Favourite i-phone apps for photo editing

Hello, my lovelies what an amazingly busy and wonderful week it's been. I can't wait to share more with you in tomorrows "weekly wrap up" post! As for today? I'm chatting about my favourite photo editing apps. I currently have the iphone 5s and tend to upgrade every two years. I love using my iphone for photos, my business and personal life. In fact, I'm probably on it a little too often. Anyone else check their instagram like 20 x a day, oh dear! ;) If you have a few favourites of your own let me know in the comments section, or if you have a question about any of the apps... let me know via the comments or shoot me a quick tweet!



Pic Tap Go // A constant go-to for me! I already use Rad Lab for my blog photos and love using the same filters on my iphone photos as well. The layout is beautiful, intuitive and the app gives you a full size preview of your filters in action, plus layering other effects is a breeze. You can also save your recipes for future use and the app automatically stores your most used filters in a "my style" tab - love it!! Some of my favourite filters include: bright-side, crispity, flare up, sugar rush and fade to grey. For black and white? I love using powder!

VSCO Cam // This was my go-to app prior to discovering Pic Tap Go. I still love using this one though. Their filters give photos an instant editorial/very Kinfolk friendly look and the app has a thriving community for artists and photographers.

Afterlight // I often pull my iphone photos through afterlight for quick tweaks. I love using this app for brightening, sharpening and adding a little colour saturation to my photos. I also love their light leak and texture filters! So, gorgeous. You can see a recent example here!

Over // In a word? Awesome! This app allows you to apply designer like texts, sayings and graphics to your photos. Just check out their instagram feed - you'll be hooked!

ABM // I'm sure most of you already know/use this one. But I love "A Beautiful Mess" and I love their app. Adding doodles is such a fun way to give your photos a personal and whimsical feel... you can see a few of my examples here & here! 

Girlfriends

I had the best weekend, I hope you did too. On Saturday, I spent the afternoon with two of my besties, Erin & Sabrina! I'm convinced time with friends makes the world a way better place. Right?! My only complaint about our afternoon? Time went by alarmingly fast. The girls got to my place just before four, and poof, it was eight. We talked about so much good stuff those gals & I. Social media, materialism, mother-hood, our spiritual beliefs, and shared a few embarrassing stories which we're all taking to the grave. Erin, I have two words for you!! "Golf course!" Have I said too much?! ;)

The gals gave me some very insightful blogging advice as well. I actually had a candid post on blogging all cued up for this morning, but chickened out. Friday, I'll post it on Friday! So yes, blogging advice, the girls shared their point of view on this crazy thing called "blogging & social media" and it was incredibly refreshing. They pointed out the importance of staying real, being yourself, and to show more than just the "pretty" things in life. As Sabrina pointed out... it's life, not a magazine. Honestly, I couldn't agree more. I'm certainly not perfect, nor do I want to put forth a perfectly curated image of myself. That's never been the heart of who I am. I like seeing the bumps, warts and imperfections in people. It's compelling and interesting. So yeah, blogging has definitley been on my mind lately, and it's my hope to get a little more candid with my posts here. I may share my thoughts with you over the next few weeks, as I explore this topic, and hopefully I won't bore you to tears! I kid, I kid... it will be riveting! ;)

PS - I also wore my rad maxi skirt all weekend long. A few of you have asked where it's from... I bought it at Forever 21. Nab yours here!

I'M BACK! AND... SHARING A FEW BLOGGING TIPS

hey guys. sorry, i kind of disappeared on you there for a bit and took a wee blog break. it was good, and needed. i started this space just over four months ago and i honestly had no idea where i was going with it... i just knew i needed change. patient i am not. nor am i much of a planner. i basically whipped up my new blog "by the shore" over night and delved right into it. yay for enthusiasm. but then again, sometimes planning is good. which is exactly what i've been up to this past week. oh yeah, and i gave the blog a new look which i tend to do when refocusing myself. i like change. i actually used my old girl & closet template but gave it lots of new touches... i've been craving colour and something a little less minimalist. not so cold feeling, i guess. i'm hoping to add a few more fun & crafty little components but i'll need to hire someone for that. lynn, i'll be calling you later this week. ;)

so what's this fancy blogging plan, you ask? well, haha, i don't have it all figured out quite yet. i do, however, feel like i'm on the right track. i just took elsie's blog love course (from a beautiful mess). it's awesome by the way. and i feel like i walked away with so much good stuff. here are a few things that really stood out for me + i've included my answers for each...

♥ choose themes for your blog posts: my favourite things to blog about are... family photos, adventures, day-to-day life, vegetarian cooking, my etsy shop.

♥ list three things you want to blog about weekly: a fun outing, personal weekly updates (whatever is going on), what i wore.

♥ list three ways you'd like to share your content: lists, photographs with captions, digital scrap-booking for more personal posts.

♥ choosing features that fit your blog: once you've narrowed down your three blog themes, you'll want to create sub-categories to see how viable and repeatable your topics are. basically, you want to pick something where you know you won't run out of content. i won't break down all of my features but here's an example of one of my favourite blog topics: weekly adventures. my sub-categories for that are: out with friends, at the pool, date night, my weekly artist date, cooking with my honey, giving scout a hair cut (that one might need a video, hehe), exploring our favourite pub, at the zoo... etc, you guys get the idea! ;)

another bit of great advice was to always, always blog about what you love. don't do certain posts if you hate them. i can confess to writing posts because i thought they'd be popular on pinterest and it's just not worth it. a blog should definitely be your happy place, and full of the things you love. sounds so good and fun, right?! well, that's exactly what i'll be focusing on in the months to come.