Personalized Photo Valentine's Day Card

I am a big fan of personalizing cards and gifts as often as possible.  Why mail out cheap cardstock Disney Princess cards for Valentine's Day when I can just as easily create my own card to send?  So that is exactly what I did!  Here is what I will be sending out to Grandparents this weekend:

These photos are from a little session I did with Emilia last fall, to showcase my final product as part of the Scrap Tutu Tutorial I put together.  I wanted to make the most of our time playing at the park, so I grabbed a couple extra props and planned to take extra photos for other projects.  Thinking ahead to Christmas and beyond, I put together the little sign she is holding.  It is just a piece of white posterboard and letter cutouts (both can be found at your local dollar store).  One side, as you can see, says "I Love You" and the other side says "Joy. Peace. Love".  (That side was, of course, for our Christmas photo card.)  To stabilize these against a bouncy 2.5 year old, I taped the signs to either side of one of our wooden puzzle bases.

I love the bright, cheery colors of Emilia's outfit and her bubbly, fun personality really shined during this session.  I picked out a couple favorite shots and then headed over to Picnik to start putting my card together.  (I know I have said this before, and I will probably say it again, but I'm so sad this site is shutting down in April.  I love using it for quick fix-ups- it's super user friendly and quicker than fumbling around in Photoshop.  Take a few minutes and check it out.  You've got about 2 months left to work on ideas!)

So, from my family to yours- Happy Valentine's Day! I hope you are inspired to create your own personalized card to send out.  (O:

I am linking up to Fun Friday Finds - Go check out all the great ideas being posted today!

Catch Up (again)...

Man!  I am just really no good at keeping a blog.  What is my deal??  I have so many things I could be posting on here, but just never do.  Then, I have down time and have to refrain from posting about EVERYthing all at once.  I will try to stick to one theme for right now...let's go with photography.

I have been dabbling a little in photography lately.  I really love it.  I love capturing moments of my friends and family.  I have always been a "picture person" and have ALWAYS had a camera with me...since probably Junior High.  But, it wasn't until recently I started attempting to learn the difference between snapshots and photography.  I still have lots to learn, but I am really enjoying the process!  I'm encouraged by other photographers than have been able to grow their business enough to quit their "other jobs".  For now, it's just a part time hobby and I'm usually asking friends to borrow their kids.  But their kids are adorable, so it's really to my benefit! (O:

My biggest "client" has definitely been my friend Margo and her darling boy, Daniel.  I first approached her about doing some maternity shots, for practice.  Since then, I have also done Daniel's 3 month and 6 month pictures.  I really am enjoying watching Daniel grow up before my lens and I love that it makes sure we get together at least once every couple months!

Here are some of my favorites from each session.  I think I can tell even how I've improved from one session to the next.  (Maybe that's just me!)

Margo's Baby Bump

Daniel - 3 Months

Daniel - 6 Months

Next on my "Photography" plate is LeeAnn's maternity shoot next weekend.  I'm looking forward to watching her new little girl grow like I've had the joy of watching Daniel grow.  Stay tuned...maybe one day I will even come up with a business name! ;-)