Random.org chose the lucky winner of the Barely Measured Gift Certificate! The winner is…

That would be Selena from Stoneyville!

Congrats! I’ll contact you through email!

AND, just wanted to remind you all to vote for your favorite holiday card! The voting closes on Monday night. There have already been over 400 unique votes! AND, there are about 10 cards duking it out to win a spot in the top 4!
VOTE HERE!

Have you voted for your favorite card yet? Go here and vote! Just takes a moment. Voting ends tomorrow evening!

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OOOOoookay… It’s not my home. It’s my mom’s. Same difference.

Shhhhh! No one tell Ashley I pulled this photo from last week! 😀

This is what time is like for me. A big blur. I never know what time… day… date it is. Is it Halloween yet?

I spy a baby… being naughty. Everyday.

This weeks guest judge: ME!
This weeks challenge: Blessings.
The challenge: The challenge will be based around your children. Take or find a photo of your baby (or kid… or puppy… or kitty) from your holiday meal or from Thanksgiving day. Or, if you don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, a photo of you and your loved ones together. A photo of your blessings.

My examples of “Blessings”:

Ruari’s first Thanksgiving! She had her first taste of turkey (in a jar)… at first she wasn’t too sure about it… But, that quickly changed. She LOVED it.

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Here are a couple links to some free photo editing software if you don’t already have something:
Picnik
Picasa
Gimp
Pixlr

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There always has to be rules… I know, boring right? But, it’s to help me and you. 🙂 Click on the link for more details… Each entry does need to link back to my blog… All photo entries need to be in by 11:59 PM Pacific Time on December 9th…
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Winners so far:
Cozy: … Hi, Baby. …
Eyes: … Bunch of Barrons …
Black and White: … Window to my Soul …
Blessings: … no one yet …

NOT ALWAYS PICTURE PERFECT

This weeks guest judge: 
Tez from: Not Always Picture Perfect.
This weeks challenge: Black and White.
The challenge: The challenge will be based around your children. Take or find a photo of your baby (or kid… or puppy… or kitty) in a black and white photo. This week I’m encouraging you to work with photo editing programs. Just play with it and have fun. I’ll include some links to some free editing programs (If you don’t already have one).

Tezzie’s picks:

1) Why Tezzie chose this photo: “This is such a fun shot, where the viewer immediately gets drawn in.  It’s a beautiful b/w conversion, has stunning lighting, and is nice and sharp…but what makes the shot, of course, is the hilarious expression on her face…it actually made me laugh out loud, which is hard to do!”

{Window to my soul}

Congrats! Please feel free to grab a “fact: I’m awesome … #1 winner” button below. Because: you ARE awesome! And, thank you SO much for participating!

<a href=”https://thepapermama.blogspot.com”><img src=”http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4111/5084702563_b6c1682861.jpg” alt=”The Paper Mama” width=”150″ height=”150″ /></a>

2) Why Tezzie chose this photo: “Sweet Minty captured my heart early on, this week…I couldn’t get this image out of my mind; his soulful eyes, looking slightly ashamed yet playful at the same time…it makes me think he’s just got a ”talking to” for playing with the tree, but he just wants to go right back to it again!  A fun holiday photo, taken from a great point of view…and, that added twinkle is like the ”cherry on top” :D”

{These Are the Days, the Time is Now}

3) Why Tezzie chose this photo: “I love a photo that tells a story…that chubby little hand, trying to reach the dog is absolutely precious!  Seeing it, makes ME want to reach out and pet the dog too J .  This is a great example of how converting a photo into black and white helps enchance it…I think colours would have distracted from the scene too much, and having it in b/w created instead a timeless shot!”

{Holly Days}

4) Why Tezzie chose this photo: “Just sweetness;  summer fun in the sun, the mischief in the smile, the crinkled nose…and, oh those curls!  Lighting is the key ingredient in this one…taking a good picture in full sun is hard to do as it can create such harsh contrasts, but in this case it works FOR the photo, highlighting those perfect curls.  One can’t help but to fall in love with this sweet little boy <3″

{Stepping on Cheerios}

5) Why Tezzie chose this photo: “I love the softness of this black and white conversion, that has a hint towards sepia without it being too much.  He is so intent on his task, and what makes this so special to me, is the timeless quality the photo posesses…”

{Alita Jewel}

Congrats to the top 5 winners! Great job, and please feel free to grab the top 5 button below! You’re all awesome!

<a href=”https://thepapermama.blogspot.com”><img src=”http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4128/5085298170_31cb9fb3a9_z.jpg” alt=”The Paper Mama” width=”150″ height=”150″ /></a>

{Dash Photography}

{Being What I Want to Be}

{It’s Just Jenn}

{Chronicles of Corbin}

{Find Your Happiness}

{Rhianne Lightfoot}

If you’re one of my favorites you are more than welcome to grab a “Paper mama hearts me” button below!

<a href=”https://thepapermama.blogspot.com”><img src=”http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4148/5084702705_ebcd889293.jpg” alt=”The Paper Mama” width=”150″ height=”150″ /></a>

We also wanted to give a couple shout outs…

{My Life My World My Blessings}

{Super Piper Calle Docious}

{Crosbie Crew}

Winners so far:
Cozy: … Hi, Baby. …
Eyes: … Bunch of Barrons …
Black and White: … Window to my Soul …
Blessings: … no one yet …

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Well, another week of accidentally taking time off from photo challenges!!! I don’t really notice when I’m doing it… but, it’s a nice recharge! I’m ready to play.

• Fix my photo @ Trendy Treehouse:

I touched up the contrast and brightness. Cloned out the people on the right. And, cropped. That sun flare across there faces was totally driving me nuts! So, I approached this another way…

Yeah, I liked the silhouette better… even though you can’t see the faces anymore! 😀

• Fix it Friday:

• Macro Friday, Before and After:

• Sky Watch Friday, And then she snapped:

Do you see it? The reflection of the sky in my ornament?

OOOOOooooh… and ONE more thing: we have a winner for the Padalily Carseat Cushion!

That would be Kel from Then There Were 5! Yay! Congrats! I will be emailing you.

I’m not quite sure how I stumbled on to this. But, it’s kind of neat. Some of it’s a little silly, but I think it’s a great way to show you what handmade creations you can find for your friends. I believe it goes through and finds what your friends “like” on facebook and it shows you some gift ideas. Click here to try it for yourself.

I played around and found some cute things by looking up a few of my friends.

I like the Top Gun glasses on a stick!

I don’t know, what do you think Amy? I like the WA state pillow!

I like many things in her selection!

One thing that sort of sucks is you can’t look up yourself! Sometimes I find searching through Etsy a little overwhelming. It would be neat to see my stuff. Find stuff for your friends here.