{5 ideas} for adding text to your photos

Yesterday was my sister Amber's birthday.  It seems like everyone in this area of Washington has gardening fever, so Ryan and I gifted her some gnomes (she recently read a book about gnomes that peaked her interest), a beautiful succulant, and flower pot to celebrate!  Today I thought it would be cute to share some photos of said gnomes along with 5 simple ideas for adding digital text to your photos.  It was super fun to take pics of these little guys.....Enjoy!!!

1.)  Find negative or empty space for adding text to your photo:

2.) Align your text around an object in your photo:

3.) Use natural framing (if present) to frame your text:

4.) Add text onto a busy background (I like to choose a color for my text that helps it stand out the most):


5.) Add text before and after an image in your photo to create movement:


(You can click on any of the images to see them larger in Flickr.)

And as you've probably guessed, one of the photos above is of a gnome in my hanging flower basket.....I ended up buying one for our home too! I am totally crushing over how cute he is!!! 

If you have any questions please feel free to ask.  <3 Carrie

{what's in my bag} makeup

This is something that changes for me quite a bit as time goes by. But being totally real right now.....I've been mascara free since the middle of January.....

It's a decision I made after feeling like mascara was weighing me down. So one day I decided to just go for it. I felt *naked* for a few weeks, but now I absolutely love it! I know it isn't a permanent transition but those who know me, are use to all the crazy spontanious changes I go through with the way I like to look. So, right now my makeup situation is totally easy:

• Acne treatment (I have very oily skin)
• Neutrogena Healthy Skin Enhancer in fair to light (I love the sunscreen, moisturizer, retinol, and lightweight feel of this product)
• 3 different makeup brushes
• Blush by Rimmel in Pink Rose (this stays on my skin all day....bonus!)
• Pur Minearal Shadow in Amber as an eye shadow
• Pur Mineral Shadow in Chocolate Topaz as an eyeliner (I like to wet a small, fine, thin, stif brush to apply this)
• From time to time I also like to use a lip stain (right now I use Covergirl Outlast Lipstain or Revlon Just Bitten Lipstain + Balm)

What are your favorite products to use?  <3 Carrie

{springtime} note card set

Over the past year I have enjoyed making these sweet little blank note card sets to give away as gifts. I wrap the sets up in vellum and ribbon, sewing a little hole for holding a decorative pen.....part of the fun is finding interesting pens that match the color schemes (plus I love picking out photos from my photo library : )  What do you like to do with your decorative photos?  <3 Carrie

{out} for a walk

On Mother's Day my baby sister and I went on a little walk, partially for the exercise but also to take a couple photos : ) Here is what we saw.....

We arrived home to find that my step dad had made all his girls Mother's Day baskets, because he said we will all one day be mothers. How sweet is that!?!

Our day actually started out with breakfast at my mom's, made for everyone with love by her kids. She said it is her favorite breakfast.....scrambled duck eggs (from Amber's duckies) with cheddar, green onion, tomato, feta and avocado, topped off with mimosas! That transitioned into a barbecue a few hours later where I set up an Ice Tea Lemonade Bar.....

I made passion ice tea with regular lemonade and mint ice tea with raspberry lemonade (the mint is my favorite right now). They were super refreshing on such a warm day. And here are some of the flowers I brought my mama to decorate the bar..... <3 Carrie