OSH Revisited: Swingin'

This is the second installment of One Sassy Housewife Revisited! I decided to go back through some of most popular posts and update, address issues, or expand on the concept. You can see the first OSH Revisited here.

Posted last July, Swingin' has been-- by far-- my most popular post, largely thanks to Pinterest. I mean, you people go crazy pinning that thing! (I am so glad you like it!)
We still love ours. It gets used often... and taken all over the place too! My mom had one of those cheapy nylon draw string backpacks that she had gotten free somewhere, and we discovered the whole thing fit easily inside. An unexpected bonus to the swing? Easy to transport.

A few weeks after completing the swing we took a trip to Iowa, and took the swing along. Here Sam is swinging on his other grandparent's deck.
And then a few months later we took a trip to CO. We rented a cabin there for the week, and we threw in the swing because we thought it would be fun for Sam-- it was!

My dad was able to tie some rope around a large beam in the ceiling of the cabin, and Sam got to swing INSIDE. He loved having the prime spot in the middle of the room where he could watch everyone doing whatever they were doing. (Don't panic... I know he looks close-ish but he came no where near that fire. He was an extra-safe distance away at all times.)
So Sam's swing is great for travel. 
Sam has developed a love for being and playing outside, and this winter has been killing him. He stands at the window pointing outside and looking hopeful. I tell him it's too cold to be outside, but he doesn't under stand, he just wants to play! There have been some milder weeks, and so we bundle the little dude, and he gets all excited to be outside playing and swinging, even if it is chilly.

This one was on super bowl Sunday. (Look how big he is!) Anyway, all that to say that we have and still are thoroughly enjoying the swing.
And if my site stats are telling the truth-- so are you! I have heard from so many of you that you made one for your kiddo, grandkids, niece, friend... I am so glad so many kiddos are enjoying these beautiful handmade swings. You all are awesome! (Haven't seen the original post? Check it out here-- handmade swing with full tutorial!) That is the reason I wanted to revisit this post (it was not JUST about more gratuitous pictures of my kid-- though isn't he the cutest?) I really really would LOVE to see what you have made.
So I recently made a flickr group called 'You Got Sassy'. This is a group where you guys can upload and share Swings or any One Sassy Housewife inspired projects you have created! I hope hope hope a lot of you will participate, because I am dying to see what you have made!

If you go to the top of the page under the header, there is a new tab called "You Got Sassy". Clicking that tab will take you directly to the Flickr group page and photo pool. Or you can get to the page with this link: www.flickr.com/groups/1sassyhousewife

You will need to sign in to flickr, you can do that with a yahoo, facebook, or google account, or you can create an account. Then you will need to become a member of the group, do that by clicking the blue 'Join this Group' link under the group name. You will have to agree to the rules (no biggie-- just keep it clean, guys. Respect your work an other people's work by only posting photos you own), then once you are a member, click the 'add photos' link under the group name... and you're in business!
I know many of you are familiar with flickr, but I thought I'd quickly run through that, because some people (Hi, Mom!) give up if they don't have step-by-step instructions. :)

So there's that.
I am excited to see the swings you have made! I am excited to see the other things you have made! Anyone doing fancy Mani's? Did you make Abominable Snowman Cookies? Did your grandkids love playing with Sponge Bombs? I know some of your little men are sporting Bowties.  I want to see what you're up to... so come jump in the (photo) pool with me!

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day, from Sam.
The handsomest little bachelor ever. Eat your heart out, ladies.

Okay, so this valentine is something that has been floating around in my mind for a while... and it didn't turn out exactly as I imagined it, but it is still cute as crap. When Sam was about 3 months old, I found this little tux at a second hand store on a 50% off day. I think I spent something like $5 on the tux pants and jacket, a vest and tie. I didn't know if he would ever have an occasion to wear it, but it was worth it to have on hand, just in case. About a year later, it finally fits him and we didn't have a real occasion for it-- so why not make one?
I have a friend who is a photographer with beautiful backdrops and whatnot who offered to take the pics for me, but we just couldn't get the schedules to work out and make it happen. I couldn't shake this image of the little guy in this little tux clutching a red rose... so I made it happen.
We used the super classy white sheet (that I didn't even iron) (and really should have) (oops) method... and Sam took one look at that set up and laughed in my face before rolling all over the place and folding and wrinkling the crap out of it. So um... photoshop?
...where my skills leave something to be desired. But in the end it was good enough to send to the grandparents (but lets not lie, the grandparents would be excited about scribbles on the back of a McDonalds receipt.) and I thought cute enough (the boy, not the photoshopping) I had to share it with all of you!
The best part though, may have been the outtakes. If you follow me on twitter (@1sassyhousewife) You already saw some of these, but I thought they were too much fun not to share. All of these are SOOC, no editing. This is photoshoot magic in all it's raw and untouched glory!

Swinging that thing like a sword, I tell you!

And I love the following progression of pictures... check it:

Oh, Nothing. Just cute as crap, and snuggling a rose, NBD.

Still adorable... still adorable...

YAAARRRGH! EAT IT!

You need to know that he growled as he bit into the rose.
Then he scattered the petals and draped himself appealingly across them and made his come hither face. Just kidding. Sort of.
You might also have noted that my son is wearing navy blue socks with his black tux. That's because we are classy.  Thank you for noticing. Originally I was going to do the pics in black and white so it wouldn't matter. But then I didn't and it did. So... yeah.

Anyway, made my one year old's valentine spoofing one of the trashiest shows on television, but I feel at peace with that decision. haha.
What did your valentines look like this year? Put links and pictures in my comments so I can see them because I am nosy like that, okay?
Hope you get to spend the day with all the people you love!

Happy Valentine's Day... MWAH!

OSH revisited: Outta Storage Space Soloution!

I am not a big time blogger, or a blogger for money, so I don't check my stats page frequently. I basically started blogging for friends and family to check out my projects (Hi Mom!) but since then, other people have stumbled upon  this blog for different reasons. (The Swingin' post got 22,000 hits last month. Whoa! Thanks, Pinterest!) And occasionally I look at the stats page out of curiosity of what ya'll are looking at.
The other day after revewing those stats, I thought some of those popular posts could use an update, revisit, revision, etc. SO I thought I might start a mini-series where I would revisit some of my most popular posts and revise or flesh them out where needed. Hence the title OSH (One Sassy Housewife) Revisited! Look for more OSH Revisited posts over the next month or so!

Did you know one of my top 3 most viewed posts is this one right here? This little post where I asked what to do about picture storage on my blog. According to the stats page it is most often reached from google searches... maybe other bloggers have the same problem? I don't know.
Well, there are still pics on my blog, which obviously means I found a soloution.  It's not profound, or highly technical... but I thought it was time to share with those who might run into the same problem.
The original issue was that the free photo storage that Blogger offers had all been used up. Blogger would no longer allow me to upload photos until I deleted a few. Well, I didn't want to do that because it would remove them from my blog as well.
Part of my problem was that I had been using full size images on my blog since I started... which filled up that available space quickly. So I learned how to shrink my photo size before uploading. Most photo editing software should have some kind of 'save for web' or 'shrink for web' function. I use Photoshop elements 'save for web function'. This tool just goes in and compresses and simplifies the information-- so to speak. There is often very little difference noticable difference in the photo quality and appearance.

This photo, for instance, before 'saving for web' used up 30.5M of space. After shrinking, 1.5M. Quite a bit of difference. I also reduce the size of pictures for my blog by pixel width. (I use 500 for horizontal, and 350 for vertical pics) In Elements, you can change the pixel width at the same time as saving for web. So using the same pic above, it started as 4001x2667 pixels. I just reduced the width (make sure you have locked proportions) to 500 and it auto reduced height as well. So now it is 500x333, which I find is just the right size for my blog. So after saving for web and reducing size by pixels, the photo that originally took up 30.5M of space now takes 41.95K. 
Quite a bit of space saved there!
So if I had been saving my pics that way from the start, It is unlikely I would have run out of the 1GB (I think?) of free storage space Blogger offers. ALSO... it would have made things easier for you, as pictures and pages would load faster and use less data, etc. In theory I could (should?) go back and reduce the size of all those photos, which would free up storage space. However, that would be extremely time consuming and tedious to find, shrink, and replace all those pics, then repost everything... no thank you. I needed a different soloution.
So I talked with Z about it and he suggested I find another free site to store my pics. Because blogger gives you the option of uploading pics from another URL. So I started loading my (edited and saved for web pics) to SkyDrive which offered me free online storage and access to photos. Now when I am ready to insert a picture I just open up skydrive, copy the file location, and paste it in the picture URL box on blogger. Simple.
The only glitch is you need to make sure you either load pics into the 'public' folder, of set the privacy to 'public' for your pics, otherwise blogger will not be able to access and display them.
So thats my totally non-technical explanation for my photo storage solution on blogger.
I know that was a lot of words, and I hope most of it made sense or can help someone like me-- who isn't REALLY tech or blog savvy but ran into that problem, and needs a soloution.
If you have more recommendations, or better solutions or ideas, please share in the comments section! Let me know hoe you solved or avoided this problem! And thanks for reading, friends!

2012 Family Pictures

A few months ago we had family pictures taken.
My friend Jacie of Dance With Me Photography took them for us. Jacie does mostly newborn and children photography... but she did such a great job with Sam's NB photos that I coerced her into taking some family shots for us. Just as expected, she did a beautiful job once again, and I LOVE the images she captured.

Sam was happy and cooperative, despite it being cold and so windy.

(Full disclosure, this picture was taken right before he found some goose poop and tried to sample it!)

Photographers love Z because he is an awesome and photogenic Daddy. I think this picture is so sweet.

This is a favorite! Love this little man so much!

Another Favorite... my smoochy little Sam-- he knows he's the star of this photoshoot. Look at that star power!

My only regret is not getting any shots of just Z and I (My fault!) I didn't think about it at the time... but as I was going through the final shots later, I so wished I had. 
Regardless, I love these beautiful shots of my family-- taken in our favorite park, literally, the day before they tore it up to build some big building in it's place. So sad!
Jacie did a great job. You can visit her FB page here if you want to see some of her other work, (Yep, that's baby Sam in the header!) but (sad for you) she is currently taking a year long hiatus to focus some time on the ever changing needs of her growing family. Sad for her clients, but so SO good for her family! Good for you Jacie! Thank you again for your beautiful work.

And... I know we are well past Christmas, but I went MIA for a season, so here is the Pogemiller 2012 Christmas Card featuring one of our beautiful family photos...
Wishing you a lovely holiday and merry and bright new year!

Outta Storage Space

As I was working on a blog post about Sam's new swing, blogger told me I was out of storage for photos on my blog... that I could purchase more storage for a monthly fee, but I cannot upload any more photos.
What in the world?
Has this happened to anyone else? Is there a way around this? I don't want to have to pay to blog, but I don't want to have to create a new one either.
Totally lame.
I am bummed... any ideas?

EDIT: Post revisited and my solution posted HERE. Check it out, if you need some help, or have some suggestions!

Sam's weekly photo project

When I was pregnant I took a picture each week of my growing belly. (By the end I kinda regretted documenting how uncomfortably huge I was... but... you know.) After Sam was born I continued the process. No, not pictures of my belly... but weekly pictures of Sam.
I got my inspiration from here, they took weekly photos of their daughter in a white onesie, then photo-shopped in the number. It's amazing how much our little man has changed in just the short 12 weeks since he was born.

So I got little else done the first few weeks of Sam's life... but I got a picture every Friday to document our growing little man.

(I love the little legs that are at the same time chubby and scrawny!)

Someone asked me how I am going to find that many back drops... I think I can do it, I have a small stock pile of fabric to draw from. (And I delight in buying fun new 'boy' fabric too!)

Also, I have been learning more about using my camera and using photoshop to edit photos. Not that I am a pro at either, but I kinda think my skills are slowly improving.

Z asked, "Are you going to do this every Friday for the rest of this kid's life?"
YES!
Okay, no. But I want to make it to 52.

(weeks that is... not years. 52 weeks. 1 year.)

We even have seasonally or holiday appropriate shoots... (which doubled as our christmas cards, and valentines, so that was helpful!)

I've actually been really enjoying our weekly photo shoots. And I think that Sam is enjoying them as well...

Except for when he doesn't...

(oh, tell me you can resist that little pouty face?!?)

Sam has so many expressions and so much personality! This is a fun way to document his changes. Check back here every so often for more of the weekly photo project!

Happy Valentine's Day, Baby!

We decided to make a few valentines to send to our family this year. We had a photo shoot the other day, then I just did a little editing in photo shop and added some text.

I had them printed at walmart one hour photo.... because I don't plan ahead. I am not a fan of walmart photo, quality is not stellar, and they always crop things a little weird regardless of what their website 'previews'... but whatever. It worked in a pinch.

 There were so many cute shots I couldn't pick just one! Sam has many expressions and facets to his personality these days... so each of his loved ones got a unique valentine, which is kinda fun.

We are not big into celebrating valentine's day in our family. It kinda seems like an unnecessary 'holiday'. However... I cannot resist an excuse to take and distribute photos of the little man. Sooo... Happy Valentine's Day to all! Hope your day is filled with happiness and loved ones, and that you aren't rendered useless from the cuteness overload of this post...

Mama

I wanted to share this picture with you. It was taken May of 1983. Thats my mama, very pregnant with my sister. I saw this picture often growing up-- to this day it is one of my Dad's favorite pictures (he just said that the other day, actually). He thinks she is so beautiful all pregnant and hopeful and excited... standing in their nursery, just waiting for their baby to arrive. This photo was on my Dad's dresser for years and I remember looking at it as I was growing up.
Now I am at that same moment of hopeful anticipation... and I love this picture even more.
And I love my Mama even more.
This is gorgeous 'maternity photography' before maternity photography was a 'thing'.  Love it!

CREATE THIS: Photo Book

This is one of my favorite things from our wedding. Instead of a traditional guest book with lines that people write their name on... (and that I would never glance at again) we decided to create a photo book and have people sign it 'yearbook style'. Plus we had all these FABULOUS engagement pictures take by Claire (of Visionaire Studios, OMG she is Fabulous!) and we wanted to do something cool to show them off. 
Originally I didn't want to tackle this project myself, because I wanted it to be very professional and a non-corny 'keepsake'. So I asked my photographer about it, and she was happy to create this very thing for me, but it was WAY more than I wanted to spend. But then I found out I could create something like what I wanted on Shutterfly... and I was skeptical on how it would turn out, but it was only about a $30 investment, so I thought it was worth a shot. I spent about an hour formatting and inserting my pictures, with their easy to use software-- and tons of options!-- then submitted my book, and crossed my fingers.
What I got in the mail was a beautiful custom created photo book that was exactly what I wanted! PERFECT. And very professional looking. And so ridiculously cheap. So 10 points for Shutterfly... and I have this feeling I am going to be making lots and lots more photobooks in the future. They have lots of sizes and options to make it perfect for gifts, brag books, etc. I love this!
(Side note: We purchased the copyright for the pics from our photographer, so this was totally legal. Please don't use pics that you don't have copyrights to... it's just not fair to photographers that work hard and use their talents to capture your memories... so keep things legal and ethical, kids!)
Check out our book below:

Click here to view this photo book larger