Peahead Prints

sharing some templates i had created for a couple different projects. get all three sets for just $25!

Pink Grapefruit

a funky, clean layout in bright pinks and orange. floral overlay add’s a modern touch. all colors are completely customizable with quick and easy color overlays.
5×7 and matchinf trifold layouts included. WHCC specs.

Pretty Paisley

perfect for announcing a baby or a senior info card, simple, sleek and of course all color can be changed with quick easy color overlay effects. 5×7 and 5×5 templates included. WHCC specs.

Simply Sweet

a simple damask pattern, clean modern design. color changes can be made with an included hue and saturation layer. use for any occassion.

Get them all here!

i have a little bit (ok ALOT) of OCD when it comes to my holiday tree…the ornaments are strategically placed through out the perfect amount of lights..of course each shining ball is of a color that matches the motif of the living room in which it stands. this guy was NOT invited! who put him there!? someone is being very sneaky!

nevertheless, amongst the craziness, our tree is officially up!

i just LOVE the holidays!

it has been way too long since i have blogged anything personally on my “side” of this happy little blogsite. i apologize, whole-heartedly, i swear i do!

between shooting, editing, card design, my real life job, two kids, and a mini vacation i have been drowning in all that i love!

sessions are all booked for the holiday season and the end is in sight! if you are looking for a session for this year, for the holidays, i apologize that we booked up so fast this year! i have had the pleasure of meeting and re-shooting such wonderful families, laughing and making friends along the way!

while juggling all of the craziness, i did manage to take part in the redesign process for a VERY important website.

the littlest heroes project was created with the intention of capturing the little fighters in this world that are suffering from a variety of disease and illness. it is such a great cause and something that i am so proud to have offered my design skills to. thank you queen darcy for all your coding magic..this never would have worked without you!

thank you felicia for bringing this project to life.

if you would like to donate your services as a photographer or if you know a little hero yourself, please head over to the site and fill out an application into the program. please forward the information onto any and all families you may come to know that may benefit from the works of the littlest heroes project.

back to shooting and back to more edits…i’ll be back soon my dear blog….soon enough the rush will be behind me and i will be refreshed and reinvented for another year of photo fun!

if you are a mother, father, granparent, heck if you just know a child, you can only begin to understand what this family is going through.

A designer, photographer and friend of Prop Insanity has lost her little boy today to pneumonia caused by the H1N1 virus. My heart breaks as i attempt to get through this post.

please read about little Nate here. and if at all possible, please donate, even a single dollar to help raise funds for Nate, his family and his foundation.

we lost our Pop this past weekend. he had been battling an infection that he beat but left him weak and in and out of rehab facilities and hospitals for the last 6 weeks. we said our final goodbyes with family and friends yesterday. it will be so hard to go on without him. how strange it will be on holidays and birthdays to not hear Pop’s stories, his whistle or his silly songs.

we agreed that it be necessary for the “big” girls to come for only a few minutes to say their own goodbye’s to “Poppy”. they made cards for him to take to heaven and they blew kisses big enough to carry him the whole way. And then my niece, as she always does, said somethings that made us laugh when we needed it most.

aly: ”did you see poppy”

kelly: “yes i did. did you see poppy?”

aly: “yes i did. he is the King now”

where does she come up with these things!

as we stood over the casket in prayer and the girls added their handmade works of love to the casket, we hear this:

my sis: “ok girls. its time to let poppy go to heaven now”

aly: “this….(arms raised) this is heaven? (turns to the room full of friends and family in mourning) all of this is heaven?”

and we laughed some more.

remember the good times. laugh at the memories, it helps to stop the crying.

we love you Pop! we miss you more than words can say.

because i CAN!

little lea is a special kind of kid. she’s got issues. on top of her reflux induced vomiting on everyone and everything, she suffers from just about every food allergy there is. she’d just short of 1 year old and we celebrated with family and friends this weekend. oh yeah, it was my birthday too….but who cares about ME when this cutie comes along? thanks for stealing my thunder kid…your lucky i love you as much as i do.

back to poor lea. allergic to EVERYTHING she couldn’t savor in the standard birthday treats.

(get the recipe for these little numbers here. a BIG hit for the kids and soooooo easy! if you know me, even a little, then you know that i do not COOK, nor BAKE! never, ever really.i’m not kidding. and even i could do it!)

instead of these decadent treats, lea got to eat these:

looks tasty, doesn’t it?! not really sure what it really is. leave it to my sis to search out some sort of gluten, dairy, nut, egg, everything else that’s tasty, free. we dropped one of these on the floor and i think it’s still stuck there. sure am glad i could scarf down a couple slices of strawberry shortcake instead of eating one of these “cupcakes”.

lucky for us, little lea doesn’t know the difference. she seemed to think they were quite tasty.

or maybe not. she doesn’t look so sure about it.

nevermind. that looks like a sign of approval.

have at it little lady. your not going to have many more chances to inhale a cupcake in nothing but a diaper and a bow.

happy birthday baby girl. aunt gigi loves you (even though you walked all over my celebration!)

eight years have passed and some of it all seems like yesterday. the gorgeous blue skies, the fresh crisp september air, unseasonably warm but still so fresh and clean. not a cloud in the sky.

i am not sure there is anyone out there that doesn’t remember where they were that day, at that very moment. hubs and i had spent a night in the city on 9/10/01. tickets to a michael jackson concert brought us into the city that never sleeps, we considered spending the night but instead decided to train it home, and head into work a little late to catch up on the sleep i had lost from staying out long past my bedtime on a “work night”.

i had set the radio to wake me up about 9 am…as soon as it clicked on, something wasn’t right. there was no music, just the regular crew at WPLJ talking about a small single engine plane that some how crashed into one of the towers. in disbelief and confusion, i grabbed the remote, turned on the TV and saw an image that just about brought me to my knees. at that very second, clear as day, another plane, obviously on a mission and with no mistake, collided with the second tower. the intial reports were obviousl wrong.

i immediately called my hubs (not yet my hubs at the time) told him to get up, turn on the news and pack up his stuff and head in. what was supposed to be a day off for him turned into a lot of long days and work into the night. he knew he had to go. there was no need to wait for the call.

i tried to gather my thoughts, get out the door. it was just a day we all needed to be with each other. with other people. i think it was to realize that it was all infact happening. the roads were empty but there was still news of planes in the air. we all kept our eyes on the sky as we drove to our destinations. cellphones stopped working. there was no contact with anyone in the city. fear was setting in. and the unknown was just lurking quietly.

another crash and then another. i got one call through to hubs as he continued his journey from the island to the city. the smell of smoke, the site from the bridge, it was like a movie. buildings were crashing. BUILDINGS, as tall as the eye could see. landmarks. a staple in our cities skyline. gone. like they were never there before.

there was such a heavy feeling in the air. as much as everyone was talking about what was going on, it was eerily quite. we watched on a small portable TV i had picked up from hubs on my way in. it was not to be believed. this just doesn’t happen.

we spent the day in fear and wonder. we headed home to watch developments for hours. we watch people walk from NYC to the outer boroughs. strangers handing out glasses of water to people covered from head to two in sweat, blood and soot. this is not something you expect to see on the LOCAL news. we finally made contact with some that we could not get in touch with during the attacks. they were safe. but so many were not.

it was hard to sleep at all that night. not so much from the fear of it all but from the thought of all those in pain. those who were suffering. the families that had lost so much.

at sunrise on 9/12/01 mixed in with this horrible sickening feeling that this was not infact a bad dream, was an overwhelming feeling of patriotism, unity and family. a family of millions uniting to help families cope. helping NY’s bravest and finest dig and sift through the rumble for endless hours, hoping for nothing more than the saving of just one more victim. i don’t think there was one car to pass without some sort of sticker, magnet or American flag attached to it.

i don’t remeber when it all started to subside. the shock of it all. i do remeber the TV shows coming back on. the Yanks hitting the field again. concerts were back on schedule. and 8 years later it is still surreal.

a wedding, two babies, a new brother in law, two nieces, a couple dozen holidays, and way too much in between. 8 years. it’s hard to believe.  monuments and memorials are still in the works, some are complete. but the pain for those who lost that horrific day will never go away.

take pictures. make memories. laugh. let them know you love them. you never know what tomorrow brings.

Where were you when the world stopped turning that September day
Out in the yard with your wife and children
Working on some stage in LA
Did you stand there in shock at the site of
That black smoke rising against that blue sky
Did you shout out in anger
In fear for your neighbor
Or did you just sit down and cry

Did you weep for the children
Who lost their dear loved ones
And pray for the ones who don’t know
Did you rejoice for the people who walked from the rubble
And sob for the ones left below

Did you burst out in pride
For the red white and blue
The heroes who died just doing what they do
Did you look up to heaven for some kind of answer
And look at yourself to what really matters

I’m just a singer of simple songs
I’m not a real political man
I watch CNN but I’m not sure I can tell you
The difference in Iraq and Iran
But I know Jesus and I talk to God
And I remember this from when I was young
Faith hope and love are some good things he gave us
And the greatest is love

Where were you when the world stopped turning that September day
Teaching a class full of innocent children
Driving down some cold interstate
Did you feel guilty cause you’re a survivor
In a crowded room did you feel alone
Did you call up your mother and tell her you love her
Did you dust off that bible at home
Did you open your eyes and hope it never happened
Close your eyes and not go to sleep
Did you notice the sunset the first time in ages
Speak with some stranger on the street
Did you lay down at night and think of tomorrow
Go out and buy you a gun
Did you turn off that violent old movie you’re watching
And turn on “I Love Lucy” reruns
Did you go to a church and hold hands with some stranger
Stand in line and give your own blood
Did you just stay home and cling tight to your family
Thank God you had somebody to love

I’m just a singer of simple songs
I’m not a real political man
I watch CNN but I’m not sure I can tell you
The difference in Iraq and Iran
But I know Jesus and I talk to God
And I remember this from when I was young
Faith hope and love are some good things he gave us
And the greatest is love

I’m just a singer of simple songs
I’m not a real political man
I watch CNN but I’m not sure I can tell you
The difference in Iraq and Iran
But I know Jesus and I talk to God
And I remember this from when I was young
Faith hope and love are some good things he gave us
And the greatest is love

The greatest is love
The greatest is love

Where were you when the world stopped turning that September day

if you like chocolate (and who doesn’t) you might not want to continue reading! this will surely add to your addiction and i mean ADDICTION!

if you have ever eaten a truffle, ever in your life, if it wasn’t from the 5th Avenue Chocolatier, it wasn’t the real deal. i was hooked at first bite! creamy chocolate heaven, wrapped in a semi-sweet powdery goodness…it really is like a little wooden box of heaven.

5th Avenue Chocolatier is owned, and has been since 1974, by the wonderful Whalley family, fortunately for me, they are like family to me (not fortunate for my hips!). their stuff is out of this world, rich, creamy, and just to die for! you really have to give it a try!

this past week we came home to one of the best surprises EVER!! besides a bag full of my favorite truffles (i have a standing agreement with the Whalley’s that when i shoot their family they pay me in chocolate) there was another surprise for me (and for kira)

that’s right! a solid chocolate camera of goodness!

kira really got a kick out of it! it was killing her to have to hold back and not take a bite…and then i let her have at it!

and she did

she really did a number on it!

lindz felt left out…we gave her a “fake” chocolate face…you have no idea the tantrum that would have persued if she got her hands on this bad boy!

thank you Whalley family from the bottom of my now big old chocoate filled butt!

you MUST ger yourself some of these treats!! head over here to grab some! need a gift? is there really anything better than chocolate? send someone their own little piece of bliss!

putting these two in a room together for more than an hour can be very dangerous! but i agreed to hold the first sleepover, at my house that is.

of course i obliged for all the wrong reasons. not so the girls could laugh and play into the wee hours, making memories to last a lifetime. not so that they could roll out the sleeping bags and have a night all to themselves, chatting about lord know what and staying up WAY past their bedtime.

nope. i didn’t hear sleepover. i heard photo op!

kira was not cooperating, i don’t blame her. poor aly is new to the whole photo session thing, kira was running for the hills faster than i could say cheese.

not my al. she just a tad bit of a ham.

i seriously considered photoshoping out that little barbecue sauce stain on her little arm, but then it just wouldn’t be aly that way.

thanks aly for being such a good subject. you have NO idea what your in for now!