MY Secret Garden

Here it is...post 1 of what I call, "My Secret Garden." It's mine, because we shot this at my house, with my kids (okay, and one extra really cute one, but I'm sure my kids would be happy to adopt her as our own too!). I've always loved tea parties, the thought of a secret place of beauty (like a garden). I mean, really, is there a girl who doesn't love that movie? So, I got my wonderful friend, Rita (Clifton Photography) to help capture our Garden Tea Party and Kacee Geoffroy to loan us her talents as a hair stylist (although she mainly is a Make-Up Artist). She also loaned us her sweet & adorable daughter, Capri. Here's a sneak peak of our enchanting shoot (these are my pics)...with Rita's photography to come in a soon-to-be-featured post. **BRIDES** Stay tuned in the coming weeks for a giveaway from Bows-n-Berries!!!

These are just a SMALL bit of the magic... =) Check back soon for much more lovliness...and a closer look at My "Secret" Garden...

Vintage Rita

Not too long ago, my amazing friend Rita asked me for a few vintage style hair pieces to use in a shoot she was coordinating at Motte's Farm. A friend of hers started a new business for hair and make up styling and Rita wanted to showcase her work. Here are some of my fave shots of the day. Credits below...all photography here is by Rita Clifton.

Hair by: Colee Martinez

Makeup by: Raquel Victoria
Flowers by: Lasting Memories 

Hair Pieces: Bows-n-Berries

Models: Natalie Brewster / Christina Gabrielle Rix
Location: Motte’s Farm
Shoot Inspired: Clifton Photography
Photographers: Alicia Salcedo, Harmony Loves, Kelli Benson, Christina Sanchez, and Rita Clifton. 

SoCal Photog Shootout Dec. 2010

Here are a few shots from the most recent SoCal Photog Shootout, a photography group for all levels of photography. The theme was "Winter Wonderland" and it looks like everyone had a GOOD time! I am loving Kristen's crazy lashes!!! I only made one piece for this shoot, and you can see it Kristen Macchio below. I would like to thank all who made the shoot possible, including Hanssie and Matt for running this amazing group, Michelle Cunningham for styling this shoot, Diego Ortega for all his fun hair creations, and Ashley Gannon and Candace Magoski for their wonderful and FUN make-up! You can find all these people on facebook! The group too! I left the photographers' watermarks on the photos here, so you can see who shot each photo!

DeLeon St. Lucia Wedding...Scrumptious!

Oh man, this was a GORGEOUS wedding for which I was so privileged to design! The bride, Heidi, found me through a local boutique store where my hairpieces were selling like hotcakes (until they, sadly, closed last year). She was so fun to work with, and very creative on her own! I don't even know how she had time to plan a destination wedding; she only happened to be the chief resident of plastic surgery at Loma Linda University Medical Center. HELLO! And her husband-to-be was not only beginning a new job, but he was also part of a local band, called "the Nine," previously known as "The John DeLeon Band." I'm still trying to find time to see them play! I later found out that the groom is the cousin of my brother's wife's brother. (And if you can get all that you deserve a prize of some sort! LOL.) So we're practically related! Ha! Without further ado, here are some of the wedding pictures taken by the wonderful Kelly Mulhern.

And a few of my pics...close-ups of a few pieces...

More Rita!

In addition to the beautiful wedding shoot we did, Rita was kind enough to do some head shots for my website! Here are some of my faves (didn't she make me look good?? LOL). If you need any portraits or anything done, find her on facebook or at Clifton Photography.

I'm a BAD Blogger! Bad, Bad, Bad!

So in the world of blogging, I think you are supposed to do think thing called...blogging. Duh. Well, unfortunately, although this thought crossed my mind more than once, my extremely hectic life didn't allow it. Okay, it didn't help that I was mixing up usernames/passwords either.

A note about my personal life. I'm a mother of five. I think I have written about my kids somewhere along the way. Well, we have started our own new journey this year, and that is the journey of homeschooling for the first time! It has been such fun, but it is very time-consuming! So the blog has been the thing to suffer. But it's a new year. So I'm resolving...oh forget it! I'm not the "resolution type." I don't really make resolutions. But I am going to try a bit harder to get on track with this blogging thing. 

I've got to take you back to an amazing shoot that I did with Rita Clifton and Richelle Cote. Jessica Hale was our fab Hair and Make-Up Artist. Lori Fischer was the Floral Artist. And the beautiful location is Rancho de los Robles!! I'll update the baker info as soon as possible! 

Here are some of the photos of this wonderful collaboration (completely out of order)! I made the hairpieces, of course. =)