My New Fancy Canon Camera!

Well...I'm pretty darn excited right about now!

Received my new Canon Rebel T3 DSLR Camera a couple of weeks ago and have been playing around with it!

It is just AWESOME!!

Here is a video I made of when I received it...just had to share it with everyone, because as a SAHG, I get lonely on the days my Grandgirls aren't here...so I have to talk to someone while DH is at work! LOL!

One of the reasons I wanted to get this camera is so that I could take better photos for my blog.

I've always LOVED taking pictures and got my first good camera when I was only 18 years old.

It was a Canon AE-1 and I just recently passed it on to my daughter B, who is a real photographer, not just a "pretend" one like myself! :)

I played around with that camera for years and got lucky and got some decent shots with it, but never really learned the ins and outs of real photography.

I am so very proud of my Daughter B though...she had the same dream and unlike me...was brave enough to pursue that dream and get a degree!

Last month she graduated from the Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara and it was a big day for us!

If you get a chance, check out her blog: http://www.dasfotogirl.com/

I look forward to learning new things from her and getting to use my new Canon Camera not only here for my blog photos, but for some awesome Grand-Baby Shots!

Thanks for stopping By!

Take Care!

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500 Follower Giveaway!

Yay! It's time for another GIVEAWAY!

I'm looking to gain a few new readers on my blog and want to thank those that have already been following me for awhile now... so... I  have gathered up some cool BLOG CANDY (crafting items) to give away to one lucky follower when I reach 500 followers!

BTW...my extremely talented Daughter (Beth) took the photo for this collage picture!

She just recently graduated from the Brooks Institute of Photography

and has a website and facebook page for her photography.

Check it out if you get a chance:

http://www.bethraper.com/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Beth-Raper-Photography/165638843484425

If you'd like to see a review of all the items that are in the giveaway, 

check out my video on YouTube:

Here are the details for entry into the giveaway:

For Initial Entry You MUST:

Be or become a follower on my blog. (You can do this through ANY of the 3 methods shown on my sidebar...Google Friend Connect, Linky Followers or Networked Blogs. You don't have to follow on all three)

Let me know by leaving a comment on this post.

For extra entries:

1. Follow me on Twitter  and come back here to this post and leave another comment letting me know that you have done so.

2. Post my giveaway on your blog in a post or blog sidebar with a link back here. Come back here to this post and leave a comment with the link to your blog showing where you posted my giveaway.

That's all you need to do!

I will choose a winner via random.org when I reach 500 followers.

Good Luck to all and thanks so much for stopping by!

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We Have a Winner!

Congratulations to Patsy!

You are the winner of my MyMemories Digital Scrapbooking Software Suite Giveaway!
I will be contacting you soon with details on how to claim your prize!
Thank-you for participating and becoming a follower!

For those of you who didn't win or didn't get a chance to enter, don't worry, you can still get the software and a great price with a $10.00 discount by clicking on the link below and entering the code.

CODE: STMMMS91285

Dr. Seuss Birthday Invitation and a GIVEAWAY!!

Our Grandson "A"s Birthday was coming up and when I heard that our daughter "S" was going to do a Dr. Seuss themed party, I was really excited!

I've always loved Dr. Seuss books and couldn't wait to help out with the preparations.

I had been wanting to try my hand at creating a custom invitation and just recently realized that the "My Memories" Software could assist me in this, when I made an invitation for my Granddaughter's Birthday last month.

I asked "S" if she would mind me making up some sample invitations and if she liked them, we could use them and if they were a big fat "Fail"...(LOL!), we could order some digitally from the many sellers on Etsy that have them.

She has a lot of faith in me and let me do it!

I went to work using the My Memories Software Suite and was AMAZED at how easy it was to make the invitations!

In the past, I had attempted projects like this using Photoshop and just went away frustrated and confused!

Here are the two examples I came up with:

(Click on the pictures to enlarge)

To make these, I used the My Memories Software Suite, some digital papers I purchased from Great Graphics on Etsy and a Dr. Seuss inspired Digital Graphics Set I purchased from my bloggie friend Nikki at Melonheadz Illustrating.

I made them 5x7 in size, so that there was room for everything and so that it could be read clearly.

The invitation that "S" chose for the final one to send out was the first one.

I went to Walgreens online and uploaded the jpg file of the invite and ordered all the copies we needed for our guests.

(You can of course do this at any other photo place also, such as Snapfish, Shutterfly etc...the reason I chose Walgreen's is because it is closest to me and we needed them quickly...they will print them in an hour in most cases!)

Just be sure to upload these to the photo site as a stand-alone photo (.jpg format).

It won't work if you go to their "create a card" section, because those are pre-set-up templates that the photo sites have and you can't put your own design in there. 

(At least that is what I found with Walgreens, Snapfish and Shutterfly...I can't speak for any others.)

You can view several different tutorials on the My Memories YouTube Site that can help you make an invitation.

I am thinking about making a tutorial myself on exactly how I made these invites, but I've never attempted a tutorial yet and I'm a bit hesitant to try and compete with all the great ones that are out there! 

If I do decide to make one, I will update this post with a link to it.

Now, for some exciting news...My Memories has graciously agreed to give a FREE copy of this awesome software to one of my loyal followers!

If you would like to be eligible to win a copy of this Digital Scrapbooking Software Program, then here are the requirements:

1. Be or become a follower on my blog.

2. Go visit the My Memories site at: http://www.mymemories.com/ and make note of your favorite template or kit, then come back here and leave a comment stating which is your favorite from the site. (Be sure to include an e-mail address or a way to get in touch with you in case you win!)

3. For a second chance entry, please "Like" their Facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/MyMemories/140359372717593

4. For a third chance at winning, please follow the My Memories Blog at: http://www.mymemoriesblog.com/

5. For a fourth chance at winning, please follow My Memories on twitter at: http://twitter.com/#!/MyMemoriesSuite

(NOTE: After doing steps 3,4 and 5, make sure to leave a comment for each, saying that you completed the step...this is to make sure you get your extra entries!)

Remember to be eligible to win, you MUST do at least steps 1 and 2, all other steps are for extra entries!

This giveaway opportunity will be open through Tuesday May 8, 2012 and I will choose a winner via Random.org on Wednesday May 9, 2012.

Even if you aren't the lucky winner...you can still get a great discount on the software as My Memories has authorized me to offer $10.00 off the software by clicking on the blinkie below and entering the special code.

CODE: STMMMS91285

This awesome software was recently featured on the Lifetime Television show "The Balancing Act", if you'd like to see the clip of the show where they featured the software, you can view it here.

They are also running a *Free* Photo Book Promotion right now and you can get the details of that by clicking here.

Good Luck to All and Thank-you for reading my post!

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