Time’s Up! And our randomly chosen winner is… #332, April!

#332 April – I LOVE 4th of July Bar-b-que’s!!!! <3

Congrats, April! I’ve sent you an email! :)

(more…)

© kevinandamanda.com, 2010. | Leave a comment! | Stumble | Share on Twitter | Share on Facebook

One of my favorite things about blogging is reading your comments. I love hearing from you, reading your comments and suggestions, hearing your stories, and especially checking out the links you leave for me. :) I love it when I see how you’ve incorporated the fonts and tutorials from this blog in your own blog design, crafts, projects, and scrapbook pages. You guys have some seriously creative ideas that I would’ve never thought of! :) I’m inspired daily. I have tons and tons of your blogs bookmarked- here are just a few I selected at random tonight. :)

A Lovely Mess. Such a fun design. Love these colors.

All Things Digital. Check out the header & footer!! Too cute.

Cute Links For You. Super cute site. Love how you’ve totally personalized Blogger, Kenzie!

I Am Simply Sarah. Such happy colors! Love the post dividers.

Sew Create It. Very sweet. Love that header.

Simple As That. So serene… lovely! The custom font for the blog titles totally shines on this blog.

Marla’z Austin Chronicles. Love the font she used! It’s one of my favorites. Plus check out her rotating header. Very cool, Marla!

Beauty for Ashes. A beautiful blog from a beautiful soul. I am addicted to reading. See the “the” and the “family” in the header? They’re from different fonts. But she put them together. And they’re perfect.

♥♥♥

Does your blog need a makeover? You can find all my blog design tutorials all in once place, right here:

Kevin & Amanda’s Tutorials: Blog Design

There are also some really cool crafts and projects that you guys have uploaded to my Facebook page- I’m totally loving them! :) There’s a photo hanger welcome sign, family rules sign, shopping list, vinyl wall art, and more. Check them out here and here.

BTW, did you know I also have giveaways on my Facebook page? :) Become a fan to be notified of the next giveaway. I’ll give you a hint… There’s one next week and it’s *really* cool! It has to do with blog makeovers… :)

Thank so much for sharing your beautiful blogs with me. See you next week! :)

© kevinandamanda.com, 2010. | Leave a comment! | Stumble | Share on Twitter | Share on Facebook

I’m back from LA! Last week Bertolli sent me (and one of my lovely readers!) on an all-expenses paid trip to Los Angeles to experience an unforgettable culinary tour of the city and meet celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito.

Everything happened so quickly- Bertolli asked me on a Monday if I was interested in participating, and the next Monday at 6:30 am, I was on my flight to LAX! I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect, but it turned out to be an amazing, extraordinary trip of a lifetime. I’ll never forget the the food, the flavors, the friends, the fun. Bertolli truly rolled out the red carpet and treated us like royalty.

My flight landed in LAX at 11 am. When I got to baggage claim, there was a driver holding a sign with my name! And he had a luggage cart! He quickly whisked my carry-on luggage on the cart, grabbed my checked bags from the conveyor belt, and escorted me to my car. There were mints and chilled bottled water waiting for me in the backseat.

Photos via Brittney & Mandy

We stayed in the boutique Thompson Hotel of Beverly Hills, located just steps from Rodeo Drive.

The 360º view of Beverly Hills, Hollywood, & Los Angeles from the rooftop was spectacular. We could see the Hollywood sign!

My reader, Jenny, was already there, and we were starving! We walked down to Crustacean, a restaurant I’d heard about on “The Best Thing I Ever Ate” to try An’s Famous Garlic Noodles. I don’t know how I didn’t end up with a picture of the noodles!? But pictured above is the special appetizer plate the server brought out for us. It wasn’t on the menu, but it was 2 of every single appetizer on the menu- just for us to sample! :) Oh, and check out that FLOOR! Yes! That is a huge fish tank! On the floor! We followed the fish tank path through the bar area and walked over a little bridge to the seating area. Very cool.

Right across the street from Crustacean was… Sprinkles Cupcakes! We had to get several to sample! Clockwise from top left: chocolate marshmallow, cinnamon sugar, vanilla, black & white, mocha, and milk chocolate.

Just two short blocks from Sprinkles was Rodeo Drive!

Me & Jenny

We shopped, gawked at all the excess and got our picture taken with the sign. :)

After we had thoroughly worn ourselves out shopping, we headed back to the hotel to meet up with the other girls who were arriving. But first we stopped at Pinkberry for some frozen yogurt!

I was super excited to meet Jenny from PickyPalate! She is as sweet & precious as she looks in pics. :) We all had rooms right next to each other and we were as giddy as school girls. We also met up with Brittney who won the trip from Briana of Blisstree.com. Brittney is hilarious and the life of the party! She smooth-talked the very large security guard into letting us all into a very swanky, very LA, private party on the roof. It was a premiere party for a new show called Haute & Bothered. We crashed the red carpet and had our pictures made- just like we were supposed to be there! (Yeah right!)

Jenny, me, & Jenny @ PickyPalate

We didn’t stay long- it was way past dinner & we were starving again! My guest Jenny had the most brilliant idea- as soon as we got back to our rooms we all changed into our PJs and ordered room service for a PJ Party! Bertolli graciously told us- “Whatever you want, charge it to the room.” ♥

We ordered practically one of everything from the entire menu! It all sounded so delicious- how could we choose?? :) There were 5 girls, but the room service waiter kept bringing in plate after plate!

We needed one whole tray just for the water, utensils, and condiments!

I loved these tiny ketchup bottles!! :)

Of course we had to have sushi! Baked King Crab Dynamite Hand Roll, California Roll, and Seasame Crusted Shrimp Roll.

and tasty Parmesan Truffle Popcorn…

Delicious Kobe Beef Mini Sliders

Chicken Club – I can never resist a club sandwich! Loved the fries.

Lobster Tacos (incredible!)

My absolute favorite from the night: Grilled Cheese with Tomato & Basil

Penne Bolognese

Jenny @ PickyPalate, me, & Jenny

Here’s just half of what we ordered! :) We put it all on the bed and tried some of everything.

We also ordered house-made vanilla & espresso ice cream and fresh baked cookies & milk… but I guess we devoured those too quickly before we got a pic! :)

We ate, chatted, got to know each other, and speculated about our big day in the morning.

Best. PJ Party. Ever.

***

Stay Tuned!

Tomorrow I’ll post pictures of our incredible day exploring L.A.’s unique culinary scene- starting with our amazing breakfast & tour of LA’s oldest and original Farmers’ Market.

Thanks for looking!! :)

© kevinandamanda.com, 2010. | Leave a comment! | Stumble | Share on Twitter | Share on Facebook

A few weeks ago (after I professed my undying affection for scarves) my lovely and creative blog pal Allie Brownie sent me this super fun link:

Make It and Love it: Knit Scarf

*gasp* … How FUN! An adorable, shabby scarf I could totally make! :) And what a cute site too, huh? I’ve already got several other projects bookmarked that I’m dying to try.

But I had to start with the scarf, of course.

I immediately hit the fabric stores (Hobby Lobby & Hancock are all we have around here) to try and find some cute knit fabric. Unfortunately, I came up with squat. I could not find even remotely cute colors- especially not that adorable green she used!

BUT, I had something else: I had just cleaned out my t-shirt drawer, (it was way overstuffed) and I boxed up a huge stack of old t-shirts that held absolutely no sentimental value anymore. Perfect for re-purposing! I still didn’t have that adorable green, so I went with what I had- lots of orange and blue! :) I had been wanting an Auburn scarf all season to wear to chilly fall football games, so that worked out just fine. And the orange strips of fabric totally look like Tiger stripes! Bonus!

Now, in the tutorial, she calls for one long piece of fabric, 80″ x 6.5″, but since I was using t-shirts and didn’t have one long, single piece, I had to improvise…

Luckily for me, the “destroyed” look is in.

Here’s what mine ended up looking like. I originally didn’t have that blue piece in the middle, but the scarf looked a little short when I tied it on, so I added it at the end, before I had sewn everything together.

Now… I have to admit. I don’t usually enjoy sewing projects. I mean, I can do it, I guess, a little, if it’s really easy …but sewing is not something I particularly enjoy doing in my free time. I don’t see cute stuff and automatically think “Ooh, I could totally make that!” You know? Let’s face it – sewing requires, at the least, patience and attention to detail. I usually end up getting frustrated – the pinning, the stitching, the trimming of all the tiny little threads, the *oof*… ironing…

But this scarf was something I could totally handle! And no ironing required. To be honest… I did have fun making it! Heck- I was giddy! I was flouncing around the house, showing it off to Kevin, and mentioned how it’d be sooooo cute to have the little Auburn AU symbol on the scarf- although that would probably be hard to do. He suggested paw prints. PERFECT! Thanks babe!

I did 4 paw prints total – 2 orange, one on each end of one side of the scarf, and 2 blue on the other- so I could switch colors with my mood – or show one of each!

(P.S. Here’s a rough outline of the pawprint I used, if ya want it! The image should be 4.5″ wide with a resolution of 300 pixels/inch and all you have to do is print it out on a regular 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper for the exact size I used.)

*Cute!*

Annnd I got to proudly show it off at an Auburn baseball game last night. It was so nice to have after the sun went down and the wind picked up. But more on the game later!

This re-purposing t-shirt thing has got me totally inspired. Next I’m going to try this one – sooo shabby and cute, huh? And guess what- it doesn’t require any sewing. No needles. No thread. Sweet!

***

The best thing about this scarf? Besides being adorable, one-of-a-kind, and just for me….

It didn’t cost me a single penny.

I had the t-shirts, the thread, and the sewing machine, just ready to be used!

***

What have you re-purposed lately?? :) Any fun projects you have bookmarked? Share with me – I’d love to see! :)

© kevinandamanda.com, 2010. | Leave a comment! | Stumble | Share on Twitter | Share on Facebook

I love scarves…

when I see them, bright & colorful, hanging in my closet

planning my outfit around a scarf

when I take the entire collection with me, everywhere I go

even if it’s just a 2-day trip…

makes me very, very happy.

I love scarves.

♥♥♥

What about you? Do you love scarves? Or do you have another love- purses? shoes? necklaces? earrings? Yes, please. Don’t mind if I do. Share your loves with me-  I’d love to see. :) Leave me a link in the comments…

Or you can share with me on Flickr, Twitter, & Facebook…

XOXO

© kevinandamanda.com, 2010. | Leave a comment! | Stumble | Share on Twitter | Share on Facebook

You guys know I’m always saying- “Leave me a link to your blog!” Hah! I feel like I sound like a broken record (and a little bit of a stalker)! :) But one of my favorite things to do is browse through your sweet comments and check out the links you leave me. I absolutely *love* it when I see how you’ve put the tutorials and fonts from this blog to good use in your own blog designs! :) Seeing how creatively you use the fonts and tutorials inspires *me* to be more creative- and offer more stuff for you to use! :) It’s a terrific cycle.

I have tons and tons of your blogs bookmarked- here are just a few I selected at random tonight.

Bella Boston. Gorgeous! Love the colors.

Bret ‘n Laura. Love the fonts here, Laura! Especially how you used them for the whole body of the post- and the sidebar, too!

Our Changing Reflection. Beautiful. Please, please, please check out her cooking blog. Immediately. I have like a thousand of her recipes bookmarked. Especially this one. *faint*

Devin & Lianne. So serene.

Life is Beautiful. Magical. Love this.

Life with a Lab. So cute & fun!

Little Miss Firefly. Shabby sweet! Love that font.

simple.little.joys. Love the “Back to School” feeling of this blog. It makes me want to buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address.

This Texas Life. Love how she combined the Spring & Fall collection kits and changed the colors to suit her! Aqua and Red- very chic! :)

Does your blog need a makeover? You can find all the blog design tutorials offered on this blog all in once place:

Want more? Check out the featured sites in my sidebar- right here! :) >>>

Tutorials, free backgrounds, darling headers galore- it’s blog design heaven. These sites inspire me daily.

Thanks so much for looking- and thanks for sharing your beautiful blogs with me! :)

© kevinandamanda.com, 2010. | Leave a comment! | Stumble | Share on Twitter | Share on Facebook

A few weeks ago I was browsing through the comments section of this blog, as I often do- I love clicking on the blog links and taking a peek- reading your posts, sharing in your stories and getting to know you a little better! :) I came across something on New Year’s Resolutions that I’ve been thinking about ever since- and I wanted to share it here. This is from Sarah at The Strength of Faith:

I work with a girl who absolutely loves Mondays. LOVES them. She says they give her a fresh start. Mondays that start a new month are even better. We were both at work yesterday and were thinking about coming into work next week. Not only will we be coming in on a Monday, but it will be Monday, January 4, 2010. We will be starting a new WEEK, MONTH, YEAR and DECADE. I think this is the perfect opportunity to start fresh; to make one attainable resolution (read: ONE and ATTAINABLE) and to focus on how that one resolution can feed into the other parts of your life.

New year, new decade. A fresh start. I love that!

After posting about my weight loss story last November, I heard from many of you how you wanted to try it- after the holidays, of course! A fresh start in the new year. I have even heard from a couple of you how the first week went- someone lost 3 lbs! Success! :)

I love getting those emails- hearing your success stories, sharing tips, answering any questions I can, hopefully helping out a little! :) I noticed a lot of you had the same questions (and I was beginning to sound like a broken record! :)) – so I thought I’d share a few of those answers here, in case anyone else was wondering! :)

The Most Frequently Asked Question: What do you snack on during the day?

Grapes – they’re Kevin’s absolute favorite. I learned this trick from his mom and aunt- they keep a bowl of fresh grapes out on the counter almost all the time. Whenever you walk through the kitchen, you grab a couple of grapes. It helps keep you feeling full, you’re not looking for other (possibly unhealthier) stuff to snack on, and they’re just plain easy and fun to munch on. :)

Frozen blueberries – a 1/2 cup of these with just a little spoon of cool whip… YUM! A great late-night, low calorie sweet treat.

Clementines – my new obsession. They’re like tangerines, but smaller and sweeter. And super easy to peel- it practically just falls right off. And best of all- no seeds! You can just pop a slice in one after the other. And apparently they have amazing healing powers- I was getting a sore throat right after Christmas, and I was crushed- a sore throat for me is *always* the first sign of a cold. But I ate three clementines that night and the next morning the sore throat was completely gone- and I never came down with a cold. Coincidence? Who knows?? :)

Bananas/fruit – Filling. Low cal. My mid-morning snack of choice.

Granola bars/yogurt – I love granola bars and yogurt, but they’re just not all that filling for me. I eat one and 30 mins later I’m hungry again. lol. I eat these as an afternoon snack when I just need something light to tide me over until dinner.

Popcorn – I was never a huge popcorn person before, but now I love it. It’s definitely my favorite late night snack. My favorite is Orville Redenbacher’s Movie Theater Butter- let me tell you, it tastes *way* better than any popcorn I’ve ever gotten at the movie theatre! :) It’s so buttery you don’t need to add extra butter- and at only 70 calories in 2 cups of popcorn- it’s way, way better for you too! :) When I’m in the mood for something sweet, I reach for kettle corn- sweet and salty. :D Yum.

My Best Tip: Don’t skip breakfast!

I had to really work on Kevin about this one- he was never a huge breakfast person and had every excuse out there! :) “But I’m just not hungry in the mornings”, “I don’t have time to eat before work”, “But eating first thing in the morning just makes me feel hungrier during the day!” (Huh??) But studies show that, even if you eat the same number of calories, you burn more calories if you spread them out over the day, rather than eating them all in one or two meals. So now Kevin eats oatmeal in the morning before work and has a granola bar for a mid morning snack. Starting your day with whole grains and spreading your calories out over the whole day helps keep you feeling fuller longer and keeps your metabolism boosted. (Note: I am so not even close to being an expert in this area- I’m just repeating things I’ve heard that have been true in my experience! :))

A Little Help: from EatSmart

I had this food scale on my Christmas wish list- not just for calorie counting purposes- but also for baking and other recipes that measure ingredients by weight. Imagine my shock when a few weeks before Christmas, EatSmart contacted me and offered to send me the exact scale on my wishlist! :) I have used this little thing almost every day since getting it in the mail- it pretty much lives on my counter! Definitely my favorite thing about it is how small and lightweight it is- it hardly takes up any room. Which makes it perfect for leaving out on the counter, or storing easily in any cabinet, drawer, or small space if company’s coming over. ;)

The most useful feature is the scale’s tare (zero) function- you just put a bowl or plate on the scale, turn it on, and it eliminates or “zeros out” the weight of the plate- so you can load it up with whatever you’re weighing. Then if you want, you can zero it out again and add more! :) It’s great for snacks- that way I don’t have to dirty up a measuring cup or something- just the bowl I’m eating out of. The digital display is big and easy to read- even if there’s a large plate of food on the scale- and it’s definitely an upgrade from the old-fashioned analog scale I was using! :) I mostly weight things in ounces and lbs, but you can also weight in grams and kilograms- which will come in handy with a few baking recipes I have.

Kevin loves it because it weighs items up to 11 lbs- made shipping all our Christmas packages a snap! :)

Not only did EatSmart offer to send me one to try out- they sent one to give away! :) It comes in 5 different colors- and you get to pick! :)

We have a winner!!! :)

Congratulations to #126 Teale! :)

Congrats, Teale!! And War Eagle!! :)

To Enter the Giveaway…

All you have to do is leave a comment on this post! :) If you have a blog journaling your weight loss, and feel comfortable leaving a link to it in the comments, I’d love to check it out! :) If you have a recipe you know will use this scale for, LEAVE IT!! :) I want to try it too!! :D If this was your first Monday to weigh in, and you had success, I’d love to hear about it! :) And if you made any new year’s resolutions, I’d love to hear them too. :)

The Deadline…

The contest will run until Wednesday, January 13 at noon CST. The winner of this giveaway will receive one EatSmart Precision Pro Digital Kitchen Scale™ in the color of your choice! :) The winner will be chosen by his or her comment number (using Random.org’s number generator) and announced on this post on Wednesday. Check back to see if you’re the winner!! :)

***

By the way, what was my New Year’s Resolution? For a fresh start, this new year, the new decade?

Treat everyone with politeness, even those who are rude to you- not because they are nice, but because you are.
Author Unknown

Boy, have I already blown that one. A couple of times! And it’s only the 11th. :P But today’s a new day- a new week, even. A fresh start.

Here we go!

© kevinandamanda.com, 2010. | Leave a comment! | Stumble | Share on Twitter | Share on Facebook

Inspired is most definitely the first thing that came to mind when I first visited Lisa Leonard’s charming blog and beautiful custom handmade jewelry store. Wow! I just love it! :) Seriously- love reading about her darling family, her fashion (ultra hip!), her photography (so stunning and serene) and her sense of style is so what I want to be! I browsed pages and pages of her blog- her color inspiration posts are my favorite!! :)

Meet Lisa – so sweet :) and look! A scarf! :D Ya’ll know I’m a sucker for scarves. ;)

When Lisa contacted me about doing a giveaway on kevinandamanda.com, I was thrilled. Thrilled, thrilled, thrilled! :) Beyond thrilled. And honored!! Just look where all Lisa’s been featured! :)

If you have someone special on your Christmas list this year, or are wondering what to get the hard-to-buy-for mom, sister or friend who has everything?? :) You’ll definitely want to check out Lisa’s designs. And you’ll probably want to leave the browser window open on your dear husband’s computer too! ;)

Just look at a few of these delightful pieces by Lisa! :)

Oh my goodness. It’s a family tree necklace!! A hand-stamped tree with each family member’s name stamped around the edge! This is just too sweet. :)

Love these whimsical flowers and the pearl adds such a delicate touch!

Beautiful. Just beautiful.

Love this vintage key- the XO stamped down at the bottom just puts it over the top!! So sweet :)

This is what’s on my Christmas list this year. Kevin gave me a traditional pearl necklace for our wedding, and recently I’ve been thinking about getting some pearl studs to go with it. But when I saw these- I knew they were the ones. :)

Okok- So I know you’re dying to know more about the giveaway!! Lisa is generously giving away not one but TWO $50 gift certificates!! Two lucky winners will take home a $50 gift certificate to spend however and on whomever they choose! (I’m still trying to figure out how I can keep both of them for myself! ;))

We have our winners!!!

Congratulations to……..

#6 Megan Hawkins and #448 Erin!!

You guys are our winners!!! Sweet! I know ya’ll are going to love whatever you pick out! :)

Thanks so much everyone for making this such a fun giveaway! I loved reading all your entries and seeing what you’d pick! :) Have a safe and Happy Thankgiving!! :)

To Enter This Giveaway…

All you have to do is leave a comment on this post! How would YOU spend your $50 gift certificate?? Leave me a link to your favorite piece! :) And would you keep it for yourself? Or do you have the perfect recipient in mind?? :)

The Details…

One entry per person please! Two winners will be randomly chosen by their comment number using Random.org’s number generator. This contest will run until Wednesday, November 25, 2009 at 9:00 pm CST. Check back Wednesday night to see if you won!! Winners will be added to the bottom of this post! :)

Thanks so much for looking and good luck!!! :)

© kevinandamanda.com, 2009. | Leave a comment! | Stumble | Share on Twitter | Share on Facebook

I just love fresh roses. :)

I *especially* love the multicolored ones- it’s like a rainbow of roses! :)

My favorite grocery store has these gorgeous buds for $7 a dozen– so I try to pick some up when I know we’re having company over.

The only problem with that is then I have to arrange them myself. And I am just terrible at that! Is that just me? Does anyone else lack the necessary gene required to neatly arrange roses in a vase?? :p

But they match the kitchen pretty good, huh?? :)

Check out that vase… This is *definitely* a “company’s coming over” vase!! :) It was custom made and engraved by Paula from Plays with Mud.. And look at that- she used a Pea Font! :) That’s Pea Lacy Chunky. Isn’t that cool?? :)

Can you *believe* that gorgeous detailing?? Outta this world!

Look what else Paula came up with.. Oh my goodness… I admit, when I first saw these mini vases (engraved with Create, Inspire, Dream), I wanted to snatch them right up and use them in my scraproom! :)

Can you imagine all the cute stuff I could hold in here?? Colored pencils, pens, brushes… Meep!

Yes. These vases are so cute, I actually “meep’d”. I’m not even sure what a meep is. It just slipped out.

But I’ll have to wait… cause THESE mini vases are going to one of you!! :)

Time’s up!! Scroll down to see who won!! :)

That’s right! One SUPer lucky commenter is going to win this set of three little mini vases! :) I gotta be honest- I’m super jealous! :) Super super jealous! :)

To be entered to win this set of three mini, custom engraved mini vases, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post! :) Take a browse around Paula’s Etsy shoppe and tell me what you are dying to have in your house! :)

I have to admit… I can’t pick just one!

Like this Cookies for Santa Plate! :) This would be soooooooo perfect for the holidays! I almost meeped again. :blush:

Or, Oh My Gosh… This. This would make the BEST. baby gift. Ever. Can you imagine getting this for baby’s first birthday and then serving a special birthday meal / cake on this special plate for every birthday??! Wouldn’t that make the neatest tradition?? :)

Of course these two vases engraved with a wedding anniversary date appeal to me… :)

Oh and these bowls. I gotta have these bowls. I bet they would keep ice cream super cold!! :)

Okok. I’ll stop.

No wait, I have one more thing to tell you! :) Paula is running a promotion through the end of November- anyone who places an order during the month of November will be entered to win a FREE custom platter!!!

OMG!! Look at this!! This is just a sample of one of Paula’s platters.. Can you imagine??! :)

AND…. If you mention kevinandamanda.com… You will get an extra 10% off your entire order! :)

You can order through Paula’s Etsy shop, or you can contact her directly through email for a custom order! But hurry! This offer is only good through November, 30th, 2009! :)

And the giveaway is ending sooner that that. :D

The giveaway for the three mini-vases ends Wednesday, November 18th at 1 pm CST! So get your comment in before then!! And remember- one entry per person please! :)

Time’s Up!

The winner of the three mini vases is…

#374 Heidi!

Congratulations Heidi! A “meep-er” after my own heart! :) I know you’ll LOVE the vases- congrats again!! :)

For everyone else, don’t forget you can still get 10% any of Paula’s pottery from now until the end of November- even CUSTOM pieces!! So if you want your own mini vases, or a vase like I have, or anything else you don’t see in her Etsy store… Just go ahead and email her for a custom quote!

Now if you’ll excuse me. I have like 50 orders to go place right now. :D

Thanks for looking!! :)

© kevinandamanda.com, 2009. | Leave a comment! | Stumble | Share on Twitter | Share on Facebook

I was messing around making a collage the other day, and I came across this pretty cool action. It’s called Panos’s BnBig Picture- you can get it by clicking here and scrolling almost all the way down to the bottom of the page- look under the header “Frames and Mattes” and it’s #42.

It’s pretty easy to use- here’s what my image looked like before I ran the action. Basically you just put a bunch of square pictures side by side, with no extra space around any of the pictures.

This image has been shrunk down for web-sized viewing, and the action will still work on a web-sized image (you can grab this one and try it to test it out if you want), but I think the shadows turn out better if you start with a bigger image. Mine was like 2400px x 2400px originally.

When you have all your square pictures set up, just run the BnBig Picture action and it turns into this!

Pretty sweet, huh? :)

Now you can just use Photoshop, or Gimpshop or whatever to put your square images together, no problem- but if you have Lightroom 2, it’s even easier to make grids of pictures like the one above. Basically you just select all your pictures and choose “Print to File”- then you can pick one of their premade contact sheets and it’ll put all your images in a grid for you. Even if they’re not already square, you can just click a button and it will make them all square for you. :) Then instead of printing it out on your printer, it’ll just make a large JPG image of what you see on the screen. Super easy! :) I learned more about that trick from this tutorial here.

Now why on earth am I making a collage of a bunch of clothes?? :p

Well, it’s out with the old and in with the new! :)

I’m cleaning out my closets- and these are all going up for sale on eBay if you see one that catches your eye. ;) 

I’ve got sweaters, tops, jeans, skirts…

from Abercrombie & Fitch, J. Crew, GAP, Bebe, The Limited, Ann Taylor LOFT and too many more. :blush: 

My eBay Auctions

Ok, I’ll stop now. ;)

Well, I hope you found this little mini-tutorial fun and helpful! :) Thanks so much for looking! :)

© kevinandamanda.com, 2009. | Leave a comment! | Stumble | Share on Twitter | Share on Facebook