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.

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2011

2008

And baby sister 2011

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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.

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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.

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Little Lilly on day 6.

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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!

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Joy is going to be teaching you how to take your business to a whole new level of success and profitability. Which we all know is a huge issue in this economy. I’ve known Joy for years through the photography community and had the opportunity to meet with her last year when she helped me develop an incredible plan of action to take my business to the next level.  If you want to learn how to market more efficiently, increase your bottom line and stay on top in this competitive market, Joy is your lady.

While Joy covers the business side of running a photography business, I’ll be teaching you how to capture your subjects in a natural and creative manner. All the while using the gorgeous available light that I so adore working with. You’ll learn how to develop connections with the children you photograph so that your portraits show their true spirit. I’ll also talk about and demonstrate how I choose the locations that have become a signature look in my portfolio. I’ll be talking about creativity and composition, utilizing available light, gentle posing, the importance of client clothing and styling and much more. Not to mention we’ll be heading out into that stunning California countryside for some fun shoots.

I’ll also be teaching a class covering the basics of off camera flash and how to use this exciting style of photography in your work. My dear friend, the amazingly talented Amanda Elkins will be working with me at this class posing and prepping our beautiful teen models. Amanda has worked as a model herself and has a knack for posing and photographing teen models that an inspiration to many photographers. So come prepared to learn a lot about off camera flash and how to work with your teen clients.

We do still have a few openings for this February 5-7 workshop and if you’re interested, check out the information on my website.  Contact me for details on a discount.

And since a post isn’t a post without an image of course I have to include one of my favorite subjects, my children.

Which brings me to my big news….we’re having another baby! We’ll be welcoming another sweet Profancik into the world this summer (due date is August 1).  So if it seems like I’ve been neglecting the blog a bit it’s because the morning sickness wiped me off the map for a couple of months. But thankfully I’m feeling good again and ready to get back into the swing of things until this little one arrives.

Our posse of 3-about to be 4.

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All of these images were edited with my Summer Skies photoshop action set. Guess it works for Autumn Skies too.

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