! :)

Have a great day!

-t

Have a great day

Lovebug

I just got Andy off to school today with his valentines only to see an email reminder pop up this morning in my inbox about a neighborhood get together for the kiddos tomorrow morning.   Oops!   Looks like I get to make some of those girly valentines after all. :)   I threw this together just a few minutes ago..SO easy and I think they turned out pretty cute.  I call them lovebugs. :)

 

Seriously, no fancy equipment needed to make these!!  I am so old school I used a cup to trace out the circles, cut out a little free-hand half circle for the head, a couple of free hand strips for the antennae, and used a heart punch, a brad and some black rhinestones. 

Glue the head and antennae to theblack part of the body.  cut the pink cirlce in half.  attach the pink circle to the black cirlce at the top with a small brad.  that way the wings will open like this...

 

and they can reveal your message. :)  I printed the message on white cardstock, used a smaller cup to cut around it, then glued it on to the black body.  Decorate your wings and curl your antennae and you're done!

 

I just used a pencil to wrap the antennae around to curl it and give it some dimension. 

Do you want a pattern for this??  Let me know and I can make one up really quickly for you. :)

Have a great day!
-t

Boy Valentines

I really wanted to MAKE valentines this year for Andy's class.  I wanted to last year, but with 35 kids in the class I thought FORGET IT!!  This year there is a MUCH more manageable number so I thought I'd give it a whirl.  Boy valentines are HARD!!  I came up with a million fun girly pink and red ideas.  For boys...not so much! :)  I finally came up with something I think will suffice.  I was happy when Andy walked in and saw them sitting on the counter and said "cool, mom! Rockets!"  That made it TOTALLY worth it! :)

I simply drew out the idea on a sheet of paper, then cut the individual pieces out of some paper I've had lying around for ages that I still love.  :)

 

They each measure about 4x6

 

For the back I printed out the message on a white sheet of cardstock.  I used the free skater dude font from this site. 

   

glued it all together, stuck a sucker on it and called it a day! ;)

They aren't anything fancy, but if you're in a bind and want to make some yourself, you can Download the Rocket Pattern that I made for you. :)

Have a great day!

-t