lila’s baby shower {malibu, ca}

I love this shower set by paper & CAKE! It’s bright and fun and perfect for a baby shower (or first birthday party)! I used it to celebrate a friend’s first baby this weekend, and everyone loved it. My friend Liz was my cohostess, and we had a great time!!

Some of the decorations ~ door sign:

Banners:

Direction signs (love these!), and the wooden animals came from her other shower in Texas (love how she put them in the plants!):

A place to leave a sweet encouraging note for the parents-to-be:

Of course, food!

We served mini cinnamon rolls, mini blueberry muffins, and scones:

Fruit:

Sweets (lemon bars, meringue cookies and fudge):

The main dishes, a bacon & spinach quiche by Liz and a mild chili and cheese egg casserole I put together:

The goods!

I attached the animal cutouts to the tablecloth with clothespins:

Beverages ~ citrus water, cucumber water and frappuccinos:

Orange juice:

Frappuccinos and cute straws!

Party favors ~ a baggie of animal crackers and circus animal cookies with a funny tag:

The mama to be!

noah {my kiddo}

A few I got last week of my littlest.

hudson is two {los angeles, ca birthday party}

I do love a birthday party!! Hudson turned two last week, and his awesome fire truck party was Saturday. There were AMAZING cupcakes.

Pulled pork sandwiches, hot dogs, and other yummies.

A super cute birthday boy.

Who is going to be a big brother in September!!

A super sweet family.

Presents!

Cupcake eating!

Hudson is certainly a blessed little boy – he has so many people who love him!! I had a blast and can’t wait to photograph these wonderful people again soon!! 🙂

gavin {thousand oaks baby}

My friend Anastacia came over with her sweet little Gavin last week, and I had to take some photos of him!!

i heart faces {beautiful black and white}

i have love love loved black and white photography for years. it’s what i started with using a pinhole camera in the 7th grade, and it’s still my favorite way to look at photos. there’s something about the timelessness of black and white photos that just makes me smile. i was super happy to see that i{heart}faces is doing “beautiful black and white” for their contest this week!

here is one of my favorite b&w photos ever…from the birth of a dear friend’s first son.

head over to i{heart}faces to check out more gorgeous b&w shots!

mouse ears {monday project}

this is not really photography related, except that i photographed the steps i took to make these adorable mouse ears! i love the ear headbands you can buy at a certain theme park, except i do not love their price – $20. i found this tutorial by accident, and set out to collect supplies. i spent:

$3.99 for 3 wide black headbands at target, $.29 per sheet of black felt at michael’s (i could make three ears out of each sheet), $4 on ribbon at michael’s (and i have a ton left), i had the foam sheets but those can be found very cheap at the dollar store. i had chalk, a sharpie, good scissors and a hot glue gun. So I spent $8.60 on supplies for 3 pairs of ears, and have enough ribbon to make plenty more!

i printed the templates from this website and followed her tutorial. it was super easy!

And the finished product ~ theme park ready!

the next thing i’m working on {baby shower!}

I am so thankful for Abigail at paper&CAKE…she passed along her sunshine safari collection for a baby shower I’m throwing at the end of this month…it’s looking adorable already!