Month: January, 2011

Grandparent love {Kirkland, Wa family photographer}

January 31, 2011 · 8:16 pm

Can I just say that I love to see returning clients! Actually, I love to see old friends! The mama of this sweet little TWO year old {it was his 2nd BIRTHDAY when we met for their session} and I used to teach together, way back in the day! I got to see Michael @ 6 months and then again last year at around 18 months! Lisa always has GREAT ideas as to where they would like to photograph, so last year we ended up at the Cherry Blossoms on the UW campus! AMAZINGLY beautiful. This year, for Michael’s 2 year photos, she chose a great park in Bellevue. However, the weather had different ideas that day. Because Michael’s grandparents had flown in from the East coast, we decided to grab some quick photos of them with their handsome grandson! So, we made a quick drive up to the Kirkland waterfront, where I knew there was a covered area to shoot under. What a sweet, sweet family. You could just tell that Michael’s grandparents love him so so much!

SO… this post will be a PREVIEW of what’s to come… we’ll be rescheduling again to shoot the rest of their session when we have a NO-rain day!

When I wake up from my nap… {Monroe, WA baby photographer}

January 26, 2011 · 10:26 pm

Hi mom! I slept great! Try not to pay attention to the snot trail I wiped on my face to style my one eyebrow. But, check out these teeth I’ve got growin in!

I promise I don’t have a surprise for you. Well, maybe a little one. Well… maybe a big one. But, don’t worry, the spinach manicotti you made last night, was DELISH!

Now, how do I get out of this jail cell? I’m reds to blow this pop stand and go find me a snack.  For now though, chewing on this crib guard will do.

I think I’ll blow some bubbles and chat with you about politics.

Hey, that’s where my sock went. Oh yeah, I forgot how much I LOOOOOOOOVE to take off my socks and throw them out of this pig.

Oh hey, I hear my big brother coming…

YEAH! Ben’s coming in! He’s a lot of fun… most of the time. Well, until he “hugs” me around my neck.

Five little monkeys jumpin on the bed!

O.k. I think I’m done. Help. Me.

I sure am cute when I wake up, even with bed head.

Family and cupcakes {Snohomish, WA child and family photographer}

January 20, 2011 · 3:01 pm

I met up with this family Saturday morning in beautiful DT Snohomish. Jamie and I both agreed that we lucked out that the rain ceased for our session, making our famous Northwest overcast day the perfect light for an outdoor session! I don’t have a problem with that!

These two twins made me work for their images, but I think all in all, we did well!  A little jelly bean bribery and engaging play always seems to do the trick.=)

I enjoyed running around with you guys, S family! Enjoy your sneak peek=)

**This family will receive a FREE 5×7 with their print order, if they receive 10 comments below their posting.

We thought it would be fun to end our session with a special treat for the kids…

Cupcakes anyone?

Curiosity {Monroe, WA photographer}

January 12, 2011 · 9:26 pm

I have a little nickname for my tiny Grace… {the destroyer}. She is such a dainty thing. Everywhere I take her, people are always commenting on how small she is. And, yes. She is tiny. She has some of my genes and I am a shortie. When these people make their comments, “Was she a preemie?” or “How OLD is she?”, I kindly answer their questions and take no offense… BUT, deep down, I know this girl has some umph. That’s right… she may be short. She may be little, but this girl has some determination. She has always been this way and it is only magnified now, as she has begun to walk. Which is why my nickname for her is “the destroyer”. She toddles about… ALWAYS on the move, ALWAYS into something. Exploring. Picking. Finding. Putting away. Bringing to me. Smiling. Laughing.  And yes, sometimes destroying.  That’s my little girl.

This evening, Ben and I were hanging out in the family room, our usual common ground and I was folding my endless pile of laundry. I got up to go walk down the hall to put some towels away and THIS is what I saw… {NO, this was not staged.}. I couldn’t have staged this if I tried… Just Gmama in her element, unrolling an entire roll of toilet paper in our bathroom. Fortunately, I caught her just in time from beginning her play in the toilet bowl.

Had to grab my camera.

Just another day in our everyday life…

The gold ribbon around her waist was from her previous explorations of the evening… one of her most favorite things… playing in my ribbon jar. B and I “prettied” her little self up by tying a big ribbon around her waist, which she walked around with it on ever so proudly for the rest of the night.

All done.

I might frame one of these images and add to our bathroom wall… sticking it right next to this one.

xoxo

Kelly

Chillaxin time and a DIY {Snohomish and King County, WA Photographer}

January 11, 2011 · 7:59 pm

We have had a nice couple of weeks of quiet down time, since Christmas… SO enjoyable as a family. I find that I really have to be intentional to give that down time to my children AND to myself and my husband. Jeff and I have talked that it is really easy for life just to “run” us… to guide us where it wants US to go. It will do that, if we don’t set aside time for ourselves. That takes some serious discipline. We get into that rut every once in awhile and I don’t like it. I feel out of touch with God. With my family. With myself. SO… lately, we have been intentional about putting things on the calendar for us. Scheduling some gym time together. And, focusing on what’s important. Just quieting down. And, our church has encouraged each of us to read through the entire bible this year. Quite the goal, I would say, since I have NEVER done that! Always wanted to, just never set aside the time. I am going for it this year!

Anyway, Jeff is back to work and I have been organizing, organizing, and organizing… probably one of my favorite things to do! I have been re-cataloging my pictures in my editing program to make my workflow a bit easier, finishing up some edits of one end of the year session, and working on a better way to organize the accounting part of what I do {HAS to be done!}.

Here are a few snapshots of our past couple of weeks… just playing around the house and working on a few projects.  Chillaxin, as one of Ben’s shirts says.

Just the two shining faces that I get to see every day.

{One of my goals this year is to just take more pictures of our everyday life!  These are the things I will most likely want to remember anyway, down the road, yes?}

Seahawk playoff game day. Our house went a little crazy when Marshawn Lynch ran that 67 yard touchdown! We had some fun that day playing on our bed toghether {our room always has nice light coming through}!

And, as promised, I said I would blog a few DIY’s from time to time… Since, it has been a slow kind of a week, I was able to take a few pics of one of the little projects I completed. VERY simple. If you are a beginner sewer or interested in getting started… this project is for you. Super easy! In fact, I completed it in about 20 min, with Ben hanging around, helping me.

It’s a rice bag soother. Ben has been suffering from growing pains at night, often waking him up in tears of pain. I have heard of these before and thought I would make one for him to help soothe his aches at night.

First, pour some rice in a bag and add a few drops of your favorite essential oil {mine is lavender}.  Let it sit and stew overnight or for a few hours for the rice to smell nice and soothing!

Next, gather your supplies… You really only need some leftover fabric {I had these two pieces laying around from another project I haven’t started yet for Ben}. I prefer fleece or flannel for this project. Much warmer for their little muscles. {I just grabbed a bunch of leftover ribbon from my jar for Ben to pick which one he wanted… i didn’t use all of what is shown}.

Cut two pieces of fabric to the size of your choice {I think I used 10×8 inches}. Lay right sides together and pin a folded up ribbon {folded side inward} in the middle section of  one of your corners {as shown}.

Sew your pieces up, remembering to backstitch at the beginning and the end, leaving a bit of an opening to push the fabric through {right sides out}. I usually sew with a 1/2 inch seam allowance.  Snip each of your corners just a bit.

Turn your fabric right sides out, pour your scented rice in, and sew up the last part of the opening. There will be a nice little ribbon loop, for little fingers to hold onto now.

Directions for use: Warm in the microwave for about 30 seconds and place on those aching muscles.

This was so easy and quick, I went ahead and made another one for Gmama, when she gets a little older. Ben loves his so much, that he sleeps with it and we have already used it to help his aches. Calmed him right down!

And, two more projects I just finished up… I thought I would show!

Christmas stockings that I had sewed RIGHT before Christmas, just didn’t have names on them yet. I followed this tutorial to help guide me through making these, and added my own little idea of fabric painted names on my trusty burlap {seriously, can’t go wrong with burlap!!!}.  Looking at this pic, they need to be ironed!

And, lastly… I am SUPER excited about this one! A handbag made by me FOR me! This is my first purse that I have sewed AND my first project for me. I usually am sewing for others {which I LOVE, don’t get me wrong, but it was nice to come up with a little somethin somethin for me}. I am thinking I am ready for Spring, looking at the fabrics I chose from my stash. I will now be sporting a BRIGHT bag in the dead of winter! I used this tutorial for my easy peasy bag!

That’s about it for our week… Happy day to you all!

xoxo
Kelly

Winner of Favorites of 2010 and GIVEAWAY results!!! {Snohomish and King County, WA Photographer}

January 8, 2011 · 2:22 pm

WOW! Such a fun week to see all of your votes popping up in my email and all of the excitement from past clients! A total of 96 people left comments! Simply amazing!!! It was a VERY close race, my friends, but we do have a winner… And, believe me, I counted and counted again, just to make sure I was accurate! The image that received the most votes was…

Drumroll please…

Image # 22!!!

Congratulations! You are the winner of one $50 gift certificate… with love from me. to you.=)

The two others that came in a close 2nd and 3rd are below:

Image #19 {The adorable baby O}…

and, Image #20 {Lovely T}…

Now… onto the other two drawings… I used random.org to help me randomly draw ONE winner from my Facebook page and ONE winner from all 96 comments… The winners of a $50 gift certificate are Linda and Susan!!! Congrats, ladies! I have sent all three of the winners an email with info about their prize!

Again, thanks for playing! I had so much fun, I think I might just do this again next year!!!

xoxo
Kelly

Favorites of 2010 and a Giveaway {Snohomish and King Co. Photographer}

January 1, 2011 · 8:27 pm

Happy New Year and welcome to my NEW blog! So glad you stopped by…

What a year 2010 has been! I feel like I have learned a ton, both personally and in my photography business. I am so grateful for my family and their continued support in encouraging me to do what I love. I can think of many times when Jeff has sacrificed a Saturday morning to stay home with the kids, so that I could go out and take some pictures! And, he always humors me, when we are out and about and I want to grab my camera to take JUST one picture! I could not do what I do without him.

And… I am so thankful for all of you! Although at first, it was difficult to “put myself out there” and show my “art” to the world, I feel like I have gained confidence along the way {while STILL continuing to learn and better my craft} and you have been so supportive and encouraging to me through my walk as well! I feel honored that you would choose me to capture your precious moments. It is something I don’t take for granted! And, it is so special to get to be a part of that and to meet SO many AMAZING people!

I am excited for what 2011 will bring! I know my word of this year is BALANCE. Finding a good balance in work, taking care of our home, exercise, prayer, playing with the kids, spending time with my husband, creativity, taking time out for me, etc., etc. Hmmm… how many of you can relate to that? I am sure MOST of us can! We have already begun to structure out a plan on what that balance looks like for us and for our family. Here’s to that!=)

With that said, I want to introduce my goal for this blog… I vacilated between keeping my old blog for personal use and strictly using this new one for business purposes only, but have decided to just roll with this one… For me, photography is such a personal thing… I am learning to embrace the creative side of me more and more and sharing that or my life in this venue, seems appropriate. How could I separate the two? SO… this blog will consist of SNEAK PEEKS of all of the amazing people I get to photograph, information about my photography business, and a little randomness thrown in as well. My hope is that I would also put together an occasional DIY tutorial, but that will be as time allows… because, again… gotta keep the balance.=)

I will continue to leave my old blog up for awhile, but eventually, it will be deleted.  SO, if you are following me there, come on over here and stay!

Enough of my rambling…  onto my post!  And, the giveaway…  {spish…  I’m giving away $150 worth of gift cards!!!}

I couldn’t think of a better way to introduce my new blog than to wrap up 2010 with a little review… AND host a little giveaway along with it! A sort of {MY favorites} gallery from each session of last year.  I typically walk away from a session with an excitement about a few images…  Below are my faves from each session.

I chose mine, now here’s YOUR part…  you get to pick your favorite too!  For all of you past 2010 clients out there, you’ll want to let your friends and family know about this contest, so that they can vote for YOUR special image!  The image with the MOST votes wins a $50 gift card!  Voting will be open now through Friday, Jan. 7th @ midnight.  I will announce the winner on Saturday.

Not only do my past clients have a chance to win, but the voters do too!  Just leave a comment at the bottom of this post with your name, email, and the image # you are voting for.  I will randomly choose one voter to receive a $50 gift card!  Not only that, but if you haven’t “liked” Kelly Harper Photography on Facebook yet, you’re gonna want to do that as well!  That enters you in for a chance to win an additional $50 gift card, chose randomly!  Find me on Facebook HERE.

That’s right…  THREE winners!

Here are the official rules:

  • Choose your favorite image and comment below this post with your name, email, and the image of your choosing.
  • Please, only ONE vote per person.
  • Head on over HERE and click “like” to like Kelly Harper Photography on Facebook.
  • If you are a 2010 client, spread the word for more votes, to up your chances!
  • Voting begins now and ends on Friday, Jan. 7th @ 11:59pm.
  • Winners will be announced on Saturday, Jan. 8th

Alrighty, happy voting!