Staging Baby Photos in Your Home

My last two babies were born 6 1/2 and 4 1/2 years ago. Before the time of pinterest and what I knew of picasa/picnik, photo styling and all that jazz. So, my other two lovely baby boys do not have many decent baby shots in the slighteset. It's so sad, I know, and I have lots of regrets of not taking them to get amazing baby photos taken. But I have no excuses this time around, so I went a-pinteresting and found some excellent tutorials on how to set up a staging area in your home to get some good quality photos using natural light.  I highly recommend these tutorials: how to pose and work with newborns, Simple Portrait Set-Up , Creating a Mini-Studio in Your Home , Tips on Photographing Children and What to Wear for Family Photos. We are also having pro photos this weekend and so I have been pinning tons of family photo ideas as well. Check out my Photography Tips and Ideas pinboard to see all the goodies.

I think these photos of 2 1/2 week old Miss Elisabeth Rose turned out quite well for a non-pro such as myself. And while she is as precious as pie in the lacy, pearly, jeweled dress-up shots, she is truly my little angel baby in her natural state of nekkid gorgeousness.

 

 

Homefront: Plants and Pixies

This leaf is shaped like a heart. LIKE A HEART! adorableness.

Our lawn is crunchy and brown in most places, but at least I have some very drought resistant hedges. And since I am lethal to any house plant that enters my abode, these bush trimmings make for a dandy fresh, no guilt it it dies plant. And, it lasts for well over a week or two, just add water as it evaporates.

 Select cuttings with nice, crisp, green leaves and several little branches for fullness. Remove any leaves with brown spots, cuts, bird poo, spider webs... and the lower leaves that would otherwise be rotting in the water.

I love my thrifted urn. $2 or something.

I like to stack things on books. Especially awesome vintage books with charming illustrations and titles. Like my, They Marched with Spartacus (amazing cover, why didn't I photography it?) and Pound Foolish ones.

This little elfin pixie boy was found with my mom at my fav. antique mall before I moved. He is clearly vintage, I'm thinking 40's? It is only stamped with it's place of origin, Japan. I've seen this collection once online but do not know anything about them. Does anyone know?

I love these polka dot curtains, $5 at Home Depot on clearance. I wish they had an army of them, to add in our living room, but this was the last set.

What a cutie patootie.

Oh, Little Raincloud

fine little day via sfgirlbybay

Tornado seasons this year have been truly horrendous. And knowing we will be vacationing back in our hometown amidst all the storms, and perchance driving through them isn't unsettling... at all. But one thing I love about Texas weathers, is it's terrifying storms. I remember watching a lightening storm as a little girl from our window. When we went outside later, a plastic plate we had left out there had a burn hole right through the center of it from a lighting hit.  I've lived in Tornado alley all my life, and lived through a Hawaii hurricane as an infant, so I have spent many a night curled in a bathtub with my 72 hour kit and family squeezed together under a mattress. Oh, the days.

So, here's to the lighter side of the storm spectrum... the lovely clouds and cloudy creations of these fine folks.

cloud concrete necklace DrCraze

embroidery hoop cloud, the purlbee via everkelly

   cloudy bed by motley  

cloud marker decals tutorial by lifeflix

 cloud deluge by gollybard

 grateful for this day print by Vol.25 via jones design company

embroidery cloud by pilli pilli handmade

cloud necklace by block party press

kawaii cloud rain drop mobile by JAustinRyan

furry cloud rug how to tutorial by lifeflix

little raincloud appliqued shirt by nana company

*sorry in a huge rush today! links will be added in later :)

Easy and Simple Hair Style Tutorials

Messy low side ponytail tutorial via A Cup of Jo

As a hairstylist, you may find it amazing that I only blow dry my hair about 10 times a year.  I usually pull it up, or let it air dry in loose waves. I do apply product and help sculpt those waves, but my hair is much healthier without the constant heat damage. Since it's already getting so hot here in Texas, and frizz season is upon us, I found it fitting to post some of my favorite casual hair styles that can be pulled off the face from fashion bloggers, that are easy and stylish. Ponytails are so blah, so make it a bit more fun!

I used a thick strip of lace to accent this bun.

I made a loose ponytail, then pulled out the front crown area, twisted it and pined it in.

I did the same thing here, just with a bun. Pulling the front and twisting it gives a little more style and volume.

Braided top bun tutorial via Cup of Jo

The perfectly messy french bun  tutorial via Experience Parisienne

Three cinnamon buns three buns hair tutorial via Cup of Jo

Triple bun can be seen here on Ashley too.

 Ashely from I Believe in Unicorns has amazing long hair style. 

 This ponytail roll is so cute.. looks very easy to do as well. After you secure your ponytail, take a thin section of hair and wrap it around the elastic and pin in place. Then, take your tail and roll it under, also pinning it in place.  If you do a bit of backcombing prior to doing the ponytail, your pins will stay more secure.

 Her loose side updo is perfectly unperfect.

  

 Love Ashley's hair bow. I don't think I have long enough hair to attempt it.

 Love Kristine's hapahazard bun. It's clipped back at the bangs and loosely pulled back low on the side.

 Kristine's floral headscarf is tied in a knot over this loose bun.

Kristine's high side bun is unusual in that it's tight, but it's so cute on her.

 Kristine's low, side ponytail is loosely wrapped under the elastic for a full effect. 

It looks like she has a twist going on near her side part as well..

 Sydney has a simple braid one one side of the hairline, and pulled into a low, side wavy ponytail.

 Sydney's famous bun that sparked her Bun turorial video.

Also, Elaine from Clothes Much has a super cute crown braid tutorial here.

Personal Style: Clown to Beachy Waves in a Single Day

I changed about 100 times on Saturday. I had on a 'professional' outfit for a facepainting gig in the morning. Came home, changed to go to my son's soccer game. Came home, went through a billion steps to get into clown for another little party doing face painting and balloons. Came home. Got ready to go out to the movies with friends and the family. Came home. Put on my comfy work out clothes. Passed out after listening to The Gregory Brothers for like hours. (And I'm seeing them on my birthday this week... weee!)

I'm looking a little tired.

 
My hair was majorly kinky from pinning my hair up to wear under my wig. So, I decided to basically tease the junk out of it and loosely pin a small section back on one side. I suppose I could have put it in a bun or ponytail, but it feels like that's all I've been doing lately. So, for me, these beachy type waves worked in my schedule.

 

(No matter how hard I scrubbed, I couldn't get all the redness off from around my mouth. And even though cooking oil is suggested for cleaning off pro clown make-up... I just can't bring myself to do it. So, I just embraced the hot pinkness. I'm looking a bit like a crazy person here.)

Yes, this is the back of my head... I'm including it to illustrate those semi- loose knotted twists can turn into somewhat pretty kinky waves after a few hours of setting in dry hair... especially if you have embraced the asymmetrical mismatched layers like I have.

To do them, just twist your hair into sections, being careful to maintain your natural part, like I did in the photos. Twist and twist until they form little twisty balls and pin them against your head, criss crossing bobby pins help them hold. I don't even have them that tight. I had them in for about 4--5 hours, and got fairly loose kinky waves. If you do them very tight and leave them in all day, you will get a more crazy and pronounced wave.

For more classic curls, be sure you tuck the ends in and you do a snail shell like and uniform pattern while twisting. Mine are more haphazardly done, some are much smaller and tighter, while others are larger and looser than others. This helps create more movement and texture in the end wave. Now, I could go on and on about doing wet styling or classic old Hollywood glamour finger waves, or pin curls but that's a little advanced for this messy look I'm doing. You can see plenty of video tutorials online however.

Sometimes, they are cute worn alone too. If you decide to try these twists, I'd love to see how they turn out!