kathy thompson photography

goodbye sweet fella

Just 3 months shy of his 14th birthday. Best dog ever.  You'll be missed, buddy.

Good morning! Where does the time seem to go this time of year?  Mid December already.

I wanted to share this shoot, it was for a wonderful friend/co-worker.  She's had quite a year, but when you look at those 2 handsome, dapper little guys, how can you not help but smile?

We started with a traditional portrait, the only thing her mother in law requested for Christmas, the elusive 'family shot'.  Long live the garage shoot!

Then H1 posed for me alone:

But boy was he excited when his 'girlfriend' showed up:

We then headed outdoors, with the big red wagon and got these:

(I love a 'birds eye view' shot).

No lack of cuteness, this little guy:

Ready for H2?  Quite possibly the cutest almost 1 year old on the planet:

Lots of energy from these two; for instance:

Love that one.

And this one.  I had to work hard to get - and keep! - his attention when he knew his mama was behind him:

but he clearly found me pretty amusing, because he started to climb out of the wagon and almost gave me a heart attack!

He found the whole thing quite entertaining :)

T, so glad this worked out, and that you like the shots - and so glad to finally have you back at work too!

Have a good Thursday, everyone!

Merry Christmas to you!

Head on over to the blog for your chance to win some amazing prizes!

Looking for some fun holiday inspiration??

Some great, quick ideas can be found right here, one for every day leading up to Christmas. Check it out!

Good morning!  How was your weekend?

I have long been obsessed with Pottery Barn and their current yet timeless style.  I am partcularly obsessed with their slightly distressed totally perfect black finish, but not obsessed at all with their prices and the fact that the closest Pottery Barn is in Ontario!

So, what to do, what to do. . .  turn to the www of course, specifically Pinterest!  I had been noticing that this tutorial kept popping up, so I watched it a few dozen times and thought what the heck, looks do-able.

And you know what??

It was!

My table went from this:

to this:

(not a great after pic, but you get the idea).

I am in love with it!

I followed the steps in the video.

It was lightly sanded, primed with this stuff:

(here's a little tip also courtesy of Pinterest; line your paint tray with foil - makes clean up a snap!)

Make sure you use a decent quality foam roller:

That was then lightly sanded:

It was then wiped down and dried, and then it was time for the the first coat! I was so excited to get that on, but wait, we ran into a slight glitch.  Notice anything (besides the fact that it's a grainy cell phone pic)??

That's right - it's not black, it's blue! Long story short, I chose a colour called "Jet" as in black.  When it was mixed, it didn't look right to me but the paint guy convinced me that it would dry black. Well, it didn't.  Back to the store I went. . . twice!  Moral of the story: stand your ground with the paint guy.

Once that was corrected, it was really fun painting and sanding and painting and sanding and painting and sanding!

And then the really neat part began - the distressing.  The right angles were very easy to distress, but the rounded edges were a little more challenging.

I skipped the step with the stain pen, I tried it but didn't feel like this piece needed it:

It was then wiped down thoroughly and given two coats of this, with cheesecloth:

A little of this goes a long way, but the finish is wonderful - satin-y without being shiny?

I highly recommend the video if you are going for this look - it's easy to follow and I just love the end result!

I also painted some furniture for Emma, not quite as subtle, which I'll share in another post!

Also, do you know that registration for Crop and Create Winnipeg opens tonight?? I am beyond excited to be teaching again, and I hope you'll come join me for a class or two:

Class descriptions can be found here!  Can you believe the talent I'm teaching with?? Can't wait!

Have a great Monday everyone :)

Good morning!  I am so glad it's Friday, it's been a very long week.

Guess what goes live today??

Check it out here!  My article starts on page 28 and I also have another layout in this issue - can you find it??

Have a great weekend everyone!

Good Monday morning. 

Took a lot of pictures this weekend, love being behind the camera.  Love sorting through pictures and coming across a gem.  Not because it's technically perfect (far from it), not because it's well executed (even further from it) , just because it captured a fleeting moment, a happy moment, with someone who means the world to me, and because it made me smile on this dark Monday morning.

Have a wonderful day :)

lovely lauren

I think I posted a sneak of Lauren awhile ago; her mom has been beyond patient waiting for these pics.  Hopefully they were worth the wait! What a little doll :)

I personally love soft black and whites for newborns, so timeless:

love capturing unexpected expressions at this age:

and here she is all snuggled up back in her sleeper. As much as I love the black and whites, of course I also love colour!

fighting so hard to stay awake. . .

and gone!

So beautiful!

What do you prefer for newborns? Black and white, or colour?

Have a great Wednesday!

Happy Birthday to my Mom!

Paper - My Little Shoebox; Dimensional Sticker - American Crafts; Rhinestones - Martha

Happy Birthday to my wonderful Mother, who turns . . .  I won`t publish her age on my blog, she`d kill me lol!

I couldn`t have gotten through the last few months without her.  I love her dearly and am looking forward to meeting her for lunch tomorrow.  I just baked red velvet cupcakes for the occasion :)

(yes, the batter really is that red!)

Yum!

Happy Birthday Mom!  We love you and are so happy to be celebrating this day with you!

xo

As I struggle to keep my computer alive long enough to get everything I need off of it, I have been spending some time going through my thousands and thousands of photos (yes, they are all safely backed up!).  Photography makes me  happy.  That is all :)

Have a wonderful weekend!