Christina is a smart and talented girl with big plans!  She is a natural with poses and we had fun, despite the swarm of mosquitoes that were excited to see us!  Here’s a peek– unedited

I held a raffle at our yard sale on Saturday.  It was so fun to meet people and learn about their families.  Our winner is….

Tim & TaNeel Findlay!!

They have such a cute little family and I’m excited to work with them!

To Everyone else who entered — please give me a call if you’d like to schedule  and I’ll give you an additional 20% off your session! (Don’t forget your free print certificate you got for entering!)

So many fun people and awesome sessions to look forward to!  Thank you all for letting me get to know you!

Livia

I’m trying to get back into the photos after having my baby, so I’m having a contest! (Two Actually)

{ Contest One }

PRIZE:   16×20 CANVAS GALLERY WRAP ($180 Value!)

HOW TO ENTER:

-Have a photo session in October (we have to have the session in October, ordering can be completed in November) Contact me to schedule

-Purchase a Gift Certificate for a session or multiples that equal at least $100 (purchaser and recipient will be entered)

*Note* This is great if you want to save time Christmas shopping and give something that will be cherished for years.  Contact me to purchase

-Help with My Kids while I am shooting someone else’s portraits  (this is limited to those of you I know well enough to trust you with my most valuable possessions)  These most important people will also receive photo credits – Contact me if you are interested

- Help me with a new web idea it’s an uplift humanity type of thing.  I’ve got the vision, but not the skill set to make the web presence that I want before I launch it.  I think it could be huge and I really want to do it right! Contact me if you are interested  (I feel this is really important and worth the big prize!!)

{ Contest Two }

PRIZE:   $20 Gift Certificate   (5 winners)

HOW TO ENTER: (each entry item counts as one entry and must be posted as a comment to this post telling me what you have completed- comment once per item completed — Yes! this is the honor system!) — There is potential for Unlimited Entries!

- Purchase gift certificates (any value, every $25 will give you one entry)

-“Like” LiviaDesigns Photography & Design on Facebook (just comment if you already have!)

-Suggest LiviaDesigns Photography & Design to 25 of your facebook friends (if we get 200 people to “like” I’ll have a bonus 5 winners!)

-Refer your friends (bonus certificates if they book a session)

-Sign up to receive emails from  Minding Marbles (my community blog where I will also be publicizing my contests & other good info)

-Help me with my Blog! I’m learning, but it’s taking too long.  I need someone to teach me how to get plug-ins and RSS feeds to work and how to get my formatting to stick and look good when I post it. (it’s driving me nuts!) Contact me if you are interested

{ Details }

WHEN DOES IT END?

The contests will end at 11:59 pm MST on October 31, 2010 and winners will be notified via email & posted on the LiviaDesigns Blog.  (unless I do not have enough entries- I need a minimum of 30 entries per contest)  Prizes must be claimed by November 15th or an alternate winner will be chosen

PRIZES

(1) 16×20 Canvas Gallery Wrap ($180 value) – This will be of an image from your session, completely retouched/enhanced for free & printed on Canvas all ready to hang.  It will make a great statement in your home!  This must be printed by the end of January, but you can choose any image from your session- even if we shot it after October (i.e. If you have a session in October for your family and Christmas Photos for the kids in December, you can choose any of the images for your canvas.  We just have to order it by January – If we do it by November you will have it for Christmas!)

(5-10) $20 Gift Certificates, good toward any package purchase- up to 3 may be used at the same time.

WHY  NOW?

Two reasons, actually.

One:  October has gorgeous Autumn Colors! It’s perfect Time for Portraits and still gives us time to get everything done and beat the Christmas Rush.  I’ve found that most people think about it in November and it’s a mad rush to get it by Christmas.  I don’t like it when my holidays get extra busy with photo deadlines. I want to spend more time with my family too! (plus, for once, my hubby will be off school and work for Christmas Break — I’m super excited!) Depending on my schedule I could possibly extend it.  If you have a situation in which we need to shoot later, I’ll try to work with you and get you in the contest at the same time!

Two:  I’ve had a rough year with sickness and baby.  Any savings I had once is now gone and I desire greatly to have a house and a permanent place to raise my children.  I’m hoping this contest will get me moving again and help me get some savings back for a down payment on a house.

BASICS

I love being with people, seeing personalities and capturing who they are.  I love the elegant look of the Canvas, but realize that it is pricey and many people do not ever get to own one.  How neat would it be to WIN IT?  I’d be ecstatic! (If you read the whole post, I thank you. It was quite lengthy.  When you place your order please write “canvas rocks” on your order form for an extra bonus for being super awesome!)

I hope that you enjoy this contest.  Enter as much as you can! (hopefully get keepsake photos for your families)  I look forward to meeting you!

*Good Luck!*

I haven’t seen Melanie in about 11 years.  She’s visiting from out of state and I got to go to her baby shower tonight.  We got some adorable pics of her little angel.  Hope you like them.

I’m working on a Baby Shower announcement for Julie (I’m her visiting teacher).  It’s so cute! I’m very excited for her to have her little girl.  Crazily, my companion had a baby this month, Julie is next month, and mine is in May.  We have not been doing so well on our visiting with 3 pregnant ladies

ok, so I was supposed to shoot bridals today and last night the bride said she was nervous.  I told her not to worry, that it would be great!  I then proceeded to be up in the night with my kids. When I did get a couple hours of sleep, I had a horrible dream that my camera was totally different and I couldn’t get it to do what I wanted.  The capitol was filled with people having some kind of concert/rally, we lost the bouquet and then the helpers with my camera bag.  It was quite disturbing.  Needless to say, I didn’t sleep well at all.  Of course we got down to salt lake and had great locations and perfect weather.  She was beautiful and was having fun.  I’m excited to work on the pics. I just got them downloaded!

Pregnancy has been harder on me this time than the last, so I haven’t been doing as many sessions as I’d like.  I’ve been doing a memory book for Isela’s Quinceanera and I love it! It should go to print this week.  A few more design hours and I’ll have 2 more sessions printed. Then I need to do a special book for a family member – I am excited for this! (one day, I hope to get our family books done as well.)  I’m determined to be better at blogging and  hopefully finish up my website by this summer – things get crazy trying to be ready for a new baby!

Amber chose me to do her wedding and I’m really excited! We shoot Bridal’s tomorrow and the wedding in April.  It’s going to be fabulous!

One of my dearest friends from high school got married in june and the whole family was in town.  I got to spend several hours with them.  Here’s the whole gang.

5 Generations… not a common occurrence!

And Grandma… celebrating 100th Birthday!

His grandpa mentioned wanting a dress cap /”andy cap” (from an old comic AndyCapp) for a photo so he could have it at his funeral and no one would recognize him.  I had no idea what that was, but searched it when i got home.  Turns out I already owned 2 of them and just didn’t know that’s what they were called.  We both came prepared to the reception and he got his photo. I love it!

The was talking with their photographer and he invited me to take some sunset pics with him.  I didn’t want to get in the way, so I stayed back a bit and I just shot with the lens/pop-up flash.  My card only had a few pics left (I came from shooting bridals in slc) and this is what i got.  I really wish I had gone to the car to get my gear, but i didn’t want to intrude.

CONGRATULATIONS!!

I have these moments that just pop into my head and I have to capture them if at all possible.  The week we scheduled to do the Elton’s pics was a very rainy one.  Even that day we went back and forth on re-scheduling or not.  The rain stopped for a minute and I noticed the field outside was in full bloom with yellow weeds.  The colors were extra vibrant because of all the rain.  Grandpa kept the boys for a minute and Tey and I ran outside with her raincoat and umbrella.  Hair uncombed and still in pjs, but I absolutely love what we got!

I’ve had the great privilege of spending quite a bit of time with this amazing family over the past month.  Photos for a baptism, missionary and the whole family.  Here’s a few of my favorites!

Gracee- little angel in white!  I’m so proud of you!

Families don’t get any cuter than this…

…and so much fun!

Brigham is going to be a fabulous missionary!  He is already missed.