Nov
29
2013Nov
27
2013Edited Nov. 29: The Cart is Open! Click here to purchase.
I’m getting really excited about the Christmas Ornament Black Friday through Cyber Monday Sale! But I’m also getting some frequently asked questions. Now is the time where I’ll answer those.
How much are the Christmas Ornaments?
Christmas Ornaments will be $25. Shipping is $5 for the first ornament and $1 for each additional ornament.
Do I have to be a past client of Quiet Graces to order an Ornament?
No! I’m happy to print either photos from a session with me or your own photos on an ornament. However, if a professional photographer took your image, please make sure you have a print release. As an artist myself, I take copyright law very seriously.
What are all the Ornament Shapes?
I’m so excited to finally reveal them all!
This is Paris.
This is Prague.
This is London. (And this photo is by Amber in my Free Beginner’s Photography Class. I just LOVE it!)
This is Tokyo. 
And this is Berlin.
How do I choose a Photo to Match the Ornament shape I choose?
Paris, Prague, and London will work best with photos that have a fair amount of space around your subject and will crop relatively square. Pull up your image and make a square around the subject. If all the important part of your image fit in your square, then you can order Paris, Prague, or London.
Tokyo and Berlin will work with most horizontal images. You’ll want to make sure there’s a bit of space along each end and your subjects are near the center of the frame.
In any case, I’ll email you a quick preview of your ornament before sending it to the printer. You’ll hit reply and say “Ok!” or “Maybe we should pick a different ornament/image.”
How do I send my image to you?
If you’re choosing an image from your session, give me a brief description of the image and let me know the file names (either the title of your Websized file, or written on the back of your 4×6 proof).
If you’re sending in an image: I’ll invite you to a Dropbox.com folder. You’ll drag and drop the files you want printed into that folder. If ordering more than one ornament, name your files accordingly. Example “Ornament1Front” “Ornament1Back.” “Ornament2Front.” “Ornament2Back,” etc.
If you’d like text on the back instead of two images or text in the corner of an image (the year and child’s name for instance), at then include a little note text document in your Dropbox or shoot me an email saying the text you’d like along with a background color.
Will I receive my ornaments in time for Christmas?
Lord willing, yes. I will place orders as soon as you okay your preview. I would prefer to have all orders placed on Wednesday December 4th so pay attention to your email if you need these as presents before Christmas!
Can I share this special with my friends?
Absolutely, please do! I will, however, be limiting my orders to 100 ornaments. I am one person and I think that is all that I am capable of successfully fulfilling at this time. If you’re wanting an ornament please for sure, please sign up today for my newsletter. Newsletter subscribers will receive the first link to the shopping cart early tomorrow morning. The blog and Facebook site will link to the shopping cart on Friday.
You said you’d donate a portion of the proceeds to charity?
Yes! 20% of the profit from each ornament will be used to purchase from Compassion International’s Gift Catalog. I’m so excited about the ways we will be able to bless a family in extreme poverty together! And I’ll definitely update ya’ll on Facebook regarding what the children chose to purchase with your gifts!
Did I miss any questions?
I don’t know! But if I did, I’m sure you’ll let me know in the comments, right? 😉
Nov
25
2013Edited Nov. 29: The Cart is Open! Click here to purchase.
Last week I mentioned I’d be offering Christmas Ornaments for sale. If you’re interested in purchasing an ornament and haven’t subscribed to my newsletter yet, please do that now. Newsletter subscribers will have the first opportunity to order and orders will be limited! (Not to mention newsletter subscribers get a cool little ebook that will help you take better images of your children on Christmas morning…)
Today I wanted to talk a little about the heart behind this Christmas Ornament project. I don’t know about you, but in the midst of all the presents and the hurried chaos of this season, I struggle to put Jesus right at the center of it. This little baby who humbled himself to come as a man. Born of a woman and laid in a feeding trough so that by His sacrifice we might be able to come before a holy God and live loved by Him eternally.
So last year my husband and I started a new tradition. We threw a birthday party for Jesus. Our little girls invited their friends and we encouraged them to clean out their unwanted toys to donate to a local ministry. We also encouraged this little army of 2-5 year olds to dig through couch cushions and under furniture looking for loose change or to bring a part of their own allowances/birthday money. With that money, we sat down and ordered a playground for children living in poverty. This year we’ll have more little friends come and I’m excited to learn what they will pool their money and pick this year.
20% of the profit from each ornament will be spent at this little Christmas party where the kiddos will order a birthday present for Jesus from the Compassion Catalog.
Oh, and by the way, these ornaments really do have heart. See? I look forward to introducing all the shapes on Wednesday!
Nov
21
2013
Edited Nov. 29: The Cart is Open! Click here to purchase.
I’m having a little Black Friday Sale featuring double sided die cut metal ornaments. You don’t have to be a past client to get in on the deal. I’ll happily use your images to create your perfect ornament. To use images from another professional photographer, I will need to see their print release because I want to keep this above the board 🙂
Want to learn more? Subscribe to my newsletter and I’ll make sure you hear all the juicy details on Monday. Hurry! Offer will begin on Black Friday and end on Cyber Monday. Ornament orders are limited so collect your images of choice and be ready for the sale to open!
Nov
17
2013I sit in the middle of the room after the hurricane has ripped through.
There are
fabric pieces
and crayons
and half completed drawings
and bits of things that should be in my recycling bin
and toys
and food underneath the table
and books strewn across every floor of the house.
I ask the three little whirlwinds to pick it up. We wrestle hard over the work. I’m trying to teach them that they are blessed beyond all measure but are entitled to none of it. All these toys are grace.
Across the world a different Hurricane is pushing itself ashore in the Philipines. Walls of water 10 feet high, winds at 195 mph and with gusts up to 235 mph, and flash flooding pound this little third world country. Hurricane Katrina looks like a mere hyena compared to the lion of Haiyan.
The Philippines is being torn to shreds like a library book in the hands of my two year old as I wrestle these three kids of mine to help keep a tidy house.
When I was a girl, I remember the fire chief knocking on our boarded up door. “It’s mandatory evacuation east of the Intercoastal waterway,” he reminded us just hours before the landfall of Hurricane Hugo. My sister and I were coloring that plywood with bright crayons and writing “Gone Fishing” in 5 year old scrawl.
My parents disobeyed this command. We pulled the mattresses to the living room floor. We drank virgin daiquiris and watched the transformers blow fuses with eerie green light. I felt the heat seep into our normally air conditioned home right through those layers of plywood and glass. I fell asleep to the sound of the rain blasting across the house in intermittent waves. I awoke late in the night to the haunting crack and crash of a loblolly pine tree in our back yard as it landed on a shed just a few feet from our home. It was a long time before I fell asleep again after peeking out our backdoor at that giant tree just crushed there.
16 years later I awoke under a tarp deep in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The wind gusts and rain seemed oddly out of place hundreds of miles from the ocean. It was early and long before the sun had risen. Half an hour passed before I announced to my tarp mates that I was pretty sure we were all awake. We giggled nervously and started packing up our gear. Yards away we heard the boys tarp stirring and our backpacking instructor pops her head into our tarp.
“You guys are up super early.” Amy stated the obvious.
“We couldn’t fall back asleep.” Whitney confessed.
“It’s this eerie weather.” Jessica said.
“It’s almost like…”I pause looking for the right word when I remember that childhood night so long ago. “… a hurricane.”
Amy winks. We walk up over 300 stairs as we hike up and away from Lake Jocassee while Hurricane Katrina blows the last of her fury across our soaked rain coats.
I lived through Hugo, and I lived through Katrina’s remnants, and I will live through this season of teaching my little hurricanes to clean up the gifts that they have been given. But I can hardly live with myself if I do nothing in response to Haiyan.
What if I am here, living in my palace of messy toys, for such a time as this?
What if you and I, the North American church, are blessed beyond measure not to enjoy our numerous gifts but to give them away?
And as we herd our rich children out the exit of the Compassion Experience, I pause and stare at this quote there high on the wall.
Oh, church, it’s time to act. It’s time to rise above a faith of nothing and really love. Consider partnering with me and Compassion International in reaching the poor affected by Hurrican Haiyan? Just click below and donate what you can.
