i ♥ faces week six photo challenge: "We Heart Kisses"

When she was just learning how to kiss.......

To see more sweet smooch photos, go to the i ♥ faces blog or click on the button above!

Thank you for stopping by!
xo♥, allie

i ♥ faces fix-it-friday

I have really enjoyed participating in the i ♥ faces weekly photo challenges. I am learning so much from their contributors and their resource pages, and am enjoying seeing all the other entries so much. This week I discovered the camera bag photo editing application, so I thought I would give fix-it-Friday a try.





This is a beautiful photo of a family facing a tremendous challenge - they recently learned that their father has terminal cancer. You may read more about this family's journey at Adrienne's Blog, or you may visit Jeff's Caring Bridge Page. You may see the i ♥ faces contributors' fixes here or click on the button above.

I used the camera bag application - the magazine action, and then adjusted the contrast, and cropped the photo a bit with picasa. Here is my version.



I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Thank you for stopping by,
♥, allie

i ♥ faces week 3 photo challenge "We are Family"

My entry is a photo from Mother's Day, 2006. My husband, our children and I were about to move across the country for an undetermined period of time. My mother's family met so we could visit our grandmother and see everyone before we left. It was a bittersweet day - good to see everyone, exciting to be beginning a new chapter in our lives, but sad to be leaving a place that had been home our whole lives, and leaving the people we loved most in the world.

This photo pictures my grandmother - a truly amazing woman - her strength, faith and ability to view life as a glass half full are inspiring to everyone lucky enough to know her, surrounded by her seven great-granddaughters. I love their expressions. This photo is also bittersweet for me - to see my grandmother aging is hard, but to see her influence on so many is remarkable.

To see more incredible photos, go to the i ♥ faces blog or click on the button above!

thanks for stopping by!
♥, allie

Happy New Year!

I hope that all of you have enjoyed a wonderful holiday season with your loved ones! I am excited to start this new year and to show you some of my new work.

Looking ahead a bit to February - I've been working on some new images for my Valentine's Day cards.......Here are a few for you to enjoy. I would love to hear your thoughts!

What are some of your favorite Valentine's Day traditions?

Take care, and Happy New Year to you and yours!
♥, allie

Take a look at this gorgeous treasury!

I scored a treasury for the first time in forever! Enjoy the gorgeous colors.....the Etsy POE team has such talent!


It makes me happy just to look! Wish I could buy them all! Click on the screen shot above to visit the treasury! From there you can visit the shops of all these amazing artists! Clicks and comments are welcome and appreciated!

Have a great weekend!
♥, allie

And the winner is...........

Thank you so much to everyone who participated in our Spirit of Christmas Treasure Hunt! I truly appreciate your taking the time to stop by and look at my work. Your kind words made my day, and I loved hearing about your favorite holiday traditions and activities. Thank you for sharing them with me.

Here is a list of those who qualified for the ACEO drawing on my blog:

angelandspot
lilyhydrangea
Linda Pruitt
Splendid Little Stars
Noble Beeyotch
pinkglitterfae
ArtistSueTaylor
patk860

And now, the winner is........

ArtistSueTaylor

Sue has won her choice of an ACEO from my shop. You may see my ACEO's here.
Congratulations, Sue!

Be sure to check at the other blogs to see if you have won there too!

readingsully2, alwaysartistic, tapestry316, lazyhawk

I will be taking a little break from the treasure hunts in order to focus on some other blog posts. I have enjoyed getting to know my treasure hunt team members very much, and appreciate their patience, kindness and friendship. I am thankful that Etsy brought us together! You are all incredibly talented and tremendous fun, and I feel honored to know you!

Take care, and thank you again! ♥, allie

I ♥ Faces: Week 49 "Pets Only" Photo Challenge

My entry:

This is Biscuit, one of our new dogs. We adopted him from a shelter in July after our sweetheart, Dodger, died at age 14. Biscuit is such a sweet puppy - as gentle as can be. He is a fairly tall dog (Australian Shepherd and English setter mix), but he tries very hard to sit in my lap. You can also see Gabby, our other rescue puppy, coming into the background. I love this photo of biscuit - it shows his patient, loving side very well, I think. (And I love those whiskers!)



Now for a look at both of them. This photo says a lot about their personalities - Biscuit blinking during the picture, and Gabby smiling! Gabby is also an Australian Shepherd mix (we think a type of spaniel, or maybe spitz). We found both dogs through petfinder - a terrific resource! Gabby came from TEARS. For more information on the TEARS shelter, look here. It broke our hearts to lose little Dodger, and we will always miss him. Gabby and Biscuit are helping us heal, and for that we are very thankful!

To learn more about this weekly photo challenge, and see other incredible challenge entries, click on the button above or here to visit the I ♥ Faces blog!

Thank you for stopping by! ♥, allie