Happy Holiday Sale
December 5th, 2012 , Posted in Indianapolis Photographer, MiaBella Phtoshop ProductsPlease visit MiaBella Actions to view all of our products that are on sale.
And another of my little lady.
Please visit MiaBella Actions to view all of our products that are on sale.
And another of my little lady.
As I got Bella off on the bus this morning I couldn’t help but leave the front door open and let little Miss Lilly come on out and enjoy the absolutely amazing weather. It’s so hard to believe this is really winter with gorgeous weather like this! And the forecast is calling for above average highs 10 days out! What a winter this has been. Although I’m not complaining.
Lilly normally isn’t this dressed up this early in the morning, but she saw Bella putting on a twirly skirt and starting saying “kirt, kirt!!” She had to be like her big sister. And when Bella put her shoes on Lilly went running to find her own shoes. I can foresee that Bella is going to have quite the little shadow over the next few years.
She seems confused as to why I left the door open, lol.
It was so foggy this morning, but as soon as we went outside it started clearing and was gone within 15 minutes.
Watching all the birds flying around.
Silly little cutie.
The last of the fog fading away.
*All photos were edited with my Color Workflow action (opacity turned down) and with the Lilly action set.
I had the pleasure of photographing this sweet boy 3 years ago when he was just a baby. I can’t believe how big he’s gotten! And he now has a beautiful little sister who is just as sweet as he is. I’m so glad I still had the little blue chair I used in 2008. And I’m so happy I had the chance to see this wonderful family again.
2011
2008
And baby sister 2011
This month the wonderfully talented group I’m posting with has chosen the theme “Monochrome”. We’re each supposed to post an image that is our interpretation of that word and I am so excited to see what everyone has come up with! I invite you to follow the blog carousel as well by clicking the links at the bottom of each post. So grab your cup of coffee and have fun browsing through each blog!
I chose a portrait that was simple in it’s design, yet by the time I finished processing the image, it had a totally different feeling. When I first loaded this image into Photoshop, I stopped as I always do to think about how I wanted to process it. I knew I wanted a vintage feel based on her clothing. I also wanted to make the portrait look old, worn and treasured. Ever since Lilly was just a few days old, my mom has told me how much she reminds her of a photograph of my Nonnie (a variation of of the word “grandma” in Italian) when she was a baby. So as a nod to that photograph, this is what I created.
I hope you enjoyed my post and ask that you please visit my amazingly talented friend’s blog next. Head over to Calgary portrait Photographer, Brandy Anderson to see her take on this month’s theme.
My sister and I were talking recently and decided we kind of like a little excitement in our lives. Not family catastrophe kind of drama or course, but we both love a good challenge that keeps us busy. Life is boring without trying to tackle something that isn’t easily done.
I had a love-hate relationship with my last house. I loved the challenge of making a dated, historic house work for our family without ruining it’s character. However, I didn’t care so much for the amount of time it took away from my kids and the expense of all the not so creative repairs.
In spite of the work involved when we first started house hunting last spring we (really, I) wanted a big, beautiful, old house with land in the country. One that didn’t need anything other then cosmetic work, had all new pipes, completely updated electric, was well insulated, fairly easy to heat, in the right community. LOL! Even if we added a few hundred thousand to our budget those houses were nearly non-existent. After realizing we weren’t going to get that, Damian convinced me to give a new house a chance. And by new, I mean built within the last couple of decades. Afterall, we have 4 children and caring for them is a full time job. We decided we would rather have more time to enjoy our children while they are little and not spend these years fixing up another fixer upper. The more I thought about it the more it seemed liked the right choice.
So we found an 11 year old house we liked, put an offer on it, it was accepted and we were thrilled. We got an offer on our house about the same time and set a date to close. However, the deal fell through on the new house after the owner refused to negotiate on an item that made the house uninsurable. We were a little concerned at this point because we were due to move out of our home in 3 weeks! We set up a day to house hunt with our awesome realtor, Leigh Turner, and prayed we would find the perfect home.
I made a list of every available house I liked, combined it with the ones Leigh had found, and we started early in the morning. By dinner time we had seen 7-8 houses and were panicking because we didn’t fall in LOVE with any. We had one house left to see and when we pulled up I was hopeful. It was in the country, it was oh, so quiet there. A gorgeous drive, fields all around, the few neighbors there were also had large lots so no development would ever be built there. Yet it was near shopping and not a bad drive for D to get to work. The house was totally what Damian wanted-a big brick home. I prefer a more country style house, but I had to admit it was pretty. As we toured the house it was obvious this was the perfect home for us. Plenty of bedrooms for our brood, a big kitchen, perfect open floor plan for parties, wood floors where we wanted them, nice finishes and a pool. Plus tons of land, a large barn with horse stalls and an office.
So fast forward to now. We’ve moved in, the house is amazing and I have to pinch myself to believe it’s ours. This down market allowed us to buy a house that 5 years ago would have been out of our reach. God is good and we are so very blessed.
So what is the challenge you ask? Why did I buy a new home when I like projects? Well, we have plenty of projects, but instead of gutting rooms these projects are the kind I love. Adding the cosmetic touches that will make this house an amazing home. Some wainscoting, crown molding, building a gazebo, a deck, granite in the kitchen, making the cabinets more “custom”, painting, decorating, replacing the lights, maybe a pool house, flower beds, a kitchen garden, adding a chicken coop, sandbox…etc. And the main challenge is making this traditional American home fit my vintage-shabby chic-with touch of modern thrown in-style.
Here is the house before we moved in. Stay tuned for updated pictures as I work my way through the house.
Wow, it looks so bare compared to now, lol.
This summer has been so crazy that I have a massive backlog of photos to get through. This was one amazing evening in June-the sky was simply breathtaking! I don’t think I stopped shooting for 45 minutes and have so many photos from that night that I love. So far this is the only one I’ve had time to edit. And who knows when I’ll get to the rest. Hehe.
Little Lilly on day 6.
Today I’m packing up my bags to head to California to teach for a few days. I’m so excited to be escaping the cold weather here for a bit. Even though it’s not supposed to be terribly warm there (by their standards), it’s relief from the freezing temps here in good old Indiana. And I’m happy I’ll be able to come back and share some new warm weather photographs on the blog, but for now here is another of my silly girl from last summer. I think this shoot is my favorite I’ve ever done with her…because she was so “Bella”.
For the photographers out there, this image was edited with my Summer Skies action set, specifically the Summer Pop and Blueberry Skies actions. We’ll be holding a sale starting tonight at 8pm EST. If you don’t receive our newsletter with the codes, all codes will be posted here or on the Actions Cart website so keep checking back.
Have a blessed weekend everyone!