DIY Striped Picture Frame #DIY

        If you are like me, you like to fill your home with photos of your friends and family.  After all, home is where the heart is, they say.  Unfortunately, I have been finding that picture frames have been getting ridiculously expensive and I wanted to come up with a more affordable option to display our photos and look great as part of our decor.       The outcome was a beautiful striped picture frame that you can make right at home for a fraction of the cost of expensive store-bought frames.  You can customize them and use colors that fit with your home's decorative scheme while saving a little money. Striped Picture Frame- Materials- 4x6 unfinished picture frame Cranberry Apple Barrel paint Tropic orange Apple Barrel Paint 3 foam brushes Clear modge podge Painter's tape Decorative flowers (hobby lobby) Hot glue/hot glue gun Directions- 1.  Start taping stripes on the frame, starting at the … [Read more...]

Warm Up Your Walls With HP And Genevieve Gorder! #WarmUpYourWalls @HPPrint #Ad

I participated in a campaign on behalf of HP. I received a promotional item as a thank you for participating.     Recently we had the opportunity to attend a very special event with TV personality and interior designer Genevieve Gorder.  We asked her all of our photo décor related questions which was especially helpful to me because I love putting photos up in our home but I never know how to arrange them.  Now that HP offers unique, same-day photo creations including photo canvases and mounted photos, I knew that this was the perfect time to brush up on my wall decorating skills.     On top of that, the holidays are coming and HP's same-day photo creations allow you to personalize and tailor gifts for all of your friends and loved ones.  I love personalized gifts because I feel that they let the recipient know how important they are to you and that you took the time out to really think about their gift.  Photos are a wonderful way to commemorate your most cherished … [Read more...]

Join Us For The #SMBloggers July Instagram Challenge!

    Taking photos is one of my favorite things to do because they document all of the wonderful experiences that I have with my family and friends.  Many social media platforms have made sharing photos so much easier and it has allowed us to connect with one another and to get special insight into each other's lives.  In my case, being able to share photos online has allowed me to stay connected to my family overseas in Spain and, although we still miss each other very much, we manage to stay involved with one another through our wonderful photos.     Many of the online friends that I have met have ended up becoming great friends in real life and I really enjoy exchanging photos with them on social media and being able to share in their joys and celebrations despite not always living close by to one another.  As a Stiletto Media Blogger, I want to get to know you through your photographs and I want to introduce you to some of my wonderful blogging friends through their photographs … [Read more...]

Capturing Precious Memories! #Troop8X #HTC8X

    We are definitely a sports family.  Although I am not very good at sports, my husband is an avid sportsman and my sons both play basketball and baseball.  There is nothing more exciting than cheering your children on at a sporting event.  Besides the pride that one feels as a parent, it is wonderful to know some of the skills that sports are teaching our boys which they can use on and off the court or baseball field.     It is very important to be able to capture all of these precious moments on camera and to be able to look back on our children's successes and joyful moments.  The HTC8X boasts an ultra-wide angle front facing camera which is just perfect for video chatting and keeping in touch with family and friends.  Additionally, it has an amazing 8-megapixel camera which takes beautiful and crisp photos and practically brings events to life in its images.     We have been fortunate to have the opportunity to review this amazing phone and have been around town taking the … [Read more...]

Create Childhood Memories Of Your Kids With “Give ‘Em Ragu” App!

    As parents we relish in any opportunity to document and share photos and images of our children.  These precious memories make up the fabric of your family and will be cherished and enjoyed for generations to come.  There is just something magical about childhood and we want our children to enjoy every single moment of being kids.     Ragu understands that every parent loves taking pictures and making videos of their kid's long days of childhood.  Keeping this beloved family tradition in mind, they have created an app called "Give 'Em Ragu" to help parents make their own videos. Using photos of their children that they can upload from their smartphones and other social media platforms, parents can produce videos and even add music to these videos to create their own montage!     The "Give 'Em Ragu" app can be downloaded for free at the iTunes app store.  Once the app is downloaded, you are prompted to upload photos from a variety of options including your smartphone and your … [Read more...]

Collect Your Family’s Milestones Into A Virtual Scrapbook Using #Lifeables

    If you are active across a variety of social media platforms and technology savvy like I am, you probably have an array of family photos and precious memories posted on a variety of social networks, mobile phones and computers.  It would be wonderful if we could all collect those images and family milestones and compile them into a virtual scrapbook which can be shared for generations to come.     Social media is very important to me because it allows me to share photos of my sons with my family who lives in Spain.  It is extremely difficult to be so far apart from our loved ones but, being able to communicate through images and updates, allows us to feel like we are still involved in each other's lives despite the distance between us.     With the holidays coming up, sharing photos of our celebrations also goes a long way in making us feel that sense of family togetherness instead of lamenting that we could not all celebrate together.  Lifeables is the first online service that … [Read more...]