Simplicity - my life in mostly photographs

New blog

noreply@blogger.com (Faith) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 05:11:00 +0000

I've moved!!

My new blog is Sweet Violet photography & design

I hope you'll follow me there

Thank you so much!

Happy New Years!!

noreply@blogger.com (Faith) — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 06:00:00 +0000

Happy New Year!!

I hope that this year is an amazing year for you and yours... I am so very excited about this year - 2011 was a great year for us and there is just no telling what 2012 will bring. Hopefully new friends here! One of the best things that has happened in my online life is how many wonderful people I've met! I am so thankful for each of you.

I made y'all a desktop calendar to download. (Let me know if you need a different size for your screen) I've also attached the source file so that you can customize it with your own photos, fonts and even re-make it to give away on your own blog.

download 1600x1200 wallpaper here

download 1600x1200 image file here
download fully editable .psd file here

download 1600x1200 wallpaper here

fonts used: Calamity Jane & Bernhard Fashion Hmk

Needless to say - I'm happy

noreply@blogger.com (Faith) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 01:49:00 +0000

Several happy things happened today.

The hubs made reservations for our anniversary dinner later this month at The Frog Hollow which is a stunningly good farm-to-table local restaurant and he lined up a babysitter. Serious kudos to him.

I registered the domain for my new blog. I won't tell you what it is yet because the site is a catastrophic mess at the moment. But it won't be for too much longer - I'm very confident that I can get it up and running very soon. I used blogger's domain registration via GoDaddy and Google. It was the easiest thing ever.

I also got some time to photograph my new cameras - the ones my mom gave me for Christmas. I'm so happy with the results. The Pentax was my grandpa's and he used it to take photos at the Atlanta Olympics! Even more special - the Contaflex is another one of my grandpa's cameras that he used to photograph my mom when she was his little girl. I'm totally psyched out of my mind to figure out how to use it to photograph my children. I need to get more batteries for the Pentax before I can use it - but it came with this 50mm lens and a macro converter and a zoom lens! Very cool. Plus my mom gave me some of her old 35mm film. There is some really special film photograph magic coming from my house soon!

Editing notes: I used the Paint the Moon action for PSE called "Vanilla Pop" and tweaked the levels a little to sharpen and deepen the blacks.

Photography gear & your new years resolutions

noreply@blogger.com (Faith) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 05:23:00 +0000

I love New Years.

Christmas is okay, I could honestly take it or leave it, but New Years - that is a holiday I can not live without. Twice a year - on New Years and on my birthday - I press the "refresh" button on life, I start over, look ahead and plan to make changes. Sure some years those New Years resolutions look more like wishful thinking than actual plans to make habit-altering reforms, but still - I love it.

For those of you who follow my blog I'm guessing you have a few New Years resolutions of your own and that they might have something to do with your photography. Of course I hope you'll plan to improve your photography by participating in one of my photography e-classes but I'm also guessing that your plans include upgrading your gear, to some extent or another. So I wanted to jot down a few thoughts I had while I was washing my hair and share them here with you.

Learn how to use the camera you have before you invest in a new camera

This, of course, is why I offer photography classes, because I am a firm believer that while your gear does effect your photography the biggest thing you can do to improve your photography is to learn how to use what you have. A few really basic principles and a slight shift in how you are looking at your photos can make a huge impact - with only the investment of a little bit of time and intention. I can tell you I've seen a lot of different photographers with a lot of different quality of gear and I believe it more now than ever: an amazing camera won't make you an amazing photographer.

Upgrade your lens before you upgrade your body

I learned this the hard way. When I upgraded from the Nikon D80 to the D700 I expected to see jaw-dropping improvement (after all I'd just spent a jaw-dropping amount of money on this camera!) and I have to say I didn't see it right away. I notice it now, especially if I go back to using my D80 for a little while, but I didn't at first. Then one of my friends upgraded her lens on her entry-level SLR and voila! the difference really was jaw-dropping, and for a fraction of the cost. If you want to see a big improvement in your photography and you already have an SLR then upgrade your lens. What lens do I recommend? Read that here.

Wait to upgrade your SLR body

I've read lately that there are major upgrades coming to the Pro SLR camera world. With a much-needed upgrade to the Canon 5D Mark II just around the corner as well as a stellar upgrade to the Nikon D700 coming sometime in the very near future my advice is to hold off on that body upgrade until the summer - when the release of the new cameras will (hopefully) drive down the price of the current cameras to a more affordable price range. So if you're thinking that this is your year to go pro - read this post and keep saving.

If you're going to buy a starter SLR - buy it now.

If this is the year you want to dive into SLR photography - now is the time to buy. I recommend Amazon.com as the best place to buy online. I literally spent weeks researching all of the online shops I could find thinking that maybe I'd buy 2nd hand and settled on Amazon.com with a very satisfactory experience. Their prices are practically unbeatable (I did a quick price match of a handful of sites just to make sure that what I was writing is still true and it is - they beat out their competitors by nearly $100) and the confidence I had buying from amazon.com is priceless. Want to know what camera I recommend? I wrote all about it here.

If you've just bought your first SLR learn how to use it.

How could I not mention this?! My ebook is nearly ready and it will (hopefully!) be available to download in full on January first, you can download a little sample of it over here and I also have a class starting January 9 for learning how to use your digital SLR camera.

favorite movies from 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Faith) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 18:35:00 +0000

Since my kids have all been home on winter break we've been doing a little bit of cleaning the house and I've found all kinds of scraps of paper in my kids rooms and notebooks upon notebooks of lists, mostly written by my oldest. She gets it from me, I guess. I like writing lists too. One of my favorite lists to keep is my list of favorite movies of the year. Later I'm going to let my girls share their lists of their favorite books that they've read this year.

Family and Kids
Dolphin Tale - one of the best live action family movies of the year.

Rango - my favorite animated family movies of the year, engaging for older kids and adults though I suggest you read a mom's review before you decide if it's going to be okay for your younger kids.

Kung Fu Panda 2 - one of my favorite animated movies for younger kids. My four year old boy really liked it.

Cars 2 - how could you have a list of movies of this year without having Cars 2 on it?

Tangled - technically this is a movie from the end of 2010 but I didn't see it until this year. It's my favorite animated movie for girls of the year.

Ramona and Beezus - The whole family enjoyed this, especially my girls who are ages ten to six. It's a great mix of drama, laughter and romance.

Judy Moody and the NOT Bummer Summer - I really enjoyed watching this movie with my kids, it held the attention of all of my movie-watching aged kids (ages ten to four).

Monte Carlo - a nice, romantic pre-teen movie.

Spy Kids 4: All The Time In The World - surprisingly, this was my favorite Spy Kids movie yet.

Mr. Popper's Penguins- we just watched this the other night and the whole family really enjoyed it.

The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader - my older girls (ages ten and eight) especially enjoyed this movie.

The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That! - this is my favorite new series from PBS Kids and the best thing to come from The Cat in the Hat brand since the original book.

Peep and the Big Wide World - another one of our favorite shows from PBS with little science experiments at the end of each episode. It's darling.

BBC Earth: Life - of all of the nature miniseries we've bought this one is my favorite. My four year old asks to watch this nearly every day. The cinematography is exceptional and the entire series is captivating.

Movies to watch with your sisters
The Help - I watched this while wrapping presents. The hubs enjoyed it too, even though it's more of a chick-flick. It's got a great plot, good acting and beautiful costuming. Definitely one to buy.

Jane Eyre - I'm such a sucker for Brit-Lit drama. This one did not disappoint and I thought it managed to hold it's own in a sea of similar movies.

Larry Crowne - If you liked movies like "You've got mail" or other Tom Hank love fests you'll like this one too. It's great with pint of ice cream or a glass of wine.

The Conspirator - another period drama, on the topic of wrongful execution.

The King's Speech - period drama done to perfection. It won all kinds of awards and deserves every one of them. If you like period pieces this one is cinematic deliciousness, and if you know your British Royal history it's doubly so. Based on the story of the current Queen Elizabeth's father.

I Am Number Four - it's a lightweight teen drama with cute actors and a decent plot. My favorite thing about this movie is that the girl (who is also in Glee) is a photographer. Strangely I find myself wanting to watch it over and over.

Beastly - it's horribly predictable and yet a nice teen chick flick. I wish that the story could have been as good as the wardrobe.

Movies to watch with your hubs
Moneyball - I just watched this with the hubs last week and we both really enjoyed it. It's got very good cinematography, a good plot and good acting. It's clean and the hubs stayed awake until the end, that says a lot.

Fast Five - I enjoyed this movie a lot, the hubs watched it two or three times.

Crazy, Stupid Love - I enjoyed it. My favorite line: "it's like you're photoshopped" It's worth reading a review first because this type of movie may not be your cup of tea, but overall I enjoyed it.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides Such a fun movie to watch with my hubs. I think this is one of the few movies we saw in the theater. I wouldn't let my kids watch it because the oldest is only ten, but they enjoy plating the LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean video game.

Super 8 - a fun, unique sci-fi movie with excellent performances by the kids who star in this movie. A good plot - not overly relying on special effects.

The Debt - such a good drama. We both enjoyed this movie a lot.

Limitless - I really liked this one too. It had some unexpected twists, and I really liked the supporting cast.

Unknown - such a good drama. Really well done.

Source Code - one of my favorite movies of this year. It drags just a little in the middle but it's worth it to get to the end.

Arthur- this movie was poorly promoted. It's way cleaner than the previews make it seem to be. I enjoyed this movie so much and is a lighthearted, romantic comedy

The Switch - definitely my favorite RomCom of this year. Such a good movie.

The Next Three Days - this is a great drama. Probably my favorite movie from Russell Crowe.

Unstoppable - a great, positive drama. It totally lived up to my expectations.

Everything Must Go - my favorite movie from Will Ferrell - and I'm not a huge fan of his. It's a really good movie about turning your life around.

Inception - if you didn't see this last year you need to see it. It's probably one of the best movies of the decade.

What have your favorite movies been?

The small print: all of the links (except links to reviews) are affiliate links. Every opinion & suggestion is my own.

Upcoming classes and thoughts about the new year...

noreply@blogger.com (Faith) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 05:16:00 +0000

Christmas is finally over. I hate to be a grinch about it but I am so glad to be done with Christmas. We had a wonderful few days and I'm looking forward to the next few days of winter break, but I'm glad to be done with all of the pressure and planning.

One of the higlights of my Christmas was that my mom bought me a vintage film SLR camera and she gave me some of her dad's old film camera equipment which ended up being three 35mm film cameras and several lenses. Needless to say - I'm over the moon about it. I can not wait both to photograph the cameras themselves but also to use some of the film my mom gave me. I have been staring at my box of loot all day today, hoping I could get away while the light was good - but there were so many other things to do today and I've got nothing.

My favorite part about this time of year is looking ahead to the new year. I'm a big list maker and New Year's resolution maker. Of course a big part of that list is this blog and my photography classes. I'm working on putting together a couple e-books. One will be out January first and will be a companion to your new SLR camera (Download the first chapter here). I'm thinking that possibly a class on photo editing would be in order for January as well. I'm also going to be working on a lighthearted e-book on how to improve cell phone photography. I'm super-excited about it. You can get a sneak peak here. I'm really interested in what you - my faithful reader - would like to see.

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it's the little things...

noreply@blogger.com (Faith) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 15:47:00 +0000

We had our family "Christmas" this morning... I could not have asked for a better morning. The kids were all so thankful, cheerful and have been playing happily all morning long... and I could not be happier

on a personal note...

noreply@blogger.com (Faith) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 07:54:00 +0000

this may very well be one of the last times I write on this blog... I'm hoping to have a new one ready to launch January first with a shiny new e-book to go along with your shiny new camera.

It's 2am and finally the last of the presents are wrapped and the pink, blue and green wrapped gifts are sitting by the fireplace. I look at that pile of presents and feel a little bit "what the heck is this all for anyway" I think about the money we spent. I wonder if any of it matters, it feels like this whole holiday is such an ordeal and I wonder if it would scar my children for life if we just skipped Christmas next year and volunteered at the soup kitchen instead. That is when I realize that my mental ramblings really have nothing to do with the underprivileged and everything to do with all the coffee I've been drinking tonight - which makes me prone to mood swings - and as I ride the wave of emotions tonight I have a micro revelation - I am depressed.

Yes, I can be depressed with a heart full of gratitude. Yes, I can be, if not especially, depressed after a wonderful day with my kids. I settled fights peacefully and calmly. I exercised a dump truck load of self-control. Well, at least until I opened a package of Oreos anyway. Today I danced with my daughter who is nearly as tall as I am and marveled at how quickly these years have flown by. It's been a great day and tomorrow should be even better, how can I feel this way? Why are my emotions careening off the cliff edge to this familiar Pied-Pipe'r tune? And like the gentle voice from my best friend the words form in my mind, reminding me that depression isn't just mental or emotional - it's physical. The needle for my gas tank is resting at empty and the little light has come on to remind me to stop at the gas station before I try to do anything else. I take a deep breath. I stop freaking out. I know I'm going to be okay. I remember that I'll feel a lot better in the morning - maybe not first thing in the morning, but well you know what I mean.

I just thought I'd share that in case that's you - feeling bad for how bad you feel. I know. I'm there with you honey.

Now I'm going to let myself be sad, admit that I am frazzled stressed tired and just plain sad and then I'm going to bed and I'm going to have a wonderful day tomorrow watching my kids enjoy their holiday. I can't wait to see their faces, I know it'll be beautiful, not perfect, but beautiful.

a {mostly} failed attempt

noreply@blogger.com (Faith) — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 14:55:00 +0000

The hubs asked me to have some canvas prints made of the family. I ordered four from Easy Canvas Prints (which I'm going to blog about one of these days!! I had a very good experience ordering from them) but I've got five kids and need to order one more. This has been a real learning experience - ordering canvases - and it's slightly altered how I shoot, mostly in regards to leaving more space around the edge of my shot for cropping a print or wrapping a canvas. So the other day I attempted to photograph Josiah for his canvas print. It was an epic fail. He was uncooperative and would not could not be still long enough to get the type of shot that I'd want to hang on my wall. He's really expressive and very active so trying to get just the right shot is tricky. (Exhibit 100 for why being a professional photographer is a lot harder than you'd think! And why I'm not one at the moment)

love the light on his face and in his eyes - but what a face!!

I love how calm this one looks and I really like the lighting in this shot

if only he was looking at the camera

cue the crazy face!

this is one of my favorites but the expression is still a little off - and I'll need to photoshop his shirt

love that smile - but you can't see his eyes!!

now you can see his eyes but where is the smile?!

Maybe I just need a more cooperative model? My Emma loves to have her picture taken:

White balance is set much too cool

I fixed my white balance by adjusting the Kelvin White Balance on my camera

what is up with the angle on this shot? I think maybe I was shooting too close and got some lens distortion.

this is better - but I'd like to see more eyes

sweet happy snaggle-tooth girl

her model pose

I give up.

random thoughts and a few cute photos

noreply@blogger.com (Faith) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 14:31:00 +0000

Eli & Emma

Today is my kid's last day of school for the year. I have mixed feelings about that. I am really looking forward to having them home with me but I'm also not looking forward to all of the stuff I have still left to do to get ready for Christmas which will be so much more difficult with them home.

Yesterday I spent all day on the couch like a lump. I felt like I had the flu - no fun. Today Katie-Abigail is taking my place on the couch with a fever and everything. I'm sorry that she is missing out on her pajama day at school - poor baby.

My to do list is sadly lacking in crossed-out items - still so much shopping, wrapping, and securing a babysitter for upcoming appointments and events. Laundry and recycling overflowing... my blog re-do is in mid-swing. I was hoping I would be done it by now. But it is what it is.

I finally figured out what I'm going to make for the hubs for Christmas this year. I'm not very crafty. One year I crocheted an afghan for him for Christmas and another year I had the kids write out one of his favorite quotes and we decorated one of those customizable travel mugs from starbucks but every other year my gifts have been pretty crappy - he is really hard to buy for and his birthday is right after the New Years so it takes a good bit of planning to do something special for him - and planning is one of my weaknesses.

I'm really missing my family right now. They only live three hours away - so at least we'll see them over the holidays and I am very thankful for that. I just wish we were close enough to spend more time with them and that it wasn't such an event to go visit them.

I wish I could just drop my kids off with my mom while I knock out that last-minute Christmas shopping or that my mother in-law could come spend the night when the hubs and I go out for his Christmas dinner. My mom is participating in my test-drive group for my upcoming photography class for online business-owners and bloggers - and I'd love to be able to do more with her in-person instead of over the phone and via email. I love where I live - but I don't love being so far away from our family.

Eli is nearly 5 months now... he's changing so much! Every day his motor skills are getting better and he gets more interested in the world around him. He discovered the dog the other day and seems very interested in her. Thankfully so far they've been really gentle towards each other. I haven't started him on a bottle or solids yet. But that day is coming! He is really interested in what we're eating and has tried to grab graham crackers and apple sauce packets from his brother and sisters.

Are you sick of Christmas advertisements yet? My inbox and twitter feed has been flooded with reminders about sales and special offers. I thought about blogging a few of those offers from my advertising affiliates but I didn't want to add to the clamor.

Next year I'm starting earlier. All of this waiting to the last minute junk is getting old. Next year I want to buy more from handmade artists and my friends on Etsy. Next year I want to barter more and buy less. Next year I want to make more of the gifts I give - start earlier and follow through on more of my good intentions. Next year I'm also going to start blogging about Christmas earlier. I had SO many ideas but most of them are stuck in my drafts folder.

P.S. Did you see these - Eli is 4 months, some photos of my boys, my boys in black and white, my blog re-design

Wordless Wednesday

noreply@blogger.com (Faith) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 14:37:00 +0000

Because I'm too tired to write a proper post... here's a couple photos from the other day when Josiah and I made some gingers bread cookies.

Don't forget to link up with my Photography Challenge

because fonts are so much fun

noreply@blogger.com (Faith) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 20:30:00 +0000

My mind is no where near to made up about my name change... still really loving Adelaide, or Adeline like "Sweet Violet Adeline" wouldn't that be pretty? I really love the idea of "Violet Jane" or "Violet Adelaide" Adelaide is my grandmother's middle name (and also apparently the name of a city in Australia) and I have always loved it. Adeline is more popular though and I don't want to create a name that people can't remember.

I was playing with the fonts on my sidebar header thing and then I had a lightbulb moment when I saw how pretty the fonts looked like - I also created one with the font y'all said was your favorite when I posted some font ideas.

P.S. I got that pretty look on the "photography" line by adding a space in between each letter in the word "photography" - it's a great idea when you want a line to be lighter, smaller but take up more space.

Photography Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Faith) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 13:56:00 +0000

Sorry this link-up is a little late today! I'm on my way out the door to take Eli to the hospital for his routine check-up on his hydronephrosis. I'm expecting a long day - he has an ultrasound and an appointment with his urologist. But I'm expecting more good news...

Today's theme is "Life is Art" - there are so many moments everyday, but especially this time of year, that if you just stop and take them in are frame-worthy. Art. Just a simple moment between brothers... a few everyday items, my challenge for you this week is find a moment and capture the art of Life. Can't wait to see them!

P.S. My blog is in the midst of an overhaul... you can follow along here. We'll be back to normal soon!

Details of an edit... my boys subtle b&w

noreply@blogger.com (Faith) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 10:00:00 +0000

original

I ran the BlueBerry action for PSE from M4H

reduced opacity to 74%

Next I ran the Baby's Breath action for PE from M4H

I added a gradient map and changed the colors
so that the gradient is from deep gray to light gray instead of from black to white

final edit

What about no header?

noreply@blogger.com (Faith) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 04:49:00 +0000

I've noticed this here and there and today when I saw Lemon Jitters removed her header from her newest design I just had to blog about it! Since I'm blogging about blog design. So today I thought I'd re-do my blog layout again - with something fun!!

How do you eliminate your header? In blogger it's not obvious - there might be a better way but this is how I did it.

I did this tutorial this afternoon using a private blog that I have just for testing out template code and things like that...

So here we start with a generic blogger template:

Click on "Template" then on "Customize" then I switched to a simple template

Click over to "Layout"and pick a sidebar

Click on "layout" and then click on the header gadget. Click "remove" to remove the header.

Click back to your template and then click "adjust widths" set the sidebar to the width to 400px

Make sure that you re-size your sidebar header image to 400px as well

I ended up adjusting this to 300px later

Upload your image to your favorite image hosting service and load it as a gadget.

You may need to adjust the title of your blog...

Adjust the title of your blog to 1px & change the color of your title and description to white.

Here is what it looks like with a canvas texture background.

I also tried it with the chevron stripes... which I'm really into right now. (I had to zoom out just a little to get his screen capture)

I think this layout looks really good on a white background - here is a screen capture with white background - but is it too boring?

I didn't mess with the sidebars much since there's lots and lots left to do...

Here's yesterday's layout, in case you missed it.

Blog width & background

noreply@blogger.com (Faith) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 15:00:00 +0000

Today I pulled the plug. I erased all of the style code from my blog and set my template back to square one.

Why? Mostly, just for fun.

I love blogging about blogging and this site re-design is a perfect opportunity to do just that. Also I genuinely want input and constructive criticism of my design choices. If you disagree with something I've done or written go ahead and comment! I promise, I'll love you for it.

So today I'm thinking about the big picture: width & background.

I think the style and content of your blog is going to at least partly determine the best width of your blog. A blog that is primarily words should be narrower than the blog that is mostly images. Your photography blog should ideally be big enough to use extra large images. While I was messing in the back-end of blogger I noticed that it's super-easy to change the width of your blog now.

Go to your blog's home screen click on the little down-arrow circled in the image below

Click "Template"

Click "Customize"

Click "Adjust Widths"

Type in the width of your blog or use the slider to adjust the width. The max size is 1500 - on my screen this causes the right edge of the blog to bleed off the edge of the screen.

light gray

black

medium gray

I'm a big fan of medium gray for a background. The light gray looks really blah to me - the black is a little too dramatic for my tastes, but medium gray is sweet. Click on "advanced" to change the solid color of your blog.

Having a nice neutral background for your photography blog is also important. Neutral doesn't have to equal boring. I found some nice chevron stripes at Tiny Sea and I downloaded my canvas textures from Fuzzimo. I've seen subtle patterns work really nice.

Or you can click on the background tab pick one of the backgrounds from blogger or upload your own.

I'm a big fan of simple backgrounds for photography blogs, but journals are an entirely different set of design ideals. Shabby Blogs was one of the first places I downloaded a pre-made background from. There are a lot of choices for pretty much any type of blog. There are also some nice pre-made backgrounds that would work well for photography blogs.

As far as the general design for my blog, You know I'm a huge fan of minimalism. When I come across a blog that shows me an entire weeks worth of posts simultaneously I get overwhelmed and a little confused, except for when it's on a 365 project blog.

What about announcement areas? Do you have an opinion? I like them, I think they are a great way to direct traffic to top posts for the week, but I also find that they take up a lot of design space so I'm on the fence about where and how big it should be.

My little boy is 4 months old!

noreply@blogger.com (Faith) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Eli is four months old now so I thought I'd take some photos to record his growth

He can roll over now, he can grab objects - especially his feet and he is vocalizing a lot more now.
He likes to be read and sung to. He's chewing on everything, especially his feet and pointer finger.
It's SO sweet to watch him grow! I think I am definitely appreciating it more this time around.

My sweet boys: in black and white

noreply@blogger.com (Faith) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 07:00:00 +0000

Here are more photos from the other day and I'm only half-way finished with editing this set! I told you I had lots!! I am still trying to tweak this editing style... these are a little dark but I really like them - even if they're not perfect.

Eli is 4 months old, he's grown so much!

noreply@blogger.com (Faith) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 00:17:00 +0000

8 weeks

3 months

4 months

Eli & Josiah

noreply@blogger.com (Faith) — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 17:21:00 +0000

Eli is 4 months old now, Josiah is 4 years old.

Never underestimate the cuteness of a white shirt

Title fonts...

noreply@blogger.com (Faith) — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 01:44:00 +0000

Because I know that some of you, my friends are really into this type of thing...

These are a handful of fonts I am thinking about using for my title font. I still haven't totally settled on a name for my new blog. It'll more than likely be violet something or other.

Sidebars

noreply@blogger.com (Faith) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 17:24:00 +0000

I was originally planning to write about sidebars sometime after Monday when I begin my site redesign in earnest. But I was talking to a dear blogger friend of mine earlier this week about sidebars and now I just can't put it off any longer!

There are several different types of sidebars I thought I'd mention in this post, so here we go.

No sidebar.
Didn't think it was possible? Oh yes it is.

Most notably Ashley Sisk has been sidebar free for pretty much as long as I can remember - which in my current state of sleep deprivation could have been last week but I'm pretty sure it's been longer than that. I have a huge design crush on this style layout. It keeps content front and center without any distractions.

The down side to having no sidebar though is that there are certain things people tend to look for in the sidebar - a grab badge, though I've noticed a trend towards shifting those to a separate page. Readers typically look for subscription and social media links in a sidebar. Ashley has her GFC (which I'll be blogging about in the VERY near future) in her footer at the moment which is a popular alternative.

Since my blog is, at least at the moment, the only site for my photography eclasses, and therefore puts it more on the side of a business blog than a hobby blog, I don't know that going sidebar-less is the right thing for me to do. I want it to be super quick and easy for my readers to subscribe to my blog, follow me and register for my classes without scrolling to the footer. However, if I ever decide to shift styles towards an art blog removing the sidebar is the first thing I'd do.

Two sidebars
What do you think about this style? I'm still on the fence about it. Does it work best for fashion and style blogs? I don't know. It's a really busy layout. You can see Casey Weigand rocking two sidebars on her blog.

The down side to having two sidebars is that it does detract from your content and makes for a super busy page design. But you can cram a lot of content into that space.

Right or Left?
Most blogs have their main sidebar content on the right side of the page. My opinion on the matter is that it's not earth-shatteringly important. If you're looking to communicate innovation maybe a sidebar on the left would be a hip way to communicate that.

My sidebar pet peves
If pet-peve posts annoy you - I get that ;) Skip this part.

A pseudo sidebar
To be honest these drive me a little nuts. I've seen them lots of places, so maybe I'm in the minority on this one. The first blog that comes to mind is Madeline Bea. It's one way to have a sidebar without really having a sidebar. It keeps the design super-sleek, I'll give you that, but I am not a fan.

The sidebar with scrolling buttons.
This is another design pet peeve of mine , and I'm sorry if that annoys you. If you worked your sweet little fingers to the bone trying to get that code right, well than good for you but it annoys me to no end. If you don't want a long list of buttons on your sidebar maybe you should have a text list instead, or maybe a separate page on your blog.

The sidebar that hangs off the edge of my screen.
This is something I've noticed becoming increasingly common and it really bothers me, especially if they offer paid spots on their blog. I don't want to pay for an ad and only have half of it display properly. This is an instance I think, when more is less.

The unformatted sidebar.
If this is you please, for the love of all things beautiful in the world, fix it! If you don't know how I've written a couple tutorials on the basic HTML code you need to know to format grab badges appropriately. I'm sure you could barter or ask a more design savvy friend for some help. Nothing screams "I don't take my blog seriously" louder than an unformatted collection of buttons.

I know a lot of this is on the negative side, I'm sorry about that. Also don't forget - this is just my personal opinion. You should always design your blogs layout to make YOU happy first.

So what do you think I should add or take away from my sidebar?
I am thinking I'll delete most of my affiliate links in my re-design. They take a good bit of time to maintain - time I could be using to build my blog and connect with my readers. I am registered with LinkShare and ShareASale but I've only made about forty bucks from affiliate links in the entire time I've had this blog and of more than half of that has come since I broke 700 followers. I read that affiliate links aren't really worth the time it takes to maintain them until after you've reached 1K followers and I'm thinking maybe there's something to that.

I am also thinking I may delete my blog frog widget as well. Do you use it?

My SM links will be re-done as icons instead of the text links I have now. I'll have an easier feedburner registration area and I'll have an email opt-in that I'll blast out whenever registration opens for classes.

I've been thinking I should add photos of each of my kids I haven't added them yet because even though I blog about my kids I don't consider my blog to be a mommy blog. - what do you think?

Is it Saturday yet?

noreply@blogger.com (Faith) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 13:32:00 +0000

I went to bed early last night but I am still exhausted today. After only sleeping from 1 or 2am until 7am with at least two or three interruptions I'm pretty sleep deprived but I've always found that catching up on sleep is tricky and sometimes it's easier to run on the adrenaline of sleep deprivation and coffee... on the flip side it feels really good to finally get rolling again after thanksgiving break. Today is Library day for my boys and me! It's one of my favorite days of the week.

I've literally got a hundred photos from the other day that I'm trying to edit to post here - I think I'm going to have to figure out how to do one of those stop-motion mash-ups like on The Paper Mama - my kids are just so stinking cute!

A shout out to Melissa at The Momma Bird - for hosting a giveaway for my photography classes. She's obviously doing an amazing job because I've been gaining followers, getting mentioned in tweets and all those wonderful things that make bloggers feel good :) If you're thinking about promoting your blog or shop advertising with Melissa is the place to go and he rates are super-reasonable.

It's not too late to link up with my photography challenge! The theme is eyes and/or feet.

IROCKSOWHAT is swapping design work for clothes to wear to the design summit. She did an amazing job with Rachel's blog! I'm thinking about asking her to design a couple ads for my re-branding that will appeal to her audience. Also, if you're thinking about advertising your blog hers is another good one to advertise on - when I bought an ad for Bartering Blogger on IROCKSOWHAT she automatically became my #1 traffic source (after my blog).

And in case you didn't know - the SWAP on The Bartering Blogger this week is themed - post your want ads there!! How cool is that? :)

Okay, time to take the kids to the library - I'll be back with more photos soon!! :)

P.S. I'm going to be wiping out my blog design on Monday so be sure to drop by sometime on that day to lend your 2 cents to my re-design. I'll be blogging about everything blog-design related. Got a question or something specific you want me to mention? Let me know!

Christmas Cookie Countdown

noreply@blogger.com (Faith) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 05:00:00 +0000

Every year, at about this time of year I make fudge for the hub's birthday. It started during our totally-broke days when this was the only thing I did for his birthday. It's an awesome recipe from the Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook

(obviously these photos are kina' old)

ingredients
4 cups sugar
2 5 ounce can (1-1/3 cups total) evaporated milk
1 cup butter or margarine
1 12 ounce package (2 cups) semisweet chocolate pieces
1 7 oz dark or milk chocolate candy bar roughly cut
1 7 ounce jar marshmallow creme
1 cup chopped pecans, peanuts or walnuts
1 teaspoon vanilla

directions
Line a 13x9x2-inch baking pan with foil, wax or parchment paper, extending it over edges of pan. Butter paper/foil; set aside.

Butter sides of a heavy 3-quart saucepan. In saucepan combine sugar, evaporated milk, and butter. Cook and stir over medium-high heat till mixture boils. Reduce heat to medium; continue cooking and stirring for 10 minutes. Remove pan from heat.

Add candy bar, chocolate pieces, marshmallow creme, nuts and vanilla; stir until chocolate melts and mixture is combined. Beat by hand for about 3 minutes or until mixture becomes very thick and starts to loose it gloss. Spread in the prepared pan.

When fudge is firm, use foil to lift it out of pan. Cut fudge into squares. Store in a tightly covered container in the refrigerator. Makes about 4 pounds (96 pieces).

If you're looking for something a little less labor intensive to do with the kids I highly recommend the Betty Crocker mixes. I made the cookies above with the mix below. I cut them into shapes before they baked and then re-cut them once I got them out of the oven. Just so you know - we ate them all in one day, so you might want to buy more than one mix :)

What am I blogging about? And how does that affect my design?

noreply@blogger.com (Faith) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 20:48:00 +0000

I've been thinking about my blog re-design a lot lately. I really really hope that I win the giveaway at oh my! handmade goodness but I have got products to launch for the new year and want to be as ready for that as I possibly can be. I can not wait to wipe the slate clean and start over with my blog design. I think I'm going to do it on Monday... so you might want to come give your two cents about it then. I've so appreciated all of your comments about switching to wordpress. I haven't made up my mind about it just yet so if you've got an opinion on the matter I want to hear it!

Thinking about the design of my blog I want it to reflect the why, who and what of my blog as well as who I am as a brand (but that's a post for another day - or at least another cup of coffee)

This is my blog as of today - before the fold.

I zoomed out to see more of my design in one screen capture and this is what I got.

A few things that I've notices about my design is that the things my visitors are looking for are not before the fold (the point at which you have to start scrolling) and not even in a logical spot.

My footer is a hot mess!

So what is my blog about? And how is that communicated in my design?

My blog is about photography - it's a place for me to share my photography and a place for newbie photographers (or at least new to photography blogging) can get connected with the community that I have grown to love so dearly.

Here are the designs from two of my favorite art photography blogs at the moment:

I've been thinking about it though - about if I want to turn my blog towards being an art blog, and there is a big part of me that wants too - but I really don't. As much as I love the idea of romanticizing my life or only showing my best side I know it's not who I am as a blogger or how I want to present myself as a photography teacher. I want to be authentic and honest about my regular, everyday life. Not that art bloggers are in any way dishonest, but they only show one part of there lives. And that's fine. I'm just not that type of blogger right now.

My blog is also about day to day life as a mom - I blog for friends and family to see up to date photos of my kids. I added a tab in my navigation bar to make it easier for family to see just the posts that I've labeled as ones I think will be interesting to them. I need to figure out a way to make that more obvious.

I've been flirting with the idea of adopting a layout similar to the superstar blogger - Casey Leigh Weigland - who is taking the mommy fashion blogging world by storm!

before the fold

screen capture in the middle of the page

I really like the idea of having a blog like Casey's or Jess from irocksowhat but I don't think it is "me" I'm essentially about keeping things simple.

Want to know something? Simple is HARD to do right. I'll tell you that right now.

One food blogger who is doing simple well is Russell at Chasing Delicious. This is my guilty-pleasure reading. It's just so very very good. I've never tried a single recipe (sorry! Russel! Maybe one day) but I click over to read every single post. I LOVE the design of this blog - especially the way that the posts only partially display - but you get enough of the post to get a nice big sample and they are still listed chronologically.

My blog is primarily to promote my photography classes. Would you guess that from before the fold? I have recently started putting a "current class" button just below the fold. I desperately need to have my social media links, a subscription button and a place for people to subscribe to a mailing list (screams of horror!!) before the fold - because from what I've read + experienced these are the best ways of connecting with my future and customers and creating the type of readership base that will convert into sales.

Look at how much this design crams in before the fold! I'm super-impressed.Obviously I have my work cut out for me.

But then again blogging design is only part of the equation. I just ran into what is supposed to be the number one, million dollar mom blog and I was blown away by the lack of design so -I'm going to end my little rant there.

What do you like about your favorite blog's design?