Shutterfly is awesome!!!

I absolutely love the Shutterfly website! I was first introduced to Shutterfly about 4 years ago by my husband's aunt. She always made photo books and calendars from them and gave them as gifts. Once I started on Shutterfly I couldn't stop. First it was just a place to keep all my pictures in one place for free but then I started creating photo books, calendars, Christmas cards, prints, etc.

To me their photo books are a great way to preserve memories. They are easy to create and really great quality as well. We keep all of ours on our coffee table as conversation pieces and a way to share our life and experiences with our guests that come to visit. 

 Sometimes I like to look through them and reminisce on the past. :)

I make a photo book after each vacation and for major events. With the change in technology it is just easier to create a photo book instead or printing out the photos and putting them in a photo album. I love to scrapbook but that gets costly with all the stickers and stuff so I keep the scrapbooking to the bigger events. The photo books from Shutterfly won't fade or get ruined with age and that is important to me because I want to keep these memories forever. Here is my most recent photo book from our cruise:

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AbtnLJm3aMmTo4

Each year I make our Christmas card with Shutterfly and they always have great backgrounds to choose from. Unlike other companies, Shutterfly provides the envelopes to send out your cards in. They also have matching address labels with the same backgrounds as the cards, so you can be super cute and matchy matchy! They have so many to choose from it is hard to just pick one! Here is last year's card that we sent out.

I haven't used all of the different features of Shutterfly yet but I am slowly learning and using more of them especially since most of them are FREE!!!! About a year ago I created a share site for our family. The link is http://heatherjamesalverson.shutterfly.com/. Share sites are basically personal websites. You can add videos, pictures, calendars, notes and much much more. The sites can be public or private and you can add members too. The members can comment or your stuff and they get e-mails of updates that you make on the site. This is a great way to keep family informed of updates or recent pictures. I love adding the photo books that I have created because that adds more of a story for members to read instead of just seeing the pictures.

They also have an iPhone app (who doesn't!) which I have. It lets you view all of the photos you have on the Shutterfly site so you can e-mail or text them to your friends right from your phone. You can also upload pictures from your phone's camera and they will be in your Shutterfly site when you log onto the computer too. It is more convenient than taking the picture with your phone and then e-mailing it to yourself to add it to Shutterfly when you get on your computer later.

Last but not least, Shutterfly has awesome, awesome discounts and deals. Once you become a member you get 50 free 4x6 prints, then if you sign up for offers(which you should) you get e-mails with special discounts for members and even free products. I get a free photo book every year and I have received a free calendar as well. They offer free shipping quite often as well. How can you say no to that!! :)

There is so much more that you can do on Shutterfly! Check it out for yourself!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!!!
This is my second favorite holiday after Christmas. Being Irish is another reason to enjoy this holiday.This year I made a St. Paddy's Day wreath for our front door. I love making wreaths because they are easy to do and very personable. Plus they are very inviting to the people at your front door.

Supplies needed:

straw wreath ( these are the cheapest at the craft stores)
garland (I chose white with metallic shamrocks)
hot glue gun
assorted accessories (this can be picks, ornaments, knick-knacks, etc.-whatever catches your eye at the craft store)
plastic wrap
wood or metal sign (to get your message across; ex: Welcome, Happy St. Patrick's Day, etc)
Ribbon
thin ribbon or wire to attach your sign to the wreath

First, I wrapped the straw wreath in green plastic wrap just in case the garland moved and to keep a more uniformed look. This is optional but it keeps the straw wreath from shedding all over the place. Next, I wrapped the garland around the wreath and hot glued as I went. It took about 3 and a half packages of garland.

Next I added the sign by using 24 gauge jewelry wire to secure the sign to the wreath. You can do this with thin ribbon such as curling ribbon, tie the ribbon tight and glue the knot to the wreath as well to make sure the sign doesn't shift with wind or movement. From here you can add the ribbon and accessories.

I made a double bow to be a little different and then I found a wooden shamrock ornament that I took the hook off the top. I hot glued that to the middle of the bow and then hot glued the bow to the bottom of the wreath. I normally put the bow on the top or bottom of the wreath but I have added small bows to the sides before. This is totally up to you and wherever you think it will look best. Next, I added the accessories. They don't have a lot of St. Patrick's Day stuff down here so I got what was available. I placed the big pipe by the leprechaun's hand so it looked like he was holding it. Then I hot glued the rest of the accessories/ornaments around the rest of the wreath.

                                                                                          Voila!!

Super cute and super easy! I hope you enjoy making yours!!

I hope everyone has a great St. Patrick's Day and don't forget to wear green!!!  Until next time...

Spring Is Here!!!

This weekend James and I started our spring planting! This is one of our favorite things to do each year because it makes the house look great and it is a fun thing to do to get us out of the house and enjoying the beautiful weather.