Huntington Beach High School MUN Banquet

 Had a request for entree place cards for the high school's MUN banquet this week. The colors for the banquet are light blue and white. They only needed chicken and veggie. Printed four on a sheet and cut down to 3.5 x 4, folded to 3.5 x 2.

I love my scoring tool. Makes for the perfect fold.

Mother Daughter Portraits - Mary Kay Session 2013

This week I had a mother daughter photo shoot for a Mary Kay Director in Huntington Beach. The mothers received training on make up while the daughters played in a bounce house. Not a bad day!

I offered them an 8x10 portrait and their sitting to go with their fun-face day.

I want to share just a few of my favorites.

 This little girl was so funny. She wasn't really into sitting with her mom, but put a puppy in her lap and she lit up like a Christmas tree!!

Next, two sisters and once again, I had to laugh. I think the pic speaks for itself.

Craft Ideas, Quick Centerpieces, GiveAways!

I have not been very good about blogging lately, so I'm going to make an effort here to show you just a few things that I've been doing the past few months. Busier than ever and all over the place with different jobs. Love that. Keeps my job interesting.

An event with the Donkey theme... What? Well, you can read the inspirational story here.

I placed paper mache pots with white flowers as the centerpieces and purchased small plastic donkeys from the Oriental Trading Company. Spray painted them grey, set some around the table, and poked a hole in some, put them on wire and had them hanging out the centerpiece. The candy bars had Zig Ziglar's quote on them. When life throws you dirt... shake it off and step up! Heehaw.

PS: Budget was kept to a minimum.

Rancho Los Alamitos Mother Daughter Tea:

Place cards for a mother/daughter tea at the Rancho Los Alamitos in Long Beach. These succulents made it easy to use as placeholders. If you've never been to the Rancho, it is a must visit historical place. I love it there and the barn has just been restored and renovated.

A quick banner made of linen, stamped using hand cut cork board. You can see more of what will be going with this banner at my sister's blog here. We will be staging a First Holy Communion for a sweet little girl named Sofia.

This was a giveaway welcoming in the New Year. Used the short soda cans, for that quick pop!

Homemade matchstick notepads. Purchased ones from Michael's in a large pack, variety of sizes and cut the paper to fold over, stapling and tucking. Quick easy and done. LOVE that.

 For the Bride and Groom, these are a notch above. Used cardboard; 3 sheets, Printed on Cardboard paper, spray glued onto a piece of cardboard, cut a section out of the second piece of cardboard for the stick to fit into, glued the second piece on, glued the stick in, and then glued the 3rd piece of cardboard backing on to cover the stick. Heavy, indestructible and fun.

This image below is printed on a 11 x 17 and is the interior of my brochure.

Check out my website for photos.

Thanks for visiting!

Senior Yearbook Dedication Pages

It has been quite the busy year for me, which business wise, is a great thing. I thought I'd finally do a post to show you just a bit of fun that I had. The first three are yearbook dedication sections for my son. Only the first one is the winner. The second was a "what the heck" from him, and the third was, "really mom, I don't want everyone at school seeing me come off a wave." Ok, I admit, I don't surf so how am I to know that's a bad thing.

This is one that was choosen for another yearbook half page, however I left off the dedication verbiage.

Here is one that I really wanted to use as a silly joke. But ... no go. 

And last, just a pic I took of my daughter w/ our kitty. Doesn't he look happy?

Wishing all of you the best in capturing your greatest moments on print...

Wedding @ First Christian Chapel in HB / Reception at the Meadowlark GC

Recently my sister and I styled a wedding at the First Christian Chapel in Huntington Beach. To change things up a bit, we painted old cabinet doors and shutters that were on their way to a dumpster. Graphite chalk paint was what we used and we loved it! So much fun to add a touch of style and the shutters made a great screen to hide an obtrusive painting that was hanging on the wall. 

Here is a link for her website and you can see all the photos!

http://www.sherricassaradesigns.com/

Downtown HB Photoshoot 2012

Around the downtown Huntington Beach Photoshoot.

I think what I love the most are backgrounds. Who would ever know that the first photo is on the porch of the police station off of Main Street.  She was laughing at me because I told her I had the Forever 21 sign in the background...  and she chimed in with we needed to go to the Antique store afterwards. Which we did in the next photo. (but I consider us collectibles, not antiques!)

This photo was inside my favorite local hotel: The Shorebreak Hotel. Just inside the stairs take you up to the reception area. I liked the faint teal wall and the shadows that were cast on it in the following photo.

Zach & Jody's Workshop in the OC 2012

Straight out of the camera with Zach & Jody!

This weekend I went to a workshop with two adorable young fabulous photographers and with their training, use of equipment, and great models, we learned how to shoot in different lighting and create some spectacular photos.

I have not touched any via photoshop or lightroom, but wanted to show off a few because even if I didn't do anything with them, action wise, I think they are pretty spectacular! Off to buy some equipment... lol

LOVE ZACH & JODY!!!  Check out their site at: http://www.zachandjody.com/

PS: When they come back to California I will go with whomever wants to attend! Worth every penny.

Heroin is no Hero.

I have not posted anything in such a long time and in fact, had to remove something due to the 'theme' not being announced yet... "As if anyone reads my blogs anyway" went through my head.

Being busy is my second nature. Runs deep in the family. But getting blindsided over and over is not something I do well with. People and relationships can cause such turmoil can't they? And then all of a sudden, it gets put into perspective.

Our little world lost someone to a tragedy. I can't even imagine how the parents are processing the loss of their son. Just turned 18. My own son who turns 18 soon knew him all of his life. My son, Mr. Private, won't tell me anything of how he is dealing with it. Nor will he tell me what events are being held in this boy's honor. But... he did ask if I would go get some red spray paint and cans of clear coat.

He spray painted his surfboard red.

No, my son wouldn't comply with the hundred of kids who barely knew this kid and wore red to school. No, my son won't talk about him except to say he was the coolest, nicest kid and it really bugs him when kids are stealing attention for themselves by crying and yet never even knew him. And all three of my kids are crazed to hear other kids talk smack about how and why it happened and again... never knew him.

My son has been doing research on the drug of choice and if it saves one life, then maybe his battle wasn't in vain. I pray that parents reach deep inside and use this as a teaching tool for their own families. I pray that some parents we know realize that serving underage kids alcohol does not make you cool. And I pray that God wraps his arms around this family. Protect them and love them. They did not fail their son. The drug was just too strong of a hold.

A parent's worst fear.

Morning Rituals with Dog Cat Dog

I thought I would share my morning ritual. First let me fill you in on the characters. There is our dog Abbey, and her sister Champ. (Champagne Bubbles) named by her owner not us. We dog sit her a lot as her owner frequently travels. Then, there is our newest addition, Charlie. He is the homeless cat that was taken in and then passed from home to home. He hissed at us for the first few weeks and hid under the bed for a very long time. 

So fast forward... here they are today! Left to right; Champ, Charlie, and Abbey.

All waiting to get their morning treat with my first cup of Joe.

I have trained them all to sit and the dogs have to wait while Charlie stands on his hind legs to reach up for his treat. Then the dogs get their treat. I love these crazy fur shedding animals.

PS: I have to vacuum everyday. And it's not because of the two dogs. Darn Charles.

Pasadena Wedding at the Ambassador Mansions and Gardens

Last night I was a guest at a wedding at the Ambassador Mansions and Gardens in Pasadena. It was an amazing location for a wedding. http://ambassadorcampus.com/ 

I struggled with whether to take my camera or not. Crazy but I had to weigh in the heat, my 4 inch heals, and on grass. I decided to haul just the minimal camera lens and flash. ((I really wanted to take my grande zoom but didn't want to take anything away from the hired photogs.))

My Date!

(Thank you again for driving! Could not even imagine driving my car without air conditioning!)

First Dance

So there was your glimpse of the area. Be sure to check out the website for the Ambassador. You'll get to see the mansion itself. Sad to say I didn't go around taking a lot of photos. They had a great crew and many guests with cameras. Oh, and my 'date' said she kept loosing me to photo opts!

All in all, it was a very fun party. Love the family. Glad I was a part of it.

Bird, Squirrel ...

Haven't posted anything in awhile. Here are two pics from last week's visitors. I love how despite having a dog and a cat, we still have critters wanting to live in our backyard.

Poker Dealers Know how to Toss the Cards

Last week I had a photoshoot for a client who needed pics for his company's website.

A Poker Company.

I shot 6 of the girls that he has working for him.

Here is one that I added textures to.

They were a delight to work with and they all took to the camera very easily.

Senior Grad Card Announcements 2012

Recently I took photos of a senior in high school for her graduation announcements. She has a quiet strength about her. She is every bit of beautiful on the inside as she is on the inside. But one of the things that I really liked about her was that she was on the high school golf team all four years but didn't want to take photos with her golf club and uniform. So-- she conveniently forgot to bring a club and her shoes. OK, so I respect that. I too have an almost 20 year old and know all too well the pull between adulthood and childhood. So, we borrowed a club and bucket of balls and took those shots first. Now, I know that the first shots aren't necessarily the best. The model is getting comfortable and it can be iffy. Once we ditched the club it was a new game. I said, just be you. And these are all her.

Her card was created. She loves sunflowers, so that was added for her. Her mom got the golf pic in, and we were almost done.

I created a logo for her and printed the cards. I found scrapbook paper that I fell in love with. Made by Crate Paper, Farmhouse collection. I used "Countryside" for the envelope liners. And "Handpicked" on the back of the open house invites.

Her return address labels were squares with her logo on them.
Below is another envelope liner for a different client but didn't use. I used a floral print that went with the grad card. Her return address labels were triangles on the tips of the envelopes. Love making these.