Tara Swain Photography

It’s time for another store shoot for Paris Baby! They are starting to get in a ton of awesome new items for Spring and had more puzzles and play sets than I’ve ever seen them have. Briley LOVES them. We came home with several puzzles and some big Melissa and Doug play sets.. but her favorite thing from Paris Baby are the food play sets that they carry by Melissa and Doug. PB is the FAO Schwartz of Texas. ;)

Every store shoot, Melissa and Tab deck Briley out in Paris Baby gear, even though she is almost always wearing at least 1 thing that came from the shop. :) This time she was already wearing her shiny, silver glitter shoes we bought there last month, but Melissa added a tutu and THEN a Super Hero costume… (which Briley wore after being bribed with a Dum-Dum sucker.) Austen was a knight (who doesn’t like to wear his knight costume) and Hanker was a Knight/Super Hero, but who dressed like a Knight. ;)

They also have a few larger items in right now like the Boon highchair (WHICH IS AWESOME!!) We bought the white one last year and I’m SO happy with it. They also have the Mama Roo now! You’ll see sweet baby Abe testing that out in a few pictures too. :) Aus and Hank are pro’s at this but this was baby Abe’s first official Paris Baby shoot. Next time.. Maggie Mae will be the newbie. ;)

If you are not local, Paris Baby is MORE than happy to ship! Shoot them an email at: parisbaby@live.com, write on their FAN PAGE wall, or just give them a call (903-737-8828) and they would be more than happy to help you find what your looking for!!

I’m putting a little vendor spotlight on one of my favorite vendors, Pepper Lu. I’ve actually got most of PepperLu’s inventory including the ottomans and most of their new line of hats (which I’m in LOVE with.) But today I’m featuring their faux floor mats. PepperLu mats are made with a 25% lycra/75% polyester blend fabric and 100% natural rubber. The mats can also be washed in a washing machine on cold and laid out flat to dry. I currently store these in the studio just rolled up and stuck to the side (or in a prop closet.) However, we’re currently working on a new way to store them so I’ll be posting pictures of the finished studio (and prop closet) in another feature with how I store everything, once it’s complete!!

What I love most about the mats is no annoying reflection like real wood floors can give off! They are also soft enough to set a baby, or lie a happy little 3 month old on their backs to get a birds eye shot! They are light weight and easy to transport, so you on location photographers who set up in your clients home.. these are perfect for you! They are also perfect if your limited on space in your studio, or if your just like me and love the look and quality of the product! I HAVE taken these with me to clients homes, and I’ll continue to use them in the new natural light studio.

ALL of the below images (except the backdrops in the top 2 images) are PepperLu mats! Here are a few of my images using some of my PepperLu mats. A few of the ones pictured below aren’t available on the website at this time, but you can always contact PepperLu and see when it will be available again! The ones that ARE pictured below that are available on the site right now are:

Old School
Old World Brick
Vintage Marange
Rembrandt

So here’s the best part.. we’re going to have a little giveaway! PepperLu is generously donating a $50 store credit to 1 lucky duck! HOWEVER… they are also giving 10% off to anyone and everyone who want to place an order in the meantime. Use the code: Swain10 (This code expires March 8th so MAKE SURE you use it before then!)

The best part is, you don’t have to WAIT to order. If you see something you can’t live without, order it NOW and use your code. If your the lucky winner of the $50 virtual credit, PepperLu will simply credit $50 back to you if you placed an order between now and the 8th, using my code!

HOW TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY:

First, become a fan of Tara Swain Photography AND PepperLu on Facebook.

NEXT, leave a comment on THIS post with the name of your favorite PepperLu mat!

For an additional entry, post the link to THIS blog post on your Facebook with the caption “I love Tara Swain Photography and PepperLu!” then come back to this post and leave ANOTHER comment stating that you shared the giveaway on your Facebook.

AND for a 3RD entry.. go to the PepperLu Facebook Fan page and write “Tara Swain Photography sent me!!” (Make sure to tag “Tara Swain Photography” by just putting an @ symbol before typing out the business name. But you must already be a fan of the TSP fan page in order to do that. Then come back and leave one final comment on this blog post!

So you can enter your name into the giveaway a total of 3 TIMES!! 3 chances to win!!! The giveaway is live from now through Wednesday, March 7th, 11:59pm est. The winner will be announced Thursday, March 8th right here on THIS blog post. Just pull this link back up and I will add the updated giveaway winer at the bottom!

PepperLu was also one of the awesome vendors who donated to my workshop attendees (more on that later) and 1 of my attendees took away her very own $50 credit to their store. Become a FAN, do a little shopping and enter the giveaway and you might just win a credit too!! If the response is good, we’ll do this again, so spread the word!!

**This giveaway is in NO WAY associated with Facebook and you must be 18 years or older to participate. Prizes have no cash value and winners will not be notified via Facebook. Winners are chosen at random.

I survived the week. This has been one of the busiest and most exciting weeks ever for me.. Monday and Tuesday was my very first workshop.. (more on that later.) If you haven’t seen the sneak peeks from the sessions, on Facebook… make sure you check those out.

Last Tuesday (Valentines) I also taught my first camera class. I called it the “Mom-tographer” class because it was geared toward woman who wanted to learn how to use their cameras to best of their ability.. as well as how to take better pictures, of their kiddos. I had so much fun spending the day with these ladies. We also had a couple of gorgeous little girls who came to model for us so the ladies could get some hands on practice shooting in manual. I had an overwhelming amount of inquires when I put out the model call a few months back for the workshop.. and ended up choosing a couple of those girls for this class as well. I didn’t know this when I contacted her mom, but one of the girls came all the way from Houston to model for the class. I’m so thankful to the moms of theses sweet girls who did such a wonderful job on their adorable outfits and also for taking the time out of their schedules to spend the afternoon with us. I’m also thankful to these sweet girls who were TROOPERS, considering it was freezing cold outside.

All of these amazing knit hats were courtesy of 2 CRYSTAL CHICKS, Make sure you check her out. I’ll be working with her a lot so make sure you keep an eye out for all her amazing hats!!