I started in this business shooting kids and it’s really what I love to do…where my heart is….so I am returning to my roots.   I am excited about the possibilites of refocusing just on the little ones in our lives.  I love to create a scene and let them play.  My philosophy and style are very photojournalistic, provide a fun environment and let them be. 

As a result of  these changes I will be making a few changes to pricing and packages too, so if you are planning on scheduling a shoot, please make sure to check those out.   Pricing and Session Info

Throughout the month of August I will be running a special for children’s shoots…$75 for the sitting fee.  Sitting fee includes 1 8×10.   Spots will go quickly, so email me at tammy@tammymitchellphotography.com if you are interested. 

Along with regular shoots I will be offering a few “themed” mini shoots throughout the year where I will set up a great scene and the kids will be invited to come and play.  I am SUPER excited about these!!!  It will allow me to combine my love of design and party planning with my love of photography!!  Stay tuned for details of the first theme shoot coming in Sept.  It will be a back to school shoot…details and session information/sign-ups coming soon!!

Here’s a little taste of what’s to come.  A “fake birthday” I had the pleasure of creating for a client last week…watch for these shots in your local craft store and even on HSN and QVC!!

have a great day!
-t

You know me, when somebody says party my brain goes into overdrive!!   When planning a party I always think about a theme first.  Whether that theme is a color palette or a style doesn’t matter….just something that makes bringing everything else together easier.  I immediately thought of a vintage baby boy theme since I have some cool vintage glass plates and cups that I have been DYING to have an excuse to use, so this was perfect!   You can find them pretty easily at most antique stores.

I found this cute little shop online, Pretty Little Studio, that makes the most adorable vintage baby flashcards and all kinds of fun stuff.  I had her custom make some invitations for me and I think they turned out SO cute!!

We served simple breakfast foods that were yummy…a parfait bar with yogurt, fresh berries and granola, bite sized cinnamon rolls and other pastries, and a yummy drink.  To go along with the theme I made a little label for each food item

I just made them in photoshop and printed them out on cute scrapbook paper.  I also made one for the gift table:

Now my favorite part…the favors!!   John thinks I’m crazy because I spend hours making things like this, but this is honestly the most fun part for me.   These are very easy and inexpensive to make, but they are time consuming.  If you have the time and love to be crafty then these are perfect for you!

to make the giant cookies find the recipe here

for the bags you will need:

a roll of parchment paper

thread

a sewing machine

ribbon

a hole punch

pinking shears

any deocrations you want for the bags

Cut parchment paper into 6.5×14″ strips.  fold in half and stitch the sides up using a colorful thread and a zig-zag stitch.   trim off the excess on the sides with the pinking shears.  slip a cookie into the pouch.  fold the top of the bag over and punch two holes at the top about an inch apart.  feed the ribbon through the holes and tie into a bow on the front sideof your bag.  decorate as you like.

like I said, pretty easy, just time consuming but I think the result is WELL worth it!

It’s easy to do this for any shower boy or girl, or even if you don’t know what it is just make a mix of boy and girl vintage tags!   It would also be cute for a little girl’s birthday party if you played some vintage games and added a few more decorations and changed the food a bit!

Hopefully that gets your creative juices flowing for your next party!

Have a great day!
-t

Andy has Friday off for his birthday (at least that’s what he thinks…actually it’s for Good Friday, but when you’re 7 it’s more fun to think it’s for your birthday! ) so I’ve been trying to come up with some fun Easter ideas todo that day.  Here are a few of my favorites so far:

from Ladies Home Journal the bunny pop…if you don’t want to go through the hassle/mess of making rice krispie treats omit the first four ingredients.  Pre-made rice krispie treats make these a breeze!!

Ingredients

•    Vegetable cooking spray
• 10  cups Rice Krispies® or any crisped-rice cereal
• 2  packages (10 oz each) marshmallows
• 6  tablespoons butter
• 1  lb semisweet chocolate, melted
• 1- 1/4  lbs white chocolate, melted
•    Red food coloring
•   30 popsicle sticks

And finally, Andy came home with one of these today and I was in love.  John has a REAL weakness for these things.  I don’t particularly care for them, but when I saw this idea I HAD to share it because it’s pretty stinkin cute best of all there’s a free download so you can make your own!  Download them here

I’ve got a few more things up my sleeve…stay tuned!

Have a great day!

-t

I think these last several years of attending and shooting elaborate parties have taught me that kids are really very happy with the simple pleasures.   Sure, they love bounce houses and ponies and magicians, (and I love to plan paties like that!!!) but put a table full of goodies in front of them and let them decorate a homemade cupcake and they are JUST as happy.  Just something to keep in mind for those of you planning birthday’s in the near future…that would be me.

Enjoy this gorgeous party!

Mom attended to every gorgeous detail…LOVE the white hydrangeas in a lime green ribbon wrapped box!

the butterflies on the straws…Stunning!

cute little bowls to hold the goodies courtesey of Anthropologie

the darling birthday princess

a finished masterpiece

i LOVE the lighting in these shots…YUM!!!  after decorating cupcakes the kids gathered to make bead necklaces on PIPE CLEANERS.  Genius!!  For little kids they stay stiff enough for them to feed the beads onto…great tip to remember!!  You can then twist multiple strands together to make a necklace that’s long enough.

Hope you’re feeling inspired to plan your next event!

Have a great day!
-t

Grab some scraps of paper and ribbon, some tape and a heart punch and you’ve got yourself some homemade valentines in minutes…

Thanks to inchmark for the cute idea!

Have a great Thursday!!

-t

Materials:

1. Paper punch I used a heart for valentines, but with the number of punches on the market, the possibilites are endless!!
2. You can use any papers ou have on hand for this craft. Vintage sheet music looks really cool for a more elegant versin. You can find it at flea markets, thrift stores, yard sales or etsy.com.
3. Ribbon
4. Glitter
5. Scissors (if you have pinking shears those would add a fun look too)
6. Clothespin or binder clip
7. White Glue (I use aleene’s tacky glue, elmer’s would work fine too I’m sure)
8. Hole Punch
9. any fun embellishments to hang from the ribbon

Directions:

1. Roll one sheet of paper into a cone shape, gradually working with it to get it to taper off to a point. Glue with a thin layer of tacky glue, using a clothespin, binder clip or paperclip to hold in place until dry.
2. Punch or cut heart shapes from coordinating paper and glue around rim or down the front seam of the paper cone. To create three dimensional look, I folded my hearts slightly in the middle so that they stuck out from the cone,   Apply a thin line of glue along edge and hold in place for a few seconds until the glue begins to dry.
3. When completely dry, apply white glue to desired areas and dust with glitter.    4.   Punch a hole on each side of the cone and thread ribbon through holes to hang.    5.   Fill with goodies and enjoy!

Obviously you can make many different variations of this.  Just think of the posibilities.  How cute would these be made in the theme of your choice, hanging from the backs of chairs as place card holders.  So fun!!

enjoy!!

-t

I LOVE the tee pees.  How cute would that be at each place setting on the kids table??  Ice Cream cones turned upside down and frosted with royal icing and other decor –SO cute!!

A simple styrofoam ball cut in half, painted brown and stuck with colorful pens turns into a super cute and crafty turkey.

Let your kids imaginations run wild with a new spin on a “turkey sandwich”.  Adding more veggies is NEVER a bad idea, right?

LOVE LOVE LOVE the Indian Corn napkin rings.  Cut a piece of felt to wrap around a napkin, line popsicle sticks up and stick them to the felt and line them with the buttons. 

Take Rice Crispy treats to the next level.  Make them with a mix of cereals and dried fruits instead.  Shape them around a popsicle stick and cut pieces of fruit roll ups to stick around the outside like the wrapping for an ear of corn. 

Fudge Stripe cookies and chocolate covered marshmellows are transformed into pilgrim hat cookies in a matter of minutes.

Hope these cute and easy ideas inspire you to have a little fun this month!!!

And now a drumroll please…Mr. Random Number Gererator has picked comment #18 Karen Kirshon as the winner of the Bobbity Boo skirt.  Email me and let me know which skirt you would like and I’ll let Bobbi know!   Congrats!!

Stay tuned for another great giveaway on Friday!

Have a great day!

-t

all of these cute paper goods were downloaded for $8..yep you read that right…$8!!  You simply pick your party theme, send them $8 and they send you a file to download with all the goodies, then you can print them to your little heart’s content.  Whether you have 8 or 80 people at your party it’s up to you.  How cool is that??  There are SO many cute themes to choose from.  If you are in the market for party supplies I highly recommend checking out Paper and Cake!

For your thanksgiving dinner they are offering this super cute freebie for all your paper goods needs.  Have fun with it!!

Have a great Thursday!
-t

How cute is that armchair simply covered with a sheet with some felt eyes and a mouth attached??  I LOVE no sew projects that use things you alreadyhave around the house ina creative way!!  And the best part is there is nothing extra to store once it’s over!  Just put the sheet back in the linen closet and throw the felt peices away…**Idea**…how cute would it be to actually MAKE some sheets like this though and put them on your kids bed!!  So easy to make a mouth and some eyes and stitch them on.  The kids would LOVE it!

I love these treat cones for any holiday…here is a cute halloween version from Country Living Mag.

YOU WILL NEED
-11″ x 14″ card stock
-1 yard each cream and black bookbinding or construction paper
-1 yard each assorted ribbons
-spray glue
-1/4″ hole punch
-stapler
-scissors and pinking shears

Cut 10″ squares of card stock and black and cream Japanese bookbinding paper (source: talasonline.com) or construction paper. Adhere the black paper to the card stock with spray glue. Wind black square into a cone and staple closed. Cut across top to even out the opening.

I LOVE these little frankenstiens and the mummy cupcakes.  The best part is you DON’T have to be a cake decorating genius to do it!  That is NOT one of my talents!!  

Witch-on-a-stick how to:

1. Cut off the tops of pretzel rods and set aside.
2. Melt one cup of white chocolate chips, 1 Tbs shortening and a few drops of green gel food coloring and stir until smooth.
3. Dip the cut end of the pretzels into the chocolate, covering the top 2 inches. Place the sticks on wax paper and sprinkles the sides of each with coconut  flakes to form hair.
4. Top each with a Hershey’s Kiss and refrigerate until the chocolate has hardened. Draw on eyes, nose and mouth with black decorating icing (available in tubes) and fisih by covering the Kiss too with black or purple. Yum!

Frankentreats:

1. Start wtih a packaged (or homemade) Rice Krispies Treat, and push each one into a wooken skewer; set aside.
2. Melt one cup of white-chocolate chips and one Tbs shortening; stir in green or neon-green gel food coloring (colored melting chocolate is available at most craft stores).
3. Spoon melted chocolate over all sides of the treats or brush them with a silicone brush then place them on wax paper, upright, to dry.
4. Embellish them with M&M eyes and ears, gummy worm mouths, Jujubes neck bolts and then refrigerate them until the chocolate hardens.
5. Top them off by drawing on hair with black icing and doting the eyes.
6. Finally remove the skewers and serve!

Mummy Cupcakes:

      1. Bake regular old cupcakes out of a box…homemade if you wish, but I’m trying to make it easy folks!!

      2. Dot icing on backs of 2 skittles for eyes and place on cupcake.

      3. use a decorating tip that will give you straight flat lines (available at michaels for about $1, make sure you get a coupler too, also about $1) make straightlines of icing all over the cupcake, overlapping them and just letting the skittles peek out of the “wrapping.”  Eat and enjoy!

And finally one of my favorites…

 Sorry for the fuzzy pictures…I found this on the internet and the picture quality is TERRIBLE!!   I LOVE white pumpkins!!  Unfortunately they are usually the most expensive…so why not paint a few??   A cheap bottle of white acrylic paint and you’ve got yourself a great set of white pumpkins!!  Take them a step further and once the white paint dries, have a little fun with some black paint.  I LOVE the spiderweb and zebra stripe idea!!   And you know I’m loving the polka dots…I LOVE anything with polka dots!!

Hope those ideas help to bring a little extra fun to your holiday!

Have a great day!
-t

But, I can still share some fun ideas that I find for parties here, right???   Ok, warning, this is a little gross looking but I thougt it was an AWESOME idea for a little snack at your next party.  I found it months agoand have been waiting for the perfect moment to share, i thought it was that funny…

Doesn’t that just look wrong??!!   LOVE IT!!  Simply take mini marshmellows on the end of white sucker sticks and dip thm in caramel or peanut butter.  Yum.

I thought this was a fun idea over at Country Living Magazine (my FAVORITE mag!!)  This is a total DIY project. 

To make:

1. Print a black and white copy of a portrait on printer paper and cut out.  (If you don’t want to use your own portraits I like to find old pictures on flickr, just search for antique or old portraits)

2. TO “age” the picture, brush it lightly with a sponge dipped in a solution of a few drops of black acrylic craft paint and water.  Let the paper dry.

3. Cut a piece of cardstock the same size of the photo and glue to the back of the photo to make it a little more sturdy.

4.With an X-Acto knife cut out the eyes of the picture’s subjects piercing through the cardstock and creating holes about 1/4 inch in diameter.

5. Remove the glass from your frames and stick the pictures in there.

6.Insert mini red LED chistmas lights through the back of the eyeholes.  It works best to group these frames like in the picture, since you’re dealing with a strand of 25feet of lights!  Then you can use more of the lights.  Replace the frame’s backing securing with tape if necessary to help hold the lights in place.  Drape with cobwebs and you’re done!   You can add paper fangs to a few of the pictures if you want to for a little extra fun!

Hope this gets you in the halloween spirit!!  There are many more fun ideas to share, but I have to pace myself!!   I LOVE halloween!!!!

Have a great day!

-t