Headband model

Well, you all knew it was coming...here's the 1st installment of baby headband modeling that went on at our house.  I did something new in my editing.  I used a technique to smooth skin that (I think) gives the appearance of baby doll skin.  You've probably seen real photographers do this with newborn & children's portraits & well, I had to find out how they do it.  It gives a stylized, artist look to these pics (that have less than ideal background) proving, that good photography depends on photo editing as much as good technique behind the camera.  I think the headband looks really good, not perfect, but it achieves what I wanted it to.  It sort of has an antique look to it, which I love.  Anyway, I'm sure there will be other shoots to come with these new pretties that I have created.  Enjoy & have a wonderful day!

Staring at Elmo

You can really see the ribbon rose in this one

Sort of a silly little pose & expression, but it's her

Total baby doll, right??

Used layers to smooth skin, retouch eyes, recolor lips, and burn edges

To my dentist friends: Look at o & p coming through, this mama's so proud

Big girl bath time

Poor little Ella has been having difficulty with teething, so instead of 2 little girls in the bath, I just had my big girl Jessie.  She's such a funny little thing & just loves to pretend she's swimming in the bath.  She loves to sing Row, Row, Row your boat while in the bath.  She also loves to put bubbles on her hair & face.  She always tells me Dada when she puts them on her face--b/c that's what dada does when he shaves.  Still working on explaining that she doesn't have to shave her face, but for now it's cute.  Enjoy a few pics of our big girl in the bath.  Have a wonderful day!

She looks so much more like a little girl in this one

Swimming in the "pool"

Our little monkey in the bath

Showing me her "stinky" as in stinky toes

Love this one....looking so big

One of my favs

Pinterest

So I looked at Pinterest the other day & I guess my motivation was curiosity.  I did join & we will see how that goes, but with fb, this blog, & everything else in my life, I may not be very organized about this new online playground.  I didn't know what a wealth of information it contained or the hours you can spend pouring over just about any topic.  For my first "official" Pinterest project I made a ribbon rose clip that can be used on a hat or headband for the girls.  I grant you it's not perfect, but think it will make for some cute pictures.  Here's the link to the blog about the ribbon rose making info:

http://flourishes.org/2010/04/flourishes-focus-floral-frenzy/

Here's a pic of my 1st finished rolled ribbon rose with some little added embellishments that I had laying around in my craft basket.

I used a scrap of this lavender satin ribbon that was really wide--that's why the ends look frayed, but I kind of liked how that looked so am not going to worry about it.  I put a little slide hair clip on the back (it's not this actual one, but you can get some that are similar at walmart/target), no sewing involved...since I have no sewing talent whatsoever, but I did use my little mini glue gun to do all of this.  Here's a pic of it clipped on a hat that my mom made the girls, it matches perfectly & really gives it a different look.

Kind of wish it was in my size...lol, no really ;)

Hope you all have a wonderful day! These little hair clips can be kind of pricey in boutiques or on etsy, so I thought this momma may as well learn to make them, if I can do it, anyone can.  Here's a pic of all the ones I've made so far.  It really is fun, quick, & easy :)

Guess I got a little crazy with the tulle!

The double ribbon rose....ohhhhh, ahhhh!

I know a certain blue eyed baby girl who may look gorgeous wearing this one

Looks great on a blue hat that Jessie & Ella have

Sunday Dress Up

Sundays are a favorite day around our house.  We enjoy getting the girls dressed up for church, attending service, going out for brunch afterwards, and then the Sunday afternoon nap tradition.  The last 2 Sunday's we've had some pretty cute little girls to take to church.  Here are a few snapshots of our little cuties.  Photography discovery: white balance settings make a huge difference in the appearance of your pics.  If you're using a dslr & you are shooting in RAW then you can always change it after the fact, but I've found that setting mine before I even take the pics really changes the color that you get out of the images.  Took both sets of these in RAW set to daylight white balance setting...gives more rich color, at least on my monitor.  My next thing will be to look in to programs to calibrate my monitor to be sure I'm editing correctly...apparently, this is how those that do photography as a profession do it.  If it's not too expensive, this may be how this mommy does it too.  I also figured out how to remove backgrounds...see what you think.  Anyway, have a wonderful day!

The golden tones in her hair really show with this setting, I thought anyway

That hand is sooo good

Look at that little baby doll

Not so easy to take pics of this little wild toddler

Gettin' some love from Dada

Very golden tone, really like this outfit on her

The jumper is a little long, but so darn cute on her, I couldn't help myself;
See the background

Now you don't...I used the outline tool to select all of the background & then feather all the edges left behind...filling in with black. 

I see a flash of what the teenage years could be like with this little lady...sigh!  I'm gonna have my hands full.

My brown-eyed girl

Staring at her sister, but still cute

Trying to stick to the rule of thirds in this one....does it make a difference??...background is not ideal, too distracting--see fully removed background below & color corrected better, also :)

Desperate times call for.....

I only have one picture for you today, but truly it says a 1000 words.  I know several of my friends that read this blog have little one's that are around Jessica's age or they've already been through the dreaded potty training phase & I am sure any mother reading who's done this before will understand why I was pushed to such measures.  Jessica & apparently a lot of kids will revert to wanting to use a diaper when they have a little sibling & this has certainly been the case in our house.  This is how I have gotten Jessica to actually faithfully use the potty, poor Ella.  I am happy to report that most days (fingers crossed & praying lots) Jessica does a really good job of going to the potty when she's awake.  Sure we have the occasional accident, but mostly she's doing well.  Ella is very funny with all of this potty stuff & will usually crawl into the bathroom & sit with Jessica while she's on the potty.  I must state that Ella actually thinks this is really funny when I put her on the "baby" potty, so trust me when I say they are usually both on their potties laughing.  I think the camera threw them off, but it's a funny pic to me anyway.  Enjoy & have a great day!

Had to do b/w--it made it look more private

Animal Crackers beware!!!

I have a little one in my home who believes that she should be allowed to eat everything her almost 2 year old sister eats.  The other day Jessica was having her snack & dropped an animal cracker on the floor.  Ella scooped up this little lonely cracker and decided he was good enough to eat.  Now--I was apprehensive to let her have this because as of today, there are still no teeth, but she gummed the poor little cracker to death & ate it just fine.  She even wanted more once she was done.  These girls....sigh, what is a mommy to do!  Enjoy some pics & dialog concerning the animal cracker carnage that happened on this day ;)

Ella: Mama look what I found on the floor; Me: Yes, now let's put that down baby

Ella: Mama I think I might like to eat him; Me: Don't know if it's such a good idea

Ella: See Mama he fit all the way in my mouth; Me: Let's not rub crumbs all over our face (too late)

Ella: Mama, can't I have another??  Me: I don't know about that

Ella: Please Mama, my little gums hurt so bad; Me: Well, ok

Ella: Mama look how good I'm doing; Me: Yes, I see that, is it good?

Ella: Well, hold on Mama, let me check and see

Ella: Mama, he's declicious; Me: that's great baby

Ella:  Mmmmmmm yummy

Jessie: Mama, what about me, I want some peanut butter with my crackers; Me: ok baby, is this enough, see large glob on peanut butter on her tray

Jessie: Look Mama, the animal crackers like to swim in my applesauce and like both my spoons to stir them around; Me: oh, ok--looks good to me

Jessie: Mama--the peanut butter is really good, but I'm tired of the crackers, can I just use my spoon to eat the peanut butter?; Me: well, of course honey, we will just be sure to brush your teeth really well before nap time ;)