Maternity Photo Session by Loren Malin Photography

Our pictures are finished and I don't think it is possible to love them any more than I do!

This Memorial Day weekend one of my oldest and best friends drove in from out of town to do our maternity photos!  She and I have known each other since 5th grade!  It's crazy to think that we were young kids when we met and now she is taking my maternity photos!

Meet Loren of Loren Malin Photography.  Isn't she gorgeous!

She now lives in the Chattanooga, TN area where she works as a chemist and shoots photography on the side.  Smart, beautiful, and talented! Check her out if you're in the area!

Here are some of her beautiful photos:

Loren Malin Photography

Loren Malin Photography

Loren Malin Photography

Now - onto our maternity session!! Since these were taken late May and I am an incredibly hot-natured Mama, I opted for indoor photos.  We took them primarily in the nursery (which was almost finished at the time) and a few more throughout the house.  Here are some of my favorites!

We love them Loren!!

Next will be our newborn photos! 

Babygirl was born June 9th, 2014.

She was 5 lbs 9 oz, 19 inches at 3:12pm.

She is healthy, happy, and now the center of our world!

Cheers!

Abbi's Nursery Progress Via Instagram!

It's hard to believe that we are finally in Babygirl's birth month!  Although I haven't been posting any of my progress, I've been working hard on making a fun space for her.

I had my bestie do a maternity photo shoot for me last weekend and a lot of the pictures were shot in the nursery.  This hot-blooded Mama just couldn't handle doing many outdoor photos in the middle of May so we opted to shoot indoors throughout the house.

Until those photos are ready to share I thought I'd share some snippets of the nursery as seen through instagram!  You can find me on instagram @kro2d. 

Once I've taken all the final photos of the nursery I'll provide a source list!  Enjoy!

Cheers!

I'm So Crafty I Make Babies... Gender Reveal Card

Surprise!  The hubby and I are expecting our first little one this June!

I'm just a little over 21 weeks and time is flying by!  I just know this little one is going to be here before we know it, ready or not!

January 28th was our big ultrasound and we got to meet the little one for the second time.

At our first introduction Baby Harris looked like little more than a peanut!

So naturally we were beyond excited for the 20 weeks ultrasound - first to see our little peanut and see how much he/she had grown, and second to find out the gender!

To say I have spent hours on the internet scouring ideas for our gender reveal would be an understatement.  I loved all the different ideas I saw.  I thought I had decided on a gender reveal card when the Hubby and I came across some cute little sock monkeys at Francesca's.  Sold!  Now I had to decided how to construct the card!

I found an adorable gender reveal card at Our Homegrown Spud.  Be sure to check her's out!

I started by taking the pictures for the card.  Our appointment was on a Tuesday afternoon and we would be in a mad dash afterwards to visit all our family, so I prepped everything the weekend before.  So yes, I had a card ready to go whether we had a boy or a girl! What can I say, I'm a planner! :)

First we used the sock monkeys for the front of the card.  Believe it or not, the idea was actually the Hubby's.  I just made the idea a reality.

For the front I opted out of drawing on the wall with chalk.  I simply took the photo then edited in the words on picmonkey.

To make the card I bought kraft paper colored cardstock from Hobby Lobby and cut it 7" x 10".  I folded it in half to make the final card 5" high by 7" wide.  I used one of those paper cutting things to round the corners of the card and all the photos.

I then used double sided scrapbooking tape to adhere the photo to the front of the card.

For the inside of the card I browsed the envelope aisle at Hobby Lobby.  I had a lot of different ideas, but ultimately both the Hubby and I decided on this cute envelope.  Again, I used double sided sticky tape to adhere it to the inside.  I would only recommend using this if you're not concerned about the longevity of the card.  If you want it to hold up for a long time I would recommend something more permanent like an adherent glue.

Last was the most important part! The gender reveal!

I used chalk to draw Baby Harris's name on the wall - it was pretty large scale.  Then the Hubby and I wore coordinating colored shirts and held the appropriately colored sock monkey.  What no one knows if that outside of the perfectly manicured photo, we were both unshowered, in sweat pants, and sporting some pretty intense bedhead.  But you would never know!!

So, what is our little monkey?!

Oh Lordy! We're having a girl!  Honestly, it's not a big surprise.  My family makes girls.  That's just what we do!

I printed all the photos using the one-hour photo at Wal-Mart.

Our gender reveal wasn't a big production, but it was fun to watch our family eagerly open the envelope to see if it was a boy or a girl.  I'm very pleased with how they turned out, and we absolutely cannot wait to meet our sweet little Abbi!

Her crib is being delivered Monday and I can not wait to get started on her nursery!!

Cheers!

Always Be Yourself, Unless...

 

A couple weeks ago I was browsing pinterest and found this image from society6.

 

 

I turned to the hubby and told him this would be in our house.  It had to be!

 

Now I don't know about you guys, but when I think of unicorns I always think of Lisa Frank.  If I didn't have a trippy, rainbow unicorn folder when I was in 2nd grade, then what was the point of school?  This had to look like Lisa Frank came to my house and threw up on my walls!

 

I bought a pre-cut piece of MDF that was 2 x 4 feet.  Using a mixture of my acrylic paints, I set to work making a rainbow background that Lisa Frank would be proud of.

 

Pardon the crappy progress shots - I used my iPhone for these.

 

I worked very quickly with the paint ensuring that each row would still be slightly damp and allow for the next color to blend nicely.  It's easier to go ahead and pour out each color at once.  I just used a Styrofoam plate.

 

 

Here is the board after I completed the first rainbow row.

 

 

I wasn't too concerned about making each row of color perfectly even or straight.

 

 

I don't have photos of the next few steps, but I first took painter's tape and taped off 1 inch borders on the entire piece.

 

I purchased 3inch Helvetica font vinyl letters from Michaels.  I could have used one pack of letters but would have had to apply the letters, paint, remove and move to the next line.  I didn't want to have to do this so I bought five (yes, don't judge, they're reusable) packets of letters to ensure I would have enough to lay all the letters down at once.  I left two inches in between each row of letters.  Once the letters were laid out I went over the entire board twice with white paint.  I used my exacto knife and immediately peeled off all the vinyl letters and painters tape.

 

Viola!

 

 

I love how it turned out!  There was very minimal leakage of paint under the vinyl letters and it's only visible up close.

 

 

 

To make the unicorn I used this image:

Pinterest

 

The original pin does not have a link, just the image is pinned so unfortunately I can't give credit to the original image!

 

I enlarged this image on my computer by 400%.  Then I laid out three rows of painter's tape on my clear quilting ruler.  I laid this down on my computer screen and was able to trace the outline of the unicorn onto the painters tape.  I peeled the painters tape off the ruler and placed it onto my board where I wanted it.  I then cut out the image using my exacto knife.

 

 

I made this painting to hang on a bare wall in between our coat closet and bedroom door.  I love how this looks against our black wall, so I may end up painting that wall black as well!

 

 

I decided to leave the border of this piece rainbow so it would stand out better against the wall.

 

 

So there you have it!  I think Lisa Frank would be proud!

 

 

Cheers!