Sara Gray Photography Portland, Oregon

The Inspired Creations contest is one of my favorite things to participate in — last year, if you remember, I entered with my pals Kim + Bonnie from Punch and we won! That was a blast, and so this year I worked with a great team to put together another concept and enter again. The competition is fierce (the contest is still going!) but we had a blast and we can’t wait to see the outcome. The contest is hosted by two of my favorite blogs, The Sweetest Occasion and Elizabeth Anne Designs.

Now, to the fantastic talent that is our team: First, Madi Roosevelt. I’m sure many of you have seen her work before, because we’ve worked together in the past, but I have to give her serious props for all her hard work. Madi works overtime, all the time, and she is so talented. She did hair and makeup for our model, Emily (who is also my little sister) and I loved the look.

Love that hairpiece? You’d love the woman who made it, too. She’s Erin Brooks from Serephine, and she’s become a good friend to me over the last few months as we’ve worked together on some photo shoots and spent some time together. I love her work, and for this shoot she created a totally new piece, called the Reina. It’s now available in her adorable online shop.

We shot this entire shoot at the fabulous Jupiter Hotel in SE Portland. They set us up in a glamorous room, which features a larger-than-life Marilyn Monroe mural on the wall. How could you go wrong? We also created this fabric-flower bouquet specifically for the shoot.

Emily’s jewelry is so fab in this shoot — we layered on hammered gold and silver chains from Amy Wing Designs. Amy’s work is really ethereal and gorgeous, and Emily looked really great with those delicate chains around her neck and wrist.

If you’re curious, the dress is from Nordstrom and those shoes are from Zappos (but have since been discontinued in this color). They were so tall and hard to walk in, Emily had to slip on her other shoes (those black ones on the left, above) to go outside.

Since the contest is still going, we’d appreciate any comments you want to share on our contest entry, which appeared on Elizabeth Anne Designs a few weeks ago. I’ll keep you all posted about how we do!

The contest I’m doing this week with Erin from Foosie Design has been fun so far, but it’s about to get a lot more fun for everyone. This morning we’re naming our six finalist couples, and whoever can get the most votes by Thursday at midnight wins the engagement session and save-the-dates!

Holly & Andrew got engaged in a helicopter ride after a picnic, complete with strawberry shortcake, in June.

Elena & Craig got engaged in June when Craig put together a scrapbook detailing all the ways he loved her, and a proposal on the last page.

Ashley-Renée & James met at Reed College and soon realized that they though each other were funny. Now they’re inseparable!

Erin & Simon (pictured here at a Teen Wolf Prom party) got to know each other through texting, traveling and tour buses.

Tatyana & Ivan’s proposal story involves hot air balloons, and was the best day of Tatyana’s life.

Miranda & AJ took a hike in the Gorge up to a secret spot where AJ hid a message in a bottle for her.

To read the full versions of their stories and vote for your favorite, visit the Foosie Design Facebook Page, and leave a comment under the photo of the couple you want to win!

Hey, all you engaged couples! This coming week I am teaming up with Erin from Foosie Design to offer a unique contest. You only have until midnight on Tuesday to enter, so I want to see entries pouring in all weekend!

Foosie Design and Sara Gray Photography are teaming up to give one lucky couple a fun engagement session and a set of gorgeous earth friendly save the dates featuring those photos. It’s easy to enter: Just e-mail Sara a photo of you together and a few sentences about how you met or got engaged by midnight on November 2, 2010. We’ll announce finalists the next day, November 3rd and then let the fans pick the winner on the Foosie Design Facebook page!

And just for entering, Foosie Design and Sara Gray Photography would like to offer you 10% off your save the date purchase and engagement session, so either way you’re a winner!

E-mail your submissions to [email protected] by midnight on Tuesday, November 2nd, and stay tuned to see if you’re a finalist!

A huge congrats to Courtney, who won the drawing for those sassy yellow shoes. Courtney shared that she just had surgery and wants to have some smokin’ new shoes to wear around once she’s back up and around. Courtney is an amazing singer, you can check out her music fan page here.

I’ll be honest, though — it was soooooo hard to choose for this contest that I ended up doing a drawing instead of choosing my favorite answer. I love the idea of Kristen wearing them to bed, Deanna wearing them to vacuum and so many of you wearing them out on dates with your men and to weddings all summer. I wish I had eighteen pairs to give away!

What I thought of most, though, while I was reading all your answers, was how much fun all of you sound. I know a few of you, so I already know you’re amazing, but I wanted to have a little yellow-shoe-lover’s party — where everyone gets yellow shoes and the confidence that comes with them. But alas, they don’t make these shoes anymore, so there’s just the one pair. I’ll keep you posted on that yellow shoe party, though. Sounds pretty fun to me.

When our inspiration post went live on Style Me Pretty a couple of weeks ago, there was a flurry of comments about these yellow shoes. The commenters loved them and wanted to know where to get them. I bought this pair at Nordstrom Rack, but it turns out they’re no longer available in any Nordstrom stores. Today, though, I’m going to make one very lucky 9.5 happy and give her my pair — worn once, for about ten minutes, during this inspiration shoot.

If you’d like to win them (whether you’re a bride-to-be or not), just comment on this post and tell me where you’d like to wear them. To your wedding, to someone else’s wedding, out to dinner on your anniversary or just to the office. Let’s have it!

I’ll be drawing a winner next Monday, April 5 and sending the shoes to that lucky winner. Good luck!

PS: In order to win, you’ll need to comment here on the actual blog, not on the Facebook post that aggregates from here. Thanks!

A big congrats to Libby, who entered and won this month’s drawing for a $25 iTunes giftcard. Thanks, everyone, for playing!

When I rolled over this morning and looked at my alarm clock, it said “7:32 a.m. Dec. 1.” I got a smile on my face right away. I love December — the cold (requiring sweaters and coats and cute hats), warm fires, decorations, gathering together with family and friends at parties and holiday gatherings and much more. It’s definitely one of my favorite times of year, and I’m all wrapped up in the Christmas spirit already this morning.

For this month’s giveaway, I wanted to throw a little holiday spirit at one lucky blog reader, plus a few recommendations to get all of you as excited as I am about this wonderful season. My favorite Christmas book? Holidays on Ice, by David Sedaris. My favorite Christmas snack food? Clementines. Favorite beverage? Egg nog or peppermint hot chocolate — homemade, not from Starbucks. My favorite Christmas movies: Love Actually, The Family Stone, Elf, It’s a Wonderful Life, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Mixed Nuts and Miracle on 34th Street.

For me, though, nothing beats Christmas music. I pretty much keep my iTunes playlist on a roll all through December. Here are my top recommendations for Christmas albums that I can’t get enough of:

Diana Krall’s “Christmas Songs”

Sufjan Stevens’ “Songs for Christmas”

Harry Connick Jr.’s “Harry for the Holidays”

James Taylor’s “At Christmas”

Pottery Barn’s “Classic Christmas” compilation

I want to give one lucky blog reader a chance to pick up one or two of these albums (or their choice), so I’m giving away a $25 iTunes gift card! The drill is the same as always: enter to win by commenting on this post (either on Facebook or on the blog) and I’ll draw a winner at random on Thursday morning at 8 a.m. Winner will be announced on the blog sometime around noon on Thursday. Good luck to you all, and happy December!

This morning’s random drawing came out in favor of Kelly, who entered on the blog to win a $200 credit toward a Christmastime family portrait session. I can’t wait to meet and photograph your family, Kelly!

As for the rest of you, thanks for entering and remember to come back next month for our last drawing of the year!

I know it’s a bit of a drag when the time changes and it’s getting dark early and the rain is back here in the great Pacific Northwest, but there is a silver lining. It’s time spent with family and friends and yummy food and glitzy parties. That’s right, the holidays. This month we get to celebrate Thanksgiving, and it’s one of my very favorite holidays.

Along those lines, this month’s giveaway is a festive one — since I’m running a special holiday promotion for family portraits, I’ll be giving away a $200 credit toward a family portrait session. If you’ve been on the fence about whether to jump in, enter the contest today and you may be able to come out and have your photos taken on me.

To enter, just comment on the post — doesn’t matter if it’s on Facebook or the blog. I’ll announce a winner on Wednesday!

Shannon, my most recent bride, was the lucky winner of a set of my custom-designed holiday cards this year. Hooray, Shannon! I can’t wait to see you and TJ again soon!

To the rest of you, thanks for entering and remember that even if you didn’t win the cards, you can purchase them for $50/set. Not too shabby for really unique cards that’ll set you apart this year.