Don't you love going on vacation/weekend holiday/maternity leave and realizing you have two blog posts saved in draft form that have yet to be published? Yeah. Me too! I am officially on maternity leave and waiting patiently for my sweet girl to arrive. I've been enjoying quality time with my soon to be 2 year old and going on as many waddle walks as I can. All is good and I appreciate all the support from family and friends!! What a wonderful first year for Annie Helen and I'm actually eager to return in May. I have some photo shoots (including weddings) booked for the summer and possibly another billboard in July! Yay!! ... Okay. Now back to the original blog post - Katie's mural. All finished and pretty.

Aimee and Chris, parents of the adorable Katie, sent me these pictures of their daughter's finished room. Of course, when you are a princess like Katie, the room will never fully be done because there will always be a need for more pink jewelry hooks and storage - however, these pictures do show off the finished mural! I want to thank Aimee and Chris again for collaborating with me on such a fun project. I hope Katie can enjoy the room for many years to come.

For more, check out the full gallery of Katie's room.

Katie's room in the making...

In November I offered a holiday mini session & holiday card package that included a photo shoot with Annie Helen and a custom holiday card design! Check out my favorites below. You might be able to tell I had a lot of fun with this...

I had each family fill out a custom holiday card order form to get the ball rolling and all the following families gave me artistic freedom when it came to the actual design. Whether they wanted a religious card or a generic holiday message, I created some pretty unique and fun cards that were sure to dominate Nana's mantel.

Happy Holidays from Annie Helen! Thank you for a wonderful first year! I will be taking maternity leave starting at the end of this month, expecting to return Late April-May. Looking forward to another successful year and revealing new exciting services and products!

Thank you!
Annie Loaiza & Family

I love my job. This month marks a year on the calendar! Annie Helen has officially been in business for ONE WHOLE YEAR and I made it!! Right, I may be 7 months pregnant, huge and require a gallon of water every photo session but I did it. And I can't wait to return!! On Sunday I met with the Green family and this adorable 3 month old boy, Soren. The Greens, like every family I've worked with this year, made me feel welcome, appreciated and grateful for the opportunity to start my own business. Seriously, how is it that every client of mine has been nothing short of amazing to work with? For example, the Green family love UofO, the Timbers and pretty much everything else my husband and I enjoy. Oh, and their living room is painted the same as ours and I was fed chocolate before I left. How did they find Annie Helen? They got the winning bid on a custom holiday card design and mini session that I donated to the Oregon Employees Charitable Fund Drive. I suppose whether intentional or not, Annie Helen has attracted a great group of followers and for that I am very grateful. It's been a really good first year and I have all my friends and family to thank! Thank you for all the support and encouragement to take a chance and start my own business! I will be accepting and wrapping up design projects until January and will return to photography in April-May.

Below are some of my favorites from Sunday afternoon's mini session with baby Soren and his adoring parents (who have impeccable taste). Like all baby photo sessions, I find it challenging to just pick a few, but I'm sure the parents don't mind. Meet 3 month old Baby Soren - he likes being tickled, blowing bubbles and trying to talk. Dislikes include hats, clothes and sitting still.

You know he is practicing shouting out Oregon's OOOOOOOooooo!

Meet Baby D - aka Gerber baby, little Dexter and the best dressed little man in Portland. I spent Saturday morning with the Kirkland family capturing some family portraits for their custom holiday card and documenting Baby D's sweet 17 month old face. Guh, such a cute baby! I might be biased since the Kirkland's are good friends of ours but see for yourself, this is one good looking family!

*****
Last weekend for the holiday mini sessions are Nov 24th, 25th. Email info@anniehelen.com for inquiries on booking your own photo session or ordering a custom holiday card!

17 months and already very helpful around the house.

This kid. That sweater!! Guh! So cute.

Family portrait time!

See? Baby Beethoven.

Prepare for cuteness overload ... Baby D got into the Christmas cookie jar.

And nothing says Christmas like a petrified candy cane. "Mmmmm", said Dex.

Happy Holidays! Below are some of my favorites from the holiday mini session with the Ross family! I'll share the family portraits and custom designed holiday card after the holidays!

I love Baby G. This is my second time working with her and she is always such a happy and beautiful baby model!

--- Last days available for a holiday mini session, schedule now! ---
November 18th - morning
November 24th - morning & afternoon
November 25th - morning & after 4pm

-- email info@anniehelen.com to book your holiday mini session and/or last photo session before I return in May!

Oh no big deal, just a billboard I designed for Pip's Frozen Yogurt & Gelato. Just a 10ft x 22ft beast of metal and vinyl up in the sky. I know I am a professional and should write fancy professional things but ummm... I am excited!!! And you should be, too! Because THIS IS AWESOME! Check it out for yourself, will be up starting 10/22/2012 on NW Murray Blvd, just off of Hwy 26. Drive by it, say YAY and then take a left on NW Cornell and buy some yummy cold treats from Pip's! 

Show your support for Annie Helen and an awesome new small business by checking out Pip's Frozen Yogurt & Gelato.
Pip's is on twitter and Facebook, too!

Now accepting mini sessions for the holiday season! Packages include: one mini session with Annie Helen and a custom design holiday card for all your friends & family to gush over. See below for details.

Email info@anniehelen.com to schedule your mini session for the holiday season!

The vintage and girly room design is complete! I had such a great time working with the Campbell family and adore the colors Aimee (the mom) picked out for her sweet girl. This room is designed to grow with Katie as she transitions into a big girl bed and is able to kiss her frog prince goodnight. The colors, theme and design elements work well together to foster an imaginative and peaceful environment for sweet Katie.

The flower mural design concept:  The over-sized vintage blue flower sheds two petals in the wind and one becomes a pad for the pink frog. As the petal landed, it created ripples in the water which then turned into a ribbon that twirls above Katie's ahead and around the room into a bouquet of flowers and bows. The wind from the adjacent window blows leaves into the mural and land on and near the bed.

The flower mural below is shown without the crib/bed.

The vintage flower mural is adjacent to the window wall. The leaves fall off the tree on into the crib/toddler bed as seen below:

Stage 2 Part 1: Window wall can be seen in an earlier post here.

Well, we did it and if it weren't for the train, we would have completed a very thorough double session in one evening! I spent Saturday night with 4 lovely ladies all of whom shared my sense of humor regarding sisters, inappropriate workouts and the awkwardness of getting your picture taken. It was a great night - one that lasted until we literally had no light to work with. These girls were good sports and I ended up with more pictures than we agreed on - which is always a good thing! The double session was to include senior portraits for Cheyenne and family portraits of Cheyenne, her sister and their mom. The two girls were super cute and reminded me of my sister and I. So, obviously I thought they were pretty cool. Check out the sneak peek of their senior & family portraits!

My interview with Senior, Cheyenne below:

At Starbucks my usual is: mocha cream frap

Most recent download to iPod: josh Turner CD

My favorite movie: Harry potter or star wars (i can't decide)

Sunday mornings you will find me at: church

One goal i have this year: is to get my nursing assistant certification (in addition to graduating)

Since July, I've been collaborating with Pip's Frozen Yogurt & Gelato off of Cornell Rd & Murray Blvd in Portland, Oregon. They came to me with a terrific penguin icon named Pip. He was created by a designer who won a design contest and with some  tweaking by Annie Helen has become the icon for Pip's Frozen Yogurt & Gelato. Pip is fun, hungry, excited about frozen yogurt and happens to travel all around the world. He loves families, Sunset High School sports and really anything that is fresh, fun and yummy. From the typeface to the frozen yogurt swirl, he is the inspiration for all graphic design and interior consultation I have created for Pip's shop.

I've also been selected as an interior consultant and drafter for Pip's Frozen Yogurt. Stay tuned for interior design updates to the shop and for the grand opening - October 31st, 2012 featuring the shop's new look!

Check them out at http://www.pipsfrozenyogurt.com/
You can follow them on Facebook /pipsfrozenyogurt
and Twitter @pipsyogurt

Below is some of the graphic design materials produced by Annie Helen for Pip's Frozen Yogurt & Gelato.

sign by Meyer Sign Co with color and logo by Annie Helen