IROCKSOWHAT

Win a 100 Dollar Target Gift card! Thank you!

2012-02-13T00:29:00.000-05:00

It's exciting for me to have the opportunity to benefit from this blog, but I'm only benefiting because of you guys. And so I'd like to give back!

To enter this giveaway, I simply ask that you please be a subscribed reader. You can subscribe through google friend connect (you can click "Join this site" at the bottom right of my sidebar), bloglovin', or my RSS feed.

For extra entries-

-Follow @IROCKSOWHAT on twitter.

-Like IROCKSOWHAT on Facebook.

-Tweet about this giveaway linking back to this post and mentioning @IROCKSOWHAT.

And that's it! Please remember that each entry should be a different comment. Winner will be mailed a 100 dollar gift card from Target. Winner will be chosen at random from random.org. Giveaway ends Friday the 17th at midnight. Good luck!

Frrrrreeeezzzzing our asses off outside.

2012-02-13T00:27:00.000-05:00

I do not like cold weather. Nope. Not at all. Not even a little bit. I get super depressed when the weather gets colder and I dread getting out of bed/out of the shower/out of my house. But, when you have a 2 year old that's full of pent up energy, you gotta do something.

So out we go. I was DYING. But I'm glad he got out and was able to play, despite the fact that he refused to wear gloves! My hands were numb, I can't even imagine how he felt. My crazy, crazy kid.

I'm linking up with Mandy for this "Steppin' Out Saturday/Sunday". I call this freezing buns off style.

Coat - American Eagle

Jeans - Target

I appreciate artists!

2012-02-12T14:01:00.000-05:00

I love getting art from other artists! Sweet girl Kathryn sent me this portrait. How cool is this?! Check out her blog here.

Fill in the blanks

2012-02-12T07:00:00.001-05:00

1. I started my blog because... I created this thing just to keep in touch with my Dad and Step Mom while Josh was on his first deployment and I was newly pregnant. I had no idea that blogs were even cool or popular! My Step mom had mentioned that I should start one because they're fun. And here we are now!

2. One thing I love seeing on other blogs are... I'm a sucker for a good before and after. It could be weight loss, a room renovation, or a new hair-do. I just love that kinda stuff. I'm very visual so if there's lots of pretty pictures, I'll spend a good amount of time looking/lurking.

3. Something I love about blogging... I have made straight up for REAL friends through blogging. I call them my grown up friends. These are the people that I actually share similar interests with and we have a lot in common. As nerdy as it sounds, blogging was a really good outlet for me in the first year of Wyatt's life. I was so bummed out the whole time and alone, it was nice being able to vent through this thing.

4. A favorite blog post of mine... Oh, you know, the one where I'm in my panties. Yeah.

5. Something my friends in real life know about me that I've never before mentioned on my blog... can't share everything. :)

6. My new favorite blogs to read are... Well, I actually read the same blogs that I've been reading since the beginning. There are new ones here and there, but I mostly stick to what I've been reading this whole time. There are so many blogs out there! Can't read them all!

7. Some things I tend to avoid doing on my blog are... I avoid bad mouthing bloggers. Not cool. And I always make sure to credit the source, and you should too! Link accordingly!

Thanks to Today I'm Bobbi for tagging me in this post! It was fun! Check out Bobbi's blog too. She's one of those new blogs that I've been reading lately. :)

Drunk hair dying.

2012-02-11T07:00:00.002-05:00

Hey guys. Hope you woke up to an awesome Saturday. I spent my Friday night drinking Pabst and dying my hair.

It's a little dark but I'm okay with it. I'll have better pictures up sometime soon. Talk to everyone soon!

Yeah, we don't spank. We're one of THOSE people.

2012-02-10T07:00:00.001-05:00

(me as a kid! maybe 4 or 5?)

Okay. Is there a magical secret to having an obedient kid? Because apparently we're missing the mark over here. We don't spank Wyatt. So how do you discipline a very stubborn child without force?

I was spanked as a child and because of that my siblings and I were obedient. We knew what was expected of us. I just feel like there's gotta be a way to do this without having to spank. I'm not going to say my parents were terrible people for spanking, because I think I turned out pretty good and I don't have any ill feelings towards them for spanking. But for me, it just doesn't feel right and especially since I have a child who's obsessed with hitting, I can't wrap my brain around telling him that hitting is naughty and then turn around and hit him too.

I'm going to be honest, I have swatted Wyatt's hands in the past and I always fear that his hitting obsession was because of that.

I need to just get some backbone and dedicate some serious time out time. I'm just really avoiding it because of how strong willed he is. It's like watching an episode of Super Nanny. You know, the one where you're like, "Holy shit these kids are so terrible. I can't believe they let their kids act like that." Yeah, that's what I feel like it's like over here sometimes. The throwing and screaming and hitting tantrums are out of this world. I know that time outs aren't going to be a miraculous cure all and that I'll be a sweaty disgusting mess keeping him in his time out spot in general. Oh Lord. Feeling panicked just thinking about it.

But I gotta do something because it's to the point now where Josh and I are so stressed out and literally angry because we don't know what to do and our kid is embarrassing us in public... We're fighting all the time about how to handle our son. He thinks I'm too lenient and I think he's too strict. It's so hard raising a kid! Especially when between the two of us there's no consistency.

Yay for new things.

2012-02-10T00:21:00.000-05:00

Hey to all of you google reader/bloglovin'/RSS readers- I have a slightly different look going on. After all that headdress drama I had to change things up, so this is what I've come up with! Yay! I think I like it better anyway.

And in other news, I got a Macbook pro yesterday! I've sold my iMac and have upgraded and I couldn't be happier. It's awesome being able to chillax on the couch and have my feet up and get my shiz done. Ahhh relaxation. I actually originally got the iMac because I thought I needed a stationary work station to help me work, but I'm finding out the portability/comfort is what motivates me more. Sitting all stiff in a chilly office kinda sucks. Here's to productivity!

Channeling my depression.

2012-02-08T07:00:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I mentioned how I was depressed and shopping was like therapy for me. An evil therapy that didn't actually do anything but make me feel worse.

Well, I got this comment from Deanna-

That comment really hit home for me. Sometimes I think as an artist, or just a general creator of things, I need to feel a little heart tugging before I feel motivated to act. And if I don't, I simulate these feelings with music- just to inspire me.

Sometimes I need that extra sadness to stay up late and throw myself into a project. It feels good to just wrap my brain around something I'm making... using that time to think about things. Then I find that I'm creating up a storm.

The best way I can describe this for someone who doesn't find themselves to be very creative- it's like when you're REALLY getting into cleaning your house. You're thinking about things and you're just going from room to room killin' it. You're so deep in thought that cleaning is just what your body is doing, but your mind is somewhere else. I think that's what it's like for me, but with art, writing, photography, video... or whatever.

So about my post yesterday, I don't know if I'll ever want to do anything about my depression. It seems to make me who I am. An inspired person wanting to create based on her mood and feelings. I just need to learn how to channel it better.

Depression. De De Depression.

2012-02-07T15:25:00.000-05:00

DEPRESSION. DE DE DEPRESSION.

Yes, I can honestly say I'm a depressed individual. I am untreated. I live with it. But, I am not the type of depressed person that is debilitated. I am able to function, move on with my life, push discomfort aside. Being a mom has actually magnified this talent for me. No time to feel sorry for myself.

But, it will come out. And I think this week is my week. I know when I'm really buggin' because I have an overwhelming need to shop. Shopping gives me a very happy high feeling, and then it spices it up with a good gut wrenching dose of guilt.

Things I've bought this week-

Chi flat iron
3 Victoria's Secret Bras and 5 undies
Numerous Chipotle meals and Lattes from Starbucks
100 dollars in Sephora make up and skin care
Unnecessary clothing for Wyatt

I'm typing all of this out because I gotta get a hold of myself and stop giving myself such a false sense of happiness. The reality is the guilt of these purchases is way more overwhelming than my depression itself.

I know I'm not the only one that loves the feeling of shopping alone, buying shit like you're rich. It's nice to just pretend that you have no cares. Am I right?

Free Love Birds Print!

2012-02-07T07:00:00.002-05:00

Valentine's day is just around the corner guys! I saw this cute print on Better Homes and Gardens and thought I'd make my own version of it. I'm not that much for fabric, so I thought a free printable would be cool.

For full resolution, click here. Will print as large as 17x22.

Being strong armed.

2012-02-06T13:05:00.000-05:00

I just gotta get this out.

I do not like being strong armed and forced to do things I don't want to do, or don't believe that I should do. This is my blog and it's personal to me. I started this for me, and the fact that I have followers is a bonus. I like you guys and I feel like I've made a lot of awesome friends.

But when a small group of people will not leave you alone and hassle you to no end, send you hundreds of emails exclaiming you're a racist, calling you a privileged white person, you have to stop and think about what you're doing. I do not AT ALL believe that the drawings that I had on here previously were racist. But, since that small group of people felt like it was, they contacted some of my sponsors asking them to withdraw their support in me. That is not okay. I do not want my friends/sponsors/advertisers to be involved in this in anyway. Innocent bystanders in the cross fire. I can honestly say that I would never bully anyone into changing their content, even if I detest their website.

I guess I just want you all to know that I'm not racist. I care very much for all types of people, even the ones that are mean to me. But I did change my blog header (don't laugh! it's temporary!) and I did remove the native girl print just to give my inbox some peace. There was no lesson learned here except that bullying gets you what you want.

Theit Bags Giveaway and Review! Worth $159.00!

2012-02-06T05:00:00.007-05:00

When I first opened my package from Theit bags I was pretty excited. The bag is VERY well made, sturdy, and will keep your camera safe. The insides are made of a microsuede and everything is packed in pretty nicely. I really like that all the compartments can totally be customized with velcro.

(ooooo everything in it's place)

And if you're like me, you realize that your camera bag can't JUST be a camera bag. I'm totally using this as a diaper bag/purse too. I've been carrying it around for a few days now and I'm really pleased. I'm stoked that everything has a compartment and things are staying nicely organized. No more random sack bag! Yay!

My actual favorite thing about this bag is how it feels to carry it. For being so full of stuff, I'm surprised how my shoulder doesn't hurt. Normally bags give me that "digging in" feeling on my shoulders. The wide top part of the strap is really nice.

So, here's the best part. Would you like to win this exact same bag? This is the Bossi bag in Gravel (Retail value of $159.00!) and I choose this particular color because I adore grey! I love that it can go with everything and it's just crazy chic.

MANDATORY ENTRY- you must be a reader of IROCKSOWHAT blog. Either through google friend connect or my RSS feed, or even bloglovin'.

Other ways to enter-

Follow @Theitbags on Twitter.
Like Theit bags on Facebook.
Follow @IROCKSOWHAT on Twitter.
Like IROCKSOWHAT on Facebook.
Tweet about this giveaway linking back to this post mentioning @IROCKSOWHAT and @Theitbags.

Giveaway ends Friday, February 10th at midnight.

Please leave some sort of way for me to reach you if you win.

Steppin' Out Saturday!

2012-02-05T07:00:00.002-05:00

Linking up with Mandy on my Steppin' Out Saturday.

Yesterday was pretty good! I got ready kinda late and since Josh has been getting home around noon everyday, I was able to window shop and drink Starbucks completely by myself. Blisssssss. I have to admit that I've been doing this the last few days and it's actually pathetic! I just love being by myself, it's crazy. And I don't need to spend money to be happy either. I'm the perfect woman. Just kidding.

What am I wearing?

Dress - H&M

Boots - Target

Bag - Theit Bags (giveaway for one of these TOMORROW!!!)

What I've learned about lipstick/Free printable

2012-02-04T07:00:00.003-05:00

I get asked ALL the time now how I pull off red/pink lipstick. Let me just start off by saying that everyone can pull off lipstick! I'm actually relatively new to wearing lipstick. I've only really seriously been wearing it for the last few months. It's a decision. It's like wearing a bright colored shirt. You just do it and you own it. If you wear it with confidence, no one will ever question you and you'll be sure to pull it off.

So all this lipstick talk naturally had me doodling. Enjoy this free printable. For full resolution, click here.

Pin It

A story about boobs...

2012-02-03T21:34:00.001-05:00

Okay, so I'm sure most of you read Mandy's post about her magical bra fitting and how the heavens opened up and the cherubs practically did back flips off of pink puffy clouds once she was in a bra that was her actual size. Welp, had the same experience. CANNOT BELIEVE IT. I was wearing the wrong size for who knows how long!

A 34B is what I thought my size was for years. YEARS. I have probably 50 bras all in this size. While I knew the fit was kinda weird, I just thought it was me. I remember thinking that there wasn't even a size for me because I was an inbetweener size. Nope. Not true. Thanks to Victoria's Secret I've discovered that I'm a 32C. WHAAA? For someone who had this thought that she was a tiny little boobie girl, hearing a C was like someone gave me a million dollars. A CCCCCCCCCCCCC!!!!!! Yes!

Now? Everything is SO comfortable and happy and wonderful that I just want to wear my new bras as shirts since everything just looks rockin'.

Go right now to a Victoria's Secret or a Nordstrom and get fitted! You will be so happy! And if you're concerned about being nakey in front of a stranger, totally not the case. They sized me with my shirt on actually and everything was great. Good Luck!!!!

Also, if you have any awesome bra fitting tips, like where to go and what bras are awesome for you, leave it in the comments for everyone to read. :)

Learning to love my ASS

2012-02-01T23:54:00.000-05:00

My ass. No matter what, that thing is large and in charge. No matter how thin I get, that thing just stays the same. And this isn't really me complaining (although I'm sure I'll probably be a tad whiney in this post), this is just me stating a fact. I have a big ass.

I'm in the process of accepting this thing. It's so hard. My ass keeps me from wearing jeans that I love, it keeps me from feeling comfortable in general. always wondering if someone is staring at it. I'm trying to change this about me, but I'm just so aware of my ass.

But I know that this is me and this is what I'm meant to look like. I really want to start loving my body for what it is right now. This is extremely challenging! I always have this overwhelming desire to improve. Always.

Okay, so no more self loathing over this junk in the trunk.

Shit Fashion Girls Say

2012-02-01T13:45:00.000-05:00

I saw Stephanie posted these and I HAD to post them too. I die.

BEST LINES-
"I'm just going to have a personality drink before I go..""People were worried about me, I want to be THAT skinny again...""I'm wearing like 6 pairs of Spanx...""Is that Essie or OPI?..."

Judgy peeps.

2012-01-31T23:27:00.001-05:00

Sometimes when you have a blog that people read, you find yourself NOT wanting to share everything about yourself.

Back when I started this thing for fun and to keep in contact with my Dad and Step Mom, I would just post pictures of me fat and pregnant and then later pictures of Wyatt as a newborn. I started to get "followers" and then it just sort of organically grew.

Since then I've posted my weight loss journey, things I'm eating, random family stuff, my art, whatever.

But now I'm really missing what I had in the beginning- where I just posted what I thought and felt all the time. So many judgy peeps yo. It's hard to do that now. Now I have to anticipate hate email. It's nuts man. But I still do it.

Anyway, that's all I'm sharing for now.

The Paper Mama's Self Photo Challenge

2012-01-31T00:16:00.001-05:00

Linking up with my main squeeze/aka LOVER Chelsey. She's doing a self photo challenge. Winner gets a 100 dollar credit towards a custom family portrait from her.

All you have to do is blog a little bit about you.

Obsessing over... This video.

Thinking about... Meeting new people in California! Yes, I'm moving there. No more Arizona.

Anticipating... Again, moving. Not sure if we're just gonna scrap all our stuff or not. UGUGUGHHGHGHHGH.

Working on... Sooooo many custom headers for peeps. Logos. Portraits.

Listening to... Currently as I type this I'm listening to Belle and Sebastian.

Eating... A lot of Lean Cuisines lately. Down 6 lbs just eating those bad boys for the past week.

Wishing... I could figure stuff out.

Oreck AirInstinct Review and Giveaway $499.99 dollar value!

2012-01-30T07:00:00.002-05:00

So Oreck sent me it's AirInstinct air purifier for free to review about a month ago. Since then we've had it on for a solid straight month. My house tends to have weird smells... either it's from my toddler or just being older and everything shut up for the winter. But my house has been pretty odorless lately, and I have to give all the credit to my AirInstinct. I actually noticed it when I left for a week and came back... everything was clean smelling.

Some cool things about the AirInstinct-

purifies the air! that means pollen, pet dander, dust, you name it gets sucked up into it's HEPA filter and leaves your house purified!
it's quiet! even it's white noise feature is pretty minimal. you can also choose for it to be totally silent.
it's modern! everyone's always asking what it is and that it looks so neat.
there is a light coloring changing system so you're always aware of how much or how little particles are in the air.

I did a video review of the product, you guys should check it out to see it in action. ***SPOILER ALERT- I blow flour into it.***

And here's the cool part! Oreck is giving away an AirInstinct purifier ($499.99 dollar value!) for one IROCKSOWHAT follower (you must be a follower)!

Mandatory entry- Visit Oreck.com and tell us one thing you've learned about the AirInstinct.

Other ways to win (separate comment for each entry)-

Follow @oreck on Twitter.

Like Oreck on Facebook.

Tweet about the giveaway mentioning @irocksowhat and @oreck with a link to this post.

Giveaway ends Friday at midnight. I am the official sponsor of the giveaway, Oreck is only supplying the prize. Oreck Corporation provided the prize for the sweepstakes but is not the sponsor of the sweepstakes.

Things I try to avoid! #ThingsItrytoAvoid

2012-01-29T18:29:00.000-05:00

-mall kiosks selling energizing bracelets and dead sea scrubs. Those people are pushy!

-Coldstone employees singing. When I tip I promptly tell them they don't have to sing. They usually thank me.

-Jehovah's witnesses. It's just awkward. Last time I opened the door to one I must of looked terrible because the lady asked if I was sick and I used it as an "out". But maybe I should of been offended?

-The dishes. 'nuff said.

-This commercial.

When I used to live in Anchorage, Alaska this commercial would make my skin crawl.

Boston Terrier Free Printable!

2012-01-29T00:49:00.001-05:00

For full resolution, click here! (Don't like the cigarette? Here's one without it.)

This printable can be printed up to 17x22, or 8.5x11.

Pin It

We like to DAAAANCE!!!

2012-01-28T22:38:00.000-05:00

So tonight I was going through some semi old videos of Wyatt and I. Semi-old meaning a few months, which is a lot in Wyatt's life. Anyway, I have a tendency to record Wyatt and I dancing in some way. He usually thinks it's awesome and fun.

Here we are dancing to the Nacho Libre soundtrack-

And here's a video I made of us dancing to MGMT-

I freaking love these videos and I'm so glad I have things like this for when he's older.

OH HEY, don't click here.

2012-01-28T15:27:00.000-05:00

Some seriously super sexy links to love. (Okay, maybe they're not sexy.)

-THIS IS WHAT EVERY WOMAN NEEDS. Mandy talks about the magic of a proper bra fitting and how it legit changed her life. And it's written really funnyyyyy.

- I super enjoy watching all of the Shit (FILL IN THE BLANK HERE) People Say videos on youtube and Joyce put an interesting one up on her blog. Shit Hawaiian's Say.

-I think my Valentine should get me this from That Girl Crochet. Like I need more excuses to drink coffee.

-I don't know why I like these creepy pictures.

-OMGOMGOMG NUTELLA RECIPES ALL IN ONE POST.

-Valentine's related DIY. There's a heart shaped pizza!

-I like this list of goals. I share some of them.

-Sweet vintage shop.

-Cool new iPhone wallpapers!

-My sister's blog. She has a new baby.

-The Super Mom series at With Two Cats is really sweet.

-You have to check out the 14 Days of Love by The Wonder Forest!

-Here's an entire post dedicated to Valentine's for your dog!

-This is my favorite kid's fashion blog ever.

-I'm REALLY happy and excited for Mandey to be making bow ties! There is NOT enough cool clothes in this world for boys. Go and support her and buy a bow tie. Very affordable.

#AltSummit - who loved their #Gelaskins ?!

2012-01-27T15:00:00.001-05:00

So I've been pretty cray cray about Gelaskins.

I think we all are actually.

(And no one paid me or even asked me to blog about them. I just really think they're cool.)

If you're looking for BEAUTIFUL/ARTISTIC/STUNNING/CREATIVE/ONE OF A KIND iPad, iPhone, iPod, and laptop skins- this is the place (they also have skins for other devices).

(via)

I think it's really awesome that you can submit your own picture.

It was nice having our Gelaskins hard cases on during Alt. Not only did we get a lot of compliments, but they're actually super durable. The cases don't come off very easily which is great. Plus I may have tested the cases durability by dropping my phone a few times.

(Robin. Dayna. Chelsey. - in above photos)

Today's freebie - Let's Blog Some Shit print

2012-01-27T12:23:00.001-05:00

This freebie is for all my blogging nerds out there.

For full resolution, click HERE. Will print as 17x22 or 8.5x11. And feel free to share with your friends!

Pin It

#AltSummit and meeting Ben Silberman! #Pinterest

2012-01-27T07:00:00.002-05:00

(Aw, we're all so cute standing in front of The Grand that we were all too cheap to stay in!)

So, just like most people- I have this fear of rejection. I'm sure it's a normal and natural fear, but I let it get to me sometimes. Before leaving for Alt, I was pretty dang worried about being this super lame mom blogger amongst a bunch of young designer girls that live in lofts... or are from Chicago. I don't know why, I just put that idea in my head.

I noticed that as I was preparing for Alt, I was giving myself excuses as to why I didn't belong.

-I don't draw things realistically.

-I never went to school.

-I haven't been doing illustrations for very long.

-I wear pajamas on a regular basis.

-I break out.

-Whatever.

And then while I was at Alt Summit, I just realized that these were my peeps. That I most DEFINITELY should have gone and I'm most definitely going again. The fear of rejection was still there, but I also had a new passion and it was telling me, "TO HELL WITH YOUR FEAR" and now I'm running full speed towards my goals.

Seeing Ben Silberman (from PINTEREST!!!) speak and then meeting him kinda put things into perspective for me. He was one of those said "peeps".

He talked about how he had an idea (pinterest) and how he wasn't sure of how to execute it, but he just worked towards it and eventually he figured it out along the way. He explained the importance of believing in yourself, even when others aren't... which was often the case in his situation. He also said you gotta have help. It's the only way any of us will be successful. Good people backing you up.

Ben Silberman actually attended Alt Summit 2 years ago with just the idea of Pinterest. It wasn't really a full working site. Doesn't that blow your mind? How in 2 short years he was able to push through all his fear of rejection and insecurity and made a legit and rockin' site?

This post is getting to be all over the place. But the bottom line was that Alt taught me to have confidence in myself and to dream big (which I'm still working on).

(Jensie, Chelsey, and Robin in the above photos)

#AltSummit Squarespace + UPPERCASE video and I'm in it!

2012-01-26T19:01:00.000-05:00

Sick of hearing about Alt yet? I sure hope not.

(you can see me drawing a pair of sunglasses at around 2 minutes)
One of the mini parties we attended was hosted by Squarespace and Uppercase magazine and it was super cute. Everyone stood around tables and made jewelry and there was this awesome photo booth that you could draw on. Super neat. The whole theme was "Handmade by you" and it completely was like flies to honey with the designer/blogger crowd. Watch out world. There were beads on the table that were just asking to be strung.
Also in the video with me is Dayna. Robin. Chelsey.

My #AltSummit White Party Experience

2012-01-26T15:00:00.001-05:00

Okay. I'm just going to say it. I hate these pictures of me. Like, really hate them. BUUUUUT, my friends look freaking awesome so I'm posting them because I can't be selfish.

The Dinner En Blanc party was pretty cool! It was super interesting to see all the different outfits in one room. I of course started my period the day of the white party. That's awesome huh? Sorry if that was TMI, but hello... WHITE PARTY. Anyway, so I felt exceptionally gross on top of a gross cold that I brought with me to Alt.

So I just got drunk instead and felt muuuuuuuuch better.

People in these photos- Dayna. Chelsey. Robin. Jensie. Nicole.

Meeting Shawntae in Utah!

2012-01-26T07:00:00.001-05:00

One of the highlights of going to Utah last week was meeting Shawntae and her two super adorable kids. I've been following Shawntae for quite some time (like waaaay back when I first started this blog) and so it was truly awesome finally meeting her.

This whole meeting bloggers thing is so crazy new to me! I have to admit that it doesn't really come natural to just meet people off the internet. I'm always amazed by those that find it normal. But after my week experience at Alt, I feel like I'm getting better at it.

Shawntae was a super relaxed person and totally made me feel comfortable. We all just watched the kids play/look cute and joked around and talked. I'm also super in love with Kingston since he's like the cutest thing ever. And Navy was nothing short of perfection. I swear she was a super good baby.

Have you ever met up with other bloggers? What was your experience like? Were you worried what they'd think of you in real life? I found myself really worried that people would be disgusted by my face once they say it in person? HAHA!

(also in these photos are my room mates Robin and Chelsey. Best room mates ever.)

Our new CAR!

2012-01-25T22:32:00.000-05:00

I've been away from the internet today because we bought a CAR! Yes, sadly our old car was really coming to an end. It had electrical problems and honestly, we didn't feel comfortable driving it anymore! We were always scared that it was going to be our last drive every time we got in it.

So we've been researching like crazy. 'Cause that's the kinda people we are. Need a coffee maker? Research it. Anyone else do that?

I've recently found a pretty cool forum by Toyota that is all about cars and our experiences with them. Anywhere from buying one to suggestions on finding a good mechanic. The best part is that it's for women and so there's a lot of information directed towards our wants and needs. It's called the TWIN network and you guys should check it out. I'm a TWIN member!

Stop Working For Free!!! #altsummit

2012-01-24T14:16:00.002-05:00

(These pictures are un-related to this post, but I had to throw them up here because I have SO many Alt Summit photos that need to be shared.)

There was a lot of insight that was shared while at Alt Summit. Some of it was probably obvious, but for some reason I can be a big idiot and just not GET it. The thing I learned about myself is that I am always de-valuing my work. For some reason since I'm a stay at home mom, and a self taught designer, I feel like what I do is not up to par with others and therefore I tend to low ball my prices/work for free.

Guys, STOP WORKING FOR FREE.

And here's why-

If we don't value our work, then who will? If you're too cheap, then most likely people will think you don't offer a good product. I can't tell you how many times I judge a product in the store by how cheap it is. Why is it so cheap? Is it going to break easily? Your prices should be competitive with those around you doing the same thing. If you're doing better than those people, then hell yes charge more. But be honest with yourself here.

Working for free actually hurts the industry/creative field you're trying to get into. No one can make money if you're doing it for free. Assuming you want to eventually make more money, never do it for free.

You're making it harder for yourself to really make what you do a career. The more you're working for free, the longer it will take you to finally be able to charge appropriately. Just because you're still learning or a student doesn't make you or your time less valuable. Would you work for free at McDonalds because you were just learning? No, never.

And lastly, working for free hurts the economy. It makes people lose jobs or keeps them from finding jobs. Yep, it always seems to come back to the economy. So do your part! Keep the creative industry fair! Do not let people take advantage of our services any longer.

I hope this helps anyone afraid to take the plunge. Have self respect and you will reap the benefits!

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Photo booths are like CRACK to bloggers. #altsummit

2012-01-24T07:00:00.001-05:00

(oh god. that's a lot of deodorant I'm wearing. whatever. better than stinking.)

(Chelsey gets REALLY excited about throwing flower pom poms in the air.)

Nope. We're not drunk.

So apparently when bloggers get together they LOVE to do photo booth pictures. Because boy were there a lot.

#AltSummit Re-cap - holy top knots.

2012-01-23T22:10:00.000-05:00

DUUUUUUUUUUUUUDE. Okay. Let me just sit here a minute and think. Okay. What just happened?

Well, I'm back from Alt Summit and it was EVERYTHING I thought it would be. I hung out with like minded peeps and really felt like I got a boost in the direction I've been wanting to go. I know that everyone who attended is feeling so much motivation right now, and I am too.

If you're wondering what Alt is all about, well, let me tell you.

- It's a meet up for those interested in all things design. That term is pretty broad. I met shop owners, photographers, magazine writers, artists, and bloggers. Everyone brought something interesting to the table.

- Alt is a place to drink. Yeah. I drank a lot.

- You'll be passing out your business card like it's nobody's business. Although I am bummed that I didn't pass it out as much as I wanted to (I got kinda shy at times), I did pass it out quite often. So bring a lot if you go.

- The classes are super educational. I learned a lot about what direction I want to take this blog, ideas to make it grow, understanding my voice, and a bunch of other nerdy blog stuff like that. I also am ready to take charge of this thing I created.

- You'll meet people and create super great connections. Networking was the highlight of this trip. Lets face it, no one got anywhere without a little help.

I'll be blogging more about Alt for the next week, I'm sure. I'm going to need to process everything and I think my blog is the perfect way to do it. I also plan on sharing with you all the insight I learned, and then maybe you too will feel just as inspired.

Oh, and like I mentioned before, I roomed with Chelsey, but I also roomed with Robin from Clever Girls (are you a Clever girl yet? you SHOULD be.)

#Altsummit will take you to the next level

2012-01-21T15:15:00.001-05:00

Words can't express the fire that is now burning in me. Alt is teaching me so much about the vision and direction I want for my life. I'm so excited to take what it is I'm doing in this world to the next level.

I'm still here and I've made awesome friends. If you're not sure if Alt is for you, I can tell you it's made a HUGE difference in how I see myself. I'm ready to take myself more seriously.

Everyone is so positive and even that has taught me some things. It's okay to be excited about what you do and stop feeling bad for not being conventional. I'm an awesome and creative person, and it's what I'm supposed to be.

Our Alt dinner

2012-01-19T12:23:00.001-05:00

Omg guyz. So busy. Last night chelsey from thepapermama.com and I had our sponsored dinner with HP and scored amazing and wonderful products from them. Such a good company. Our dinner was phenomenal and we felt extravagant. We're meeting cool Katz and having a great time!!

Sorry I'm not as present! You can follow my twitter feed for more specific play by plays. Learning lots here at Alt Summit.

(blogging from my phone)

I'm here!!!

2012-01-18T09:46:00.002-05:00

Well I made to Utah and things have been going great! I met up with my roommates and we've all hit it off. Lots of nerdy blog talk going on.

I apologize if this post seems weird, but I'm using a blogger app from my iPhone.

Our schedule is pretty jam packed. So much to do! I'll try and document the best I can, but I'm finding myself getting lost in the moment and forgetting to take pictures. I need to just take a deep breath.

Oh, and if anyone cares- I shared a bed with Chelsey from The Paper Mama www.thepapermama.com and we did NOT spoon. But I did hear her sigh a few times in her sleep. She's weird.

Hope everyone has an awesome day! I just want to thank those that got me here again. I'm so happy and grateful.

Free Valentine's print! "Love is an arrow and it points at you"

2012-01-18T07:00:00.003-05:00

Free Valentine's Day print! Share with your friends!

For full resolution, click here! And please pin it!

See ya later!!! OFF TO ALT DESIGN SUMMIT!!!

2012-01-17T05:30:00.000-05:00

(this little gem was created by Chelsey of The Paper Mama, my roommate at Alt!)

Well guys, this is it. I'm off to Alt Design Summit and I'm so excited! Because of this blog and all you guys that supported me, I'm actually going to this thing. I can't wait to just totally submerge myself into everything Alt has to offer. I hope to learn a lot from this experience and share it all with you guys! Look out for my random blog posts this week that will all be done from either my kindle or my phone... so I apologize in advance if they're not my normal amazingness.

You guys can follow everything I'm doing through my FACEBOOK page and my TWITTER and of course my INSTAGRAM (username @IROCKSOWHAT). In fact, I'll probably be over sharing... so sorry about that. I'll try to get back to everyone the best I can, but I might suck at it since I'll be crazy busy!

And if you have a second, check out Chelsey's blog too. We're gonna spoon all night.

This is it! Wish me luck!

Freebies! Color Frames!

2012-01-16T20:09:00.001-05:00

Here are some free frames. I made these EXTRA big incase you wanted to use them for larger projects. Each frame is around 1200 pixels wide.

Click HERE for full resolution. And please feel free to pin this!

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Medium Sponsor Highlight! LOVE.

2012-01-16T19:12:00.000-05:00

Thanks to all my medium sized ad sponsors. Theres a lot of them and I highly encourage everyone go check them all out. To see their blogs, click on their blog banners.

Advertise on IROCKSOWHAT for the month of February!

2012-01-16T07:00:00.001-05:00

(all you google reader/rss reader peeps, check out my new blog banner!)

If you'd like to sponsor IROCKSOWHAT for the month of February, please email me at jessica.malia.craig@gmail.com

And if you're curious about my stats-

60,000 monthly page views

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1000 Twitter followers 360 Facebook fans

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$10.00

Below the medium ads.

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$25.00

This ad will be right below the extra large ad. You'll also be featured in the large ad highlight post.

$45.00 Booked until May 1st!
You'll get an individual highlight post featuring you! lots of links to your site!

FINE PRINT: (haha) My pricing is subject to change! Payments are due on the last day of the month and your "rented" space is good till the last day of month you want to advertise. I will also be accepting payments through PayPal.

Make up tutorial: How to make the perfect cat eye!

2012-01-14T23:20:00.001-05:00

To be perfectly honest with you all, I actually suck really bad at make up. I for the life of me can't get things to look perfectly. But, I can manage. So, I wanted to show you all how I do a cat eye look, simply and easily.

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Home made skin facial for your Saturday!

2012-01-14T07:00:00.003-05:00

Good Saturday!

Hope everyone is having a fabulous day! And what a better way to start your morning than giving yourself a little mini-home facial? Because that's obviously what we all do on Saturdays? AMIRIGHT? Okay no.

Anyway, so I saw this on Pinterest a couple of nights ago and thought I'd give it a go. This orange juice/baking soda combination is supposed to be a blackhead killer like nobody's business. It's also supposed to tighten pores (the citrus maybe does this?), which is awesome for me because I'm am zit prone with large pores (EW!).

First thing, mix about a tablespoon of pure orange juice and however much baking soda you need to make it a thicker consistency. I don't know how much baking soda I used, but I added enough to make the mask consistency thicker and spreadable.

Layer it on your face for about 20 minutes. Some people said it itched and burned, but it didn't for me? I guess it just depends on how sensitive your skin is. I did feel a slight tingle feeling, but it wasn't really that noticeable.

When I removed the mask my face was actually pretty vibrant and smooth. It felt like I really did just get a facial. I think obviously for this face treatment to work, you'd probably want to do it at the most twice a week, but not more. That baking soda can dry your face out and that's no good. I definitely think this would be a great way to blast away zits quickly. Also, be sure to lather in a good moisturizer when you're done. My face felt very tight after this home treatment.

And there you have it! Have really nice skin! Go!

I have a lot of Sponsors! Whew!!!

2012-01-13T07:00:00.002-05:00

Everything Photographer.

Automatic Sam.

The Paper Mama. Twitter. Facebook.

The Haps. Twitter. Facebook.

Hot Bot Baby.

Today I'm Bobbi. Twitter. Flickr.

Olive Observer. Twitter. Pinterest.

Niceties. Twitter. Facebook.

Momma Ruth Says. Twitter. Pinterest.

That Girl In Tattoos. That Girl Crochet. Twitter.

Up a Tree, Cup a Tea co. Up a Tree, Cup a Tea blog. Twitter.

Holding onto the Little Things. Facebook. Pinterest.

Ever So Lovely. Facebook. Twitter. Shop. Design.

Adventures of a New Mom. Twitter. Pinterest. Renee Kristine Vintage.

You is kind, you is smart, you is important

2012-01-13T01:08:00.001-05:00

My friend Shawntae suggested I make this print, so this is dedicated to her!

For full resolution, click here.

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Don't catch the SICK/adventures in juicing

2012-01-12T19:38:00.000-05:00

Do not hang out on my blog for too long this evening, for I am afraid that it is possible for you to catch the disgusting grossness going on over here. Josh has bronchitis and Wyatt has croup and I am HEALTHY! And I plan to keep it that way. I've been popping airborne and juicing as much as possible (which by the way, that juice fast completely was a failure and I had a bowl of chili tonight).

(we took Wyatt to the doctor which was the most torturous thing on this earth. this is us trying to keep him entertained during the 4 hour visit.)

(two sickies)

More about my adventures of juicing though. Good lord. If you like food at all, like chewing it and swallowing it... then fasting isn't for you. With my juice fast I was probably not making enough juice and the random fruits and vegetables I was eating (usually handfuls) just wasn't doing it. Tonight the thought of making one more juice literally turned my stomach and I sat in my closet and moped (not being dramatic, I have a little stool in there and I sorta just sat down and didn't get up). It didn't help that my husband was coaxing me into eating, telling me I don't need to do this and that I'm the hottest thing ever (how dare he!). In all honesty, I am disappointed that I completely caved to my cravings, but today I just wanted to lay in bed and not get out and ignore everyone. That's never going to happen so I was extremely irritable and... excuses excuses. I was hungry. But I'll probably do again, just limiting it to a 3 day fast instead. Much easier for the mind to handle. On the plus side of everything, I lost about 4-5lbs!

Why I hate religion, but love Jesus

2012-01-11T22:17:00.000-05:00

This video is truth.

Wordless Wednesday

2012-01-11T13:26:00.000-05:00

(he did this all on his own.)

linking up with The Paper Mama, 5 Minutes For Mom,Parenting by Dummies, Project Alicia, And Then She Snapped, Jenni from the Blog, and Live and Love Outloud.

FREEBIE! Ikat frames!

2012-01-10T22:06:00.001-05:00

Have you been wanting to jazz up your "about me" picture on your blog? Maybe you could with these ikat print frames? I'm all about ikat right now. Super cool.

For full resolution click here.

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Juice fasting...

2012-01-10T21:19:00.000-05:00

In order to get ready for Alt Summit, I've decided that I want to do a juice cleanse. I'm crazy. I've done day one and I'm already missing food. My cleanse/fast is lasting until the day I leave (which is the 17th) and I hope to feel less bloated and in all around good shape.

Do you guys have any good fasting/cleansing tips? Right now I'm drinking three jam packed juices a day and I've been having an occasional fruit/vegetable. Have any of you ever done a juice fast? How'd it go? How long did you go for? What were your results?

Josh is the favorite.

2012-01-09T16:05:00.000-05:00

SNIFF SNIFF.

My worst nightmare happened a couple of nights ago.

When Josh and I went to go pick up Wyatt from Sam's house after our night out, I stood at the door just waiting for him to turn to me and scream "YAY!" and run to me. I stood there. Waited. He saw me and started babbling about Wall-e on the TV. And then Josh walks in behind me and Wyatt's face gleamed and he screamed "DADDY!!!" and literally ran AROUND ME to his father. WHAT THE EFFFF?!?#@%$@^?#$^?!#$?%^@#?$%@#$%?#@$%#@?%$ What is this BS?! I guess it's terrible to admit this, but it's so true - I want to be Wyatt's favorite. I feel like I deserve it.

I spent the whole night being paranoid that Wyatt didn't like me anymore. I talked it over with Josh, as he sat on the couch, mentally begging Jesus to please shut me up. He assured me that Wyatt still loves me and that he probably just sees Josh as the "fun" one. That didn't really make me feel better. The fun one? What am I? The torturous one? The terrible one? The MOM one? UGH.

I'm not really looking for an answer here because I think this sort of thing is organic and just happens naturally... but I guess I just thought it would never happen to me. Wyatt has of course snuggled with me for the past few days and everything is fine... but I'm onto him. Operation make Josh the bad guy is in effect (KIDDING!).

Free Buffalo in the snow print! Freebie!

2012-01-08T18:09:00.001-05:00

When I was a teenager I had to ride the bus to school. I lived out in the country and the ride was so long! It would take us an hour to get to school just riding the bus, and it was hellish. But anyway, I remember there was a random pasture/giant fenced in yard with real buffalo/bison (I don't know the difference)! Trust me, it was really out of place for a small town in Maryland to have buffalo. And we'd pass it everyday and just check out all the buffalo, just hanging out.

Here's a free print for you guys. Click HERE for full resolution.

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Happy Birthday to my hubbin'

2012-01-08T15:20:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was my husband's birthday and we had my sister watch Wyatt so we could go out just the two of us. We were so stoked to be sans baby! It's amazing how mobile you are when you don't have to lug around a toddler or chase him or keep him from knocking things from the shelves. We couldn't stop laughing and talking about how our arms felt awesome and free.

We had dinner at Bensi and it was NOMZ.. so good. Lots of carbs. Awesome. And then we headed to the movies and saw the new Sherlock Holmes movie. Also super good! But without the carbs!

It was a nice little night and I'm glad we got the chance to go out. I feel like we never get to do it enough. Random fact- this was the first time I've been to the movies since I was PREGNANT. Yes, that's right. I haven't been to the movies in that long. It's pretty much impossible. Well, I did go see Kung Fu Panda 2 with Josh and Wyatt but I'm not counting that because I barely looked up at the screen the entire time. And 30 minutes before the movie ended I had to take Wyatt out of the theater so he could run up and down the hallways to get his excess energy out. So yes, let's not count that ONE TIME I went to the movies with Wyatt.

My husband is 26 you guys! I've known him since he was 16 years old! When I think back on how much he's changed, it makes me laugh!

Yay! Happy Birthday my sexy beast!

I know what I want to be when I grow up.

2012-01-07T01:38:00.000-05:00

Random fact- I never wanted to grow up and BE anything. When I was asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, I'd of course say something that I thought was relatively cool, but there wasn't anything that I believed I'd be doing. There was a ballerina phase, then years later I thought I'd want to be an actress, and I've even thought I'd be a journalist. Oh, and then there was a sorta radio personality phase. Maybe a hair dresser? But in all honesty, I never really thought I'd be any of those things and I obviously wasn't.

I've never had any real drive for my future and what I wanted to DO in life until after Wyatt was born. Jokingly I remember telling my husband years ago before Wyatt was even thought of, that I didn't want to do anything with my life except shop and that brought me the most happiness (it really was a joke... but there might have been some truth behind it). I really think that after Wyatt came into my life, I was forced to either hold onto myself, or lose myself in all the hustle and bustle of raising a kid. I felt myself slipping into "Mom Depression" and sort of had an "awakening" and started doing things I loved.. things I didn't know I loved but always was interested in.

I can honestly say now that I have a real drive and passion for art and design and I can see myself doing it for the rest of my life. If the old me could see the new me, she'd be shocked! And probably stoked too. I was a lost soul back then. It's amazing how much I've grown in such a short time. I'm now really excited about my personal future. It's a really awesome feeling.

If you'd like to follow along with me on all the bazillion social media sites out there, you can! (I always follow back :] )

Bacon art printable!

2012-01-06T01:41:00.002-05:00

My 16 year old bacon loving brother was here this past summer and it was totally great! He helped around the house and we just spent a lot of time together. To reward him for cutting our massive lawn, I asked him what he wanted for lunch/dinner and he replied, "BACON!". So I cooked him up a pound of bacon and he ate it all in one sitting. Not judging. I've done it. Just ask Josh. He was pretty ticked one morning when I accidentally ate all the bacon as I was cooking it. Oops.

So, it's pretty much an unanimous opinion when I say, bacon is marvelous. I know that so many others feel the same, so it inspired me to make this printable for everyone. I need some good kitchen art and I'm thinking I'll go ahead and print this bad boy out too.

For full resolution, click HERE.

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The home stretch to #AltSummit

2012-01-05T07:00:00.002-05:00

OMG GUYZ, so Alt is right around the corner (13 days!) and I can't believe I'm almost there. Me? Someone like ME is going to something like ALT DESIGN SUMMIT (thank you all for your financial support!). It's pretty unbelievable honestly. For awhile I was thinking that I wouldn't fit in, or that I don't have anything to really offer... but I've started to think differently about things and I'm gaining some real self confidence.

It's all probably because in the past month or so I feel like I've really come into my own as far as design and art goes. I feel a calling to keep going and creating and I'm actually pretty proud of my work. I'm getting lots of fun practice on you guys, offering up freebies and printables whenever I can. And people are actually buying my portraits and blog banners... I've come a long way!

I guess I'm just really thankful and I'm really looking forward to meeting and mingling with creative minds. One of my internet BFF's (Chelsey from The Paper Mama) and I are rooming together and I'm elated to finally meet that broad. I wonder if she's a morning person? WE'LL FIND OUT!!! HAHAHAHA! Just kidding.

Free bicycle print from me to you!

2012-01-05T01:21:00.005-05:00

Here's a free print download for you guys. It's super big resolution and you should be able to blow it up all the way to a 16x20. Hope you like it! It reminds me of summer... which I'm missing big time now. Hello?! Today was like 30 degrees here in Virginia!

For full resolution, click here.

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Finally coming to a close.

2012-01-04T10:24:00.000-05:00

I don't blog much about my husband being in the Air Force because honestly I try to not make it my life like a lot of military wives do. I think it's because I can see how unhappy my husband is in the military. If I felt like he was actually excited and eager to be a service member, I'd probably be all about the military. But in reality, we're extremely unhappy and have literally counted down the days for it to be over just a few months after this picture was taken at Josh's basic training graduation.

I know we don't have it as bad as some, but there's still no way getting over being separated from your loved ones for any period of time. Josh has been deployed twice for 7-8 months at a time. Once while I was pregnant with our son (and he was able to make it back for the birth), and the other time when Wyatt was only 7 months old, which made him miss a whole bunch of things, including pretty much all the early milestones - rolling, crawling, and walking. Side note, I don't even cry now knowing that he can deploy. I guess I'm just used to being separated.

I'm not really here to complain. We knew that going into this that there would be sacrifices, but there were things that we weren't expecting. I guess I feel like it'd be disrespectful to get TOO into it here since there are so many people with wonderful and prideful military experiences. I'm happy for those people, because they're probably feeling so fulfilled. Like their actually truly serving their country.

Josh is getting out in a few short months and things have been pretty stressful just trying to get our ducks in a row. What will we do once we're not getting that nice little financial safety cushion? Where will we live? What about jobs? They seem to be really hard to find, especially for those without college education (like us- Josh has some credits though, but he's not nearly finished). And speaking of school, Josh still has his GI Bill to use, how will that work? Him being a student and all.

Anyway, I just wanted to share with you all that my life, our life, is about to change again. Even though things look scary now, we're SO ready and willing for this change because it means freedom. I don't know if non-military members GET what that means. There really is no freedom in the military. It's something I literally took for granted and didn't realize how important it was to me and my family before the military. The military gives this false sense of security, making you depend on them, and in my opinion it keeps you lured in, because you think you can't live without it.

I'm also happy about no more deployments. Josh's career field is highly deployable. He deploys every 7 months, and he's deployed for 7 or so months at a time. It's a constant cycle of coming in and out of the country. It sucks, but it is a part of his job. I know that. But I'm ready for that job to be over.

My Dad

2012-01-03T01:28:00.000-05:00

I have sort of sworn off these sort of posts because I started to feel like they made me look needy or like I'm seeking attention. I have purposely stopped blogging about my Dad and my feelings about missing him. I don't know why. I've even stopped mentioning him on Facebook... it all just felt so desperate to me. And the thing is, I really don't think it's needy when some of my family members do it, because I feel the same way they do inside. But it's just hard for me to share about him now. I guess I just don't want to seem weak.

For those that don't know, my Dad died of colon cancer almost exactly 2 years ago this week. It was a really hard time for all of us and we were by his side for a ridiculously long time watching him slowly die (it was only ridiculous because it felt like he was suffering forever). We were all wishing that he'd die, and it gave us mixed feelings of guilt wishing something like that, but when you see someone you love suffering, you know that death is merciful.

I have managed to block out the image of my Dad dying. Which worried me that I never would be able to do since it was so raw and real in my brain for so long. I'm now remembering him like I did when I was actually a teenager. Which is weird because it must be my strongest opinion of him... weird psyche.

I have been wondering like crazy lately what he'd think of all the changes going on in my life (it's my personal belief that he's not "looking down on me"). I hate to make it about me, because it's obviously not just about me... but I did always worry about what he thought. I wonder if he'd think it was crazy that I out of the blue would create a design business, be blogging to a bunch of cool people, or what he thought about me moving to Arizona. My Dad had my step mom, me, and my aunt's blogs all bookmarked on his navigational bar on his computer. He'd email me asking when I'm going to update my blog so he could see pictures of Wyatt. He thought blogging was cool! And he's right, it is.

That's why I'm going to post this. After all, this is still a place where I share my thoughts and feelings.

I really miss my Dad greatly and there's not a day that goes by where I don't think about him. I'm always wishing I could call him or ask him for advice on something. Or even just tell him what amazing thing Wyatt just did. Life really fucking sucks sometimes and we're dealt shitty cards. He was someone who shouldn't have died and it's really tragic that he's gone so soon.

I don't really know how to end this post. So maybe I'll just share a picture of him. This is how I see my Dad. He had a really huge smile. I love how healthy he looks here.

Free Blog Downloads! Frames and borders!

2012-01-02T14:15:00.001-05:00

Hey beautiful people. Here are this weeks blog freebies! Some frames and borders. I hope you like them. Feel free to share these with friends and pin away! Thanks!

To download in full resolution, click here.

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I'm doing portraits now! Check it out!

2012-01-01T20:20:00.000-05:00

I'm seriously PSYCHED to be able to launch this today. IROCKSOWHAT Prints will now be doing PORTRAITS!!! YAYYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAAAA! Are you excited? 'Cause I am. Like really excited.

(image of Julie)

(a couple of friends)

(Alycia's dog Monty)

(Jill's son Corbin)

Please check out my BIG CARTEL shop to see pricing and details. Thanks guys!

Just wanting to wish everyone a...

2011-12-31T02:51:00.002-05:00

IROCKSOWHAT year in review. What did you miss?

2011-12-29T15:53:00.000-05:00

This past year has been chock full of THINGS. So much going on and it's just nice to reflect! I've seen a few people do a year in review and I thought it'd be an awesome idea to just flat out copy, so here I go.

It all started off right with Josh coming home from a 7 month deployment. I was so happy to have him home! The first thing he did besides the OBVIOUS (bow chicka wow wow), was go eat at Taco Bell!

In the beginning of January I wrote THIS post and it seemed to really resonate with people. I still get comments about it a year later. I think it really helped motivate a lot of people to lose weight.

I was super into food in 2011. The healthy kind that is. I was always posting healthy recipes and the things I tried/created. I threw together an eggless, sugar less, non-flour, dairy free cookie that seemed to really be a hit!

We moved in February 2011 to our slightly retro home (there may be some random wood paneling around here, but we're renting so who cares?).

Hahahaa! I did a dialect vlog... do I have an accent?

OMG! Got an iMac and was forever changed!

Fun summer zoo trips, I'm missing this right now.

My sister got married! WHHHAAAT? She did a "planned" runaway to Disney World where she married my now brother in law!

We live so close to the beach, there was quite a bit of beach days! My brother came and stayed with us during the summer and it was really nice!

Saturday Farmer's Market hangs...

2011 is when I realized that I had officially become a REAL work at home mom.

Aw, now I'm really reminicing, my bestfriends came to visit. Sniff Sniff. We had an awesome day at Busch Gardens.

OMG OMG OMG BEST MOMENT OF THE YEAR RIGHT HERE, got an IPHONE!

Oh! And who could forget about the most stupidest blown out of proportion hurricane ever? We had to evacuate for that stupid thing. Waste of time and money. We did end up having to buy all new refrigerator food though. That sucked.

Completed something from the bucket list and got to see the Dropkick Murphy's with my husband and get totally tanked. Waking up the next day was not fun I tell you.

My nephew was born on my birthday! Awesome huh?!

Speaking of birthdays, I turned 25 in September and got mildly depressed and had a bit of a life crisis. I wrote this and totally felt changed and inspired lots of people!

Josh and I celebrated our 7 year wedding anniversary this year! Can you believe that? We celebrated low key and ate a pizza and watched a movie. :)

OMG OMG My baby turned 2!!!! SAAAAAD. We surprised him when he woke up with a room full of balloons and a ball pit. We're obviously the best parents ever. P.S. We totally got rid of that ball pit recently. Screw that noise.

We celebrated the best holiday ever! HALLOWEEN! Wyatt had a cheap Brobee costume and I was a make shift lumberjack/hipster chick.

Wyatt's real birthday present from us was seeing Yo Gabba Gabba live later in the month of October. It was probably more amazing to me than him. I cried.

Thanks to you guys and your generous donations and blog banner purchases, Chelsey and I raised enough money to go to Alt Design Summit. This was a really awesome thing that happened to me in 2011. Check out Chelsey at The Paper Mama. We're gonna be roomies at the Summit.

And to end the year, we had a glorious little Christmas at home spent together, just hanging out. It's been a really good year!

MAKE UP! MAKE UP! My favorites...

2011-12-29T07:00:00.001-05:00

I thought it'd be fun to show you all my favorite make up ever. These are the things I usually use most days.

If my house was burning down, I'd probably grab Wyatt first, then that moon beam high lighter. It's awesome stuff. I put it right under my eyebrows and right on my cheek bones. Love it.

Also, can I just say that Wet N Wild is awesome and cheap?

And of course you gotta use Maybelline for the basics like eye brow liner and mascara. Why use anything else? They got that shiz pegged.

I do buy higher end foundation and blush. I really like Lorac foundation because it covers the best on my skin. And the Stila blush can be used as a lipstick also! Winning!

What are your favorite make up brands?

Hey, I do stuff!

2011-12-29T01:31:00.000-05:00

If you're interested in getting a new blog header, hit me up!

Free Blog Downloads!

2011-12-28T19:47:00.001-05:00

I've been working on some new blog dividers and borders for you guys. Feel free to use them as you please! These would be great to divide blog posts, to use in your blog banners, or to fancy up your pictures!

To download in full resolution, click here.

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Here's one of the borders made into a picture frame!

Enjoy!

A very merry INSTAGRAM christmas.

2011-12-28T07:00:00.000-05:00

No proper Christmas blog post would be complete unless you throw down all your instagram pictures! Oh, I'm thankful for instagram.

In these pictures you'll see-

1. Josh and I building the train set.

2. My new coat from my honey baby boo boo bear.

3. New kindle fire!

4. Playing outside.

5. Christmas make up.

6. Naked time.

7. Watching Christmas classics.

8. Food.

9. Around the house.

This helped me.

2011-12-28T00:41:00.000-05:00

There was an old man, a boy and a donkey. They were going to town and it was decided that the boy should ride.

As they went along they passed some people who thought that it was a shame for the boy to ride and the old man to walk. The old man and boy decided that maybe the critics were right so they changed positions.

Later, they passed some more people who thought that it was a real shame for that man to make such a small boy walk. The two decided that maybe they should both walk.

Soon they passed some people who thought that it was stupid to walk when they had a donkey to ride. The man and the boy decided maybe the best thing would be for them both to ride the donkey.

Soon, they passed a group who thought that it was a shame to put such a load on a poor helpless animal. The old man and the boy decided that maybe the critics were right so they decided to carry the donkey.

As they crossed a bridge, they lost their grip on the animal and he fell into the river and drowned.

The Moral of the Story: If you try to please everyone, you will eventually lose your ass!

---Do what you want, you don't need to worry about what anyone else thinks.

Whew. Done with Christmas!

2011-12-27T15:38:00.000-05:00

Oh Holy Night! (Christmas reference) Finally done with Christmas! And we didn't really DO anything, but I'm still feeling the holiday hangover! Our small little Christmas was nice. We decided to get Wyatt one big gift this year because quite honestly, he has too many toys. In fact, I purged some of his toys on Christmas Eve night to make room for the GIANT train set we got him. We love it, he loves it! It's a great set!

Josh and I exchanged as well (even though I said we weren't going to! HAHA!) He got me a pretty sweet coat, scarf, and hat, and I got him a few t-shirts from threadless.com. What's hilarious is that we got each other all the wrong sizes so now we're going to have to exchange everything. Oh well. It's the thought that counts.

I hope everyone had a great holiday and is looking forward to getting back to business! The break was nice, but I need regular structured life!

O Beautiful Star

2011-12-24T22:18:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas!

How to make your own GLITTER SHOES!

2011-12-23T14:25:00.003-05:00

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So, if you haven't ever SEEN the price of glitter heels, let me just tell you - they're expensive. I was just looking at a pair of heels for 50 bucks which is probably not the most expensive, but still too pricey for my budget. My sister said she saw a tutorial on the oh-so-wonderful pinterest, and so I'd thought I'd give it a go. All credit for today's post goes to We Are Not Martha.

The total cost to make these heels was 18 dollars and some change (also I owned the heels so I'm not counting that in my costs). I wonder if I could find some cheap glitter heels for that price? Yes, probably. My dilemma is that I'm a whopping size 10! and there were no size 10's to be found in my Forever 21. Big feet girls have problems.

You'll need:

Mod Podge

Glitter (I couldn't find a light gold at my craft store so I mixed white and gold glitter)

Clear glaze

Brush

Mix the glitter and the mod podge together, I did it on a plate. Then start applying. My best advice is to use a decent amount for your first coat, but try to keep your coats generally thin. I found that applying more coats was better than just caking it on. Thinner coats will leave your shoe not so chunky (which mine kinda turned out to be).

And as you're applying it, you'll probably be like, "WHAAAT? THIS LOOKS CRAZY!" but don't fear. the mod podge definitely dries clear and the glitter will be the only thing that comes through. This technique can be used on even colored shoes! My shoes were a faux leather brown!

After each coat let it dry for about 25 minutes. It'll dry pretty fast. I actually used a hair dryer to help things along. I ended up using about 4 coats on my shoes. I probably could have and should have stopped at 3 but I wanted to make sure that absolutely no brown parts of the shoe would bleed through.

The next day I sprayed them with the clear glaze. I wanted to let these shoes dry over night, totally not necessary but I'm careful. I sprayed them A LOT with the glaze.

How are they holding up? I'm telling you, this glitter is going NO WHERE. I can rub them with my hand and there's no glitter to be seen. So that's always good! No one wants glitter all over their house. I'm also able to bend my shoe easily and it's as if these shoes were already covered in glitter.

So, if you're needing cute shoes on the cheap, check out this fun DIY.

And Wyatt thought they were cool too!

New Business Cards #AltSummit

2011-12-22T21:22:00.000-05:00

Yay! I'm so stoked that my business cards from uprinting.com came! Aren't they awesome!? I got them in square with a matte finish. I'm so excited to be able to pass these out at Alt Summit next month! I really hope they're eye catching enough. :)

I decided to go ahead and make myself a new design for my business cards because I wanted it to match my all over blog look. These are my other cards that I'll probably pass out too. I recently took Alt's online class, "Rock Your Business Card" and I felt like I learned a lot.

Mostly what I learned was that there is no rules to business cards anymore! Whew! What a relief! I've been battling wanting to be creative versus the practical way of doing things.

Over all the important things to remember in your business card is:

1. Who are you? Make sure this is clear!

2. What do you do?

3. How do people find you? List all of the ways you can be reached!

4. Stand out! Your business card should be a conversation starter! It's one of the best ways to be remembered.

If you're looking for good places to get business cards, check out these sites.

Just remember that your business cards should really reflect you!

Freebies for your blog!

2011-12-21T16:52:00.001-05:00

To download in full resolution, click here.

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I've been inspired by all things FESTIVE lately... :) I hope you are too because I'd love to see these feather dividers/blog bling in action. Let me know if you're making good use of these freebies. And feel free to pin it if you like!

The Organic Skin Co Review!

2011-12-20T22:04:00.000-05:00

The Organic Skin Co asked me to review a few of their products and I happily said yes! Mostly because this time of year makes my skin go craaaaazy. I've been feeling very dry and scaly and really needed something to help me feel better. I've been meaning to pick up some exfoliant at the drug store, but never really got around to it. So when The Organic Skin Co contacted me it was perfect timing!

I want to start off by saying that I was actually really impressed with the products I tested. I've been using the Almond Seed exfoliant for a few days now and my face actually feels new. I don't feel any more rough spots that were there.

The Pomegranate and Shea hand cream has actually been a bit of a relieving surprise. My cuticles are usually a bonafide MESS in colder weather. Everything seems healed up now and no more cracking and bleeding hands! Yay! I'm thinking I'm going to even paint my nails tonight since they look so good!

So needless to say, I'm very happy with The Organic Skin Co.

"The Organic Skin Co. brings you certified organic skincare and cosmetics that utilize the best bioactive ingredients of nature – products which are made for people who care about purity."

Your favorite things link up!

2011-12-20T13:27:00.000-05:00

So Christmas is almost here! This had me thinking about how Josh and I rarely exchange during the holidays. It usually works for us since we always have so many other things to pay for. And now that we have Wyatt it's more important for us to give to him than to each other (pssst! I secretly bought Josh a Christmas present this year).

Anyway, I don't actually really need anything. There are things I'd probably want, but I'd have to really think about it I think... so that just shows me that I'm super blessed! Then I started to think about all the things in my house that I love. The material things. So, here are all of my favorite things...

See?! I got cool stuff!

I thought it'd be cool to link up our favorite things in our homes. I want to see all of your favorite things! If you'd like, please link up with me!

I do believe in SANTA!

2011-12-19T07:00:00.003-05:00

I don't care who you are! Going to the mall at Christmas is just the American way. There is nothing that says Christmas to me like walking around a bunch of teenagers on their Christmas break, bumping into slow old ladies, and seeing long lines for Santa. We were one of those waiting in a long line people. That part sucked, but we tag teamed and it worked out. I'd stand and hold our place while Josh let Wyatt roam around, getting into things. The mall people must be totally out of their minds if they think that my 2 year old is going to actually STAND in a slow moving line that wrapped around their Santa display. Heeeeeck no. It all worked out though.

We did kill a lot of time at the toy store in the mall. Wyatt was pretty much in heaven! There was this crazy train set that you could actually ride. Whenever it was another kids turn to ride, he graciously pushed them around the track. It sorta makes my heart happy that he's so friendly and completely NOT shy with other kids. Or anyone for that matter.

And of course my husband and his friend dared me to get on the ride. They said my butt was too big to handle it, I proved them wrong. We got some glares from this.

And here we are waiting for Santa! Wyatt impressed his audience with some song.

And this is what 25 dollars and waiting in line for an hour gets you! Homeless Santa. Wyatt was totally NOT freaked out by him (I knew he wouldn't be) and proceeded to have a conversation with him. He just babbled of course, but he used a lot of hand gestures and the photographer couldn't get him to smile. He was too busy telling Santa stuff.

And just for shits and giggles, look at how amazingly awesome last year's Santa pictures were. For starters, that Santa is legit and totally made me believe. And Wyatt was so freaked out! He's grown up a lot and in so many ways since last December. He's pretty much not freaked out by anyone. Not even Santa's who are obviously having a stroke while holding him.

Tagged!

2011-12-19T01:21:00.000-05:00

Yay! I don't normally participate in these tagged blogging posts, but I figured "Why not?" and gave it a whirl. I was tagged by Alycia from The Curious Pug.

Rules:
1. You must post these rules.
2. Each person must post 11 things about themselves on their blog.
3. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post, and create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer.
4. You have to choose 11 people to tag and link them on the post.
5. Go to their page and tell them you have linked him or her.
6. No tag backs.
7. No stuff in the tagging section about ‘you are tagged if you are reading this.’ You legitimately have to tag 11 people.

11 Things About Me:
1. I used to bite my nails SEVERELY up until I was in high school. I just stopped cold turkey one day.
2. My biggest downfall and cheat food is chips and dip. SLOBBERING AS I TYPE THAT.
3. I have had the same side swoop bangs hair style since I was in 6th grade! I have a middle school dance picture to prove it!
4. Speaking of hair, I haven't dyed it for 3 years! And every time I think about doing it I back out because I really love that my son and I have the same hair color.
5. I was pretty much obsessed with the show LOST for awhile there and even fantasized about being stranded on the island with all of the cast members (Sawyer). I mean, it was really unhealthy how much I thought about it.
6. Josh and I have been "together" for 9 years and married for 7.
7. Josh and I leave dishes in our sink for literally a week sometimes. It's so vile.
8. I wax my upper lip.
9. I think about my blog and blogging a million times a day.
10. I chopped off the tip of my right hand ring finger and had to have plastic surgery to sew it back on. I closed it in a fault door at the bank I used to work for.
11. Josh and I aren't supposed to exchange Christmas presents this year, but I bought him presents anyway and he's totally going to be so mad at me! HAHA!

Questions from Alycia from The Curious Pug:
1. If you could go back in time, what time period would you visit? - I'm actually really intrigued by primitive ways. I think it'd be awesome to go back to a time when people didn't have much and we just lived and worked and played. It seemed so simple.
2. What are you looking forward to in 2012? - Honestly, I'm super excited about Alt Design Summit. Then secondly, I'm excited for Josh to finally be out of the military.
3. Describe one of your hidden talents: I think I have the ability to make anyone feel comfortable and start conversations with anyone.
4. You can only bring what you can carry because zombies/aliens/vampires are attacking! What do you bring? - I'd grab Wyatt and my iPhone.
5. What's the best vacation you ever took? -vacation?! that's for rich people.
6. What's your favorite movie or book? - I DON'T READ! Don't have the patience. But I really like the movie Raising Arizona.
7. If you could have only 1 super power, what would it be and why? - Easy. Midas Touch. Obvi.
8. What's the first thing you do after you wake up in the morning? - Go get Wyatt something to drink and then lay on the couch.
9. What is the craziest thing you've ever done? - I don't know... I was really into mooning people when I was in high school. Sadly, my crazy actions stopped once I graduated.
10. What are you most proud of? - Well naturally I'm so proud of my son, but I'm also really proud that I was pregnant for 9 months, delivered a baby, and took care of him completely on my own while Josh was deployed most of his first year. I feel pretty awesome about that.
11. Best piece of advice you've ever received: You don't need a man to complete you. And it's so true. I choose to be with my husband, and he chooses to be with me. We don't NEED each other. I think that's real love. Whoa, this got a little deep.

MY QUESTIONS-
1. If you could get paid really well to do what you totally love, what would it be? It could be anything!
2. Who is your celebrity crush?
3. What is your dream car?
4. What do you wish you were better at?
5. What is your food weakness that you will over eat every single time?
6. What latest fashion do you hate and wish would just die?
7. Your favorite iphone/andoid app?
8. What is the your most favorite website?
9. Your top 3 favorite stores to shop?
10. What was your favorite childhood toy?
11. What really freaks you out/scares you?

and I tag - Amy, Shawtae, Ashley, Jill, Maryam, Renee, Deanna, Caitlin, The Hipster Dads, Mandey, and Mandy.

A glimpse. (Steppin' Out Saturday)

2011-12-18T07:00:00.008-05:00

Yay! Yesterday was a pretty good day! We headed out to Jason's deli for lunch and then eventually made our way to go see SANTA! Wyatt did super great and there will be the typical Santa picture to come later. It was really just a good family day. Just hanging out with each other and tackling the Christmas crowds. But we did it AS A FAMILY. So it's wholesome and shit.

Also, how do people freaking diet after the holidays. I've decided to just give up and start over after the new year. I figure everyone will be on their dieting kick so it'll help me to commit more. Anyone else?

Oh, and one more thing. We're the only people on our block without Christmas lights.

Linking up with Mandy's Steppin' Out Saturday.

Cardigan- F21

White blouse - H&M

Jeans - Target

Buffalo plaid flats - American Eagle

My evening...

2011-12-17T00:55:00.000-05:00

"Come on son, let's go make a MAN tent. No Mom's allowed."

Cuddle time.

Late night grocery shopping, alone. Yes please.

(P.S. Aren't these new Retro Pack Hipstamatic filters awesome?)

Free Blog Dividers! Jazz up yo blog!

2011-12-16T09:54:00.001-05:00

Here's some more blog divider freebies! You can use them to divide your blog posts or to jazz up your pictures. You can use them anywhere or on anything! I just ask they please be for personal use. I hope you're digging these! And if you use them, let me know! I want to see what you guys are doing with them.

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To download them in full resolution, please click here. And feel free to pin these bad boys and share with your friends!

Medium Sponsor Highlight! LOVE.

2011-12-15T17:04:00.000-05:00

Delirious Rhapsody.

The Daily Wyatt.

It's a Wonderful Life.

The Bartering Blogger.

Mar and Peej.

Advertising special! 2 weeks free!

2011-12-15T10:26:00.005-05:00

IROCKSOWHAT is moving on up! My numbers have been growing like crazy and I've been up by 20 percent (compared to last month) and I can only assume that these numbers will keep escalating. I'm really excited and eager to make this blog grow, and I'm more than happy to take you on for the ride! I'm offering a special 2 weeks free discount to my loverly sponsors!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

60,000 monthly pageviews

42,000 monthly visitors

32,000 unique views

1,000 subscribe to my RSS feed

1,181 Google friend connect readers

855 Twitter followers 360 Facebook fans

976 Pinterest followers

660 instagram followers

124 Picplz followers

200 bloglovin' followers

Klout score of 60

If you'd like to sponsor/advertise with IROCKSOWHAT for the month of January + 2 additional weeks into February, please email me and let me know (jessica.malia.craig@gmail.com) ! I have a few ad sizes for you to choose from.

$10.00

Below the medium ads and featured in the small sponsor post.

$15.00

Below the large ads and featured in the medium sponsor post.

$25.00

This ad will be right below the extra large ad, and only 4 available. You'll also be featured in the large ad highlight post.

$45.00 Booked until May 1st!
You'll get an individual highlight post featuring you! lots of links to your site!

I'm predicting that the month of January will be my biggest month yet. I'll be going to Alt Design Summit (thanks to all of your donations and banner/button package purchases!) and meeting lots of other bloggers and designers. Good things are sure to come in 2012!

HOW TO MAKE A TOP KNOT!

2011-12-15T07:00:00.001-05:00

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Okay, I realize that this is super simple and easy to do! But, I figured I'd make a video to show you guys how I do it! So watch my video if you're curious to know how I make my top knots look voluminous and messy!

Snake Bite!

2011-12-14T19:02:00.001-05:00

Wyatt likes to pretend that this fake rubber snake is real. So he's often coming up to me "hissing" and making the snake bite me. I play along! It's really cute to see how his little boy mind works. Sorry for all the fake screaming. :)

(Sorta) Wordless Wednesday

2011-12-14T10:33:00.002-05:00

(I can't even begin to describe how fast paced Wyatt has become! While it totally has Josh and I cracking up most nights, it's a bit crazy to deal with when you're super tired {my fault for staying up too late!}. We're loving our kid's type A personality! He's definitely an interesting person and I can't wait to hear about all his ideas when he's older. I know he'll have so much to say. I'm patiently waiting for the day to come when he's talking to us in full sentences. I can't even imagine! But I know it'll be hilarious.)

(Hope everyone is having an awesome Wednesday!)

To learn how to make gifs like this, go here. And also, sorry for all the gifs. I just think they're really fun and take up less space than displaying a million pictures in a post!

Linking up with The Paper Mama, And Then She Snapped, Parenting by Dummies, and Project Alicia.

IROCKSOWHAT'S favorite iPhone camera apps!

2011-12-13T12:22:00.000-05:00

Yay! This post is all about my favorite iPhone picture apps! I'm asked at least once a day what are my favorite apps, and I'm here to tell you what they are! (If you like the polaroid above, you can download it for yourself here, and if you'd like to learn how to make an animation gif, you can learn how to do it here.)

1. First and foremost, the mecca of all picture apps - Instagram! It's the most fun and awesome photo community! Right now it's just for iPhone, but they're coming to Android. At first I was like, "Psh!" but now I'm realizing that I can literally follow ALL of my friends and family and that sounds really fun to me. The best thing about Instagram is all the cool retro photo filters mixed with a social media platform. So you can comment on everyones pictures and follow people you love. You can upload any picture you want onto Instagram, even pictures edited with other picture apps. It's freeeeee!!!

Instagram Pictures

2. My second favorite photo app is Picture Show. I think it has the best tilt shift out there. It's extremely customizable and there are a ton of random filters that you can choose from, along with those that you create yourself. You can save all of your favorite ones and then easily apply the filter to your photo. I really like the different light options that Picture Show has. It's 1.99 for this app.

Picture Show Pictures

3. Another really awesome app is Hipstamatic. It's probably the most realistic toy camera look as far as apps go. The downfall of Hipstamatic is just like a real camera, you have to use it to take your picture. Instagram and Picture Show has the ability to upload pictures from your camera library. So it's kinda hard to randomly use this app for a quick pic. But, on the flip side, it causes you to really think about your shot and therefore improving your iphoneography. It's .99 for this app, but you're only given a few basic lens and films. You can buy new film and lens packs for .99.

Hipstamatic Pictures

4. Another super used app on my phone is Diptic. It allows you to have all those cool picture collages you see all over the place. If you want a free one (but not as customizable, check out Pic Stitch). This app is .99.

Diptic Pictures

5. If you just want to edit your photo, sorta Photoshop style (lighting, sharpening, clarity) Snapseed is the best app for that. I use this app to brighten my pictures and to sharpen. Sometimes it edits so well people can't believe the picture was from my iPhone at all! Snapseed has a few photo filters you can apply, but I don't really care for them (drama, vintage, and grunge). This app is pricey at 4.99 but I personally think it's worth it. I use it all the time.

Snapseed Picture.

6. For cool panorama shots, check out Photosynth. I think it's the best one out there... but that might just be me? And it's free!

Photosynth Pictures

7. Everyone wonders how I get my self portraits without the arm extended all up in your face shot, well, I use Just.Self Timer App! It's great! You can choose between a 5-10 second delay, go and pose really quick and get a good shot that everyone swears your husband/friend took! Plus it's free!

Just.Self Timer Pictures

8. Pixlromatic is an app that people seem to go crazy for, but I don't use it as often. It has about 5 filters that I actually like, but there are WAY more than that. It's a free app so it's worth the download.

Pixlromatic pictures

9. Leme Cam is also another free camera app that would best be compared to Hipstamatic in the sense that you have to use the camera in the app to take a picture. It has a really neat tilt shift filter that is very extreme and I love that. I really rarely use this app now, but there was a time that I played with it a lot. It's a free app.

Leme Cam Picture

10. Lo-Mob is an app that I sorta just discovered the other day. It's got an EXTREMELY realistic vintage photo filters. Lots of old polaroid frames and antique looking borders. I use this one a lot. It's 1.99 in the app store.

Lo-Mob pictures.

11. And how do people get those little words on their pictures? They use Label box! Lots of different types of labels to use, it's super easy to use and I use it all the time to cover Wyatt's naked parts! It's great because it's free!

Label Box pictures

12. Squaready is an awesome app that allows you to have vertical pictures on Instagram, without having to have a black border. I like it because since Instagram's layout is white, it goes well with the flow of your pictures. If this sounds strange, download Instagram and you'll see. You're no longer limited to just having square pictures on Instagram! Squaready is free!

Squaready pictures

I hope this helps everyone and they've learned about some new apps!

Large Sponsor Highlight!

2011-12-12T18:36:00.000-05:00

Mandy from The Haps is a really cool mom that makes being a mom look awesome! Ha! She blogs about her life and the cool things she does with her family. Something cool that you guys will surely love is her Steppin' Out feature that's done on Saturdays. It's awesome because everyone posts what they wore. I really like it and it's cool to see what everyone is wearing when they step out on the weekend. Currently she has a really funny Santa picture link up. Everyone is linking their hilarious/cute santa/kid pics and I'm going to link up an awesome picture of Wyatt last year.

IROCKSOWHAT prints and designs is my Big Cartel shop! I can make you guys blog banners, invites, programs, etc. Just email me for more questions! (jessica.malia.craig@gmail.com)

Featured today over at Simple Street!

2011-12-12T17:43:00.002-05:00

Hey guys! I've been featured over at Simple Street blog today and I'm pretty excited about it! Amanda is also going to Alt and will be featuring other Alt attendees for the next few weeks. So exciting to get to know everyone before I head out. It'll make officially meeting people in person not so weird! Yay!

Her blog is very inspirational and she makes me realize how much I need to learn about design and yadda yadda yadda... JUST GO LOOK AT HER BLOG.

LINKY LINKY WINKY DINKY

2011-12-11T07:00:00.002-05:00

Hey lovelies! Just hoping everyone's Sunday is going well. Josh and I are going to church for the first time in like 4 years together! That's just crazy! But, we're going, so that's cool.

I wanted to leave the rest of you sinners some links to love (JUST KIDDING! OMG DON'T GET MAD).

1. Enter this Giveaway at Harper's Happenings! It's an awesome/beautiful bag.

2. DIY yarn trees on Mar and Peej!

3. A cool meet up in Portland! Check out The Paper Mama's blog for the deets.

4. OMG CUTE PUPPY ALERT!

5. Free printable on Pamplemousse 1983!

6. Beautiful photos of a boy making cookies!

7. Um hello? Why don't I live here?

8. This is the best fashion blog for kids.

9. Another round of Gav says... I love this! I hope Wyatt says funny stuff.

10. Pre-Christmas gift swap!!! Check it out.

11. Want to join a cell phone link up? Join Amy's.

12. Help the Hipster Dad's on what to blog about. Tell them here.

13. Acute Designs has awesome brass earrings! And free shipping. Winning.

14. Butt paste giveaway! Who couldn't use some good old butt paste?

15. Egg-less peppermint sugar cookies! Recipe here.

16. Dora the Explorer fondant cake! I don't like Dora but I'd eat her.

17. OOOOO Avocado Banana face mask!

18. Aw! I love Heidi's hair cut. She looks happy doesn't she?

19. Homemade Christmas garland! COOL!

20. Have you made your Christmas card yet? Check out this one.

Relaxation! AAAAHHHH!

2011-12-10T07:00:00.001-05:00

Good lord yesterday was a nice day. My kid was perfect, I had nothing to do except figure out outfits for Alt Design Summit. I made and ate a lot of crispy fried chicken. I just generally relaxed all freaking day! Awesome, just awesome!

Anyway, I'm getting really excited about Alt and that means checking out fellow Alt attendees. Here's a list of Alt attendees that I'm really diggin'. There's expected to be 500 people at Alt this year!

Lights and Letters. Take Two They're Small. Tam-Me. Mama Sauce. Not Your Average Ordinary. The Ravenna Girls. House of Earnest. Vmac + Cheese. Ollibird. Salt and Pine. Cake Events. Simple Street. Compartment Life.

Sucky clothes blues/lets swap!!!

2011-12-09T07:00:00.007-05:00

So, I have a legitimate fear of not having anything to wear to Alt Design Summit next month. Like, I'm really freaking out. I DO NOT dress cool or hipster really. I don't have glamourous clothes... and honestly, I wear jeans and v-neck t-shirts 99 percent of the time. Before having Wyatt, I was a bit larger in size but I had a TON of awesome clothes and had cool style... but since becoming a mom and losing weight, I've started collecting "comfortable" clothing and all my old clothes are donated to Goodwill. And now that's all I have, comfortable clothes.

I've been scoping out sites like Mod Cloth and Nasty Gal and just feeling very intimidated. I wish I could afford these clothes! Because buying a piece here and there is fine, but I need like a new wardrobe! Well, at least 6 days worth. How am I going to stretch out my lame ass clothes for 6 days?! And yes, I know thrift stores are my friend... I just haven't gotten around to checking them out yet. Besides, our thrift stores really suck. Not even joking. They're terrible.

I guess I'm just feeling kinda whiney and down on myself today. I'm really wishing I was cool and had a wardrobe to match.

(if anyone wants to swap me in NICE CONDITION dresses or fancier clothes, let me know! I wear a size small/medium or about a 6 dress. I can offer you design work!)

Blog Freebies! Polaroid frames!

2011-12-09T00:07:00.027-05:00

I'm super stoked to offer up this weeks freebie! I made these cute polaroid frames for you guys to use on ya'll's blogs! If you like them, please share with your friends or pin away! Also, if you use them, I'd love to see what you did. So send me a link showing me any of the free freebies live in action on your blogs. I really would love to see it. :)

To download, click HERE.

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Also, side note, I'm still offering discounted banner work for the month of December! So please take advantage!