a model baby

We’ve been a bit busy since the year began.  (Actually…VERY busy.)  Our fourth baby was born in January, a sweet little boy who has stolen all of our hearts.  The timing was great to be able to have our friend, Lisa, photograph our newborn at only 8 days old in our own home.  What a treasure!

She has been a professional photographer for years and recently started doing newborn photography too.  Her daughter came along to assist and they were a great team.

I enjoyed watching her gentle technique with my sometimes uncooperative baby boy.  She stayed for 3 hours and patiently waited for me as I nursed him, calmed him and tried to get him to sleep.  He sometimes cried, spit up on her, peed on her, but mostly slept, which is what we wanted.

To create a womb-like atmosphere that would keep him sleeping the house had to be warmed up to 85°.  Lisa brought heartbeat sounds and her own heater that blew on him the whole time.  She also had various thick cozy blankets to put him on.  

I especially liked the cute hats she brought as props – one was an upcycled bunny hat she handmade from an old sweater.  She had such cute ideas!!  The one below is a little "love puppy".  The experience will be a sweet memory for years to come.  For more information about Lisa Joy Photography, visit her website at lisajoyphotography.com.

And here is my little Levi at 3 weeks modeling a new baby shirt design.  Maybe someday this design will end up on my Etsy shop.  For now, our family has been taking time to enjoy our new baby brother.

cheap photo cards

I thought I'd share a little secret about the holidy photo cards that I send around to my family and friends. They are 3" x 4", the perfect size for inserting into cards or pasting onto quarter-sheet notes for use with an A2 envelope. I design my 3" x 4" layout using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. Then I copy the design and make it 2-up on a 4" x 6" high resolution document in Photoshop. That's the perfect size to take to any photo printer, like Costco or Walmart. I personally like to use Winkflash and Shutterfly. Winkflash has prints for 9 cents each, but often has a 6 cent sale, which makes each photo card only 3 cents each. Can't beat that price! The quality has been fine for most of my projects. I've noticed that Shutterfly prints are more crisp looking, so if you need high quailty, use Shutterfly. Just know that you will typically pay 15 cents a print.

When the prints are home I simply trim them in half. And that's my little "secret." Shhh - don't tell!