vol.25

Album templates UPDATE!!

Hi guys!! How are you!? I wanted to drop in and say Hi, and give an update on the album templates, I JUST finished cleaning up the psd files, and labeling layers etc. I have 15 pages/templates done, and you can mix and match the pages for even more variety. :) 

Photographs in the above two templates are the work of Ana Guerrero

I've decided to keep them pretty simple, I want the focus to be on my pictures. You can definitely add journaling if you'd like, I may do that at times when I have a bit more free time to do so. However the templates only require you to change the week and date below, and insert your pictures on a weekly, daily, or when you get around to it basis. :)

Photographs shown in the two templates above are the work of Jen Johner

You can also use them on your blog as a way of cleanly and artisically showcasing your recent sessions.

Anyhow, I just need to work on some graphics for the product "packaging" and for my shop/blog. :) I'm really pushing to have these listed by the 1st of January... and I am starting to feel a little more confident that I may make that deadline! :)

I'm curious though...are you planning to start project 365 for 2011? I started for the first time in October of 2007, and even though I never finished the full 365 days I still cherish the 70 some pictures/days I did get.

I think that is what is giving me the drive and desire to persue it again this next year. To have the memories bound in a book would be awesome. Even if I never finish, I'll still be THRILLED with what I have... Things have changed SO much since I took those pictures... and so has my photography... a little bit for the better I think! :) But, it is super rewarding to look back on them. I plan to upload to flickr on a weekly basis... maybe on saturday mornings or sunday night before bed. :)

So what do you guys think? Am I inspiring you? Are you already doing project 365? If so, do you have any tips to share, what do you think has helped keep you going? Do share! :)

Happy Holidays!

Hey guys! I had meant to pop in here on Christmas Eve and wish everyone a Merry Christmas, but it just didnt end up happening!!! :) But I hope you all had a Merry Christmas! We had a really nice day and I feel like I have so much to be thankful for this year. Jaydon had the day of Christmas Eve off, so we woke up that Friday morning and opened up our presents and had "Christmas day" a day early. :) We bought them each one of these E-Z Fort kits and I think it  was safe to say they were a big hit! I think it is also safe to assume that daddy had just as much fun building they're "castle."

They took "naps" and ate lunch in they're castle...

Trinity also got a Kinect for the xbox 360, and my parents bought her the kinectanimals game. It is pretty cute, and she has really been enjoying it! :)

That evening we loaded up the car and headed to my parents for Christmas Eve, and spent the night so we could wake up and do Christmas morning bright and early! :)The photo below was taken at my parents' just before my sister and her husband showed up. :)

The girls were pretty excited to have Christmas morning two days in a row, and Jaydon and I werent really complaining either! ;)

I must have been SUPER good this year because Jaydon bought me a Dyson Animal! :) I've wanted one for like EVER.... so I was pretty excited to vacuum that morning. :)  He bought it at Costco and saved about 150.00. My parents also bought me the Roxy boots I blogged about... and they also got me a new wacom pen and touch tablet.

  

I'm still getting used to it... the surface feels rougher then the older wacom tablet I've been using these last few years. I think once I get used to it though it will feel a little more precise then what I'm used to. :)

I've been SUPER busy trying to finish up a good collection of collage album templates for project365. I'll try and get another post up later today with more details and a couple sneek peeks! I'm hoping to finish up the last of the templates TODAY, so I can have them listed and available for anyone wanting to try they're hand at project365. :) Anyone considering it!?  The good thing about these templates is that they can be used for just about anything... digital scapbooking, or as a way of sharing your sessions on your blog... super versatile!

I am licensed!

Hello. How are you doing today? I am just peachy in case you were wondering... ;) Some of you may remember when I posted ( a couple years back) that I was now being represented by JMS Art Licensing, and how surreal it seemed to say I had an agent! :)

Well, I dont know WHY it has taken me so long to share such good news... but in the last couple of years JMS has secured quite a few licensing deals for me, and I am so excited about that. Most of them have been with greeting card companies, and not everyone sends out samples to the artist. BUT Pine Ridge Art is one company that has been selling my art on actual products and they were so kind as to send me a couple samples of each product. :) I've been anxiously awaiting them (the process from agreement to production seems to be a slightly long process) and when they came in I was so excited to snap some pictures and share them with you!

This little tea set is described as a "Tea For One" Each set has a teapot, lid, cup and saucer that stack together. It also comes with a matching keepsake box, making it a really great gift. :)

 

Cup of tea anyone? :)

It is so rewarding to see my art in a high quality tangible form being sold with my name on it. :)

This picture shows the ceramic coffee mug with the keepsake box. :)

The magnets are sooo cute. I love how small they are, they seem like a work of art in themselves...

They also sent along the matching list pad, and I am putting it to good use on our refigerator.... :)

They sell directly from they're website... or they also have several retailers selling they're products... but it seems as though the search for a retailer page is under construction...

Although I havent received my samples yet, they also have a guest book with one of my images, and a super fancy pen for that guestbook! :)

Can you see why I am so excited!? Pine Ridge Art is a wonderful company and I am so thrilled to work with them on future projects. :)

I thought it might be nice to give links to a few of the companies using my art on they're cards. Most of them only sell to retailers, but I've been wanting to put a list together for ages, so here it is!

Pine Ridge Art

Pictura ( was the very first company to license one of my images )

Karto Oy ( in Finland! )

Design Design

Price Imports 

Successories ( produces motivational posters and has quite a few of my images licensed as part of the SOHO collection. They are my most recent contract! :) )

I was a little nervous in the beginning signing on with an agent... but most of the contracts above came directly through her contacts and hard work. In other cases when I have been contacted by a company interested in licensing... it is really nice to be able to refer them to her. It saves me from having to learn alot of legal information, and I never have to worry that someone is taking advantage of me or my lack of knowledge! :) It really works out perfectly. :) My 2 year contract expired last October and I happily renewed!

Well, it looks like Jaydon got off work early. It has been snowing and sleeting in Tri-Cities (where he works as a framer for my dad) After being soaked and cold they called it a day early. The weather man is forecasting snow for the next 4 days! Well, I'm going to get this posted and make him a nice hot cup of cocoa! :) Can you guess which mug I'll be using? ;)

p.s. My camera bag is supposed to come in TODAY!! :) 

 

a quote for your week chap 54

It is monday again, and hard to believe Christmas is THIS week!! :) I think it will be a white one for us this year. We woke up saturday morning to more snow, and we've already made two batches of snow ice cream. :) It snowed some more last night and I really wouldnt be surprised if it sticks around until Saturday. I guess since Christmas is so close I dont mind it as much... it definitely helps get me in the Christmas mood. 

I thought the above quote was super fitting this week. For anyone not able to spend the holidays with they're family, I hope you can at least spend them with someone close to your heart.

Trinity's Christmas vacation started today. We had my niece over to spend the night last night, so no sleeping in for me this morning... but I am DEFINTIELY looking forward to going right back to bed tomorrow after I help get Jaydon out the door for work. I wake with him and do something easy and simple for his breakfast, fix his coffee, and pack his lunch while he gets around for work. I enjoy spending that little bit of time with him in the morning before he leaves for the day... generally I stay up and get Trin ready for school as soon as he leaves... so I am really looking forward to crawling back into my nice toasty bed tomorrow morning. :)

In other news, I've designed and ordered my new packaging for the start of the new year! :) I'll share pictures soon! I'm introducing a new informative postcard with all orders that will hopefully answer some of your framing questions. :) Super excited about that!

Weeeeeelll, I had best post this and get busy on something else! I'm sketching out ideas for a couple new overlay sets, and I will also be releasing photo collage templates geared for P365 the first of the year! I'm designing them for my own use, (I'm planning to print them in a book at the end of the year) and thought it might be a good idea to add them to the eye candy overlays + templates line up! :)

I have a crush on epiphanie

Greetings!! How is everyone this morning? I can tell you that I am SUPER excited and grinning from ear to ear! Why you ask? Well, simply because I have this beauty coming to my front door before Christmas:

I am sure most of you have heard of epiphanie by now, but if you havent... the stylish purse you see above has somewhat of a secret super hero identity. The disguise clearly says I am a "show stopping trendy purse" but a peek inside reveals the super hero power of doubling as a camera bag/purse!

See...?

above images property of epiphanie

Removable padded inserts are like the cherry on top. :) I really had a hard time deciding on the bag. I ended up ordering Lola in the turquoise color shown, but she is available in black with a hot pink inside, and red with a purple interior. I really think I would have ordered the black if it wasnt on back order. :) The pink inside was super cute. :) I also debated on ordering Belle, they definitely have a good line up of bags that make deciding near impossible! :)

I also considered purchasing a Kelly Moore camera bag, she had some super stylish options...I really love this video she has on her website. I really like the music, and the old house had me at hello... I can only imagine the history and stories that will never be told:

 

Kelly Moore Bag Promo Film 2010 from Joshua Smith on Vimeo.

 

I had this mustard B hobo bag in my cart for a few days:

 

image property of Kelly moore

I think I may add it to my February birthday list. :)

Anyhow, I am one happy lady... and I have to ask... do you have a Kelly Moore or epiphanie bag? Tell me how much you love it! :) Oh- one other camera bag/purse maker is Jo Totes... 

The one I really wanted is the Rose style above. It looked a little smaller then the other two options I had been considering, but I would love one of these as a purse for every day use. I could pack around a smaller digital camera that could just stay in my purse and my upcoming project 365 would be MUCH easier to keep up on. :)

What have you been up to? I finished ALL my Christmas shopping! Now I just need to tackle the wrapping... any volunteers? No? :)

a quote for your week chap 53

Happy Monday!! :) Are you ready for Christmas yet? I'm getting there... but I can't say I am completely ready. I hope to be by the end of the week. Fingers crossed!! ;)

So, it is quote monday... I hope you are able to get something out of today's quote. It really is SO true, and I hope everyone has a friend they can call they're "in" friend. ;)

How was your weekend? We put up our fake Christmas tree and helped my parents and my sister and her husband pick out a tree yesterday. I took some really cute pictures that I am anxious to edit. :) 

I also re-opened the shop late last night. I'm going to set-up a strict time schedule... to keep me from mentally becoming overwhelmed. Even though I get orders out pretty quick, I still tend to stress about things I really shouldn't... After Black Friday I can see first hand what stressing over too many things can do to a person's health, so I've come up with some dedicated Customer service hours:

7 am-4PM. Monday through Friday, and I won't be answering e-mails or convos over the weekend. Finding this balance should help me juggle everything better. I think having some time to mentally shut off my mind from things related to the shop will be good. :)

I will also be printing orders one day, and shipping the next. This is something I started doing a couple months ago but I'll be implementing it MUCH better now.

Okey doke!! I think that about covers it all. So... how WAS your weekend? :)

a winterishy post

hello! I decided I needed to *try* and embrace the winter season a bit so I started scouting the world wide web in search of some inspiring photos that would maybe make me feel a little more excited about the snow we've had lately... and these are what I found!!

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I think it may have helped a little. :) Our snow is finally melting though, and our weather is just about normal for this time of the year.... in the 40's. It has been a welcome change from the suuuper cold weather we've had. Speaking of cold weather... I have these boots on my Christmas list:

 

The have really good reviews, and look super comfy. :) Hopefully by the end of the month I can let you know just how comfy they are. ;) Do you have one present you are really hoping you get this year? I would also love to have a dyson ball vacuum cleaner. I'm not asking for much am I? ;)

a workspace fit for a princess

Hello! :) I thought it was time I finally shared with you the workspace we created for Trinity back in July. She really loves it, and I can tell you there has been many a masterpiece created there. The computer is my old set-up, before I bought my touchsmart ( a few years ago) I actually was still using it, up until the point I moved it into her room. :) It doesnt have internet access on it, and she really just uses it for drawing. It is amazing what she can draw with a mouse... :)

I took the above pictures while sitting on the top of her loft bed. The purple hanging light was a clearance find we picked up from Target's global bazaar 3 years ago.

The frames were purchased from Ikea, Target, Wal Mart, and thrift stores. I sprayed a few of them yellow to give more of a cohesive feel. The butterflies were purchased from Target as well. The silhouette art is available in my shop as well as the yellow print titled "roses among us" Although I am still on "vacation mode." ;) The lamp came from Target, and so did the chair, the desk is Ikea's Vika amon table top with the alex drawer unit.

The tabletop easel also came from Target. We use it to display her new "works" :) The pen holder was an old glass that I wrapped with yellow paper that I designed. You can download that for yourself here.

While Trin is at school Journey likes to sneek in some time coloring at "sissy's" desk.

I was really getting tired of having drawing papers and a "mess" on my kitchen table. That was my main motivation for this project. Now, her desk stays a mess 90% of the time. :) The desk also provided storage for her MANY "special" papers... which reminds me, I need to clean those out before Christmas. I predict many many more art supplies will be landing under our tree this Christmas. It seems that she never has had an interest in barbies, or other toys. She gets super excited about drawing books, and clothes. At 6 I cant say I was really interested in clothes... and I for sure spent my days playing barbies at her age! :) Funny how different and similar we can be at times.

Well, I hope your week is off to a great start. We still have snow, and I'm really missing the sunshine. Hoping it decides to make an appearance sometime this week. :) Have you started any Christmas decorating yet? I havent, but I'm really starting to get anxious to!

 

 

Behind the scenes at VOL25!

Hey there! :) How ARE you guys?! I am doing great. I am finally caught up on ALL my orders, and it feels AMAZING. I took some pictures just after printing orders for the day. I thought you might all enjoy a sneek peek at what your order looks like just before it gets packaged! :)

In this picture I have all the prints separated and duplicates grouped together to make the packaging process MUCH easier. I always do this at my kitchen table. :) Some day it will be REALLY awesome to have my own studio space. But for now, EVERY print lands on my kitchen table before heading out the door to they're new home. :)

Black Friday was a huge success! I really wasnt prepared for the number of sales I would receive... and had to have Jaydon help me a couple evenings. I try to always have my packaging ready and waiting so each order only requires an image printed, and thank you card addressed. :) It really saves time, and he was super helpful stuffing envelopes with my new holiday packaging, and putting address labels on manilla envelopes (for international orders) Thanks sweetie! :)

My shop is still on vacation and I've really enjoyed the "free time." Although I've still been printing and packaging orders up until this morning. :) I've been giving a lot of thought regarding the future of VOL.25. My shop has grown so much in 2010! More so then I EVER could have imagined. :) I think I just may be to the point now, where I need to hire help or scale back some... (customer service is my top priority but hard when you are only one person!) and because my shop was started as a "hobby" that would allow me to stay at home with my girls, I really dont want to lose sight of that. I think I am going to cut back on my advertising. It seems so weird to think about doing so, naturally I keep trying to push forward, and set new higher goals for myself and the shop. But, I am finding that the result is me spending most of my mornings packaging orders... and less time creating, less time loungeing on the couch with my little girls, missing photo ops like these:

and many other mommy opportunities that seem to be blazing on by! :) For 2011 I plan to catch more of these moments/opportunities. I'm going to ONCE AGAIN start Project 365 (where you take one photo for every day of the year), and I REALLY hope I can finish it this time. Fingers crossed!!

I'm not sure when I'll re-open the shop, we are still planning to try and fly out to Oklahoma next week, and whether or not we do will definitely play a big part in when I re-open. I should know more details by Wednesday! :) I'll keep you updated!

Anyhow, I hope you are enjoying the start of December!! I've been in hibernation mode it seems... the snow tends to make me do that. I am feeling MUCH better though, and I just might brave the snow in a few days... :) I've been doing ALL my Christmas Shopping online! How about you?

A slight change in plans

Hello everyone! I've been feeling a little under the weather these last few days, and we have ended up needing to cancel our trip to Oklahoma. We're pretty dissapointed, and are hoping to still go in the next few weeks... The fact that I havent been feeling well and just feeling a bit burnt out from the black friday sale,  prompted me to go ahead and put the shop in vacation mode. It will probably be just for a few days, long enough for me to get the rest of my orders out, and maybe have a day or two of just doing nothing. :)

I hope you are all well, I just wanted to pop in and give everyone an update!! :)