Oh, sweet little Jack … I could snuggle you forever!  This little guy was absolutely perfect for his session, not a peep out of him the entire time, and we put him through a lot!  We turned him into the cutest bunny you’ve ever seen and a daring baby aviator, he got snug as a bug in our basket, and even tolerated a christening gown for a bit.  I love working with all of my newborn clients, but there is something really special about first-time parents.  Getting to be a tiny part of those very special early moments as a new family is forming is not something I take lightly at all.  Baby Jack has no shortage of love around him, that is for sure.  Thank you so much for letting me cuddle your sweet little guy!

I so enjoyed spending time with this precious family, I truly feel incredibly honored that they chose me to capture this very special time for them!  We photographed their maternity session back in November on an absolutely perfect day in a lovely fall location, and I’m in LOVE with these images.  Great lighting, great outfits, great couple – what more could you ask for?!?  Then Alexis Camille arrived in January, and we had our session on a much more frigid day – luckily we got to stay indoors this time!  She is absolutely beautiful and just has the most feminine petite little features.  As you can see, Mom and Dad are just smitten.  She is truly one blessed little girl!  This family has a lot of really cool rustic decor, and it was really fun to add those elements to both their maternity and newborn sessions as well.  Congrats again Mom and Dad!

I’m so lucky to be the oldest of 4 girls, because I’m thinking that even though I may not have any more babies of my own to photograph, I will have LOTS of nieces and nephews to practice on.  So far only nieces, and this is number 2!  This little nugget came the week after Thanksgiving and she added so much joy to our family’s holidays!  I LOVE snuggling her, she is so sweet! Big sis Cadence is catching on too, and Finley and Emory are both enamored with her.  Welcome to our family Braelyn Dawn – good job Jordan and Shawn!

Oh my, where to begin… my heart is just bursting with joy for my sweet friend and her family.  Megan and I were high school pals and she is one of the very few people from my high school days that I still keep in touch with.  I LOVE this girl.  She never ceases to put a smile on my face, and I couldn’t be happier that she ended up marrying an equally as awesome guy.  I know these two prayed so hard for this little blessing, and the love they have for him is palpable.  Of course, I was so humbled that they asked me to help document his early days in this world, and he was a perfect little angel for his session.  He put up with lots of family pictures and prop shots, which is not usually easy on the little ones.  I mean, he wore glasses for goodness sake!  It’s almost like he knew how much this meant to mom and dad.  And oh my, look at that hair!  Absolute perfection.  Love you Megan and Grant, and thank you for letting me be a tiny part of this very special time in your lives!

We have known this sweet couple since our days in Lubbock, and I was so honored when they asked me to help document the arrival of their first little one.  We braved the late July heat to shoot their maternity portraits, but they looked fabulous, you’d never know how hot it was.  I loved their outfits and the adorable banner they brought, such a cute idea!  Madeleine Elizabeth made her arrival in late August and she was such a doll!  We even managed to get a few shots of her wide-eyed (and focused), which is always a treat.  Of course, August summer heat is perfect for keeping newborns warm, so Mom and Dad toughed it out once more so we could get some family shots outdoors.  Thank you so much for letting me love on your sweet little girl, that will never get old for me.  Congrats again on her arrival!

I count it such a blessing when friends turn into clients (and vice versa), and working with this sweet family who we’ve know for several years was no exception.  I was so excited to be a small part of such an exciting time!  We took their maternity portraits on a very hot June day, but you would never know it, doesn’t mom look radiant?  Elijah Reid made his arrival at the end of July and we shot his newborn session on an even hotter day, but at least we were indoors.  He was the most perfect little subject ever, not hardly a peep out of him the entire time.  Isn’t he just a doll?!?  Thank you so much for letting me capture these precious moments, it was an honor!

I absolutely adore this post that Kelly put together, especially with my own little one’s birthday only a few months away!  Here’s what she has to say:

My little guy recently turned one, and I couldn’t wait to take his birthday portraits, complete with a cake smash. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the concept, you plunk the birthday boy or girl down for some instant photo fun — just add cake! The results are always messy and memorable once they dig in.

In addition to capturing my son covered in frosting, I also wanted some images of him outside — exploring, reacting to his surroundings for those natural expressions I know and love.

First birthdays are a major milestone and a popular reason for booking a portrait session. But rather than just picking outfits and props randomly, if you give it just a little extra thought, you can plan and style an amazing first birthday session so all of your images (although very different) are coordinated and look amazing when paired together for an album, wall display or however you choose to enjoy them. And because I just went through it myself, I have real examples to illustrate — which always helps, right?

Need another reason to read to the very end? I lined up some awesome deals for you from some very incredible vendors.

Okay, for Evan’s portraits I opted to go with the colors of his nursery because I know I’ll display some of the photos there. (For more on matching your outfits to a room in your home, see this Wardrobe Wednesday post.) Evan’s nursery is filled with light blue, navy and red, so I knew I’d have a ton of options. If you’re interested, check out his room here.

I did a little shopping and came up with a few great outfits and props for outdoor portraits as well as his cake smash in my chosen color palate.

Okay, so how awesome is that giant cupcake cake? Well guess what? I made it! That’s a photo I took in my studio. And you can make one too!

Wait. Just wait. Before you get all, “Yeah, but you’re super creative … I can’t do that” on me, I am the World’s Worst Baker. I ruin just-add-water brownies. (Just ask my family.) But I really, really, really wanted one for Evan’s cake smash photos, so I did a little research online and decided to give it a try.

Here’s what I purchased:

Yes, you could certainly use your own cake batter recipe, but being the World’s Worst Baker, I decided to keep it simple and leave it to the expert Duncan Heinz. You could keep it even simpler and apply the frosting with a spatula, but I was feeling adventurous, so I went for it. The decorating tools were fairly simple to use, and the little turntable was a minimal investment and really saved the day when it came time to add frosting. My 4-year-old spun it while I applied the vanilla.

In my research process, I checked out a lot of photos of other people’s cupcake cakes and decided I didn’t really care for the bottom half when it was unfrosted or frosted. I thought it either looked unfinished or weird. Then I found this incredible tutorial on how to make a giant cupcake liner using chocolate melts! Brilliant!

I followed the directions exactly and nailed it on the first try. It was super easy and slid right out of the pan. I didn’t even have to trim the sides of the cake for it to fit, just a little off the top. Easy, peasy.

The last tip I found that really made things simple was how much batter to put in each side of the pan. After you’ve coated both sides with cooking spray and lightly dusted them with flour, fill the portion that will become the top half of the cake with 2½ cups of batter. Fill the bottom half with 3½ cups of batter. No more, no less and both sides will bake evenly. Bake at 225 degrees for one hour.

Let your cake cool, trim, place inside your kickin’ chocolate liner and decorate!

* * * * *

And here are a few of the final results with my birthday boy. Even though the images are very different, they still coordinate! Can’t wait to design his mini albums to pass out to family.

Where to shop

OUTDOOR PORTRAITS

Tie: $17.95, Trendy Ties

White button down: $14.94, Old Navy

Jeans: $16.94, Old Navy

Plaid hat: $6.99 (on sale), Gymboree

Headphones T-shirt: $12.99, Old Navy

Navy pants: $14.94 Old Navy

INDOOR PORTRAITS

Pennant: $32, Blue Moon Studios on Etsy

Personalized name shirt: $18, Three Lulus on Etsy

Diaper cover: $5.99, Amazon

Tie and jeans (see above)

CAKE SMASH GOODIES*

Wilton cake pan: $22.94, Amazon

Jumbo confetti sprinkles: $0.99 per ounce (I purchased 2 ounces) Shop Bakers Nook

#1 candle: $1.29, Amazon

Two boxes of store-bought cake mix, two containers of store-bought vanilla frosting

One package of chocolate melts, $2.99 at craft stores

Cake decorating turntable: $14.99, Shop Bakers Nook

18-inch decorating bag: $8.14, Amazon

Large cake decorating tip coupler: $4.56, Amazon

Large decorating tip: $3, Amazon 

* If you’d prefer to avoid shipping fees, I purchased all of the cake-decorating items — including the pan — at Michael’s Craft Store

What’s that? You need one more great reason to shop? Done. Here is a discount code from a few vendors featured in this post exclusively for my clients and Wardrobe Wednesday fans! Enjoy!

Oh baby Everett, what a sweet little angel.  I’m so glad that I got the opportunity to photograph this cute little guy just before Christmas.  He was so wonderful - although I must admit that holding and snuggling a cuddly little one week old baby made me a little sad that my own little one is growing up so fast!  Mr. Everett stayed nice and sleepy most of the time and allowed us to get through some fun set-ups.  I love working with this family because Mom is an artist and always brings her own props and ideas to the table (check out their maternity portraits!), she had bought him the cute little aviator and owl hats! LOVE!  I think it’s a wonderful idea to have something of your own for newborn portraits.  While I have great props and headbands/hats, I do have to take them back with me, and I think it’s special that he will have those as a cute little keepsake.  Thanks for letting me come over and “play,” I had such a blast! 

This week’s awesome Wardrobe Wednesday is brought to us by Shannon of Shannon J. Dodge Photography. Check it out!

“Happy 2012 to everybody! The new year will bring fun and exciting things to Wardrobe Wednesday and we can’t wait to share them with you!

Not to rush things, but I’ve noticed a lot of photographers booking Valentine’s Day shoots.  And guess what? It’s really not that far away!  So when planning this week’s installment, I figured what the heck, why not compile some ideas for styling a cute Valentine’s session? And so I did.

Really popular and CUTE right now are ties and tie shirts for boys. LOVE LOVE them. You can find them a lot of different places, but I found the most variety on Etsy. Have I mentioned how much I love Etsy? It’s such a great one stop shopping place online, so you can shop in the comfort of your own home. Bonus. I actually found everything you see in this post on Etsy, so I could stick with my one stop shopping theme! You can thank me later.   Also somewhat popular for boys right now are suspenders. They are SO cute on little guys and add such an adorable touch to photos. LOVE THEM. Throw in a fedora, and you’ve got your look for your little guy.”

Tutus and petti skirts have been pretty fashionable for girls for a few years. They are just too cute, especially for a Valentine’s shoot. Again, very easy to find on Etsy. I found the “rag tutu” skirt and fell in love w/ it! I’ll be purchasing one of these for my little girl. I love the look of it! Throw in some cute hair accessories and/or some leg warmers, and there is your girl’s look.

The following are a few of my own photos I took almost three years ago when I was first starting out in photography, I had this vision to dress my little girl up, along with her little friend, and just snap away. They are still some of my favorite images today! I ran to Target, and picked up an adorable t shirt and some woman’s knee socks. I cut the knee socks off at the ankle to make some cute leg warmers for the girls! I special ordered my daughter’s shirt and tutu, and I had the other tutu as a photo prop. I found an adorable knit hat and bow and there you have it. One cute session!

There are SO many darling clothes out there for you to dress your kids in for a fun Valentine’s Day shoot…head on over to Etsy…I dare you not to get sucked in!

SHOPPING LIST – (all items found on ETSY.COM)

BOY

Petite Peanut on Etsy: Little Guy Necktie Tie-Heart Throb Valentine’s Collection (4-6 years) $15.95

Antsy Pants on Etsy: Valentine’s Day Boys Grey and Red Tie Onesie or Shirt with Suspenders (size NB to 12 years) $18.00

My sweet Finley is the luckiest gal ever because her cousin Cadence was born just 5 weeks after her and lives only 10 minutes away!  My sister and I were so excited to find out we were both having girls only a few weeks apart.  Since we were still in newborn chaos ourselves when Cadence arrived, we split up her newborn session into two days.  That ended up working out well, because she was kinda being a diva on day one.  ;P  Check out sweet baby Cadence and her adoring parents!