9.30.2011

Giveaway!

Beloved Star is having a Fall Giveaway with some lovely items!
Check it out hereherehere, and here! She is doing FOUR giveaways, and I can't wait to see who wins!
:)

9.28.2011

Newspaper Nails!

I was inspired by Dezzy Louise's post on Adorkable about newspaper nails, so I decided to do it to my own nails!
They came out really well, and I love them! I did end up smudging a couple of my nails, so I only took a picture of the nice nails. ;)
And mind you, this is with my wimpy laptop camera, not Fisher (my Canon), so the pictures are low quality.
I used light pink nail polish instead of gray or white, because I thought it would look cuter! :)
Go to Adorkable's post for the tutorial video on how to get newspaper nails for yourself! :)

Photo Challenges

Photo challenge time! Here are my two photos for two different photo challenges! :)

Kelsey's photo challenge of anything at A Ray of Sunshine

Lily's photo challenge of light at Belle Fleur Photography

My First Giveaway!!

Well hello there! Today I am posting my 100th post!! That s very exciting for me. I know I only have 10 followers, but hey, it's still nice to have ten rather than two or three!
So,

Happy 100th Post!!
(To me!)

Now for the giveaway! *cheers*
I will be giving away *two* lovely items. I am not so blessed as to have sponsors, so I am giving these items away myself! Shall we begin?

Item 001
This beautiful necklace! I think the pendant might be glass(?). I'm not sure though. The cord is, as you can see, blue ribbon and blue cord together. 



Item 002
 This lovely pair of earrings that yours truly made for...you! They are Swarovski crystals set in a beautiful bead on silver fishhook earrings.


For each entry please leave one comment saying what it was you did to enter, so that you can be entered in the drawing. If you do not leave a comment, you will not be entered.

Mandatory entry:
{1}  Follow my blog
(if you do not have a Blogger account, you can subscribe to receive emails through the button on my sidebar)

Extra Entries:

{1} Post on your blog about the giveaway! (please leave a link to your post in your comment)
{1} Tell me which of the two items is your favorite!
{1} Tell me what your favorite book of the Bible is, and why!


The giveaway will end on October 19th 11:59pm ET (three weeks from now), and I will announce the winners the next day! :)

Blessings,
            Madeline







9.27.2011

My Favorite Things (#3) & 100th post happiness!

I don't think I'll ever be able to stop looking at Etsy shops or posting about them, so I might as well continue. :) I'm sure it must make the shop owners happy to have me exhibiting their products to my lovely followers. So here is the first item on my list for today.

Number One
This lovely necklace is from lePetitFoyer's fabulous fabulous Etsy shop! She has super cute, whimsical jewelry that I absolutely love. You should definitely look around the shop. :)

Number Two
Beautiful pocket watch necklace with a cute little key and orange crystal hanging alongside! There is a lovely engraved design on the back as well.
(From Sevinoma's shop)

Number Three
Also from Sevinoma! I think this ring is immensely gorgeous!! And, as my sister pointed out, the prices of the items are shockingly cheap! I might actually buy something from this shop instead of deciding that the items are too expensive for me. :)

Number Four
I have loved this ring and this Etsy shop (plasticouture) for a very long time now. I have a hard time deciding whether I like this ring or this next ring better than the other!

Number Five
Isn't it preeeeetty? :)

Number Six
I have been wanting to get a leather journal that has no lines and homemade-looking pages ever since I first saw some in Barnes and Noble. But they are always so expensive (which makes me very sad). I think this one is lovely. Perhaps not my favorite of all the leather journals I've seen, but one of my favorites. ;)
(Buy now from Keilantra)

Number Seven
Oh my goodness! Aren't these magnets the cutest thing!!! I mean, the whole bottle cap thing is a little weird, but the music notes look sooo cutesy and darling! 
(Get the music magnets here at CreativeLove's Etsy shop!)

Number Eight
Wow. I like, really want this necklace. It is sooo cute and pretty! There are little shells from the Aegean Sea, and a freshwater pearl as well, all in this cute little cork bottle!
(Buy it from lePetitFoyer now!)

Number Nine
This is a scarf. I love scarves. It is blue and purple. I love blue and purple. The End.
(blue and purple scarf from ZuzanaSchwabova)
P.S. This is only one of the many beautiful scarves this Etsy shop sells. It may or may not be my favorite.

Number Ten
It's a little odd, but I like the fact that it has music in the background and a Jane Austen silhouette in the foreground. The little diamond crystal shouldn't be there in my opinion, but it's still a nice bracelet. :)


And that is the end of my favorite things for today! I now have an announcement to make.

*Ahem*
Seeing as this is my 99th post on A glimpse into my world, I have decided to do a giveaway for the 100th post celebration! I won't reveal what will be given away yet, but I just wanted to give a heads up so that you can have time to come back here and enter by the time the giveaway begins. :)

See you at the giveaway! :)


9.22.2011

Photo Software

All right, I'll tell you the truth. I don't have "real" photo editing software. And I think that's why I always thought it was like "cheating"; because you're changing the actual picture. But I guess it's just part of the whole art of photography.
Anyway, I found out that you can download a free 30-day trial of Adobe Lightroom 3, so I did. And that's what my recent (watermarked) photos have been from. And I am afraid that I am becoming addicted to it. Because it is amazing! Let me show you an example.

This is before editing with Lightroom 3:
Nice picture, but no colors are popping out or anything.

Now this is the edited version:
Now the blues and greens and whites are simply BURSTING out of the photo. Isn't that wonderful??

Overall, I think I am having way too much fun editing my pictures and I am afraid that I may be wanting to purchase Lightroom 3 sometime (relatively) soon. 
Oh, another thing I love about the software is how I can put my watermark on the pictures! I think it makes them look a lot more professional, although I really must decide on a permanent photography name. :)
Toodles!

Photo contests!




Johanna's phos-graphé photo contest

Kelsey's A Ray of Sunshine summer photo challenge
and
Sierra's His Handmaiden photo challenge :)

9.15.2011

My Favorite things part 2

Everything, from the hand drawn pendant to the leather cord and the cursive handwriting on the paper that the necklace is resting on, makes this picture delightful.

Another gorgeous item from another gorgeous store. The red ruby, the engraved metal, the little curlies surrounding the gem...ahhhh
Link to the ring (check around at the other stuff at this store! There are some lovely items!)

A 1950's vintage wedding dress?? How darling! 
I love how simple yet elegant this dress is. It's not huge, and it doesn't go down to the floor like your typical wedding dress, but it has lace, and it has a bow in the back, and it has charm. And charm is what makes it special.

Now, it might not be as pleasing to the eyes as the other items in this post are, but in my mind, a good book (preferably hardcover, and vintage is even better) is just about as wonderful as pretty jewelry. :)

Sometimes I'm not sure why a picture strikes my fancy so much. There was an old vintage who in Maine that we went to when we were on vacation, and there were some photos on notecards that a local photographer had taken, and there was one in particular that caught my fancy. It was a simple, black and white picture of two or three vintage suitcases sitting on a bench. And I loved it. So I bought it. And now I'm not sure what to do with it. Do I frame it and hang it on my wall, or skip the frame and just stick it to the wall? And where do I put it? There's something about it that has captured my fancy and I don't want it to just be forgotten and glanced over like an old painting you never look at that is relentlessly hanging on the wall somewhere in your house. Have you ever thought about that? I remember it sometimes; to look closely at the things that are never noticed. The things that I pass by every day and never pay attention to. I've done that with pictures on the walls, small rugs in the kitchen, and patterns on fabrics. You might pass by them every day or, (in the rug's case) walk on it thousands, maybe millions, of times during our life, and you never stop to appreciate the pattern or art of the piece. 
Maybe this is the artist in me speaking out, maybe I'm just tired and need to go to bed. Or stop looking on Etsy. Either way, I think this post is over. But I've had fun releasing my thoughts out into the great wide world of the web. 
So goodnight now, I hope you sleep well and have sweet dreams. 


9.14.2011

Fonts anyone?

Do you share a love for fonts with me? Do you want to expand the different types of fonts you have on your computer, but don't know how? Do you think that extra fonts cost money?
I am going to try to answer these questions in a post about FONTS.
*note: I do not know how to add extra fonts to Blogger, and there is no way to do it, as far as I know*

   I have found many websites where you can preview and download free fonts to install on your computer. True, there are websites that make you buy the font, but there are websites that have literally HUNDREDS of free fonts; you just need to know where to look.
   So. The first website I will direct you to is daFont. They have many different fun, cute, and pretty fonts that you can download for free. 
The second font website I would like to tell you about is 1001 Free fonts, which is also a nice place to get fonts, but it didn't have two fonts that I really love. ("Jane Austen" and "The King and Queen font")
Urban Fonts also has some free fonts that you can download. You an find other websites with free fonts by simply typing 'free fonts' into a Google search box.

  And now for the question you have all been waiting for; how do I install these fonts onto my computer? (and is it safe from viruses to do so?) Well, as to it being safe, I have downloaded fonts multiple times and as far as I know there has been nothing malicious in the files. 

How to install - On a Mac:

For me this was fairly simple. All I did was click the little 'download' button next to the desired font, and once the font was downloaded double click to open it. Once the file folder opens, you click on the file ending in TTF, and a preview of the font should open in a new little box. There should be a button that says 'Install Font'. All you do is click that button, and the font should install onto your computer!

How to install  - On a PC:

First find the font you would like, and download it to your computer. The new font should be under My Documents > Downloads.
Next, follow the instructions on this website

There you have it! Extra fonts on your computer than can fit your style and mood! :)






9.13.2011

Eeeeep!

Eeeep! I could not stop grinning. Best Buy matched the price of Apple. It's so sleek and shiny and cool and new.
I got a new Macbook Pro and I LOVE it! It's so wonderful and God has been so so good to let me be able to get this!
So... there isn't much more to say besides another big long
Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep! :D :D :D


Okay, I am now composed. :)

9.12.2011

Giveaway!

Kelsey at A Ray of Sunshine is hosting a birthday giveaway of fourteen pink items! :D Go check out how you can enter to win them! :)

9.08.2011

Random photography

Possibly a dessert recipe (with added bonus: PICTURES!) to come soon. This is just a special sneak peek that almost happened accidentally in the chocolate.
Excited for the recipe? I'm sorry, but you'll just have to content yourself with a photo post of random things like teacups and bird nests.

 This is a teacup that my grandmother gave me that I believe was her grandmother's


I love how the colors of the teacup matched the color of the walls

 Detail of the handle

 I honestly can't remember where I got this teacup...maybe at a thrift store??

 Lovely detailing
 I love violets, and I happily found out that violets are the flower of the month for February - my birthday month!
I don't know why the pictures are partially blurry....

I found this nest on the ground a while back. There was a hole in the nest and a broken eggshell on the ground...

 The chipped paint lends so much character to the door!

 Meghan's teacup; so much character!

 Yes, I did set that little stage up.....I was bored! *shrugs*

 Keara's teacup

A b&w shot
 This picture reminds me of lace


 Power outage during the tropical storm

 I love the simplicity of this picture


 I'm planning on editing this one...

Look at those gorgeous colors!!