Lauren Reid is now at Sweet Shoppe Designs!!!

Whoo-Hoo!! The suspense is over - the hip and talented Lauren Reid is now at Sweet Shoppe Designs!! Head on over there to check out her awesome designs and to take advantage of some sale prices!

And, as a gift to you - a FREE July Desktop calendar! This desktop features products from her latest kit, Freebird.


The free desktop calendar is available at Lauren's blog HERE. Enjoy!! While you're there, check out her latest information including sales and a freebie Quick Page, too!

Free Quick Page!

Happy July 4th to those of you celebrating, and happy Saturday to everyone else!!! We have a nice (but HOT) day here - going to play a little tennis and later will be making my famous ribs along with some corn, red pepper and creme fraiche ziti, and oil & vinegar coleslaw. Then we'll be heading across the street to watch the fireworks over Sarasota Bay. Local DJ Chris Grumley (he's a Brit different) will be spinning his tunes at Moore's Stone Crab restaurant so hopefully we'll have a chance to stop in a take a listen.

The Latest at JessicaSprague.........

You still have a couple of days to register for this FREE class - plus check out the birthday bash activities that are going on over at the site! Challenges, freebies, and a brand NEW community that works like the well-known social networking sites! Click on the image above to learn more!

More with Four

It is NOT easy to use only four products on a page. The Daily Digi hosts a challenge following the release of their latest "Digi Files" which showcases products from several different designer from the digi community,

I recently bought The Digi Files 5 - for only $5.00 - talk about a bargain! The four products from this bundle of goodies that we were instructed to use were Word Art by Stephanie2 (The Daily Digi), Papers by Amber Clegg (ScrapArtist), Stitching from Amy Hutchinson's contribution (After Five Designs), and Film Frames from Leora Sanford (Little Dreamer Designs).

This is what I came up with:


A fun, happy summer page!

A real benefit of checking out The Digi Files each month is to get a good look at a variety of designers without having to troll the internet for hours and browsing through so many shops. By the sampling the designers provide, I feel I have a a decent glimpse of their respective styles and whether or not their products would work for my pages. The Daily Digi showcases the designers as the month goes along, so if you're not sure right away if you would like to buy the $5.o0 bundle, you can always wait until some of the products are revealed.

I don't have any affiliation with this site - I just happen to love it! Whether it's photography, computer FAQ, spotlight on designers, or just general everyday life "issues," I find it has something for just about everyone. Pop over to The Daily Digi and check it out!

Final Portfolio, Portraiture 101 Class

Yay - I recently completed the four week Portraiture 101 class taught by Candice Stringham (Creating Keepsakes magazine) over at Jessica Sprague's site.

For our portfolio, we needed to choose three of our favorite photos from the class. Here's my storyboard:


Candice Stringham recently provided a critique of my photos. She really enjoyed the left photo - she loved the cubbies as "frames" and the croppping and priceless expressions on the boys' faces. The middle was a good traditional shot with even lighting, but I could have used a more open aperature to blur the background so the leaves aren't as distinct. Lastly, she found the right photo to be a fun shot with also nice, even lighting. She did warn about sepia tones, though - mine here seems a little strong and sometimes it "muddies" your photos. This was the look I was going after - his dirty brown crocs on the old steps, but I can now see where I could have desaturated the photo more and by doing so, in keeping with the photo on the left.

What a great class - I learned a LOT. I don't even touch the "auto"setting on my Canon Rebel XT anymore - I love playing with the aperature and shutter speed. The only difficulty was getting my husband and son to pose over and over again - needless to say, they were not the most willing subjects. That, especially when combined with the need for the right lighting, was a bit frustrating. But, we did get some really good shots.

Some of the test photos are on my Project 365 blog. Keeping up with that blog has been a real incentive to keep practicing and taking photos everyday.

Great class!! I recommend Portraiture 101 or any digital photography and editing classes available at JessicaSprague.com.