June 2012 “All Boy” I Heart Faces Photo Challenge!

Hello Everyone!

Here's another photo I'm entering in the I Heart Faces Photo Challenge for this month.  The theme is "All Boy" in honor of Father's Day.  Well, I just did some pics for some friends of mine who are updating their adoption profile.  This one is of father and son.  Believe me, these two are like two peas in a pod. Cowboy hats and all!

Click on this button to see other great submissions to this fun photo challenge.

Thanks for stopping in. So until next time...

Have a blessed day,

maggie jane

I Heart Faces Photo Challenge- Black and White

Hello Everyone!

Another photo challenge from I Heart Faces. This week they are doing a special challenge worth wonderful prizes.  I keep hoping if I don't give up that maybe one of this days I'll submit that "just right" photo and win something.  Anyway, here is my submission for the Black and White theme.

I love the captured moment here.  I didn't ask her to look down, we just were talking and she laughed and looked down and I snapped.  The result was great. Love that smile!

Hope you all aren't tired of seeing my photo entries.  I promise I've been doing other things.  I just have to get my pictures uploaded, give a couple of gifts this weekend, and then I can share what I've been working on.  So until next time...

Have a blessed day,

maggie jane

I Clicked it Up a Notch February Photo Contest

Hello Everyone!

It is that time again for a photo contest.  This time it comes from I Clicked it up a Notch.  This is for your favorite photo of February.  Why is it always so hard to choose?  Well, I decided to submit one of my brother's family that I just took while on vacation to CA.  I was so glad they asked me (after I strongly suggested it) take their pictures.  It was a quick photo shoot; around 30 minutes.  My bro doesn't go for the long, lot of poses, get real creative photo shoots but I was still able to get some good shots.  We chose a little courtyard area on a street with several quaint shops.  We also went around to the back of the buildings to the parking lot where there was a brick wall with vines.  So without further ado, here is the one I am submitting.

I Heart Faces Photo Challenge-Oh So Silly!

Hello Everyone!

It is time for I Heart Faces photo challenge.  This week's theme is "Oh So Silly!".  I had to spend a little time trying to decide which photo to use.  I finally settled on this one.

I had taken one previously of everyone making funny faces but this one got me.  You know how kids like to make funny faces...well, it just kept going with this little one.  So hop over to I Heart Faces and see everyone else's entries to this week's "Oh So Silly" photo challenge. So until next time...

Have a blessed day,

maggie jane

I Heart Faces Photo Challenge-Best Face of 2011

Hello Everyone!

I know I haven't had a lot to share lately but I am trying to get back into the groove.  Today being Monday, is another I heart faces photo challenge. This is a "best of" challenge.  It is so hard to pick just one.  I could have picked a photo of my kids or numerous other "snap shots".  However, I decided to pick one of a photo shoot I did for a friend.  Even those were hard to narrow down to just one.  So here is the one I decided to submit.

I love the colors and her smile; to say nothing of brick walls.  I absolutely love brick walls as a back drop.
So this is my "Best Face of 2011" photo entry to I Heart Faces photo challenge.  Go check out some of the other entries.

New Pictures

Hello Everyone!

I know, it's been awhile.  I also know that I promised finished pictures from my sewing room.  It's still in the works.  We had a day of decent weather last week and I went out to spray paint.  The bad thing is that I waited until late in the afternoon so I didn't get everything painted that I needed to paint.  Now, it is in the 20's.  Not exactly ideal spray painting weather. However, I am still working on a few things that don't depend on the weather.  (bought some fabric for a curtain in the sewing room today) I say all this to say, "No, I haven't forgotten and yes, you will just have to be patient."  Nice of me, huh?

Anyway, new subject.  Did anybody notice the new profile picture?  I had a friend take a few pics of me the other day.  I am wanting to give one to the hubby and one for our family gallery wall that I am also procrastinating working on.  I want to do individual pictures, one of the hubby and me and one of our whole family along with other miscellaneous family shots.  I was having a hard time deciding on which one to use for the profile.  As far as I can tell, Blogger only gives you one size to choose from so it is hard to decide which pose will work best.  I thought I would just show a few and let you all vote on which one I should use.  That is if you are so inclined.

This is the current one.

Can you see the blog name to the side of this one?  Might be a bit faint.

Going with that cockeyed look.

Love the yellow wall in the background.

Not looking at ya but showing off the scarf and flower that I made. ;)

So there you have it.  Let me know what you think.  By the way, I did make the scarf out of a $0.25 T-shirt that I bought at Salvation Army.  I brought it home washed it, cut it up and wore it!  Took me all of about 10 minutes to make.  I like the added accent and pop of color.  You can find a tutorial over at Studio 5 put on by one of the girls from DIY DISH. I also found the flower template and tutorial at DIY DISH.

I will be using my new cutting table tomorrow to cut out a dress for my daughter.  We have a wedding to go to and "nothing" to wear.  Actually, in her case, that is the truth.  At least nothing dressy enough and warm enough for 20 some odd degree weather.  I will be working with taffeta and velvet.  Wish me luck! That is all for today.  So until next time...

Have a blessed day,

maggie jane

I Heart Faces Photo Challenge- "Bust a Gut"

Hello Everyone!

Happy Monday!  Once again it's time for I Heart Faces photo challenge. This time it is called "Bust a Gut".  In other words, big time laughter.  I had the perfect picture but it was from the "before digital" ages.  So I searched through my more recent pictures and found this one of my daughter and a couple of her friends.  We were at a girl's camp with some of our Christian friends.  Several were taking turns giving the younger girls a ride on a jet ski.  The weather was a bit chilly and the water cold.  I think I caught this picture as the girls felt the full power of the cold water.  You know kids though, they were just out to have fun.  They didn't care if their toes turned blue!

So there you have it, my addition to the photo challenge "Bust a Gut". This is by no means a professional picture; just a moment caught in time. Hope you enjoyed it and that it put a smile on your face as well. Until next time...

Have a blessed day,

maggie jane

Cheyenne - Senior Photos

Hello Everyone!

Just dropping in to show you a few shots from a photo shoot I did on Saturday.  I took senior pictures for a friend of mine.  I took almost 200 pictures.  We went to several locations around town and just had a lot of fun. I will show you a few of my favorites.  Someone suggested that I start a business on the side doing portraits.  My immediate answer was, "No way."  I have to admit, that I've always dreamed of being able to do portraits professionally.  However, ever since the suggestion was made, I've thought more seriously about trying to get a few jobs on the side.  I would prefer senior pictures, engagement pictures or family pictures.  No weddings at this point.  So without further ado, here are a few of my favorites.

This was the look near the end of our time.  Can you tell she was tired of smiling?

This is just a small number of my favorites.  She was an easy person to photograph as she has an easy, ready smile.  Thanks, Chey, for letting me "shoot" you!  Now comes the fun part for her and her mom.  Deciding which one to get enlarged and framed for the wall.  :)  If I do end up getting some jobs, I'll try to share some of those.  I have a few feelers out with people so we'll see if I get any calls.
So until next time...

Have a blessed day,

maggie jane

Oct. Favorite at "I Clicked it Up a Notch Pictures"

Hello Everyone!

I know I seem to be doing a lot on photography lately but that is what has my attention these days.  I am not a professional just an avid hobbyist. (is that a word?)  Anyway, over at I Clicked it Up a Notch Pictures they are doing a link party for your favorite picture taken in the month of October. Oh my.  How to pick just one!  With my niece's wedding and so many other happenings of this month, I had a hard time deciding on which one to choose.  I ended up picking one I just took this last Sunday at a friend's house.  This is my beautiful daughter with a not so beautiful pig.  Yes, I said pig.  Here she is holding a baby potbelly pig.

I guess some would call this cute but I'm still trying to decide.  :)  I mean, I think my daughter is cute but that pig?!?  I just don't know about that one.  Ok, B & J, you can ignore me insulting your pig but you know me, I'm more of a city girl at heart and pigs are just not my thing.  Unless, of course, it is in the form of a big fat ham on a platter in the middle of my table.  Ya'll did enjoy that the other night didn't ya?  Ha Ha!  All kidding aside.  I do think it is a cute picture and hope you all enjoy it and got a few laughs out of my silliness.  You will have to excuse me but I am pushing midnight here.  Anyway, check back later for pictures and thoughts on my niece's wedding.  I promise I am still going to post about that.  So until next time...

Have a blessed day,

maggie jane

I Heart Faces Photo Challenge- "Let Them Be Little"

Hello Everyone!

Each Monday, I Heart Faces , issues a photo challenge.  It has been fun to see what everyone submits.  This is the first one that I have entered.  As you know, my niece just got married on Oct. 15th.  I have yet to post about the event but I will get around to it.  Anyway, I was a little camera happy and took around 187 pictures.  I caught some great moments.  I will show you one of my favorites of my little niece who was the flower girl.

I just love the colors and the look on her face as she looks up at her mom. They were grouping for a family pose and I zeroed in on just her.  I think it is just too precious.  Well, that is it for now.  If you want to see other pictures being submitted, just click on the I Heart Faces button on my sidebar.  Thanks for looking.  Until next time...

Have a blessed day,

maggie jane

Family Photos & a Rant!

Hello Everyone!

Hope ya'll (I lived in TX for 5 years) had a great weekend.  We had a great one with much getting accomplished.  Hope to post on that later.  Today, I am sharing with you a few photos from a session I did for my sister-in-law.  This is the family with the much talked about "niece that is getting married".  They wanted to have family pictures taken before their daughter got married.  I volunteered, well, actually begged for them to let me take some pictures.  I have mentioned this in a previous post.  Sorry it has taken me a while to show you some of the results.  We had fun doing the pictures but were very limited on time.  The sun is setting sooner and sooner these days.  We went to a little town that isn't really a town.  Confusing I know.  This is a place that a local artist has built.  He has brought in a bunch of homes and buildings to his property to make it look like an old town.  There is a church, old school with a bell, general store, houses, barns, etc.  It has some old cars, planes, gas pumps, train car, and more.  Just an excellent place for pictures.  I could have spent several hours there but like I said, we were running out of light.  So here are a few of my favorites.

This was one of the first pics we took.  I brought props that would deal with each person's interests.   I wasn't sure how these would turn out but I'm really liking them.

Same idea but with everyone looking at the camera.

What family doesn't have the kids making faces at their parents smooching?

We just had to add the future son-in-law in there somewhere.

The littlest loves making goofy faces.  I got a kick out of this one.

Liking the vintage look of this one of the 3 brothers.  Old boat, old truck, sun setting. 

Dad and his boys.

Mom and her boys.

Mom and her girls.

This one is sweet to me.  Shows love of siblings, love of parents and love as a whole family.

I like the special effects of this one done with Picnik.

So there are just a few of my favorites.  Thanks for letting me "shoot" ya'll.  Glad we were able to fit it in before the big wedding day.  (Next weekend.)

Now for my rant.  I got called for jury duty.  Booo!!  Not that I mind doing my duty as a citizen.  However, I am a stay-at-home, homeschooling mom.  I tried to get out of it when they sent me the first questionnaire but apparently that excuse didn't fly.  Now I have to wait around for them to actually call me for a case and try to plead to the judge to let me off.  It wouldn't have been so bad if the timing would have been better.  I have to be available from Nov. 1 to Dec. 31.  That is like 2 months.  Am I supposed to just put my life on hold for 2 months while I wait to see if they need me or not?  Well, unfortunately, I guess so.  We were planning to go to CA to see my family at the end of Nov. / first of Dec.  I'm just glad I hadn't bought the plane tickets yet.  I almost did that the other day.  I'm just hoping I'm called Nov. 1st and I can beg the judge to let me out of it and be done.  Then we can still make plans to go.  Whew!  I'm glad I got that off my chest.  Now that I'm done ranting, I guess I better start praying.  You can join me if you wish. ;)  I better sign off for now so I can hit this last week before the wedding with some decent nights of sleep.  So until next time...

Have a blessed day.,

maggie jane

Decorating with Portraits

Hello Everyone!

Hope everyone has had a good week so far and are looking forward to the weekend.  I'm looking forward to getting a few things done this weekend. One of my projects that I've been slowly trying to work on is a family picture gallery going up my stairwell.  I have been searching the internet for different inspirations.  I came across a blog run by photographer Kristen Duke.  I have really enjoyed looking through her posts.  She has a lot of advice when it comes to photography and decorating with portraits.  In September, she ran a special series on using portraits to decorate with and invited guests to post every day of the month.  It was really fun to see how others use their family pictures to decorate their homes.  This month, she is doing a link party for anyone who wants to join in to share what they have done.  Sooo, that is what this post is all about.  I am going to share only some of the places where I have used pictures of family to decorate my walls.  Those of you who know me well know that I love pictures and use them everywhere.  I am only going to share some of the places but it still may seem like a lot.  So here goes.  We'll start off in the living room.

This is what I call the ancestor window.  I have been fortunate enough to have lots of old pictures from both my mom and dad's side of the family.  Most are all in excellent condition so it makes it fun to display.  This window shows my parents, grandparents and great-grandparents from both sides.  Unfortunately, I don't have any good ones from my husband's side of the family.

This is the ever changing piano.  A couple times a year I will change up what is displayed on the piano.  Right now, I just have a picture of my husband and me.  The other end sports a poem about Christian Marriage that my husband bought for me.  This arrangement has been up for a while so it is probably time to change it.  We'll see.

This area I've just done in the last year and a half or so.  I've had the picture hanging but it was just  kind of floating in never, never land.  Once I added the shelf and table it seemed to flow a little better.  This picture of us is a few years old.  Time to re-do that as well.

This is a little side table by my couch.  I have a couple of fun pictures that I took of my daughter with a few of her "big-sister" friends a couple of years ago.  These might actually get moved up to her room because I am going to do a photo gallery above her bed as well.  (Just adding to my "to do" list.) ;)

This is on the table under the big family picture.  It is just a basket of loose pictures that people can casually thumb through.  These are usually ones that have come off of my refrigerator after spending a bit of time there.  Or, they might be a few duplicates to ones I have in an album or frame somewhere else. 

There are two small sections of wall between some windows in the living room.  I  have pictures of my two kids when they were little on top and then a more current one on the bottom.  Sad to say, the "said current" ones are not very current.  Need to update those as well.

My son's side.

This is also in my living room.  I have mixed a few pictures in with my pitcher collection.  I like the variety there.

Now on to the bedroom.  This grouping is across from our bed and above a long desk.  I love these pics of the kids but they may also get moved to the stairwell wall that is in process.  I have recently read that the master bedroom should be about the couple and it makes sense.  So, I will probably update this space with pictures of me and the hubby.

I do have this one above my dresser but I will probably do more.  I would like to do more formal ones to replace the ones of the kids.

This is a little grouping just outside of our bedroom door in a very tiny hallway.  Actually, I don't even know if it would qualify as a hallway but we'll just call it that for now.  These pictures sit above a bookcase that holds the kids books.  This way they can see themselves often and hopefully read the little plaque that goes with their pictures.  It says, "Do everything without complaining or arguing."  Still working on that one.  FYI: These pictures need to be updated as well.  Sigh, more to the "to do" list.  But hey, I get to take more pictures!  Fun!

This is at the end of the so-called hallway.  These aren't technically photographs but they are drawings taken from some photos that I took a few years ago.  A very talented friend of ours did these for me and I love them!

Like I said, this is a lot, but really just a few.  I haven't showed you the other parts of the house.  I am hoping to share when I get the stairwell wall done and my daughter's wall done.  The big wedding I've mentioned before is next weekend.  I would like to get the stairwell done before our company arrives but I'm not sure if I'll make it or not.  These things take time and thought.

So I'm linking this up to Kristen Duke's link party so go check out her site and what others have done with decorating with portraits.  So until next time...

Have a blessed day,

maggie jane