Hi guys! there has been TONS of response for the free cards! I just wanted to remind you that if you are planning on ordering you cards and getting the free prints, I will need your photos by sunday at the very latest so that I can make your card, send you a proof and get it to the printer by their deadline of November 30th.
There are tons of you that have said you are ordering them, and I would hate for you to miss out!
If you miss the free 100 deal, you can still order your card design through kojodesigns (even into the new year) and I will be sure to let you know of the best places online to score deals on your cards and envelopes!
Max's 4th birthday party was a blast! "Heros and Princesses" was the theme so everyone got to dress up! (Max was Bumblebee, the transformer- but he took his Helmet off a couple minutes into the party)
We are those weird parents that interpret everything to be international- so Kead was an Indian Princess (a married one- many people pointed out- because of the dot)
we actually got this outfit in Oman- but TONS of Indians live there and so there is TONS of fun Indian stuff in the stores. Sayla rocked the Moroccan dress. Also- the head tilt is her new pose for the camera. too cute: I mean, who doesn't love a party with Batgirl and sweet Ella princess: and I LOVE this one of the kids waiting to do the pinata. It was A LOT of fun, even for the little kids! ( I wish you could hear Ella getting all the kids to scream in unison- so funny!)
Happy Birthday, Max- we love you and hope it was as fun for you as it was for us!
One bonus of living in lubbock is that we have a very drawn out autumn. As I am sure you remember, it is my favorite season, so I love seeing the leaves gradually change from yellow to orange and then from orange to deep red and slowly fall off the trees. We are at the end of fall, so we trekked down to a park that actually has trees (the down side to living in lubbock is the lack of trees...) and took some pics of the beautiful leaves. I know once the girls are old enough to remember we won't be living somewhere that they get to experience fall every year, so I will be able to show them these pictures and tell them how great God is to create such a beautiful season.
aaand, one of keadryn tackling sayla "cause she was gonna go in the water!" of course I grabbed for my camera instead of pulling kead off of sayla. that's what all moms do:
Ok, I really apologize that my personal blog has been one big kojodesigns advertisement for the past month, but I know you'll really want to hear this!
Remember the photocard designs we are now selling in our etsy shop? Well, kirst scored us a major deal and now through NOVEMBER 30th, if you purchase a photocard design from us you will get 100 5X7 cards with envelopes FREE with your purchase!
Yep, you read correctly- purchase the design for $15.00 and get 100 5X7 photos with envelopes included!
****UPDATE- Our printer just started charging for shipping, so that will also cost $6.00***
This will only be available until Nov. 30th, so hurry on over and get your cards! Just mention that you saw this deal on my blog and you are set!
Where have I been?!, you ask. Well, making juju shoes, and cooking pumpkin (a whole different post) and decorating for Christmas too early, and trying to make some sense of my craft room, and learning photoshop through an online course, which is the main subject of this post.
I have really really enjoyed my tuesday/thursday "class" time while the girls are at school. I go to a coffee shop and sit by myself and do online tutorials about photoshop. I started at the beginning of the semester and have been taking it way more seriously than anyone in the history of online (free) tutorials. I even gave myself an amount of "absences" that I can take so that I don't flake out on it. seriously. I have missed 2 times and have one more for remainder of the semester. I know myself and know that something else will always come up if I don't put up boundries. It's been so much fun! I love creating and designing so it is perfect. On a side note- I wish I would have realized how much I love photography and graphic design before I went to college. (I knew I loved art but thought it would be too impractical, so I majored in Spanish, which has proven so helpful in the Middle East and as a mom...oh well.)
Ok so on the to good stuff- if you haven't already ordered Christmas cards we are selling customized photo cards (design by moi, with my new skills!) in the kojodesigns etsy shop now! They are super fun and the best part is that I will just send you the digital file and you can have them printed where ever you want!
I love these dresses kirst made for the girls. They are my favorite outfit we own. Isn't she great for making TWO of them for me? I kind of hope she never has girls so that she will keep using my girls for all her fun girly projects. :) Anyway- over at the kojo blog we are giving away one of these little darlings for free this month! whoohoo! Click here to enter to win.
Kead loves baking these days and asks all the time if we can cook. I have actually gotten pretty good at my chocolate chip cookies, despite how awful I am at baking. Kead has always liked to help, but it wasn't until recently that she had been interested in helping start to finish.
A couple days ago she was helping me put the cookie dough on the sheet and was cracking me up. I would give her a ball of dough and she would cradle it in her hand and say "Hi cookie!" and then depending on the cookies "response" she would either set the dough in a clump with the rest of the cookies or she would say a slew of thing I always say like: "No, Ma'am" or "Look at my eyes when I'm talking to you" or "That is not you job" and then inevitably she would say: "You go in time out!"
Those poor little misbehaving cookies were placed on the far side of the cookie sheet, away from all their cookie friends! Isn't she a hoot? Can we say bossy?
Drew said it was more like a Harryween party the other day and I loved it! It was so true. I got pretty excited about my little Harry Potter accents all around the house (I even downloaded a Harry Potter font) and so I thought I'd share:
First the outfits: I made our ties out of pillow cases from goodwill. For the badges I found the Gryffindor image online and printed it onto iron on fabric paper and then sewed it onto our vests. Drew used dowel rods to make our wands and I stained them to make them more authentic looking. :) I also made Sayla's costume out of a cute furry vest I found at Once Upon a Child. It was super easy, all I did was add the owl face ears and wings.
The Potions Lab: I had SO much fun doing the potions lab. I found the Harry Potter Lexicon and the Harry Potter Wiki and used them to make all my labels. (I know, Kirst, you are rolling your eyes at how dorky I am. I still don't care.)
The sign said " Hogwarts Potion Lab: Treat yourself to some of the Half-blooded Prince's private supplies."
The small potions were Torani syrups, the medium ones were lemonade dyed all different colors, and the large ones were ice tea. All were mixable to make your own drink. I think if I did it again I would make a sign somewhere that said the true identity of the potions, as people seemed a little hesitant to drink them.
Here's a list of potions I had: Veritaserum, Woflsbane Potions, Garroting Gas, Draught of Living Death, Babbling Beverage, The Elixir of Life, Pepperup Potion, Felix Felicis, Polyjuice Potion and Amortentia. (If you can name where in the books at least 5 of them are used, you get bonus cool points!)
Ok moving on to Honeydukes: I really wanted to do a Weasley Wizard Wheezes store, but that doesn't start with "H". I still had a Skiving Snackbox with a mixture of candies "to make the eater ill", but the store was Honeydukes (Quit rolling your eyes, Kirst!)
Honeydukes sign. Fizzing Whizzbees, Acid Pops, Sherbert Lemons, Pepper Imps (all candy from a mixed assortment bag we got mainly because it was cheap. I know there are more realistic canides for each of these, but I think it worked great!)
Take home bags- Bolts Every Flavored Beans- Cauldron Cakes (chocolate covered oreos)
Licorice Wands, Treacle Balls, Pumpkin Pasties, Bolts Every Flavor Beans, Droobles Best Blowing Gum, Exploding Bon-Bons. I didn't get a good picture of the Skiving Snackbox but that's ok, It was there, and it was awesome. :)
Oh- and I note on the Hogsmead Butter Beer. I tried this recipe and it was a pretty big let down, I think because I made a big batch and it wasn't possible to drink it right away. I thought there was WAY too much butter, It didn't taste as amazing as the books describe, so I will keep looking. :)
Ok so thats's it. I had SO much fun doing it and now an added bonus- I have an outfit to wear to the opening of the next movie! (Ok you can roll your eyes at that one!)
