{liebster} award

Last weekend the lovely Madalynne gave me the Liebster Award. She has become a dear friend who I admire and adore.  Her blog is filled with inspiring interviews from other artistic bloggers, lessons on pattern making, and the funnest way to learn about everything fashion!!! Thank you kindly my sweet Madalynne!

Here are five blogs and lovely ladies that I am granting the Liebster award. If you haven't stopped by their blog before today will be s specail treat.....

Stephanie at My Creative Brightside.  She is the prettiest of girls inside and out.  On her blog you'll find crafty DIYs, adventures, fashion, food and much more!

Kara at I Just Might Explode.  This talented lady teaches the best online workshops, is a beautiful photographer, graphic designer and has her own quirky cute unique style!

Liz at Paislee Press.  I am in LOVE with her new Mini Masterpieces design at Shutterfly.  She uses clean simple design to make the special things pop.  Her digital art and photobooks are are must have!

Kelly at It's Me, KP.  She is an amazing scrapbook designer and also a world traveler.  Her blog is filled with only the best of things to make, eat and see!

Elise at Elise Joy.  Elise makes and sells lovely craft goodies.  Her blog is filled with lots of scrapbooking, everyday life, and comforting thoughts.

Each and everyone of these blogs are a must in my daily Bloglovin' routine and a joy to read.  Enjoy!  <3 Carrie

{5 ideas} for week in the life photography

Well, I took the plunge and decided to join *week in the life*. I figured a lot of you were doing the same, so today I'll be sharing some fun photography ideas for this project.

When I'm documenting entire days, sometimes I want a break from trying to capture everything as it happens and just want a no brainer prompts. Here are 5 ideas for capturing things you just might want to remember....

1. Capture negative space.  Take a photo leaving negative space.  This is artistic, plus it gives you a fun place for journaling or embellishments.  The photo of the white cherry blossoms above is my example of this from Tuesday.

2. His & Hers.  (or She & Hers if it's you and your sister or you and your bestie)  This includes anything that you both have.  Below is my His & Hers with our cell phones.  I don't know about you, but I switch out my phones every year or so, and I wish I have taken a photo like this last year when we both had Blackberrys.  Other ideas for this prompt are cars, shoes, drinks, laptops, etc.

3. From the ground up. This is by far my favorite way to capture an entire scene. All you have to do is set your camera on a table, desk, or low to the ground, aim in the general direction of what you trying to capture and snap away.  Below I was able to capture my puppy Ponyo while playing in the yard.....

4. Pretty Pattern. This is a full shot only of a pattern you love. I find that it is fun to document these types of things because they look sweet printed out and are often things I tend to replace or switch out as the seasons change of I get tired of them. Below is our new doormat. I think it's nice and cheerful : )

5. What's In My Bag. This type of photo has been the most fun to look at and scrapbook with once printed out (for me). It can apply to your purse, your laptop bag, your camera bag, your makeup bag, etc. Below is what was in my purse on Tuesday.....

Originally, I wasn't going to participate in *week in the life*, so I have no Monday photos. I am totally okay with that. And I will probably only have photos using these same prompts for every day and I'm okay with that too. I'm just going with the flow. To mix it up a little I thought it would be fun to also share my Wednesday photos which are only taken with my camera phone.....

From left to right, top to bottom, here are my pics....

1.  Negative Space.  The pretty raindrops on Ryan's car window.

2.  What's in my bag.  This time it's my laptop bag.

3.  His & Hers.  Our espresso drinks while working at Cafe Ladro.

4.  Negative Space again.  But this time, it's a self portrait.

5.  Pretty Pattern.  The magnolia petals in the yard.

6.  From the ground up.  Ryan working on his laptop at the coffee shop, with the photo taken from the table.

I hope you enjoy these prompts as much as I have.  <3 Carrie

{about town} with stephanie | part 2

As promised here is part 2 of my adventure with the beautiful Stephanie. After, thrifting, lunch and the flower shoppe, we headed out to a local lavender farm filled with excitement from good food and good finds at the thrift stores! On the way we saw this cool looking abandoned vineyard and I asked Steph to hop out of the car. She was kind enough to oblige me and my camera (I just love the reflection of her dress on her arm).....

 

Next we found this field with rolling hills and tall wispy grass, so out we went! This time we took turns with my camera (also known as Clem).....

(All photos taken by me except for the ones of me taken by Stephanie.  Photoshop actions by me.)

We eventually made it to the lavender farm only to find it closed to the public. The caretaker walked out to see what we were doing there and was sweet enough to let us take a few pics near the entrance.....but I'll save those pics for another time (I haven't taken the time to edit any of them yet). All in all, we had the absolutely BEST full day! Love and miss you Stephanie!!! <3 Carrie

{about town} with stephanie | part 1

Today I thought it would be fun to share part 1 of my last adventure with Stephanie. I had driven to her place, and we spent the first part of our day thrifiting, visiting a local flower shoppe, and enjoying milkshakes with our lunch (Steph had chocolate, and I had strawberry.....mine is blurry in the foreground of one of the photos below).  During our thrifting adventure we both thought the lime green wall at the Antique Barn made the perfect photo backdrop, so I snapped a couple pics of her to start off our photo taking for the day.....and to make our fun day even better we both found some real gems while thrifting (I don't have any photos of mine to share today, but I am sure they will eventually make it into photos for you to see).  Stay tuned tomorrow for part 2 : )  <3 Carrie

{over} the weekend

Boy, do I feel like a lucky girl : )  Over the weekend, Ryan, the puppies and I took a trip to visit my family in Sequim.....it was pretty much heaven.  My brother, Benji was in town on business from Utah, and so all but one of us siblings were together.

Friday evening, we made the trek across the ferry and saw these sights with light from the magic hour.....

I hope to document a lots of the "firsts" since our big move here.  Even though they are things I've done before, it will be the first time since actually becoming a resident and therefore that much more exciting.  So, above is our first ferry ride, trip across the Hood Canal Bridge, as well as that moment of relief and happiness when we saw the "welcome to Sequim" sign (it's the blurry photo taken from the car with the statue of the elk).

Saturday started out with a walk from my sister Amber's house down the street to a local bakery.  We walked by a cherry blossom tree in bloom and I snapped two shots.....one with Amber and Ponyo in the background, and the other looking down at all the petals covering the ground.  From there we head over to meet up with the gang at my mother's house, and started the mini road trip back to Seattle for a Mariner's baseball game.  The pic of downtown Seattle was taken from the ferry deck.  We had walked onto the ferry instead of driving.  And have I mentioned that in the week and a half since we moved here we've only had a day and a half of rain?!?  Crazy.  I love the rain, but the pretty blue sky is still nice because of that cold Washington breeze.  The ball game was I have to honestly say a little boring to watch, but still made fun with cheddar bratwurst for lunch, good conversation, and lots of smiles from being with Ryan, my siblings, and papa.  I do however, have to add in that the last inning was pretty fun because the White Socks pitcher ended up pitching Major League Baseball's 21st Perfect Game of all time.  Benji is a big sports fan, and purchased a baseball which we all signed to remember the occasion.....pretty cool.  Needless to say the ferry ride back to Bainbridge Island was filled with lots of happiness, laughter, and people taking photos of people taking photos (inside joke)..... 

Sunday Ryan was off embracing his Washingtonian side, and I happily started the day with a breakfast business planning session with my mother and Amber at the Sunshine Cafe.  The view of the mountains being so close in Sequim is amazing, so once we arrived back at my mother's house I snapped a pic of them from her yard.  After Ryan returned, he the puppies and I headed back to Seattle and made it just in time for a barbecue with a couple of his cousins.  While waiting for the food, we played croquet, picked out drink labels (he's *intense* and I'm a *geek*), and listened to music.  I ate the biggest plate of food I think ever, and even had left over beans for breakfast this morning.....it was sooo good!

And that pretty much sums up my happy weekend.  I hope you have a lovely week!  <3 Carrie

{my creative brightside} blog design

Before leaving San Diego, my dear friend Stephanie and I sat down and worked on a new blog design for her fun, fashion, crafty, adventure blog!  We spent the whole day picking out photos, fonts, colors, and working with HTML : )  I actually had designed a banner mock-up the night before we met, and luckily enough she loved it and we ended up designing everything else around it.  Go take a peek at the finished product HERE.....she has some fun adventure posts up right now.  <3 Carrie

{san diego} to seattle

Well we made it to Seattle safe and sound : ) The collage above are photos from my phone.....my DSLR is having technical difficulties at the moment. These pics are from Thursday through Sunday. I collected my beautiful mamma and sweet little sister from the airport late Wednesday night, so Thursday we finished packing, picked up the moving truck, had mini cheesecake pops for a snack, and ended the day with a walk on Moonlight Beach. Friday was the day a big storm hit, but we were lucky enough to get the moving truck all packed up before the rain started (with the help of a lot of Ryan's family). We had lunch with Ryan's folks at a favorite Mexican restaurant to celebrate, and then my mom, little sis and I drove around in the thunder and lightening storm to do a little shopping before ending the day at Solana Beach just in time for sunset. On Saturday we woke up at 2am but didn't end up leaving for Washington till 5am due to the Grapevine being closed from snow. This was a fun road trip day filled with lots of yummy snacks, a mystery book on CD, music, giggles, working on a little art, and taking photos from inside my truck.....who knew a 15 hour driving day could be a joy?!? The last leg of our trip was an 8 hour drive from Oregon to Seattle on Sunday, and honestly I was feeling a bit under the weather so I slept through most of it, but was able to take some photos of a couple of the pretty flowers once we arrived in Washington.....and so now here we are today. Happy to be in Seattle and spending our time looking for a house to rent. I hope you have a great week!  <3 Carrie

{pink} hair

Well, I did it.....the end of last week, I added in some pink to my strawberry blond locks! And I love it!!!  The photo above was taken by the sweet Stephanie while we were at Balboa Park with Nely on Saturday (in their atrium).  It was our last hurrah together before I move (sad face).  I was actually wearing a totally cute dress in this photo, but didn't get a full shot of it, so I'll have to do an outfit post and share it another time.  Today I have my last craft project to finish up, some final packing to do tomorrow and then we pick up the moving van on Thursday....eeek!  Only a few more days and our road trip up to Washington begins : )  I am thrilled.....maybe that's one of the reasons I changed up my hair.....new hair for a new beginning in Seattle.  <3 Carrie

{easter} in instagrams

Yesterday, Ryan and I spent Easter with his family. We hid eggs for the Easter egg hunt, watched the kids scramble for their loot, ate a yummy dinner, drank mint ice tea, enjoyed all the springtime flowers in bloom, heard laughter from the kids playing tag in the backyard, and gave lots of hugs and said goodbye (since it's the last time we'll see most of them before we move this weekend).  How was your weekend?  <3 Carrie

{this} week

This week I am:

• Loving the gluten free red velvet with cream cheese frosting cupcakes from 2 Good 2 Be Cafe
• Excited about wearing an Easter dress
• Enjoying The M photography class by Kara Haupt
• Packing up our sunny bathroom goods and miscellaneous odds and ends throughout our home
• Still looking for a house with a fenced yard (for the puppies) to rent in Edmonds
• Wishing I could make time to go to the movies (there are so many fun ones out right now)
• Drinking lots of hazelnut decaf dry cappuccinos to give me that little extra burst of energy
• Madly trying to finish up a big craft project for a friend
• Thrilled that Instagram now has an App for Android!
• Reminded often how much I love My Sweetie
• Unhappy that Ponyo just started blowing his coat for Spring (great timing, huh?!?)
• Feeling somehow peaceful in all this madness
• Spending sweet time with good friends at Balboa Park for a picnic and photo fun
• Listening to the sultry voice of Lindsey Pavao on the track Somebody I Used to Know
• Kind of in shock that this is our last weekend in San Diego!
• Smelling the fresh and calming scent of my Coconut Water candle from Bath and Body Works
• Thinking I might add a little pink to my hair

What have you been up to?  <3 Carrie

{notes} on paper

This is new to me.....writing notes on paper. For the past few years, all my reminders, schedules and notes have been digital. Either on my computer or phone. Then I saw THIS tutorial on A Beautiful Mess and decided to give it a try. I made one (using my own photos instead of magazine images for the cover), wrote a few notes inside.....and that was all it took. I was hooked.

On Wednesday, I started Kara's online photography class, The M (which I am loving, by the way.  I am self taught with both photography and photoshop, so the instruction is great.....I highly recommend it). These little notepads have been perfect for jotting down things from class that I want to remember and easily reference while I'm out taking photos.....and I guess it doesn't hurt that they are so cute sitting in my purse.  Just a little something specail to make the process of notekeeping a little more fun.  <3 Carrie

{vals} travel journal

Well, in the midst of packing for our big move up to Washington I managed to finish up another travel journal.....and I LOVED it! Val designed the best book with super fun prompts!!! The page above is my version of "tell me about your city or state".  I chose San Diego for my theme (instead of just California) and picked photos of the beautiful Del Mar Racetrack, the magical La Jolla beach, exotic flowers in my backyard, and the super fun San Diego Fair : )

The page below is "favorite song", and right now mine is *From Now On* by The Features.  The lyrics are printed out on a piece of paper and folded up inside this cute pocket.....

Here's "favorite color".....mine is green.

Next is "favorite scenic spots", so I added in a favorite pic from the Quail Botanical Gardens, my puppy sniffing through all the pretty flowers in my backyard, and the view at La Jolla Shores. There are so many different types of beauty here is was hard to choose which to share.....

This was a "free page", so I scrapbooked *what's in my bag*. Kinda fun.....

A peek at how it all goes together.....

And a San Diego postcard with some cutesy embellies on top.....

On the manila tag is my "favorite saying or quote". It's been the same for both books so far.....*it's okay* is kinda my mantra for 2012.....

This journal spot is the front and back of my "recipe" for *passion ice tea lemonade*.....soooo good!

A super simple spot for a "self portrait".....

And on the last page is "10 things about Carrie".....I printed out photos for each item and hand wrote each *thing* on top of them.....

My 10 random facts:

1. My natural hair color is dirty blonde and right now it's strawberry blonde.
2. Beverages are my favorite food.
3. I exercise to control my anxiety.
4. I've lived in the city for 15 years.
5. I need lots of beauty sleep.
6. The simplest things give me lots of joy.
7. I look forward to learning new things.
8. It makes me smile that my puppy, Ponyo, sometimes meows like a kitty.
9. I have to create.
10. I watch movies and listen to music everyday.

Two travel journals down and one to go! <3 Carrie

{stephanie's} birthday party

On Saturday we celebrated my dear friend Stephanie's birthday.....and it was AWESOME! She had beautiful decorations, yummy food, good company, a strobe light, laser lights, a fog machine and totally fun dance music. If you haven't had a chance to wish her a happy birthday yet, pop on over to her blog to say hi : ) She is also having an super sweet smashbook and tidbits giveaway that's you'll for sure want to enter. So basically, yeah.....my weekend was great and April is looking good so far. Here's to a productive, enjoyable week!  <3 Carrie