Emelia’s Smash Cake | Las Vegas Children’s Photographer

Emelia Smash Cake | Las Vegas Children's photographer

I just adored capturing little Emelia’s Smash Cake session. I cannot get over her beautiful bright smile. She actually became a client of mine after her mom stumbled across my blog! The best part is I get to work with this little princess again on Saturday. I am covering her Birthday Party! I myself wish I had done the same. It’s always hard to enjoy and photography your own parties. So I offer events as well! But without further ado, here is her Beautiful One Year Smash Cake Session Photo’s!

Emelia Smash Cake | Las Vegas Children's photographerEmelia Smash Cake | Las Vegas Children's photographerEmelia Smash Cake | Las Vegas Children's photographerEmelia Smash Cake | Las Vegas Children's photographerEmelia Smash Cake | Las Vegas Children's photographerEmelia Smash Cake | Las Vegas Children's photographerEmelia Smash Cake | Las Vegas Children's photographer

You can check out the entire album on my facebook page this weekend!

To schedule your own session please contact me on fb or at lissables@gmail.com

Emelia Smash Cake | Las Vegas Children's photographer

Alphabet Book

Alphabet Book | lissables.com

There is lots of ways to be creative, but one of my favorites is with shutterfly books. I’ve shared some in the past. My favorite being the book to document Sawyer’s craniosynostosis story. And of course the yearly books, which have recently turned into half a year. Apparently I take too many pictures to meet the 1000 photo maximum. But just this week I am finishing up another special book for Sawyer. I saw the idea on pinterest a year ago and just knew I needed to make one.

It’s an alphabet book. Each letter has it’s own page with words that are special to our family. With each finished page I loved this book more! Here is the list of words we used. Some pages I couldn’t decide on one thing so I used multiple words. Of course change as many as you can to be uniquely yours!

A- Airplanes
B- Bitter beer face, Birthdays, Bubbles, Batman, Bathtime, & Babies
C- Christmas, Cuddles, Cousins, Cars, Cake & Craniosynostosis
D- Daddy
E- Easter Bunny
F- Feet
G- Grandparents
H- Halloween
I- Ice Cream
J- Jump
K-Kisses
L-Love
M- Monkey’s & Mommy
N- NapTime
O- Ocean
P- Party, Playdates, Pool Time
Q- Quiet Time
R- Red Rubber Boots
S- Super Hero’s, Swing, Smile, Sad, Santa & SAWYER!
T- Toys
U- Ultrasound
V- Valentines Day
W- Winter
X- Xray, Ok ours was actually a CTscan but all the same. {There is basically NOTHING that starts with X}
Y- You
Z- Zoo

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As you can tell this is still a work in progress. But I am working like crazy since shutterfly is offering their free 8×8 book promotion! {I have until Tuesday, I love companies that make big promotions like free photo books!}

I also included a page for Numbers, Colors and Months. I believe this will be a great tool in teaching and spending time together. I can’t wait to get it in the mail! It will also be our Easter gift to Sawyer this year! See you don’t need to be crafty to make customizable creative gifts. All you need is a few key starting points, shutterfly and LOTS of time 😉 Seriously I spend too much time on shutterfly. But it’s worth it!

And also browsing Pinterest on a daily basis doesn’t hurt!

Hope you enjoyed today’s {very picture heavy} post! Stay tuned this week for more scrapbooking and photography. And some party details from this weeks celebrations for my hubby and sister in law.

Craniosynostosis. You Will Get Through This.

Perhaps you have stumbled upon my blog after hours of research and crying. And you have found that somewhere out there, someone know’s what you are feeling right now.

Craniosynostosis | lissables.com

I have recently gotten a string of emails from other cranio families finding lissables and Sawyer’s story. I know how scary it is. By documenting it, I have made new connections to lots of other families. It’s one of the most rewarding things Ive ever experienced in life. Each and every email brings me to tears. And I am honored every time I receive one.

craniosynostosis | lissables.comCraniosynostosis | lissables.com

I encourage you, if you have just found us, to reach out. Not only am I hoping to ease other cranio families minds, but I want to continue to be a source of help through each journey. If you have just found Sawyer’s story, please go back and read each post. I started documenting and blogging after he was diagnosed at 4 months. It was a therapeutic way for me to express my emotions. Most of my friends and family were in another country. I felt alone through much of it. I never imagined that those same post’s would bring other people peace. Now I strive to ease the pain as much as I can.

Craniosynostosis | lissables.com

It’s been 9 months since Sawyer’s surgery. Most day’s I don’t think twice about it. It’s just a piece of his life to be remembered. But then I will receive an email. And emotion’s and thoughts come flooding back. This week has been especially emotional, with the loss of a friends little girl. Born the same week as Sawyer. We bonded over our children being the same age and dealing with medical conflicts so early in life. She had cutis aplasia, and they went through surgeries around the same time. As a mom I was so relived someone understood what I was going through. The mess of anger, frustration, guilt and heartbreak. But nothing I went through would ever come close to what she is feeling today. And even though Cranio is immensely terrifying in so many ways, it rarely ends tragically.

Craniosynostosis | lissables.com

 It was actually one year ago this week, that those words leaving the doctor’s mouth, first shocked my world. But you would never know if you saw that little red head. He was walking, {early} at 2 months post-op. His hair grew back fully after 3 months. And we are now 9 months post-op. And he is a healthy happy little boy. A blessing I don’t take for granted. It will never leave your mind completely, but you will get through it. And I am here to help you.

Please email me directly at lissables@gmail.com to ask questions, vent, cry, or just talk.

Craniosynostosis | lissables.com

When Life is Unfair.

Like most people I can let life get to me. I think about how busy life is getting. Starting a new photography business, traveling, a toddler. Sometimes we take life’s greatest blessing’s for granted. Like this morning when Sawyer woke up and I just wanted to ignore him and go back to sleep. Waking up with him is such a minimal part of my life, something I have taken for granted. And across the country, a friend didn’t get the same blessing.

K and I met over the internet. I am not one for making friends online, but we bonded over our kids and dealing with the PICU & recoveries. Her little girl didn’t have cranio but we were dealing with the same emotions and the same age kids. They were both born in October 2011. Both kids were doing so well. But still so little. 16 months. I noticed on her fb this month that she had been posting about hospital visits and MRI’s again. But I didn’t think anything of it since Sawyer will also have those experiences at his one year mark. This morning I was scanning fb’s meaningless updates and came across her quiet heartbroken message.

This is someone who I’ve never met. I’ve only talked to a handful of times. But I have sat here quietly crying all morning. I am absolutely heartbroken, that I sit here and watch my little boy play in his own blissful world, while her’s was just shattered. Words cannot express those experiences. Losing a child is truly life’s greatest tragedy. I have seen her page flooded with messages of love and support. But unless you have experienced the exact same thing we can never know truly how much her heart has broken today.

I will continue to cry for her loss for many day’s to come. And Sawyer will be a constant reminder. And I will be so grateful every time he doesn’t sleep through the night. Every time he throws a tantrum. Every time he throws a bucket of water on me during bath time. Every time he wakes me up earlier than usual.

And I will remember what a blessing those trying moments are.

52 Reasons I LOVE you mini album.

52 Reason's I love you: Mini album | lissables.com

I know some of my very loyal reader’s will remember this project when I first did it in 2011 for Valentines day. Well do you ever start projects and then stare at them for years? No that’s just a me thing? O well! For my Mom’s 50th Birthday I wanted to give her something special, and what’s more special than a list of reason’s you love someone. She loved it!

52 Reason's I love you: Mini album | lissables.com52 Reason's I love you: Mini album | lissables.com52 Reason's I love you: Mini album | lissables.com

This is a quick and easy album to make. Which make’s it a perfect gift to give someone else. All you need is a deck of cards, a permanent marker, one ring, and some ribbon and embellishments to make a cover page. I wrote directly onto the cards and let them dry overnight. Don’t want any smudges! Punch a hole in the top left corner of each card. I punch one and then use it as a guide to punch the rest in unison. If you want you can make a cover page for your album. I made mine using a pre cut card and decorating it with some stickers and rub-ons. I love how simple it is. Then I added some ribbon to the ring, because I always think they look naked without it!

52 Reason's I love you: Mini album | lissables.com 52 Reason's I love you: Mini album | lissables.com 52 Reason's I love you: Mini album | lissables.com

 Had I thought about this earlier I was planning on printing pictures and attaching them to the backs of the cards. I think if you filled it with black and white pictures of you and the person it was made for, it would be the cutest thing ever made. But finding 52 black and white images from the lat 25 years proved to be too big a task for a last minute project. And I don’t mean I didn’t think about doing an album until the last minute. I have 2 others on my desk I was making for her as well. But I inherited my dad’s famous procrastination. {I know you just read that dad, don’t deny it. Because I know where Kimmy got her stubbornness too! But I love you enough to make a 52 reason’s for you too!}

52 Reason's I love you: Mini album | lissables.com 52 Reason's I love you: Mini album | lissables.com

I’m so glad she liked it, even though she made sure to tell me there was TWO extra reason’s to her birthday years. I also had the brilliant idea to bring her some lissables cupcakes. I always get the request to ship my goodies, well in the picture you can see why I don’t! I went to extra care to make sure they stayed perfect for my airport arrival. But I forgot I was traveling with a mini monster. Who upon finding them when I was taking stuff out of the diaper bag to get him a toy, proceeded to fall right on top of them. So they arrived much like me, squished, beaten and done with traveling across 2 countries with a toddler! But I tried. Can’t blame me for that!

52 Reason's I love you: Mini album | lissables.com

All in all I think this will be a gift-able album I make again in the future. Little enough to carry around for a pick me up, sentimental as you want to make it, and o so easy peasy! Hope you enjoyed it! I have some photo session’s coming up that I will be sharing. Some more projects and every day life. Thanks for being awesome reader’s! I appreciate each and every one of you!

I WON! Create:Blog giveaway.

O my gosh! Remember how I just shared my entry for the Create: Blog Teresa Collins giveaway! We’ll I woke up this morning to a post with my picture in it. I think it took me a minute to realize, I HAD WON!

TC album winner | lissables.com

This vacation I felt like, started off as bad as possible. Just little crappy things piling up my last day before my flight. Flying itself is a nightmare for me + add a wiggly toddler. Then there was the surprise 2 hour drive from the airport to the cabin. Just little things. But once I got there….sigh, I was so in love. We even looked at extending my stay. But alas we did not win the lottery, so not worth it. I was having so much fun walking on the beach, scrapbooking during naps, and re-watching MadMen from the beginning with my mom. And I NEVER win anything. Seriously. And I won a gift basket at Shoppers Drugmart at a little shopping event, just the night before I left! I left most of it with my mom but got a big bottle of juicy perfume.

Now&Then Vacation Mini Album And then BAM this morning I wake up to the blog post announcing the Create: Blog’s winner. So exciting. I feel like I’m on a winning spree. Maybe I should go buy some lottery tickets! {although NV doesn’t even have a lottery haha} So I won my choice of a line from the 2013 winter collection. I already have most of the Memories and Stationary Noted lines. {I was obsessed with that blue and red in the stationary noted.} So it was really between the He Said, She Said and the Far and Away lines. So I narrowed it down the the He said, She said, because I love my little boy pictures and this is a line that you can use with boys but it isn’t just baby blue and yellow. All the cute Mustaches and speech bubbles. And especially the washi tape! You have to check out all the 2013 lines. They are all amazing.

TC album winner | lissables.comTC album winner | lissables.comTC album winner | lissables.comTC album winner | lissables.com

If you are loving the paper’s I used in the album I entered, you can find them all here, the Now&Then line. Which is still available online and at some of your local stores! As well here is a link to all the entry’s on the Northridge Publishing Pinterest page. Now that I am home, I can’t wait to get all my pictures printed and finish this winning album!

My Mom’s Album.

Teresa Collins Vintage Finds Mini Album

So like I said yesterday, we are scrapbooking away this holiday! I am sharing the album my mom has been working on the last two days. We have different outcomes because I cannot add embellishment’s until I’ve added photo’s. Whereas my mom likes to have a finished album and slip pictures in at the end. Here is her “Teresa Collins: Vintage Finds Collection” mini album.

Teresa Collins Vintage Finds Mini Album

Teresa Collins Vintage Finds Mini Album Teresa Collins Vintage Finds Mini Album Teresa Collins Vintage Finds Mini Album Teresa Collins Vintage Finds Mini Album Teresa Collins Vintage Finds Mini Album Teresa Collins Vintage Finds Mini Album Teresa Collins Vintage Finds Mini Album Teresa Collins Vintage Finds Mini AlbumTeresa Collins Vintage Finds Mini Album

And even though we have each made an album already, we have more to play with on our last 2 nights. I am working on a fancy pants TrendSetter Collection album and my mom has some more Teresa Collins papers to play with!

Inspired.

Now&Then Vacation Mini Album

If you have been watching lately, you’ve noticed I haven’t been crafting or scrapbooking in a LONG time. I don’t know why, but I was feeling very creatively blocked. I love my photo’s and especially after Sawyer, I had an abundance of beautiful moments in print. But something was lacking on my side. Suddenly after the Teresa Collins Inspiration Unlimited event in my home town of Las Vegas, I felt inspired. {best titled weekend apparently.} 

Now&Then Vacation Mini Album

I was hooked again. And when she released her new lines it only doubled. I bought them all. And I have been playing and enjoying the scrapbooking world again. In fact while I am away I am even scrapbooking! Who would have thought. I hadn’t done anything in over a year and now I am not even stopping during a holiday! My mom brought along some monthly class kits she had stocked up. So when Sawyer goes to bed, I break out the paper, scissors and glue!

Now&Then Vacation Mini Album

Now&Then Vacation Mini Album Now&Then Vacation Mini Album

Here’s the album I am working on. From the Teresa Collins Now& Then Line. This isn’t typically a line I was drawn to. I too obsessed with the Tell your Story Line to dive into another. But it was in the pile of collections my mom brought along and I thought it was so perfect for creating a mini album for this trip!

Now&Then Vacation Mini Album Now&Then Vacation Mini Album Now&Then Vacation Mini Album Now&Then Vacation Mini Album

I have just created the base pages and will fill it with the photo’s, and embellishments when I get home. {I just ordered some extra’s to my house!} But I made lots of pocket pages and flaps and fun add on’s. I am going to get adding a little to the pages these last days. We also found a little  scrapbooking store in the little town nearby! It was our fun little thing today as the rain poured down on us! I got a whole bunch of cute new stuff! I can’t wait to keep sharing all the new mini albums with you!

Now&Then Vacation Mini Album Now&Then Vacation Mini Album Now&Then Vacation Mini Album Now&Then Vacation Mini Album

Out Of The Office For 10 Days.

Sawyer and I braved the airport alone Thursday morning. It was ALMOST an easy feat. He was so good running around the airport, and fell asleep for half the flight. Woke up and got to play with the untouchable ipad, special treat! But getting off the plane he had THE biggest meltdown on the planet. Bonus though, because of it I had flight attendants tripping over themselves to help me off the plane. As well as getting to skip the super long customs line up! And we took this challenge to fly to Victoria, BC to see my parent’s in a cabin they rented on the ocean to celebrate my mom’s 50th birthday! It wasn’t an easy feat, but when I see Sawyer just lighting up playing here, it sure seem’s worth it! Or maybe it’s my parents lighting up just as much playing with him.

Qaulicum Beach 2013

And listening to the rain come down in buckets every day may be a nightmare on most vacations, but I am that crazy person that is overjoyed with it! Plus it makes for some pretty amazing pictures! This was Sawyer on the first day out. We quickly were scouring for new rubber boots, after the first pair mommy bought in Vegas were too big, and the pair I got here were too tight on those CHUNKY legs. We finally got lucky at a little second hand kids store! New red rubber boots! TOO CUTE! And he absolutely loves them. Can you tell?

Qualicum Beach 2013Qualicum Beach 2013Qualicum Beach 2013Qualicum Beach 2013Qualicum Beach 2013

We miss Daddy so much! But we will be out enjoying this life for awhile. Check back for some more adventures soon!