Garran & Rylee - April 2018

Today I had the pleasure of photographing Garran & Rylee for the second time.  If you recall, the first time was just after Garran was born, and the little angel slept through the entire session.  He is now exactly 8 months old, and was such a happy and adorable little guy! I found myself smiling as I edited his pictures.

Big sister Rylee took such pride in making him smile and laugh (and may have a future in modeling, if you ask me)! 

I'm looking forward to some outdoor water shots for Garran's first birthday, as the ones I have from when Cole was a baby are among my favorites.  Thank you, Shannon, for allowing me to capture your beautiful children again - it was a joy!

Old Desk, New Life

I recently received this desk, which belonged to my husband's cousin Michael Shawn, who passed away in a car accident before we got married.  This project was truly a labor of love, as I wanted to refinish the desk for my own boys to use, and to carry on Michael Shawn's memory.  This is what it looked like before:

First, I removed the hardware and painted the dresser with two coats of Rustoleum Chalked in Aged Gray

Then, I sprayed the hardware with Rust-Oleum Metallic Spray in Black Night.  They are black with just a bit of sparkle.  After they dried, I put them back on and felt pretty good about my choice.  Then, I waited for a warm day, so I could apply the stinky wax with some ventilation.

 That day finally arrived!  I began by applying two coats of Minwax Water-based Polycrylic before waxing with my leftover clear and dark Renaissance wax from my dresser project.  This is the final product:

I got the chair from At Home $69.99 and was able to use my 15% off birthday coupon!  The two metal accessories were also from At Home, and the lamp is from Target, bought a couple of years ago.  Now, I have a desk for each kid to work on homework!  Better yet, this one has a lot of sentimental value to go along with it!  What do you think???