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Last week I posted about my daughter’s 6th birthday and her “Frozen” themed cake. This week I figured I’d share a bit more. I took a lot of time off in February and the main reason was to spend my daughter’s birthday month with her. All she wanted for her birthday was a room makeover, so we’ve been working hard on that. I thought maybe she would like a princess room, or something similar. She however informed me that she would like a “big girl” room. My 6 year old is apparently going on 12.
It actually was a fun project to do together though, and a great experience for her to really express herself and her style. She picked out her own bedding – “Lara” from Pottery Barn kids (she has great taste). That was our starting point for inspiration for the room. We then took a trip to our local Lowe’s and I let her pick out her own paint color. Yup, this was the hard part for me. I typically bring home like 20 samples, tape them up, paint small samples on the wall and then spend endless hours trying to make a decision based on what it looks like during the day, night etc. My daughter luckily did not inherit my indecision. She walked into Lowe’s, spent about 2 minutes looking at purples, grabbed one and said this is it. I asked her if she wanted to bring it home and test it out and she said nope, let’s get it and start painting. So my nervous self went ahead and brought it home. Amazingly enough when we started putting in on the wall I loved it. It matched her bedding perfectly.
After the paint my new task was to find a headboard for her. This was the hard part for me. I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted. At first I thought standard white bed, either wood or metal. But with white trim, dresser, and curtains I thought that would be a white overload. I also didn’t want purple. I decided to play off of the other color in her bedding set, a turquoise blue. I thought it was a nice complimentary color and would break up the purple and white nicely. I spent a lot of time in fabric stores searching for just the right fabric, to no avail. I didn’t want a solid, or couldn’t find one I loved I should say. I was just about to settle when I was walking through homegoods and found a Cynthia Rowley shower curtain (yes, that’s right – a shower curtain) that was perfect. Even better it was only 16.99. I immediately bought it (and a second to hang in her bathroom so they both coordinate) and headed home where I googled “how to make a diy upholstered headboard”. Time for me to get my Martha Stewart on. It was actually surprisingly easy. Here is the blog post I followed – http://thriftydecorchick.blogspot.com/2013/07/diy-tufted-headboard-tutorial.html. The hardest part was since I had a pattern in my fabric, I had to line up my tufting holes just right so that they appeared evenly spaced within the pattern. For the most part I got them all spot on, one however is a little off and yes, it does bother me but luckily it’s hidden behind pillows 99% of the time. I absolutely am in love with how it turned out.
What’s also great is that I had leftover fabric to make her a matching bulletin board for her desk area, and a seat cushion as well. Talk about thrifty and coordinated! Not to mention that second shower curtain to match in her bedroom. We then added a chandelier to her window area and a table lamp to her dresser to girl it up and add a pop of color. Those simple, white ruffled curtains were made my by awesome neighbor. I found similar curtains at Anthropologie for an outrageous price and knew my super talented neighbor could pull it off – and she did.
All that’s missing from the room is a mirror to go over her dresser. I’m being picky about finding the “perfect” one. I’d like an antique baroque one that I can paint light pink to finish off the extra pops of color in the room. I have to say this was such a fun project and I loved spending the time with my daughter getting to learn each other’s tastes. Lots of memories were made, and her face when I showed her the final finished room on her birthday was priceless. She loves it and spends a lot of time in there. Of course now my youngest wants her room re-done – in a rainbow theme. Luckily her birthday isn’t until July, I’m hoping she changes her mind by then =)
My oldest daughter turned 6 this month, which is part of the reason it’s been a little quieter than usual around here. One of my New Year resolutions was to slow down and spent more time with family. Anyone who knows my oldest daughter Olivia knows that she can be shy, and hates being the center of attention. She decided she did not want a big birthday party this year, but did still want a great birthday cake.
It has become a tradition in our house that she gets a birthday cake from Artylicious cakes in Raleigh. It started a few years ago with her amazing Rapunzel cake. Last year we had a Brave birthday cake, and this year – well everything is about the movie Frozen so we had a Frozen birthday cake. Since it was just family and close friends I told Iriene at Artylicious we just needed a simple, small cake and left the design up to her. Once again she did not disappoint. I can’t tell you how much fun it is and how excited both my daughters are to get to see the cake for the first time. Of course everyone loved it. Iriene’s work is amazing and so detail oriented. I absolutely HATE cutting into her cakes, for a few minutes. Then I forget about it when I get to taste how delicious they are. This year we chose one of the newer flavors – cookies and cream. It was awesome, and full of chopped up cookies. It was so good I completely forgot to take a picture of the inside of the cake before everyone gobbled it up. You’ll just have to take my word for it, or go get one and try it yourself.
Here’s a couple quick pictures of the amazing cake. The theme was quite fitting as we got 6 inches of snow on her birthday and were all “Frozen” after playing in it all day =)
I spent the evening with this adorable couple Amanda and Nathan. They’ve been together for a while now but wanted to capture some pictures before summer ends and they head back to school. You may remember Amanda, I took her senior pictures not too long ago. She’s such a beautiful young lady and so photogenic. Nathan is a wicked (he he) nice guy too and such a trooper during the session. He has great fashion sense too, he bought this adorable dress and it looks amazing in pictures. Here’s an extra large sneak peek for you since I know it’s going to be hard saying good bye next week. Have a great year at school and remember absence makes the heart grow fonder =)
My baby girl turned 5 last week! I can hardly believe it. It seems like just yesterday I was bringing her home from the hospital. We had talked a lot about her birthday since she was turning 5. She decided she didn’t want to have a big party this year so we kept it small. (Little did she know that was fine since we were surprising her with a trip to Disney). She did however want another amazing birthday cake. I think we spoiled her with the awesome Rapunzel cake that my friend Iriene from Artylicious cakes made her last year. If you missed it, you can see that post here – http://www.kristikrusephotography.com/2012/02/15/tangled-up-in-birthday-fun-raleigh-child-photographer/. This year she wanted a Brave cake. I of course contacted Iriene. We didn’t have anything specific in terms of design, so we just gave Iriene complete artistic freedom. I did tell her to not go overboard since it was just us and our neighbors. She of course didn’t disappoint! Olivia LOVED her cake, and so did her sister and her friends. I love to see their expressions when they see it for the first time. They are just as much in awe as I always am when I see Iriene’s work. If you need a cake, you really need to check out her work. Thank you Iriene for another amazing and memorable birthday cake!
So one of my New Year resolutions was to blog more. So I’m attempting to stick to that resolution! January is all but gone, and boy did it go fast! I photographed two sweet baby boys this month and a beautiful set of sisters. It was a great way to get back into the swing of things. I’m purposefully keeping a lighter schedule for the next couple of months as another one of my goals/resolutions was to focus more on the business side of things, as well as spend some quality time with my family.
From a business perspective: I’ve updated my pricing, began working on my client welcome guide and am in the process of finishing up electronic portrait session contracts. I also completed my quarterly taxes today – a day earlier than usual, woo hoo! My studio lighting course started this week. Now I don’t have to dependent on the North Carolina weather for my newborn shoots. Last but not least I’ve ordered custom printed flash drives for my newborn and baby planners. More details about that coming soon!
Personally – we have lost 2 loved ones in our extended family which meant trips up North for the funerals. I celebrated my 39th birthday – eeek! This past week we took our girls to the Great Wolf Lodge, and we rescued another dog. He was pretty much on death row and had a notice posted a last minute plea to go and save him – so we did. While he is a great addition to our family, it’s also like having another baby. He eats everything and it took him forever to figure out the doggie door. Potty training a dog is almost as hard as training a 2 year old. I almost forgot one of my favorite memories from this month – my 2 1/2 year old got to finally experience snow (what little bit we got). It’s technically not her first snowfall as we got a few flakes the winter she was born, but this was the first snowfall she can remember or actually play in. From the picture below you can tell that she absolutely loved it. I only wish we had a few more inches. I love her little face. It makes my heart happy.
Next month promises to be super busy with lots of fun things going on. Be sure to follow me on Facebook and check the blog to see!