Happy News!

Howdy all! I hope this post finds you basking in the glow of a very Merry Christmas! We had a lovely time with my family down for the big celebration! The kids were blessed, both by family and Santa Claus! It was just a terrific time!!

I wanted to share some happy news with you! I got an email today from Digitals scrapping site, and one of my layouts was chose as Layout Of The Day!! How excited am I??? Out of the thousands of layouts they looked over, to have one of mine stand out from the crowd was truly exciting! See the layout below! Or you can go to www.digitalscrapbookpages.com and see my layout in the Layout of the Day forum!



This page was created by me, using a kit by Amanda Thorderson, called "Christmas Comfort." I loved this kit, and was able to create 7 quick pages that will be given to several of Digital's members! Very exciting to get my name out there!!

The picture is of Logan, my friend Becky's foster child. Isn't he a cutie? Becky let me take some pictures of him, and this was one of my favorites!

Well, I've still got wrapping paper to throw away, and toys to organize . . and dishes to wash! So I'd better get going! Hope to talk to you soon!

Happy New Year!
da

Christmas Orders by December 15th!!

Just a quick note to let you know, if you're planning on getting any portraits back before Christmas, I must have your order and payment no later than this Friday, December 15th! Any later than that, and I cannot get them back by Christmas!!

I hope you're all well, and I promise to catch up soon! I've been swamped with Christmas card orders, and I still have two senior sessions left to proof and four family sessions! It's been a busy season!

I hope to hear from you all soon, and wish you the Merriest Christmas of all!

da

12 Days of Christmas Celebration Special!!

Ok, folks. It's almost here. Only 30 more shopping days left till Christmas!!! So, have I got a deal for you! At dc portraits & imaging, we're celebrating the 12 Days of Christmas with a SALE!!



special thanks to www.theshabbyprincess.com and www.atomiccupcake.com for the products used to create this ad!

Beginning on December 1st through the 12th, we are offering you some great specials to help you with your Christmas shopping! Avoid the malls, long lines, and crazed shoppers, do your shopping from the comfort of your own home!!! Portraits make the most wonderful Christmas gifts, and they are so personal!

Here are the deals:

16 wallets for $12 (SAVE $8)
Limit of 80 wallets please
up to 5 poses!

2 5x7 desk portraits for $12 (SAVE $8)
Limit of 10 5x7s please
up to 5 poses!

1 10x13 wall portrait for only $23!! (SAVE 1/2 OFF!)
Limit 3 10x13s please
one pose!

Order by December 12th, and have your portraits in time for Christmas gift exchanges!!

Don't miss out on these great specials, only available for 12 days, from December 1st through December 12th!!

Thanks for looking,
da

More Scrappin'

I love digital scrap booking. Can you tell? It's like the perfect companion to my photography. And . . . it's so fun, and relaxing. It's my new hobby. Since photography is now my "work," my fun is scrapping. I love that I can integrate two of my favorite things to share with you.




Here are two new pages I did using a kit from my friend, Claudia Cochran, of www.hookedondigiscrap.com. Claudia is a great designer, and I appreciate her great style! The photo is of a the little guy I posted of recently. He's such a DOLL!! I could look at him all day! I also used a chipwood action from www.atomiccupcake.com on the letter A in the block. Thanks to Claudia and Atomic Cupcake for their great products.





This second page is from Whitney's second senior portrait shoot. This was the studio shoot, and we got some great stuff! This layout is a digital template that I got FREE from Christine Smith, a designer for www.thedigichick.com. You can visit Christine's blog to pick up this layout free at: www.christinesmithdigital.blogspot.com. Tell her I sent ya!





Enjoy, and thanks for looking!


da

I Believe In Angels

This is a new digi scrap mega kit I got at www.distresseddiva.com. It is a compilation of several of their designers, including my friend Claudia! I couldn't wait to get this out and start scrapping with it!




When I saw the colors they used, I immediately thought of these pictures I took a couple of years ago of Camryn and her little friend, Morgan. Aren't they just the cutest little angels ever??





Thanks for www.distresseddiva.com and www.atomiccupcake.com for their super cool products!



I believe in angels, do you?

da

Little Man

I had so much fun yesterday! I got to make portraits of the cutest little man!! Take a sneek peek at his session!



Cheesing it up for Elmo!!



Running from the camera . . .




I think he was trying to get rid of me! Bye bye nice lady.

da

The Cubbage's and Fall Festival

Ok, I needed a break from proofing . . . and ran straight for my digi scrap cd's! I think I have a problem!!! Are there support groups for this?

This is a layout I created using Christine Smith's "Fall Festival," kit. You can purchase Christine's kits exclusively at www.thedigichick.com. (I will post the actual link later, for some reason the site is down and I can't get the link.)

I have used portraits I made of my brother-in-law and his sweet family last year. Aren't those kiddos just the cutest?

Thanks for looking! Back to my proofs!

da

Senior Proofs Galore!!

Well, it's that time of year, and I'm up to my eyeballs in senior portrait proofs!! But I LOVE every minute of it. This has been my most successful year to date with senior portraits, and I'm so happy that it's mostly been word of mouth from the seniors themselves that has gotten my name out there!

In fact, in our high school here in town, I hear that there are several classes who are logging into my BetterPhoto gallery every morning to check out who the post of the day is! Unfortunately, they can't access this blog at school, but I'm getting ready to launch my dedicated website soon, so they can find all my goodies in one place!!

This is the brilliant and beautiful Summer. Probably the sweetest person I've ever met. This one's got it all, beauty and brains.

This is the gorgeous, and talented Whitney. We shot these out in an open field. She danced around and played in the wind, and it made me feel like I was shooting a cover for a magazine or something. I think her modeling experience paid off!!

Ah, Amy. We had a BLAST! Ok, climbing the tree was my idea, but she actually did it! I held my hands out and hoisted her up and she climbed right up in this huge tree!!! I was in awe! She's much braver than I am!

Here she is again, with beautiful leaves she brought from her own yard!!! The leaves at the park we were at were really dry and brown, and she whips out this bag of beautiful leaves, and voila! Perfection!!

Now, this was all her idea! She wanted shots in the water. It's November. But like I said, she's brave. Brave and beautiful! I told her that her daddy was going to hate these pictures!

You can't tell she's freezing, can you? And if you must know, I was right there in the water with her. I wasn't laying in it though. I think it was worth it, I think these turned out just great. And the setting sun actualy made it look warmer than it was!

And a couple more of the lovely Summer.

Doesn't she look so sweet??? She's just as sweet as she looks! I really enjoyed our day together. We talked and talked about just anything that we could think of.

Well, I need to get back to my proofing! These girls are waiting on their pictures! I just couldn't resist sharing a few of my favorites with you.

Thanks for looking,

da

Catching Snowflakes!

I wanted to share my latest digital scrap creation! This is my lovely daughter last winter, during the only snowfall we got all year. She was trying to catch snowflakes on her tongue . . . but it wasn't snowing! It was her first experience with snow, so she didn't realize it had to be actually snowing in order to catch them on your tongue! Isn't that just the sweetest?? You gotta love 4 year olds!





This kit is available at www.hookedondigiscrap.com, it is called Frosty The Snowman, and it was created by my friend, Claudia C. The fonts I used are Franciscan, which I used Atomic Cupcake's chipwood action on. A special thanks to Atomic Cupcake and Claudia C for their wonderful products! I also used LoveLetters font which I got from www.dafonts.com.





I hope you enjoy my little trip down memory lane today! Got to get back to proofing!!


da

Oh Those Eyes!

Still busy proofing away, and I have another senior session tomorrow! But wanted to pop in and post an image that I proofed today!! Check out those eyes!





da

Ooooh La La

Well, I'm off again on yet another senior portrait session! But before I go, I have to post one from my session yesterday with Whitney! I think this turned out so cute! And there are so many more great shots of her, but wanted to post this one, as it's one of my favorites from the day!

Whitney, I had so much fun on your shoot yesterday, you were so easy to photograph! I felt like I was photographing for a magazine!! Thanks for choosing DC Portraits & Imaging!

da

Favorites

I finnally finished Christina's proofs. Here are a fe more of my favorite poses from her.



The book and glasses were her idea. Doesn't she look cute? I found it interesting that the book was, "Little Women," a favorite and classic!



Loved this one, once I cropped it at an angle and gave it a grungy urban look.

Thanks for looking!
da

Stunning Christina

Ok, I've been proofing images like crazy, trying to catch up. And I came across this one image of Christina that originally I had thought would end up on in the trash folder. But when I looked at it again, something about it grabbed my attention. I converted it to black & white using a chocolate syrup action, and WHOA! It just came alive! Now, I cannot decide between the full image, or the cropped image. What do you think?






Isn't she stunning??? For the rest of you waiting on your sneak peek of your proofs, they are coming! I'm working as fast as I can!!


da

My Princess and More . . .

I have been so busy with shoots the last two weeks, I think I got a little burned out on proofing images! So this weekend, I've taken time off to just create more scrap pages. Tomorrow it's back to proofing, as I have three (that's right, 3!!) to get proofed and out to my clients!

But for tonight, I want to share some more of my fun scrap pages. I will list all the designers who I have used their works to create these three new pages.

This is a fun little Christmas page I created from Christine Smith's SuperStar Sampler kit.

This is a FREE kit you can get from Christine where she sells her work. www.thedigichick.com This kit isn't a Christmas kit, but I thought the red paper background looked like poinsettias, so I went for something different with it than expected. The pictures are of my kids, and my grandma last Christmas. The one of my son opening his gift is called, "Pure Joy," and it was a Finalist last year at BetterPhoto.com.

This cute layout of Katie on her 6th birthday was also created using papers and embellishments from Christine's SuperStar kit. I wanted to use the stuff in two different ways to show how versatile these things can be. You can do so much with one kit!

Now this page came about because my daughter saw me creating all these other pages and wanted to know when I was gonna make her a page!! So of course, here you go baby girl. I used a ton of different stuff on this one. So here is the list:

Papers, Rose stamp, Stick Pin & alpha letters from the Shabby Princess's Vintage Floral kit, you can find her designs at her site: www.theshabbyprincess.com. The brads holding images are from Laura Alpuche's September Sun kit, found on www.thedigichick.com. The torn border is from Lori Imel's Sampler @ www.Digitals.com The brown tag is from a free Skateboard Kit, but I cannot remember where I got it. (Sorry!) The bow is from Myszka's Free sampler at www.digitals.com The brown rimmed velum tag (round) is from Michelle Malia's free sampler at www.digitals.com. The Scroll Stamp is from Lauren Grier's Skippy DooDa kit, which can be found at www.digitalfreebies.com. The 2 Ivory flowers are from Dana Frantz's SouthHampton sampler at www.digitals.com. The notebook paper is from a sampler kit for Back To School, cannot remember where I got it either. The fonts I used are Teletype and Brenden's Hand.

Please visit any of these sites, if you're interested in purchasing these items. They are great fun for digital scrappin as you can see!

Thanks for stopping by,

da

Love Birds

I just got some new digital scrapping materials, and of course stayed up till almost 3 am creating a layout with them! I'm just crazy for this stuff!

Here is Casey and Jason, in one of their portraits, featuring a kit by Lauren Grier from www.digitalfreebies.com. This is Lauren's "Hibiscus," kit. When I saw it, I knew it would match the clothes they were wearing perfectly!







I hope you like it!


da

Another Lovely Lady

Ok, I'm not done with Christina's pictures yet, but I took Casey's senior portraits today, and I couldn't resist working on a couple to post here for her.



Believe it or not, this lovely lady is married! This is her and her dear husband on the road right in front of their farm. I just loved this image!



This one was taken out in their field behind their house. Love the drama created by the black & white here.

Casey & Jason it was so fun working with you guys! I really enjoyed it! And tell your puppy that my kids found paw prints on my back! So I told them the story and they got a big kick out of it! He was so cute! Tell him I said hi!

Till next time!
da

More of Christina

Ok, I'm having a blast using some digital scrap book elements to create beautiful displays of my portraits!! I think I'm addicted!


Here's a couple I did of Christina!







The artists who created the things I used are: Amy Jo Smith, Andrea Burns, Amy Knepper, Mari K, and Christine Smith. All of their designs can be viewed and purchased through www.thedigichick.com Also, I would like to mention that I created the brown & pink polka dot ribbon myself!!


Ok, I'm off to do more playing!
da

I've Been Tagged!

Ok, thanks Jessica! Now I've been tagged. Ugggh. Now, I have to come up with five weird things about myself. Hmmm, perhaps I should ask my family?

Ok, here goes.

1) I hate to wear shoes. It really irritates me to have to put shoes on to leave the house. I am just so much more comfy barefoot. And, if I have to wear shoes, I prefer flip flops. This doesn't bode so well with being on the platform at church. I've been known to bring flip flops to change after I come down from the platform.

2) When I eat a Three Musketeers bar, I eat all the chocolate layer off first. Then I eat the creamy nougaty inside. I like the taste of it by itself. If I could buy just that stuff, I would.

3) I hate to use bodywash. Uggh. For some strange reason if I have showered and I still feel any moisture in my skin . . . then I am not clean. So using bodywash, makes me all soft and moisterized. Uh uh. Not clean. Can't do it. Give me a good ol' bar of Safeguard anyday.

4) Ok, this is really weird. When I'm a passenger in a car, I have this thing where I clinch my teeth on the side of the road where there is no grass. Like driveways, and such. Or, I will clinch my teeth on the side of the road where there is a dotted line. I "clinch," on the part where there is no yellow. I have no idea why I do this, but I've always done it as long as I can remember. And after awhile, my jaw gets really sore. LOL. Plus, it's bad for conversation with the driver, because I totally space off sometimes when I'm doing it.

How weird is that??

5) I don't think I can beat that last one. Oh, I got one. Ok, I am 38, and I have gray hair, zits, and arthritis all at the same time. I have to go to the store and buy Clearasil and Hair Color both. I don't know if that's weird, but it's certainly not fair. It just confirms to me that God does have a great sense of humor.

Ok, I'm tagging Sandy Landon, Melanie White, Alisha Ekstrom and Christy Long. Tag, you're it.

da

It Ain't Easy Being Cute!

I wanted to post a picture of this little cutie that I met yesterday while doing her big sister's senior portraits. This little lady was full of spunk and personality. I was really blessed to catch this one, as she was sitting on the ground under me while I was shooting. I just happened to look down, call her name, and wow, did I catch a great smile or what?? She was adorable!

I have also used some fun elements to create this digital scrapbook, and I want to give credit to all the designers who I used to create it. First of all, I used my own Spotty Dotty storyboard template to for the background page. I also have created the brown & pink spotted ribbon used. The rest of the embellishments came from different designers at thedigichick.com. Their names are: Christina Smith, Amber Clegg, Amy Knepper and Sarah Jones. You can view and purchase all of their unique and fun designs at www.thedigichick.com! I also used a border created by my friend Jessica McCollam. Her designs can be viewed and purchased at http://jvbordersnmore.blogspot.com/.

To little Jami and her family, thanks for sharing the day with me!

Smile,

da

The Lovely Christina

I just love shooting senior portraits!! And I've been so blessed this year to have such a lovely aray of young ladies to photograph! Today's senior was no different, she is just beautiful!



She has this gorgeous blonde hair, that is naturally curly! It's so beautiful! And gorgeous blue eyes . . . and what a smile!



But wait, that's not all. She's also smart and sweet. While visiting with her, I learned that she is going to college to study law. This girl's got the whole package!



She took me to a new place to shoot portraits. It was this really cool historical home with beautiful grounds and lots of different places to take her pictures. We ended up with quite a variety!



I told her I would probably go through and pull some of my favorites to post here tonight, to give her a sneak peek!



And I just can't resist using these darling borders from Jessica McCollam. Aren't they great?



Christina, thanks so much for choosing me to do your senior portraits. It was a real pleasure working with you, and meeting your family. I hope you had fun, and that you enjoy this little sneak peek!

da

More Finalists and a Fun Collage

Hi all! Today I wanted to feature a few more of my BetterPhoto.com finalists from the past. Again, these have all been enhanced featuring photo borders created by my friend Jessica McCollam. You can find the link to her site in the "Click Here," section in the sidebar of my blog.

This one is my very first finalist that I ever received at BetterPhoto. The title of this image is ,"Sweetness." Of course, it's my little girl, when she was about two.


This is one my favorites of my son. This was taken right after I got my new D70, and I was practicing on him! He gave me some really cute poses, and it was the day before Valentine's Day, so we had a little fun. I always hoped to make a Valentine card out of this.



This was one of my earlier winners too. It's called, "Walking On Sunshine." This is my sun taken about three years ago. He is walking down a driveway that leads to a Vet clinic in a town near us. Every spring it is in bloom with these gorgeous daffodils.



This is one of my all time favorites of Camryn, she was dressed up like a fairy. She was just sitting on the porch posing for me, and I caught this sweet moment. I used some selective coloring and other effects to get a vintage feel to it. I just love this image. It also won a finalist medal.



One more fun thing I wanted to post today. This is a collage I made using one of my Spotty Dotty templates. I also used some new typewrite alpha style letters from the collections of Christine Smith, digital scrapbook designer. You can visit her blog at: http://christinesmithdigital.blogspot.com/





Click on any image above to view it larger!

Thanks for looking, and I hope you enjoyed my trip down memory lane.
da

BetterPhoto.com Finalists

I just purchased some new borders from my good friend, Jessica McCollam. They are so fun, and make your images look just a little bit more special! So I decided to showcase some of them on some of my portraits that have won finalist medals at BetterPhoto.com.





If you are a photographer, or digital scrapbooker, you should check out Jessica's designs! Her link is: http://www.jvbordersnmore.blogspot.com/







Enjoy these old, but still favorite portraits from my collections.



da