Tuesday, December 23, 2008

a present for Elvis & Mitzie

I'd been searching for the perfect Christmas gift for Mitzie & Elvis (my 2 favorite dachshunds) and finally found just what they needed at the Eastside Dog boutique.

Check out the adorable star-shaped squeaky toys (and the awesome snow at my house):




My favorite part about the toys? They come apart so each dog gets their own star--this way Dennis & Patricia (Elvis & Mitzie's owners) can decide who's been naughty and who's been nice!


Eastside Dog is located in Redmond Town Center at
7533 166th Ave NE
Redmond, WA 98052

They're open Monday-Saturday 10am to 9pm
and Sunday 11am to 7pm.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

oops!

No matter how much I plan, there always seems to be an unexpected moment that happens during a photo session. I've seen just about everything, from dogs doing their business right when I snap a shot, to brides getting nose bleeds during their wedding ceremony. In today's post, I thought I'd share some PaddyWag "oops!" pictures with you all.















Not exactly an "oops", but I thought it was funny that the sign maker made sure there was an extra "X" over the dog's mess.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

city shoot

I recently had a photo session with Yusen, who was looking for some images to add to his modeling portfolio. I had a certain look in mind the weeks leading up to our shoot and I really wanted to photograph in downtown Seattle, but the weather forecast for the date of the shoot said rain, rain and more rain. Luckily for me, the meteorologists were wrong and I was able to photograph Yusen in the studio
and in the city.




Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Izzy!

Word of mouth is how I get all of my business & I love getting calls like the one I got last week, which went something like this:

"Hi Amanda, I'm at the dog park where I just met Rachel who gave me your number & said I should call you about getting pictures taken of my dog Izzy..."

So here's a big THANK YOU!!! to Rachel for sending Lawrence & his puppy my way for a photo session.

Isn't Izzy the cutest thing ever?






It's hard picking a favorite shot from each photo session, but this one was an easy winner:


Sunday, December 7, 2008

it's a small world after all...

I'm always amazed at how small our world really is.

During the later part of summer and into the fall, I played Friday night ice hockey with a great group of guys, one in particular named Brian. Brian's the kind of guy that I like to have on the ice with me--always smiling, always offering constructive criticism, always treating me like one of the guys even though I'm the only girl out there. Not to mention that when we played on the same team, he'd pass me the puck even though I was one of the least skilled players out there.

My fiance Nate played Friday nights too, and one night as we were heading home he showed me a stuffed animal Brian had given him. It was Rover from the comic strip Red and Rover. Turns out Brian the hockey player is also Brian Basset the comic strip writer (he writes Red and Rover as well as Adam @ Home)!

So here's a big THANK YOU to Brian, not only for making me smile on the ice, but making me smile off of it too. :)










Saturday, December 6, 2008

picture book sample

I've had a lot of inquiries about the picture books I offer, mostly in regards to what they look like, so here are some pictures of my recent picture books!


The book on the bottom is 15" x 11.5".
The book on the top is 11.25" x 8.75".



Both books shown have a glossy book jacket.



The pictures are printed directly on the page, just like the coffee table books you'd find at your local bookstore.




The pages are made from thick, archival quality, acid-free paper.






I love making these books for customers and they're such a great idea if you're looking to get someone a truly memorable gift.

Friday, December 5, 2008

stress reliever

I was up late last night finishing holiday orders, catching up on emails, designing holiday gift certificates and brainstorming Christmas gift ideas for my friends and family.

Somewhere in between all that mess I had a mini stress attack, wondering how I'd be able to get everything done in time. It was then that I decided I needed a good laugh, since that's the one thing that always de-stresses me.

So, I dropped what I was doing for 10 minutes and had fun with a clip-art Santa hat...





santa_hats05

santa_hats07



Happy Holidays!