Etsy Treasuries

Now that Etsy has a new treasury system (as of several months ago) anyone can make a treasury at any time and they never expire.  So, a few times I have tried my hand at making a treasury.  This makes me realize how fun and  hard it is to make one!

Last night,  I made one called "Fall Into Red".  Its two of my favorite things, fall and the color red!!  :)
http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c957b3fe6f28eefbe155e14/fall-into-red?index=3

I think I should try to make more sooner or later.

But, speaking of fall,  am so ready for fall!  Only a few days left of summer and then its my favorite season!!  The leaves are changing in the Mountains here and my husband and I are thinking of taking hte kids up to see them.  I would really love to get some Aspen tree photographs too.   I also can't wait for pumpkins and Halloween and anything else that just screams fall!!  :)

Pancakes!!!

(Photo from Foodnetwork.com)

One of the meals my kids love the most is pancakes...especially when they are for dinner!!  Tonight, I wanted to find good homemade recipe and on Foodnetwork.com, I came across a PB&J pancake recipe.  Being that my kids love peanut butter and jelly, I had a feeling that these pancakes would be a huge hit.

They were super easy to make and wow, they are really good!  They have a great peanut butter flavor. 

I wasn't able to make the fruit syrup since we were just about out of frozen blueberries, so I just used the maple syrup.  They were good even with that.

Here is the recipe from Foodnetwork.com


PB&J Pancakes:

Ingredients


1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 egg
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk, plus extra if needed to thin
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter, melted
2 tablespoons oil
4 tablespoons butter

Blackberry Syrup, recipe follows

Directions

Preheat a griddle. In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients. Slowly mix in egg, milk, peanut butter and oil until combined. Add a little extra milk if batter feels too thick. Let mixture sit 5 minutes. Melt 1 tablespoon butter on griddle and move around to coat entire griddle. Pour about 1/4 cup of batter per pancake on griddle to form 5-inch pancakes. The batter spreads as it cooks. Fill griddle without crowding pancakes. Flip when air pockets start to pop on the top and a quick peak on the underside reveals a golden pancake. Repeat with remaining butter and batter. Serve pancakes with Blackberry Syrup.

Blackberry Syrup:

2 pints fresh blackberries
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 lemon, zested

In a saucepan over medium heat, combine all ingredients and bring to a boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Lower heat to a simmer and cook until liquid is reduced to a syrupy consistency, about 10 minutes. Use a wooden spoon to break up blackberries as they cook. Strain syrup to remove seeds and serve warm.


Yield: 1 cup
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes

Air Show!!

My husband and my kids love airplanes (my husband is a pilot, so my kids get it from him! lol).  Over the weekend we heard that there was an air show going on in Broomfield, CO, so my husband and I took the kids over to it.   We all had a great time - esp. my kids.  They loved watching the planes do the stunts and and hearing the loud FA-18 and F-16.  My 3yo son kept telling me he wanted to go fly the FA-18!  Too cute!   My husband and I want to take the kids to go see the Blue Angles or the Thunderbirds since neither were at this smaller show.  I think our kids (and my husband) would love them!!

I took all kinds of photos, and am still not 100% sure if I will or if I can add them to my shop (if I have the rights to sell photos of the planes at the show).  But, I thought I would post some in my blog!  :)

All these photos can be found on my Flickr page:

A Birthday Sale!!

My Birthday is coming up next week, so I wanted to celebrate in my Etsy store by offering a sale!

Starting today, I am offering a Buy 1 Get 2 Free Sale.  Buy One regular priced 8x8, 8x10 or 8x12 and get two FREE 5x5s and/or 5x7s (can mix and match sizes).  The sale lasts until the night of Aug 31st.

I have also been really busy making new calendars.  I have added 4 or 5 more since I posted last.  They all come in 5x7, 4x6 and 3.5x5:

Abstract Calendar

Sea Shell Calendar

Trees of Spring and Fall

Summer Fun

Calendars are IN!!

I have been working on my 2011 Calendars for my shop.  This year, I am going about them differently.  They are 5x7 or 3.5x5 loose leaf calendars.  So far,  have a Wine themed one, a Floral themed one and a Food themed one.  Plus, I have one that is "Design your own" where you can pick all 12 photos you would like for the calendar!  I am thinking about also doing a sea shell themed Calendar and a landscape themed one too.  I might even look into doing a more traditional wall calendar where there is space for each date to write in stuff.

Wine Theme

Food Theme

Flower Theme

Design Your Own 

This is just an example of the various photo you can use to design your own calendar, but customers can also purchase this exact calendar if they happen to like it!  :)

The Winner

Thank you so much to all of you who entered in my blog giveaway!

I used a random number generator from random.org and the winning # is 6 - Ondrea!!!  

Yay!  Congrats Ondrea! 

I look forward to seeing of the two photos you pick out!

She Sells Sea Shells

She Sells Sea Shells

As much as I love living here in Colorado, I really miss living by the ocean.  In college, I lived in Norfolk, VA and in Virgina Beach.  I loved living so close to the beach and rivers.  I miss the sound of the crashing waves and the feel of the sand between my toes!  My ideal place to live would be somewhere that has mountains like we have here on Colorado (I love these mountains) and the ocean!

Over the weekend, I was out shopping and found these beautiful shells. I wish I could say I found them on the beach somewhere, but I found them in a store in a land locked state.  LOL

I took a few photos and want to try for a few more.  I love adding to my sea shell photo collection!  :)

Also, today is the last day to enter my 11x14 giveaway.  I will be posting the winner of that giveaway tomorrow!!  Good luck to all who have entered and thank you for taking the time to enter!!

A Not So Lazy Saturday!

Barbed

My husband and I took the kids out this morning on a nice bike ride around the neighborhood.  We took them past a farm that run along side our neighborhood and it has a barbed wire fence running along its property line.  I took the opportunity to see if I could get any artistic photographs out of the barbed wire fence!  It was a great opportunity to take photos of something other than flowers!

Lately, I have been wanting to get more photographs of anything other than flowers.  As much as I LOVE to photograph flowers, I really want to try my hand at something new such as landscape photography, abstract photography and urban photography.  Soon,  hope to head into Downtown Denver to photograph these vintage neon signs that run along Colfax.  I have heard this is a great Urban area to photograph!  I can't wait to see what I can get.  Hopefully something good!  :)  lol

I got a few other barbed wire photos to add to my shop and I will do that over the next few days. 

Plus, don't forget about my giveaway.  Its the post just under this one and it ends Monday night!!

Time For A Blog Giveaway!

Since I took such a long break from my blog, I think its time to pep things up with a blog giveaway! 

I will be giving away one 11x14 (valued at $50) print and the winner will be able to pick one of two photographs I have listed here in this blog post.  The options will be two of my popular prints in my shop:

Loves Whisper:

OR

Aspen Leaves In The Wind:

Here are the rules to enter the giveaway:

1) Get 1 entry for posting your favorite item from my shop - Please leave an e-mail address so I can contact you if you win!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/AmeliaKayPhotography

2) Get 1 entry if you become a fan of my facebook page (post here in the comments section that you became a fan so I can count the entry). - Please leave an e-mail address so I can contact you if you win!

http://www.facebook.com/ameliakayphotography

ETA: If you are already a FB fan, let me know and that will count too!  :)

3) Get 2 extra entries for every one item you buy from my shop! Just mention this blog giveaway in the notes to seller section as you check out on Etsy so I can count those entries!

This blog giveaway will be running for one week.  I will pick a winner at random on Tuesday, Aug 9th!

In The Heat Of The Summer

Pastel Pink

Here in Colorado, we are in the really hot part of summer (as I hear much of the country is), so I don't get out as much as I would like to photograph flowers.  But yesterday, the kids and I, along with my sister in law and her son headed out to the Botanic Gardens during the morning.  It was pretty busy since it was Sunday and there were several beautiful weddings going on!   I did manage though to get a few flower photographs before it got too hot for us to be out. 

I am still amazed that there are so many beautiful flowers in the heat of the summer.  I am also very glad to see so many that love this heat so I can photograph them!

I am also starting to get back into textures.  I had taken a  break from adding textures to my photographs, but began to miss them! lol  As you can see, some of these prints in this posting have the texture added to them.

Sweet Cherries

Aside from flower, I have been wanting to take advantage of all the fresh fruit.  My family and I love cherries.  They do not last long around here.  I think these Rainier cherries are so pretty w/ all the different colors on them.  Needless to say, they didn't last much longer after this photograph! 

Just a side note....Today is the last day for my Buy 1 print, Get 1 Free Sale.  The details are in my shop annoucement!  :)

Tiny Pearls

Has It Really Been 6 Months?

Romantic Pink Flower

Wow, I have really fallen off the ball on this one!  But, I have told myself that I will get back on top it and stay on top of it! :)

So, what have I been up to for the past 6 months?  I have been pretty busy here at home with my kids and family.  My daughter turned 5 and lost her first tooth and my son turned 3!  They are on summer vacation right now that ends in a few short weeks!  My son will be starting preschool and my daughter will be in Kindergarten.....where is time going?? 

Photography wise, I have had the opportunity to photograph flowers around town and I have tried to photograph other non-flower items such as fruit or my husbands guitar.  LOL  I have also come out with some new products like postcards (both 4x6 and 5x5 metallic), new magnets (2x2) and I am also working on  2011 Calendars.  Two are listed in the shop and I have ideas for 3 more Calendar themes!  I am also running a Buy One, Get One Free sale through Monday on all reg. priced prints up to 12x18....ACEOs are also BOGO FREE!

For the month of July, my work has been hanging in a local Coffee Pub called Rooster and Moon. Its in Downtown Denver and has been a wonderful experience putting my work in a local shop.

All in all, life has been good! :) 

Water Drop On A Feather II

I Can't Wait To Travel

Paris

My husband and I have these grand dreams of traveling the world when our kids get a bit older (they are 4.5 and almost 3).  First off, I really want to see the countries and cities that our families came from when they came to America.   My family has been in America for a looooong time.  We think my dads family came here from England in the early 1600's and my moms family came from Germany in either the the 1720's or 1740's.  Since then, we have also had family come from Scotland, Ireland and my mom thinks France too.  As for my husbands family, his Great Grandparents on his fathers side came from Italy and his Mothers family came from Germany sometime in the late 1800's I believe.

I would love to see all of those countries and hopefully see the cities that our families came from.  I can't wait to explore our roots!!

Until then, we want to travel the US and Canada.  There is so much of these countries to see and explore and I can't wait to see it all (or a lot of it!!).  I would love to see the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, the Canadian Rockies and much more!

I'll be sure to bring my camera along on our adventures!!  :)

Super Bowl Yummies!

My husband and I love homemade soup.  One of our favorite soups is French Onion Soup, but never tried to make it even though we always heard it was really easy to made.  Several months ago, we tried our hand at a recipe we saw on America's Test Kitchen.  Oh boy, was it GOOD!!!  Its a really rich soup and is one of those soups that tastes better the next day!!  We now like to make it a day ahead so it can sit overnight in the fridge and become even better!!!

I thought I would share this wonderful French Onion Soup recipe with you all!!!

French Onion Soup
Serves 6

3 tablespoons unsalted butter , cut into 3 pieces

6 large yellow onions (about 4 pounds), halved and cut pole to pole into 1/4-inch-thick slices (see illustration below)

Table salt

2 cups water , plus extra for deglazing

1/2 cup dry sherry

4 cups low-sodium chicken broth (see note)

2 cups beef broth (see note)

6 sprigs fresh thyme , tied with kitchen twine

1 bay leaf

Ground black pepper

Cheese Croutons

1 small baguette , cut into 1/2-inch slices

8 ounces shredded Gruyère cheese (about 2 1/2 cups)  **We like Mozzarella cheese!**

1. For the soup: Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Generously spray inside of heavy-bottomed large (at least 7-quart) Dutch oven with nonstick cooking spray. Place butter in pot and add onions and 1 teaspoon salt. Cook, covered, 1 hour (onions will be moist and slightly reduced in volume). Remove pot from oven and stir onions, scraping bottom and sides of pot. Return pot to oven with lid slightly ajar and continue to cook until onions are very soft and golden brown, 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours longer, stirring onions and scraping bottom and sides of pot after 1 hour.

2. Carefully remove pot from oven and place over medium-high heat. Using oven mitts to handle pot, cook onions, stirring frequently and scraping bottom and sides of pot, until liquid evaporates and onions brown, 15 to 20 minutes, reducing heat to medium if onions are browning too quickly. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until pot bottom is coated with dark crust, 6 to 8 minutes, adjusting heat as necessary. (Scrape any fond that collects on spoon back into onions.) Stir in 1/4 cup water, scraping pot bottom to loosen crust, and cook until water evaporates and pot bottom has formed another dark crust, 6 to 8 minutes. Repeat process of deglazing 2 or 3 more times, until onions are very dark brown. Stir in sherry and cook, stirring frequently, until sherry evaporates, about 5 minutes.

3. Stir in broths, 2 cups water, thyme, bay leaf, and 1/2 teaspoon salt, scraping up any final bits of browned crust on bottom and sides of pot. Increase heat to high and bring to simmer. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 30 minutes. Remove and discard herbs, then season with salt and pepper.

4. For the croutons: While soup simmers, arrange baguette slices in single layer on baking sheet and bake in 400-degree oven until bread is dry, crisp, and golden at edges, about 10 minutes. Set aside.

5. To serve: Adjust oven rack 6 inches from broiler element and heat broiler. Set individual broiler-safe crocks on baking sheet and fill each with about 1 3/4 cups soup. Top each bowl with 1 or 2 baguette slices (do not overlap slices) and sprinkle evenly with Gruyère. Broil until cheese is melted and bubbly around edges, 3 to 5 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes before serving.

Etsy Voter

Loves Whisper

This past Friday, I was in the Etsy finds E-mail for the print above!  It was an Etsy dream come true so to speak!  :)   This same group of about 45 times from various Etsy shops is now in the Etsy voter section.   So, this blog post is my plea for votes!  I'm currently in second place!

http://www.etsy.com/voter_list.php?ref=voter&room_id=92

Would love any votes!!  :)

The Other Loves Of My Life!

Snow Clouds

There are many loves of my life besides photography.  I am also a stay at home mom to two wonderful little kids, so that is a huge (and important) part of my life!  But, I also love to cook and I love to do anything outdoors - for the most part!  HA! 

The family and I can't wait for spring to roll around so we can go camping and hiking again!  We took our kids on their first camping trip this past summer to a place South West of Denver in the Colorado Mountains.  We all had a blast.  My kids loved playing in all the dirt and mud all day long.  LOL  They loved the camp fire and of course, they loved the Smores!!  They have been asking all winter long if we can go camping again. 

In the photograph above, one of my favorite campsites sits just to the right of the open field of that amazing mountain range.  Its called Moraine Park (I could be wrong, but I think this open field is also called Moraine Park).  The camp ground has the view of all of these mountains and of one of Colorado's many 14ers called Longs Peak (its to the left of this photograph - can't see it here).  This campground is one of the places I hope to take this kids this summer!!  If you go to this open field in the fall, there are tons and tons of Elk out for the mating season.  They are all along this open field and along the road that took this photograph on.  The Elk are HUGE and a pretty big attraction that time of year.  

The view in this photograph is one of my favorite places in Colorado!  We go up there a few times a year for camping and hiking and we always drive along this road that takes us past this spot.  I can never  get enough of it!  Usually you can see a lot more mountains where the clouds are at, but this time, the snow clouds were starting to roll in! 

I plan to add more of our hiking and camping adventures to the blog as the summer rolls around.  I love the share all the beauty and fun that Colorado has to offer!!  Maybe I will throw in some cooking posts too!!  :)

1 Year Later

Its hard to believe that today is my 1 year Etsy-versary!  What an amazing year it has been.  I have made some great friends, founds some amazing shops, found a wonderful group of female photographers (fPOE) to are an amazing support system.   I can't thank everyone enough for all they have done for me this year! 

Now we are onto year two!  I can't wait to see what this next year will be like! 

I hope to get myself into the local market more.  I will be hanging my work at a Coffee Shop/Pub in downtown Denver this July.  I might also look into doing an art gallery again and possibly hanging my photography in a friends bakery (mmmm, cupcakes!!).

I also just drew a winning number for my blog giveaway down below.  I used the random number generator site and the winner was:


k8elynne said...


hmm.....
maybe the love print, or the looking up, or any of the bizillion that are in my favorites :)
Katie


Yay Katie!!!  Congrats!!  Katie also has a wonderful shop (ok, 3 shops) on Etsy called heavenbakedsweets.etsy.com.  Yuummmy cookies!!  :)

I am doing another blog giveaway next week.  Its not here on my blog, but once the giveaway is up, I will be sure to share the link with you all.  It will also be a free 8x8 or 8x10 of your choice!!

Buy 1 Get 1 Free Sale!!

Daisies in the Sun

I have kicked off my weekend sale to celebrate my Etsy-versary on Tuesday!!  I am doing a buy one print, get one print free (up to a 11x14)!  The sale is going on through Sunday night.  This will be my last sale for a while, so take advantage this weekend!!  ;)

My blog giveaway is still going on as well.  The post below is where you can enter.  I will draw and announce the winner on Tuesday for the free 8x8 or 8x10!

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!!  Happy Friday!!

A Blog Giveaway!!

Thread

My 1yr Etsy-versary is only a week away.  Its hard to believe that I started this amazing journey a year ago!  I have had the most wonderful support of friends and family and my customers have been the BEST!  I still have to pinch myself that there are people who love my photos as much as I and want it in their homes!  This last year has been a dream come true!  I truly love this job and everything that goes with it!  I hope this next year I keep on growing in my business and photography.  I can't wait to see what this next year will bring!

So to celebrate my first year on Etsy and to thank everyone, I am doing a Giveaway!!  The giveaway is for any 8x8 or 8x10 of your choice from my shop. The giveaway will be open until Monday night (Jan 25th).  I will then pick winner via a random number generator and the winner will be announced Tuesday morning (Jan 26th).  All you have to do is go to my shop at ameliakayphotograph.etsy.com and pick out which print you would want to win.  Leave a comment on my blog as to which print you would want and also leave your first name and e-mail address so I can contact you if you win.  All prints can be made as either a 8x8 or 8x10 even if they are not listed as that size in my shop! Please, only one entry per person.

Also, this weekend I will be doing a Buy 1, Get 1 Free Print sale for any size print up to 11x14.  It will  start on Friday and end Sunday night!

Thank you so much to all my friends, family and customers for being such a huge part of this past year.  I couldn't have done it w/o you!!

Grass In The Breeze at Estes Park, CO.

I'm still here!

Poppies of Fall

Its been pretty quiet around here for the last week huh?!?!   But, I am still here!  :)

I spent the weekend working on all kinds of new prints for my shop.  I have been slowly adding them to my shop.  I also added 10 new photo magnets as well.  My shop is busting at its seams! 

We have been spending the last week getting back into the swing of things.  My daughter finally went back to school from winter break and started back to dance class.   As much fun as it was for her to be in winter break, she is glad to be back in school with her friends.  I think she was getting sick of being home with me all the time.  LOL Why on earth would she feel like that?!?!!?  LOL

I have also been looking into getting my photography into local shops and restaurants.  I have contacted a few places around here, so hopefully something pans out!

Other than that, all is good!  Oh, and I am coming up on my 1yr Etsy Anniv.  If you are not a fan of my facebook page, become one so you can join in on a special and a giveaway I will be doing on there very soon.  http://www.facebook.com/ameliakayphotography .

Romantic Pink Coneflower

The Coffee Shop pt 2

Happy New Year!!!  I hope that 2010 is off to a great start for everyone and  I hope that 2010 brings nothing but good things to all!!

Coffee Break

Today, I worked more on my Coffee Shop series.  I have done one for today and have another one in mind that I will try to photograph later today as well.

The one above was a lot of fun to photograph.  I love how the out of focus lights look like the steam of a nice hot cup of coffee....or tea!