Free Design Download: Photo Frames

Happy Friday to you! I had a crazy fun filled prop styling week at work. I'll be glad to share the photos with you next week, but for today I'm excited to share another free design download!  As a photographer, I can never get enough photo frames to download. Sometimes they just add that perfect touch to digital photographs, you know what I'm saying? Well here they are in all 3 of my favorite formats. 4x5, medium, and polaroid!  Be sure to check out my other free digital downloads here too. These are for personal use only, thank you. Enjoy and have a lovely weekend!

Hex Background & Glitter Dots: Pugly Pixel

Photos: EV Photography

Photo Strip of Spring

 

Until Spring decides to show it's face, I've created a quick photo strip inspired by spring.  Wouldn't these be great to send to help brighten someones day! Create your own by heading over to Paislee Press to download a free photo booth strip (just like the real thing- minus the wait time).  Even though we are so so close to experiencing warmer days to come, it's nice to know that I can check out lots of Spring inspiration via blogland ;)

Post Valentines

Happy post Valentines Day to you!  I was so busy this weekend getting ready for yesterday. Making my valentines for the kids and figuring out what Joe and I wanted to make for our V-Day dinner.  We were both excited to make this recipe from Real Simple and its officially now my favorite meal!! Are you a lover or hater of this holiday? I'm kinda in between.  Although I don't need a day on the calender to tell me when or how to share my affection, I also don't need a reason not to. I think Joe and I do a good job of showing how much we care and appreciate each other in small everyday ways. And that's as much and all I could ask for.  How did you spend your special day yesterday?

Birthday Wishes

This weekend, this handsome boy turns 8!!  I can hardly believe what an awesome little person he is turning out to be.  He's developing athletic skills like it's second nature and is creative to boot( he constructed wallets out of multi-colored duct tape for all the guys in the family for Christmas gifts). That'a boy!! But the thing that melts my heart the most about my special nephew Sam, is the way he cuddles up next to me on the couch. There's almost nothing like it, I'm telling you!  Happy Birthday Sam, may you continue to nurture you talents and spread your fun loving energy.

A New Design for the New Year!

Hello and Welcome to the newly redesigned EV Photo Chic blog.  I've been working on creating a new header and background design for a while, (mostly while on my lunch break) but here is it!!  What do you think? I'm working on adding more to the blog as well such as pages and other fun things to browse through.  I'd love to hear what else (if any) you'd like me to include.

Guest Blogging Today...

Come check out this quick and crafty DIY I put together for blogger gal Courtney over at You Will Won't You? For those of you who don't know Courtney and I go way back. We went to the same grade school and even had a class together at Columbia College in Chicago...yep! Head on over to her blog to start crafting your own paper doily snowflakes!

Greetings

Snap, print, cut, fold, sign..sigh. That's pretty much how my night went last night all while watching Top Chef All Stars. Creating our holiday card was super easy and fun thanks to this free hand drawn card by mufn. I printed them on Epson matte photo paper and they folded awesomely! For quick color prints I order through snapfish. What I like about them is that I can pick them up the same day at any participating stores (i.e Walgreens or Walmart) or have them delivered. If only everything on my holiday to-do list could run this smoothly :)

Oh,Deer

Do you have friends and/or family members who call December their birthday month?
Another gift to add to the list, right? I of all people really understand the frustrations that come along with having a birthday during the busiest time of the year, but can you top being born on the day after Christmas? I sure can, because I am one of them! On the day when most people are recovering from holiday travel, overindulgence of all sorts and or just want to hit the stores to stock up on after holiday merch- it's hard to get people to come out and celebrate your birthday.
But for the past several years I've spent the most memorable birthdays with the people that know me the best. Last year we met up for breakfast and then went ice skating at Millennium Park. If there's enough snow this year, I'd like to go sledding!

Anyways, I digress. Like I've mentioned before I'm making all my gifts this year and birthday gifts are no exception ;) So I thought it would be fun for me to share a gift I completed recently for my awesome stylist/graphic designer friend Jill. She's not very internet crazy (I don't even think she knows I have a blog), so I know I will not spoil the surprise for her. I've been craving to make one of these deer head silhouettes that I've been eyeing all over blog land. But I also know that this would be right up Jill's alley too. They are so easy to make that I even made one for myself. So here is a quick tutorial on how to make your own.

Start out by finding an image of a deer head. Print and cut it out. Next select the paper you wish to cut it out on. For mine I used wood grain contact paper I had on hand but for Jill's I decided to go with something a bit more girly. I used a sheet of Martha Stewart craft paper.


With an exacto knife carefully cut around your template and use craft glue to adhere to your frame of choice.

To finish off my deer I mounted it onto a piece of light gray fabric and placed it in an old wood frame. I cleared out a good spot to hang it using these, next to some old black and whites from the good ol'college darkroom days.


For Jill's, I mounted her cutout onto the same light gray fabric and framed it in a faux wood sewing hoop I found at the local thrift shop. I hope she likes it almost as much as I enjoyed making it for her.

Happy winterful Friday to you! Stay tuned next week for more budget friendly DIY's and a guest post over at this awesome ladies blog :)

Happy Friday

Hello and happy Friday to you on this beautiful fall afternoon. We've experienced some crazy winds (up to 60 mpr) this week so I thought this paper art work would be appropriate to share with you. Created and constructed by artist and illustrator Jayme McGowan. It's really cool to see her process on how she creates such intricate cutouts. Have a joyous holiday weekend!

Meet Joe

EVPhotography & pumpkin print

Hi everyone! Today I want to introduce the special person in my life that gets me going, calms me down and puts a smile on my face every time we are together (which just happens to be a lot these days). The funny thing about our relationship is that we went to college together, took the same classes, yet never even glanced in each others direction. It wasn't until he started freelancing as a photographer that our lives crossed paths again. We were work friends for close to 2 years until we started hanging out outside of work. Our relationship grew and developed over our love for tennis (that's what we did on our first date), and since then it has grown to include the outdoors, camping, cooking, and music. The thing I love the most about him, is that he just gets me, in all my silly and goofy ways. I don't have to cover up any parts of who I am when we are together. I get to be me, for good, bad or sad.

We've been living together now for 5 months (and dating for over a year) and although there have been some adjustments and compromises, I still can't believe that he hasn't gotten sick of me. I know that may sound like an odd thing to say, but it's true. Don't you find it fascinating to know of people that have shared there lives together for years or even decades? It's something that sounds so out of reach these days, but I look up to those who can work through issues and come out stronger in the end. Here's hoping :)

hello sunshine

Happy start to your week everyone! How was your weekend? Did you do something adventurous, fun or scary? I did something all of the above this weekend- Joe and I hosted our very first dinner party on Saturday night. Besides having to run out and buy more chairs so that we could all sit in the same space, we roasted our first beef tenderloin, which came out pretty tasty and we indulged on apple pie with a scoop of pumpkin ice cream from TJ's. All in all I'd say it was a success and I can't wait to host again :)

Happy Friday

fall harvest no.2

And a good Friday to you too! I have been bursting at the seams for the work week to be over...and it almost is! Tonight my friend Alise is hosting craft night at her new home. She lives about an hours drive from me in the city so I've made plans to spend the night. hehe...I can't remember the last time I had a sleepover, but I'm excited just the same. All of the talented ladies that are coming are so sweet and the best part is we all get along. I'm planning on making some paper crafts and gifts tags for the holidays, which I will happily share with you once we get closer to December. Geez, can you believe it, Christmas is almost (almost) here!? I guess I'm starting early in part because I'm happy to be finally getting a REAL tree this year. I know, I know..but yes I'm really that excited :) Happy Friday to you and thank you to all you lovely ladies for your kindness and encouragement this week. It always means the most!

Pssst...

Hop on over to on the brink of something beautiful today to see what I created from all this crafty goodness! Thanks again Kel for inviting me to create this DIY post for you and your readers :) I had a blast putting it all together and hope you enjoy it too.

Orchard weekend

Happy Monday everyone! How was your weekend?My family and I took advantage of the beautiful fall weather this weekend and enjoyed some time apple picking, corn a-mazing, cider drinking, and pumpkin picking, phew! Here are a few of my favorite picks from this weekend.

Hello October

I'm just catching up on things from this weekend. It was so great to ease into the season this past weekend by spending Friday all by myself. I spent the day running errands, taking a cardio bootcamp class, and sprucing the outside with pumpkins, gourds, and purple mums! I even had time to carve my very first pumpkin while the seeds toasted up all yummy in the oven :)
For those of you who are just as head over heels for this glorious season as I am , I'd love to hear how your spending it!

For those of you who are looking for a seasonal lift, stop by That's Happy blog, and download a cute owl desktop wallpaper calender by illustrator Lisa Rupp. I have it on my work desktop, and love the hint of autumn it brings to my 9-5. Thanks Lisa for sharing!

Sunday Afternoon

On Sunday my family and I gathered together to celebrate my dad's 62nd Birthday!

My mom catered from yummy Portillos and we all shared in conversation and company

for the afternoon. But there always seems to be times when I start feeling antsy just sitting around eating and talking for more than 2 hours, that photography was my perfect excuse to escape and see what my favorite little people were doing outside. Here were some of my findings.

Fallish Friday!

Happy fall Friday everyone!! It's officially here today in the Chicagoland area. The trees are starting to turn a burnt red/gold and the days shadows are no longer lingering into late afternoon. But don't you just love it?! I can't wait to go apple picking with the family and just yesterday I remembered that we never went last year, for reasons I can't seem to remember. So in hopes of trying to raise excitement back into their memories, I pulled a photo from my 2008 archives of when we last went to Apple Holler located in the heartland of Wisconsin :) I created an email to the family titling it Holla back 2010! I got a kick out of this photo, because my nieces and nephews are so innocently young and sweet...ha. On another note, check out this super easy tutorial (brought to you by the talented Pugly Pixel) on how to create a fun starburst, like the one I created in my photo.

Sunday Photo Shoot

Meet Adina, my beautiful and fearless model for this past weekend's photo shoot. She called me a while back requesting for a few playful looks for her portfolio. In hopes to get work as a lifestyle model in the near future. Let me tell ya, this girl will have no problem with that, besides having energy to last, she's one of the sweetest and genuine gals I have meet in a long time. We had a blast shooting at a private beach in Highland Park then to the beautiful Chicago Botanic gardens. I was almost as excited going through all my photos during the post production work as I was actually shooting. I can happily say that I've found another aspect of photography that I hope to do more of. Enjoy some of my favorite shots!

Louie wanted to join in on the fun, we met him on the beach and he wanted to have some face time with the camera too :)

Thank you Etsy pickers!

I was so thrilled to see my I heart moss print featured in today's afternoon roundup of handpicked items on Etsy! Thank you, you made my day :)

Wednesday Wishes

Oh, for it to be Wednesday today is such a glorious thing for sure! This week has been sailing by and so has my mind :) Here are a few things I am wishing and hoping for today.

1. Reminders. I wish to remind myself that we only have a handful of years to live out our lives. I wish to live mine and love deeply, kindly, and madly. To savor the sweetness in the everyday and to share my happiness with those I care for the most (including a handful of blogger sweeties!)

2. Simplify. I wish to live with only what functions, whats conducive, what I wear, what I use daily, and what I can't live without. I'm having a garage sale this weekend at my parents and am getting rid of things that no longer fit into these categories.

3. Dream out loud. I wish to see a few small dreams turn into reality such as produce more work to pitch to Handmade Renegade, donate work for charities, and host my first dinner party!

4. Good company. I wish to be in good company with my landlords (they occupy and own the house in front of our new place.) They are a cool couple with 3 young children oh and there pretty artsy and are excited for Joe and I to turn their coach house into a unique home.

That's all for this week folks :) Be sure to check out the newest addition to the Wednesday wishes post from blogger Karlie as well as the ever wishful posts from Katie, Kellie, and Courtney!