MAGGIE HOLMES Photography and Scrapbooking Blog

Winner: Making Memories Giveaway

The winner of the Vintage Findings Package goes to: 

Joanna Ganning said:

I absolutely love the colors in this line of products! The gray-blue and green soften everything so easily and give it a classic look. Congrats on the Dream Team position!

Congrats Joanna! Email me your address and we will get your package sent out soon! 

I also want to give a big thank you to everyone for your sweet comments! It really means a lot! Hope you are all getting your week off to a great start! We are jumping in full swing here - working on a layout for CK, getting ready (and excited) to do next month's layouts for Studio Calico and gearing up for a full week of photo shoots! Happy Monday!!

Sponsor Giveaway: Making Memories

I was pretty excited to find out that two of the other Making Memories designers will also be on the CK Dream Team next year! Laura Vegas and Wendy Anderson are both fabulous artists and also two of the sweetest girls you will ever meet! 

Making Memories is helping us celebrate by sponsoring giveaways on each of our blogs! I chose the new Vintage Findings line for my giveaway! I adore everything about this line and have quite a stash hoarded away because I know I will be extremely sad if I ever run out! In fact I used the Mini Nature Kit (pictured below) in one of my classes that I taught in Africa! I simply can't get enough of it!

 

If you want a chance to win, leave a comment on this post and I will be back on Monday to draw a winner. You can also enter to win one of the other two prizes on Laura and Wendy's blogs so be sure to hop over there to see what they are giving away! (We each got to choose our own prize!) Thanks Making Memories!

filed under: Scrapbooking Giveaway, Creating Keepsakes Magazine, Making Memories

Creating Keepsakes Dream Team

Year number 3.... 

honored and excited to be a part of the Dream Team again for 2010. 

Also equally excited about the new designers that are joining us and can't wait to see more of their work in the magazine this year.

Another thing I am excited about is the fact that I came home from Africa to an entryway full of boxes filled with the latest goodies from these kind and generous companies:

Adornit – Carolee’s Creations, Advantus, American Art Clay Company, American Crafts, Anna Griffin, BasicGrey, Bazzill Basics Paper, Bella Blvd, Bisous, Bo-Bunny Press, Buttons Galore,C.R. Gibson, Clearsnap, Close To My Heart, Colorbök, Core’dinations, Cornish Heritage Farms, Cosmo Cricket, The Crafter’s Workshop, Creative Memories, Die Cuts With a View,Dimensions, Doodlebug Design, Dyno Merchandise, EK Success, Elmer’s, Eyelet Outlet, Fancy Pants Designs, Fiskars Americas, GlueArts, Glue Dots International, Graphic 45, Hambly Screen Prints, Helmar Adhesives, Hero Arts, iLoveToCreate, a Duncan Enterprises Company,Imaginisce, Inkadinkado , It Takes Two, Jenni Bowlin Studio, Jillibean Soup, K&Company,Karen Foster Design, Krylon, Little Yellow Bicycle, Maya Road, McGill, Mimi Collections,Pebbles Inc., Piggy Tales, Pink Paislee, Prima, QuicKutz, River City Rubber Works, Sakura,Sandylion, Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L, ScrapGirls, Scrapper’s Guide, SEI, Singer, Sounds Easy,Spellbinders, Stampendous!, Stampin’ Up!, Technique Tuesday, Therm O Web, Unibind, We R Memory Keepers, Zva Creative

Thank You!!!!!!

If you want to "meet" the rest of the team go to the Creating Keespakes Blog here.

filed under: Scrapbooking Inspiration, Scrapbooking Magazine, Creating Keepsakes, Dream Team 2010

Starks Family: {Gilbert, Arizona Family Photographer}

I adored this family.... beautiful girls, amazing parents. 

I know it sounds a little cheesy but there are some people you just instantly connect with and the session feels more like a reunion with old friends than "working" with someone I have never met. 

This was one of those sessions for me.... I could have spent all day with them.

 

 

 

 

Sorry for the image overload! :) I just have too many favorites! How is your week going so far? It is crazy busy around here as I jumped right back into an insanely full schedule and am also trying to catch up on everything I missed while being gone to Africa. If you emailed me in the last few weeks and I haven't replied, please don't hesitate to email me again. It could take me quite a while to sift back through my very full inbox and I don't want to miss anybody!

In workshop news, my January beg/intermediate online photography workshop is filling up very quickly. If you are interested in joining me for the first class in 2010, please don't wait to register. Of course, there will be others next year but if you are counting on taking that first one I would recommend registering now! I will also be announcing the dates for the advanced workshop soon.... still trying to work out some of the details. I will be emailing those on the waiting list with the chance to register first before I open it to everyone. If you have already emailed me then you are on the list. I haven't been responding to those emails but just know that you are on there. If you have left a comment on my blog or on the message board of my current workshop, then I can't guarantee that you are on the list, so please make sure you email me directly to get on it.

I think that's it for now. I am off to get some more things done before the kiddos get home from school!

filed under: Maggie Holmes Photography, Phoenix, Mesa, Chandler Family and Kids Photographer, Photoshop and PSE Actions, Online Photography Workshop, Childrens Photographer in Arizona.

We are back... lots to share!!

We are back from an AMAZING trip in South Africa! Sorry about the lack of posts. I had great intentions of posting while we were there but we were on the go 24/7 and didn't have internet access the whole time so we really just took advantage of the time together and the chance to do so many fun and amazing things! I have lots to share including lots of photos which I will get to soon!

We are thankful to have made it safely back to the US after a 16 1/2 hour long flight. Now we are in Atlanta waiting to board the plane to take one more flight home to AZ, where the kids (along with Nan and Papa) will be waiting. Can't even describe how excited we are to see them and hug them and kiss them!!!

I have lots to catch up on which will hopefully mean lots of blog posts coming your way and lots more coming up including a bunch of photo shoots this week. I don't even know how many shoots I edited that week before we left.... It was a complete whirlwind! :) But that also means I have a lot of images to share soon as well! It is a crazy busy time around here but also super fun!!

The Studio Calico November Kit is now available! This month's kits are packed full of goodness (as is always the case). I will share my layouts this week!

 

Also, my guest design projects for Kitschy Digitals can be found here. I have been working on this for a while and am so excited to finally share my work! Originally I was just going to do a couple of hybrid layouts but then I kept starting new projects! I have adored Danielle's work and photography for many years and was immediately hooked when she started selling her digital elements! Everything she does is nothing short of beautiful! I am equally excited to announce that she has asked me to be a contributing designer on her design team which means that you will be seeing more layouts and things using her products here in the future.

In addition to the layouts that I did, I decided to use her digital elements along with the YUDU screenprinting machine from Provo Craft to create this art journal page and a t-shirt for Emily Jane. This was another product that I was super excited to get to play with! There are so many fun things you can do with this. I have some before/after images that we (Kelly and I) took during the process that I will share with you later. The fabric flowers are the same ones in the tutorial that I shared on the Studio Calico blog. As you can tell this was a labor of love and included lots of different steps and techniques. I will share more details and can answer any questions you have about how it all came together (just leave them here).

 

Well, you can tell I have a lot to share and this is just a bit... we will be boarding the plane in just a minute so that's it for now! Have a great weekend!

Sneak Peek for Smith Family: Utah Family Photographer

Busily trying to keep up with editing around here.... I try to give a sneak peek to every family but as we all know, that doesn't happen every time (especially this time of year). Some families will see their images for the first time when I present their entire online gallery.... Sorry I don't have time to give sneaks to everyone... and thanks for being patient!! I have the BEST clients!!

As usual, I am loving editing the images from my Utah mini sessions. I think it is safe to say I am in love with Utah photo shoots.... it's really a shame I can't go up there more often! 

I adored this cute family (and actually I adored all of the families I got to work with).... didn't I say I have the BEST clients?? :) Jenni and I were actually friends in high school but I didn't know it was her until I got to the shoot and recognized her. It was great to see her all these years later with her beautiful family. I wish we could have chatted more and caught up a bit but I was too busy snapping away with these cute kiddos....

 

 

 

 

 

I guess that was a little more than a sneak peek.... I couldn't resist! That first one of the kids is my fave!! I heart little girls in hats! It is just too cute!! 

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you are all having a great week! We got our fall/halloween decorations up this week and so it finally feels a little fallish around here. We are trying to get to the pumpkin patch soon too since Brian and I will be in Africa later this month! Lots to do before then and lots of fun things I want to do with the kids while they are on fall break........I am feverishly working to tackle my to-do list and I have to say we are making good progress! 

filed under: Maggie Holmes Photography, Arizona and Utah family and children's photographer, Photoshop and Photoshop Elements actions, PSE actions

Sneak Peek for Rachael: Utah Children's Photographer

These are from one of my Utah mini sessions that I did last weekend. Can I just say that I am in love with this whole shoot? The girls were amazing to work with and so naturally beautiful and their outfits were right up my alley. And then to top it all off, the location was a dream...... something we just happened upon and it turned out to be amazing.... gorgeous color, gorgeous light..... It was like a little bit of paradise for me! Like I said.... I am in love!

 

 

 

I could seriously post them all because they are all my favorites.... maybe I will post another round of these later on.

.....................................................................................

In other news I announced the dates and opened registration for my next photography workshop -- the first one for 2010. So if you didn't make it into this last one, now is your chance to jump on it and get in..... All of the details (including the link to register) are on my photography workshop blog here.

If you are interested in the advanced workshop, the dates for that will also be announced soon so keep checking back. Hope you all have a great weekend. I am off to do a Senior Photography Session tonight and then will be watching this on Saturday and Sunday. 

filed under: Maggie Holmes Photography, Arizona Family and Children's Photographer, Online Photography Workshop, Photography Class, Photoshop and Photoshop Elements Actions, Actions for Photoshop and PSE

Crafting Tutorial - Fabric Flowers

If you want to see how to make these:

.... go to the Studio Calico blog here. 

I just posted a detailed tutorial with all of the pictures and step-by-step instructions.

I will share what I did with them in another post..... that is a whole different ball of cuteness involving my miss emily jane, of course! ;)

filed under: Maggie Holmes, Scrapbooking and Crafting Tutorial, How to make fabric flowers, Craft and Scrapbook inspiration and ideas, Studio Calico - Monthly Scrapbooking Kit Club

More Arizona Mini Shoots -- Arizona Family Photographer

Because I am getting so many requests for more mini shoots here in AZ, I have decided to add some to the schedule. I will be doing them on Saturday October 10th in the morning. I already have some booked, so the remaining spots are limited and will go quickly. If you are interested, please email me ASAP: maggie[at]maggieholmesphotography[dot]com

The details are the same as the other mini sessions:

30 minute photo shoot

10-20 high resolution images on cd with print release

Prints:

1 11x14

2 8x10

4 5x7

All images are edited and retouched by me just like I do with my normal photo shoots and all prints are printed on my signature metallic paper. You will not be disappointed! 

Other than this, the schedule is pretty much full and I will not being doing any more mini sessions this year. I do have a few more spots available for regular sessions but anticipate they will also go quickly. If you want pictures in time for Christmas and images for your Christmas cards, NOW is the time to schedule! I always feel bad turning people away but this year I have booked up earlier than I anticipated.... so please call me today if you want to get in!

filed under: Maggie Holmes Photography, Children's Photographer in Arizona, Mesa, Gilbert, Chandler, Queen Creek, Scottsdale, Phoenix Family Photographer

Mini Photography Session Updates and More

Hi there! This time of year gets so crazy for me so I promise to try to keep up with the blog....... but if I go missing here and there, you will know that I am just busy shooting, editing, designing Christmas cards, etc. The schedule is already almost full and I always get so excited because I get to see all of my past clients that I photograph around this time each year. It is great to catch up and see how the little ones have changed. I also look forward to meeting all of my new families and to making new friendships!  

A couple of weeks ago during one of my mini shoots I got to meet this little sweetheart and she was an angel! I love photographing babies this age..... but then again I think I love photographing babies of any age! :) I think the photos speak for themselves - and her eyes really are that beautiful. I didn't do any special editing to them... (just a little color pop and my urban action like I usually do).

Aren't those just the cutest little legs and shoes? I could almost have another baby just to be able to use all of the tiny little shoes again! I adore them!!

I am packing my bags and heading up to Utah this weekend for some more mini photo shoots up there! I loved shooting up there in July and I can't wait to go back! There are just so many neat places there! It's a photographer's paradise for me! I have had some spots open up so if you are interested we can still get you in! Just email me (maggie[at]maggieholmesphotography[dot]com). 

Also, if you are a photographer or an aspiring photographer (or if you just want to take better pictures of your kids) and you are interested in booking a one-on-one mentoring session with me, I am open to doing a couple of those while I am there as well. It would basically be you and me and our cameras and we can customize the content of the session to fit your needs and what you are wanting to learn -- we can cover anything from camera settings to photoshop to lighting, posing, whatever. Email me and we can go over all the details.

I am considering doing one more day of mini photography sessions here in AZ before the year is over but it depends on the interest and how the dates work out. So... if you are interested in that please email me and we can chat. If I get enough interest we will put it on the schedule!

And finally, I am heading to South Africa the end of October to teach at the Aquila Scrapbooking Xtravaganza! I am excited and a little nervous and still trying to finalize my classes and get all of the details put together. I have never been out of the country and I feel so blessed to have the opportunity..... it is still crazy to me that my little scrapbooking hobby gives me the chance to experience things like this!! If anybody has any tips for me I am all ears!! I am going to be so stressed packing for this trip! I have a hard time packing to go to Utah for 2 days, let alone Africa!!

filed under: Arizona Family and Children's Photographer, Utah Family and Children's Photographer, Maggie Holmes Photography, Photographer in Utah and Arizona, Scrapbooking Classes, Africa, Aquila, Scrapbooking Teacher