I squeezed in one more photo shoot a few cold weekends ago to capture my friend Karen and her twin 18 month old girls.
It was so so cold, and the ground was very wet.
But we lucked out and had clear skies.
This is Karen’s husband; it’s his family’s farm.
Love this one… the girls were go go go!
Karen chose this one as a big canvas for her living room, love those expressions.
Awe sweet daddy love is the best!
You can see this is after Kourtney took a tumbler, but she recovered with a little love and some binkie time.
Such sweet things. I’m so glad we were able to fit this shoot in before the snow!
So Thankful
So thankful for so much…
For friends who are crafty and thoughtful.
Sciarrino made tutu this Pilgrim hat and she toddled around with it a good part of the day.
Even while checking out the sales fliers!
My wonderful husband. He cooked the appetizers… I did zero cooking, yay!
A beautiful table set by my mom (with her wonderful cranberry sauce). There was no kids table. This was the grown-up table, so I guess that makes the other table the old person table, ha!
mmm bacon. Taro said that he can’t get bacon like ours in Japan, their version doesn’t have as much fat. I don’t think I will ever be living long term in Japan ๐
All my friends and family. I am such a lucky girl, and I do know it. I hope you and yours had a fabulous day as well and are going to bed with full tummies and warm hearts.
Snow!
Out of town (well country actually) guests plus winter weather plus a holiday equals sporadic postings. Like this one, via my phone. I won’t be back to regular postings until mid December, but I will pop in here and there. Enjoy this late fall. Peace,
Amber
The daugther of a photographer never gets a break
Sorry baby girl, I just can’t help myself. You are too cute, and I can always use the practice.
Don’t be afraid of letting me into your house (messy or not!). Promise I’ll find somewhere to get a good capture. I had an outdoor shoot today and I think it was my last of the year, man was it cold! I came home and had all my gear on me so I couldn’t resist shooting my little snicker-doodle too. If my mini printer hadn’t crapped out on me I’d be scrapping these tonight.
Autumn layout
I had a little help with this layout.
Tuesday made the painting (bigger than this and I trimmed it down). I swore I took pictures of her stamping halved apples and smearing around paint with her fingers but I guess I didn’t. Ah sometimes the days run together, don’t they? ๐
This turned out pretty simple. I fee hand cut some circles from scraps of paper and layered them around the layout, pinning them down with brads.
The title was cut from sparkly paper with my Silhouette, the date is a bunch of Basic Grey stickers. The diamond stamp is Martha Stewert. A punched heart and staple complete the layout. Glad to capture this season as I tend to scrapbook feelings and daily doings more than seasons and events.
The little nook
This is a little happy space up stairs that also got re-painted when I had the stairwell freshened up.
It’s such a tiny space (to give you and idea the rug is 3×5 feet). The space between the bookshelves only about four feet, and my husband only has a couple inches clearance to stand up in it (he’s 6′ 4″).
I never thought I’d have any white walls in my house, but this proved to be a really tricky area. Any color was horribly distorted by energy saver pot lights, an incandescent bulb in the fixture, and lots of shadows; even it if looked ok in the natural morning light (this little window faces east).So white it is, and I actually like it!
In fact now that I’ve reorganized it a bit I love it.
I keep all my knitting books here, all the needles, my wheel and my favorite yarn and fiber.
This little dormer space was always in the house (though in a bare attic when I bought the house). I had the window seat and shelving units built. I only wish I would have made the window seat much deeper (it’s about 18″). I was pregnant when I drew this up and I felt like a whale sometimes so I guess I figured I’d be way smaller post baby… but I can barely squeeze between the bookcase to lean on the wall. It’s okay though because we’re almost always on the floor (unless there is rain, or a school bus, or garbage truck, or…). I had the shelves made really tall just to fit my photo albums. I have about five years in them, after that the pictures get pulled, scrapped, or filed into deep storage.
I moved things around so one cupboard could be full of Tuesday’s toys. Right now I have furiture for this dollhouse and some plastic people for her to play with. I’ll share with you what I found in those cupboards later. It’s a little embarrassing.
Oh and I’ve had some requests for books that I use to get ideas for Tuesday projects.
First Art: Art Experiences for Toddlers and Twos
Creative Play for Your Toddler: Steiner Waldorf Expertise and Toy Projects for 2 – 4s
How To Raise An Amazing Child the Montessori Way
Gymboree 365 Activities You and Your Toddler Will Love: Fun Ideas for Your Toddler’s Growing Mind!
The Toddlers Busy Book: 365 Creative Games and Activities to Keep Your 1 1/2- to 3-Year-Old Busy
I also love these two blogs for projects with toddlers. These women are such inspiring mothers to me.
Sew Liberated (a former Montessori teacher and now a mama)
Lovely Design (I’m lucky enough to have one of her address files, her whole life seems beautiful to me)
Any really great toddler mama project type blogs I’m missing dear readers?
Twice as much fun
Well many more times that actually. Karen and her twin girls (4 months younger than Tuesday) came over tonight. Aunt Sciarrino organized the party and brought the food (that all our toddlers ate and the mama’s loved!).
Three little toddlers running around was crazy and fun. I love this photo. Look at Tuesday looking at Sciarrino. I must get good pictures of the two of them together soon, they love each other so!
For personal reference: Kourtney
Kathryn. ๐
That last sunny day
I was far too busy the last really nice warm sunny days of fall to blog about them, so I am now.
On November 3rd it was sunny and 70 plus out. Yes, November 3rd here in Salem… OREGON, it was 70 plus. It was sunny, and IT WAS NOT RAINING. Crazy really. I have a bunch of what to do with your toddler type of activity books and one of them suggested painting their feet and having them walk around on paper.
I tired to paint them for her, but I got her cute little, “no” and she took over. I must get this no on video, it’s her second type of no, the first one she only used for a week and it went like this, “noooooooooo-ohhhhh” almost like a question.
Sciarrino snagged these big pieces of paper for us (a mis-print on the other side) and I thought they would be perfect for custom toddler wrapping paper.
Who wouldn’t love to get something wrapped up in this loveliness?
I was reminded of this day today while trashing our dining room with paint, apple halves, crayons and leaves. How much I wish I could let the rain clean that up too!
Public Service Announcement.
Hey, guess what? You’re not supposed to put babies and toddlers in a bath with grown up bubble bath. I know what you’re thinking, no bubbles, that’s so sad!
You know what’s more sad? Your 22 month old clutching you while she pees because she has a UTI. I thought that was something that only happened if you left your kid in a dirty diaper all day. Um, no. Turns out their sensitive little parts can’t handle all the bad stuff in bubbles (and there is bad stuff in there I’ve learned). I did get some California Baby bubble bath because it is supposed to be gentle enough, but I’m so afraid of her getting sick again who knows when I’ll use it!
Painting again
I just can’t help myself! Well really, I have been wanting to do this since the upstairs remodel was finished nearly two years ago. In a fit of “I’m so pregnant get these workers out of my house” stupidity I told the guys working on our house that I would touch up all the paint and not to worry about anything else. I just wanted them out! Of course then I had the baby and when was I going to paint? So chips, nicks and repairs still had white patches. And corners, trim and ceilings were barely painted at all. What finally sent me over the edge was the decision to get a bunch of my photographs framed so I would have a good representation to show clients when they came to the ordering sessions (yup, in my craft studio).
The sort-of-almost-green neutral (flyleaf) that I love so much downstairs, just never worked upstairs so I carried the purple/grey (overcast dawn) from the craftroom up the stairs and into the upstairs landing. Full disclosure, I did not carry it, rather professional painters did. I was going to, but when even my mother told me she wouldn’t attempt such a tall stairwell I got nervous. So glad I had these guys come do it, they were so quick, clean and thorough.
I used my mom (and her awesome pro design skills) to help me layout the photos and hang them. Earlier in the week I went to get them all matted and framed in a variety of styles. I tried to get a little something for everyone. I’m hoping this way if people want a fully finished product delivered (the framed prints), I can give them lots of choices.
It is so freaking hard to photograph. I have a super wide angle lens on and still can’t get the full stairwell.
Believe me when I say it’s beautiful and I am in love!
We all love walking past these photos. Tuesday loves to point out friends and family. Anyone who doesn’t think family photography is art is crazy! We still have a few gaps to fill in, and I’m excited to see our gallery grow.
(I’m choosing to get larger photos mounted on a thin substrate for durability)
One thing I’m amazed with is the quality of pro lab printing (all the photos I had framed were pro printed). I’m so glad I am going all in and am going to be able to give my clients amazing finished images, not just digital files, like I did before. I was excited to get my wedding shots as digital negatives, but all these years later and I still don’t have some of my favorites printed. In hindsight a handful of beautiful prints for my walls would have been so much nicer, we didn’t get anything professionally printed and I totally regret it.
I didn’t think I’d be into canvases… Then I ordered my first one. I guess I just didn’t like the canvas I saw before, but this is a real photograph, with the paper backing removed, mounted to canvas and stretched. It’s so pretty I have a hard time not touching it whenever I pass it (good thing it has a protective coating!).
Do you have a family/friends photo wall? They are common in our family and I love looking at them when ever I go to my relatives homes. My grandparents had a huge one down a hallway (that unfortunately was blasted with light all day long in Southern California, so the photos didn’t fare so well). They had pictures of everyone’s wedding, and never took them down, even if the couple got divorced! We called it the wall of shame. ๐
