Wednesday, April 24, 2013

100 Fans!

I'm so excited to have 100 fans on Facebook, it is also close to my 8th month anniversary since launching my business last August 25th.  What a better way to celebrate than a giveaway to thank my fans and followers?
The main prize is a $100 Certificate from Suzi Worley Photography to be used towards prints.
Tree2
Plus a bonus gift of either Two tickets to Filoli Gardens. (as pictured above)
Sbucks
OR a $25 Starbucks Gift-Card!
I'm hosting the give-away here and on my Facebook page.
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If you haven't followed this page be sure to do so.
As I hope to have some milestone prizes for my blog this year as well!
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Winners will be announced by Monday May 6, 2013.
Good luck!

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Trying Something New

I've been taking a class online and the instructor mentioned using V-flats as backgrounds and she said you could always make your own out of insulation boards.
I decided this sounded like it would be a fun project to try for my Mother/Daughter session that weekend, so I did a bit of shopping.
Paint
I purchased some pretty paints including some pretty faux finish ones.
Polystyrene
And then I choose some polystyrene boards.
I liked the concept of the 3/4" board, but found that with any bit of breeze it wanted to get away from us, and the 1" ones ended up being my favorites.
Removing the Foil
I had to remove the foil on one side, and will have to do another coat of paint on it, as some of the metal flecks were still visible after my first coat.
(Even with the all-in-one paint/primer combo.)
Polyboards
I painted right over the plastic and blue wording on the other side without any problem.
Milk Paint
The black paint was some milk paint I found in our shed. I loved the deep coal black color it produced.
V-flats
Here are the colors before I put the green faux finish on the tan board and used a stipple brush and metallic finish on the rose one.
The other sides are now a lovely winter's day blue, tadpole green, and popcorn white.
They even managed to dry before my session!
~ Stay tuned to see them in action. ~

Friday, April 5, 2013

A Visit from Zander

If you follow my Facebook business site you might recall Zander came to visit me earlier this year.
He's Wandering the World to help a group of very special people in Florida.
Although he visited San Francisco earlier on his way to China, he hadn't been to San Jose.
Breakfast
 I was so excited he could stop by for a visit!
He was a lovely guest, he even helped me make breakfast one morning!
(I think he liked the green eggs best.)
Picking_Lemons
He helped pick lemons from our lemon tree.
HideNSeek
Since it was February this was one of the few places that had green grass and Zander made the most of the warm weather.
 He took a break and played hide-and-seek in the flowers with his Teddy Bear.
Guarding
And then we drove "over the hill" to Santa Cruz, where Zander tried out his skills as a Life Guard.
Chilaxin
He made sure to take some time and enjoy the view of the pier and listen to the sea lions.
TheBoardwalk
I'm sure he would have loved to ride the Beach Boardwalk's wooden roller coaster too, but it doesn't start up until summer.  Perhaps some day he'll come back for another visit!
WaitingforSunset
We were so busy Zander had to rest a bit on these wooden parking dividers before we continued up the coast. 
Lighthouse
It was super windy and cold by this gorgeous brick Light House, but Zander really loved the green grass and flowers, and thought it was the perfect spot for a photo op.
Us
The time passed quickly and soon it was time for Zander to head to Southern California.
His last stop?  Australia!  I have to admit I wanted to tag along in his suitcase for that trip! 
I guess I'll just have to wait for the book to come out instead!