Sabre's 7th birthday photoshoot

Sabre turned 7 years old last week and we all know this is a big milestone in any child's life. We didn't have a big party and just chose to go to Hong Kong for a family vacation. He did have a small pool party though so he could still celebrate with a few friends.

Oldest, Middle, Youngest

My dear friend gave me these shirts for the kids last Christmas and I immediately did a photoshoot with them wearing it. It says "I'm the OLDEST I make the rules", "I'm in the MIDDLE I'm the reason we have rules", and "I'm the YOUNGEST the rules don't apply to me". Super cute (and true) right? ;p

Merry Christmas!

And here's our Christmas card this year! If you want to see more photos and outtakes from this DIY photoshoot, click HERE. We're currently at the Bellevue Manila where we had a staycation to celebrate Christmas Eve! Will post more about that next time.

But anyway, hope you're all having a wonderful time with your family and loved ones. MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone!

DIY Christmas Photoshoot 2017

And our annual Christmas card photoshoot continues! Again, I decided to DIY it this year thinking it would be easier since the kids are older... wrong! ;p

Miley turns 7!

Oh my, I'm getting all emotional since I can't believe our firstborn and only daughter is now 7 years old. How time flies...

DIY Christmas Photoshoot

Happy Valentine's Day!

Did a quick photoshoot with my kids for Vday this year. I just had them wear red and hold the balloons from Miley's OWLentine's party. I didn't even try to have them in one shot since that's practically impossible haha! But so glad with how this collage turned out. Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

XOXO,

Helene

Skyler's monthly photos

My baby Skyler is now officially 1! I can't believe a whole year has already gone by! I love this idea I saw in Pinterest about taking monthly pictures in the same spot to really see the baby's growth over the year. I wasn't able to do this with Miley and Sabe so I'm happy I was able to do it with Sky. :)

It was a bit of a challenge making sure the angle of the photos was similar all throughout. What I did was mark the spot where the chair should be with masking tape so I'd have an easy time positioning it whenever we did the shoot. And it was also quite hard making Sky sit still in the chair as he got older! I definitely needed someone close by to help me make sure he didn't fall. ;p

Anyway, I love how the pics turned out. A great way to look back at the year that was. So again, happy 1st birthday Skyler! We love you so, so much!!!

Family Portrait Outfit Ideas - Neutrals

I've just booked a session for a new family photoshoot in the coming weeks and I'm super excited (check out our past portraits HERE and HERE). Right now though, I'm thinking of what we're all going to wear and I've pretty much changed my mind so many times already. We've already done white, black, and denim outfits before so I want to do something different although I love how those looks turned out.

I've always been a big fan of neutrals when it comes to portraits since I want to keep it simple, classic and timeless. Besides, you want the focus to be on you and not the clothes right? But of course, I think you should still choose outfits that show your personal style so that you'll be comfortable and confident during the shoot. I've been searching Pinterest for ideas and inspirations and here are some of my favorites:

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What do you think? I love how they're not so "matchy-matchy" but everything still looks good together. Now time to make up my mind and I still have some shopping to do! ;p

DIY: Getting Creative with Chalk

Like every other parent, I love taking pictures of my kids. I love dressing them up in costumes or cute little outfits and teaching them how to pose (my daughter Miley has mastered the hands-on-hip, beauty queen stance at 4 years old).

We’ve had our family portraits done by a professional photographer about 4 times already (basically once a year). And one thing I can say is that these photoshoots do not come cheap these days. It really is an investment, especially if you choose to go with the more well-known studios around town. 

But really, there’s no reason not to have beautiful pictures even if you just take these by yourself at home. I love searching for inspiration online, and if I can recreate something with my kids, I’m all for it! One of those ideas I’ve been wanting to try is sidewalk chalk photos.

I love this whole concept since it’s so easy, inexpensive, and creates a big impact. All you need is chalk, an area where you can do your drawing, and a huge imagination.

To find out more on how I did this, please head on over to Cerelac & Gerber's #ParentingNerd blog, where I (along with other mommy bloggers) give lots of cool tips and ideas on Food, Fashion, and Arts & Crafts.

Photo inspirations: From bump to baby

I never had a maternity shoot in my first 2 pregnancies. So when the third one came along, I knew I wanted to document my growing belly since this might be the last time I got pregnant (we're perfectly happy with 3 kids but who knows in the future... whatever is God's plan for us. ;p).

I spent a lot of time on Pinterest just searching for pegs that I could recreate at home. And I found a lot of gorgeous ideas which were my inspiration for my before & after pregnancy photo. I think this is just a perfect way to capture the miracle of life and how awesome the journey of being pregnant is. If you're expecting, here are some creative ways to do that bump to baby photo. :)

source: Pinterest

source: Megan Petersen Photography

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source: Baby Space

source: Simply Rosie

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source: Out of the Blue Photography

source: Blee Photography

Skyler's birth announcement

I've been seeing so many creative pregnancy photos in Pinterest and one of those I've been wanting to do was this picture above - from bump to baby! I've also been documenting my preggy belly week after week and I've yet to compile all the pictures in a nice collage to show how my tummy has grown. But for now, here's Skyler's birth announcement - shot by hubby and edited by me. :)

My DIY Maternity Shoot part 2

If you haven't seen my first maternity photoshoot, check it out HERE. Anyway, I asked hubby to take my pics this time since I wanted to wear a different outfit and also include the kids. But Sabe was still in the middle of his nap right when we were about to go, so it was just Miley who joined me here. :)

So excited to meet you little one! :)

My DIY Maternity Shoot

For all my love of taking photos, I never had a maternity shoot done for any of my pregnancies. I guess I just didn't feel the need then, or wanted to just invest in having a pictorial done after I gave birth with the babies.

But with this pregnancy, I finally felt like I wanted to have one. Maybe it's the thought that this could probably be my last one (well, you never know down the road hehe...). And also because I think I look good this last trimester haha (thankfully, I haven't gained that much weight and no swelling/manas so far yey!). I guess I just want to document this time in my life while I'm in the middle of all this pregnancy glow. :)

I inquired on the rates of several photographers/studios and I guess it's obvious that they don't come cheap. The one I really wanted cost P8,500 but they were based really far away from us, so it was a extra P1,500 if I wanted to do the shoot near our place. P10k is definitely a lot of money, but you can justify it as being an investment just like your wedding photos right? But then I was thinking, for sure we were going to do another shoot with the baby after I gave birth. So that was another P10k down the line (I think even more for newborn shoots these days!)...

After thinking hard about it, I decided why not do a trial pictorial first on my own and see how it would turn out. My sister was taking up multi-media arts in school and had a DSLR camera so she could take my pics. I also knew the exact look I wanted so I just searched for pegs and poses I could copy online. Our village park was the perfect location since I wanted to do the shoot outdoors. I did my own hair & make-up, wore a dress I've had for ages (trivia: I also wore this dress in my pre-nup pictorial 5 years ago!), and just made my own floral crown too (DIY tutorial to follow soon).

Anyway, side kwento first. My sister was supposed to take my pics but we had a huge fight right before so I almost called the whole thing off. Good thing my mom was there and we had no choice but to just use my regular Lumix camera. I just showed her the pegs I wanted and told her to just snap away... bahala na si Batman!

Needless to say, the photos turned out GREAT! Considering my mom has no photography skills and has bad eyesight, she took really good shots! I just cropped and edited the pics using photoshop and couldn't be happier with the results. Especially when I think about all that money I've saved hehe. :)

Anyway, here's my favorite photos from my DIY shoot. What do you think? Para bang pang professional na? ;p