Christmas cards

New Christmas cards are here! Here are a few designs I have worked on..... I am hoping to get some more made, but we will see how well that works out. Things have been really crazy the last couple months.

Be sure to check out my website for all my card selections.

I am going to be getting Christmas stuff out tomorrow!!!! Wish me luck! :)

Matt

This is Matt and we had the windiest day in all my photography history! It is a good thing he didn't have long locks or we would have had to cancel pictures :)

Matt was a lot of fun to hang out with.... he has such an outgoing personality. He plays Football, he Bow hunts and he is on the Fire Dept as a volunteer. It is so nice to see young kids helping out their community and doing a variety of different things.

I know Matt was tired of hearing me say "Don't Squint" and believe me, I know how hard that was with not only with the sun but the wind blowing 80 mph. He did a great job and we had a great day together.

Thinking Christmas?

I am already getting calls for Christmas, so that means I need to take myself upstairs and dig out all the Christmas stuff from the attic. I am having a hard time getting myself motivated to do so. Once I get my mind set and myself upstairs.... it will be an all day deal and no stopping me :)

I do love Christmas time!!! I spend one whole day decorating the house with the girls. We kick Craig out and we just enjoy a day together. I purchased a tall Skinny tree from Walmart after Christmas time last year, for our family room, so I am super excited to get it up and see it all decorated. That will be 5 Christmas trees I have for the house :) Not sure I will put them all up this year, but if I find an empty corner and the mood strikes me right.... I prob. will :) The girls are so great about helping and decorating.

I am super busy with photo's and Card designs, New website design and trying to finish things up before it gets too cold outside. My mind is running 90 mph right now... so Christmas is the furthest thing from my mind right now. I will get things set up before long, I promise!!!!

Keep an eye out, I will have some new templates for Christmas cards before long!

Bradley

This is Bradley and we had a great day for pictures also. Bradley is a very sweet guy. He was so fun to hang out with. He is very laid back, and was up for an idea's.

I had lots of favorites in these!!! I tried to keep things as simple as I could for Bradley, but couldn't resist playing with a few :)

Cute Couple!

This is Dustin and Dina, they make such a cute couple!! We had a beautiful day for pictures, minus the wind would have be perfect! Leaves looked pretty and the ground was covered.

This was the first session I wasn't ready for :( We were siding the garage and had a house full of people all afternoon... and here comes Dustin's truck pulling up. It still didn't sink in at first, then I was thinking "OH NO" :) Thank goodness I didn't have to clean for them as they have seen me worse looking than I looked that day.

I was just talking about this shoot the night before, so it wasn't like I completely forgot :)

Craig come home from a trip to town and said "I passed them on the way to town and knew you didn't remember them coming today" If I had a sticky note plastered to my forehead, I might have remembered this session!

Bradley

Bradley...... Do I dare tell you how ornery he is!!! :) Just kidding, he is a really good kid! I have known him since he was little and he was a cutie then too. He did a great job with pictures and I felt like I had my own kid out, hanging out together.

The little black bugs were terrible that day!! But we still had a good time while fighting off those little things.

He wanted some taking with his Niece, and she was an absolute doll and she adored her Uncle Brad. :)

I know you said not very many pictures, but I couldn't resist!!!



This picture is so adorable! Look at her looking up at him! She really wanted to be able to say something :)



I absolutely love hunting and camo shots!!!

Mary Grace

This is Mary Grace and who wouldn't fall in love with a brown eye beauty! She is such a pretty girl and she has a smile to die for. We had a beautiful day for pictures! I had a great time hanging out with you guys!!

Little Mallory

This is Mallory...... I picked her up from daycare and we spent the afternoon together playing and dressing up, she is such a sweetheart. She had lots of idea's of poses and area's to take pictures.

She and I had lots of fun, but it didn't take long and she was tired of taking pictures and ready to jump on the trampoline :) Her sister is Ambers (my daughters) age, so she was riding the bus home after school with Amber to do some pictures also. By the time the big sister go here, the trampoline was much more appealing than me.

They are both little dolls and they did a great job!!!

A little update

I have been decorating for Fall, packing things up for Winter, keeping very busy with pictures, closing up the swimming pool and working on a new website.

I am very excited about the website... It is flash, but.......... lots better than I have seen. Believe me, I am not a fan of flash at all, due to having to wait for everything to load. I have spoke with other photographers and seen their sites and love these template!!!! I have been working on it off and on for a couple weeks now and I am loving everything about it... so there will be a new website coming soon!!

I have very few openings for pictures in October..... So if your thinking of Fall....Book fast!!!

I have Mums placed all over the place and things pretty much packed away for Winter. My Fall cleaning around the house is done. So I am officially ready for Cold weather. :( ..............No, not really but I am trying to keep my chin up! :)

Our garage is not sealed up yet. We do have the siding, so in the next couple weeks we are hoping to get doors and siding on. Believe me, I wish I knew what I was doing when it came to building..... I would have it done!!! My dishwasher is still sitting out in the garage :( I think it is being held for ransom!!!! :)

I love my new kitchen!!!! I can not even express how much I love it. Everything right with in arms reach, having enough counter space to work. Kasey and I were both in the kitchen the other day packing things up for a lunch on the river. It was so nice being able to have 2 people working at the same time, instead of someone standing behind you waiting for you to finish and move out of the way. So I am loving every minute of it... The dishwasher would be nice though :)

Ann

Ann is one of the sweetest girls I have ever met! She's not only sweet, but a very beautiful person inside and out. She has the prettiest blue eyes I have ever seen. We had a beautiful day for pictures...... minus the little black bugs that are eating everyone this year!!!!

There were so many good ones and yes I had a hard time keeping the proofs down again :(

Cracking down for payment.

I hate to have to post something like this on my blog.... I figure most photographers would love to post this.... but just don't feel it is professional to do so. I am just a regular person like everyone else and down to earth enough to just say it on a level everyone can understand. I feel like the only people I would offend for being so outspoken about this would be those who do this and know they do it and don't lose any sleep over it. I know this doesn't apply to everyone, but I do know there are a few people who you just can't deal with when it comes to money. I had first hand experience with an old friend who was terrible to her friends or anyone when it came to money!! So I know there are a few people who just aren't good for their money for what ever reason. I know there are truly honest people who just forget.... but I don't have time to figure out the difference and have to eliminate that headache on my end.

I had a wonderful year for 2008 with photography with out any major problems!!! The only problem I did have and it was my fault...... was order portraits with out money in hand. I would have someone call with a re-order or a small order and I would have an order going out already that day for other customers. I would think.... I will just pay for this little order, send it out and then get my money when the order comes in. Thinking it would just be easier, but would end up with not just one of those little orders sitting around but 5 or 6 that added up to big orders. While you might think it's not that big of a deal on your end, I am on the business end. I have to remember scheduling, working on proofs, working on orders to go out, sort orders that come in, call customers to pick up orders, answering emails full of questions and when you think your the only one that owes for an order, I might be dealing with 5 of them. So to eliminate sticky notes everywhere to call people to "pay me back" for their order.....................

I can not and will not order any portraits with out half of the amount in hand this year!

Ordering pictures are no different than going anywhere to buy something... you have to pay for anything you buy. I am not treated any differently just because this is my business... I have to deal with another business to order any pictures and they don't let me owe them.

So I can not order pictures with out money in hand and I truly hope this doesn't offend anyone... I have had lots of great customers!!!! This just seemed to be a problem last year and as I said before, it was my fault. I should have been more strict about payment, but when you think you're being nice, some people just take advantage of it. I now have pictures sitting around that I have paid for that no one ever claimed from last year. It is my money is going to be thrown in the trash because these are not pictures I wanted.

So please understand, I am going to be more strict about payment for services for 2009 and hopefully it will eliminate one of my headaches.