I ♥ faces, week 4: Textures

I haven't participated a few weeks now, but I am back with a texture picture. I saw a picture online with make-up and flowers at a runway sometime last year, and it stuck to me so I recreated the idea with Jasmine and Juliet. This picture I used this year for our Holiday Greetings. The girls are only 7 but in this pose they look going towards 17! A bit scary.... but it was a very fun afternoon... more work than you think. But I like those creative moments and my girls are good and patient models :-)



Photo is edited with Holly Choc, to make it more vintage!



Check out the other contestants at I ♥ faces, you will see some great textures!!

Have a Marvellous Monday!
Mireille ♥

Week 41 @ I ♥ Faces "Pink Week."

A new week, a new day, a new challenge at I ♥ Faces! And since it is breast cancer awareness, I definitely want to join this week by submitting my photo.
This one was taken last year in Holland when me, my mom and the twins went to an International street parade. More than 70 countries participated, and this one was the one of the most colorful outfits for that day. I believe they came from Brazil. How pink is that?!






Check out the other pink pictures over here at I ♥ Faces.

Have a wonderful week ahead!
Mireille

I ♥ Faces, Week 38: "Blue' photo challenge

At I ♥ Faces this week the challenge is Blue. This can be a color or a feeling/mood, as long as it is prominent.

This is a picture I took when visiting Lesedi cultural village here in SA, about half an hour from our house. Different tribes from South Africa live here. These woman are Ndebele women and are always very colorful dressed, just like their houses. All the primary colors are used in their dress and paints. But the blue comes out to me, in their necklace and skirt of the lady on the left. Juliet and Jasmine are a bit unsure to sit in between them... so funny!






Check out the other contestants at I ♥ Faces, there is a lot of blue!

Have a Magnificent Monday!
Mireille

I ♥ Faces, week 36: "Contemplative"

YEAH, it's Monday again, and we have a new theme for I ♥ Faces. This week it should be a picture with a contemplative face.

I looked through my photo's and found this one of Juliet and Jasmine and think it fits perfect in this category, what do you think?

While we were shooting, we asked the girls some questions to get different facial expressions and this was a moment where both looked contemplative, but never thought about it like that, till this assignment came up and then I immediately knew: this should be the one!!






Go to the I ♥ Faces website to see more of contemplative faces!

Have a Marvellous Monday!
Love, M

I ♥ Faces: week 35 ~ "Back to School"

The first day of school in South Africa! Not only a new year, but also a new country... so very exciting for Jasmine and Juliet! The girls were waiting outside mid August last year. It was 6:50 am (REALLY, days start early here!), and still a bit chilly in the mornings. Hats are mandatory since the sun is so bright here! JJ and Jezz were very excited to go to their new American International school here in Johannesburg and were waiting for the bus. We have white buses here, instead of the yellow ones. And much more nationalities at school, 72 to be precise!





Check out more cute pictures at the I ♥ Faces website, you will see some different approaches to the theme.

Have a Marvellous Monday!
Mireille

I ♥ Faces, week 33 ~ 'Nostalgia"

We used this picture of Jasmine and Juliet as an adoption announcement, it is 6 years old, but to me it reminds me of the old Thai princesses, the olden days in Thailand... so a nostalgic and very special moment for me.



Check out the other images at I ♥ Faces, there are some great entries!

Have a Marvelous Monday!
Mireille

I ♥ Faces, week 32 ~ Bubbles

Bubbles is the theme this week... so here is Jasmine under water in the pool in Orlando, Florida last month. We had so much fun with our under water camera and they tried to create as much bubbles as possible. We even took some pictures in the hot tub, but there were too many bubbles... so those pictures didn't turn out quite well.



Check out all the other contestants at the I ♥ Faces website, you will see some cute ones!


Tomorrow my last posting about our vacation and then back to normal life here in South Africa!

Have a Terrific Tuesday!
Love, M

I ♥ Faces: week 29 ~ Funny & Silly faces

It's Monday morning and I am back into the game with I ♥ Faces. Have missed putting my picture up for so long, so I am glad I have a funny and silly faces picture.





This picture was taken in Ridgefield, CT last month while we were on vacation and there was a street fair going on. The local dance club Enchanted Garden had a guy there who made the most amazing face paintings. Check this out:

Jasmine and Mia as a leopard, Emmy as a cat, and Juliet & Ella as a butterfly. Great or what? Such a funny and silly faces!! I just love these faces and sweet little girls!!

Check out the I ♥ Faces website, to see more of amazing pictures taken with this theme!

Have a Marvelous Monday, and tomorrow I will be posting some more stories about our vacation. Since it was more than a month, I just simply can't do it in 1 posting!!

Love, M

I ♥ Faces, week 19: Blurb Book Photo Contest~Amateur

This week is an exciting week at I ♥ Faces!! We can enter one of our best face photos and be chosen to be part of the Blurb book. You can enter in the Professionals and Amateurs section. And since I am not getting paid for taking pictures... I wish! this is the amateurs section.
Check out Blurb's website! Blurb lets you self publish your own photo book, cookbook, portfolio, and more with free software. Amazing and creative ideas to get your photo's printed!!

Juliet and Jasmine are 5 1/2 years old here and this picture just came out beautifully. We tried hugging pictures many times, but never was it either this close or that both girls looked right into the camera. Once in a while you have a lucky shot :-) And probably this turned out so well, because it was so spontaneous!




I am submitting this photo into the www.iheartfaces.com Blurb book photo contest. If chosen, I grant I ♥ Faces permission to use my photo in a printed version of a book for commercial use and possibly advertising of a photo book on both the Blurb and I ♥ Faces web sites.

Have a wonderful Monday and a beautiful week!
Ciao, Mireille

I ♥ Faces, week 18; Laughter.

YooHoo!! It is Monday again, time for a new challenge!!
This week the theme at I ♥ Faces website is: Laughter. Immediately when I read this I knew which picture I wanted to submit.

Last year my friend Suzy and I started a small photography business (we were only working together for 5 months and I had to move to South Africa, what a bummer that was!) She was mainly the photographer and I did mostly the styling and came up with the ideas for a theme.

Our first photo shoot together was Valentine's Day. So our girls were our subjects (read victims ;-) and we set up a bright red background in my living room and let the girls play with some balloons.
While we were shooting away, suddenly the half blown balloons were flying out of their hands and went prrrrrrt! Juliet and Jasmine couldn't stop laughing, they almost peed in their pants! And we kept shooting away with our cameras! The end result was just too funny. Look at their faces and hands, they can't control themselves... so hilarious!!

I upped the saturation a bit to make the colors even more pop out!

Go and head over to I ♥ Faces website, I am sure this week you will see some great laughing faces.

Have a Happy Monday and a beautiful week ahead!
Mireille

I ♥ Faces, week 17: Hats

This week finally time to enter the I ♥ Faces contest again. This week's theme is HATS. And I have to happen such a cute picture of Jasmine with a hat that is handmade of scraps of fabric. She was 2,5 years old here and standing between the black-eyed-susans in our yard in Ridgefield, CT.

Check out all the other entries at the I ♥ Faces website! Great for inspiration!

Happy Monday!
Mireille

I ♥ Faces, week 12: Pouting

I am a little behind with my entry for this week on I ♥ Faces since I traveled to the US last week and I am way behind my blogging and email schedule, but it is still time enough. I am lucky since here in South Africa it is 7 hours ahead of the USA and it is only Tuesday morning here.

This week my entry Juliet and Jasmine are pouting by the pool because it is chilly and too cold to swim. So pouting in two-some :-)



Check out the other pouters at the I ♥ Faces website.
Have a good week y'all.
Mireille

I ♥ Faces week 11: No flash!

I always look out for Mondays, because a new theme at I ♥ Faces starts... YEAH!!
This week the theme is NO FLASH!



I am entering this picture of my sweet girls Jasmine and Juliet at Sheffield Beach in South Africa. The time was around sun set and no flash was needed to take this sweet picture of my girls.... oh how I will miss them this week, since I am in the USA getting my fingerprints done for my US citizenship and I have to leave these sweet daughters of mine behind... first time in my life I will leave them for almost a week.... not easy!!



I took this picture standing on a rock looking down at them, the pose was so natural for them, they just are 2 peas in a pod and absolutely love each other!!

Look at all the other contestants, you will be amazed by the results, just click here!

Have a lovely week all!
Mireille

My luck is turning :-)

Although I had a few bad days behind me... my bad luck is turning... YEAH!! I can feel it!!

My picture of the adult leprechaun is part of the I ♥ Faces mosaic!! See below... this makes my day again!



Funny, how small things can make a person happy :-)
Enjoy your Sunday!

Love, M

Theme week 10 @ I ♥ Faces: 'Green'

The theme for this week at I ♥ Faces is 'Green'.

For the kids: Here are Juliet & Jasmine: the grass is green and it tickles on my back!
This photograph is taken in our backyard here in South Africa, the girls were enjoying the last summer rays, since we have reverse seasons and it is getting cooler now. Soon we'll have winter.


And I enter for the first time a picture for the adults. I had this picture taken this weekend during a St. Patrick's festival here in Joburg, and saw a live leprechaun. How fun is that :-) ... and since it is only Monday night I am still in the deadline to add this picture.


Look at the other contestants at the I ♥ Faces site, there are some creative 'green' shots!

Have a wonderful week ahead of you!
Mireille

I ♥ Faces, week 9: Creative Crop

It's Monday again and the theme for I ♥ Faces this week is: 'Creative Crop'. I chose this picture of Juliet where she is playing with balls. My theme for that photo shoot was Polka Dot Doll having a Ball! And she sure is having a ball :-)





The crop and original shot, what do you think, does it make a difference?

Check the I ♥ Faces website out, it has some magnificent cropped photos, great for inspiration and ideas! And participate yourself, it is a fun way to start the week :-)

Have a wonderful Monday!
Mireille

I ♥ Faces, Theme week 8; messy

My twin girls don't like mess, so it was hard to find a messy picture. They don't like the feeling of mud or dirt on their face or hands for that matter, so I had to look for one with messy hair. Here's a picture of my daughter Jasmine dressed up as a geisha with messy hair. I love the look on her face; so melancholic. She was not allowed to laugh, otherwise we couldn't see the heart shape on her lips...

Check out all the other great entries at I ♥ Faces, there are so many talented photographers!

Have a good week,

I ♥ Faces ~ Week 7 Theme - “B&W”

This week the theme at I ♥ Faces is Black and White. I have many B&W pictures of the girls, since I LOVE B&W. But I wanted to show you one that you haven't seen yet. And this is an older photograph of Jasmine, when she was 3 years old. (Click on image to see a larger version)



Her expression is so cute and precious, and I just love the lighting on her hair, you see even the individual strands....

Look at the I ♥ Faces for more great shots of all the other participants, you will be amazed by them!

And if you have a great photograph of your child add it to the list and see what happens :-) There is a kid and adult entry.

Monday and the beginning of the week, let's have a good one!
Mireille

Fabulous Friday

I am going to get some structure and continuity in my blog, on Mondays I am going to post a picture to the I ♥ Faces website, and some Mondays I will also do a regular post. It all depends if I have a lot to tell you guys ;-) On Wednesday I will do the Wacky Wednesdays pictures and on Fridays I am going to give you a fabulous recipe, so I called it Fabulous Friday. A good way to start the weekend! The rest of the week are the regular postings, the adventures of Jasmine and Juliet here in South Africa, our trips, things that happen around the house. Things that catch my eye, other websites or blogs that I stumble upon etc..etc..



On Fridays the girls are out of school at 2:15pm and they are allowed to watch some TV. The other days in the week they have no time for TV since they want to play or swim after school, do their homework, shower, eat and go to bed. So for them it is also a Fabulous Friday!!

I like to start and eat a bit more wholesome, vegetarian, so when I was browsing the web I found this magnificent, beautiful and de-lish website 101 cookbooks from Heidi Swanson and I signed up immediately to get all these wonderful recipes in my inbox. Just print it out, go to the supermarket, prepare and EAT. No more thinking of what I shall make, because for me that is the hardest part of cooking....to come up with something different every day. I mean I have a lot of sites that send me these daily recipes, but most of them aren't what I want to make, but this site is exactly what I was waiting for. I am so glad I found it! And of course I like to share the good things with you all...my cyber and blogging friends :-)

So each Friday I am posting this wholesome vegetarian dish that I will be eating THAT day. So at least on Friday we will eat vegetarian, but I am hoping to add more vegetarian days into my week. Not easy, since the girls and Dirk are meat lovers, I could easily live without it, so maybe we do a vegetarian main dish and some days I just add some small portions of meat to theirs....

Today I am making Ten Minute Tasty Asparagus and Brown Rice Recipe.


I like the 10-minute part of it ;-) Since Dirk is still in Lichtenstein till Monday I am cooking easy and fast recipes for the 3 of us.

Have a Fabulous Friday y'all!
Mireille

I ♥ Faces; Wonder...

I stumbled upon this fun website: and thought it was cool to enter their weekly contest.

The purpose of this blog is to provide a photography sharing forum that focuses on the art of capturing faces and their various emotions. Each week, people from across the world will have the opportunity to enter their favorite face photos into two different categories ~ kids and adults. A judge will pick a winning photo from each category that will then be displayed on our home page.

This week the theme at I ♥ Faces is 'wonder' and I submitted this photo of Juliet who is being asked a few questions while we are photographing her, and in this photo she is wondering what to answer, but you can see on her face that she is having a funny answer in her mind ;-)... even her hands are making the gesture of wonder!


Do you have a good picture of the theme 'wonder', go to this website and submit your photo. A fun way to share your blog with the rest of the world!

By the way: I am number 111 on the I ♥ Faces list...

Have a great day,
Mireille