I last left you with a post about our breast cancer fundraiser that we did in October! It was such a wonderful day full of laughter, empowerment, and beauty. Through Boudoir mini sessions we were able to raise over $2000 for Breast Cancer! I had the pleasure of working with many wonderful ladies, and shooting so much beauty!

So much beauty, and so many amazing women {all photos shared with permission}

and now just it time for Valentines!!!! I have 2 spots left for Boudoir Mini Sessions this weekend!

Get your sassy on! Perfect gift for your other half, or just to empower yourself!! Email me at rebeccahallphotography@gmail.com for more details!!

With a lot of hard work and a lot of support from many wonderful women in business we have been able to make this happen. This Sunday we will host a day full of beauty~ and a little bit of sassy! We are holding a day of boudoir mini sessions in my studio complete with professional makeup, hair and a whole lot of amazing swag which has been donated to the cause.

All procedes will be donated to Breast Cancer Research. Shelley and I discussed the importance of why we wanted to do this….here is her story… {followed by a photo of her amazing family! Her with her husband and sons!}

Rebecca and I have talked a lot about doing this fundraiser, we both share something that probably ,I would say is too familiar, the loss of a loved one due to Breast cancer. Giving to this cause is huge for me, I have heard so many triumphant stories and also stories of loss, my personal story is a loss of someone I never even got to meet, my mother-inlaw, she battled breast cancer twice and the second time she passed away, she passed onto her children a triumphant spirit and so many wonderful qualities I get to see in her son on a daily basis, the love of my life Jonathan Heath.

Jonathan tells me he misses his mother more now as an adult, as a husband and father, more then he ever did as a teenager,He say’s “Shelley she would have loved you, and she would have loved our 3 boys. I’m sure our lives would have been different had we had her in our lives, one of the sweetest visions is seeing a grandma with her grandkids, it’s a special relationship, everyone is affected by this, it’s a mother, a sister, a friend, someones wife, If I had a magic wand I would like to wish this away, but life is very real and that’s why I choose to help in whatever way I can, to make the stat’s go down, keep our loved ones here a little longer, give hope to these women and their families.

Sincerely
Shelley Heath

I am fully booked until November, at which time I might take some time off and hibernate {or just breath a little}…….With a summer full of weddings, I am not taking any other bookings so I can keep up with my proofing and maintain some sanity. I did however have a shoot planned since last fall with a really great friend of mine. It was originally planned for the end of August, but we moved it up to July, and I am so glad I did as I was able to capture this georgeous mama to be! The shoot we did was a forever friends shoot with 5 beautiful women and friends. Heidi was one of them, and she was 33 weeks pregnant. These are perhaps some of my favourite pregnancy photos.

So in the middle of the week, on a gorgeous evening, I took a break from my usual night time proofing (which starts once the kids go to bed), and we headed out to my father in law’s gorgeous property. I am so thankful that him and his wife allow me to shoot there~its like an amazing outdoor studio space with vintage cars, a great barn, century home, lovely gardens, and in the middle of no where~so very private and peaceful.

The light was perfect, and this mama-to-be glowing! {and once I catch up on wedding proofing, the forever friends shoot will be up on the blog!}

” A Grand Adventure is About to Begin”….Winnie the Pooh

I posted part one of this tea party shoot a few weeks ago, and time got away from me! A little idea that was dreamed up on a cold winter day last winter, turned into such a fun {and sweet} event.

There are a few things I would do differently, and it was all a little chaotic, but overall I loved it! This tea party set up was at a spot at the end of my driveway {our very own not so secret-secret garden}

The kids were invited to bring along their favourite friends to join in the tea party.

The setup {or the calm before the chaos!}

My little man and little Kristen “would you like this dance”

Adam and {some of} the girls before the shoot

A big thank-you to all these cute little ones and their parents for helping my vision come to life! Also thank-you so much to all the businesses involved in the shoot~such an amazing group of talented ladies! I can’t wait to work with all of you again!! xo

Cold winter planning, turned into a magical June “tea party” shoot with the collaboration of friends, businesses, a second day of good weather {the first one being rained out}, adorable children, a cute little dog, delicious treats, and a “not so secret” secret garden.

Cookies and Cupcakes were provided by Julie at Sugarcakes, which were so tasty, and almost too pretty to eat!!

and sweet little cookies!

Cake Pops were provided by Laura & Penny at 2Sweeties. So amazing! These were like works of art, and matched our theme perfectly!

A beautiful banner was made by Twill & Twine to decorate our lemonade stand! Flowers were designed by Leslie French at French’s Flowers N’ More here in Shelburne {thank-you Leslie! they were perfect!!}

The children all wore beautiful jewelry hand made by Jenn at Grace & Lil’ Grace Jewelry Designs {even the little boys wore her Lil’ Joe line~so cute!!}

and they all came in these sweet little containers that I love!

The owner and designer of Grace & Lil’ Grace Jewelry Design; Jenn, is also the creative owner and designer behind By Invitation Only who designed these sweet name place cards and menu’s for our party!

Andrea of Baby Booms made absolutely beautiful headbands to match our dresses….all a little different, and all perfect! {btw I also have a large selection of Andrea’s headbands in my studio to use for shoots!!}

I want to thank all these creative ladies and friends for helping me to pull my vision together! This will be one of many styled shoots done by me, and I hope to work with you again in the future! Part two of this post will be posted soon with all the fun and magic that happened that day!

These years are so short. Already my daughter is in JK and in school half of the week. I miss the endless days with her crafting, chatting, playing, baking etc. Soon she will be in school full time, and time will go even faster.

Today we ran errands in the morning, had lunch and Adam went for his afternoon nap {I think I can do what I do because I have been blessed from the beginning with excellent sleepers!}

Mary has been wanting to paint rocks since we saw them at a birthday party on the weekend. So when we were out running errands I managed to pick up some paint. When Adam sleeps I try and get everything else done. Recently resorted to setting my timer on my iphone to 20 minute intervals~its amazing what you can get done in 20 minutes and then move on to the next task. So today, 20 minutes email for work, 20 minutes dinner prep, 20 minutes laundry~then paint rocks! Mary knew the plan, but it wasn’t happening. As soon as dinner got in the oven she came to me, and asked if we could start painting rocks (for the millionth time)….okay the laundry can wait….

Out we went, and spent such a lovely hour on the driveway painting rocks for the garden….she loves art/crafts and tells me she is going to be a “great artist when she grows up”. I think she already is one….

We talked about fossils (when one of her rocks broke in half), colours, patterns, plants, our garden, how these were going to make our garden “so beautiful, the ants will love them!”

We discussed how she wants to have a “fair, to show off all her rocks”, or perhaps she could “put them in her bike basket and show them to the neighbours”….

It was such a blissful hour before the rain started, before Adam woke up, before dinner was cooked, before dance class and all the craziness that always happens at 4pm when everyone is starving, tired and cranky. It was an hour that I will treasure forever, whenever I look at the painted rocks in my garden…

So today the laundry will wait. It will still be there tomorrow {I do laundry everyday}, because today we painted rocks.

{Making the decision to have a child is momentous.  It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.  ~Elizabeth Stone}

I had the opportunity to do my first boudoir sessions this past February, and I just loved how they turned out. Below are a few photos (shared with permission) of the lovely ladies who I photographed.

{makeup by Amanda Ferri}

So here is a little sneak peek of what we are offering! With more to come! so keep checking back for more updates of this exciting project! {Also find Shelley on Facebook here~”like” her page for more exciting things coming up!}

Today is her one year anniversary of her heart surgery, and I just wanted to post a few photos of this little angel that I recently took at the Heart and Stroke event that we were a part of.

I am truly blessed to have been connected with this little one and her parents. She has stolen my heart forever!

Some of you may have followed Kristen’s story on my facebook page. I had the pleasure of meeting her parents when her mom Jamie was pregnant with Kristen.

I then had the honor to photograph her when she was 11 days old. She was a little angel and slept through most of the photos. Their dog scooter, so amazing with her, watching over her. The following day as I was proofing these photos of Kristen, Jamie’s facebook status changed to notify her friends that she was taking Kristen to RVH then Sickkids as the midwives had heard a heart murmur.

I am also a nurse, and a mother, and I cannot for one moment imagine what Jamie and Andrew were going through with Kristen. She was diagnosed with CHD {Congenital Heart Defect} and was in heart failure. She was sent home on many medications in the hopes that she would get better.

At 6 months it appeared that Kristen was going to need surgery. I contacted her parents and gifted them a family session before surgery to “celebrate the moment”. They only had a few hours available during such a hectic time, and we were able to make it work. I arrived as Kristen was getting her NG {naso-gastric} tube feed.

She was so content, such a happy baby despite all she had to endure in a day.

Her parents were doing amazing, despite everything. She is so lucky to have these two for parents!

Kristen’s surgery was cancelled and re-scheduled, and she did amazing! After she had healed I went back and visited the Seal Family for a family photo shoot. I could hardly handle the difference in Kristen! She was fast asleep when I arrived. I managed to snap a few photos before she woke up!

Jamie wears a heart around her neck, and Kristen loved playing with it.

We then took it outside, and Kristen just stole my heart yet again with all her charm!

With Scooter always by her side. This dog is amazing!

This is one truly amazing family!

Kristen visited me in November in the studio for her first birthday portraits and Cake smash! We had a blast, and she is doing amazing! This one has stolen my heart forever!

and  how cute is scooter?!

Such a great dad {and a great sport!}

I hope to be able to continue to photograph Kristen’s journey, and help to bring awareness to CHD.

Some CHD facts to leave you with {courtesy of Kristen’s mom Jamie}

~50% of all children diagnosed with CHD will need at least one invasive surgery

~There is no cure for CHD’s, only surgery and catheterizations to “repair” and medication to manage. It lasts a lifetime.

~There are 35 known CHD’s

~1-85-100 babies are born with a CHD