sneak peek for lisa & scott

This family is so cute! The little boy kept running away and totally cracking me up. Adorable.




Beautiful Momma!




Every time I shoot at this location, I eye these bike rack rings. I've been dying to try out some kind of picture by them. I wasn't sure how I'd do it, but I wanted it. I am IN LOVE with this angle, the curves of the bike rack rings, and the framing they provide. IN LOVE. Doesn't hurt that the kiddos on the other side are smokin' adorable...














Can you handle the baby's face in this next one? And the big sister who feels so big that she gets to hold the baby all by herself! Wow! Not sure I'd let Claire do that, but this chica has about six months on Claire. Maybe when the new baby comes she'll be ready...




Scrumptious little boy. Every time I shoot families with little boys, I'm more convinced of how I need one of my own. And I see more and more just how much boys are boys and girls are girls. Crazy.




D.E.L.I.C.I.O.U.S.

WINNERS!

Sorry I didn't pick the winners yesterday. I had about one of the worst days of my life. And this is one of the busiest weekends in my life.

Here are our lucky winners:

Randomly drawn: JULIE BROCK CAMPBELL!
Most referrals: KRISTIN VAN LEUVEN!

Julie, email me a few pictures, and I'll get designing!
Kristin, are we using wedding pics? SO fun! Let me know which ones!

Either one of you is welcome to come over to my house for a design consultation to design along side me. Or I can design and send proofs until it is exactly what you want! :o)

Thanks to everyone who signed up and spread the word.

I'm going to give 25% off to all of you. If you'd like to send me pictures, I can start designing for you!

{kristi - dot - ellingson - at - gmail - dot - com}

GIVE-AWAY TIME

The prize that will go to at least two lucky winners:

25 free 5x7 custom-designed Christmas* cards PLUS
50% off the rest of your order
(unlimited quantity, 30 card minimum, of one design)
*can also be used for other types of announcements or invitations

P.S. You send me the pictures, so you don't have to live in Mesa, Arizona to sign up for the contest!!! :o)


You get up to SIX chances to enter to win. All comment entries must be left on this post to be eligible.

1. Leave a comment with your name, and how you found me (include who referred you)

2. Post about my contest on your blog. Comment that you did it, and leave me your name again and a link to your blog. If you would like to use the graphic above in your post, here is the html code that includes the image and automatically links it to my site. Copy/paste all the text from the box into your blogger post under the "edit html" tab. You can hit enter a couple of times after the code to add your own text to the post. Then switch back to "compose" mode to finish off your post

<a href="http://designsbykristi.blogspot.com/"><img src="http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc36/krispence/giveawaydec2009-1.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a>

3. Post about my contest on your Facebook status with a link to my web site or blog. Comment here with "your name:FACEBOOK"

4. Browse around my web site, and then comment here to tell me your name and your favorite Christmas card design sample (found under "designs" and then "holidays"). Remember I custom-create all my designs, so there are just a few samples of my work

5. Put my button (get the code from the sidebar) on your blog and comment "your name:BUTTON" along with a link to your blog

6. Become a follower of my blog, and comment "your name:FOLLOWER"


I'll choose at least two winners on Thursday, December 4:

1. A randomly selected commenter.

2. The commenter who sends the most referrals to enter the contest
(make sure your friends leave your name with theirs on their first comment!)

3? If I get at least 150 comments, I'll randomly select a third winner! Who knows? If it gets wild, I could even do more!

PLUS, as a bonus, EVERYONE who enters the contest will enjoy 10% off all card orders during the months of November, December, and January! WOOT!

Sneak Peek for Tasha & Scott

Little Jack. Two weeks old and PERFECT. :o) Thanks Tasha and Scott! Hope you enjoy this sneak peek!


























A hint of a smile...

Blasted House...

We're painting our house. You know how five-day projects often turn into a-lot-more-than-five-day projects? Well, thus it has been with our house (but it's no longer blue, woot!). So, my big amazing give away...it's still going to happen. Just not this week, as planned. Unless something happens tomorrow that gives me a few minutes to myself (not super likely, but could happen).

Any New Moon-ers out there? So, I am sort of a freak and saw it Thursday night, AND tonight again. First with friends, then tonight with my man. He loved it. I loved it. I love him for loving it. Anyway, random.

The giveaway will come on Monday most likely. My day is WIDE OPEN (as of now). Well, except that I have to finish taping for the rest of the paint. That should only take a couple of hours though. Yeah, right. Famous last words.

Christmas is coming!

This is a little fancier, so I stuck wedding pictures on it from this summer. I'm in love. I just wish that I had these skills five years ago so I could have designed a killer wedding invitation for myself and four years ago when I could have stuck wedding pictures on a Christmas card. The next time I'll get to do that is for my 50th wedding anniversary card or something. Ha ha. Don't laugh at me if you get Christmas cards with my wedding pictures on them. I'm just loving this card. Her red flowers make it that much better for Christmas too!

{Red Ornamental on Cream}

The front:


The back:

More Christmas Cards!

These are designed to be 5x7's, flat cards, and can be printed on cardstock, glossy cardstock, art linen (my personal fave), art watercolor, or pearl (has a little shimmer, very pretty). Pricing depends on how many you purchase. Please see my web site under {design details}.

Stay tuned for my BIG HOLIDAY GIVE-AWAY coming next week! You won't want to miss it!


{Polka Dot Tree on Cream}

Front:


Back:




{Christmas Owls}

Front:


Back:

More Sneak Peeks for Miss Amberly

Holy cow this kid is cute!










Can you handle how beautiful this family is? Seriously. There was nothing to edit out of their faces. I am so jealous of her skin! Beautiful!

Sneak Peek for Amberly...

Your sneak peek from our photo shoot today (Yes, today. I know, I couldn't resist their cuteness) is in the form of an insanely adorable new Christmas card design... It is designed to be a 5x7, but could be modified to fit any size I can print.

Here is the front:




And here is the back:



What a stud of a baby! I was DYING over his hat! I had so much fun photographing him. Such a boy. From someone with two girls, it is fun for me to see that there are definite differences, and they are so fun!

By the way, Amberly knows she's not married to a Jesse and her baby's name isn't Crew. I changed the names to protect the innocent. :o) Her last name isn't Openshaw either...

I hope you like them, Amberly!

More from Kendra's Concert...

Isn't this girl gorgeous? And just looking at her, you can almost see what I know about her. She is sweet, humble, loving, fun, kind, talented, dedicated, healthy, spiritual, selfless, and giving. I just adore this girl! I was so lucky to get to go to her concert in Utah last month. Thanks to my amazing husband for letting me sneak away for a long weekend, and to Mimi for helping with the kids a bit while I was gallivanting. Insanely fun times!




You've never seen fingers fly as fast as hers across those keys!




{ TRUMAN! }
If you haven't heard of these guys, you need to. They are awesome. They gave me a signed copy of their CD while I was there, and I'm in love with it. Their music is super fun, and they are such nice guys! Claire's new favorite tunes to dance to are theirs! So fun. Click here to hear some of their music on MySpace.




{ Mr. David Osmond }
A very cool guy who has been friends with Kendra since Elementary or Junior High. He's got an amazing voice, and I love how he talks about his wife and new baby. He's very kind too. Bonus.






{ Mindy Gledhill }
A beautiful, sweet, friendly gal who has made a name for herself. I saw her in concert here in Mesa at a Benefit for Nie-Nie. She is very cute to watch. She's quirky and fun, and I love her music.






Oh, the talent. She's so fun to watch!




Some of the band. Big names in the biz, but I don't remember them. Sorry guys.




Here's a VERY big name in the biz.

{ David Archuleta }
Oh, how I love David Archuleta. I'm a big fan. I'm so lucky to have been able to hang out with him a bit. He's adorable. He's so nice too. Actually, he's pretty amazing beyond even his voice and piano skills. He's got a personality and spirit that you don't see or meet everyday. He is only half human, the other half is angel. :o)

He did a surprise performance with Kendra at her concert. It was beautiful. She has been playing keyboards for him on his tours this year.






Have you seen a cuter wave goodbye at the end of a concert? Adorable.




Her favorite flowers at the VIP reception.




Her stylist, Leisa. We affectionately call her Hair Mom. She's awesome. I'm lucky to know her.




Kendra and Mindy at the VIP reception.