Chocolate Peppermint Truffles

It's our yearly winter tradition to make chocolate truffles. We've experimented with different flavors over the years, but our hands-down favorite is peppermint!

Peppermint Chocolate Truffles

1 8-oz.(eight ounce) package cream cheese, softened
3 cups confectioners' sugar,
3 cups semisweet chocolate chips, melted
1 1/2 tsp. pure peppermint extract (or extract of your choice, such as vanilla, orange, almond)
Crushed peppermints for rolling, optional

1. Beat cream cheese until smooth in a large bowl. Gradually beat in confectioners' sugar until well blended.
2. Stir in melted chocolate until no streaks remain. Mix in peppermint extract. Refrigerate for about 1 hour. Shape into 1-inch balls and roll in crushed peppermints. Store in parchment-lined candy tins in a cool place. Makes about 60 truffles.

Amber | Newborn

I had the marvelous opportunity last week to take newborn photos of precious little Amber, the newest arrival at our church. I've never done a newborn session before, so it was a great learning experience and so much fun! After taking some pictures with Amber's big sister and brother (ages 2 and 3) beforehand, you really appreciate how cooperative a newborn is. :-)

She is absolutely adorable and sweet and... well, I want her. Unfortunately when I asked her mom if I could have her, I got a negative response. *sigh* I guess the pictures will have to do for me. :-)

A favorite. :-)

For the second set of bed shots we put a pink feather boa underneath...

I think I like it better than the plain bed.

Two more favorites... I love how there is the tiniest hint of a smile in the one on the left.

Thanks to Josh & Abbey for letting me come take photos of their little sweetie!

Lookie what just came!

Yep, Adobe Lightroom! Whoo hoo!

And stay tuned - I can't wait to share pictures with you from my first newborn session....!!

I Heart Faces - Furry Faces

Now is as good a time as any to introduce the newest member of the family... Katije! Her name is a Russian name which was originally spelled Katya, but then we used the Dutch spelling (ij in Dutch equals a y) so that in Dutch it means "Little Cat." Yes, it's a bit complicated, but it works for us. :-) She is 2 years old and is a retired breeder. And as you can see, she's quite feisty. :-)

I'll be posting some more pictures of her at some point, so c'mon back later!

Winter Sparkle

Last week we had our first snow! It didn't even last the whole day, but toward the middle of the day, it had started to melt in the sun but it was still cold enough that it formed ice crystals on the bushes. I was having a lot of fun with bokeh. :-)

Also, if any of you are interested, a good friend of mine is looking to sell her Nikon D80... it comes with the 18-135mm lens, battery, charger and computer cable. You can view her Craigslist ad here! I've seen the pictures they have taken with this camera and it produces very nice shots (which I admit in spite of my love for Canon :-).

I Heart Faces - On Your Feet!

... or, off them. :-) You might have seen this one before in the baseball post a while back; but it's too cute not to use again for this week's theme! One of my favorite little people goofing around at the baseball field.

If my sister went to the beach in the 1940's...

She'd probably look a lot like this. :-) Check out her blog for more pictures from the photo shoot I did of her new dress!

The Granola Recipe

Ashlei requested the recipe for the granola, so here it is for her and anyone else who might like to mix up a batch for themselves. :-)

Vanilla Almond Spice Granola

4 cups uncooked oatmeal
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup honey
1 Tbsp. vanilla
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup raisins

Mix oatmeal and cinnamon. Add honey and vanilla and mix until oatmeal is evenly coated. Stir in almonds and sunflower seeds. Spread in a thin layer on a cookie sheet. Bake at 350ºF for about 10 minutes; stir, and then back another 5-10 minutes. You want the oats to get a nice toasty color but not get burnt (though I've burned it before and it doesn't taste THAT bad :-). Remove the granola from the oven and let cool. Stir in the raisins and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. (We usually eat it up fast enough to just keep it on the shelf, but it will probably last longer if you refrigerate it).
Enjoy!

Vanilla Almond Spice Granola

That's what I made today... it's been a loooong time since I have made granola. Homemade is so much better than the store kind!

It's been a while since I've done any food photography. It was fun... I should do it more often. :-)

Black Friday Photography Deals!

It's pretty crazy all the hype about sales on Black Friday... we were driving home from my grandparents' house last night and at 11pm there were people lining up outside Target, Macy's, Best Buy, Kohls... maybe it's just me, but I think that's taking "thrifty" a little too far. :-) But, it can be a good time to get some stuff on sale, especially online when you can shop from the comfort of your home instead of shivering in line for 12 hours!

I didn't do a whole lot of looking around, but I did find a couple of things that looked fun, and then of course there is Adorama which has TONS of photography stuff. :-) If anyone else has any photography related deals they have found please feel free to leave a link in the comments!

Enchantedly Yours offers beautiful hair flowers and accessories, and all of their items are on sale! I'm really loving the Pumpkin Orange Ranunculus (pictured at left) and the Burgundy Velvet Hydrangea clips.

Custom Photo Props has TONS of photography props, especially for babies. They have great bowls/trays and miniature beds, as well as wraps and fur blankets. They're offering FREE shipping in the USA with code Blackfriday11.

Adorama has a whole section of Black Friday sales on all kinds of stuff, like Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 or even DSLR cameras - anyone want a Canon 5D Mark II??? or better yet, anyone want to buy one for ME? :-)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Colors of Fall

As promised, here are the rest of the photos from the fall shoot I did with my lovely model and sister. She decided to break out her cowgirl hat for the shoot, which added a fun element to the photos!

I usually go for "light and bright" in my photos but I kind of liked the evening mood of this second photo kept darker.

Thinking...

(I almost didn't use this one because her hair poofed up on that one side which sort of gave her a faux 40's look... oh well :-)

Which one??

Thanks for stopping by and looking at my snapshots... even if it is pretty much the same face over and over again. :-) If anyone wants portraits done, give me a holler - my sis will thank you. LOL!

I Heart Faces - Autumn Splendor

I hope this is splendorous enough for the theme "Autumn Splendor." :-) My sister, the oh-so-obliging one (well, I don't have any others to be not-so-obliging), once again traipsed out into the yard so that I could point my camera in her face. With all the splendor of autumn pretty much gone here it was a little hard to find something colorful enough to enter. Even so I came back with several good shots, and I promise I'll post more at a later date! For now, I hope you enjoy this one.

Justin & Melinda | Wedding

Last month we witnessed the union of Justin Ryken and Melinda Sanford. It was a lovely wedding (I have not been to an unlovely wedding to date) with a beautiful outdoor reception at the bride's home. It was a little chilly, but bearable. :-)

I was not the official photographer, but Melissa and Jessica, who were, kindly let me snap away as much as I wanted.

The lighting in the church was difficult, with the yellow tones of the lights plus the blue tones from the stained glass windows! Someday I am going to build The Wedding Church, which will feature perfect lighting for any setting. :-)

Married!

All right, forgive me as I indulge my love for detail and give you multiple cake pictures. :-) The gorgeous cake and cupcakes were made by the talented Grace, who should go into business, I think.

The maid of honor giving a very sweet speech.

I love that naughty expression on her face!

And they're off amid showers (and in one case, a deluge) of birdseed. :-)

Congratulations, Justin & Melinda!

P.S. Check out Romantique Photography for Melissa and Jessica's photos of the wedding!

I Heart Faces - Black

My lovely friend and fellow photographer Wendy and I had a fun morning of taking pictures of each other and of my sister a while back but I had sort of forgotten about the pictures. Then I realized it would fit with this week's I Heart Faces theme! This one was one of my favorites.

Check out the adorableness

I took pictures for my sister of these ADORABLE medieval outfits she made for two cuties at church. Click on the pictures to go to her blog and see more! (And leave her a comment. She loves comments. :-)

One Year!

As of today, I've had this blog for one year (if you look in the archives it looks like I started it in July of last year, but those posts I pre-dated. I actually started the blog November 1, 2010). It's grown so much more than I ever thought it would! Here's a rundown on the year:

106 Posts

617 Comments 

(whoo hoo! Thank you!)

71 Followers

26,900 Pageviews

All-time most popular (most viewed) post: I Heart Faces "Paper" Challenge

Top Commenter: It's a tie between Victoria and Miss R.J.!

This is from the gardens at the Creation Museum in Kentucky.

Thanks to all my readers for a wonderful year and encouraging me with all your sweet comments!

Stay tuned for more photos... I've got wedding pictures coming, as well as some cute kid photos, and pictures from our trip down South!

Autumn...