Faux Mirror Tutorial

My sister, Mashaide, found this image on Pinterest and wanted to create something like it for her photo booth.  Since my family LOVES Halloween, I have a very full Halloween Pinterest board and I remembered seeing tombstones and other Halloween decor made from insulation foam board.  (BTW these people are awesome at Halloween!)  After brainstorming we thought, "Why not create our own faux mirror using insulation foam board?"

Freezing Fog

We had freezing fog yesterday and although it's cold, it leaves everything frosty and beautiful.

I just had to take some pictures of the beautiful frosty trees.

I'm loving the contrast between the dark and white.  Nature is so beautiful!!

Masquerade Party

These are all the pictures from my sister Mashaide's masquerade birthday party.

She came up with all the ideas and I got to help decorate for the party.  It was a lot of fun!

My sister came up with the idea to use dress forms and decorate them with different materials.

Each one is unique and adds lots of texture to the decor.

How To Take GREAT Blog Pictures Indoors

I always have a hard time taking pictures for my blog because the only time I really have to take them is late at night when the kids are in bed, and of course the lighting stinks at night.  That is unless you have one of these...

O Christmas Tree

I finally finished decorating my Christmas tree and thought I'd share pictures.

Don't mind some of the unlit lights.  I spent a lot of time stringing lights on my pre-lit tree because many of the strands had stopped working & days after I got all the lights working and the decor on, some of the lights I strung on decided to go out.  I didn't want to mess with it anymore & just decided to take pictures.

I guess that is the reality of dealing with Christmas tree lights :)

Some close up details...

If you couldn't tell, I went with non-traditional colors this year & we're all lovin it here!

Click here to see last year's tree.

This post is linked up at:

Baby Photography

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How cute is this sweet baby? This is my 4 month old niece. 

These photos were also taken on the same quick trip as the previous post. 

When I see these pictures, I just have to grin. This cute little girl just wanted to roll away. 

It was a good time. I seriously thought that we didn't get any good pics. because of my beginner skills, lighting and a roll away baby. But after leaving the photos alone for a day and coming back to them, I found some that I really liked! And like I said, I just can't help but grin.

She was full of expressions!

Thanks Janel, it was too much fun!!

Newborn Photography

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This is our newest nephew. He's about 10 days old in these photos.

Photography is much harder than it seems. It takes a lot of study and then a lot of practice! 

On a recent visit to see family, which was very very short, I was lucky enough to steal a few shots of this beautiful boy. 

Before taking these pictures, I had read a few things about newborn photography and became completely overwhelmed! Newborn Photographers schedule about 4-5 hours for a session! I knew there was no way I was going to be able get that kind of time, but I still wanted to at least try a few pics.

So in about and hour and a half these are basically the only photos I got. 

Newborns need a lot of cuddling to make sure they're relaxed and comfortable and pose-able:)

Honestly, I loved the cuddling part, and the photography part was just a bonus.

Well, you can see that I need a lot more practice! 

Photography Lighting

I am constantly trying to take better photos and the key seems to be lighting.

These are taken in my living room at 10am with natural lighting. Since I am not a professional, here are a couple links here, here and my favorite photography site here, for some good tips. It's fun to experiment, go try it out!

These are edited with a PS action called Velvet Cream from The Coffee Shop Blog.

After running her action, you can adjust it further to suit your liking.

Just a few more details

Here are a few pictures that show more details of our niece's wedding reception.

Visit our sister Shannon's blog for even more details.