I Heart Faces Photo Challenge - Best Face Photo in January

Here goes...my first entry into the weekly I Heart Faces photo challenge!  

Above is a photo I recently shot of my daughter eating cotton candy for the first time (taken with my Canon T1i).  While I have a lot of beautiful photographs showing her entire face, I thought this one was unique, as the cotton candy "cone" acts as a leading line to her face. 

Being an amateur photographer, I have no clue how professional photographers even begin to select a photo to enter any contest!  Thank you for visiting.  Comments (positive OR negative) are greatly appreciated. 

FREEBIE: Monthly Onesie Stickers (Boys)

One reader requested a boy version of the stickers.  Below are the links!  

Boy Stickers (Months 1-6)

To download the PDF file, click here.

To download the PNG file, click here.   

Boy Stickers (Months 7-12)

To download the PDF file, click here.

To download the PNG file, click here.   

If you want to make these for a gift, feel free to download the 'directions.'  Click on the picture to be taken to the PDF version.

FREEBIE: Monthly Onesie Stickers (Girls)

When my second daughter was born, I decided to be diligent about taking "monthly" pictures of her (something I wasn't so great about doing with my first daughter).  These are basically knock-off Picky Sticky stickers.  While some of the ones on Etsy have cute art, I wanted something very simple.  Below is a sample of what I made for my daughter. 

I decided to upload two formats of the file.  The first is a PDF - you can print it on an 8.5"x11" sticker sheet and cut out the stickers or just print them onto plain paper and tape the "sticker" onto the onesie.  The second is a PNG file.  With this, you could also just print the stickers, or you could put your Photoshop skills to work (which is what I have started to resort to).  I 'select' the sticker that I want to use, take my daughter's picture in a plain onesie, and Photoshop the sticker on after I pick a photo I like.  (This oftentimes requires me to also Photoshop out wrinkles, but I think it comes out a little better this way).  

Girl Stickers (Months 1-6)

To download the PDF file, click here.

To download the PNG file, click here.   

Girl Stickers (Months 7-12)

To download the PDF file, click here.

To download the PNG file, click here.   

If you want to make these for a gift, feel free to download the 'directions.'  Click on the picture to be taken to the PDF version.

Interested in monthly stickers for a boy?  Let me know!

Hope this helps you track your baby's first year of precious life! 

FREEBIE: Valentine's Day Card

It is time to start planning for Valentine's Day!  I was going to make something crafty for all of the kids in my daughter's (2 year old) class, but I opted for the typical box of candy hearts.  I figured they wouldn't really appreciate something crafty as much as candy!  I have an idea for the girls' teachers (and maybe my coworkers as well), so I will post it once I put the idea into action.  

Until then, I figured I'd post a 4x6 card template I'm going to make for the girls' friends.  Click on the photo to download the .PSD file - just add a picture and your name(s)!  Enjoy.

FREEBIE: Weekly Menu Planner

As a working mom, I should probably be more organized with my menu planning.  I don't do a weekly menu, but have realized that's really the only way to force myself to plan.  I have been wanting to do this for a while, but didn't realize until this past week when we had some sort of Italian food just about everyday for dinner., that this is now necessary.  Boy do I love Italian, but I am so tired of it now!  The only way for me really to be diligent about planning is to use this weekly menu planner I created. Feel free to download for your personal use.  I made two versions - one that lists the days Sunday through Saturday and another that lists the days Monday through Sunday.  Happy planning!

Birthday Tree - Part II

One of my previous posts discussed the Birthday Tree, which was a tradition I started for my daughter, whom was born around the holidays.  Her second birthday took place January 2, so on New Year's Day night I took down all of the Christmas decorations and decorated her tree.  When my daughter woke up in the morning, we went and looked at all of the pictures on her tree.  She had more appreciation for it than I thought a two year old would, which was very rewarding.  I kept all of the pictures from last year's Birthday Tree, so it was interesting that she thought those pictures were of her little sister!  

My husband and I have discussed what we are going to do for our second daughter, whose birthday is in July, to make her birthday just as special.  My husband came up with the idea of just making the Birthday Tree a New Year's Tree.  Perhaps we could make it a tradition to decorate it on New Year's Eve Day as a way to say farewell to the year and reminisce about all of the memories that went along with it.