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At It Again . . .

July 17th, 2008

I hope to be at it again . . . this blog has become severely neglected and I can’t even believe it has been THREE weeks since I last updated it!!

On my to-do list:

1. I’ve got 6 sessions to blog (a few sessions to proof)
2. Tons of fun family photos that I would just love to share
3. A studio location in the works!!
4. A website revision-serious changes coming!!

Needless to say, life has been busy!

I am so excited to post another storybook canvas!! Here’s the mock-up version:


{The Dazzling Miss C . . . isn’t she radiant atop her pink gerbera daisy?}

This is an example of collaboration with another photographer. My great friend and talented photographer Britt Poppinga captured the original image, then sent the high res. photo to me so that I could create the artwork. I think our efforts paid off– I am so excited to see the canvas when it arrives!

When I see the light of day I will hit it hard with posts . . . I hope you’ll come back and see them!!

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Serene Baby Sweetness

June 28th, 2008

I am one of those people who sees a brand new baby and I just wish I knew the parents so I could sneak a minute or two of baby sugar. I think I have been this way as long as I can remember. Even as a mother of three, that need for a baby fix hasn’t worn off. Each time I see a teeny tiny one I swear my own baby {M} grows about 2 more inches. Thankfully I have a reason to hold and swoon over those sweet little ones as a photographer.

Beautiful baby K was no exception. The first second I saw her I felt that impulse to grab my camera. She is the product of two amazing parents! She is blessed with an equally beautiful older sister too. Her mom is one of those people who just AMAZES me. She endured 9 months of sickness to get this healthy baby here . . . and without further ado, some of my favorites from our session:


{beautiful sisters- they are a great match!}

Thanks to the B. fam for allowing me to soak up some baby sweetness! I look forward to seeing your sweet babe continue to grow!
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Red Riding Hood

June 24th, 2008

{My Little Red Riding Hood}

This shoot has been in the making for a long time. I had to reinvent my limited (and rusty) sewing skills to make the cloak and apron. I also had to convince S. that being this character was a good thing, and I think she got into it once we went on the shoot. This image is a contender for another storybook canvas, hopefully to be created very soon!

Today and tomorrow one of my canvases is on display at the Lehi Roundup Boutique.
The boutique is set up like a carnival and there are yummy treats and great little booths to find some fun treasures. Check it out!!

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Can’t Help But Smile

June 19th, 2008

. . . when you see this shot, I hope. Two of these kiddos belong to me, and the others are children of some of my best friends EVER {my college roommates}. There is something about summer, kids, and the feeling that of sticky “otter pop” juice that dripped onto my forehead while I took this shot. . . that does it for me. By the way, I thought I’d commemorate the grand arrival of the summer solstice with a new blog header. It definitely goes along with the sticky popsicle theme. We’ve really gotten into making our own popsicles with leftover fruit smoothie in the mornings. YUM.

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Fairy Promotion

June 16th, 2008

Below is a new banner ad I designed for the storybook canvases. Please click here to go to our website with more details. More updates to come, as well as examples! Stay tuned . . .

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Orem Summer Fest

June 13th, 2008

Hello everyone, hello neglected blog. We spent a good portion of the day preparing to go to the Orem Summer Fest and consequently participating in the OSF with our financial contribution spent on tickets to be used on the carnival rides, $1 bills to be spent ever so casually, and the last of our cash reserves to furnish a cup of sprite and a billowy pink serving of cotton candy. Mmmmm, sugar!

I didn’t even bring a camera to document our expenditures, and more importantly, M. on the carousel with a grin from ear to ear. Also noteworthy, and photoworthy: A. backing her way off of the Indiana Jones adventure climbing/ slide contraption with a sudden burst of tears as she couldn’t quite figure out how to escape the ride entirely. More reasons I should have brought the camera: the three kiddos sat inside a real fire engine and ambulance with no emergency at all. There was plenty of sliding on the standard playground equipment (for free, even better!) and because I had earned my stripes and we were all famished, we indulged in a comfort food meal at Cafe Rio (didn’t we eat there last week?). I have to say all of this was done with out the assistant of VIP (very important parent), AKA DH. Yes, I was feeling quite adventurous. Next time I am definitely bringing the hubby along!

Also- a shout out to my great and talented friend Britt! She’s got some beautiful hair accessories
for sale in her booth at the OSF and graciously allowed me to display one of my fairy canvases in the booth. I will include a link to her website shortly. The OSF will continue the whole day tomorrow.

Also coming soon: plenty of pictures of the latest storybook canvases. I am SO excited about where we’re headed with these . . . I have lost sleep over it!! Here’s a spot with more information previously posted about the canvases. Click here for the first fairy canvas images.

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A Great Thought

June 5th, 2008

A good friend of mine sent me this quote recently. I just love it- and I love the author, Marjorie Pay Hinckley:

“I don’t want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully, tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails. I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp. I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbors children. I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone’s garden. I want to be there with children’s sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder. I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived.”

Isn’t that great? For me it is so visual, and I can especially relate to the part about being covered with grime.

For our weekly photo news and updates . . . I have a TON of photos to process, SO MANY to blog about, and we are on the mend from a sick spell at our home. In fact, I began the day with my little M. getting “sick” on me at 5:00 a.m. Soooo- as soon as I am able, I will get everything done (in order, right?) and it will be lovely. The fairy canvases turned out amazingly well- I am so excited about what will come next with these designs. Photos of the installation and exciting business updates on the way.


{Sometimes they really act like they love each other to pieces! Other times . . . not so much. I am so happy to have captured this image earlier this evening as the sun was setting.
Technical settings: f/8, SS 1/320 @ 500 ISO. Lens- 70-200mmL (focal length set to 70 mm)}
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Tickled.

May 31st, 2008

Yesterday we celebrated S.’s last day of school with a cozy book read in our big leather recliner. All three kiddos piled on the chair with me and we read the first three chapters of Charlotte’s Web. Snuggly and perfect? Yes. Until M. was completely bothered at having to share Mom with his two big sisters, and A.’s foot was in his face and then he and A. were just squabbling and crabby toward each other. Typical? Pretty much.

Then, to my sheer astonishment and utter surprise, M. held A.’s foot and said, “tickle, tickle, tickle.” Of course A. laughed and then we all laughed. We didn’t know M. knew how to tickle–but we continued to enjoy the rest of that chapter from that point on. Cute kids.

{This little guy is full of antics lately, I tell ya!}

Today was a busy day- we got the family up early and made the trip to Scoffield, UT to meet up at the cabin of a client of mine. We’ve been in the planning stages for a big project Big, as in very large scale and high up–yet I can work on it from home. What could it be? More details and pictures to come. I am excited to get to work on it. It will be spectacular!

I also tried and failed at my wannabe attempt as a National Geographic photographer. I don’t know how they do it–photographing wild, flighty animals with out being noticed. There were some lovely white pelicans on the Reservoir today. I thought surely they wouldn’t notice me sneaking across the muddy flats towards them– I only wanted to snap picture or two. But nooooo, they had to paddle away and then had the nerve to completely fly away to the other shore. C’mon, my lens is big . . . but am I really that threatening? Not so. The pelicans in my photos are so far away and tiny it is embarrassing, so I am not likely to post those pictures.

DH and I had a little better luck in shooting some pictures of the old, dilapidated buildings in the pseudo-ghost town that is Scoffield, Utah. (keyword: inanimate objects). It is a quaint little place with about 1/2 of a business open at one time. Don’t go there to find anything hustling and bustling . . . but if you’d like feel cool while driving on Myrtle Street this is your place. I spotted so many awesome backdrops I’d love to try with seniors or families or kids . . . only they’re a nearly two hour drive from here. Oh well.

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Fairy Delight

May 29th, 2008

Here’s a sneak peak of the designs for two fairy canvases I recently created for a client . . .
the canvases will arrive next week and I am SO EXCITED!! I wish I could show you all of the detail in these images, but you’d have to view them at full size (24″x 24″ and 24″ x 36″) to see all of the details! These images show the entire image–the outer edges will actually wrap around the sides of the gallery-wrapped frame (1.5″ thick). They’ll arrive with a paper backing and hanging hardware, ready to take their place on the wall.

{Lily of the Valley Fairy}

The Lily of the Valley Fairy is delicate yet strong-willed. Sweet yet sassy. She prefers a soft leaf as a resting spot, and doesn’t care for the prickly grass. 😉 She’s the fairest of them all.

{English Rose Fairy}
The English Rose Fairy loves exploring, collecting and dancing. She has an affinity for all things sparkly. She has long, flowing hair and cheeks the color of a blushing rose. Her world is a painting, colored with every hue.
I will post some photos of the actual canvases when they arrive!! Each canvas has the girl’s name hidden in it too, for extra personalization. Many hours go into each one, making it a unique piece of artwork. The Lily of the Valley design involved a qwest to find the most elusive flower in all of Utah! I LOVED creating these–to me, this is the culmination of all creative things I love: photography, nature, children, painting, photoshop, and storytelling! :)
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A Fun Bun

May 28th, 2008

Here’s S’s little friend, Andy the rabbit. This polaroid was concocted using a fun PS action found here: polaroid generator. Polaroids are all the rage right now, but they are becoming extinct as Polaroid will no longer be manufacturing the film. (Perhaps they’ll drag this out for a while thanks to the surge in popularity of the vintage/ retro photo look).

Andy is a 2-year old miniature lop. S. recently did an animal report for school, and she chose the rabbit as her subject. She also constructed a rabbit diorama featuring a burrow with baby bunnies (made of pom poms). Here are a few fun facts (courtesy S.- our resident kindergartener and rabbit specialist):

1. Rabbits are called kits or kittens when they’re a baby.

2. Some rabbits could be brown, or white, or broken orange.

3. All bunnies jump really high.

4. They eat grass, clovers, and lettuce, carrots, alfalfa, and that’s all. [eta. most of which grows in our backyard!!] . . . oh, and they drink water.

5. They are fast. They could live in a cage or in a habitat underground.

6. My bunny is broken orange and white. He jumps high too. That’s all.

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