I was so anxious to be back the studio today with a newborn.  Even though it’s only been over a week, I look forward to each and every session.  Meet little James, as precious as he is cute.  He was such a laid back little guy who I loved to pose.  Here are just a few of my favorites from his session.  Back in the studio tomorrow with a very special little man.

Sweet dreams…

I am getting ready to head out to Myrtle Beach and trying to catch up on some editing.  Capturing images like this for families is worth every.single.second I pour into my job, the job I love so much.

Love, hugs and happiness!
Kristen

This past weekend I had the pleasure of mentoring yet another fabulous photographer.  What I love so much about 1:1 mentoring is the session is geared to what the mentee wants to achieve.  I’m truly honored when a photographer does a ton of research and chooses me in the end.  For this mentoring session it was really important to the mentee to work on posing and wrapped shots so that is what we worked on for 2 days and had 3 beautiful babies model for us.  Each of them were perfect little models.

Thank you to the parents that came out and shared your babies with us.

I had the honor of mentoring a fabulous photographer from Maryland over the weekend.  We had such a great time and had 3 of the best babies we could ask for.  I know I say this every time but it’s always sad when it comes to an end.  I always gain a friend from my mentoring sessions.  Denise, it was such an honor.  I had an amazing time getting to know you, shopping, and shooting with you in the studio. Can’t wait to see big things from you!

Now on to the cuteness.

My sisters and I were out shopping last weekend and I came across a decorative table that was on sale.  I said to my younger sister, “Oh my, I could easily get a couple of props out of this!”  She looked at me like I was crazy, ha!  I didn’t end up buying it that day because of the price but the more I thought about it, I have spent close to that on a newborn hat for photography, crazy!  So I went back on Monday and snatched it up.  This project was super easy!  It was already assembled and assembled by the legs screwing in to the top.

1. My husband and I unscrewed the legs and he then removed the screws from the top of the legs (where the legs met the top) with pliers.  I had taken the drawer to Hobby Lobby earlier that day and matched it up perfectly to pull knobs (for drawers). I  think the knobs cost me around $8 for 4 (half off).

2. Next, I hot glued the knobs’ screw and inserted them into the existing holes since the existing holes were quite a bit larger than the screws attached to the knobs.

And that was it, so simple!  I now have 3 props!  I have a darling little bed, a drawer and a prop for older kiddos to sit on and it’s even large enough for a newborn (with hands on baby at all times, of course.)

My results from 2 of the 3 props.  We’ll see if I can use the 3rd prop from this piece of furniture tomorrow.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this very easy DIY project.

As always… enjoy, have fun, and be creative

xo,

Kristen

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I had the honor of photographing beautiful 14 day old Andrea today.  She was an absolute joy to work with and the only time I saw her sweet eyes was during a food break.  She let me just play and play today.

I had received a gorgeous fabric garland from Oldchateau and beautiful headband from lil’ owl knitts and knew that I needed something to go along with the vintage feel of these items so I decided to make a linen canopy.  In this post I will show you how I achieved the look to the project but also tell you what I would have done differently after putting it to use.  It can definitely be improved.

**Please do not judge my iPhone pics for this tutorial, hehe.  It was just handier than the big Mark II as I was assembling this project.

Items Needed (you can find everything I used here at Hobby Lobby, except for the fishing wire BUT if I had it to do again I wouldn’t use fishing wire.  But for tutorial purposes I will show you how I used it.)

Embroidery Hoop – you can find this in the sewing section at Hobby Lobby.  I used the 10″ and it was $.99.  You could certainly get a larger one for a larger canopy.

2. Lay the fabric out so the raw edges are on the outside.  Fold the fabric in half so the raw edges/frayed edges are touching.  The only thing you need to worry about is the top lining up.

3. Next, you are going to grab your embroidery hoop and hot glue gun.  Place the connector of the hoop at the back.  Starting with the front of the fabric, start hot gluing it to the hoop leaving a 2″ lip so you can wrap over the hoop later.  I left a 1″ lip and it wasn’t enough so to be safe, allow 2″ at the top.  Glue the fabric around the hoop until  you get to the hoop connector in the back. You will have excess fabric.

4. Again, apologizing for the poor quality photos…gotta love that grain.

5. Once the hot glue has dried it is time to hot glue the lip of the fabric to the inside of the hoop.  Starting in the front, little by little, apply hot glue to the inside of the hoop and fold the lip over.

6. Starting at the back of the canopy, hot glue your ruffled (or whatever you choose) sewing trim.  You’ll want your raw edges to meet in the back.

There you have it!  I cut two small slits, one in the back and one in the front and threaded fishing wire through to hang from my backdrop stand.  What I would suggest instead of doing that is hot gluing some fabric strips to the inside of the canopy and tying to your backdrop stand that way.  While I love how my project turned out I wish that it was anchored some way instead of appearing to be suspended in thin air.

My final image:

I hope you’ve enjoyed this DIY project and really think you can do some fun things with this.

As always… enjoy, have fun, and be creative.

xo,

Kristen

Click “like” if you like this post and feel free to share on Facebook and pin as well.  For more tutorials including my floor used in this shot, click here.

Sweet William was in the studio for his first photo shoot on Sunday.  We had to break his session up into 2 days due to some tummy issues but in the end, I was able to get everything I wanted and it was nice to get to snuggle on him again.

Cuteness!

Sweet Avery baby was in the studio this past Wednesday for her newborn session.  She gave us a little awake time and then lots of sleepy time.  Thank you so much Mom and Dad for driving all the way from Arkansas for her session (twice).  It was great meeting you and chatting over the two days I photographed Miss Avery.

I get a lot of emails asking where I get my white floor from and the answer is, I made it.  Well… “I” didn’t make it, the hubs did.  I have to give him full credit for this one because I just told him what I wanted, bought the supplies and he brought it to life.  Such a great man!

Items needed:

Wood planks – We bought 8ft planks from Lowe’s.  If you are on-location I recommend going with the 4ft planks so you can easily transport them.  I use 7 planks for my floor.
Valspar paint – Lowe’s – You will need an undercoat color, the color that will show through (mine is chocolate brown) and then a top coat color (mine is a cream color)
Valspar Weathered Crackle Glaze – Lowe’s
Paint rollers – 3-4
Paint tray – 3-4, just the cheap plastic ones

Now that you have all of your items, it’s time to get busy.

Directions:

1. With wood planks laid out, apply a base coat of Valspar paint according to label instructions. Allow to dry 4 hours or overnight before applying Weathered Crackle.  Make sure you paint the sides of your boards the same color as the bottom coat.

2. Using a premium quality short nap roller of nylon brush, apply an even coat of Weathered Crackle to the surface. Uneven application will cause unwanted variation in the cracking pattern.

3. Let Crackle Glaze dry 1-4 hours before applying top coat. Waiting longer than 4 hours may require re-application.

4. Using a premium quality roller or brush, apply a flat latex paint in the color of your choice. Do not overwork this coat. One application in a single direction works best.

There you have it, easy peasy!  This project is pretty fail proof and if I had time I’d love to do some funky colors like red base with turquoise top, fun!  Or with Valentines coming up, doing a red crackle would be fun too!  Ok, I need to stop… my hubby will kill me as we’re cleaning out our house to move.  Hehe!

My finished product:

For the background I just use my wall and use Pure Photoshop Action’s blanket fade action to blend the floor to the backdrop.  If you’re on-location just pick out a blanket or some fabric that is close to the same color as your top coat and hang that from your backdrop stand.

As always, enjoy, have fun and be creative!

xo,

Kristen

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