Tag Archives: photo

Family

Season’s Greetings ~ 2013 Style

Leave a comment

I don’t know about you, but the minute I drop the 120+ Christmas cards into the big blue mailbox at the post office drive-thru I can breathe a sigh of relief. I like to get them out fairly early so they aren’t hanging over my head too far into the season. But, getting them out early means that you have to have your picture and your card in the works before Thanksgiving! We usually just include the kids in our Christmas card photos because honestly, who wants to see a couple of tired, 40-something parents?!?

This year, on Thanksgiving weekend, we headed to nearby Mentryville on a Sunday afternoon and Jay snapped a few pics. I was, of course, determined to get “THE picture” that day so I could get on with the Christmas cards. I had already scoured Shutterfly, Costco, Walgreens, you-name-it for a template that I liked. I found one on the Target site that I loved which coordinated with the paper that I chose for our annual letter. Score!

Xmas2013_mentryville

For me, coordinating the kids’ outfits is the hardest thing about photos. Do we want formal or casual? Plaid or stripes? Traditional red & green? As I was wandering through Target one day {not unusual, of course} I noticed that the Levi’s dENiZEN jeans that fit Holden so well were temporarily marked 40% off. I immediately grabbed the camo pair that I had been eyeing for full price in the last size 6 and knew that I was going to work these into the holiday photo somehow. Then minutes later I visited the girls’ clothing section and found this lonely camo shirt {from the Disney D-Signed line} hanging on the clearance rack for 50% off ~ about 10 bucks. Done.

I knew Elliott would wear her favorite Old Navy skinnies, but now I was on the lookout for a top for Holden. I quickly ducked into Crazy 8 on Black Friday and found a green and blue checkered plaid button up and fun graphic tee for Holden {both for under $10!!} Done. I like to layer the short sleeved tee on top of the button up…the saleslady looked at me funny when I told her that’s what I was going to do, but I think it looks darling….er, cool.

He needed some shoes so I popped into Children’s Place and found the little brown boots that I thought would be good church shoes since he always seems to wear either his beat up tennies or flip flops to mass. Black Friday deal on the boots ~ $9 and change! Done.

I didn’t order enough of the above card and Jay needed extras for his co-workers so I reordered 25 more cards with this simple chalkboard design…

Xmas2013_chalkboard

That’s our Christmas card story for Twenty Thirteen.

Until next year….

*****

We hope your holidays are merry & bright and filled with family, friends, laughter and good cheer!

Many blessings to you and yours in 2014 and always.

XOXO,

The Aspiras’

Fabric {My "Crafty" Side}, Fashion, Fun

Leap!

2 Comments

Leapin’ Lizards!

Where did January go?

February is here and we get one extra day this year…yay!

It may still be the shortest month of the year, but it’s already proving to be a busy one with the Superbowl {go Pats!}, after school enrichment classes, a visit from Gramma, Valentine’s Day, the 100th day of school, Holden’s 5th birthday, Art Night and who knows what else…

Following along with Erin and April this month and doing a photo-a-day the February way! Follow the fun prompts, snap a pic and share ~ it’ll be fun ~ won’t you join in with me? I must admit that I am stressin’ about #10….sun flare. Going to have to read up on how to capture that one ~ ha!

Here was my entry for today ~ RED:

{down to our last grounds of this stuff from the holidays…wah!}

I’ll be posting these daily on Instagram ~ come find me and follow along: aaspiras

*****

Wednesdays are great days for bow ties, don’tcha think?

Followed this super duper easy tutorial over at The Vanilla Tulip!

So fun.

Here is a better idea of the fabric color….{along with a cheesy grin!}

{I had the green polka dot fabric from Christmas ~ was supposed to go atop mason jars filled with yellow pepper relish for the neighbors…oops! Sorry neighbors. Hope the New Year’s sugar cookie bars made up for it! XO}

I think a little green bow tie bunting for across the mantel mirror would be cute for St. Patrick’s Day ~ time to bust out several more of these cuties.

Would also make cute boy’s bow ties for Easter and matching girl’s hair clips.

Or clip onto the top of a birthday gift….

Thanks again for the inspiration, Ashley!

*****

Today is also Day 1 of Valentine stocking stuffers…

{Valentine jammies all washed and ready to wear}

And by Valentine jammies, I mean girly “pirate” {skull & cross bones} ones for Elliott that have hearts for eyes ~ that’s Valentine’s enough for me. Picked them up recently at Target for 70% off. Picked up Holden’s from last year post-cupid at Old Navy for el cheapo, too. That’s how I roll.

They will not be getting {extravagant} goodies every day…maybe a simple fruit roll one day, a dollar store coloring book another day, etc. The new jams were just to kick off February and get into the Valentine’s spirit!

*****

Hope your {leap} into February has been a good one!

What are you going to do with the extra day given to us this month?