holiday templates 2011 with the amazing simply tiffany studios!

tifftillman

yeah!!! the advent season has officially begun.  we are deep in decorating and hunkering down to celebrate this amazing season as a family.

i’m busy working on my holiday joy photos for this season, and i’m very, very excited to take part in this awesome class with tiffany tillman.

check it out and sign up for yourself!  i’ll be guest “photo coaching” for her one day during the class!

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

Hark how the bells, sweet silver bells, all seem to say …

It’s Holiday Template time, babay!
register now and get $5 off 

I am super geeked to announce open registration for my all-time, favorite class:Holiday Templates 2011. In it’s fourth edition, my 25 Days of Templates class has evolved into a month long workshop featuring special guests, loads of digital techniques, super-mega kits, and, of course, templates. In the next 4 days, I’ll share sneak peeks, introduce the special guests, and give you a behind the scenes tour. Let’s start at the beginning. The video below sums up.

FOCUS | This workshop will help you craft an album full of your holiday memories. That’s the simple focus. 

Every day, whilst you sit in your jammies drinking mochachino, you’ll watch at least one lesson with the focus in mind. My lessons are available and reviewable forever. So you won’t miss a thing if you’re on vacation at the North Pole with Santa and NOT in your jammies. Soon as you and Santa finishing delivering goodies, you’re more than welcome to catch up and document your outings with St. Nick!

Your album can be a physical album with a common theme or a compilation of 25 individual December stories. You’re not limited to creating a holiday album. Maybe you might want to go in a different direction, like a December Daily, and that’s perfectly okay. It’s completely up to you. My focus is to simply give you the means to document your holidays digitally using templates.

TEMPLATES | Every student will receive 20 templates on day one.

In years past, y’all received templates in groups of 5 at a time. But this year, I want you to be ready from the start and know exactly how many photos you’ll need to fill each page — if your goal is such.

The above preview shares the first 16. You’ll receive 4 more , which will stay hidden until start day. And an additional four as we progress. That’s 16 + 4 + 4 = 24 templates. And the templates were crafted as single | doubles. They’ll work for single and/or double pages as shown in the preview. Each single has at least three compliments to increase your variety of double page layouts.

KITS | Every student receives a super-exclusive, compilation kit by Paislee Press and Creashens.

I asked Liz and Shen to pair up for two reasons. First, they are two of the best designers in our industry with easy-going, sweet-as-sweet-potato-pie personalities. I uber-love working with them both. And second, their styles are nearly opposite but work in perfect harmony.

Liz crafted a modern kit fit for any occasion. Shen rocked the traditional “joy to the world” theme. We deliberately chose contrasting kits in theme but married them together using the same color scheme. The result gives you a variety of page options.

I’ll share more insights about the entire kit (and some peeks at the additional mini-kits — yes there’s more) tomorrow.

LESSONS | What would any 25 Days of Templates class be without the daily video lessons? Not my class, that’s for sure. You’ll see a range of topics from my favorite digital techniques of embossing, masking, selecting, shadowing, and filtering to photography, printing and more. Most lessons are about 5 – 10 minutes long. A few go over that. However, each offer an opportunity to learn or trick to use on your pages.

ALBUM | Covered. That was a joke — did you get it? Persnickety Prints provided a PHAT discount for participants to print a custom post-bound album with top-loading pages. I’ve already ordered and received mine! It’s delish. Once the season concludes, I’ll send my finished pages off for printing and add them in.

You’ll get the cover art to replicate (with your choice of pattern background) and I demonstrate how to make your own in day/lesson 3.

EVERYTHING ELSE | Special guests, weekly webinars, plenty of page examples, discounts, daily forum topics … oh yeah baby. The workshop will keep you engaged during the busy season. And if life gets a bit hectic during the holidays, you can still register and meet up with the material in January or February or later.  The lessons are designed to help you craft your album whenever YOU are ready. Remember, that’s the simple focus.

I hope you’ll join me! Register on or before Tuesday, November 8, 2011 for a $5 discount.

Perhaps you have questions — I’m here to answer! Ask your question in the comments and be sure to pop back here everyday for the next few days for more sneak peeks and info.

SHARE | Grab a banner to spread the word.

Want code instead? Here you go. Need a different size? Change the width and height to reformat the badge’s size; maximum 300.

Blue Badge: <a target=”_blank” href=”http://simplytiffanystudios.com/tag/holiday-templates/”><img src=”http://simplytiffanystudios.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/HOL11_300mark-blue.png” alt=”Holiday Templates 2011 with Tiffany Tillman” align=”center” width=”250″ height=”250″ border=”0″></a>
Brown Badge: <a target=”_blank” href=”http://simplytiffanystudios.com/tag/holiday-templates/”><img src=”http://simplytiffanystudios.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/HOL11_300mark-brown.png” alt=”Holiday Templates 2011 with Tiffany Tillman” align=”center” width=”250″ height=”250″ border=”0″></a>
Red Badge: <a target=”_blank” href=”http://simplytiffanystudios.com/tag/holiday-templates/”><img src=”http://simplytiffanystudios.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/HOL11_300mark-red.png” alt=”Holiday Templates 2011 with Tiffany Tillman” align=”center” width=”250″ height=”250″ border=”0″></a>


One lucky winner will win a complimentary seat into class. Hark those bells! To enter for your chance to win, simply post a comment below in this thread by Friday, November 4th, 2011 by 11:59 PM EST. Increase your chances of winning by tweeting, facebook(ing), or blogging about the giveaway. Be sure to post a new comment for each tweet or post. The giveaway winner will be announced here on my blog Saturday, November 5th. Good luck!


willette’s excited for Christmas

so since i have been working on my holiday joy ebook, i have been in the Christmas mood like crazy….i wanted to try out this new blog product/tool called inlinkz

this is such a great, useful took for bloggers who typically include links to products/other pages…you can find out more by clicking the link above.   i think i need to play with it more….it seems like a lot of up front work to me to create the thumbnails, but the end result is really, really cool.

the links below are just some of the things i have been planning and working on to make our Christmas one of the best yet.

we’re actually in the midst of some pretty cool house projects (have i mentioned how cool it is to be married to an incredibly handy architect?)…and i’m loving all the fun things we are planning on doing as a family as we welcome in the holiday season.

 willette’s christmas plans 2011

i also created a photo book of my Christmas photos from last year (at least a handful of them) to have on display and help us remember all the fun we had last year.  i just created my album using shutterfly (and all albums are currently 30% off).  i used a variety of cameras daily: my iphone, my nikon point and shoot, and my nikon d3.
Shutterfly.com

HOLIDAY joy seekers {link up}

holiday joy examples 001

Finding the HOLIDAY joy started yesterday, and i’m having a ball getting to know all of our awesome holiday joy seekers!  the forum is the spot to be…with awesome questions, lessons, and photos being shared.

If you have not yet joined, there is still time.  We’re on week one right now.

Please take a peek at several of our joy seekers and their Holiday JOYFUL images.

super excited to find the holiday joy with you!

joy blog

have you signed up yet?

come find the holiday joy with us!

the fun begins November 26th!

photographer pumpkin carving template…

camera pumpkin

not sure how this is going to look once i carve it, but i’ll be sure to share photos after we carve tomorrow.

here is the template…download it, print it, carve it…..send some photo love on the facebook fan page if it works out for you!!!

have fun and happy carving (oh, and happy halloween….i feel like halloween is getting the shaft this year in our house because i’m super excited for finding the HOLIDAY joy!)

finding the HOLIDAY joy {sign up now}

joy web

woo hoo!  be the first to sign up for finding the HOLIDAY joy

learn how to get ROCKIN’ photos this holiday season with willette!
this is a two week mini e-journey (an on line photography class) that continues with the original “finding the joy” class concepts (but it is not necessary for you to have taken the other classes).

lessons for this class will be posted on line in a forum setting and will consist of tutorials (both written and video), some downloads, shot lists, how-to set up shots to best capture your holiday festivities, a calendar to help you make sure you best capture your holidays on “film.”

class will begin nov 26th and will continue until dec 10th…with a timeline and calendar to help you continue through the new year.

this is a self-paced class with no deadlines, and the class forum will be available until march 2011 for you to refer back to.

class will conclude with a 10×10 coffee table album template for you to compile all of your gorgeous photos.  the class fee is $50.

here is a sample lesson.  the class will consist of 25 lessons such as the one below.  some will have video tutorials, some will not.  it depends on the complexity of what is being covered for that day.

recommended materials:

  • camera (p+s or dslr),
  • tripod (not required)
  • photoshop elements or photoshop (you can download a free trial version on line) (but this is NOT required)
  • if you have a dslr, then i recommend a prime lens such as: 30mm 2.0 or 35mm 2.0 or 50mm 1.4 or 50mm 1.8 (but this is NOT required)
you will leave this holiday season with TONS of awesome photos of your family’s celebration!

a welcome packet will be emailed out to you the week before thanksgiving to help you get ready, and the first lesson will arrive in your email inbox the morning after thanksgiving :)

sign up here: this is one online photo course you do NOT want to miss!

finding the HOLIDAY joy

holiday joy 500 px banner

it is coming….details coming VERY soon!!!!  are you ready?  be sure to sign up for my mailing list if you’re interested in signing up.  i will email everyone when registration is open.

halloween countdown {repost from 2008}

{this is a repost from 2008}

Have i mentioned to you how much of a nut i am over holidays?  If you don’t believe me…just drive by our house…insane {totally tacky} decorations, with more to come!   AND, you should check out the pumpkins we carved last year….i think there is something fun about being raised in a household by two very creative people!  Christmas is even worse!  We’re getting in the Halloween Spirit in the McWillette house…tons to do before the big day!  Thought i would share an activity that we are doing this year.  We have a holiday countdown pocket calendar that i’m going to fill with an activity or treat each morning (ours is a bit older than this one….but you get the idea).  Max things that “the zombian” comes each night to fill the pocket with the treat or activity suggestion….hahahaha.  I’m attaching a pdf of our holiday list of things to do until Halloween.  Some of these are specific to our family, but you can totally improvise to make it more appropriate for you and your children.  I chose a few craft projects, baking projects, etc.  I also added a few jokes…max is just now getting into joke telling.  The treats are simple things like a hot wheels car or a granola bar.  I’m not a big candy giver, so that would be a REALLY big treat to have candy! 

DSC_9349 edit web

Here is the pdf file of the activities/crafts/treats i have planned:

Download willette_halloween.pdf

Basically, i cut these out and stuff one in each pocket each morning for max.  Gives him something to look forward to, and it helps us enjoy the ‘holidays.”  We will do a similar activity for the months of November and December.  Feel free to borrow this idea!!!  Also, if you have a great Halloween activity, don’t be shy…post ideas in the comment section!

Links:

Trashbag Spider

Knott’s Island Apple Picking

Pom Pom Craft

You’ve Been BOOed

Halloween Countdown House

taking time….

polaroid roses web

to smell the roses.

september – early december is historically the busy season for most photographers.  this is the time that families are getting their holiday photos done for their holiday cards (and seriously…aren’t photos the BEST gifts for grandparents???).  It is SOOOO easy to end up in photographer burn out this time of year.  I’ve been there….done that….got a tshirt.  So, i just wanted to write a little love note to all of you out there who are starting the three month period of burning the candle at ALL ends…..

be sure you don’t overschedule yourself. 

take time to stop and smell the roses and enjoy your fall and holiday season.

some tips to avoid burnout:

  1. market yourself now.  have a firm, absolute LAST date you will photograph and publicize this to your clients (so they know not to even think about asking for a session December 24th!)
  2. set a goal for maximum number of sessions you’d like to do each week….stick to it.
  3. if you are fully booked, find a local photographer to whom you can refer your “extras.”
  4. make sure you keep a few days clear each week (in the event of rainy weather rescheedules and just to have time for yourself!)
  5. be strong….do NOT allow a client to dictate your schedule for you.  if you do not photograph on weekends, then stick to this!  if a client can only do a date that you do not have free…refer them to another photographer.
  6. remember WHY you have a photography business….remember to spend time with your family.
  7. set clear “office/studio hours” for responding to client phone calls and emails.  if a client calls you while you’re reading to your child….DO NOT ANSWER THE PHONE.  that is what voice mail is for. (or, you can take the willette approach….don’t give out your phone number to clients ;) )

happy snapping everyone!  stay strong!

AND…..the savvy photographer just posted this AWESOME tool for moms and photographers.  i’m super excited about it.  check out the link….give it a try.  try to maintain your sanity this holiday busy season!

erin go braugh!

st pat collage

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!!!  I just wanted to give all my fellow irishmen and women a shout out!  Such a FUN holiday (whether you’re Irish or not).  I’ll have some photos of my little lad and lass up later….we’re in the thick of St. Patrick festivities around here: green milk for breakfast, leprechan shenanigans throughout our home (sadly, we did NOT catch the leprechan last night), corned beef and cabbage, beer, soda bread and shamrock cookies.  i LOVE being Irish-American!!!! 

st. patrick links

Saint Patrick’s Day Attire

i have also included a downloadable file of an Irish children’s gift enclosure card.  This is set up as a WHCC rep card (business card) sized psd file.  You can print a set of these to include in gifts from your child to his or her friends.  The file is fully editable. Click the link to open the download.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...