Just a handful of photos of our Easter food.
Our triplets helping being a team kneading the hot cross bun dough!
–
Homemade hot cross buns. Divine!
–
Fruit cups, admittedly, from a can. Lol.
–
Glazed spiral ham.
–
Easter dinner.
–
The celebration of Jesus risen, always offers many edible blessings to enjoy! And we-sure-do!
Bet you all do, too!
You know people are serious about creative egg decorating, when they break out the airbrush and air compressor!
The kids got creative in their own way! Check out the results in this Easter Photo Series.
It is our hope that all of the beautiful colors, creativity, and spirit of Easter in this post, brought you all of the joy that it brought us!
We are so glad you dropped by to check out our fun.
What a fun shoot this was in my in-home studio, with my own kids and our newly-hatched baby colored chicks!
For those of you visiting this section of the blog first, this post is a continuation of a science project we did, which is detailed over in the Home Schooling section of this blog, when we incubated, colored and hatched baby chicks! Now you can see how nice my kids clean up, from their jammies and morning bed-heads, too! 🙂
Even though we weren’t keeping them, the kids did name the chicks.
Left to Right: the brown rooster, “De Colores” (anyone familiar with that term?). The green chick is “Ca$h”. (I loved that name.) The Yellow chick is “Sunshine”. The Pink chick is “Lipstick”.
{A} with her chick, Sunshine…..
(“Dirty Pants.” lol)
{S} with his chick, Ca$h…..
Are you ready for a good laugh??………..
.
.
.
{S} had a sense something just happened in his hand. The expression on his face…..it makes us laugh hysterically every time I see it. Even all these years later!!
(Give me a moment. Recovering here. O.K.)
{J} with his rooster, De Colores.
2 cool dudes. Check out their stance. I loved this one too!
{O} with her chick, Lipstick…..
She wanted few more photos, in her beautiful Easter dress….
The End.
DISCLAIMER: There were no chicks harmed in this photo shoot with small children! Nor was there any hard to the chicks in coloring them. The chicks stayed with us for about 1-2 weeks, as we watched them lose their colored fuzz, and grow in their regular feathers. We said a long goodbye, and then they went to a farm, to live happily every after.
Here we are at 2007, for my very first time working with them. My theme, all revolved around the girls, of course, and a beautiful book, called A Christmas Story. The subject of my past couple posts in this photography section, has been on my annual Christmas photo shoots with these 2 beautiful little girls. I first shared my most recent shoot with you of them (2009), then shared 2008‘s.
The girls were only 2 and 4 years old at the time, so I figured it was quite possible, I’d be working my tail off.
And I was only half wrong, and only for a little while. Imagine that.
Here is Big Sister (A), who was quite co-operative from the get-go. And she has been for every photo shoot, ever since. She’s so wonderful to work with. A little lady from head to toe.
–
Here is Little Sister (A), who was ‘another story’, but only for a little while. She looks like she might be sleeping, doesn’t she? But no. She started off throwing a little fit, not wanting to sit on the bench with her sister. Just plopped face down on the couch. Mom was mortified. I was smitten with her already, and took a photo. Little Sister (A) had only met me once before, so she yet didn’t know that I always win in the end! She’d find out though. We were going to develop a wonderful working relationship with each other. I had faith.
Each time we have worked with each other since, she has only been a bit more work than her older sister – but then she remembers all of the fun we end up having. It’s o.k. anyway, because in the end, she always pays me in GOLD!
At one point, mom was beside herself with frustration, so I sent her to the kitchen to hide, and told her to stay in there. I needed to take complete control, which happens sometimes. She didn’t have the faith that I did, yet. (I have to say, Mom was so cute hiding in there too, if you saw her, ducking and everything.)
See? Tantrum over. The dimples alone were worth her fuss!!
I got her over to the bench, with a little helpful coaxing from her Big Sister too!…
…..who was showing and sharing the story with her. With lots expression, which I loved! CLICK!
And then the real magic started to happen…..
Real moments.
Sweet moments. And maybe Christmas Secrets.
Christmas Kisses. Between sisters, who really love each other.
I got lots of beautiful photos, as they shared and enjoyed this book, A Christmas Story, together.
There were so many beautiful shots in the end. But as always, mom had to narrow them down to the ones she wanted me to work with for their Christmas card, and the ones she wanted to order as prints.
Once I had the photos I could design with, my plan was to design a beautiful tri-fold card, with warm, rich tones. If you do not understand what a tri-fold card is, I tried to take just a couple of photos to help you comprehend the structure of it. Closed, it’s a 5×5 square, and it opens twice, with 2 flaps. There is photos and something to see on all sides.
Here it is standing on a table.
Here is the inside full spread, which is the card opened all of the way.
We’ll take a closer look now.
This is the front of the card, closed. For my client’s privacy, I have blurred out their family last name after ‘ from The’. But I can tell you, their last name has such a nice, upscale sound to it.
These were printed on pearl heavy card stock, with a UV coating. They look and feel so beautiful to hold.
This is how a tri-fold card looks when the front flap is opened, revealing two square panels. You first read the left, and just enjoy the photo on the right.
You read the rest of the greeting when it is fully opened. If there is anyone who cannot read it well here, it says,
“With the love that we send…….and from beginning to end…..May you have a Story Book Christmas!”
And then the family’s names, with the girl’s names blurred.
So continuing understanding the structure of a tri-fold card, here is what the whole card looks like as a full panel if you opened it up and flipped it over. On the left square, is the inside panel which is on the right when the reader opens the card. The center square is the back of the card, and the right is the front of the card. It can be a little confusing, I know. I go through a little panic mode, every time I assemble one of these before sending off for printing.
Here is the back of this card, that the family so graciously lets me go all out on. (My name is going to be on my creations, no matter what. But they really are so great about whatever I want to do.)
The card comes with square envelopes, and I prefer the linen ones, in keeping with the tasteful quality.
Mom was SO HAPPY with her cards, that she sent me an e-mail, and told me she took one to bed with her, so she could look at it again when she woke up during the night. Now my clients say a lot of very sweet things to me, and it always touches my heart, and drives me to keep working. But nothing any client has said to me about my work since, has touched me quite as deeply as that one.
Mom ordered LOTS of different prints, INCLUDING this one…..
….which she still talks about. She loves it, because it shows Little (A)’s personality.
Along with all of the above ones, here are just a few more of the ones she ordered….
This was ordered too, as a 10×20 ‘Storyboard’, as I call them.
I thought it was perfect as the ‘footer’ of this blog post. : )
I look forward to working with these girls again, come the end of the year. Until then, I’ll be sharing some more recent work now and then.
(sniff- sniff) < Do you smell something?>
I promised I would share the 2 previous years of working with these 2 sweet little girls. I decided I would work backwards from the most recent that I already shared, so this post is the photo shoot and card designed for 2008. The theme I came up with was ‘Creatures Great and Small’, because we had a creatures great and small, and all beautiful, to work with!
The girls’ mom has a horse, and she has had him for many years, so I asked if we could do the Christmas photo shoot with him. She LOVED that idea, because she really wanted photos of her horse with her girls anyway. Incidentally, a couple of months after this photo shoot, our oldest daughter {A}, received horse riding lessons from us for Christmas at these stables, where my clients horse is boarded, and so happened to ride this very horse every time for her lessons. {A} was really excited about that, because she was assisting me at this photo shoot, and so was familiar with this horse already. His name is Wellington, and he is a BEAUTY!
Now, I didn’t really have a ‘theme’ going in my head yet, for the Christmas card itself, except that it would have photos of the girls and Wellington. But, I had faith in myself that I would come up with something. Somehow, I would MAKE it work. lol
Meet Wellington.
As usual for my work-style, I DID have visions in my head for the photos I wanted to take of the girls with the horse. But when I got to the stables and talked to Wellington’s ‘trainer’, I realized I was going to have to come up with other ideas, real quick. I wanted to take the horse and the girls out in the field, and put the girls on him, for one. But, she said she would only allow the girls on him if he was IN the stall. Bummer!! Then she said the girls really should wear helmets. LOL!! Ok…I’m all for safety, but really. That was going to kind of ruin my photos. I talked her out of that little bit. So….needless to say, all of the shooting was done in this DARK stall, with ‘dappled sun’ coming in through the windows, which always bugs me in portraits in most cases. (Like this one! lol)
Talk about feeling creatively challenged at every turn.
Just so you know….it is VERY hard for me to ‘let go of my visions’, once they are in my head. I can get downright, uummmm….ornery, about it. (No, really!). So….I was really feeling like my little dreams were crushed, but I had no time to pout. (Again…bummer!). I had to ‘make do’. I don’t like ‘making do’!
Ok….done complaining.
So here is one photo of a small handful of shots of the girls on Wellington’s bare back. It was not an easy shot, because the little one wasn’t comfortable, saying her sister was ‘smooshing’ her. lol. I was sure not to let the oldest one really put her weight on the little one, but….I wanted this shot, and I was going to get it!
–
I took this shot with absolute purpose. You’ll see soon enough. ; ) lol.
Oh!! About the plan for clothing for this session. I had suggested the mom find winter capes and boots, for the girls. But she was unable to find any capes. She found these beautiful coats with matching hats though, and I was thrilled with them as an alternative!!
In the doorway of the stall. Which is 1 of a several stall in a row. These stalls are so cool.
You’ll see, it’s like a long house, with a farmer’s porch! I just love it.
–
The little one, and Wellington, having a moment.
–
And the oldest with him too. She has been around Wellington more, being the oldest.
–
I really love this shot at the porch of the stall. Don’t they just look beautiful and classy!?
And look at these 2 beautiful faces. Such gorgeous brown eyes.
As I said, the mom chooses all of the photos to be used on the card, and then orders those in prints along with lots of others from the photo shoots. This shot above isn’t the close-up shot of them together that she used for the card, but I chose it for this post because I just love the little ones expression, again. She cracks me up.
–
Here is a better look at the style of the outdoor stalls. I just love the old feel to it all, with the porch with worn spindles, and gorgeous old wood split-doors! Look at the rocking chairs off to the side. But back to the girls, you’ll notice that the little one doesn’t have her hat on anymore. Wellington kept nipping at it, and he pulled it off.! lol. She threw a little fit. So….Wellington got another peppermint candy to keep his mouth busy, and the little one got one, too. Both of the girls were doing a really good job, and I knew the photos were going to be great. As I said before, it just takes a little more time and patience with little ones sometimes.
Besides what you’ve seen here, there were other photos I took and the mom bought too, including some of the boarding owner’s Clydesdale horse, Baron. My client bought photos of him too, to give as a gift to the owner.
I was so excited to get the photos edited, and show them to the mom–who was over the moon again! Once she chose which ones she wanted me to work with, I got to work on the card – and here is how it came out. She LOVED that also. And so did I! I blurred out the names, per usual.
These cards were 5×7, and were printed on a beautiful linen stock. And I did think of appropriate text for the card – which for me, is the fun of the creative process.
**Again – Please ignore the necessary watermark, for the web. Naturally they were not part of the card or images.
They opened up vertically, so this is the INSIDE SPREAD.
The BACK of the card…..which I thought was a riot.
Again, I love that this client let’s me have so much fun on the back of cards. She lets me do whatever I want with everything, and naturally, I can really get along with someone like that!
Huge photo print order. Huge Christmas card order. Happy client. Happy photographer/designer.
The next session I show with this family, will be the very first time we worked together, 2007.
Hope you are enjoying this series. : )
