Birthday Girls~by Mel

So my two sweetie nieces were both born in the lovely month of February and we set out on Valentine's Day to do a double photo shoot with them. You should know that my niece Avery (the older one) is just turning three and the actual first children's photo shoot that I did was for her year and a half photos. There is always something magical about taking photos of family. We did some new and creative things this time and I think these are my favorite photos to date.

Happy Birthday Girls! All my LOVE~Aunt Lissa

ps-Shout out again goes to my hubby for helping out with lenses and also for balancing me on his shoulders for some pictures! (that had to hurt!)

I have posted quite a few for now and may post more later.  Or you may see a video! :) 

Striving for my best ~ by Mar

In the spirit of the season of Lent, I have decided to give up my free time! As a part time teacher and photographer and full time mother, I spend a lot of time at home. I have found myself very unmotivated lately, so the Lenten season has given me the kick I needed to improve myself in so many ways. I spent my down time today trying out new effects with my photo software to make a great original photo "SPARKLE" even more! I give iHeartFaces credit for posting this "Fix it" tutorial. I have really enjoyed following their site (even though I haven't had the time to participate in their weekly contest....this could be another goal for my Lenten Project!) So here's my example of making a great photo really sparkle!

This is my daughter Eden. I happen to think she is already beautiful, but look how the sparkle layer, evening skin tone, and sharpening her natural eyes makes the top photo even better! The bottom photo is my original image.

Life is Black and White~by Mel

Kid's Entry

This week's i heart faces contest focuses on images processed using black and white. I myself adore black and most pictures in my home that are of my husband and I (professionally done) I had made into black and white. There is just something about how much you see the expression of the subject and the emotion that comes through when there is nothing else to be distracted with like bold colors or other bells and whistles. Black and white can capture as nothing else can and there are so many ways you can do black and white--bold, subtle, soft or dramatic. The options are endless. This week the contest focuses on straight up black and white--no tinting or adding in other colors to the BW. The feel of black and white is like nothing else and while I love to live life in color I enjoy processing my photos in the glorious world of black and white!
In my kid's entry I think you can really focus on the expression in Avery's face and I love that she is not doing your typical smile. I find this expression much more interesting. In my adult's entry I photographed a new Mom and her love and care is easily seen as she cradles her precious little one.

Adult's Entry

Show off some of your own black and white images or just browse many other beautiful photos at www.iheartfaces.com.

"Wonder"ful~ by Mel

Kid's Entry


This week's i heart faces contest focuses on the feeling of wonder. Wonder can mean so many things and can be expressed in many different ways. The world seen through the eyes of a little one in wonder is certainly something to behold. I love watching children and their eye expression when they are trying to figure something out or when they are seeing something new. They notice things that we as adults miss. In this photo Rylan is certainly wondering about something...maybe it is why I am constantly snapping photos of her? :)
In my adult's entry Erin's eyes are saying it all. Perhaps she is wondering what her daughter will be like or who she might take after. Maybe she is wondering about being a Mom for the second time and contemplating the joy that is motherhood. Only she knows for sure and the mystery of what her thoughts are in this picture are part of the charm. The wonder of being a mother is certainly a beautiful thing. Incidentally the baby Erin is holding is Rylan. (the little one pictured above...wow how she has grown!)

Adult's Entry

Head over to i heart faces and see many more "wonder"ful faces!

Happy Valentines Day~ by Mel

So I am a few minutes past Valentine's Day in my post but I am just getting the chance to sit down and give the recap. It was an amazing day filled with love, photos and fun. To start it off, I found out that I had won 5th place in the i heart faces photos contest for my silly picture of the Kramer family. You can see the post below and visit www.iheartfaces.com to check out this awesome site. Anyway back to the rest of my day. Chad and I got to spend time with some of our family and sharing the day with them was just a blessing. The family of which I speak is my sister in law Erin, brother in law Jason and my adorable nieces Avery and Rylan. We did an early morning photo shoot at their home and then later in the day we headed outside for something different than we have ever done.  I have to say out of all the pictures I have taken so far,  I think these are my absolute favorites!   You will see why once I do a full post of images coming up!  After all the photo taking we had some dinner together and watched a movie. What a way to spend Valentine's Day. Above you will see a sneak peak with much more to come!  Thank you to Erin, Jason, Avery and Ry Ry for sharing your day with us.  We enjoy every moment we spend with you and we LOVE you! 

On this day I reflected on the LOVE in my life. Someone I am ever grateful for is my husband Chad. In lieu of traditional Valentine gifts we wrote each other poems this year. Now while I am a writer and poems come naturally to me, Chad is not and he worked very hard to craft me a touching piece that I will treasure forever. I see the love of Christ in him and he shares that unconditional love on a daily basis. I can only hope that every person on life's journey can experience love such as this.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Okay...I could not resist! I had to post one more photo for a sneak peak. I made this one into a Valentine and it was a breeze to do so. If you have not yet heard of picnik, you should check it out. It is very user friendly. You can make all kinds of fun designs and it is for everyone. I even made my Kindergarten students their Valentines using this awesome site!  

Silly~by Mel

Kid's Entry

Silly...Silly...Silly! That is the theme for this week's i heart faces contest. Above you will see my entry for the children's category. This was one in a series of photos I took of Landon and Brittanie his Mom. She was chasing him around and had finally captured him. His expression is PRICELESS. This is a beautiful and silly moment between mother and son and it was one of my favorites from the day. The emotion on his face is just fun and you can almost hear them laughing.

Adult's Entry

For my adult entry I selected the photo above with the family posed by the barn. As I was thinking about my photos this one came to mind. This was a family photo shoot I did back in the summer of the amazing Kramer clan. Of course we had to have a little fun so I asked them all to make a "silly" face. Here is the end result! Even with silly faces they are quite a good lookin' group!


Check out i heart faces to see the other entries and enter one of your own! www.iheartfaces.com

The Boys Spread Some JOY~by Mel

Yippee! I won third place in the i heart faces weekly contest last week. The theme was JOY. To see the photo you can go down to the post marked "joy"--it is the photo of the football guys. It is an honor to win and both Mar and I will be participating in the contest this week.