Stephanie is probably one of my oldest & closest friends from my childhood.  We met as middle & high schoolers & have stayed close ever since.  I am so grateful for her friendship, her advice, her love & her family’s presence in my life.  She is truly a blessing.

Stephanie recently showed me her talent for making cakes & cookies when she planned her daughter’s first birthday.  When I saw the phenomenal job she did with Madi’s party, I asked her if she’d be willing to make a creation for Brooke’s birthday, too.  I gave her an idea & she wowed me with the rest!  This girl has some amazing talent…take a look.

By the way, these treats not only looked good, they tasted good too!  I had to make myself stop eating those darling monkey cookies…Yum!

Whenever I take yearly photographs of my girls, I always forget to ask myself, “What do I want to do with these when I’m done?”  Do you ever ask yourself that question too?  Do you want them sitting in a box, or an album, or on a disc, or on your computer?  I think most of us take, and have photographs taken, with the best intentions of hanging them up & displaying them.  Sadly, I am not someone who usually makes it that far.

The Organic Bloom frames are one unique way to display your fine art photographs after the session.  They are unique, original, and have options to suit any and every style.  They come in a variety of uniquely-named styles – from Fonzie to Meg – and are priced based on their opening size.  And the best thing is they come from my home state of Oklahoma!

Take a look at a sampling of frames I recently got & bought for a client.  (Please note, OB frames do NOT come with glass.  Some people don’t like that option, but I personally LOVE it.  No glare of the glass & no potential for breaking.  To protect photographs hung in these frames, I add a special coating & have them mounted.  It’s amazing & looks great!)

These frames will be added to the shop shortly, but if you are wanting one ordered sooner, feel free to contact me.

I know Father’s Day isn’t until June 19th, but that’s just a little over one week away.  I have to order these things way ahead of time or they get away from me & I forget & end up getting something he doesn’t really like.  Now this gift isn’t for my husband, but another dad I know.  It’s a calendar, but they can be used any time of the year.  Or, it can simply be a collage of images you like, with no calendar, simply bound like the one below.  Most daddy’s head off to work each day, somewhere away from their little ones, and miss them terribly.  This is a good way of taking the kids along to work & remembering them throughout the day.  Here is is….

This is a spiral-bound 5×5 calendar, or photo book, that can easily be hung with a ribbon or string.  The front comes with a frosted cover, and the whole thing is 13 pages.

A look at a few of the pages.

The side view, and the back – a black piece of heavy paper.

Simple, but thoughtful.  And if you’re a client, I can get ya one in time for Father’s Day as long as you get me your order by Sunday night.  $20.00 + tax.

*Photos used must be from one of your sessions.  If you want specific photos, you must let me know of between 13 & 18 photos you would like included.  Payment must be made ahead of time, no COD.  Local pick-up only*

In this digital age, many of my clients are opting to purchase the digital images – or “negatives” – from their sessions.  This is a wonderful purchasing solution because it puts you, the client, in charge of all of your images FOREVER.  While we share copyright of the images, you retain them to use & reprint as much as you like.  You have them to add on to calendars, mugs, ties, or whatever other creative things are out there.

Most of my clients order the entire set of digital images from their session.  However, that can be somewhat of a financial dilemma for others.  When an order of less than 5 digital images comes in, I simply e-mail the images to the client.  This saves on cost, shipping, etc.  But I wanted to tell you about an add-on that my full digital clients have been receiving with their orders & offer it to other digital customers.  It’s a DVD of your images.  If you are not ready or able to order the entire session of digital images, you can opt to have your one to four images e-mailed to you AND burned on to a custom DVD for only $15 additional.  These custom DVDs are lovely.  They are professionally printed at one of my print houses & come with one of YOUR images on them.  Check them out below…

As you can see, they come in a round plastic case that can open & close.  It’s an inexpensive way to back up your digital images.  And for those of you wanting a bit more, here’s what a full digital session looks like:  Custom DVD, hard, protective case, and a lil’ something extra….

Late last year I came across a gem of a company via Facebook – The Organic Bloom.  I loved the look of their boutique frames & it was a HUGE draw for me that they were from my home state of Oklahoma!  They offer a wide variety of frame types and colors & impeccable customer service.  A former bride of mine recently lost her grandfather & I wanted to give a gift to her parents to remember him by.  I contacted Rachel, with The Organic Bloom, to see if they had any ready to ship frames in black.  She got me one super quick so I was able to drop by the framed print yesterday.  What a wonderful feeling to help a family daily see a fond memory of their loved one on their walls.