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The last of our Halloween crafts. Moving on to turkeys.

Posted on October 30, 2009

Today the girls have their Halloween parade at their preschool and honestly, I am so excited! I love this kind of stuff! I can’t wait to be a room mom in their grade school classes, help decorate, plan parties, etc. This year I just got to plan their costumes… which I’ll show you AFTER the parade!

But before I run around getting me and three kids ready for their big Halloween debut I wanted to share the last crafts of this season!

The first was a SIMPLE way to make a CUTE gift! All I did was tie ribbons to one of those cheap plastic pumpkins, filled it with candy, included a handmade card from the kids and we had a cute gift for both the girl’s teachers and their pediatrician!

Super cute! And inexpensive!

The next one was a three part project which I LOVE!

First I cut black paper into little squares, put them in glass casserole dishes (8×8), dripped in some white paint and dropped in some marbles. The girls rolled them around to make SPIDER WEBS!

Once they were dry they drew a design in glue and glittered their webs…

Then we made spiders!

The next one I saw somewhere, but can’t remember… anyway, I just cut up a sponge and put paint in each part of an egg carton for the girls to paint these…

I obviously painted the tree trunk but these turned out so cute!

They were painted on card board from my photo lab! Love reusing packaging!

This one is from bailey’s preschool…

The teachers glued a pumpkin stem to a piece of foam core (using hot glue), then the kids painted them white and added google eyes to make ghosts! This is the BEFORE and I haven’t seen the AFTER yet but I thought this was a cute idea!

And then this last thing is just a random idea I had because Parker pulled down our curtain rod and we haven’t had it fixed yet! One day I decided to hang twine up and using little clothespins we’ve been hanging up pretty leaves we’ve found. This photo was taken early on and now it’s this really cool leaf curtain!

In the beginning, more than a month ago, we were just hanging the leaves up but as you can see, they curled and browned. But then I remembered the flower press my sister gave Bails for her birthday and we started using it to flatten and dry the leaves first!

It worked awesome and now we have red and yellow and green leaves hanging on our “curtain”! And the girls have LOVED finding leaves and bringing them inside! Fun for an added fall decoration! I think I’ll leave it up for a little longer!

Ok!

Off to get these kids fed and ready for the parade!

Happy Friday!

phoebe – [St. Louis Newborn Photography]

Posted on October 29, 2009

This family has had quite a week!

First little miss Phoebe came a day early…but I still managed to get there in time to capture her birth!

THEN Eric won a national teaching award! And let’s just say it. A whole helluva lot of money! HA!

That’s a LOT to cram into a few days on top of sleepless nights and all night cry-fests! But they are ALL just glowing!

Big sister Alison is SO sweet with Phoebe, Jen is beautiful and Eric is just flying high on pure adrenaline!

We had Phoebe’s newborn session today and it was the best way to spend a stormy afternoon! Thanks for having us over you guys! Enjoy your sneak peek!

Let’s pause here for a second.

If you were a follower of my old blog, Jodified, you know I am a die hard natural light photographer. Die hard. As in, I invented the concept of Love Light sessions (that lots of other photographers are trying now) because I love making light a challenge!

And you also might have noticed that some of our recent shoots are using studio lights.

Which goes against everything I have always stood for in my work.

But here’s the thing.

We live in a city that has winter. And families don’t want to be photographed in winter. Because who wants to go outside in the rain/snow/sleet/cold? And so after a slow winter last year I knew I needed to figure something out that would sustain my business through the slow months. Because my family needs to eat.

The answer?

Newborns.

Because babies are born in the summer AND the winter and parents want photos no matter WHEN their baby is born! And I had a few babies last winter, but rearranging furniture so I could get the baby right next to a window for the last bit of gray winter light was awful. I wasn’t too proud of  my work. Because it wasn’t working. And that sucked.

And then I got to talking to Kim Weiss. Who had an in-home studio. And liked shooting with light. And was amazing at shooting with light. And we decided to start Fresh Art together b/c our styles were different enough we could offer something unique but our visions for our businesses were the same and that was awesome.

SO ANYWAY.

We have babies lined up all winter.

And we LOVE working together.

And we are really proud of the work we’re producing.

And yes, I am shooting with artificial light.

Because Kim is a great teacher.

And you know what?

I kind of like it.

But don’t tell her I told you!

HA!

the toes. oh those baby toes.

Posted on October 29, 2009

You all know I have a love affair with baby toes right?

Oh the toes!

More from this little cutie later!

The vote was ROCKED. 545.

Posted on October 29, 2009

Holy COW people! This was a SERIOUS competition! Kim and I were BLOWN AWAY that we had over 500 comments! 545 to be exact!

THANK YOU for playing along!

We had 4600 hits to the site yesterday! I’m sure that was a lot of refreshing from the contestants though! HA!

OK OK OK… I’m sure you just want to hear WHO THE WINNER IS!

drum roll please….

it is a BIG prize….

16×20 CANVAS…

JACK AND FINN!

CONGRATS boys! And Andy and Maureen!

We’re so excited for them because we KNOW they LOVE canvases! They have two HUGE ones in their home already (they are past Jodified clients!) that are gorgeous…

LOVE IT!

Way to rock the vote… email Kim to let her know which image from your gallery you’d like and we’ll get that canvas ordered!

*blog wins are not at the top of our to do list so ordering and shipping may take longer than normal… just fyi!

AND.

In other news.

In case you missed it…

Email us for details!!!

AND if you have friends in Chicago please spread the word!

Lastly…

We had a client win a MAJOR award yesterday and I just HAD to come on and share!

Remember THIS guy?

He’s the dad to this little girl…

And yesterday, at Webster Groves High School where he is a math teacher, he won a national teaching award!

AND the prize?

In case you can’t see that pic I stole from the KSDK website, it says $25,000!

Can you imagine having a baby AND winning $25,000 in the same week?

We are SOOOOOO happy for Eric and Jen (Alison and Phoebe too!)! AND of course we now expect one GIANT print order! HA!

Here is the LINK to the article!

Have a great Thursday!

October Fresh Favorites!!!

Posted on October 27, 2009

UPDATE: CONTEST CLOSED… going to bed… will count ALL the votes in the morning! AWESOME DAY!

Ok people. This is a big one. And would be bigger if not for a number of rain-outs we have yet to reschedule!

Now you know what to do right?

Leave a comment on THIS post (comments on other posts will NOT be counted!) with the number you’d like to win! Feel free to ask your friends and family to vote for your photo!

Wednesday night , October 28th, at midnight this contest is OVER! So move fast b/c TRUST US, you are going to want this prize! The prize will be announced at the bottom of this post!

#1: The Westbrook Family

#2: The Kreidler Family

#3: Pamela

#4 Jack and Finn

#5 The Gion Family

#6 Maggie

#7 The Johns Family

#8 Josh and Lindsay

#9 The Cleveland Family

#10 Gwen and Rebecca

#11 Oden

#12 Phoebe

#13 – Alexa

#14 Kalen and Ryan

#15 The Beachy Family

#16 Marissa

#17 The Lane Family

#18 Shayne and Dan

#19 The Ulvsted Family

#20 Sabine

#21 Lisa

#22 The MacBryde Girls

#23 Lindsey

UM. Yeah.

We’ve been busy!

AND NOW FOR THE PRIZE!

A 16×20 CANVAS GALLERY WRAP!

WHAT WHAT?

Oh yeah baby! GO VOTE!

Lisa and her awesome kids. {St. Louis Family Photographers}

Posted on October 27, 2009

We met up with Lisa and her kids in the RAIN.

Like major rain. Rain we sat in the cars and prayed would go away. Rain that slowed down just enough that we ventured back out. Rain that was light enough to shoot through but hard enough to be annoying. And cold. And MAN were they all troopers!

Lisa is actually sisters with THIS amazing woman and also THIS one. To say I love this entire family is an understatement. The understatement of the year. Because I love LOVE this family. And it was so great to finally meet the rest of Lisa’s gang!

Her kids were adorable and SO great about being tossed into the rain for an hour! Thanks for toughing it out with us you guys!

Lisa has had some changes in her life this year and I really wanted to capture HER. Because she is gorgeous. And I think every woman needs to be reminded of that every once in a while!

Lisa and her sisters were also the awesome friends that bought me my Vintage Pearl necklace for my birthday! She has one too now!

They even had to put up with on-lookers!  She stood and watched us for so long!

Thanks again you guys!

the MacBryde girls – {St. Louis Children’s Photographers}

Posted on October 27, 2009

Kate is Bailey’s BFF. And they actually call each other that which makes Angie and I SO happy! Grayson and Kelsey are betrothed and although we joke about it, I know it would be a dream come true for us parents! And both Lauren and Parker fit in perfectly with the entire gang. The entire gang which is a great big gaggle of girls with one little guy tossed in for good measure!

The MacBrydes.

We love them!

They are our best friends and I was so excited to get some new photos for them! The last photo shoot they had was in Florida while we were all on vacation together in August! So this was a great update to those fun beach photos!

That last photo is SO Kate! I love it! I think I’m going to print it for MY girl’s room! They love looking at photos of their friends!

Thanks Ang! I love your kids!

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