Photography

As some of you might already know, my favorite photo editing program, Picnik, is shutting down on April 19.

I have been using the Pro version of Picnik for a couple years now and absolutely LOVE how simple it is to use… especially for a novice photographer like myself! I edit all the photos for my website with Picnik and most of the photos for my digital photo albums as well.

I’m really bummed that I won’t be able to use this great program after April 19, and I’m now in the market for a new photo editing program that meets a few of my criteria:

• Relatively inexpensive {I paid $24.95 a year for Picnik Pro}

• Easy to use and navigate — I am not a great photographer and I don’t know a lot about editing photos, so it needs to be something even I can use! I also don’t have a ton of time to learn a brand new program… so something simple is always preferred!

• Doesn’t require me to download a program — this isn’t as big of a deal… but I did really love that Picnik was totally web-based and didn’t require me to download all kinds of programs. I also loved that I could access my photos on Picnik from any computer.

I would LOVE to know what you use for photo editing… and/or what some of the other options are.

And on a brighter note, if you are looking for a totally free way to edit your photos for the next 3 months, Picnik is letting everyone use the pro version complete FREE until it closes down on April 19!

What are your best suggestions for photo editing programs?

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Nora turned TWO months old yesterday… and seems pretty darn excited about it.

For her one-month photo shoot, we had to take so many pictures because she was either sleeping or crying… this month, we also had to take a bunch, but it was because she was moving SO much!

Nora is really long and skinny {thanks to her dad} so she has already outgrown all her newborn clothes and most of her 3 month clothes. Good thing we got so much of it for free or for pennies at garage sales!

She is even wearing a few 9 month sleepers because otherwise her legs can’t stretch out!

She has gained about 4 pounds… and is getting nice little potbelly!

A few more picture from the last month:

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She just LOVES laying on her back and looking around the room.

But she’s apparently not that interested in Sunday afternoon football

She loves her blanket and teddy bear.

And she’s even starting to get the hang of sitting in her Bumbo seat.

Although she is super cute in these photos, let me just assure you that she has a pretty good set of lungs… and she’s not afraid to use them!

She’s also still being a stinker about taking naps and going to bed “on time”. But since she’s cute, we’ll keep her around!

Happy 2 month Birthday Nora!

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UPDATE: This giveaway is now closed.

Congrats to: Crystal (cdayo4@…)

I will email you to get your information!

When we had Nora’s newborn pictures taken, I immediately fell in love with one picture in particular…

… and I knew I wanted to have it framed for her nursery.

However, when the folks over at Easy Canvas Prints contacted me to do a giveaway, I was ecstatic to have this photo turned into a gorgeous canvas art piece instead!!

I’m really please with the quality of this canvas and just love how it looks hanging above Nora’s crib.

This is my very first experience with canvas prints and I will definitely look into this option again in the future. I think the next canvas purchase I make will be for a photo collage above our couch in the living room.

My favorite aspects of canvas prints are that I don’t need to worry about breaking the glass, cleaning the glass, scratching the photo, bending the photo, or finding a frame that looks good with the print. And I suppose the one downside to a canvas print is that it takes up a little more storage space than a printed photo.

Does it just look fabulous though! 

The Giveaway:

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Today, one lucky Simple Organized Living readers will win an 8×10″ canvas print from Easy Canvas Prints!  

How to Enter:

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1. Leave a comment. What is your favorite way to showcase your photos?

2. Like Simple Organized Living and/or Easy Canvas Prints on Facebook, and then leave a separate comment letting me know you did {or that you do already}.

If you are reading this in your email or feed reader, please visit the actual blog post to enter. Email entries, Facebook comments, and Twitter messages will NOT be counted.

Prize:

(1) 8×10″ canvas print as described above.

This giveaway ends at 10:00 pm on Monday, 1/23/2012 and is open to all U.S. residents 18 years or older. I will use And the Winner Is to select the winning comments at random. Winners will be notified by email and noted at the top of this post. Winners must respond within 48 hours of notification to claim their prize or I will choose a new winner. Please see my full disclosure policy and contact me with any questions you have. Good luck!

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I’ve been getting lots of emails and comments about how Nora looks so much like me… and I have to say I agree!

And the other day, as I was looking through my old pictures {on our portable hard drive}, I came across this picture of me — crying in my bouncy seat.

I have an almost identical picture of Nora crying in her bouncy seat…

What do you think? Does she look like her mom?

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I absolutely love sending our holiday card to family and friends each year!

I’ve already shared several of our past holiday cards, but this year’s card was EXTRA special because it was also Nora’s birth announcement!

I had so much fun coming up with the ideas for this year’s holiday card… and then bringing those ideas to life with the help of Angela from Tilly Claire’s Design. She took all my ideas and turned them into the most beautiful, custom, 2-sided holiday card with our family’s New Year greeting on the front and Nora’s birth announcement on the back.

Here is a larger picture of the New Year’s card. {you can click on the image to open it in a new window}

And here is Nora’s birth announcement.

This is my favorite holiday card so far…yes I say this every year, but it’s true once again!

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I think I’ve mentioned this before… but for the first 4 years of our marriage, Dave and I probably have less than 100 pictures total! Neither one of us really loves taking pictures OR being in pictures, and I often forgot my camera or simply didn’t feel like hauling it out to take a few quick pictures.

So, last year, I made a goal to start taking more photos — and I’m happy to say I followed through with that goal. Here are just a few of my most favorite photo memories from 2011…

Moving Day – seriously, we have SO much stuff!

The first winter in our “new” farmhouse.

Dave just had way too much fun on our tractor last winter!

The crazy wall behind our refrigerator! Yes, it still looks like that, but you can’t see it unless you pull the fridge out — it’s a look back on our home’s history!

Our very first picture of Nora — right around 18 weeks!

We didn’t do any yard work this year, but definitely reaped the benefits of the beautiful hydrangeas all along the North side of our farmhouse!

Totally in my element — computer, cell phone, water bottle, to-do list… sitting at my farm-style table!

Gotta love these baby boots! 

Happy FIVE year anniversary!

Our reclaimed barnwood floors were definitely a labor of love…

…but SO worth it in the end! 

This is one of my favorite maternity photos — I looked good, I felt great, and I wasn’t overly huge yet!

I had so much fun using my Grandma’s old sewing treasures to make fun projects around our house

Oh how I love Fall — and decorating our house for the season!

Our bathroom renovation was quite the project — but we are so happy with the results!

Our International Students — Nancy and Sarah

So many fun baby showers!! 

Maternity photo-shoot

Our first family photo

My sister {a labor and delivery nurse} giving Nora her first bath.

Nora’s first “smiles”

I LOVE this picture SOOOO much!!! 

My sweet, sweet baby. How can you not love those cheeks! 

Our new family of three.

One month old – and full of personality! 

Daddy and daughter on Christmas morning.

Our first FOUR Generation picture!

So many memories — all captured on film! 

I have to say, I’m pretty impressed with how many pictures I took this year {and the fact that I kept them all organized too!}

I hope you also had many great memories in 2011… I know I’m looking forward to many more in 2012!

Happy New Year!

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apparently she’s super excited to be one month old!

I can’t believe our little Nora is already one month old. I only wish someone would have warned me about how fast this time goes!! {yes, that’s a joke — we’ve been told that at least 326 times!}

This past month has been pretty crazy — mostly because we’ve never had such a lack of scheduling around here before. Nora is the new boss and whatever she “says” goes, even if it’s totally inconvenient for us

just a few hours old… so sweet! 

Having a newborn is honestly SO much more work than I ever thought it would be — and I think Nora is actually a pretty good baby too. I just keep thinking about how overwhelmed I feel… and then I wonder how a teen mom could ever handle having a baby!

I’m definitely learning to live on a lot less sleep, have a lot more patience, and “fly by the seat of my pants” — NO, I’m not good at any of them yet!

all bundled up for our first walk — with one tired mama! 

I’ve worn many hats in my life and had many different jobs, but my new “mom” hat/job probably came with the steepest learning curve!

Good thing I’m a fast learner

Anyway, Dave and I are looking forward to our first Christmas as a family, many more great memories… and hopefully a little more sleep in the weeks and months to come.

Here are a couple more pictures from our “photo-shoot” this morning. I’m hoping to do one of these each month — but we’ll see! 

“Who me? It’s MY birthday today?”

ok, I guess I’ll give you a little smile!

Happy one month birthday Nora!

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