I'm thankful for...

I am thankful for so much....

....For having a wonderful family......

.....For having great friends........

.....For having so many opportunities in 4H......

......For having a warm bed to sleep in at night.....

......For just being here!......









....And when you watch this, it sure takes things in a whole different perspective, and makes you even more thankful. What better time than this Thanksgiving?

What are you thankful for?

5 Simple Layering Tips for this Winter!

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I have always loved to layer my clothes. However, I don't like over layering - when your wearing 3 different colors of tank taps, one t-shirt, and a blazer on top of thought, I think it just gets claustrophobic! Even so, here are some of my favorite layering tips, perfect to keep you cozy and warm this Winter during the holiday season!

1. Non traditional - this is one that you might not have thought of as a layering technique, in fact, you might not have thought of it at all! I love wearing a pair of tights are leggings under a pair of shorts, especially in cooler weather! This is a great layering technique because it keeps you warm, however, it looks fun and when paired with a loose top, it can be the perfect outfit for a day out!

2. Strapless dress and long sleeved shirt - I love this layering technique! Find a fun printed dress (I love lots of vintage flowers!) that's strapless, and wear a long sleeve solid shirt underneath of it. Another option is to wear a fancier looking solid colored strapless dress and wear a funky long sleeved shirt underneath to make it more casual. Pair with a fun flower belt and a bright pair of tights and your ready to conquer the day!

3. Cool nights at the beach - That is what this look says to me. Pairing a breezy white long sleeve shirt underneath a flowy tank top just screams casual and fun! It's perfect for a cool day, and your able to get extra wear out of your favorite Summer tank tops!

4. During the State Fair Fashion Revue this year, two ladies came and did a demonstration on looking professional and dressing to suit your qualities. One thing that they mentioned is that you instantly up your professional look by layering with a simple tank top under what your already wearing. If your wearing a somewhat breezy, loose, top, add a solid white tank top underneath of it, and watch how you instantly look more professional!

Outfits - Anthropologie

5. Another use for those summer tank tops - I love to wear a pretty tank top with a simple solid colored cardigan from Old Navy. This is perfect to create a quick look that is pretty and simple at the same time!

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These are some of my favorite layering techniques that I have used and love! I hope you find some of them helpful!

“I wrote this blog post while participating in the TwitterMoms and Cuddl Duds blogging program, making me eligible to get a $40 gift card. For more information on how you can participate, click here.”

5 Photo Editing Tips

Photo: Taken and edited by myself

After buying a Olympus E-410 camera last year, I have devoured as many tutorials on taking beautiful pictures, aperture, exposure, and of course, photoshop tutorials! I was thrilled last Christmas when I received Photoshop Elements and it has been a key tool to my photos since! It really is an important program to have if you want to create professional quality images, or if you just want to stretch your imagination! However, it takes a lot of practice, here are 5 photo editing tips to get you started!

1. Read tutorials. Find as many tutorials on what your looking to do and read read read! You will learn so much, and there are so many different ones out there! Pioneer Woman's tutorial on eye popping is very helpful, and in the picture that I took above, I used a tutorial about adding a little glitter to your image. If your not sure were to look for tutorials, start with Google! It has endless information.

Photo: Taken and edited by myself

2. Always remember to create another layer before you begin if your using PSE. Don't start editing before you do this! Each new editing step you do, you'll want a new layer, because you can delete that on piece if you don't like it, but you won't need to start over because everything else will be there in different layers!

3. While your editing, as soon as you get done with a step, switch back to your background layer to make sure your not overdoing it. This will help you determine if your sharpened eyes are starting to look like alien eyes rather than human eyes!

4. Talking about cyber eyes....be sure you don't over do it with the sharpening! It is very easy to get carried away with sharpening eyes, however, the result looks unprofessional. Compare photos in Google to find oversharpened eyes to professional eyes with a bit of a sparkle to them, go for the professional look!

5. Try new things! Are you always creating beautiful vintage inspired images in PSE? Maybe it's time for you to try a color pop technique! You never know, you might just love it even more than your vintage processing at start using that as your basis!

Photoshop takes a lot of time to learn even just the basics! I've been using it for almost a year and I still have so much to learn! There are always new techniques to be discovered, colors to be played with, and creativity to add! You can do so much with PSE or regular Photoshop, it has really changed professional photography into what we know it today!

I wrote this blog post while participating in the TwitterMoms and Adobe blogging program, making me eligible to receive a $50 gift card. For more information on how you can participate, click here

The Perfect gift for a Teen Boy

Book: "Payback Time"
Author: Carl Deuker
Purchase Payback Time

There are always a few people on your Christmas shopping list that are hard to find the perfect gift for, I know a few myself! And when I think of who, I think of my cousin and my little brother, my cousin, he is 10 and my little brother is 14.

I just finished reading "Payback Time" by Carl Deuker today, and while reading it I thought, this would make the perfect gift for a teen boy!

Daniel, unfortunately nicknamed Mitch on his first day of high school, is an aspiring reporter, however, he was a little dismayed when he found out he was going to be writing for the sports section in the new year. However, he soon finds out that it isn't so bad after all. Working with Kimi, who is the sports photographer, they uncover something that seems to be overlooked by everyone else. A two hundred pound 6 foot something football player that has a through fit for the big games that the coach isn't playing? Kimi and Mich set out to figure out his story, and soon their information leads to danger that they never imagined.

"Payback Time" was a great book! I have never watched a football game in my life, and I've never had an interest in football, even so, I felt myself enjoying reading in detail about the games and feeling the suspense as the games and story unfolded! The writing is clever and very easy to relate to. I think this would be the perfect gift for the hard to buy teen boy!

Disclosure: I was sent an ARC of this book to review and give my honest opinion on. All thoughts and opinions are 100% my own. I do receive a commission if someone buys a book from my Amazon link in this post.

Combining Talent with Creativity {Stunning Photography}

I have spent hours upon hours (more than I would like to admit!) looking at photography, one thing that I have found is that many people shoot with gorgeous creativity, but technical skills aren't that fabulous yet, and others that I have found shoot with gorgeous quality buts is lacking in creativity, however, when I have been so lucky to find a few photographers with gorgeous creativity and quality images! My favorite photographers are Tina Wilson, Sheye Rosemeyer, and Krysta Manthe. However, I just added a new favorite to my list, Kitty Gallannaugh!

I feel so lucky to have found Kitty's work, she is only 20 and has so much creativity and talent with photography it is just stunning! You must visit her website and view her photography on their, it is huge and even more gorgeous!

Patience - Horses, Teens, and Yulia Brods

How long does your attention span last?

The average human holds attention for about 30 seconds (good thing to remember for when crafting an elevator pitch!)

Horses lose patience after 15 minutes...

Yulia Brods patience...I think it's endless when she's doing paper art!

Her work is just magnificent, I can't even imagine!





I think that this would be a fabulous 4H project, on a smaller level of course, or just general project for a teen to start early and work on it in pieces to enter in the fair. Way to wow the judges! Use interesting colors to create a masterpiece!

Do you think you would have enough patience to create a masterpiece such as hers?

Adopt a Blogger Program

Be sure to enter to win 5 of 10 Scotch double sided tape perfect for wrapping gifts and making cards!

I found out about a website that I thought a lot of you would really like to here about!

Adopt a blogger was started in 2007 to help newer foodie blogs (under 1 year old) be paired up with older bloggers to learn the ropes of blogging! It is such a great way to learn all the things that might have taken years to learn otherwise, and also help get more traffic to your blog!

While it did start out only available to foodie bloggers, it is now open to craft bloggers, mom bloggers, lifestyle bloggers, and other! It's such a great program! If you have a blog or know of a blog that's under one year old and would like some help in figuring out everything, for sure sign up!

If you have been a blogger for a while now, it is very easy to mentor a younger blog, it's a great experience! Plus, it's the perfect way to give back using your knowledge, especially around the holiday season!

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Early Holiday Planning Gift Idea {Giveaway!}

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Thanks to Scotch(R) Double Sided Tape for sponsoring my writing about crafts. Add your comment below to be entered for a chance to win free sample rolls to help with your upcoming holiday needs.

Our 4H club always sings carols at the nursing home and hands out little gifts to the residence. I was given the duty to come up with a project for the kids to create that was easy, but cute and usable at the same time!

I didn't want the gifts to be cheesy or to Christmasey, but still wanted them to be easy to create for the kids. I thought that the timeless feel of vintage and a little bit of creativity on the kids part would be the perfect answer!



I found these adorable vintage images from Graphics Fairy and after resizing them, printed them out on cardstock. I then adorned them with lace ribbon, glitter, and paper backgrounds. I added a ribbon hanger in the back so that it can be used as an ornament, after Christmas the residents can also use them as bookmarks!


After their little vintage ornaments are done, they will write a sweet little note signed 4H on the back of them!

This is a great project for little ones to make that are cute and fun at the same time! Plus, not to hard either! So far, about 50 vintage Christmas/Winter related vintage images are printed out!

In our house, we are constantly going through tape, always buying more! Especially double sided sticky tape - as it's perfect for card making, bookmark making, and scrap booking.

Now that the holiday season is upon us, most of us will probably be using even more double sided tape than usual! To help you out, 3M is letting me give away ten rolls of double sided tape!

Two winners will win five rolls!

Would you like to be one of the two people?

Mandatory entry:
What's your favorite part about the holidays?

Extra:

+1: Follow my blog

+1: Write a Facebook message about this giveaway

+1: Have a tween/teen/young adult that you know take a look at my blog at let me know what she/he thinks!

Please leave a separate comment for each entry!

Good luck!

Giveaway ends November 12th

Please learn more about Scotch(R) Double Sided Tape and other Scotch(R) Products, and join the conversation on the Scotch(R) Brand Facebook Page and via Twitter. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do.

UFO Sighting by Brother?

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Around 11:00 PM Brother comes running into my room:
There is a group of about 10 stars that keep moving around and then bouncing back into place!

Me - thinking that its just some neat star event:
Ok, lets look it up...

I pull it up in Google, and there is hardly anything describing what he saw, and I mean nothing! Sure, a few things describing bright single stars moving, but nothing quite like this.... the stuff that I did find similar to it claimed it was UFO's....AKA Unidentified Foreign Objects....aliens?

I look it up on youtube - the same results, there were videos of single stars moving, but not much information other than UFO!

I'm a skeptic on aliens as is my brother, so if anyone has any information or speculation on what this could be, please leave a comment! Do you believe in aliens? Have you seen a sighting?

To make this conversation real interesting....I'm going to throw in a prize. The person with the most interesting or informative comment will win a copy of "The Clearing" Its a wonderful book, very unique and the writing is great.

Blessed Horses

I've been riding for around 6 years now, horses mean so much to me! More than I can really express in words.

My three horses that I have been lucky enough to have as my "own" (Bailee's actually the only horse that is really mine, but I have leased Skye and rode her for the entire summer, and took care of Chance for a lot of the Summer as he dealt with a bunch of yucky abscesses) all of them have taught me so much.



Bailee - the cute little Tennessee Walker sticking her nose towards my hand in the picture below, has taught me so much. She was my first horse, it is quite a story to. I have known Bailee since before she was a weanling, I watched her grow up, she was always my favorite horse. Then one Summer, my parents decided it was time for my first horse (thank you so much!) after searching all summer for the right horse, we went to an auction. As I turned the corner, I stopped in shock. There stood my darling - pawing at the ground like she always had. I burst into tears - she was going to auction, anyone might of hauled her off into a terrible home! That night, I left with my first horse. The best day of my life. I trained Bailee with my Dad and went through so much with her! She is such a sweetheart (she can be a crab on certain days though!).




Skye (Showmanship picture on left) - This Summer I found out that Bailee had a neurological disorder and that I couldn't ride her anymore. Because of Bailee I've had the best days of my life - and the worst. I was so devastated. Skye was the result of some of the most generous people, my two riding instructors, and my friend Laura and her Mom. Quickly after I found out about Bailee my Mom got a phone call and I was able to lease Skye for the Summer! Skye also taught me a lot, Bailee had been one of the only horses I had ridden for a few years (crazy!) and so Skye taught me how to ride different horses.

Chance - The big Teddy Bear. Oh goodness, Chance is the sweetest Thoroughbred you'll ever meet! I got to spend a month or two with him this Summer, and I would have kept him if he would have been sound for jumping/dressage, however, he kept developing abscesses and was un-rideable.

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I am now teaching riding lessons using Skye to a little girl, Abby, who is 8. She has improved so much from the first lesson we had to know, it is so amazing and I am so proud of her! That's for another post though!

Horses really are amazing and mean so much to me.

Make Me Smile

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I remember as a little girl always wishing and hoping for braces, and then one day I went to the Dentist and he told my Mom that I need braces! It made my day! My teeth were so bad (partially from sucking my thumb for years) it was hard to bite things at times, I needed braces for two years.

When you start braces when you are only 11 or 12, you look forward to having them, most of the time. However, if you start your braces when you are older, usually 15+, and when kids usually have already had theirs, you might feel self conscious. When my friend had her braces on, she mastered the close mouthed smile. Make Me Smile by Invisalign is here to change that though!


The Make Me Smile program is here to make teens smile! There are three challenges, currently they are on the third challenge and want you to participate! Your mission is to create a video in 30 seconds using a clever prop and to make people smile. Each challenge is judged and even has special Star guest judges, this months are Booboo Stewart and Fivel Stewart!

Are you wondering what's in it for you? Other than showing those pearly whites? Well, the person with that is the Grand Prize winner will win The Ultimate Hollywood Experience!

Including...

Airfare for 2
Limo transportation for 2
$5,000 shopping spree on Rodeo Drive
Hotel in Beverly Hills for 2
Lunch at the Ivy for 2
Backlot studio tour for 2

Sound good? Start making your video and head on over to enter it in the Make Me Smile challenge!

I'm also really excited to tell you about Invisalign! It is the great alternate to metal braces. Invisalign does just as much as braces, but you can barely see them, as they are see through! They just slip on to your teeth, you wear each one for two weeks before switching to a new one. I remember when I had braces everyone would always tell me to be extra careful brushing my teeth so I don't have stains from where my braces where when they come of - with Invisalign, you slip it off while your brushing your teeth, so you can get a great scrub! Are you thinking these sound expensive? They actually cost right around the same price as if you were going to get regular metal braces! If I ever had to get braces again, I would for sure get Invisalign.

This is a sponsored post, I was given the opportunity through Mom Bloggers club. All opinions are 100% of my own.