In Winter : Portraits of Jennifer!

Today during the freezing rain we did a super quick photo shoot. It is CHILLY out there! Model is Jennifer Ault and we were assisted by the awesome Audra.

Amber & the Sailboat : Portraits

Last Spring I did a sunshine session with Amber Short, owner of the Book Man and all around awesome person! I've posted a few of these before, but here are a few extras. Thanks to Crystal McHargue for rocking the lighting ... as it's currently snowing out now (and thus, pretty lovely out) I still have to say I'm super extra looking forward to sunshiney days like the day of this shoot again!

Teacups & Things

A couple months ago my friend Jenelle gave me this wicked mug from Kilnhouse and I LOVE IT. Sooo pretty. Also, I went to the thrift store just before Christmas with Crystal and scored this beautiful teacup, as well as an old movie camera and a tiny vintage end table for $4.50. (No pictures of the table as of yet, but I'm planning on painting it yellow ... someday.) Also, I am super obsessed with decorative tape -- I am using it on everything these days.

I've begun working on the memory book sample which should be available online soon, but for now, I have a small date with a little game called Super Mario Bros. 3. {I watched The Wizard last night, which always makes me want to break that puppy out and ... get super frustrated. SMB 3 is super hard, y'all.}

A Little Bit of Site Maintenance!

I'm in the process of doing some light 2012 tweaking to the site, so look for small changes in the next few days. I'm sort of / kind of overhauling the gallery section when I'm able to find time. Tomorrow I'm photographing objects for a memory book, a sample of which will eventually be put online to flip through.

What did I do this Christmas vacation? Not a whole heck of a lot. Jamie and I got super addicted to episodes of Degrassi Junior High on Netflix, and spent a good deal of time in pjs and blankets snuggling with Jax on the couch and watching the drama, poor fashion choices and Spike's hair. We went to Sechelt for Christmas Eve to visit family, I made a small dent in my reading pile, braved the sales at Ikea and had the first Mini Session Day ever. {More to come!} I also started working on a geometrically patterned platter from Color Me Mine. {Most fun ever! And staffed by awesome people.}

I also worked quite a bit on my Smash Book! I've made art journals for years, but there are so many cute and awesome little lists and pads and add-ons you can throw into these books that it sets my little crafting heart on fire.

Back to classes tomorrow! And this upcoming weekend I'm taking engagement photos for two super awesome people who are getting married this upcoming September. My resolution this year is to get into shape so I can wear a spandex unitard to my wedding feel awesome as well as to take up quilting. I've been determined for years to make quilts with crazy colour blocking and geometric loveliness and I'm going to actually attempt to take a class in it this spring. 2012 is going to be GRAND!

Willard Asylum Suitcases

This project is so amazing and fascinating. Here's a write up:

"In 1995, the New York State Museum was moving items out of the Willard Psychiatric Center in Willard, NY which was being closed by the State Office of Mental Health.  It would eventually become a state-run drug rehabilitation center.  Craig Williams and his staff became aware of an attic full of suitcases in the pathology lab building.  The cases were put into storage when their owners were admitted to Willard sometime between 1910 and the 1960s. And since the facility was set up to help people with chronic mental illness, these folks never left.  An exhibit of a small selection of the cases was produced by the Museum and was on display in Albany in 2003.  It was very moving to read the stories of these people, and to see objects from their lives before they became residents of Willard." Jon Crispin. {View the accompanying video!}

Jon Crispin painstakingly unwraps each carefully bound suitcase and photographs the contents, documenting the process as he goes. Here are a few of the images taken by Jon Crispin for the series. See more images here and here.

(Link via Foxtail + Fern)