OK....everyone say it with me.....

"AAAWWWWW!"

Isn't she a doll? This one is for you Christie and Stephen...she was such a great little sport. =)



Now if only I could sleep that peaceful. LOL!!

Leah's Color Workflow Action Set....

so I've been bugging Leah to make an action for her fabulous colors.....I tell ya, her colors are just stunning and out-of-this-world! =) First of all...got check out her blog and you'll see:

Mia Bella

OK...what did I tell you....AWESOME huh? So, after all the hounding, she decided to come up with some actions for your everyday use and she was kind enough to let me be her beta tester (I think she just wanted me off her back LOL). I ran it really quick on this and brought down the cool color layer.....easy as pie, it took me less than 1 minute. =) They are totally tweakable so you can get many different looks.



So, are you sold yet? LOL!! Go check out her action site and see all the goodies that you get. I promise you will love them.....these are right at the top of my list of must-have-best-buy-for-your-money-actions-you-won't-regret-it! =)

Leah's Color Workflow Actions

ETA: Megan requested to see the SOOC of this shot...I only sized for web and added a canvas. =) And don't laugh either! LOL!!

the last day of freedom.....

because school starts on Monday! =) Miss G. is going to be a 1st grader....my, how the time flies. I remember last year when I was a complete wreck with her starting Kindergarten....remember that?

We met her teacher last Thursday and she seems really nice and excited for the new year. She only has one little boy (and no, it's not her love interest) in her class this year that was with her last year, but she's excited all the same. =) There's some new stuff this year.....get this...science lab! BBWWHHAAHHAAA.....I'm picturing them in white lab coats, googles, beakers and test tubes! LOL!! Can you image the trouble they could get into if they didn't have supervision?

Anywho....I'm a little behind in my assignments for the Lighting Workshop, so I decided to work on them yesterday. This one is for mid-evening backlighting.....I like how it looks like her hair is on fire. I think this is my favorite lighting outside because of the gorgeous colors. Next is sun flare....I'm excited to give that a whirl. =)

This one makes me want to see the Sheryl Crow song "I wanna soak up the sun!"





And just having some fun with different stuff...I'm really getting into that lately. =)





OK....enough about school....it's starting to bring back some bad memories! LOL!!

I've been tagged by Wynona and Melissa to list 8 interesting things about me and to tag another 4 to do the same. =) OK.....I'm not interesting at all so this is going to be hard to list 8...I may have to fudge some. LOL!!

1. I secretly want to be an interior designer! =) I LOVE HGTV and all those design shows. But I think I wouldn't get hired....I'm horrible at sticking to a budget....ask my hubby. =)

2. I'm a organizational freak....I have baskets galore....I even has baskets to hold baskets.

3. My mom named my sister when she as born and my dad got to name me. Some choices that were on the list were Kendra, Natalie, Leann, Leah. Now don't get me wrong....I don't mind my name but I think I'm more of a Natalie instead.

4. My first car was my dad's VW beetle...I LOVED that car.....it was bright yellow! I of course wrecked it. =(

5. My favorite color is green...it has been since I was a little girl.

6. I was a total tomboy growing up....my mom couldn't get me into a dress if her life depended on it. And one time at band camp....LOL, just kidding. One time at school, I can't remember what grade I was in, I want to say 2nd or 3rd, a boy was teasing my cousin, and I beat him up. LOL!!

7. I'm an ebay junkie....I've been buying and selling on ebay for at least 6 years now. I use to make bandana pants and they sold like hotcakes until I got burned out on sewing. I just now started to pick it up again...I made a roman shade for the master bath (I'm so proud of it). =)

8. I use to play softball and almost played for SWT. I started when I was 4 years old and played until I was 18....I LOVE it. I was the pitcher and played 3rd base on the All-Star teams.

OK...so now I tag:

Carrie Leah Amy Jeanette Tiffany Kristy and Lulu

I tagged 7 instead of 4! LOL!! You know you girls love me! =)

OH...forgot this one....gotta show a b/w since it's been mostly color lately. Check out that "tude!"

Oh and one last thing....did something big happen last Tuesday that I didn't know about? Cuz, I checked my stats on here and I had 1,904 hits! WOWZERS....I'm thinking I missed something. LOL!! Thanks for all the looks, now all you lurkers need to leave comments...I may be playing a game soon. HINT-HINT!

a little quirky....

I've been inspired by Heleen (Toddlertoes) on Flickr...if you guys haven't checked that place out, it's a must.....there is sooo much talent there and a wide variety of stuff too....something for everyone. =)

Anywho....I'm not one that needs eye contact from my clients....especially little ones. I just want to be able to capture their favorite toy or what they are doing at that moment....that is what I LOVE.

I pulled Miss G. out yesterday for some fun. She's been giving me a fuss lately with taking her photos but when it came to just having fun and letting her do stuff that fun for her, it makes a HUGE difference in what I get. =)











Most of them are of her feet (and most of you know I'm a sucker for feet) and of her toys but there's something that just tugs at your heart with them. =)

a little bit of here and there stuff....

Man....I've been on a blog posting roll lately! LOL!! TFL! =)

look who I had spend the night on Saturday?

yeppers....and I'll I can say is I'm tired! LOL!!





Oh, before I forget, for those of you that asked about my placement and light source for the newborn photos below.....I didn't have her directly by a window...the light in her nursery was AMAZING so what I did was place her against a wall but the light was directly on her. She was probably a good 9 feet away from the the window. =)

Also, my black background is just a plain large black sheet, it works great. I used my b/w2 conversion on it and in that conversion, it really blackens your blacks so any areas of shade or light that showed up just goes away with the action....POOF! LOL!!

a princess in the making.....

This little one was absolutely perfect for me! She made my first newborn session a dream. =)

She decided to grace Mommy and Daddy about 3 weeks early and lucky me, she was a great little sleeper....just a little snug bug. =)



And the famous wings were requested too.....



a tad different from the one above....

beyond red and green templates

Remember these from last year? Well, Sherri's talent is par none....she never ceases to amaze me from her beautiful photography to her fun and gorgeous templates....she came out with some awesome Christmas templates for this year.

And for you guys that are new to PSE or PS/CS, they are soooo user friendly. =)

Here's one of my favs from many.....



Go check them out....I have a link to the side or you can just click below.

Beyond Red and Green Templates

I bet you'll have a hard time choosing which ones to buy! LOL!!

I cried.....

when I saw this:



Kristen (the fabulous painter that did Gracie in "road rage") painted me a portrait of Gracie and I LOVE it! Funny thing is, she emailed me asking me if I wanted to see it before I picked it up at a show she was having and me, being someone that can't keep secrets, I of course wanted to see it but lucky me, she got so busy getting ready for her show, she didn't get a chance to send me a photo of it.

So at the first site of it, I cried! LOL!! Now I know how my clients feel when they see their portraits for the first time....it's an awesome feeling. =)



She calls it "Gracie Undercover" and I just laughed....it's the perfect title! =)

She is simply fantastic as what she does....you guys really must check her out. And if you're looking for a whimsy/colorful painting of your little ones that will for sure be a keepsake for many many years, email her. She super sweet, such a professional and fantastic to work with. =)

Kristen Erwin's Paintings

Thanks again Kristen...I found the perfect place for it....you can pretty much see it from the front entry way, dining room, living room and kitchen! =)

sweet little 2008 calendars....

Tina is at it again...check these out:





Aren't they awesome? Another goodie I'm going to start offering them to my clients...I'm so excited! Jump on over to her site....she's running a sale right now but it won't be for long. You get papers for the whimsy look or you can leave it solid like the one above plus some little extras too. =)

Lil' Creations

Have a great weekend everyone!

Bren

robin's egg blue room....

Gracie's room is having an Extreme Makeover! OK...maybe not extreme but a makeover for sure. =)

Her room use to be a yellow-green but she informed me that she wanted a new color....I had her pick between the blue and a deep pink and she picked the blue much to my surprise being that she is such a prissy little thing. And of course she wouldn't have the final say....so I asked some photogs their opinion and blue was the overwhelming choice.

Then she went on to tell me that she wanted a tree painted on her wall....yes, a tree. LOL!! So since Grandma was staying with us, guess who got to do that? It's great having an artist around when you need them! LOL!! I helped paint in the tree a wee bit but the rest was Grandma's great work. All those little critters...she did them and let me tell you they are CUTE!!

It's still not finished yet but when it's done, I'll post some more photos. =)

OH....and it photographs awesome....WHAM...a new backdrop!! =)

I have to show this one bigger....it's my new fav!! =)





This is a little birdie flying out of the tree...I just couldn't get it in with the tree shot. =)



Her chalkboard to doodle on....



Above her bed, I hung a clothes line from one end of the wall to the other and then she hangs her artwork up there. I'm having the owl that's in the tree painted on the line so it looks like it's perching on it.



This is a set of shelves she's had since she was born. I have a cover for it that makes it look like a tent but I need some new fabric because the old green one looks funky with the new blue...so right now it's bare. =)



And of course, she wants to get in on the whole thing. =)



And these are the windows that bring in that fabulous natural light a couple of you asked me about....LOVE them! You can't see the other one but the basically go from the bottom of the floor to the top of the ceiling. I can shoot in there any time of the day. =) And yes, they are both nosey!! LOL!!



That's it for now...oh, you must come back tomorrow...I've got some awesome calendars from the fabulous Tina that I'm going to post. I'm going to start to offer them to clients as well....they are soooo awesome!!

saratoga frames.....

Remember the frames I mentioned before...well, I got mine a little over a week ago (I've been meaning to post my photos) and all I can say is they are AWESOME!!





I just order 2 of them but I'm definitely going to order more. I used this one as a corkboard to put in my kitchen to hang all of Gracie's artwork and stuff and another one to show my clients. The red is sooo deep and rich and the hand-rubbing is gorgeous.

I'm only offering Saratoga frames as my frame choice for my clients which I know they will love. Right now, they are a wholesale company for photographers but I think they are looking at going retail too so make sure you check back. =)

I have a link to the side and/or you can check them out here. Make sure you do, Lisa and Vic have some great photos of the different styles and colors they offer.

Saratoga Frame Co.

robin's egg blue....

that's Gracie's new wall color! Here's a peek for you...I'll post more in the next couple days. =)



It looks much lighter here...it shows the natural light coming into her room much better...gotta love that! =)

finally......

after countless days....my site is finally done! WHEW...I've got a couple of things I need to do to it (i.e. the calendar) but for the most part, it's finished. =)

I'm one happy clam. LOL!!

are you getting a bunch of newborn sessions?

Well, I've got some CUTE announcement cards for you to show your clients! =)



Adorable huh?

Kirsty has some really cute birth announcements and holiday card that you should really check out. They are all completely editable and so easy to use. Check out her work at

In the blink of an eye

I do believe she's got some group buys going on! Can you tell, I like to spend your money? LOL!!