Merry Christmas!

Early, early, I know. But really, isn't it most likely many of us will finally disconnect from our plugged-in lives - reading and updating blogs, checking Twitter and Facebook - during this time? So as I close down the shop here myself to spend some time with family and friends over the next couple of days, I wanted to send you all a little yuletide cheer.

Oh, and your gift?

Look out for something special on the blog next week!

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like...

Christmas!

Okay, okay, so maybe that's going a little bit overboard.

But with Halloween candy down the aisles, the leaves just barely getting a hint of ready-to-turn-ness, and some places across the country getting snow, it has some of us starting to feel the Christmas itch. I mean, those of you who haven't already filled your closets with the gifts you bought months ago might not get it - but I know there's some of you out there who do.

It occurred to me just a bit ago that it was about time for me to get to work on my Christmas Card designs for the 2009 season. It's about this time each year when smart-thinking women (and the occasional male) begin making arrangements for their family's annual Christmas portraits and a creative card to complement and showcase her brood.

A few of last year's cards included these - the result of a family that loved both their sessions so much they asked for two card designs:

And one of my personal favorites (thought I might be a little biased):

With even more time and creative thought behind this year's cards, they are already turning out to be something I must admit I'm quite proud of. I will be offering standard card designs this year with some flexibility in color choice and stock of card. And don't fret, if custom-designed is your bag there's always room in my schedule - just know it's what one might call "more of an investment".

So these days I'ma designin'. But I can't showcase them just yet, because who knows, I might be offering a family portrait session deal to go along with them... but shhhh, don't tell anyone I told you.

Stay tuned for more information soon!

Benton Shoot Uploaded

Here it is!

26/189 ain't so bad, considering I probably could have worked on another fifty of them or so. I had to get choosy, though. And I was getting kind of tired of editing different versions of pretty much the same picture... but man am I ever partial to these kids.

Their personalities are just so evident in these pictures -at least to me- and I love it!

Everyday Portraits: [The Benton Kids]

I'm just going to say it: we have the most adorable nieces and nephews. I mean it. On both our sides, we've got a total of five nephews and five nieces and not one of them is the kind of kid that makes you think "ahh... one day they'll grow out of it." I guess that means we've got a lot to live up to once we start having kids!

On Thanksgiving, I spent the morning running around a couple of acres of Brad and Wendy's farm taking pictures of them with their kids Neeley, Luke, and Parker. Now I'll tell you something else, if you thought Brad and Wendy's photos were good a couple of posts back - these kids just blew me away. We had two wardrobe changes and shot in four locations and they're all so dang cute!

Here's a sneak peak of the shoot:



Now I've got to get to work on post-production for the rest of the images as well as designing and printing their Christmas cards! And now that I'm a working lady, time is a little hard to come by... oh me.