Filed under: Friends, Inspirations, Life, Mama Monday, Tangents | Tags: 35mm, diana mini, Julie Afflerbaugh, lomography, photography
C and I went hiking on our Thankful Thursday right after music class last week. I had been telling him that we were going to take photos. He has this little plastic one-time-use style camera in the toybox at his Agi’s house and is always chasing us around beckoning “Say Cheese!” I loved photography class in college and had a great teacher, Baldwin Lee. This was real 35mm film photography, developing my own photos in a darkroom, I remember a high grain Illford film being a favorite. I loaded up the old Pentax K1000 with some film that I found, who knows if it is any good {or really where to even get it developed?} We set out and I taught him how to advance the film after each shot. He struggled a little with the weight of this metal beast, but was thrilled with the sound of the shutter. I am thinking of getting him one of these Diana Minis for his birthday. Digital cameras are great, I love the technology, but there is still something special about a limited number of frames and waiting to see the image.
Now for the professional side of photography, my dear friend Julie Afflerbaugh, who has taken photos of C since he was just sitting up, is launching seasonal mini-sessions starting this weekend, email her and get professional shots of your little one at a great price. Check it out:
Filed under: Craft Biz, Handmade Revolution, Inspirations, Letterpress, Life | Tags: birthday, Julie Afflerbaugh, party, photography, yellow
Cullin’s favorite color, hands down, is YELLOW. After the request to play Ring-the-Gack, I thought about other old-fashioned fun for birthday parties and came up with a Bean Bag Toss, Clothespin Drop, and of course, Pin-the-Tail-on-the-Donkey, which I found at Bake it Pretty while buying cupcake liners, then made the rest of the games myself, using paint, cardboard, glue & a little creativity with things we had here around the house. The kids won tickets for points earned playing the games and then got to visit the prize booth for penny candy, bubbles, balloons, sidewalk chalk, noisemakers & more.
The making of the desired jellybean cupcakes was fairly simple, I used a triple-citrus recipe for the cake, yummy cream cheese icing, because it’s my favorite and multiple flavors of yellow Jelly Bellys to top them off. Typically, I’m not much of a baker, but I enjoyed it so much that I made Lemon Meringue Cupcakes, complete with Lemon Curd, for the adults – mmm! So the rest of the food had to be yellow, too: we had macaroni & cheese, pineapple, bananas, popcorn and lemonade!
There were probably 25 kids there in all. It was a little hectic and a load of fun. I was so busy, I wouldn’t have all of the beautiful photographs of this party if I hadn’t been so smart to invite my wonderful friend, Julie Afflerbaugh, to come and shoot. She has been photographing my little guy since he was 5 months old – I am so lucky to have this visual documentation!
My sweet Granny Lou even flew out for the party. She stayed up super late with me for three days helping me craft party hats, cupcake flags, fabric flag banners and finishing touches. I had a blast with every detail, integrating the wishes of my 3-year-old wonderboy, and letting my own little imagination run wild. The greatest reward of all was when Cullin arrived with a bursting smile and said, “I’m so exciting!”
{oh, and that’s not all, stay tuned for more!}
Filed under: BirdDog Press, Craft Biz, Feedsacks, Inspirations, Letterpress, Life | Tags: Julia Vandenoever, lifestyle, photography
Julia Vandenoever delivers again! I am in love with both sets of photos from our recent sessions in front of the camera. The first, shown a couple of weeks ago at the studio with Siler {THE bird dog} and now revealing a few favorites from the second, on location at the Lyons Farmette. These chickens are telepathic I tell you, they were just as well behaved as Siler and I’ve spent years training her {plus, I think they really liked my stationery}. One word : Thrilled. Tell us what you think!
Filed under: Craft Biz, Friends, Handmade Revolution, Life | Tags: baby, craft project, Etsy, Julie Afflerbaugh, photography, sewing, small skivvies, SmallThreads
Saul the Snail! Finally had time to put the finishing touches on the project that I posted last week with my friend Julie, of Julie Afflerbaugh Photography. I used a mix of new fabrics and vintage feedsacks, with some machine stitching and fun vintage buttons for embellishment. If you think this is cute, go see the pirate series small skivvies and other ridiculous cuteness made by etsy shop stitching genious, SmallThreads. Mandy’s designs were an inspiration to our little project, but ours are just for fun and hers are works of art in fabric! Buy Handmade!
ps. Updated post with photos from the SmallThreads Etsy shop below!
Filed under: BirdDog Press, Craft Biz, Friends | Tags: Julia Vandenoever, lifestyle, marketing, photography
The exceptional, Julia Vandenoever, was at the studio recently for a marketing lifestyle photoshoot. I am thrilled with the results and I must say Siler is one photogenic dog. But I might be biased. She’s even smiling in this one {above}. Scenes from a follow-up shoot will be ready soon, I am so excited to have my vision come to life with Julia’s photography!
Filed under: Design, Friends, Letterpress, Life, Tangents | Tags: Julie Afflerbaugh, kiki morton, photo, photography, pickafig
I might just have to start a whole section on photographers as I seem to continue to connect with them, collaborate with them and create business with them. One Saturday afternoon of our recent spring-in-the-south trip, we spent celebrating my mother-in-law’s birthday and part of that meant getting all of the cousins/grandchildren together for a photo. I set up an appointment with Kiki Morton and we got giggly. Not only is she a great photographer, she must be a comedienne too!
Meanwhile, I met with Pickafig Photography about some logo and letterpress design work and am still in the throws of designing for my amazing photographer friend Julie Afflerbaugh, as we are collaborating on a photography and letterpress baby announcement idea – more to come on both of these little ventures soon!
Filed under: Design, Friends, Inspirations, Life | Tags: Cullin, Julie Afflerbaugh, motherhood, photography
Just wanted to show off a bit. Julie Afflerbaugh Photography recently created a new ad and it features my little Cullin! Julie has documented Cullin since he was 7 months old and I can’t say enough about her process, professionalism and her photos.
I can’t believe that he is almost two and a half and will be starting Montessori school in February. Becoming a mom is the most amazing thing I’ve ever accomplished.
Now that i’ve shared my wild & woolly birth story, I’ll reveal where we are today… I have a two-year-old, so full of life. If he is awake, he’s soaking it in – ALL of it.
More photos from this recent shoot with Julie Afflerbaugh.
My girlfriend Shannon is an amazing jewelry designer and metalsmith. She has a line of mama & family focused jewelry called Hot Mama Designs. Today, she invited all of her girlfriends and their bebes to a photoshoot showcasing both her jewelry line and the bond between mamas and their bebes. Here are a few that Cullin & I were in. The amazing photographer is Regina of Recherche.
