WW: Summer Fun and Photo Challenge

I couldn't have asked for a better Memorial Day weekend. Hubs was even off for a few hours. Memorial Day brought with it fab summer temps in the high 80s/low 90s. It was muggy and hot. Long overdue. And wonderful. If it wasn't for all the gnats it would have been pure bliss.

Pokey was resourceful and managed to stay cool.


Hubs barbecued chicken.

We ate yummy food. I didn't even get a pic of my potato salad, which by the way was the "best ever" according to the fam.

The kids ran through the sprinklers with neighborhood friends.

They ate popsicles. In the street. In their suits.

In the sweltering heat.

Little Man caught ginormous bullfrog tadpoles.

And climbed trees.

Pokey picked "flowers" while I prayed she didn't fall prey to the poison ivy like her brother.

(Krafty Photo Frames by K Pertiet, found at Designer Digitals. Photos processed with Florabella Halo Action.)

And wouldn't ya know it? The fun has only begun. School lets out this Thursday.

I couldn't be more stoked about summer and all it brings. Plus the endless photo ops.

If you didn't hear, the lovely Kristi from Live and Love out Loud and myself are teaming up to bring you a fab new summer meme.

LAZY CRAZY DAYS OF SUMMER Photo Challenge that runs Jun 3rd thru Aug 26th.

Grab the button and stop by this Friday (Jun 3rd). The theme this week is flowers.


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Everyone is welcome to participate, whether you are a novice or a pro, own an SLR or a point and shoot... A perfect way to practice your photog skills while capturing fun summer moments with your family. And I am giddy with anticipation... Can't wait to see what you come up with.

For your convenience we also have a Crazy Days of Summer Flickr Group.You can find more details about the meme as well as updated themes in my Summer Photo Challenge Page located in the far right tab under my header.


And the winner of the drawing over at Alicia Ann Photography is... Sarah from NapTime MomTog. Please email me at lish@mchsi.com so you can let me know which item you'd like from my etsy shoppe. I added a couple more over the weekend, so make sure to take a peek.

Thanks for stopping by!

If you have a photo just link it below. Wordless, Not So Wordless, or Wordful posts are all welcome. Make sure to stop by some of the other WWs.

Finding Beauty in the Undesired

This is a field of weeds. They may not seem like much to look at, but I was drawn to them. They do not demand attention or care, but they possess a beauty all their own. To me they are just as beautiful as any meticulously attended to prized flower.

Kim's Texture Tuesday theme for the week is "in the garden" and although this is not in my garden, it certainly is a sight to behold. And I'm convinced that beauty really can be found in the most unsuspecting of places. We just have to open our eyes and be open to the possibilities.

(Hover over photo to see the before)

I didn't do much to this photo this week. I added 2 textures. Kim's Paper Grunge texture with soft light at 100% and her Coffee Tea or Me with soft light at 42%. That's it. No other editing was done. Sometimes less really is more.

I know that this has been a busy weekend and that many of you who wanted to were not able to comment due to the infamous blogger.

So, for those of you who missed it...

You can learn how to do this hover over trick here.

And I'm joining up with Kristi from Live and Love out Loud for a super fun LAZY CRAZY DAYS OF SUMMER photo challenge. Grab the button.

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And read more about it here. It starts this Friday, June 3rd and the theme this week is flowers.

Unveiling The Summer Photo Challenge

Can you believe summer is already here? I for one am super stoked. Warm sun. Flip flops. Thunderstorms. Barbecues. Freshly cut grass. Days spent poolside. Crickets chirping. Fireflies buzzing. So many new photo ops just waiting to be seized.

The new summer photo meme is...

{Drum roll please...}

Lazy Crazy Days of Summer.

I couldn't be more excited about this new photo challenge. I am teaming up with the lovely Kristi of Live and Love out Loud to bring you this fun summer meme that will run June 3rd thru Aug 26th. We are calling it "Crazy Days of Summer" because I don't know about you, but I have yet to experience those mythical lazy days they speak of with these two crazy heathens kids running around.

Grab your calendars. It will be a weekly meme that runs every Friday starting at 12:01AM. We will handpick some of our favs for our Top 5 Pics of the Week. They will be announced the following Thursday at 12:01AM and featured on both of our blogs.

So come join us this Friday, June 3rd. The theme is flowers. Hopefully by now you have something pretty growing in your garden. And if you have a brown thumb like myself, take a stroll through your local park or nursery.

If you like to plan ahead, here is the complete schedule for the month of June.

Week 1, 3rd- Flowers
Week 2, 10th- Refreshing
Week 3, 17th- Water
Week 4, 24th- Yellow
Share your favorite images inspired by the Crazy Days of Summer theme-of-the-week and grab our sweet button while you're at it!

<center><a href="http://www.projectalicia.com/2011/05/unveiling-summer-photo-challenge.html"><img border="0" src="http://i359.photobucket.com/albums/oo34/iowalish/summerbuttonfinal200x200.jpg" /></a></center>
Please share your photos with others by linking directly to your Crazy Days of Summer blog post or Flickr photo, not your blog's home page or Flickr Photostream.

Feel free to share your photos in our Crazy Days of Summer Flickr Group as well.

You can find more details about the meme as well as updated themes in my Summer Photo Challenge Page located in the tab under my header.

Can't wait to see what you come up with! See ya on Friday!

Memorial Day Downloads and Questions Answered

With multiple family members halfway across the world at war, Memorial Day takes on a more personal meaning for me this year. I am so thankful for all who have gone before to ensure the freedoms and liberties that I experience and enjoy liberally on a daily basis... service members, loved ones, neighbors, friends. I'm certain we all know one. And to be a beneficiary of such selfless acts is hard to even fathom. The ultimate sacrifice. So don't forget the Memorial in Memorial Day this year.

To my American friends, here is a little download you can print and frame. It is a 5x5 print. If you'd like a more distressed version, click here. Otherwise, just right click and save as a picture. Print on cardstock or photo paper.

And you may remember my patriotic chalk from last summer I shared for the 4th. If you missed it, here's another look.

Here's the recipe card for the taking.

Also, a little off topic. I have had many questions lately and wanted to address a couple.

I had a tweet from @JD_Iwig from London last night. She was trying to find the code to add the email button to her blog. Since I have had this question multiple times, I thought there could be more of you.

If you want to learn how to add social media buttons to your blogger blog, then read my Idiots Guide to Adding Social Media Buttons to Blogger. Go here to find more unique, free buttons for your blog. Love the vintage ones.

And if you want to add the email button, the code is slightly different than the one I shared in that tutorial for the other buttons.

Here is the original code for your facebook, twitter, RSS, stumble upon, flickr, etc.

And here is the code for the email button.

And since I did It's Spring and Lots of Firsts revealing the mouse over trick with my SOOC shot, I have had many comments and questions. First of all, thanks to Sarah at Naptime Momtog. She is a techy goddess who has been a real help for me. This is the code she shared...

If you knew how techy challenged I was you'd get a kick out of these questions too. I do hope that this can benefit at least one person in your search for answers in the wee hours of the morning so you don't pull your hair out.

And if you have any other questions, about anything, just ask. I may not have all the answers, but I have many great resources. And I've been working on a more revealing post about myself. If there's something you've been dying to know, ask now so I can include it.

Thanks for your continued support. I had two showings on my house yesterday from the same family. Haven't heard back yet, so keep your fingers crossed.

Have a great weekend!

WW: My Latest Endeavors

Exciting things are happening here. Now if only I could keep up with it all...

Becoming projectalicia{dot}com. Archiving photos. Making albums. Getting unstuck.

And opening my blog to sponsorships.

Not to mention the normal, everyday, hectic, busyness of life. Cooking, cleaning, dishes, laundry, more laundry, soccer games, school concerts, homework. You know the drill.

I've also been taking a crash course in all things techy. If you know me at all, you know by now that technology and I don't see eye to eye. And this week it has been the bane of my existence. CSS, hyperlinks, php fatal errors, wordpress lingo, plugins, and photoshop CS5 to name a few. So much to learn and so little time. I think my brain cells have been stretched to their maximum capacity. And my head might just explode.

And although it is not yet 100%, I am proud to announce that I put together a photo website ALL. BY. MYSELF! Eat your heart out you web designers out there. Truly a feat for this tech challenged girl. I also started an etsy shoppe for some of my textured prints.

And the best news is I am opening my photography to the public and beginning Alicia Ann Photography.

Thanks so much for all the gentle nudges and encouraging words that pushed me to jump in.

Life couldn't be any crazier. But let's face it. It's not slowing down anytime soon. Might as well live it to it's fullest while I can.

Here is a screen shot from the Project Alicia Etsy Shoppe.



If you want to take a peek at my shoot from this week, swing by my new photo website. Leave a comment to be entered in a drawing for a free item of your choice from my etsy shoppe. The winner will be announced next week.

If you have a photo just link it below. Wordless, Not So Wordless, or Wordful posts are all welcome. Make sure to stop by some of the other WWs.

Lots of Firsts

Lots of first today. My first photo website. My first etsy shoppe.

And my first attempt at textured portraits.
(Hover over photo to see the before.)


I used Kim Klassen's create edges and yesteryear.

Come swing by my new website and check out the rest of this photo shoot. Leave a comment to be entered in a drawing for a free item of your choice from my shoppe.