Giveaway Time - PhotoBooks Australia

I've teamed up with PhotoBook Australia for my very first giveaway ... read on. 

Recently I received a photobook I had ordered through Photobook Australia and was so impressed with its quality I thought I would do a quick review. Creating a photobook is a very simple process with loads of functionality built in which allows you to design a book to look exactly how you want.

The Photobook designer software must first be installed, and on a fast internet connection takes around five minutes. Once you've downloaded the program you're ready to start. There are multiple types of products available. My wedding book was the 15x11 large landscape imagewrap product which allows you to add an image on both the front and back cover.

You have the option to use a wizard to create your photobook which takes a lot of the hardwork out of the process but creating the book yourself is relatively simple and allows you to fully customise the book to your taste. If you need extra help you can enable an assistant which will guide you through the process. This assistant appears upon clicking different tabs and functions within the software application.

The best way to 'build' your book is to pre-select your images and place them in a folder. You can then load the images all at once and they are ready to be dragged and dropped onto the page. Once an image has been used, an icon is placed over the image to indicate that is has been used. The software allows you to choose from a large selection of page styles (templates), background colours, frames and scrapbooking-style images to create beautiful and unique pages. I decided to use a black background for my whole book with varying styles. Picture boxes in all of the page styles can be altered to suit your needs. I found the delivered styles left a bit too much space on the page for my liking so all I did was alter the size of the boxes. Text and other images can be added to the page if desired. 

The images used in my book were all taken by ckmetrophotos and are very high resolution. This was immediately apparent when I received the book - the picture quality is AMAZING and looks fab with the contrasting black background. 

Once you have finished your book layout, your pages are saved and then uploaded to the site. My book took less than two weeks to arrive after I had uploaded my pages and I was kept in the loop as to its whereabouts with tracked shipping. Communication with Photobook was always prompt and professional either via email or via their facebook page.

I am over the moon with my new coffee table book and have TWO medium portrait imagewrap books up for grabs worth just under $100 each. 

All you have to do to be in the running is leave a comment on this post and follow my blog with google friend connect (it's easy to setup an account). This giveaway is open worldwide : )

Winners will be drawn on the 17th August. 

(as an extra incentive, photobooks have provided a discount code of 45% that is valid until the end of October 2012. Please contact me if you would like the discount code)

Have a wonderful weekend

What I Wore Wednesday

Just popping by quickly this afternoon for a quick outfit of the day post. The last couple of days have been fantastic - a new little person has entered the world and she belongs to my twin sis Ness and her partner Brad.  Ness had a long and tiring labour which ended in cesarean and I felt so sad for her after seeing her 5 or so hours after the operation. She was beyond tired and extremely sore. She really did amazingly. Mila Grace is the cutest little human being and I know she's going to be a little fashionista before too long. Here are some quick insta's if you haven't already seen them.

On to way less exciting things ... my outfit. My hair is in dire need of a keratin treament ... hence the hat.

wrangler twiggy jeans | thrifted trent nathan blazer | thrifted siren heels | target hat

What I Wore Wednesday

Hello people - how are we all on this fine hump day? 

I've had this musical themed top in my wardrobe for a while now and haven't got around to wearing it ... unfortunately it can't be worn on its own as it tends to gape so layering it under this dress seemed like the perfect option.

french kitty dress | niche top (asos) | vintage belt & bag | thrifted lipstik pumps

My niece (and the first grandchild in our immediate family) is due tomorrow. Come out and meet us little lady. We can't wait to meet you.

I have an exciting giveaway coming soon - stay tuned!

Pastel and Pink

I realise these pastel jeans are probably old news for some but it is their debut on the blog. Fifteen dollars of kmart deliciousness. I couldn't have been bothered trying them on in the shop and they are a bit baggy in places but i'll live. 

kmart jeans | thrifted pingpong sweater | thrifted the works top | asos brogues

My weekend just gone was nice and peaceful and resulted in a tidy and organised house. Gotta love that.  I decided homemade french toast was the order of the day for Sunday breakfast and if you follow me on instagram you might have been slightly jealous of my pic yesterday morning. I'm getting hungry just looking at it!

Earlier today I received my parcel from shopbop. I've got to say I was super impressed with everything. My new glasses were packaged impeccably in a gorgeous ribbon-tied box complete with tissue paper and with the invoice in a fancy-schmancy envelope. It arrived within three business days as stated on the website (and I live in regional queensland) and any communication with the shopbop team is answered super promptly. I would be happy to buy from them again and again and again and again (if only I could afford all of the beautiful items available for purchase!)

The husband and I are off on a wine tasting day in his home town on Saturday with one of my besties and her partner. Should be loads of fun but what I am going to wear?!

till later in the week ...

What I Wore Wednesday - Asos Galore

Another dreary day here in Toowoomba could only mean one thing - a bright outfit teamed with what else than my hunter wellies. I am so happy I bought these even if the husband found out how much they really cost this morning. He actually took it quite well.

I've had this suitcase print jacket from asos for yonks now but this is the first time I've actually worn it. It's a super thin polyester type material so does not really provide much warmth but does the job all the same. Elizabeth Olsen even thinks so.

asos dress | asos tights | asos blazer | hunter wellies from here

Turns out I'm a walking asos ad today!

I also made my first purchase with shopbop today ... i had put the matthew williamson neon frames i blogged about here in my wishlist and was advised that they had been further reduced. I bought them this morning for under $100 after umming and ahhing about buying them for $150+. Glad I waited. 

Do you like wishlists or are they just plain mean to your bank balance?

What I Wore Wednesday and Shopping

Still loving knits and couldn't leave this one behind at Myer the weekend before last when all knits were 40% off. This one came down to $30. 

quirky circus knit | dotti dress | asos brogues

If you follow me on instagram (peta_ballerina) you would have seen that I got two parcels at work today. Wanna know what I got?

This skirt from eBay. It fits perfectly but is slightly longer than I thought it was. Very cute though. 

AND ... a pair of leather pants from my fave online store ... asos. I also put a pair of 200 denier tights in my cart to make the total over $100 AUD so I could use the 10% off code. A very important lesson. The items in my cart came to a total of AUD $100.33 and once I applied the 10% discount the total reduced to $90.30. I always change the currency to pounds before I check out though. Even with my credit card's currency conversion fee the total charged to my account was $83.32. A saving of $6.98 may not seem like much but who doesn't want to save money?!

buy here

This is my first item of leather clothing (putting in an order for a jacket for christmas) and for those who are interested, the quality seems good and I bought the size 12. It's always risky buying pants or jeans online but I'm happy to report these fit just about perfectly. They might be a teensy bit loose in the leg but hopefully I can make them work. How would you wear them?

Oh, and some more shopping from earlier in the week. Being an active gym junkie (and instructor) I cannot resist Lorna Jane. I bought the python full length tights and a super warm hoodie with a hint of my favourite trend at the moment - you guess it, neon!

buy here

buy here

**MUST STOP SHOPPING and START SAVING for our trip to AMERICA!

As always, thanks for reading

Weekending

Had a fab weekend celebrating a friend's uni degree and my aunty and uncle's combined 40th birthdays.

Dinner was at Sofra turkish restaurant in Toowoomba and was delightful. 

The 40th birthday party was 70s themed.

vintage dress | sunnygirl faux fur vest | asos sequin clutch (buy here)

I had two conflicting comments last week. One from Christie complimenting my photos and another telling me I needed a better camera. Most of my photos are taken on my iphone and edited using creative kit in picasa. I'm no photography expert and my photos are generally taken by a very special work friend and as long as they are somewhat clear I'm happy to post them.

also I was told that people who weren't signed it to Google were not able to leave comments. I've rectified that so bring on the comments. 

p.s. i've discovered Offspring and it's my latest obsession!