It’s not too early for the dog days of summer, it is certainly hot enough. It seems especially appropriate then that Hello Canvas has graciously offered to cool things off with a canvas giveaway – on this site – for you.

On top of the wonderful product they offer, I can say they are very nice people as well. A pleasure actually. Imagine my delight in their offer! And I can’t think of a better way to thank you for coming here and visiting. It gives me great joy to read your comments; it’s no little thing.

If you have been visiting a while, you will know how much I love my family, warts and all…so if you would like to win a 16 x 20 inch canvas from Hello Canvas, then please leave me a link to a photo that best represents family to you.

I know families come in all shapes, forms, and sizes so please don’t feel shy.

How it works:

1. Leave a comment here with a link to a photograph on your blog or flickr site that best illustrates “Hello Love – Family” to you.
2. Photos will be judged on how the photo best illustrates the theme.
3. If you could pass the word and share I’d be most appreciative, but I’m just glad you are here. Really.
4. Enjoy!

Only one link per person please. And only we can only judge those photos that are shared here through this post.

Who will judge? Because I know many of you who come here and so many are fantastic photographers, I don’t feel like I can truly be objective as a judge so I asked my good friend and photographer extraordinaire himself, Danny Douglas of Danny Douglas Photography to make the determination on the winner. Note: The judge is on a strict low-calorie diet so no bribing with candy allowed.

The contest closes on Wednesday, August 4. And another will open…

Also – Hello Canvas has offered to give you 10% off any one one of their great products for a month. Fabulous! Please use the offer code hellolove when ordering.

Disclaimer: I know some of you are not photographers but let me give you some ideas.

1. Ever had your family portrait done? Get your photographer to send you a digital copy.
2. Ever taken a great vacation photo? Well, it would look great on canvas.
3. Ever wish that you had more photos of you as a child? Don’t make your child wonder the same thing. Take their pictures now!

You’ll never regret it, never.

Thanks for coming by and submitting a photo and best of luck to you!

I had a camera bag on my Christmas wish list but it wasn’t this one. I bought this one for myself. I placed an order right after Christmas and it arrived a couple of weeks ago.

And I’m smittened. I don’t think I loved anything this much since we got our puppy six years ago.

It’s puppy love.

I am not an accessory person. I don’t have a bag to match every outfit I have but I love this bag.

It’s already not only well loved but well used. I carry my camera of course but I also carry my long lens and my charger and the accessories I need for a quick photo. It’s padded inside with felt separators. My camera sits in the middle part.

I love the little tag that came with it.

The details are beautiful and I love the leather. It’s soft, soft, soft.

You know what? I’ve had at least three men compliment me on my bag. Really. Men! And the bag is a very girly teal color so I was surprised at the compliments. I was tired of the masculine black camera bags and backpacks that are out there. This not only pretty, it’s well made, practical and extremely attractive if I do say so myself.

Along with my camera and its accessories, I carry my wallet and other neccessities, like my lipstick. My friend Danny gave me this tag for Christmas one year and it compliments the bag beautifullly.

If you are not already aware, Ephiphanie bags is having a giveaway on their site and they are giving away a bag on Shutter Sisters. I’m not ashamed to say that I want another one…the brown one. If you were to place your order now, I promise you won’t regret it.

Go there now!!  http://www.haveanepiphanie.com/home/2010/2/28/epiphanie-give-away.html

So without further ado…the party shoe that I bought? Number 4. The others were beautiful but my no fun, pragmatic side took over. And the people who mentioned number 4 (Margie, Maureen and Ann) in their comments were entered into a drawing and the winner is…Ann. Congratulations Ann. I hope you like your ornament.

Let me just also editorialize, that it’s slightly disturbing how well my boss knows me. One day I’m going to shock everyone. Just wait and see.

I don’t have photos of the party because I didn’t go to the party. The only thing that would keep me from going to a party for which I had bought shoes for is not the blizzard of the decade and it’s not the fact that my date was stuck in Texas and couldn’t make it home because of that blizzard, it’s because I was slightly ill. Ill enough to go to the hospital.

But I’s al rite now. Ain’t nothin’.

I love this photo. I took it while at the hospital of the husband. There were a lot of other sick people there so I was put in the hallway. His expression says, “You sure know how to cause drama during the holidays don’t you?”

So the blizzard and my little hospital visit have put me slightly behind – alright – very behind in my Christmas preparations. But I in spite of the fact that this phrase is way over used, I’ll say it anyway.

“It is what it is.”

Two days left. But who’s counting? Merry Christmas!

You may not believe this, but I don’t shop at brick and mortar stores very often.

1) Blue sequined 5 inch heels. Great with jeans don’t you think? Love the bow.

It’s a drive to get to the mall and my days are taken up with driving to other places, like the grocery store and equestrian meets.

2) These are more classic but quite blingy. There’s a gold and silver pattern on them.

And at times when I do go…it’s rush, rush and rush some more.

3) What do you think of this purple princess?  Holy cow they were high.

Ahhhh…my poor aching feet thank me.

4) This one has little glittery sequins. I love it.

I did stop at a store this week to try on some shoes to wear to a Christmas party this weekend.

5) Look at this one! Va va va voom! Red hot for Christmas.

I’m wearing a little black dress with some slight ornamentation on the neck. I’m also wearing a black cashmere sweater over it. It’s one that I’ve worn many many time before. But it’s warm.

6) I wonder what animal died for this shoe?

And you know what? The same dress that I’m wearing for the party will be worn to go to church on Christmas Eve.

7) I love these shoes…love them. There are little sparkles on the shoes. It’s the silver twin to number 1.

Okay, tell me, which one will I wear? Hmmmm? Sorry about the pedicure job. I’ll redo the toes before the party! The right guesses will be entered to win a 2008 White House Christmas ornament. I don’t have a photo of it, but it’s cute!

My last giveaway was up for a total of 24 hours. I’ll leave this one up a little bit longer. Until 9 pm Monday night. Or thereabouts…

And I’ve said it many times before, thank you for coming by. It just cheers me up and makes my day to read your comments.

Merry Christmas! And what are you wearing to your Christmas party this weekend?

Oh what a day it’s been! Won’t go into detail now but it had something to do with the sister, wrestling, shaving and birthday presents left on a school bus. We just got home - literally - and the girl had to do her homework so I had to wait a few minutes before I could post this. And please forgive me, but I just took these photos about two minutes ago.

But I won’t bore you.

Congratulations Margie! You made the right guess as to which photo I should enter into the iHeartfaces contest this week. You have won a beautiful, I mean beautiful 2009 White House Christmas ornaments. I’ve been collecting these for a while and I love them. We live not too far from Washington DC and if you have never visited this town, you should. It will make you a patriot and proud to be an American.

Here’s the back of the ornament.

So Margie, I love that you have a sister that blogs with you. And I love your photos, they are full of emotion. And I love that you come and visit.

As I do for all of you who come here. It means so much to me. I started this blog just to post photos and document my life digitally. It’s an outlet for my creativity and it’s turned out to be so much more. Thank you so much for coming and leaving comments and making this so much fun.

I have an ornament from last year to giveaway this week. All you have to do is tell me which shoe I should buy. I can’t make up my mind. What else is new?

But right now…I’m going to bed. Margie, please pass me your snail mail address. I just love your site!

I am an indecisive, vacillating , wishy-washy individual, except when I have to choose a husband. Wait…I was wishy washy then too. (But it had nothing to do with the husband.) Anyway…

Help me choose a pet for this week’s iHeartfaces contest if you don’t mind…for if you do…I have a little something for you at the end of the post.

1) The irrepressible Tuk Tuk. Gosh he’s cute. And mischievious. And so is the girl.

This is my favorite…but keep looking okay?

2) Tucker in my boss’s office. She hasn’t said anything to me about it yet by the way.

This one is a favorite because of the color.

3) My girl with Limerick…I wasn’t helping her at all.

It’s my favorite tacking picture.

4) And here’s Limerick’s eye lashes. I love this photo as you can tell.

It’s my favorite black and white of a horse.

5) And here’s Pete, who I can learn to like if he wins me the coveted top ten position.

It’s my favorite picture of Pete.

6) Dr. Tortoise from the farm…every winter he disappears. He must go to the beach.

She’s my favorite turtle.

7) The cat after he’s munched a bluebird or two. He only wishes…

My favorite so far.

Here’s Boone! It’s my other favorite.

I love animals. Can you tell?

I have more…but I’ll stop here..

Let me know which one is your favorite! The one with the most votes will go in. And it doesn’t have to be my favorite one either.

If you vote for the photo I choose, I have a little giveaway for you. It’s to thank you for coming by. And it’s the Christmas season! So let me know in the comments which one you think I should enter. See you tomorrow…

Fall is around the corner and whenever there is a tinge of coolness in the air, like today…and yesterday…and the day before, I start to want to hang wreathes and burn candles. It happens every time. I’m starting to nest…I am.

So I immediately went to the black & light candle site and fell in love with their whimsical candles. I love this lobster candle by the way, though I know they’re not for everyone. So visit Maya and tell her which one you like! You may just win it!

Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while know that I love Doug Boutwell, and I love the Get Totally Rad actions and I use them all the time. All the time!

My parents gave me their second action set as a Christmas present, isn’t that sweet? I’m not sure if they knew what they were buying me but it was one of the best gifts I ever received!

Here’s one where I used their action to give this barn an illustrated look.

I also love dissecting their plugins…ssshhh…I do it to as a learning tool for Photoshop. I’ve never taken a photoshop class you see…

Check it out on their blog…the deadline is tonight…I actually started this post a few days ago and just now finished it…sorry for the late notice! Go there, go there now!

Get Totally Rad (the blog).

Have fun!

One of the things in my long list of photography paraphernalia that I covet is a Lensbaby Composer. Oh the things I can do with one.

As it so happens, the fabulous Jodi from MCP Actions is giving one away on her site. The link is here...

To win, Jodi asks that you express how you are seeing things in a new way.

I believe I know how I’m doing that. Before I received my SLR, I was a snap shot photographer. I did not look at photography as an art form. I wanted to get the subjects lined-up with whatever tourist attraction was in the background. As long as everyone was smiling and their eyes weren’t closed, I was happy.

And now I may be so bold as to call myself an artist. I read voraciously about the subject of photography, look excessively at other people’s work and try to emulate the ones I admire. I am looking back through the history of photography and am learning about the vision and the work of famous photographers like Margaret Bourke-White and Annie Leibowitz. And of course Ansel Adams…who hasn’t heard of him?

This is how I’m looking at things differently. It has really changed my perspective in so many ways and opened up a whole new world for me.

And a lensbaby would be really wonderful. Go over to Jodi’s site and tell her how you see things differently. There may be a whole new world waiting for you too!

Now if you will excuse me I must go. I’m a little nauseous after reading all your answers.

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I was going to do a huge one year bloggy-versary celebration because, one year ago today, I was sitting at my computer and thought, I’m going to post this photo of a flying squirrel, yeah that’s the ticket.

In order to celebrate, I was going to put up a Mr. McLinky where you would leave your recipes. Then I would pick three of the recipes and you would vote on the one you liked the most. Then the winner would win a $100 William and Sonoma gift card.

But then I decided – not.

I decide I didn’t want you going through all that work just for a shot at something you may never win. And I didn’t want to go through the work of getting a Mr. McLinky account, take it down, pick three recipes, have you vote, close the poll and announce the winner.

Instead, I’m doing this post and having a glass of wine.

All you have to do to win the $100 William and Sonoma gift card is leave a comment with the answer to this question.

“What is the weirdest thing you have ever eaten?”

Because I have eaten some weird stuff and I want to know if you have too.

My bloggy-versary post implied that I wanted you to cook your pets and take some photos of it in order to win. I didn’t mean that.

What I did mean is that over the past year, I have been blessed with this new medium of creative expression. That I have found myself in my photography. That the chore of cooking every night can be a discovery if you are photographing it too. That you make being on the computer fun as well as work.

I want all the people who come to LifeSignatures to have a shot at winning. That’s all five of you. I’m leaving the comments open until Saturday pm-ish. Then I’ll have the boy scientifically pick the winner at random on Sunday afternoon-ish.

Only one comment per person please.

Good luck to. You have blessed me more than you will ever know.

Love,
Puna