Someone pretty incredible is 40 years and 364 days old today!

My dear friend Jamie made this delightful felt pizza set. {Complete with custom pizza box, order pad and apron… oh my!}  Since I don’t know how to sew I thought I’d take her idea and make it into a felt board play set.  I’m not sure when I became so enthralled with imaginary PIZZA SHOPS— perhaps it was family fun night oh so long ago? Thank you Jamie for this super delicious and fun idea!!

Little chef’s Ashleigh, Sarah and Lauren will soon have this pizza shop-in-a-box and mini-holiday game!  Enjoy!

 

Tin Details:

1. Outside: spray paint + personalized photograph of vintage Candyland kids! I used photoshop to add party details.
2. Inside the tin lid is a photograph of my favorite character Jolly.  How can you not love a Jolly?
3. Party details (date-time-place) are on recycled Candyland game cards.  I’ve been collecting used games at garage sales–  buck a piece!
4. Each tin is bit different, but they are all jammed packed with a variety of treats and game pieces.
5. The tins don’t open and close easily after a coat of paint— bummer!

To save or not save…  that is this mama’s question.

These teeny tiny envelopes hold the show tickets!

Daddio & Mama are working in the ticket booth.

Project Supplies:

1. Two recycled gift or shoe boxes
2. Box cutter
3. Popsicle sticks
4. Circle punch & scallop circle punch
5. Modge podge to adhere polka dots
6. Solid paper & printed paper for sticks
7. Fabric for curtain
8. Strip of tiny tickets, showtimes/prices & sign— email me if you’d like a JPG version of these!

10 tips to capturing your little miracle:

1.  My all time FAVORITE thing to do with newborns is to put them IN and ON things. Look around your house for bowls, baskets, plates…  get creative.  If you can’t find anything you love check out Ikea, Target, antique shops & yard sales for some inexpensive props.

2.  Before your wee one is born, hit a local fabric store stock up on variety of fabrics and blankets. Find at least one of each—- high dimension texture (like blanket above), silk, fake fur, loopy/bumpy texture and velvet.  You may also like to have several basic solids on hand; black, antique white and your favorite baby shade (pink-blue-mint) and at least one fun, wild vibrant print!  Fabrics are essential for backdrops if you have lots of clutter around.  Also use fabrics to make a tasty baby burrito or put your fabric over a bean bag, pillow or boppy for an instant “baby poser.”

3. Click with your heart. Don’t worry if your photographs aren’t technically perfect.  Some of my finest work is highly flawed… as long as you love an image, it is a treasure.  Photograph baby with something you cherish and/or something that represents you; an heirloom blanket, vintage baseball glove, cowboy hat, wedding rings, mommy’s wedding dress… the ideas are endless.  One of my Texas clients carved this table (above) and we curled baby on top for once in a lifetime shot.

4.  Turn off your flash. Let God’s light do all the work for you.  I have lots of expensive & fancy lighting equipment— never used it on a baby, not once.   Find a spot in your house that has soft, subtle light.  Notice the way the light changes in each room through out the day.  You may find exceptional light in the nursery during the morning and then the dining room in the afternoon.  Trust me when I say your house has perfect light— it’s just a matter of finding it.  I’ve photographed in bathrooms, entry ways, kitchens, garages… you name it!

5.   Be ridiculously cheesy and silly. Costumes aren’t just for Halloween!!  Accessorize fully clothed and nakie babes in hats, scarves, booties and big beautiful bows whenever possible.

6.  Go black and white. Nothing beats a timeless and classic black & white photograph.  Often fresh newborn skin can be bit blotchy and/or red— black and whites will help hide that!   The baby angel (sweet Kennedy above) had flawless skin, yet black and white just worked perfectly here.  Let each photograph speak to you– I usually know within the first second if it should be B&W or color… if in doubt print both and pick your favorite.

7.   Take the one shot you can’t live without. For me, every session includes the quintessential hand shot.  I love how this pose highlights the smallness of the baby against dad’s big hand.  Search your favorite magazines and find YOUR SHOT.  Do whatever it takes to capture it.

8.  Print your photographs regularly. This sounds simple enough, but in this age of digital greatness it’s easy to forget about REAL PRINTS.  Please don’t use your local pharmacy or home printer for photographs you actually care about.  Skip Target and Walmart.  Find a local professional camera shop and see if they do in house printing.  If they don’t they will recommend one to you.

9.  Show some skin. Go for the birthday suit.  Tushie shots are a must have.  You can easily cover up privates with a blankie.  Their skin never again be so velvety, soft and gorgeous.

10.  Pee. Poop. Patience. Photographing newborns is a hard, messy job!   Take your time and take lots and lots and lots of photos.  It’s okay to take 100 shots and only get ONE that really makes your heart sing.  My all time favorite photograph is with my baby girl on huge stack of books.  This photo took me over two hours to capture.  It was worth every second.

11.  Sleepy heads. Who isn’t a sucker for sleeping newborn?  You’ll find babes to be most easily movable and flexible within the FIRST TEN DAYS of life.  Keep a sleeping baby warm and wrapped until you are ready to begin your session.  I always ask my clients to turn the heat way up (parents should be sweating by the end of session) to keep baby content.  You can also use a hot water bottle or heating pad to warm babies spot in advance.

12.  Okay, this was only supposed to be 10 tips… I can’t stop myself, one more–get AS CLOSE as your camera will allow. Capture tiny toes, drool, wrinkly skin, belly buttons… and capture it close. “Key to My Heart” (above) would not have had the impact if I included the entire baby and a wild background.  Always remember this— when you think you are close enough, go a tad closer!

My all-time favorite baby photography book——Nick Kelsh’s “How to Photograph Your Baby.”  LOVE this book!  Nick will make you believe that “The most important piece of equipment is your heart.”

Lastly, I promise you, I’m not just saying this because I am one, but if you can afford to hire a professional photographer, do it. I so wish I would have done this when my first born was a baby.  I did the cheapy, chain studios, but I truly wish I would had someone come to our house when he was brand spakin new.  If you really and truly can’t afford a pro, contact your favorite local photographers and tell them about your situation— I can’t tell you how many times I’ve done discounted sessions to help out families.   I’d photograph every baby in world if I had time!!! I really believe that most photographers are amazingly compassionate and generous.  If you can’t find anyone ask a super close friend or family member to act as your photography assistant during the first days!! New mama’s need and deserve all the help they can get.

Now go get clickin will ya?!  Can’t wait to see all your BABY shots!

This is my Can-O-Cards project!  I adhered photos to recycled soup cans to house the 40 cards we made for Daddio’s birthday!  This would be an easy idea for a handmade and memorable Mother’s Day or Father’s Day gift—fill the can with cards or treats or pencils?!

We filled our cans with mini photo cards—

During:

After:

For this project, I wanted the kiddos to experiment with a new and unique medium.  They ended up painting ON pasta and WITH pasta.  What a delight!  The spaghetti noodles yielded the neatest strokes… but by the end of the hour it was a hodgepodge of noodles & color.

I want to always remember that art is messy.  Art is wild.  Art doesn’t need to follow any rules.  This summer I was thinking of dedicating one day a week to free art—  maybe it will be Wild Art Wednesday or something of the sort?!

Life is a combination of magic and pasta.  Federico Fellini