Love Week: My Crafty Valentine

The most romantic holiday of the year is upon us, and I'm trying to scramble and get all my Valentiny stuff done as soon as can be so I can enjoy the holiday instead of trying to play catch up!

I thought and thought of what to get my kids for Valentines, and then I saw these on Pinterest:

Source: swoozies.com via Swoozie's on Pinterest

And I knew just what I wanted to do. So I'm hot-gluing my little fingers off to make some red sequins hearts to rock my kids' faces off.

Directions:
1// Cut out a red felt heart

2// Starting on the outer edge and working your way around and towards the center, add a little bit of hot glue at a time to the heart and press some stringed sequins onto the felt heart. I bought my sequins strings at JoAnne's. I bought gold & red!

3// End your string in the center and then carefully cut the sequined string. Add a dab of hot glue to where it is cut on the heart and press a single sequin into the glue to clean up any rough end.

4// Hot glue an alligator clip on the back and stick on your shoes, your bag, in your hair, wherever you need a little pizzaz for Love Day!

Source: akissofcolour.com via Olatz on Pinterest

What I'm Working On: Style Me A Lady Brand Identity

There has been a lot of designing going on here lately. In addition to some new Branding Clients, I have been working on my own Branding & Design Website to show my design portfolio to potential clients. I've more design requests this week than ever before and it's going to be really important to stay organized and focused to ensure I am giving my both my photography & design clients the best service & communication I can give, plus stay on top of marketing and managing my businesses.

I'm really excited to be sharing Lindsey's Brand Board, it's so fun and happy just like she is! I know she's going to do amazing things and I love that we can cross market both our businesses together and help each other provide amazing experiences for our clients. I've referred many of my Senior Portrait Clients to Lindsey, and I'm planning on incorporating her styling services in more of my photography in the future.

We took some fun promo shots for her website and blog- here's a peek at one of my favorites.

I'll announce her site launch next week, and do a really fun giveaway you definitely don't want to miss!

Sister (In Law) Style

As if I didn't already have enough beautiful sisters, I married Braden and acquired this girl for a sister in law:

Lindsey is the business. She's funny, she's cute, she laughs at how dumb I can be, and she's always down to go out to eat and brainstorm about business. The last time we got together, it was more like a brain-hurricane, and I am so.excited. to help her get her new Fashion Styling business off the ground here in AZ. This girl's got impeccable style and she absolutely adores helping other people find their own personal style and work with their own closets and budgets to create a perfect wardrobe for all. We've been working on her new website, and at her Glam shoot we took a bunch of fun shots to put on her new site, Style Me A Lady. Come back tomorrow to see how her brand is coming together!

A Very Weston Valentine's Shoot

I've said it before. One year olds are the hardest age for me to photograph. They all are just learning how to walk and once you put them down, they are OFF. As always Gloria, Sarah, and I spent our morning with Weston, running and chasing him down, making sure he wasn't choking on rocks or leaves, laughing as he got SOAKED in the water fountains, making sure he wasn't jumping out of the wagon, or smashing his fingers in the adorable suitcase props his Grandma brought along.

But, as always, it was all worth it to be able to capture this beautiful little boy with his equally beautiful mom and grandma. So I will gladly spend more days with all the one year olds of the world, working up a sweat and relishing their curiosity, adventurous spirit, and speed.

The Greatest Love is For Yourself

Valentine's Day, the day of love, is fast approaching. As we all scramble to figure out what gifts to buy our husbands & children, what restaurant we will be going to dinner at, what special things we can do for the ones we love to show that we care, I feel like most of us forget who the most important person to give love to is. Yourself.


'The Light That Shines' a story for all from InBedWithSue.com on Vimeo.

This is on the surface a documentary about a woman fighting cancer, but underneath all that, there is a powerful message that is meant for everyone. The importance of loving yourself; no matter how you look, how healthy you are, or what your life is like right now. Everyone struggles and everyone has their own burdens to bear and paths to walk, but we all have a choice. A choice to feel sorry for ourselves (even though we have every right to) and be depressed about our situations, or to stand up, brush ourselves off and face our trials feeling beautiful, empowered, and alive.

Thanks and awe go to Sue Bryce and Hailey Bartholomew for creating this work of art. If I end up creating something even half as breathtaking as this in my life, I will consider it my masterpiece.

Sister Love: The Middle Child

You've seen a TON of images of my sister Eryn lately, and my sister Ashly thought it was high time I take some photographs of her too ;)

Ashly is the middle child of the family, and she is the most fiesty and fierce one of us girls. She's hilarious too, and her greatest gift is the ability to quote any movie she's ever seen. It's always a blast when we get together, and we had so. much. fun. taking her portaits. There were so many good ones, it was crazy hard to choose a few to show. My most favorite shot though, was the one I sneak peeked on intagram the day of her shoot.

FIERCE.

What I'm Working On: Wood Creations Brand Identity

You know how I love supporting small business, and you also know how much I love design. AND it's becoming more and more apparent how much I love photography, so the obvious thing to do, I guess, is to start helping new small business with their Brand Identities, designing needs, and photography needs. WIN!

First up, Wood Creations Furniture. They've been open for 6 years and are ready to start fresh and go in a new direction with their brand. They just recently started selling CHALK PAINT© decorative paint by Annie Sloan, and their exposure has skyrocketed because of it!

I came up with this Brand Board for them and then from that did a whole website facelift. Visit their site at woodcreationsfurniture.com to check it out!