courtney jade’s blog

You know when you go to the mailbox, and you’re sorting through all of the mail?
Junk, bill, trash, junk, junk, bill, statement, more junk, ripped/torn/destroyed coupon booklet, trash, junk, junk, bill….

And then you come to that piece… that one piece of mail that feels as though you just unwrapped the Wonka Bar with the Golden Ticket inside. You know the one I’m talking about? It’s like a little piece of love all wrapped up.

These pieces of mail are the ones I cherish. A good friend recently described it perfectly to me, she said “tangible mail is a lost art”. I completely agree. There’s nothing quite like getting a hand written note, card, or any other piece of personal mail. These pieces aren’t made out to “Or Current Resident”, they are made out to YOU.

Anyways, back to my story.

Today, I opened my mailbox to find just one such gem!!! My eyes lit up and my grip tightened on the envelope! I couldn’t wait to open it, but first, knowing I was in for a treat, i wanted to take a few photos to share with you all.

A little history about this session…
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Jessica and I can’t remember how exactly we found each other, but I’m chopping it up to fate.
She is full of colorful ideas, and is a complete inspiration to me! She owns her own company, Modern Moments Custom Designs, where she designs anything and everything you could ever need or want. Logos, cards, announcements, invitations, calendars,  you name it! She takes each design request as it comes and molds your vision into something even more beautiful than you could have ever imagined.
So you can imagine, how when I got the email from her requesting that I do her youngest son’s first birthday photos/cake smash session, how ecstatic I was!!!

We brainstormed for a bit, and she sent me a couple of Inspiration Boards for what she was looking for style-wise for little Emerson’s shoot. I’m talking colors, textures, fabrics, the whole nine yards! Here is one of the boards that she created and sent to me. This really helped me understand exactly what she was looking for!

Not to mention, how completely adorable is that board!?! Can you tell how amazing this woman is yet??
So now that I knew her color palette and general direction, we chose a place- this great little barn that she knew of, close to the pumpkin patch that her family goes to every year.
There was no address,it was  just “about a mile down the road off of the exit, on the right”. I didn’t need directions, once I saw this place, there was no mistaking it!! We shot at an adorable old abandoned barn.

Jessica came with adorable Emerson, props, backdrops, and even cake in tote! We had everything we needed for a stellar photo shoot!!!

We knocked out the session in less than 30 minutes, it must have been a record, and little Emerson was such a great sport!! I’m sure the cake helped a little
The photos turned out AWESOME! I couldn’t have been happier with them!

Fast forward to tonight.

I open my mailbox to find the usual suspect mail-pile. Junk, junk, Bill, Statement…. and wait… what is THIS!?!!
Ok, I admit it, I knew it was coming, and I was waiting for it… But it doesn’t make it any less exciting! It was here!!!

One of the most rewarding parts of being a photographer, is to see my work in context. I LOVE getting birth announcements in the mail, save the dates, or invitations all using the photos that I have taken. It’s just got a cool factor of about 11 (On a scale of 1-10).

So without further a due, here is mister Emerson’s first birthday invitation!

The envelope… of course, the mailing address label is to die for cute!

And then, you open it and the cuteness just doesn’t stop!! Check out the envelope liner! (I swear, she thinks of everything!!)

Yep, that is REAL sewn on burlap, and REAL tied string! The WOW Factor is so high with this piece!!

Oh, and this is just the “slip-cover” for the card!! Just like a real book! Notice the adorable “vol. 1″ since it’s for his first birthday. Also, the price of the book is the date of his birthday… the cleverness just keeps coming!!! She even generously included my logo on there! How *sweet*!!!

Even a barcode!!

Once you remove the slip cover,  you get to the card/invite! The paper is a linen texture, which feels awesome, and goes perfectly with her vintage look and feel.

I am completely in LOVE with how amazing these turned out! Emerson is one lucky little dude! The way she put the photos together with the piece are just awesome! I love the cohesiveness of it all, and I think her overall ideas were exceeded.

If you would like some custom design work done, I highly recommend Jessica! She is super great and easy to work with, and she has a LOT to offer as a designer! You can go to her website, or check out her ETSY.

Sadly, she just broke her arm and is only taking a limited number of orders for the holidays, so if you’re interested, be sure to contact her ASAP!!! Otherwise, keep her in your back pocket, you just never know when you might need some stellar designs!!! Personally, I’m hoping she takes up party planning… you should check out the parties she’s thrown on her blog, the details are scrumptious!!!

<3

I’ve been wanting to get a “stylish” camera bag for quite a while now, and my recent trip to Costa Rica was the perfect excuse to finally invest in one!
I wanted something cute, stylish, functional, and discrete. Toting around all of my expensive camera equipment in another country made me nervous enough, I didn’t want to LOOK like  I was carrying all of that expensive equipment.
I was reading through all of my favorite photo blogs one day, and I can’t remember exactly where I saw them, but I read about these awesome new epiphan!e bags, and totally fell in love.

Right now they have three styles available, and I agonized over which one would be the best fit for me. I love them all!!! The colors of  Belle were my favorite, but the style of Lola was my favorite… and then there’s Ginger. Ginger would be perfect for weddings as far as being suttle! And not to mention, it would match just about anything. But in the end, Lola won my heart. First at least

I love that it is a deeper bag. I’ve been pick-pocketed before, so a deeper bag makes me feel better about toting around things. Also I wanted to be able to throw a scarf or something on top to cover up my equipment if needed. This may sound silly, but my camera is my other baby and needs the utmost protection! Another thing I love about it is that it has a zipper!

This is the most purse-like camera bag I have been able to find! I know there are a couple of other brands that make “stylish camera bags”, but they are still camera bags. Epiphanie bags really look like purses, and can be worn either way! One of the great features of this bag, is that it comes with a matching detachable padded shoulder strap. A shoulder strap is a necessity when shooting for me. I don’t like leaving my bag places, and for weddings you’re constantly on the move. The hardware on this bag is nice and strong too!

Here’s a view of the top and inside…

Lola came with more then enough padded separators. They are soft, and have Velcro on 3 sides so that you can move them to fit your equipment exactly, which is really nice because photographers are always upgrading and changing out their equipment. It gives awesome flexibility, and I can rest assured that my equipment is packed away safe and sound!

There is even a nice hidden zip pocket inside to store things you want kept safe like money, id, extra memory cards, etc.

A couple more great features of this bag are the 2 deep pockets on the outside that I love to use for my cell phone, business cards (for easy access), and my shoot list. The photo with my iPhone doesn’t accurately portray the depth of the pockets, but I wanted to give you a size ratio. the pockets reach all the way down to the bottom of the bag.

The bag also comes adorn with an adorable little charm! This might have been my favorite detail, for funs sake!

I received my bag just in time for me to throw my camera in, and head to the airport (literally!). I couldn’t be happier with it, and I’ve gotten SO MANY compliements on it so far! I absolutely adore it, and I feel so stylish while shooting now! It also has enough room to hold my other “purse-items” like my wallet, point & shoot, pen, phone, etc. so I’m not lugging around 2 bags, which is a HUGE relief- literally and figuratively!

Here is a pic of Lola in Costa Rica enjoying the beach, she had a blast

I can’t wait to see what bags they come out with next!!! I’m hoping for a cute purple one
The girls who I’ve been in contact with are all super nice too!! Amazing customer service!! Thank you SO much for creating a bag I could only dream of! This is truly an innovation that I’ve been looking for for quite some time now

Check out Epiphanie bags for yourself, what are you waiting for!?

<3

About a year ago I received an email from a gentleman who wanted to use my photo for the cover of their CD. They had seen the photo via my flickr page, and just loved it!

So we made an arrangement, and I sent off the full rez file… I completely forgot about it, and if it weren’t for the random email updates as to how the album was coming along it may have completely slipped my mind forever. So I was quite surprised and very excited when I went to the mailbox the other day and pulled out a package that read “ROYAL MAIL”. First of all, how sweet is that?! I mean, there’s really not much that’s “Royal” about the USA… I mean, we are the US Postal Service… so boring. Anyways! Here is what I was so excited to open!!!

AAHHHHHHH!!! There’s my BABY on the cover of a CD!!!! SO COOL!!!!
view the original pic here; it’s had over 14,000 views to date, and while I’m not sure exactly HOW they found it, I assume it was through google or something

My boo-boo is FAMOUS!!!! Haha, well at least in the UK!
Anyways, I think it was really great that even though copy writes on photos these days are completely abused and consistently taken advantage of, these guys were awesome enough to not only ask my permission to use the photo but also to pay me for it, and then fulfill their word and send me a finished copy! I was ecstatic!!!

I haven’t popped the cd into the player yet, as I was just too excited to write about it, so I’m not sure exactly what they sound like yet, but you can check out their website here: The Strawbs
Today it is GORGEOUS outside!!! I took Quincey to a local Italian Greyhound meetup earlier, and then we came home. He layed in the sun while Mark and I did a little spring cleaning Here’s a couple of pics of my workspace/psuedo office

If you’re curious about all of the lovely things on my desk, you can check them out here

Until next time!

<3

One of my very most favorite blogs is featuring me and my new packaging!!! I feel so honored, especially since I have been following Robyn (the blog creator/admin) and her work for YEARS! Stop on by Paperie Boutique and check out the post