All about our mini accordion albums

One of my favorite heirloom products in the studio are our mini accordion albums! These sweet little books are one of the cutest ways to showcase your images from your portraits. They make perfect gifts - or are totally great to keep for yourself, too. Today, I wanted to talk more about why I love these sweet little mini accordions and why they’re one of the most popular products at the studio! 

Perfect Size for Gifting

Our mini accordion albums are 3”x3” and they’re perfect for tiny hands (and big ones, too!). I love giving these accordion albums as gifts. They’re a great little size for displaying on the bookshelf or looking through. In fact, a lot of our families give these to grandparents for the holidays! When you order the albums, you get 3 copies - making it even easier to give them as gifts, too! 

Durable Enough to Be Loved On

With magnetic covers, the accordion albums won’t spring open - which means they won’t fall over or get ruined. They simply snap back into place when you’re done looking at them. With a durable clear slipcover, they also won’t get dinged up if you like to carry it around! I’ve even had parents tell me they send one with their little one to preschool for when they’re feeling homesick!

These sweet mini accordion albums are truly a great addition to your heirloom products! Consider ordering a set for the holidays this year, or just to have in your own home. 

Product Spotlight - Our updated heirloom albums

I’m so excited to share this new upgrade to our ever-popular heirloom albums. Heirloom albums are some of my favorite products to create with my families, because they’re such a tangible way to tell your story that will be passed on for years to come. This year I started working with a new lab to offer even more cover choices to families when designing their albums, and I'm absolutely in love with the gorgeous linens and leathers that they offer. So, I wanted to take a few minutes today to show you a great look at our updated heirloom albums!

One of the best parts of designing these albums is knowing that my families love them. I hear stories all the time about how they keep their albums on low shelves or coffee tables so they can look through them often with their children. It's a keepsake meant to be treasured now and passed down many years from now. I say this from experience, too! Grayson loves pulling our family albums down off our living room built-ins and I love watching him thumb through our story. I loved it so much, I actually designed our built-ins to be wide enough to fit our ever growing pile of albums! That’s what I want for your family! I want to help you design a unique, one-of-a-kind album that you’ll cherish for years to come.

Here’s what makes our new heirloom albums even better:

10x10 Albums

I love 10x10 heirloom albums because they’re the perfect size to hold in your hands and spread open on your lap! Grayson does this all the time with our family albums! Because they’re not too large, the albums don’t feel too big or bulky. But, they're still the perfect size so that you can clearly enjoy your favorite portraits while turning the pages!

Crafted by hand with archival materials

Your heirloom album is meant to stand the test of time. It will look beautiful now, and after many years of turning the pages with your little ones and reliving these memories, it will look beautiful decades from now when you pass it down to your children and they bring these keepsakes into their own homes one day.

Thick, layflat pages printed on photographic paper

These sturdy pages are easy for little hands to turn! And, you never have to worry about torn or lost pages. Trust me, they won’t move! I also love that this paper and the semi-matte finish ensures little fingerprints aren't an issue.

Cover materials include European linens, genuine Italian leathers, vegan leathers, and suede!

When you think luxury album, you definitely think about the cover materials. These heirloom albums are offered in a variety of gorgeous colors and textures that will blend seamlessly with your home's decor!

Custom designed, just for you!

We use your favorite portraits from your session to tell a story that flows across the pages. You'll even get to be involved in the design process and see what your album will look like before we send it to print! I love this part, honestly - it’s always fun to see which images will highlight your story the best.

A note for my past clients with albums:

I still adore the albums that we created for your family, and if you'd like your new albums to match your previous albums, we can definitely do that for you! Most (though not all) of our old linen colors are still available from our other professional photo lab, as well as the custom image cover that wraps around the spine. The new albums are the same size and have a similar profile to our previous albums, so they will all sit side-by-side beautifully on your shelf whether you opt for the updated albums or the previous versions that we've been offering and that families have loved for the past 8+ years.

Product Spotlight: Our deckled edge prints

I’m so excited to be introducing our newest keepsake artwork, our Deckled Edge prints. These are some of the most stunning wall art pieces I’ve ever seen and I love them so much! I’m thrilled that families can now take these one-of-a-kind pieces of artwork home to celebrate their family. The first time I saw the deckled edge prints, they took my breath away and I know you’ll love them too!

Each portrait is hand-made. The picture is printed on fine art photographic paper and the edges are torn for a handmade paper effect. The paper is floated in a mat and finished with a gorgeous frame of your choice. All of this is completed at a professional lab, and the final result is stunning. With a variety of frames to choose from, there’s an option for every home decor!

I just had to show them off so you could get a better look at how beautiful these prints truly are!

As always, no matter which heirloom product you choose to create from your portraits, my goal is the same… I want you to celebrate your family every single day and enjoy their faces on display in your home. Learn more about one of my other favorite heirloom products below!

Creating family heirlooms from your portrait session

If there’s one thing I’m passionate about as a family and newborn photographer, it’s printing photos and creating beautiful heirlooms from your portraits. In a digital age, it’s tempting to let our images live on our devices. And believe me, as a busy mom… I understand why. But, there’s something so powerful about seeing our images where we live and grow as a family. That’s why creating heirloom products together is a service I provide to every family that I work with, and it's why we get together in person after the session to choose your favorite portraits that you want to print and enjoy.

Choosing the Perfect Spot for Your Portraits

My favorite part about helping you create heirloom products from your portraits is determining the perfect spot for your portraits in your home! Strategically placed portraits will bring a smile to your face every time you see them, and that is what’s so special about them!

One of the spots I always recommend a family or sibling portrait is at the top or bottom of the stairs, or outside of the bedrooms. This is because after a long day with a baby or toddlers, you tuck them into bed at night and close the door and let out an exhausted sigh just thinking about the day, but seeing that portrait of their smiling faces will help you reset and bring you so much joy.

Wall Art and Self-Esteem

Believe it or not, there is power in showing your children that they matter through portraits and photos hanging on the walls or on display in your home. Giving them a place where they feel like they are valued and where they belong is so important. I actually read the article linked below years ago, and I come back to it time and time again thinking about how powerful it is for children to see themselves up on the walls with their families.

Heirloom Albums

Albums have the same impact on my son, and he pulls our family albums off the shelf at least weekly to turn the pages and talk about the photos and stories that he sees there. He now keeps our most recent annual album in his bedroom, and it's one of his favorite quiet time activities to enjoy! There’s nothing that brings me more joy than watching him thumb through our albums. It’s so special to all of us!

Heirlooms for Gifts

After we’ve finished deciding what’s best for your family, I always like to talk about gift options! Grandparents love our mini accordion - well, really anything that shows off their sweet grandchildren or family. I love giving out photos of my son to our family for the holidays. Everyone loves updated portraits and I love knowing that what they’re being given is beautiful, sturdy, and truly an heirloom to enjoy for years! Beyond our accordion albums, our collection boxes with matted portraits are often so popular for gifts (or for gallery walls!).

No matter what combination of heirlooms you choose to create from your portraits, my goal is the same. I want you to celebrate your family every single day and enjoy their faces on display in your home. Days go by quickly with our babies, and I know for myself, seeing portraits of my son lining our walls always brings me so much joy. I hope it will for your family too!

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From Click to Delivery and Everything in Between - A Look into our Portrait Process

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to work with a full-service photographer? Or what in the world that term even means? Today we’re delving deep into the portrait experience to give you the inside scoop about what you can expect when you hire Nicole Starr Photography for your next portrait session. From the very first click of a button all the way through product delivery, let’s dig in!

For most of my clients and potential clients, their very first impression of my business is right here through my website. And here you are — so, welcome! This is where the majority of my clients find me, and also the first place that they head after a friend shares my name with them. And like every small business owner, I love it and sooooo appreciate it when families refer their friends and can’t stop gushing about their amazing portrait experience! If you’re not sure where to get started on the website, check out our different session types on the tab at the top of this page. Look through some BLOGS for inspiration, and take a peek at the gorgeous ARTWORK options here as well. Then head over to the INVESTMENT PAGE and finally click on CONTACT and let’s chat!

After I receive your contact email, we set up a time for a quick phone call. I love this part! This is when we get to know each other a little more, and you tell me all about your baby, your family, and what you’re looking for in your portrait session. I fill you in on the portrait experience (much like we’re doing in this blog post today) and then we set up a time for a planning call.

Our planning call is a pre-consultation done over Zoom. This is when we talk in more detail about colors, theme, location, outfits, must-have shots, etc. I show you examples of all of the beautiful artwork so that you can start picturing them in your home, and we go over any and all questions before booking the session.

From there we set a date for your portrait session. If it’s a newborn session, we mark a flexible date on the calendar surrounding your due date and finalize the date once the baby arrives. If it’s an outdoor session, we plan TWO dates — a session date and a rain date so that we have both blocked off in case in it rains on the first day. 

Then the countdown begins and we excitedly await the day of your family’s portrait session!

All of our sessions are relaxed and we’re flexible with timing so that we can work around your baby or child’s mood to keep them comfortable and happy. We capture a variety of portraits and looks/setups, and we have a blast while doing so!



After that you’ll enjoy a sneak peek on social media within a week of your session, and then we’ll set a time for your ordering appointment. This is another part of the portrait experience that I love sooooo much. I come to your home, or we can do the appointment over Zoom, too. We spend about an hour together going through your gallery and choosing your favorite portraits that you want to enjoy at home.



Here’s why I do this in your homes. Think back to your wedding photos. If you’re like 90% of the moms that I talk to on the phone, you got your photos back from your wedding photographer and never did anything with them, right? Maybe you hung one or two. Mayyyyyybe you had an album included with your package. But most of the families I talk to tell me regretfully that they haven’t been able to enjoy their wedding photos because they haven’t had the time to go through them yet. 

That is exactly why we set aside an hour to go through the portraits from your session together. We look at your walls and figure out the best locations and sizes for your portraits. We talk about albums and collection boxes to see which feels like the best fit for your home. We figure out gifts for family members and we design holiday cards and birth announcements, checking so many to-dos off of your list for you. And it only takes an hour. All of the printing and design is done for you, making it so easy and stress-free for you to enjoy gorgeous heirloom artwork in your home that is going to put a smile on your face every single day!



After that, I go through and finish editing your images. I send all of your images off to my professional labs and they return as beautifully printed and handcrafted artwork. We set up a time for me to deliver everything to you, and then it’s time to enjoy your portraits at home!

It’s that easy. Pretty sweet, right?

So if you’re ready to take all of the stress out of your next portrait session, what are you waiting for? Let’s chat today and get started!

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Gallery Walls Plus Ideas for Displaying your Family's Portraits

Now that we are in our forever home I have been planning all sorts of ways to enjoy our portraits up on the walls. Before we moved, I knew we weren’t going to be in our home forever and we had very limited wall space, so I didn’t hang up too, too much. But now we have so many more walls with countless options to enjoy our artwork, and I am loving all of the possibilities!

A few of my favorite options for displaying wall art are:

1. Photo ledges. These are great for swapping out different-sized photos and artwork. I use different frames and shapes on ours, and a variety of sizes for a really beautiful effect.
   

2. One large statement piece on the wall. My favorite size is 20x30 for a medium-sized wall, or 30x40 for a larger wall. The 20x30 gives you the most versatility to move all around the house, and the 30x40 really has a big wow factor!
   

3. A trio of 16x20s over an entry table, bed, or bureau. Or mix it up with a 20x30 or 20x20 in the middle, and two 16x20s on the sides.
   

4. A gallery wall with 7x10” prints matted to 11x14”. I love this size, and it is what we include in our Collection Boxes. It’s very versatile, and you can use 6 or 8 of them over the sofa or in the hallway.

Below you’ll find some inspiration for different groupings on your walls. When we get together after your session we’ll choose your favorite portraits and look at your walls to find the best sizes and options for your home. We have fine art prints, gallery wrap canvases, and wooden wall art so there are styles for every home.

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You’ll notice that I’m a big fan of trios of portraits. Groupings of three are very pleasing to the eye and they feel beautifully balanced without being too overwhelming or cluttered.

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Did you know that there are certain things you can do to care for your artwork and ensure that it looks as good as new for many, many years? I’ve compiled a blog post filled with tips to care for your artwork here. Go check it out!

I love symmetry in gallery walls, and I especially enjoy the versatility of a large family portrait in the middle surrounded by a collection of 8x10s matted to 11x14 on the sides. Then when you change things up in a few years, these are all easy sizes to re-home in different rooms throughout your home!

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Here’s a gallery wall example with a set of 11x14 matted portraits!

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Tips to Organize and Print Your Family's Photo Albums

One of my biggest projects during quarantine last spring was to finally get caught up on printing my family’s personal photo albums. And by “caught up”, I mean get started.

I was hugely inspired by Kate L. Photography’s blog post about her annual yearbooks, and I decided to use the same printer (Blurb Books) and album size that she uses. I loved her colorful covers so much that I wanted those bringing cheer to our bookshelves, too, and I am so glad I did! The covers are one of my favorite parts of these albums! A huge thank you to Kate for the inspiration that I needed to finally tackle this project!

I had already printed 3 different albums since Grayson was born in 2018 with his Fresh 48 photos, first year photos in the studio, and some lifestyle images done by a photographer friend, but I still hadn’t done anything with all of the hundreds of other photos that we had taken over the past few years. We had thousands of photos on my phone and my husbands phone, and hundreds more that I had taken on my camera of our day-to-day adventures. I was overwhelmed with where to start, but I knew that I wanted to get those photos organized and printed so that we could start to enjoy reliving those moments again and again.

I wound up organizing my photos from 2018 and cranking out the design for the first book in a few days. When it arrived in the mail and I saw how interested Grayson was in reading the book, turning the pages, and talking about every single photo and every single story, I knew that this was definitely going to be my new priority.

I quickly created 2019’s book, and for the past year we enjoyed the set of books. Grayson literally pulls them off the shelf multiple times a week and will spend an hour looking through the pages and talking about our adventures. It makes my mama heart so happy to see how much he loves these books!

So with 2018 and 2019 in print, of course I made it a priority to capture even more moments of our day to day lives in 2020 with the goal of preserving these stories in our annual photo album. When it came time to create the album, I designed it in two nights and sent it off to print. Easy peasy!

Now, if you’re feeling like I was a year ago and you’re wondering where to even begin with the thousands of photos sitting on your phone and hard drive, I want to help you!

Keep reading for tips on organizing your photos and making this task something you look forward to instead of dread & avoid!

I have compiled some of the things I’ve learned from making my own albums, plus tips I’ve talked with friends about and strategies that they’ve found to work for them. Take what you will, and make it work for you!

1. Start small.

You know that quote that goes something like, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” This is how you want to approach this project. You don’t have to organize all of your photos at once. Start with the most recent ones and work your way backwards. Right now, just focus on last year. Do all of these tasks for one year at a time, and then when you’re done go back to the one before that until you’re all caught up.

2. Choose your favorites first.

If you have a ton of photos on your phone, this part is easy! I’ve only ever owned an iPhone so I don’t know how it works on an Android, but I’m sure it’s similar. Go through and click the heart/favorite button to mark all of your favorite photos. You can scroll back to look at the ones in a particular month/year. While you’re at it, go ahead and delete the screenshots, cast-offs, and any other photos that are just clogging up your phone. Put a reminder on your phone every evening for a week to spend 15 minutes going through and marking your favorites. Before you know it, you’ll have a whole year of favorites saved in an album that is ready to export!

3. Get the photos ready to print.

Now you need to get the photos off of your phone and onto your computer to design the album. Or you can use a printing company that will just let you upload from your phone. I hear that www.chatbooks.com is great for this! I have not personally used them, but I heard you can upload right from your phone.

You can plug your phone into your computer to transfer the photos. You can save them to the cloud or Dropbox and access them that way. You can AirDrop them. However you want to, get those photos onto your computer.

Are you going to edit them? This is a personal preference. I chose to adjust the brightness and color of most of my cell phone photos in Lightroom. I also used that to crop them to whatever crop I felt best suited each portrait. You can get a Lightroom CC subscription for just $9.99 a month, and this would be a great way for you to try out the software if you’re new to it!

When saving your photos, sort them by month to make it easy to plug them into your album. I export in Lightroom and I automatically have them sorted by capture date. This names them in the order the photographs were taken, and it is really easy for me to them put them together in a logical and sequential order when I go to design my book (next step!).

4. Design your album!

Most album companies have free software that lets you drag and drop your photos into templates to easily create your album. I recommend choosing a few of their pre-made layouts that you love and repeating those throughout the book. I tend to do layouts with 2-6 images on each spread, and sometimes I will do a page with 4-9 smaller but related images in a grid.

Make sure to not try and fit too many photos on each page because you want to be able to see the details in each one without making it feel cramped. I like layouts that have a little white space between the images and at the top & bottom of the page.

Don’t overthink it, and don’t let your perfectionist tendencies take over here. Done is better than perfect right now. If you keep tweaking the layout you will never get around to getting the album printed, and you’re going to get a lot more enjoyment out of it when sitting on the couch flipping through the pages with your little one than you will by spending another night moving photos around on your screen to see how they look a different way.

5. Print it & enjoy!

Once I designed my album I was so proud of it that I wanted to print it right away. But I had heard that Blurb Books ALWAYS has sales so I decided to wait for a sale — which is a good thing because my albums tend to have 110-125 pages!

Sign up for their emails and before you know it, you’ll get a notification about a sale. Simply upload it to print, and you’re done! Then you can start waiting by your mailbox for it to arrive, eager to tear open the box the minute it’s delivered. (Wait, I’m not the only one that does that, am I?!?!)

Psst!!! Use this link to save $30 on your first album! (affiliate link)

6. Create a system to stay organized moving forward.

After you’re all caught up and you’ve printed however many years worth of family photos that you have backlogged, create a system to stay on top of it.

Have only a few minutes a month?
Choose a time once a month to sort through your photos from that month and mark a few favorites. If you do this regularly, it will only take you 10-15 minutes to add a few to your favorites folder each month. Put it on your calendar or set a reminder on your phone, and make sure you do it! Then at the end of the year you simply open up that favorites folder and start designing your album!

Have an hour a month?
Pour a warm cup of tea or a glass of your favorite wine, put on some music, and get to work! Set that reminder on your calendar so this is an evening activity you can look forward to each month. Mark your favorite photos from the month, and upload them into an album design right then and there. As the year goes on you’ll slowly add to your album page layouts, and at the end of the year it will all be done for you and ready to print.

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A Peek at Some of This Year's Custom Holiday Card Designs - Saratoga Springs Portrait Photographer

Tis the season to run to your mailbox and tear open the envelopes to see so many smiling faces inside!

I always love sharing a peek at some of the holiday cards that families are sending out with portraits from their sessions with me, and here are a few that are hitting mailboxes all over the country this year!

I really enjoy designing and printing holiday cards for families, and the options for customizing really are endless! A few things that you get to choose when designing your holiday cards?

• fully customizable templates

• change the colors & font & text

• choose how many images for the back of the card

• choose from 3 types of paper

• multiple envelope styles

• return address printing is included

• the option to add on recipient address printing

And my favorite card of all? Ours! Check out how adorable Grayson is on this one!

Product Feature: A Real Family's Heirloom Album

This family’s heirloom album was ready at the same time my peony bushes were in bloom, so of course we had to do a little photo shoot for the album!

Our Heirloom Albums are one of my favorite products that we can create from your family’s portrait session. We take all of your favorite images and weave them together to tell your family’s story. This 10x10 hardcover book is meant to be enjoyed by you and your kids. The pages are ultra thick and easy for little hands to turn. The portraits are vibrant with a protective coating on top that protects them from fingerprints and UV damage. And the linen covers hold up to dirt and fingerprints!

We have a stack of these albums for our family and Grayson looks through them ALL THE TIME. Seriously. All the time. It’s one of his favorite activities and it holds his attention like very few of his toys do.

Today, enjoy a peek at this gorgeous linen album!

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How to Care for your Artwork | Saratoga Springs Baby & Family Portrait Photographer, Nicole Starr Photography

Yay! Today’s the day! You have your beautiful new artwork from your portrait session, and you can’t wait to display it in your home. You know just the perfect spot to hang it up, but wait… did you know there are a few simple tips to keep in mind that will help your artwork stay beautiful and last longer???

Today on the blog I’m sharing a few tips for how to care for your artwork. Don’t worry! It’s nothing too complicated, just a couple of little things to keep in mind so that your family can continue to enjoy your portraits for many, many years to come!

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Photographic Prints

1. Keep your artwork out of direct sunlight to prevent fading and damage to the paper. All of our artwork is treated with a UV protective layer, but it is still a good idea to display your prints in a room that does not receive extreme heat or sunlight.

2. Photographic prints are meant to be displayed under glazing such as glass or acrylic. This is to protect the print from UV exposure, dust, and other elements that can be damaging to the composition of the material. Prints should be framed with acid free mats and acid free tape to avoid any moisture reaching your print and damaging it.

Wall Art

Canvases, framed portraits, wooden wall art. These tips are good for any heirloom pieces that are displayed on your walls! Follow these simple tips to enjoy your artwork for many years at home.

1. Keep your artwork out of direct sunlight, and avoid displaying it in a room that experiences extreme atmospheric changes (heat, cold, humidity).

2. Dust your artwork with a soft rag or cloth, or a wool duster.

3. Display your artwork in a room away from mess or a high traffic area — right near the stove in the kitchen is probably not a good idea since over time it can accumulate a thin layer of dust, grime, and cooking pollutants that could damage the artwork.

4. Prints should be framed under glass, while canvas is meant to be displayed without glass to allow it to breathe.

5. When transporting your artwork, pack it in a sturdy box and with bubble wrap, and avoid placing prints with glass on a flat surface to move them — they will break more easily if stored flat. I use painter’s tape to make an X across the glass of all of my artwork when moving them to prevent glass from going everywhere should one of them break. Luckily I’ve never broken a frame when moving, but I’m glad to take that extra step to prevent a big, dangerous mess!

Books & Albums

All of our albums are printed on archival photo paper, which means that your portraits are crisp, vibrant, and true to color on paper that is designed to last 100+ years. Our albums have ultra thick pages, making them durable for even the littlest pair of hands in your family to turn and enjoy. My toddler looks through our family albums all the time, and I never worry about him messing them up because they are meant to be enjoyed, and there is a coating on the pages that even protects against fingerprints!

But a few tips to keep your album looking just as beautiful as the day you brought it home:

1. Store your album away from direct sunlight to prevent UV damage and fading.

2. The pages are heavy and thick. To prevent them from separating from the spine of the book, store the album flat on a shelf or a coffee table (and not standing up on its side). I stack our family albums vertically on a bookshelf, and I love seeing the colorful linen spines all facing out into the room!

3. Keep your album in a room where the humidity does not fluctuate too much. If it gets too humid, the pages may warp as they absorb excess moisture. If this happens, simply place a heavy object on top of the album (with a dishtowel between the album and the object for extra protection) and let it flatten out again in a room that is not too humid.

4. Spots of stains on the cover? Wipe it down with a damp, white cloth.

Matted Portraits & Collection Boxes

These portraits are meant to be displayed under glass or acrylic glazing, so find a few of your favorite frames and pop them in around the house! The mat protects the portrait from touching the glass, and it is made from acid free paper to prevent any damage to the photograph over time.

You can also store your matted portraits inside the collection box when they are not on display. Be sure to keep them in a room that is not too humid.

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The most important tip for caring for your artwork?

Put it somewhere where you can enjoy it every day!

Choose a spot that will bring a smile to your face when you see it — in the living room over the mess of toys, at the top of the stairs to look at after a long day, over your little one’s crib to enjoy at bedtime. Put your album on a low shelf in your living room with other favorite family books to encourage little ones to enjoy it with you, and don’t tuck anything away out of reach. Out of sight, out of mind, right? And I don’t want you to forget about these beautiful memories we created together!

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Product Feature: Introducing Our New Collection Boxes with Matted Portraits

Maybe you’ve already enjoyed a peek into our Collection Boxes on The Artwork page of our website, or on this week’s social media stories. But in case you missed it, today we’re sharing an in-depth look into this gorgeous new keepsake product that families are falling in love with.

Our new Linen Collection Boxes are the most versatile product in the studio. The boxes are filled with your favorite portraits printed to 7x10” and matted to 11x14”. Why so versatile? Here are a few ideas for how you can enjoy these portraits:

• Frame one as a gift for the grandparents.

• Frame one or two to display on a smaller wall in your home, or create a gallery wall with 6 or 8 matted portraits to fill a larger space like over the couch, in an entryway, or down a hallway.

• Keep some in the box and rotate your wall art throughout the year.

• Keep them all in the box to flip through like a modern day album.

The portraits are tucked into a gorgeous linen box, and you can customize the linen color AND the debossing text on the lid. If you decide to frame all of your portraits and you don’t know what to do with the box, simply save the box for your little one’s keepsakes that don’t fit into their baby book. It’s truly beautiful and so luxurious to the touch!

Another reason that these collection boxes are so popular with our families is because not every family is in their forever home yet, and they may not want to commit to large wall art when they’re not sure what will fit in their future space. The collection box is filled with safe sizes — 11x14 is a versatile size that fits in any space without feeling too big or too small! Plus, this product packs up small and travels well, just like our Heirloom Albums, which is perfect for families that will be moving at some point in the near future.

But really the best part?

These gorgeous prints are handcrafted with archival materials, meaning they will last for generations. You’ll be able to enjoy them on your walls now, putting a smile on your face every single day. Your kids will be able to enjoy them for years to come, and many years from now they will still be timeless and your grandkids will love looking through these portraits.

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Product Showcase - A Lavender Linen Album for a Studio Newborn Session

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Product feature | Our New Deep Matte Linen Album

I want to share a secret with you.  It's our brand new DEEP MATTE album, and every family that has seen it in person at our gallery reveal appointments has fallen in love with the look and feel of the pages in this heirloom album.

Album details:
10x10 Fine Art Album
Cameo Cut-Out with Photo Cover
Linen color: Tundra
Pages: Deep Matte

Our other albums have a lustre coating on the pages, but this one is toned down with a deep, rich matte finish.  It looks incredible, and it even feels smooth like butter beneath your fingers.  It looks particularly amazing with our newborn sessions, and I personally love it for family session albums as well!

Here is a peek into Barratt Raymond's lifestyle session album.  I love how the rich tones on the pages complement the beautiful and neutral nursery decor for this family's session!

Just like with all of our fine art albums, there are 15 linen cover options to choose from so you'll be able to find the perfect shade to suit your style.  A few of the most classic ones are Tundra (this dark gray shown here), Sand (a beachy beige), and Tusk (a creamy white). 

Lately a few families have been having fun and using a few of our more colorful linens like Summer Breeze (a festive blue), Orchid (the softest lilac), and Peach (just the right shade of a soft peachy blush pink).  Fog is also a new favorite for many families, and the light gray is woven with a silver thread that adds just a hint of sparkle to the cover!

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Curious about our other keepsake products?  We truly believe that you'll enjoy your memories more when they are printed -- check out a few of our options here!

The Wooden Keepsake Box
Heirloom Wooden Wall Art
Accordion Albums
Birth Announcements
Thank You Cards
The Storybook Album

Product feature | Blake's First Birthday: Our Linen Storybook Album

If you haven't figured it out by now, our albums are my absolute FAVORITE keepsake to create from our portrait sessions.

Album details:
8x8 Storybook Album
Linen color: Tundra
Font color: Gold

Whether it's a first birthday,  a Fresh 48, a family session, or a newborn session, there is nothing sweeter than having all of your favorite memories woven across the pages of a beautiful album that you can hold in your hands, turning the pages and reliving a chapter of your family's story.

With this particular session, one of my favorite memories from this family was when they were telling me that their baby girl is obsessed with babies.  She loves all things baby.  They have an album from her newborn session with me, and she likes to start every day flipping through the pages of the book and looking at all of the baby pictures.   Of course, she doesn't realize that she's looking at Baby Blake on the pages of the album, but it's her favorite book and one that I'm sure she's going to have many memories of looking through as she gets older.

That's what our keepsakes are all about.  Creating memories with your family and enjoying them every single day. 

The storybook albums are petite, 8x8 albums with a gorgeous linen cover.  The pages are printed on press paper, and they are so beautiful in person!  Each book is custom designed to hold your favorite images from your portrait session.

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Our beautiful storybook albums have 5 beautiful linen cover options to choose from, so you'll be able to find the perfect shade to suit your style.  A few of the most classic ones are Tundra (this dark gray shown here), Sand (a beachy beige), and Tusk (a creamy white).   

Plus we can write your baby's name & birthdate on the cover, or your family name & the year if it's a family session.  These can be debossed in gold, silver, or rose gold font.
 

Curious about our other keepsake products?  We truly believe that you'll enjoy your memories more when they are printed -- check out a few of our options here!

The Wooden Keepsake Box
Heirloom Wooden Wall Art
Accordion Albums
Birth Announcements
Thank You Cards
The Storybook Album

Product Feature - Birthday Invitations and Thank You Cards | Saratoga Springs NY Cake Smash Photographer

Everyone is used to seeing our custom designed birth announcements and holiday cards, but did you know that we offer THANK YOU CARDS and PARTY INVITATIONS, too?   

These are perfect for your cake smash photos, and they make the cutest little mailers!  Friends & family will love receiving your little one's birthday portraits in the mail with a special note from you, plus it takes one more thing off of your to do list after the birthday party!

Just like all of our other custom cards, these thank you notes include personalized envelopes with your return address printed on the back.  All you need is a stamp and an address label for the front, and you're done!  Simple & sweet!

Planning your cake smash session?  Aim to do the shoot 4-6 weeks before the birthday party, and that way we'll have plenty of time to edit the images, do your gallery reveal, design your cards, and get them to you in time to send out right away!

Product feature - Welcome Home Baby Blair | A Lifestyle Session in Our Linen Storybook Album

Now that we have a little one of our own, our keepsake albums are even more special to me.  I truly love being able to hold all of our favorite memories in my hands, flipping through the pages of a beautifully bound book and feeling the linen cover beneath my fingers as I trace the debossed words on the cover.

These are such beautiful keepsakes, and our albums stole my heart long ago.  Today we're showcasing this beautiful lifestyle newborn session in our Sand linen storybook album.

Album details:
8x8 Storybook Album
Linen color: Sand
Font color: Rose Gold

One of my favorite behind-the-scenes tasks as a business owner is album design.  I truly enjoy weaving together all of your favorite photos across the pages of a book to tell your story, trying different combinations and layouts to get it just right while showcasing your beautiful family.

These albums are perfect for our lifestyle sessions because the sessions are true STORYTELLING sessions.  You might not hang every portrait on the wall, and that's okay!  But the moments are ones that you're not going to want to forget, and it's so special to be able to preserve them and relive them through the pages of your family's album.

There are 5 beautiful linen cover options to choose from so you'll be able to find the perfect shade to suit your style.  A few of the most classic ones are Tundra (a smooth dark gray), Sand (the beachy beige shown here), and Tusk (a creamy white). 

Plus we can deboss your baby's name & birthdate on the cover, or your family name & the year for a family session!  The debossing options are silver, gold, and rose gold -- the album in this blog post is done in rose gold, which is one of my favorite combinations with the sand linen.

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Curious about our other keepsake products?  We truly believe that you'll enjoy your memories more when they are printed -- check out a few of our options here!

The Wooden Keepsake Box
Heirloom Wooden Wall Art
Accordion Albums
Birth Announcements
Thank You Cards
The Storybook Album

Product Feature | Our New Heirloom Wooden Wall Art

Our Wooden Keepsake Boxes have been such a hit with our clients that I wanted to bring a complementary new product to our product line.  Everyone always exclaims how much they love the wooden products, so I searched for months to find the perfect new piece to add to our collection.

Today we're introducing the new Heirloom Wooden Wall Art.  These gorgeous new pieces of signature artwork have hand-sanded corners that show the grain of the wood, and linen fine art prints mounted directly onto the wooden block.  They hang easily on your wall with two predrilled keyholes on the back, and they have a clean and minimalist look that goes well in traditional, modern, and rustic decor.  

Your favorite portraits can be printed in rectangles, squares, and even circles.  Cluster a few together on the wall for a display, stand one up on an easel, or display a large one all on its own as a focal point on your wall.  

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Curious about our other keepsake products?  We truly believe that you'll enjoy your memories more when they are printed -- check out a few of our options here!

The Wooden Keepsake Box
Heirloom Wooden Wall Art
Accordion Albums
Birth Announcements
Thank You Cards
The Storybook Album

Product Feature | Our Custom Birth Announcements are included with every newborn session

You've waited 9+ months for your little one to arrive, and now it's time to celebrate!  So many new moms & dads are excited to announce their baby's arrival to the world and start sharing adorable photos of their little bundle of joy.

You could do that with a blurry, poorly lit photo on Facebook and a quick caption.

Or, imagine your loved ones opening up a thick linen envelope and sliding out a beautiful birth announcement that prominently features your baby's name, birthdate, birth stats, and a collection of your favorite professional portraits on thick, luxe paper. 

This card will make it to their fridge and stay there for months, putting a smile on their face every day.  Grandma will probably frame hers, and you'll tuck one away into your baby book and save another in a box with your little one's hospital bracelet and coming home outfit.

While technology is amazing and it lets us share our lives immediately and with so many people at once, there is something truly special about sending "snail mail" and a beautifully postmarked envelope to announce your baby's arrival.  I've even had parents order custom stamps from the post office to match their birth announcements, truly taking this post-baby task to a whole new, beautiful level!

Every single newborn session comes with a set of 25 custom birth announcements, including the envelopes with your address printed on the back.  That takes one more thing off of your to do list, because my job is all about making your life easier when you are home with a newborn baby.

During your gallery reveal appointment we will choose your images for the announcements and review what you want written on them.  Most families include the baby's name, birthdate, birth stats, and a signature.  Some families leave room to write a little note or thank you, and others fill the space with all of their favorite portraits.

I design the announcements and send you a proof of the design, and once you approve the design it's time to send them to print!  It's really that easy!

Then you'll receive your beautifully packaged announcements, and all you have to do is add addresses and a stamp before sharing with friends and family. 

Be prepared for your phone to be buzzing with lots of congratulatory messages from everyone exclaiming about how beautiful your little one is and how much they love these birth announcements -- because they won't soon be forgotten!

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Curious about our other keepsake products?  We truly believe that you'll enjoy your memories more when they are printed -- check out a few of our options here!

The Wooden Keepsake Box
Heirloom Wooden Wall Art
Accordion Albums
Birth Announcements
Thank You Cards
The Storybook Album

A Keepsake Book for Baby Nora - Showcasing our 10x10 Linen Fine Art Album

Our fine art albums are my ALL TIME FAVORITE KEEPSAKE that we can create from our portrait sessions.  Newborn sessions, birthday sessions, family sessions, and maternity sessions -- these are such beautiful ways to display your images and to enjoy them for many, many years to come.

Personally, my home has a stack of these albums that I've designed and printed for our own personal photographs, and every year the  pile grows a little taller.  I print the same albums for my own family that I do for yours because I love them so much. 

Enjoy a peek at sweet little Nora's newborn session in our linen album!  The thick pages and sparkly linen cover were the perfect combination for this baby girl.
 

Album details:
10x10 Fine Art Album
Cameo cover with photo cut-out
Linen color: Oyster (with just a hint of sparkle!)

I truly love creating beautiful heirloom products for the families that I work with.  I want you to see & enjoy your images every single day, and I love helping families realize that printed memories are so much more powerful than little JPEGs lost on a hard drive somewhere.  
 

Check out a few of our other Signature Products that are available with all of our sessions!

Our Mini Accordion Album
Our Custom Image Cover Album
Our Keepsake Wooden Box

The Modern Day Brag Book - Our Mini Accordion Albums Make the Perfect Gifts for Grandparents!

Look at how adorable this little accordion album is!  Every time I pull it out to show families, they oooohhhhh and aaaahhhhh, and they are so excited to hold it in their hands and unfold the pages, watching the images spread out before them.  

Our mini accordion albums are a petite album, and they are perfect gifts for grandparents!  These miniature brag books fit right in Grandma's pocketbook, and opened up they are a beautiful display on an end table, mantle, or shelf.

At 3x3", they hold eleven of your favorite images from your session.  Though they're petite, they make a BIG impact!

These sweet little albums are available with all of our sessions in sets of 3, giving you multiple copies to share with family, or to keep one for yourself!

I truly love creating beautiful heirloom products for the families that I work with.  I want you to see & enjoy your images every single day, and I love helping families realize that printed memories are so much more powerful than little JPEGs lost on a hard drive somewhere.  
 

Check out a few of our other Signature Products that are available with all of our sessions!

Our Fine Art Linen Album
Our Custom Image Cover Album
Our Keepsake Wooden Box