a little bit of me.

{HHI}

"I saw 7 jellyfish & 4 dolphin!!!"

...Is what Evan had to tell his class about our weekend in Hilton Head, and I kinda love that.

...I couldn't have asked for a better mother's day.  HHI is officially my #happyplace

:)

{Cupcake Dress Winner...!}

is..........

oh SUCH a fan of cupcake clothing!
what a wonderful giveaway!

Posted by: erika d. | May 06, 2013 at 07:52 AM

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Andddd as an added BONUS..... 

& to thank you all for your support of Cupcake on facebook -- I also have a exclusive discount code to offer my blog readers > it's valid for 15% off anything on the Cupcake Clothing Company website now through May 19th, just use:

weinroth

(all lowercase)

*Erika D - Make sure to email me asap with your contact info so that I can put you in touch with Cupcake Clothing Company.

:)

{The Phone Photography Project - A New Class!}

I am so so SO excited to tell you about THIS today...

The Phone Photography Project is the newest online class from Big Picture Classes.  We all know that I LOVE my iPhone for pics (as documented by my Friday Phone Favorites!) - & I was so incredibly honored to be asked to be a contributing teacher to this class - which is really more like a series of workshops, with ALL the topics and various points of view that will be included.

The class focuses on one of my favorite times of year - SUMMER - and making the most out of your camera phone photos.

Summer at our house is lazy mornings, beach days, splash park slides, and family time.  Which ends up being the time of year that I'm most likely NOT to have my "big-girl" camera (aka SLR) with me, and instead will end up using my iPhone 4S as my camera to document the kids and our adventures.

I love that this class allowed me to share MY OWN strategies and techniques with you for getting the most from your camera phone pics - and ALSO that it will allow me to learn from everyone else!!!

Take a peek at this video Big Picture put out to get a glimpse at what's in store - and a list of all of the AMAZING THIRTY-TWO (yes 32!!!) contributing teachers at the end...

((...and if that's not enough))

Here's the "official" class description...

The Phone Photography Project
32 days of Android + iPhone photo challenges, daily inspiration, and app reviews

Need summer photo ideas or help improving your iPhone photography? Spend this July taking amazing photos with your iPhone or Android camera in The Phone Photography Project.

In this month-long workshop, you'll learn to take better photos with the camera you always have with you as you document your summer adventures—with help from 32 incredible instructors. On top of daily smartphone photography challenges, you'll also enjoy:

• dozens of tips and tricks from the pros for taking better photos with your mobile-phone camera
  
• a handbook of 60+ photography app reviews for iPhone and Android, so you know which are worth your time and money*
  
• dozens of project ideas for getting photos off your device and into your world
  
• interaction with 32 experienced iPhoneographers and Androidographers, and hundreds of fellow students in a private classroom and on Instagram
  
• giveaways, contests, discounts, bonus downloads, and fun fun fun!

***The introductory price is $39 (and will go up to $49 quickly) - so if you want to join in, be sure to register asap.  :))

Hope you see you all in class!

{No Better Time...}

than bathtime for a photoshoot i say. :)

So glad i pulled my camera out at bathtime two weeks ago to snap these.

...because things change WAY too quickly.

Since taking these, N's little forehead met it's match with the corner of the coffee table & the DAY AFTER I snapped this E lost his first tooth and we said goodbye to his baby smile.

(no stinky feet in this house!)... Happy Monday Everyone!

Grab your camera sometime today and capture a moment of your EVERYDAY that you normally might not.  You won't regret it.  ;)

{Cupcake Dress Give-A-Way}

Contest currently closed >> WINNER INFO.......

Announced in post above!

***********

I've got such a fun give-a-way for my blog readers today...

We all know I have a weakness for pretty fabrics.  And while my quilting time has dwindled in the past few years, I still love the chance to play with pairing fabrics & prints...  So when one of my best friends - Katie (and also the owner of Cupcake Clothing Company!) - asked me to help her design a new limited edition dress...  I couldn't resist!!!

Cupcake Clothing Company's handmade dresses have so much attention to detail and design - from the layered ruffles & cute buttons to the coordinated rick-rack or trim on each - It was such a blast to share in Katie's creative process as she works on and designs a dress.

This was the result of our collaboration!

I'm a LOT in love.  :)  It's every color that I adore and just looks like summertime at the beach!

And can I tell you cute the name she gave it is --- "Evalyn Noah".  :))  the girlie version of my boys name's combined.  Perfect!

>> That's Katie's little girl in the pics, and when we went out to photograph this dress, I brought Mr. Noahpants along...  He's already officially signed up to be Miss AC's boyfriend in about 13 more years...!

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So now for the give-a-way part... (YAY!).  Katie will make one of these gorgeous limited edition "Evalyn Noah" dresses for your little girl (or a little girl in your life that you love!) in a size range of 18m, 2T, 3T, 4T, 5 or 6 (please allow 3-4 weeks production time).

To win - simply head on over to Cupcake's Facebook Page and hit the "LIKE" button.  Then pop back over here and leave me a comment that you did!

For extra chances to win, you can:

*Follow them on twitter OR instagram (username: katietartt)... leave me a seperate comment to this post for each of those as well!

*Share the photo of the dress on Cupcake Clothing Company's facebook fan page with your facebook friends & then add another comment here (and another entry!).

I'll announce a winner on the blog here next Friday!  good luck :))

:)

{April Revisited}

Seriously where did the 2nd half of April go to?  I didn't quite believe it when i visited the blog to grab a link for someone on something and realized my last post was April 15.

Here's a little bit of what we've been up to...

*these are all a mix of iphone pics, point n shoot pics, and "Big" camera pics!  ;)

We got away mid-month to Tybee Island for a little wine festival, withouthekids(!!!).  We lived it up while we were there, stopping at what turned out to be a FAB local recomendation for lunch (we felt like official foodies), and then touring Savannah the next day...

We had our first real beach day (or afternoon i should say) of the season.  Bring on summer and endless days of this - the boys & I can't think of a better way to spend our time off!

We spent the day at Animal Kingdom (first for all of us!), rode Noah's new fave the Dino ride, & then met mickey (after being REALLY rained on) -- Mickey's keeping his distance after Noah had a freaked-out reaction to being so close to him.  ;)

We lost our first tooth...

We had our forehead (N) glued back together (last friday) after a coffee-table collision...

We splished and splashed lots...

:)

{SC's May Kit: Planetarium Revealed}

The blog's been suffering, but I wanted to pop on and share the latest Studio Calico kit - May's Planetarium - and what I put together with it.  This one was a fave for sure!

E&N - made entirely with the main kit "Planetarium" - love this pic of my boys being sweet for all of 10 seconds.  ;)  You can find the & cut HERE.

Beach Afternoon - lots of pics from our first "official" afternoon at the beach - and a mix of phone pics AND big camera shots - they are all sized to 2x2.  You can find that CUTIE sun cut HERE.

Evan - More with that sun cut (sure to be a new fave!) and some cute older pics of Ev from last year this time.

Hello Almost Three - I wrote out the journaling for this to be a blog post a few weeks back and then never added the pics to hit publish.  TYPICAL me these days.  ;)  I might just add it to the blog schedule for later in the week.  If i can get it together enough to make that happen! 

Tybee - Eric and I hit up Tybee Island a few weeks ago for their wine festival, sans kids.  It was FREAKING FANTASTIC.  :))  Lots of Project Life kit cards used here.

You Make Me Happy - Last page - just a big 12x12 pic that I love from last month + a Project Life kit card and voila instant layout.  :))  try it!

:))

{snapped last week}

I'm quite sure that 20 years from now, these types of photos will be some of my very, VERY faves.

& I'll feel as blessed then as I do now that so much of our time was spent together, and at home. 

:)

ps - i think i need a new hashtag for noah along the lines of #inaboxAGAIN ;))

{Friday Phone Favorites}

1. 2013 Orange & Blue game.  2. Our future Gators.  3. Florida flags.  4. Stadium snuggles.  5. My parents new house plans.  6. Best tree ever!  7. Fish in the wild.  8.  Not letting Naughtpants anywhere near the side of the boat.  9. Showing off school art.  10. First true beach day we've had this season.  11. Splashes.  12. Noah's silhouette.

{Project Life: Weeks 7 & 8}

Updating a bit of what's complete in my album, here on the blog.  :)

Week 7 was all about Valentine's Day...

My most-used combo of one Design A page protector and one a Design F page protector worked well for this week -- letting me get lots in!

I had my camera out and about lots this week for the holiday, so I think almost everything here was snapped with the "big camera" (vs my phone).

...With the Design F page protector allowing me to include lots of little bits and snippets from our Vday week.

I used a 5x7 Vertical protector to include Noah's little 4x5 photo valentine that he gave to his class friends - since the valentine was only 4 inches wide, I just zipped a stitch up the side with my sewing machine (then trimmed off excess plastic) to make it fit better.

The insert behind the Valentine pic is a a Design H insert that I used to include some photos AND Evan's Star Wars paper valentines that he gave out with his Vday treats.  (the pic of Ev as Darth stashed behind N's card is one I took when I snapped his 5 and half year shots, and sent to family with N's!).

Valentine's is such a favorite at our house.  And I love that project life lets me capture the entirety of something like that in photos and words.

***************

WEEK 8 is one of my most-loved spreads in this year's Project Life album thus far - if not MY FAVORITE.  It just came together easy, and i adore the cohesive look to the pics and color scheme AND the simplicity of the layout.

Used here are two Design A page protectors.  Sometimes EASY is the BEST.

And also lots of EASY phone pics and point and shoot camera shots (3 & 2 of those above), and 2 more phone pics below.

The "Make Today Awesome" wood veneer card was from a Studio Calico kit - as was the 'smile' card and word bubble card (used for our cute little poodle's 11th bday!).

:)

Products used on Weeks 7 & 8:

InLinkz.com