So that set our color scheme of lilac, black & white. We took two of the tables in her room and painted them black (pain in the butt – but they look great!). We also painted her letter “C” silver (which sucked cuz it was an oil-based paint – uggh! Thanks to Scott for cleaning that up!) It took us two days and lots of sweat, but we got it done! She is thrilled and LOVES it!Lamp, bed skirt, zebra body pillow case & drapes from Target, zebra sheets from Kohl’s, coat rack from amazon.com, frame from Home Goods.  Purple Christmas tree I bought last year (along w/ pink & blue) from Wal-Mart.com (sorry Rhiana if you see this – she decided to keep it! )

“BEFORE” – photos taken February 2010. We also decluttered a LOT and we took a lot of her little girlish things and put them in a tote. We’re calling it our time capsule. Didn’t throw them away, but just put them out of sight and out of mind for now.  “AFTER”. Claire said, “It’s FINALLY a COLOR!!” I said Hey! Tan is a color! She disagreed. Hasn’t she changed a TON in two years?!! My baby is growing up – sniff sniff! Once again, Buddy would not leave us alone when we were trying to take pictures! Seriously – we kept taking him off the bed, told the boys to call him, etc. Oh well, he’s so cute! Claire got this picture a while back at TJ Maxx and I love it! Inspiring!!That’s our room make-over! Claire spent $200 of her own on it (Christmas money) and I told her it has to last at least FOUR years – until she’s 17. I just hope she can keep it as clean as it is now!

btw….does anyone want to buy a gallon of lilac paint? I bought two but only ended up using one! Only $15 o.b.o! I’ll also be selling her old bedding on Craig’s List.

While the girls were doing hair & makeup, I took some of Claire’s old “M” magazines and taped them to the wall to use as a backdrop. Claire LOVES Justin Bieber, so she said to make sure to get a lot of him.  ;-)

Outfit #1 -

• Top:  Target
• White skinny jeans:  Old Navy
• Necklace:  Wet Seal
• Sunglasses:  Aeropostale
• Ring & bracelets:  Karen’s
• Star confetti:  Party City

This shot was way harder than it looks – plus it made a huge mess!So I used hearts  here – from my bokeh overlays.

Talking about a certain BOY Outfit #2 -

• Top:  Wet Seal (pink cami from Aeropostale)
• Jeggings:  Delia’s
• Necklace:  Wet Seal
• Earrings:  Claire’s
• Rub-on nail decorations:  Rue 21
• Headband & ring:  Karen’s
• Silver float sheeting:  Party City online (thanks Ria!!)

She was doing a great job at being moody and serious, but her inner “ninja” came out.  haha!  She does crack me up!  She’s a big old goofball! Outfit #3 -

• Top, jeans, earrings, necklace:  Wet Seal
• Black cami:  Target
• Bracelets, ring:  Karen’s

Love you, Claire Bear!  No matter how grown up you look, you’ll always be my little girl.  :-)

I’m so proud of you Claire! You are a trooper!  :-)  (btw…all products from www.heatheranndesigns.com)

Here’s Jacob’s by the way – I tried to duplicate the same photos with Claire.  :-)

btw I used the 8mm app on my ipod touch for the video!!  I used it on “70′s” and LOVE the dimension it adds to the slideshow.  I definitely want to do a lot more of that in the future!

when:  Sunday 6/26 and Tuesday 6/28 – around 7pm

where:  my favorite field in BP

what:  more to come.  I took so many that I really like a lot!  So as I have time I’ll add more here.  Working on a slideshow too!  I was excited because she actually cooperated pretty well!  OK and yes, it cost me another $20 and a lunch at Culver’s, but I’d say it was worth it.  :-)

where:  my favorite areas of Brooklyn Park.  :-)

when:  Thursday 6/2/11 around 7pm

what it cost me:  $20 – so she could buy a yearbook and an Oreo Blizzard.

This is my girl – taken Easter Sunday 4/24/11 around 5pm. I am *trying* to take more photos of my own family!

tech info: Nikon D700, Nikon 85mm f/1.8 (yes, I really want the 1.4 – thanks a LOT Nichole! haha!), f-stop = 2.2, shutter = 1/1600, ISO 200. Used Florabella’s “amber” from the spring set I and “raw sugar” texture overlay from the texture set II using the texture application action too from set III (love it since it replaces the color tone where you erase the texture). 

What I love about the top photo is that the camera focused on her hair (I wasn’t using my focal points – just let it go where it wanted).  Of course the next frame was in focus, but there was something I really liked about this blurry one – sorta surreal.  Anyway, off to work!

I was going through some old photos and thought I would edit them the way I edit now.  Of course these were pretty hard to work with since they were underexposed to start.  But it’s still fun for me to go back to the original files and mess around from time to time.

These were taken September 23, 2004!  Claire – age 5 (awww!)  Nikon D70, Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 lens, “portrait” mode.yeah, the eyes/color is a little over the top…oh well!  haha!

Here’s a couple from 6/13/04 that are some of my favorites.  :-)

Anyway….hopefully I’ll get my blog link working in the next day or two!  Pain in the butt I tell ya!  It’s always something…!

When:  January 13, 2010

Where:  Quincy studio

What:  A little playing around in the new studio today!  :-)  eta:  I’ve gotten several inquiries asking about the whitewash “barn” floor and the ruffle curtain.  I bought both online at Urban Outfitters (as well as the chenille ivory rug).