Favorite Colors

 Happy Tuesday. Recently as I was flipping through my finished projects I noticed that there were a few colors that I use more often and some colors that I don't use very often. I think the color that I use the most often is green. Its rare that I create a project without some kind of green on it. This is my most recent project and, yes, it includes green.

 I used the new collections from Gossamer Blue (Gramercy Road), Maggie Holmes, and a little bit of Jillibean Soup.

 Isn't that large green bling wonderful! I may have to order a few more packages of them just to get more of that green one.

This journaling simply talks about the photo. This photo is of my niece. One day while I was photographing layouts for an upcoming assignment she jumped in front of the camera and said "picture ME" I quickly snapped a photo of her. I was thrilled with how it turned out. Once it was her idea for me to take a picture of her it turned out great...not blurry like the photos that I usually get of her.

Looking back at my last few projects they all have green on them in one way or another, usually as an accent. Lucky, Our Kids, Family Photos Mini Albums, Spend a Week with US, Saying goodbye to Bella Blvd are just a few of the recent posts that I've used the color green on.

I the color I use the least is purple. I did find a few projects that I used purple on. The few projects that I found that I did use purple on were Halloween projects.

   

Have you found there is a color you use more often than not on your projects? Is your favorite color green and your least favorite color purple? Wouldn't that be so cool if we shared the same taste in color?!?!

If you didn't see this post at the very end of it I asked a few questions about Christmas cards. If you have a minute I would really appreciate it if you went and answered those questions for me. Thanks in advance!

Family Photos Mini Album

Recently, Elle's Studio sent me these adorable wood veneer mini album covers.

I combined these wood veneer covers with the October Kit, and a few bits and pieces from the Sycamore Lane collection to create a mini album showcasing our recent family photos.

 I loved the detail on the wood veneer cover that I didn't want to do much embellishing on it. I wanted the wood to stand out.

There isn't a ton of journaling in this album it's mostly a fun decoration to sit on the entry way table in our living room.

I love photos of the girls together and the boys together.

On this page I added a transparency with a a little bit of flair. 

This two page spread just simply shows the kids ages at the time the photos were taken.

And last but not least...a page for mom & dad :)

Just in case you missed it HERE's a link to the post about how to take your own family photos.

Do you have your family photos taken for the year?

5 Tips for Taking Your Own Family Photos

  Much to the dismay of my children I try to get a family photo once a year. I tell myself that someday they will appreciate all the photos I insist on taking...I hope. This year we took our family photo at the same time we did our back to school photo shoot. On a Sunday afternoon in August we loaded our minivan with a few props, our DSLR camera, a tripod, my phone, and a few extra clothes.

1. Be prepared. I spent a lot of time getting ready for our photo shoot. Most of that time was spent on Pinterest looking for poses and color palettes. When I found a pin that I liked (and that would work for our family) not only did I pin it but I also took a screen shot of the pose with my phone. We referred to the screen shots on my phone for every pose. That is easier for me than trying to get into Pinterest and find 'that one pose' that I liked. I also got props ready, clothes ready, and made sure we had a clean memory card and a full battery. Doing all of these things ahead of time helped to get the photo shoot done quickly so the kiddos were less likely to be impatient.
2. Take lots of photos. Don't count on all the photos to turn out, even if  they look good on the preview screen. Take a few photos of each pose. 
3. Go to more than one location. We went to two locations (I wanted to go to a 3rd but the kids lost interest and I knew a 3rd location would be a waste of time). I like to chose one location that has more of a 'nature' feel to it and one location that has a building or more of an industrial feel to it. Make sure to pay attention to the lighting. I recommend going late in the day for the best lighting.
4. Let the kids make some of the choices. I let my kids have a say in the whole ordeal. BUT when I gave them a choice I had to make sure that I was going to be okay with either of their choices. For example, I gave my boys a choice of 2 shirts they could wear but I knew that I would be okay with either of the shirts they chose. I also let them choose where we went. I let them choose which of the two locations they would like to go to first.
5. Have Fun! I can usually get a good photo from my kids if I let them take a silly one. It depends on the mood as to whether we get the good photo before or after the silly one. Make sure everyone is well rested and fed before you go. 

We had LOTS of photos that didn't turn out...sometimes someone was blinking.

 

 Sometimes the timer went off before we were ready...(Aka, my oldest didn't want to take any more pictures. This was not his best day).

 Some of the photos were good but just not exactly how I wanted them to turn out.

 in this one Cole needed to sit up higher. He was a little hidden by my shoulder. Austin needed to put his foot back. See, nothing major, just a little off.

 I thought this pose was a little awkward. If I do this one again, I would put the little man on Daddy's back, not mine.

 I really like this one! I'm thinking of framing this one for our bedroom. What do you think?

All in all, I love how our photos turned out. It was a LOT of work but I would do it again. It's much cheaper than hiring a photographer. If you haven't seen the framed canvas project that I did with our photo you can see it HERE.
Do you get family photos taken each Fall? Do you hire a photographer or take them yourself?