Superheroes sleep too | Fayetteville, NC Photographer

I dunno if you guys know this or not, but my son LOVES anything superheroes. But he especially love the Avengers. He's loved every movie that came out before the movie as well, his favorite being Captain America (which so happens to mine too). But ever since the Avengers came out, he is starting to lean towards Hawkeye. Why? I don't know. Hawkeye isn't even that prevalent in the movie, and half the movie he's a bad guy. I dunno, it has to be the fact that he has a sweet bow with amazing arrows. It has to be.

Anyway, my son has every Avenger toy imaginable (minus a Hawkeye costume, which isn't made in stores, which means I'm going to have to get creative). He loves dressing up in both of his Captain America Halloween costumes — sometimes both at the same time. Why does he have two Capt. A costumes? Well, see, I refuse to buy store bought Halloween costumes. In my opinion, they're cheap, cheesy, and chintzy. So, I bribed persuaded my son to dress as the WWII Capt. A from the movie for trick or treating (and costume contests) and he could wear the store bought one to daycare. I lucked out and he agreed. Well, months later, he's still playing with both costumes. I loves dressing up. But to my defense on the 3C comment about store bought costumes, it is cheesy and it is falling apart. The costume I made him ... is in perfect condition (minus the wear and tear of him LOVING it so much). Just saying.

Wow, I'm getting off subject a lot here. Back to why I'm posting a blog! Last night, as I was going in his room to check on him before I headed to bed (and give him a kiss on the cheek - a nightly tradition), I almost killed myself tripping over his toys next to his bed. You see, he isn't allowed toys in the bed at night, so he "secretly" plays with them on the carpet as he leans over the bed. I noticed that everything surrounding him, minus his Wall-E comforter, was superheroes. I smiled and thought, "Oh how cute, even superheroes have to sleep sometime." Thus, my picture below! :-)

He's a cutie, isn't he? Just for fun, lemme post other superhero themed shoots (and personal family photos) I've gotten of him!

Here is his costume that I made for Halloween. He LOVED it, and I'm glad cause after all, I did bribe persuade him.

I took this pic for a photo challenge ... it was supposed to be of hand. Well, what better than snapping a shot of my boy playing with his Avenger Legos?!

Yep. I made a superhero birthday cake for his superhero birthday.

I even got in the action for Halloween and was Black Widow

 He looks so happy for winning the costume contest doesn't he? "Look ma, I got a medal. Cool." LOL Also, we got lucky enough to see a helicopter in one of the car lots here in October. I mean, how cool is that? He even say the sticker and said, "Mom! Avengers! It's the Avengers' helicopter!" I played along, ;-)

 I guess Bumblebee could be considered a superhero, right? When Dok was 3, he wanted to be Bumblebee. I've made his costume every year ... and I thought that year was going to be the year I broke down and bought a store costume. How the heck was I going to make a Bumblebee costume, "that transforms," my son said? Well, after almost breaking down four or five times at Walmart, and some A LOT or internet research, I figured out how to make a transforming Bumblebee Halloween costume. And can you believe it, he came in THIRD place at a Swampdogs (local baseball team) game. THIRD PLACE?! Boo, to that. But, winning isn't everything right? (sorta). He loved the costume and everyone who saw him in his costume and transform, loved it. It was a success.

Next few photos are taken with Instagram.

He's the one in the Ironman helmet. LOL He and his buddy from across the street playing, what else? The Avengers!

What? Captain America shops at Walmart ...

Well, for the opening of The Avengers, we went to the movie with our neighbors, who were just as excited as us. And I even made a T-Shirt for Dokken. Tutorial from the wonderful blog, I am Moma Hear me Roar, is HERE.

 

Last but not least, we had a fellow photographer, Amber, from Amber Fite Photography, take some family photos of us. And our outfits of choice? None other than the Avengers!

Fitting that his shirt says, "I want to be a superhero."

 Thank you for stopping by!!! Be sure to check back on the blog periodically for updates, specials, and image sharing!!!

 *** Please remember that all images are copyrighted to Sharilyn Wells Photography, LLC. Please do not copy or alter any images without SWP, LLC consent. ***

Pinned it, Did it: Part 3 | Pinterest Thrusday | iPhonography

Week three of my Pinterest Thursdays ... and boy! I've been busy with my pins. Not as much as I'd like, but I've been working it.

One of my big projects going on right now is transforming my son's Wall E/Space themed bedroom into an Avengers/Superhero room. Sounds simple enough right? Well, with me, nothing is simple. I don't like all the cheesy things that come with children's rooms. All the themed bedspreads and wall stickies ... not for me. It was cute when he was a baby, but my plan here is to make he's room last a while. Because I go into a lot of detail when it comes to decorating, not only do I get stressed out, but my wallet doesn't like it when I get a re-decoration idea. So, Pinterest to the rescue.

You guys remember my son's room, right?

This was the picture that I decided that my baby boy is growing up and needs to have a big boy bed. He was so cute just sleeping there, but he's feet were hanging off the toddler bed. LOL

So, first move was to get a twin sized bed. We looked on IKEA and saw a nice simple bed that was cheap and would have worked perfectly. But then, we saw that Ashley Furniture was going out of business and was have a "huge sale."  Well, we went in there looking for a bargain — we didn't find one, but we left with a bed anyway. I tried all my negotiation skills (which I'm pretty good at, I lived in Korea for a while and visited Mexico a few times. My haggling skills are good), but not good enough in the good ol' U S of A. We did end up getting about 30% off the bed, but it was still overpriced for a business that is claiming bankruptcy. That's just my opinion though.

Any who, this is the bed.  The best part (according to my son)? The secret lair underneath, of course!

Stage one complete. Now, you're asking "What does this have to do with Pinterest Thursday?" Well, in the decor of course! As you can see in the pictures, it's still a space theme. So, with the help of my SUPERHERO BEDROOM inspiration board, I have started doing little details in his room. There's really no rush because I'm waiting on original canvas paintings from a dear friend, Chrissy's Creative Creations. She painted my son's Wall E/space themed canvases and well, who else would I ask to do an Avengers theme?!

I so happened to move his space theme to his duckie themed bathroom. "Mom, I'm too big for duckies in my bathroom," he said to me. I couldn't give or toss her beautiful canvases, so this was the perfect idea!

First order of business was to change up the baby blue in his name letters above the bed. Inspired by this:

Blogs, Dogs, Frogs and books ...

I did this! My momma must'av taught me right, because I just didn't have the heart to rip up a book to do this craft ... comic book or not. I just couldn't do it. So, I scanned the pages that I liked from about 9 comic books I found at a fun comic book store. Funny thing about the store ... I have never been into superheroes ... like, never. But since having a boy, I've grown to enjoy superhero flicks, tv shows, and books. This was the first time I had ever stepped foot into a comic book store and boy, I was in amazement! It was awesome! I highley suggest going to your local comic book store and just spend a few minutes (or hours, like we did) going through the fun, vintage and new books. I had a blast searching the "rubbage rack" to find books that people didn't care for because they were ripped or starred characters they didn't like. I found a few gems for only $0.50! Then, of course I spent up to about $5 on some of the more popular, like "The Origin of Captain America." But I got 9 books for about $18. I considered it a great buy, especially since I then framed them and now they're wall decor as well. Double duty!

Each letter of his name features an Avenger. D - Captain America, O - Spiderman and Black Widow, K - Thor, K - Ironman, E- Hulk, N - Hawkeye. "O" shared the spotlight only because there wasn't enough letters! LOL But I mixed it well, didn't I? I mean, Black Widow and Spiderman? Awesome.

I'm currently working on his dresser right now. I did paint his drawer knobs, inspired by this:

• SweetPetitesBoutique

Of course, I painted Marvel/Avengers theme. I think they turned out great!

That's all I have for his bedroom for now. There is more to come ... just you wait and see! Did you check out my SUPERHERO BEDROOM board? You really should! There are so many great ideas and talented people out there, Pinterest is awesome.

A Pinterest Thursday wouldn't be complete with some hairstyles that I attempted from my HAIRSTYLE board. So, here you go!

The Beauty Department
This style was a little hard for me ... still getting the hang of french braiding my own hair. Plus, I didn't follow the blog directions exactly because my hair is shorter than the model's. I just did a messy bun at the bottom.

The Beauty Department
I did this style just before I headed to the beach. It held up great, but I didn't go in the water. Yet, it was windy as all get out on the sand, I thought it came out great!

This one didn't come out as planned ... plus my hair is too puffy and frizzy during the summer to wear it down. So, I attempted THIS, and threw my hair up in a lil' tuck thing and viola!

And there you have it folks! My pins for the week! I hope you enjoy these as much as I do and don't forget!

All my personal photos (except the first image) were taken with my iPhone and some were edited with Instagram and framed together in Photoshop.

 *** Please remember that all images are copyrighted to Sharilyn Wells Photography, LLC. Please do not copy or alter any images without SWP, LLC consent. ***

16 Minutes too Soon | Birth & First 48 | Fayetteville, N.C. Photographer

This cutie didn't want to wait any longer … she was going to be born whether the photographer was there or not… she barely even waited for the midwife to arrive! A beautiful home birth … that was so quick, I missed it! I was stuck in school traffic trying to get across town when momma sent me a text. 

"I think I'm ready for you to head my way. No rush though."

Well, apparently I needed to rush! After dropping my children off at school and daycare, I had used up about 20 minutes. Next, I had to get across town … another 45 minutes … but with school traffic, it took and hour and 4 minutes. I sent a text after getting through traffic, "I'm about 7 minutes out."

"Baby's already here." My heart sunk … I had never missed a birth before! I arrived shortly afterward and found out that total … I was 16 minutes too late. Or I like to say, she was 16 minutes too soon! :-) Come to find out, momma's midwife barely made it through the door before it was time to push as well!

I went straight to work photographing her first nursing session, cuddles from mom, measurements, little details, dad getting her weight and of course each grammas' reactions! One was on the road trying to get there in time and the other was dropping off lil' gals' brothers to school and didn't make it back in time!

She was ready to come out and nothing was going to stop her! I think that's a good indication of her future. She is going to be one phenomenal woman that will achieve so much because … she's going to get what she wants and nothing will stop her! ;-)

The above picture I caught real quick and new dad and his dad were chatting … I just loved this image! they look as stunned as I was when I found out how quickly baby came!

And of course, I stuck around to see big brothers' reactions to their new sister! <3 Later on that day they where going eat cupcakes and have a piñata to celebrate their sister's birth-day! How cute is that?

A few hours later, I arrived again to do a First 48 session for the new family of five! :-) We even got their first "baby" in on the family photos! Look how good this pup is!

First 48 sessions include pictures of the family doing what they do best … loving one another and enjoying each other's company! But of course, we have to get a few lifestyle pictures of baby girl too!

Baby sister has two older brothers who are superhero fanatics! (Boy, do I know about superheroes and boys myself!) Mom has family portraits of them in superhero shirts … so to add to the wall, baby sister tried on her new pick Batman bow! :-)

And again, we needed to reenact another image that her brothers had with dad. Precious.

  *** Please remember that all images are copyrighted to Sharilyn Wells Photography, LLC. Please do not copy or alter any images without SWP, LLC consent. *** 

Saint Patrick's Day | Pinterest Thursday | Fayetteville, N.C. Photographer

As y'all know, St. Patty's day is a pretty big deal in the Wells' household! ;-) But this year it snuck up on us with the untimely death of a family member. So, instead of a big shindig like usual, we had a small get together at the house. We had lime marshmallow rice krispie treats (they were okay), shepherd's pie minis - yum, mozzarella sticks (cause I was craving them), and of course, we had a leperchaun visit us and take the kids on a lil' scavenger hunt to find a secret treasure. It was so much fun watching the kids run around in their superhero outfits. My son is the only one who can read, so the little ones would find the clue and my son would read the next clue. LOL They were so excited to find the "treasure" — lil' rainbow Twizzlers with golden Rolos. SOOOOOO cute. I got most of the ideas off of Pinterest ... you really should follow me! ;-)

And of course, we topped the day off with a special lime float. Caffeine free Mountain Dew with lime sherbert ice cream ... yum yum yum! (I got the clover straws from the Dollar Store!).

Pinterest Links:

Rainbow/Rolo treasure
Scavenger hunt
Rice Krispies (with out lime marshmallow twist-found in Walmart)
Sherbert Punch (with Caffeine free Mountain Dew - forgot that it called for Sprite...)
Leprechaun visit

Don't forget to :

All my  photos were taken with an iPhone and copyrighted by SWP.

 *** Please remember that all images are copyrighted to Sharilyn Wells Photography, LLC. Please do not copy or alter any images without SWP, LLC consent. ***

End of July | Monthly Photo Dump | Fayetteville, N.C. Photographer

It's that time of the month again! (No, not "that" time of the month) It's SWP's Monthly Photo Dump!

This month has been a blast. I could say I have been busy, but I'm a busy body ... I can't just sit around and do nothing. But this month is the best month in the year. Why, you ask? Well, it's the month that I came into this wonderful world! The family and I celebrated my birthday at the beach, visited a long lost relative and went camping. My son and husband are amazing and gave me iPhone lenses for my present. I was in heaven! Now these monthly photo dumps are even cooler 'cause I got SWEET lenses! We spent out weekends at an outside movie out at Smith Lake and my son and I headed back to the beach to hang out with my Godmother and sister. I took my gorgeous, aspiring model and pageant competitor's portraits on the beach and still can't believe I got a 19 year-old up at the sunrise for two days in a row! I introduced my son to the Ninja Turtles movies that were made in the 90's and he showed up how to eat an Oreo correctly (by pulling the stuffing out whole)! I'm still working on his superhero bedroom, but it's slowly getting in place. I celebrated my close friend's birthday by making Rolo cupcakes and took her daughter to a Revolutionary War reenactment with us. My son tried out (and LOVED) gymnastics and finally got to play with his Avengers' Hawkeye bow and arrow. Lastly, the maker above has been sharing some wonderful sunsets with us this past month — must be a sign and a lil' glimmer of hope after all our huge thunderstorms we've had. All in all, the month of July has been a good one. Enjoy!

These end of month photo dumps are taken with Instagram or Hipstamatic (on my iPhone) and put into a Photoshop template where I can share with you 15 of my family photos from the month. I hope this gives you a little insight of what my family does on a monthly basis. I won't give too much explanation to the photos, as it is a photo dump, but if you follow me on Facebook — you won't be too lost! :-)