Still Life Perspectives

This weekend as the last of my Valentine flowers were about to fade I wanted to capture thier beauty.  I love both of these perspectives for very different reasons. I am really drawn to the sparseness and use of negative space in both shots. And I really liked the ornate and rustic pattern of the surface I used. A found piece of metal waiting to be thrown out by its former owner.  The softness of the flowers mixed with the industrial surface is what I really love about these shots.

This series of still life shots really got me thinking about new ways to create photographs that are interesting to look at, simplistic in technique and using only natural window lighting. I hope to shoot more in the near future.

Guest Posting Today...

Hi friends!  Just popping in to let you know that I am guest posting today over for a dear Chicago blogger friend of mine Jillian @ Cornflake Dreams.  She is currently enjoying her newly married life by celebrating in Paris!  So happy to be a part of her guest post lineup this week while she is away with her love. Drop by and check it out as well as other fun blogger guests.

Coach House Pictures

Happy Friday!

Hooray!  We made it till Friday!  Did this seem like the  l o n g e s t  week to anyone else?  It was worth it to be able to see these guys perform tonight at the Allstate Arena with some of the gals from work!  I'm SO looking forward to hearing them.  I saw them last year for the first time and they are so great live.  They really get the crowd going and they sound just as good or even better live on stage!  Thanks for joining me this week...wishing you a joyful weekend!!

Wedding Weekend in Cleveland OH

Hello and thank you everyone for all your sweet comments while I've been away and feeling a bit under the weather. I've been feeling a lot better.  Theresa, I think you nailed it when you said that this road trip would be just what I needed! It feels good to be back from our little weekend road trip to Cleveland Ohio.  It was about a 6 and a half hour drive from where we live in Chicago, so instead of driving we decided (last minute) to hop on the Mega Bus! It was great,  I got to catch up on some reading, writing, relaxing, and napping! And the wedding was so beautiful, our friends Annie and Steve looked stunning together and looked blissfully happy the entire night. It was so fun to mix and mingle with some of Joe's closest high school friends. We even had time to take a brewery tour at Great Lakes Brewery (yum) and enjoy a great dinner at there pub. Here are a few of my favorite iphone shots from this weekend. Much love to Steve and Annie on starting this new adventure together :)

Gifts from White Nest

  Top photo by me.  All other photography by White Nest.

Joe and I look forward to the Renegade Craft fair every year in Chicago.  It's just a great vibe with yummy eats and such a collection of crafty talent it makes my head spin (but in a good way)!  I love to talk with the artisians that set up shop every summer.  It's nice to get to know who you buy from, right! Joe noticed my loving gaze when we entered the booth of White Nest.  But being his sly self he just pretended not to notice.  So it was a nice surprise indeed when I recieved 2 lovely gifts from White Nest for the holidays!  Can you tell I love birds?!  Haha, well now they have a space on my wall and on the couch.  They are both minimal works of art and I am happy to have them in our interior mix!  They are currently having a great sale right now if you'd like a piece for your home too.

Handmade Holiday: Vanilla Extract

A perfectly simple gift for those who love to express themselves in the form of baked goods.  Joe and I whipped up a small batch of these bottles for a few of our family members (sshhh.. don't tell).  They are already turning a yummy carmel color but they won't reach full potency until the end of next month, hey something that our family will HAVE to wait to use!  Feel free to get creative and create your own label or download one of mine here.  Anyway you make it, this is sure to be a gift that will continue to give all year long :)

Save the Date Engagement Session

Joe and I finished editing our last engagement session last night.  We followed the soon to be newlyweds Zain and Jim around the Old Town and Lincoln Park neighborhoods in Chicago to capture their fun and over the moon (for each other) spirit.  The couple wanted to use their engagement session as their save the dates, so we helped them to spell it out for there guests in a fun and creative way.  I can't wait to see how the bride to be puts all these together into a slide show for family and friends.  The toughest part will be for sure picking out the best ones :)  Congrats to Zain and Jim and thanks for letting Joe and I capture these love awesome moments!

Coach House Pictures

Photo Booth Pics

Hello!  Just popping in real quick to share with you a few of my favorite photo booth snapshots the guests at our last wedding captured!  I worked with the bride Renee to create a fun backdrop using her pretty fall wedding colors of orange, chocolate brown and cream.  We created a few chalkboard frames for guests to write or draw messages for the newlyweds.  We had a blast going through all the many images. Our first photo booth was a hit!!  I can't wait for the next one we get to put together!
I'm off to finish editing an engagement session Joe and I shot in Chicago last weekend....more of that to come soon :)

Weekend Works

Hello Friday!  You're here and I'm so happy that you are :)  Joe and I have a jam packed weekend, starting with a trip to the pumpkin patch and corn maze with friends tomorrow.  As for the rest of the weekend I will more than likely be spending it behind the sewing machine creating a paper project for an upcoming event for Coach House Pictures (we are shooting are first wedding together in a few weeks, eep!) I'm so excited to be taking on this new photo adventure with my best friend by my side, none the less :) For now we still have lots to plan and will be working like bees up until the day!  I can't wait to share with you highlights of what we capture!  Until then, have an inspirational weekend!

Photography: evphotogal
Photo frame: Pugly Pixel
Font: Fling

Craft Product Review: Scissors & Punch

Crafting is one of my great loves! And to find products that are smart, help me to save time, and create great results? One of my goals is to find these products, test them and then share the results with my lovely readers! This weekend I tested out my newest Martha Stewart crafting products for an upcoming project and they are now an essential part of my craft closet.  The first product is fringe scissors, they have 5 scissor blades in one handle. A great time saving tool to create your own streamers and other fringe like projects, like my fringe backdrop.  And the second is an all over circle punch.  Unlike most paper punches, where you can only punch a shape on the border of the paper, this punch lets you punch anywhere on your paper. Which means you get more punches per paper and less waste, great! I used a medium weight card stock to create this paper garland. Thanks Martha for creating such handy tools for crafters like me :)  Oh, and the product design is easy on the eyes, so I don't mind displaying any of her craft products either because they just look so pretty.

Photography: evphotogal
Fabric Ribbon: evphotogal
Blog Template: Pugly Pixel

Joe = Tasty Portfolio

Photography: Joe Bankmann

My guy has been working hard in the kitchen!  Here are some of his tastier fare, hmmm.  I can almost smell that peach & blueberry pie! Trust me, it tasted as good as it looks!  A nice little perk to living with a food photographer, there are always some ingredients that didn't quite make the cut.  A few weeks ago we had a produce aisle of heirloom tomatoes in our kitchen.  We had so much that we devoured them in salads for over a week!  Oh, it was difficult to go back to the regular cherry or plum varieties after that! But it's nice to know that there is always an abundance of something else around the corner.  Right now we are slammed with salami!  This could spell trouble :)

Engagement Session- Annie & Steve

I finished my editing late last night and couldn't wait to share my favorites with you this morning!  Yippee! Here they are!  Joe and I had so much fun running around the Old Town neighborhood to capture these shots.  Love and Fall were both in the air, mixed in with some great light!  What more could we have asked for? Thanks Annie & Steve for a great afternoon!

Photography: Coach House Pictures

Flowers: A New Leaf

Weekend Stretch!

Good Saturday morning to you in blog land!  With my morning coffee in hand I'm spending a beautiful fall morning editing an engagement shoot Joe and I worked on last Sunday with this lovely couple!  Annie and Steve made our night, with there sweet looks and gestures.  We followed them around in there Old Town Chicago neighborhood.  Fall was in the air and love was following closely behind :)
After our session we ended up going out for Thai food, my fav!  And talking about there wedding coming up in January.  Thanks Annie and Steve for letting us capture such sweet moments!

Photography: Coach House Pictures
Flowers: A New Leaf

Friday Fancies: Labor Day Chic

TGIF, it's a long weekend!!  Yay :)  For this weeks Friday Fancies theme I created a special Labor Day Chic- Chicago style!!  Since this weekends forecast is going to be B-utiful a few of us girls are kicking the weekend off by spending the afternoon at Oak Street Beach.  I'm so excited to lay in the sun with a cold drink and girly magazines. The perfect way to salute a long summer weekend!  Cheers and enjoy your long weekend too!

Post Design Details: Shipping Tag by Pugly Pixel
Outfit: Found using Pintrest, Reads: Amazon, Lives: Desire To Inspire, Shops: Riley, Pitaya, Scout, Brooklyn Industries, Sprout Home, Dines: The Bristol

Toot Toot!

I don't mean to toot my own horn, but I never officially (and I'm all about official) shared with you my labor of love for the past year!  The quaint & comfy coach house Joe and I call home.  It was photographed by the awesome Apartment Therapy editor Jason Loper last month.  Today I share with you a few of my favorite photos from the shoot.  But you can check out the full post including all the juicy resource details here.  Our home is a continual work in progress, in fact I was writing a list today on my morning commute of decor details I'd like to complete before the summers over.  Mostly because it involves painting and leaving the windows open for long periods for things to dry.  The details of that I'll leave for another day.  For now we are enjoying all the work we put into the place by having a few impromptu bbq's, chill'n with the neighbors with cocktails, and just enjoying summer in the city. Oh and did I mention we signed another year on the lease?  I truly take comfort in the fact that we can nest another year in a space I feel we have made our own.  What's on your decor to do list before the summers end?

 Photography: Jason Loper

Please Turn This Space into THE Place!

To: Making it Lovely
From: A space that dreams of being social one day.

While I may only be a mere 16 x 20 feet in size and the only things that tend to hang around are weeds, ladders, and the occasional trash bag waiting to be thrown out- I'm hoping this letter will be my chance to change things around for the better!  I would give all the fertile soil in the world to become THE social hangout spot for the summer!  Please turn my bbq and smore dreams into a reality!

Awaiting transformation always,

Bucktown Beaut

Holiday Happenings

If your in the Chicago area this weekend and are looking for great gifts for yourself or loved ones stop by the 5th annual Renegade Holiday fair to nab some sweet wares. I'm not sure if I'll make it, but I'm going to try to swing by perhaps on Sunday afternoon. Here's hoping :)

Exploring Chicago in the Fall

Earlier this week I had one of those days where I kept saying to myself (in my head of course) "I can't believe I'm getting paid to do this!" And the assignment for work was taking dramatic angled photos of buildings downtown and textures of the city as well. I first started out by walking around my hood (Bucktown) and then I hopped on the blue line and headed towards downtown. I walked all afternoon to scout my shots and in the end I feel really good about what I'm bringing back to the work table next week. I've posted just some of my findings to share with you. I've also just posted more of my photos over on my flickr stream too. Enjoy :)

Happy Friday

Hello and happy Friday to you on this beautiful fall afternoon. We've experienced some crazy winds (up to 60 mpr) this week so I thought this paper art work would be appropriate to share with you. Created and constructed by artist and illustrator Jayme McGowan. It's really cool to see her process on how she creates such intricate cutouts. Have a joyous holiday weekend!