All about our mini accordion albums

One of my favorite heirloom products in the studio are our mini accordion albums! These sweet little books are one of the cutest ways to showcase your images from your portraits. They make perfect gifts - or are totally great to keep for yourself, too. Today, I wanted to talk more about why I love these sweet little mini accordions and why they’re one of the most popular products at the studio! 

Perfect Size for Gifting

Our mini accordion albums are 3”x3” and they’re perfect for tiny hands (and big ones, too!). I love giving these accordion albums as gifts. They’re a great little size for displaying on the bookshelf or looking through. In fact, a lot of our families give these to grandparents for the holidays! When you order the albums, you get 3 copies - making it even easier to give them as gifts, too! 

Durable Enough to Be Loved On

With magnetic covers, the accordion albums won’t spring open - which means they won’t fall over or get ruined. They simply snap back into place when you’re done looking at them. With a durable clear slipcover, they also won’t get dinged up if you like to carry it around! I’ve even had parents tell me they send one with their little one to preschool for when they’re feeling homesick!

These sweet mini accordion albums are truly a great addition to your heirloom products! Consider ordering a set for the holidays this year, or just to have in your own home. 

Classic studio portraits with family heirloom dresses

Meet Annabelle! This sweet girl came to my studio for milestone portraits to celebrate a few things! First off, she’s 2.5 years old so we wanted to take the time to photograph her at this stage. Toddlers are so much fun. They’re talking, they’ve got sweet personalities and the best laughs and smiles. I’m so happy her mom decided to document this beautiful time in her childhood.

Annabelle’s mom also brought in two very special heirloom dresses for her session! The first was a dress that’s been passed down multiple generations from her grandmother’s Norwegian family. It’s a traditional Norwegian folk dress that Annabelle’s mother wore when she was little, too. For Annabelle’s family, it was important to photograph this sweet girl in her family’s dress. What a beautiful way to celebrate her family’s heritage, special traditions, and clothing. I created the Norwegian folk art backdrop especially for her session to complement the dress.

Her family also lives part of the year in Kenya, so they brought a second dress in to celebrate that part of her life. This beautiful white dress was sent by their neighbors there and Annabelle looked so sweet in it! Again, what a wonderful way to capture what’s going on in her family’s life right now.

We ended the session with a few classic Easter portraits in the studio. Annabelle had fun being her silly self during those - and I love how they came out!! Annabelle’s session is a great reminder that milestone portraits are truly about capturing what matters most to your family.

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One and Wonder

Happy 1st Birthday, Genevieve!

One year ago, Genevieve was the first newborn that I had ever photographed. She was also in my much-liked photo of the Christmas lights baby.  I've learned a lot since then, though it's hard to believe that a year has gone by already!  Genevieve's first birthday was on May 18th, the same day that two of my other baby clients also turned one!  A popular day for first birthdays, that's for sure!

So when she was 366 days old, I went to her home and photographed her in the same sunroom where we had been a year earlier with baskets, quilts, and a newborn who wondered what in the world was going on around her!  This time was a bit different -- Genevieve is so curious and inquisitive, and I loved being able to capture that on camera!

She was wearing a handmade sweater that had been her mother's when she was a baby.  When her mom was planning the shoot, the only thing she knew she wanted for sure was for this sweater to be on her little girl.  We joked that it didn't matter what the temperature was, and it didn't matter if she'd have to squeeze into it -- she was going to wear that sweater!  And it came out so adorable and precious in the photos of her with the same handmade quilt from her newborn photos.  I love when you can use heirlooms like that to tell the story through your family's portraits!

It's a big untraditional, but this is definitely my favorite image I captured of Genevieve's little family.  Such a sweet moment capturing a one-year old's wonder.