Google+ Users Beware...

I am behind on maternity posts and life posts, but I just couldn't stand it any longer.  I have to work on "fixing" my blog today...here is my story.

I joined Google+ last week because after Picnik shut down, their site said to go to Google+ for free editing software.  {I couldn't find the software and ended up using PicMonkey.  It isn't as fabulous as Picnik, but I just wanted to be able to add text to my photos, so it works.}

Anyway, at the suggestion of my husband, I started deleting the photo albums which had somehow magically appeared in my Google+ account...he said it's in Google's privacy statements that any photos I use on their sites are now available for their use.  Jason is really big about not having our family's photos blasted all over the internet...

It turns out they already had rights to my photos since Blogger is part of Google...too bad I didn't find that out before deleting all the photos which were linked to this blog!!!  Now I am slowly trying to go through each post from the past year and relocate the photos used for the posts.  I still have a number of viewers each day, mostly to my craft posts.  And I really really hate that the photos aren't there.  How unprofessional.

Please bear with me as I try to add all my photos back to the blog quickly.  {I have also learned that I need to better categorize my photos all in one place...lessons learned}

Emilia's 2nd Year

I know this is super late...since E is turning THREE next month, but better late than never!  (O:  I originally found this idea on Pinterest a long, long time ago and loved it.  You can see Emilia's One Year Old photo here.  I think it is a great way to remember the little fun things about your kid at each age.  I try to list things that were big to her right around the time she turned two.

Three should be along sometime around April 7, if I can get my act together! ;-)

Have a great day!

Personalized Photo Valentine's Day Card

I am a big fan of personalizing cards and gifts as often as possible.  Why mail out cheap cardstock Disney Princess cards for Valentine's Day when I can just as easily create my own card to send?  So that is exactly what I did!  Here is what I will be sending out to Grandparents this weekend:

These photos are from a little session I did with Emilia last fall, to showcase my final product as part of the Scrap Tutu Tutorial I put together.  I wanted to make the most of our time playing at the park, so I grabbed a couple extra props and planned to take extra photos for other projects.  Thinking ahead to Christmas and beyond, I put together the little sign she is holding.  It is just a piece of white posterboard and letter cutouts (both can be found at your local dollar store).  One side, as you can see, says "I Love You" and the other side says "Joy. Peace. Love".  (That side was, of course, for our Christmas photo card.)  To stabilize these against a bouncy 2.5 year old, I taped the signs to either side of one of our wooden puzzle bases.

I love the bright, cheery colors of Emilia's outfit and her bubbly, fun personality really shined during this session.  I picked out a couple favorite shots and then headed over to Picnik to start putting my card together.  (I know I have said this before, and I will probably say it again, but I'm so sad this site is shutting down in April.  I love using it for quick fix-ups- it's super user friendly and quicker than fumbling around in Photoshop.  Take a few minutes and check it out.  You've got about 2 months left to work on ideas!)

So, from my family to yours- Happy Valentine's Day! I hope you are inspired to create your own personalized card to send out.  (O:

I am linking up to Fun Friday Finds - Go check out all the great ideas being posted today!