Small Business Saturday!!!! Sales and business links

Tags

applique designs, hats, sale, saturday sale, Small business saturday

In support of this Saturday being small business Saturday,  I’d like to share some links to the business pages of some really crafty ladies!

Click on the links below and go to their pages.  “Like” them if they are on Facebook, and make sure you check out all the goodies we have to offer you!  A couple of us are doing sales to go along with Small Business Saturday.

1.  Emily Bryan Crochet  –  I sell tons of crochet hats! My hats are completely customizable and can be made in any size.

I’ve got lots of animals, stylish hats, and holiday gear.  I’ve now also got super cute pajamas made with flannel pants and matching shirts and also Christmas stockings with names embroidered on them as well as really cute applique designs I can put on shirts!!!  I’m having a sale just for this Saturday and you can take $10 off your purchase of $50 or more, $20 off your purchase of $85 or more!
Go check out my photo albums to see what all I’ve got to offer!
https://www.facebook.com/emilybryancrochet

2.  Beautiful Ducklings  – Here you can check out her cool crafts!  She’s got some really great quiet time books for kids, some crochet, and some really cute name plaques!  AND Mrs. Sonya is going to give you a $5 discount on all name plaques, so be sure you check those out.
https://www.facebook.com/BeautifulDucklings

3. Flowers for Addyson – Here is a great place to buy those great bows for your daughters!! She makes some super cute stuff and even has some favorite sports teams and characters on her bows!!!  Go take a look!

https://www.facebook.com/FlowersForAddyson

4. Radolepa Boutique – This lady is so creative and she has some super cute things made with Duct Tape, as well as some awesome bottle cap necklaces and accessories.

https://www.facebook.com/RadolepaBoutique

5. The Flying Zebra Bottlecaps & More –  Lots of accessories and right now has a good sale going on!  She’s got Black Friday sales going on as well as a Deal or no Deal promotion going.  Be sure you go check out the photo albums and see whats up for sale!

https://www.facebook.com/TheFlyingZebraBottlecaps

6.  Green Apron Creations– This is a friend of mine that is really amazing at the things she makes.  She sells lip balms, soaps, tints, scrubs, soap and more soap 😉  But she makes them all herself!  You will not regret checking out her shop on Etsy!.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/GreenApronCreations 

7.  Emily Bryan Studios – Some of you know that I’m also a photographer.  I’ve been studying my craft for years and truly enjoy every minute of what I do.  I photograph families, babies, children, seniors, couples, and I also do boudoir photography (you can see that here  https://www.facebook.com/embracesexy)  I’d love to book a session with you so get in contact with me for all of your photography needs!  😉

https://www.facebook.com/emilybryanstudios

Thank you for your support of our small business’!  The average American spends over $700 annually on holiday shopping. If just $64 of this was spent on gifts made in the USA, the economic impact would equate to the creation of 200,000 American jobs!

Support your local small business’ this holiday season!!!

Freedom to Splash

Tags

children, City Park, Emily Bryan Studios, Family, Family Fun, Kansas, kids, Manhattan Kansas, Memorial Day, photography, Splash Park

Fun in the Sun

This past weekend, we spent some good quality family time. My wonderful husband is home for a while so we are taking full advantage of spending time with him.  For Memorial Day we enjoyed one of the many benefits of living in Manhattan and went to Splash Park located in City Park. We packed extra clothes (the swimsuits were left at Grandma’s house) and our towels, and without telling the children where we were going we left the house. As soon as they saw the water they were excited.  Camera in tow, this mommy was ready to capture some great moments with my family.  We put our stuff down and off they went!  Emma, age 5, took off and seemed to be doing giant figure 8’s around the entire area.  Eli, age 3 (but will tell you he’s 2), on the other hand took a much more cautious approach. 

He did not want to get wet! Dad put him down next to this water spout and he wiggled and got out of the splash zone! Then he would yell and throw his hands up and say “Daddy, up!” 

Emma loves the water as long as she isn’t going down a big slide with her dad and brother, but that’s another story. 😉

Eli insisted that his dad go with him into what little water he would get close to!  My boys are so cute!

This face says pure joy!  While running like a crazy woman she would let out her high pitched squeals, and I loved every minute of it.

After a short time he warmed up to the idea of the water.  I said that right, the IDEA of the water.  He still wasn’t very wet, but was getting a little closer.

Water guns do make a good time even better.  This girl surprised me.  She stood there and shot her gun even while the bigger kids were shooting her right in the face!  She eventually got the hang of it and kept her head down and got them. 😉  That’s my girl! 

It is so nice to be spending time all together.  When my husband travels we miss him so much, so we really treasure all the time spent with him.

So I want to say that Daddy came in to rescue Em from the big kids drowning her, but I’m not exactly sure if that was the case. 😀 I think he just wanted in on the action.  What boy wouldn’t!?!

Ok, I think he was helping her!  😉  Its all about perspective. I love you honey!

Somehow he is all wet but hasn’t really gotten in the water. He did manage to have a cute little girl come up and flirt with him.  She was a little young for him, but who can blame her, he’s a sweet boy just like his daddy.

Sometimes you just need to watch what’s going on, or run around like a mad woman! 

Ok this next image is not of my child, hence you don’t see her face.  But look at how amazingly adorable her swimsuit is!  Who would’ve thunk to put a tutu on a swimsuit and its got polka dots too!!  Oh my I just wanted to squeeze her little face (yes i’m a squeezer)!

You know she’s focused when her tongue is sticking out!  It’s fun to be little.

Making their way around to all the little water spots, my boys came upon the rings your supposed to run thru and get wet, and Eli had no interest in doing that.

Putting his hands in it was just enough for him. I love this sweet  Veteransmile so much. 

What day isn’t complete without making a new friend.  These girls were having a blast.   They would get under this water, and then stand up and scream when they got wet, run away and do it over and over. It was very nice meeting you Morgan!

He seems to be ok with the water hitting his feet! 

This image makes me laugh and laugh and laugh.  Randomly for whatever reason the water stops, his face says it all!

Anyone up for a game of tag? Emma and Morgan were!  They were so cute running and screaming and laughing.  Such a joyful noise to hear that much fun going on.

We had such a fantastic time.  If you haven’t been to Splash Park then you really need to check it out.  Maybe we will see you there!  Thank you for taking some time and sharing this time with me and my family.

And thank you to all of the Soldiers who have made this day possible. We wouldn’t be able to do this without your sacrifice.

Please feel free to email me or find me on Facebook at Emily Bryan Studios to book your session.

Don’t forget you can also subscribe to my blog right here so you can see all the newest stuff I’m working on first.

‘Til next time ❤

Em

Riley County Humaine Society Beastie Ballyhoo

Tags

Beastie Ballyhoo, children, City Park, Emily Bryan Studios, Family, kids, Manhattan Kansas, Pets, photography, Riley County Humane Society

Photographer’s Best Friends

All for the love of the animals I volunteered to help out this amazing group.  Not only do they help find these animals homes and find foster families to keep them while they wait for their new fur-ever home, but the people themselves are truly fantastic.  I’ve never met such a caring and fun bunch of people.  Morgan Peters contacted me about helping and I signed on.  On April 29th in the Manhattan City Park I photographed this great event.  They had face painting, balloon animals, bouncy houses, door prizes, food and entertainment, and that was just for the people!  They had vets there so you could ask questions, you could get your pet a rabies shot, or even get them micro-chipped!  They even had pets there to adopt.  It was so much fun to see all the different pets.  I saw a giant Great Dane, who I believe could be relation to a horse, a hairless cat, bunnies, a couple ferrets, and the coolest dog ever, Sarge the St. Bernoodle! He was a poodle and St. Bernard mix.  If you didn’t attend then you really missed out.  Be sure to join us (yes, I said US because I’d love to do it again) next year in April!  If you would like to adopt a pet or help this great group out with donations you can find information on the Riley County Human Society’s website.

Beastie Ballyhoo Highlights

Yes that is someone showing a cat the bunnies.  The funny part is that the cat was just looking til that rabbit moved and scared the kitty.  He jumped back like that sweet bunny was after him.

The Girl Scouts were so cute running around giving all the pets a bandana  that said Beastie Ballyhoo!

Lots of fun AND education.  They taught the kids how to tell if a dog is friendly or not, and how to safely approach and pet someone elses dog after asking permission of course.  And did you know that your dog really doesn’t like it when you hug him around the neck?  I didn’t, but now I do. 🙂  Thanks guys!

Last but not least Catch Amy performed!  These guys were fantastic and made me sing in my car all the way home. 🙂  I had such a good time

Little man liked the band and was dancing his little heart out. 🙂

Please feel free to email or find me on Facebook at Emily Bryan Studios to book your session.

Don’t forget you can also subscribe to my blog right here so you can see all the newest stuff I’m working on first.

‘Til next time ❤

Em

Kirsten Tecumseh Kansas Senior

Tags

Chapman, Emily Bryan Studios, Family, Ft. Riley, Junction City, Kansas, Manhattan, photography, Portrait, senior, Tecumseh, Topeka

Pretty in Purple

Most recently I had the pleasure of meeting this absolutely charming young lady Kirsten.  When we first met in Topeka I was already in love with her look and especially the purple in her hair. (I want purple hair!!)  Then we got to work. 🙂 We had so much fun choosing our locations and got great results if I do say so myself. 😉

Starting out I knew that I wanted to get more than one ‘look’ to this session. First we went out and found a great park in Topeka.  Then after the sun was long gone we found our second spot.  It was more of a challenge but of course it was, it was dark. LOL.  Despite the lack of natural light we got some amazing shots and had some fun time.  You know, work really isn’t work when you love it as much as I do.  My work rocks!  Thank you Kirsten for the great session.

So without further ado, here is Kirsten.  Topeka High School graduating class of 2012.

Please feel free to email me at ebryan08@yahoo.com or visit me on Facebook at Emily Bryan Studios to book your session.

Don’t forget you can also subscribe to my blog right here so you can see all the newest stuff I’m working on first.

Much love!

Em

Lifestyle Photography with Lexy

Tags

babies, children, Emily Bryan Studios, Ft. Riley, Junction City, Kansas, lifestyle photography, Manhattan Kansas, photography, Portrait

Lifestyle vs. Portrait Photography

Lifestyle photography as you will see is much different from portrait photography. Not only does it give me a chance to show the great moments of your family and loved ones, but it also allows us to be more personal and candid. It’s amazing to have a big family portrait on your wall (and I would be more than happy to do that for you) but to have one that is in your own setting and so true to life just makes those images that much more special to you.  Let me show you what I’ve been working on. 🙂

It’s incredible how fast children grow. For example, take Lexy who was 5 days old when this session was done.

This precious little girl is now 8 months old and my how she has grown.  She is a gorgeous little red head and I just love her sweet face.  If these cheeks don’t deserve a good squeeze then what cheeks do!?!  Really!  🙂

As you can see she seems to be pretty serious. Truth is that sometimes the little ones can be very easily distracted.  But not to worry, that can be a really good thing. 😉 After just a bit I got this sweet girl to play with me.

I cannot wait to see Ms. Lexy again for her 1 year pictures.  We will be doing cake and cute outfits and will have lots of fun.

What is your favorite kind of session? Is your family better photographed in action or do you prefer more traditional photography? Let me know in the comments below.

I would love to book a Lifestyle or Portrait session for you and your family.  Please feel free to email me at ebryan08@yahoo.com.

Don’t forget you can also subscribe to my blog right here and make sure that you get to see all the newest stuff I’m working on first.  Much love!

Em 😉

Carrie in Manhattan

Tags

Jodie Parks, Junction City, Kansas, kansas state alumni center, Manhattan, Model, photography, Sex in the city

Sexy in the City

Having a blast with my girl Carrie in The Little Apple, Manhattan, Kansas!

They say good things come in small packages and while she might be little, she has so much heart. Carrie is feisty and tons of fun to be around.  She always makes me laugh and is a great friend, mother, and wife.  Now adding model to her resume, this hard-working momma is going places. 😀  I’m blessed enough that I have booked several sessions with Carrie and I look forward to every second of it.  My dear friend has been working on a project with the fabulous Jodie Parks, and I so look forward to hearing and seeing (hint hint) what these girls get into.  Here is some of my favorites from Carrie’s first session.  😉

This next image is really one that I love.  It shows that we do have fun doing our shoots, but also that sweet little wrinkle in her nose while she laughs is the exact same thing that her almost 5-year-old daughter does. You just have to love those awesome little details.  😉

Love this image taken at the Kansas State Alumni Center! Work it girl!

Next we added some sass to the shoot!

I would love to shoot your “Sexy in the City”! Contact me at ebryan08@yahoo.com to capture your sexiness!

Dear Sweet Lexy

Tags

babies, Emily Bryan Studios, Junction City Kansas, kids, Manhattan Kansas

I had the pleasure of photographing this adorable little girl a couple of weeks ago when she was just 5 days new.  She was the sweetest snuggliest little thing I’ve seen in quite a while.  I’ve got a four-year old and two-year old at home, so given any chance to snuggle a little bitty baby and I jump at it.  She even let me squeeze her little face and I may have snuck in a little kiss. 🙂  Enjoy her while she is little Faye, they grow up way to quickly.

My guilty pleasure

Tags

Diet Coke, Emily Bryan Studios, M&Ms, photography, Starbucks

Week 5 in the 52 Weeks of Awesomeness is “Guilty Pleasure.” I know I’m behind with my plan, so I blame my husband who has been helping me with the blog posts. I need to crack the whip more often! 😀

I could have posted here that I am a complete chocoholic, especially if its dark chocolate.   But my favorite thing to spoil myself with is a Mocha Frap from Starbucks.  I have them add a little extra chocolate and it is like heaven in a cup!  I absolutely LOVE  Starbucks and their amazing customer service. (There is a fine line between flirting and great customer service and I don’t mind either one in a drive thru!) However, I do not love that my waist line has grown since I started treating myself to these fattening little drinks. Perhaps more Zumba and less Starbucks?  I think so.

So for my “Guilty Pleasure” image I chose a couple of my faves. I said i love my Mocha Frap and this ice cream is amazing.  What you can’t see is the Nesquik Chocolate that I added to it before I ate it 😀  Yummy!  Add to that Diet Coke is my drink of choice and my favorite candy is Peanut M&M’s. I’m Em and my daughter is Em so I find it only natural that we should love M&M’s!

More of my 52 Weeks of Awesome coming soon. 🙂

Show Us Your Name / Sports

Tags

Chapman, coupons, Emily Bryan Studios, Family, Junction City, Kansas, photography, Scrabble, sports, tennis

What’s in a Name? 20 Points!

Week 4 of the 52 Weeks of Awesomeness is “Show Us Your Name.” When I was little I really didn’t like my name and now I like it so much that both of my kids are named after me, to an extent. I’m Emily, our daughter’s name is Emma Lee, and our son’s name is Elias Matthew (which is E.M.). Needless to say Harlan gets confused sometimes. 🙂

For this week’s project I had a couple of ideas going through my lens: I thought about having my name written on a coloring page as I’m pretty good at scribbling it out in block letters; I thought about alphabet soup;  and I thought about stickers and all kinds of little things that I could spell my name with. In the end there is one clear winner that just stood out to me: Scrabble! Take a look. 🙂

I love to play Scrabble!!

I chose to put my name on our Scrabble board because I love this game! It all began while I was living with my Dad in Junction City and me and whoever else dared to play him would be up until the wee hours of the morning getting our butts handed to us! Fast forward several years and Harlan and I start playing online. That quickly progressed to where we had to invest in our own Scrabble board to play at home. Luck has it that I was able to find a coupon for the Diamond Edition and it was mine. (More about coupons later.) I may not be the most competitive person (wink wink) but I’m good at this game. If you are interested and want to play, send me a Facebook invite to a game, or maybe we need to hang out and have a Scrabble night! Harlan could use all the help he can get…

I love this weeks Awesome image because not only does it have my name Emily, but my other name is Mom. I absolutely love being a mom, wife, and photographer. All of these words are who I am and I love being all of those things. I am a lucky woman to have the best jobs in the world. Not everyone can say that and I am truly thankful.

Game On!

Week 5 of the challenge is “Sports” and if you know me at all, then you know that I am not, nor ever was really into sports. Don’t get me wrong, sports are great and I’m happy for people who enjoy it so much (especially when I’m taking their kids’ softball team shots); I just don’t understand why they love to paint on those giant letters to spell the name of their team and shout and yell when they see a television camera.  I’m just glad my husband doesn’t go to the game half-naked, tailgating in the snow with a crazy wig (although that might be worth taking a picture – I feel a Scrabble bet coming on!). If that’s you and you enjoy that kind of thing, good for you! Some of you may remember that I played tennis at Chapman High School, but I was not very good and I don’t think I even lasted the entire season. “Traditional” sports are just not my thing.

So if I had to pick a sport, my sport of choice would have to be Couponing.

Not "extreme"...yet!

I spend a lot of time researching deals, clipping coupons, organizing, and then its game time. If you see me heading into the store with my big blue binder, look out because I’m about to go Coupon Krazy! I not only find great deals on the stuff that my family will use (sometimes I get it for free); there are times the business will pay me to take their merchandise out of the store! In the short time that I’ve been doing this, I have saved several hundred dollars that will add up to several thousand before I know it. I’ve found things that I will never ever in my life pay for again, and some that I wont pay more than $.50 for. If that isn’t WINNING then I don’t know what is.

One of the main goals of couponing is to get as many of them as you can. There are all kinds of places you can go to get coupons like manufacturer websites as well as their Facebook pages. You can also get more coupons to print by becoming a member of MyPoints.com. The bonus with MyPoints is that when you print and use their coupons you get points that add up and you can spend them on rewards. Using our rewards, we have gotten $50 in Foot Locker gift cards, $50 in Kohl’s gift cards, and $25 in gift cards to Old Navy just to name a few. I love MyPoints. If you want an invitation, let me know and we will both get some points!

Other websites you can also print coupons from are Smartsource, Redplum, and Coupons.com. Don’t forget they are in the Sunday newspapers too. I usually get several copies of the Kansas City, Topeka and Salina papers bright and early Sunday morning and then start clipping and organizing. The more coupons you can get, the more money you save. If you aren’t using yours, let me know and I will take them off your hands! Might as well put them to good use if you are just going to recycle them!

I may not be as extreme as some of the people you see on TV, but I have helped our family budget a great deal. For a stay-at-home-photographer-mom named Emily, I can say “I WIN!” and that’s Awesome!

Congratulations Cassie and Anthony!!!!

Tags

Emily Bryan Studios, Family, Junction City, Kansas, kids, Milford Lake, photography, Wedding

Mr. & Mrs. Buckner

This past Saturday I had the pleasure of helping my friend Brandy shoot a wedding for Cassie and Anthony. Held at the Milford State Park, this was a beautiful wedding! Thank you guys for letting me come along and capture some amazing images for you to remember such a special day. I wish you two all the happiness in the world. I hope these photos will give you a glimpse into their special day.

I love this simple yet very elegant shot of Cassie with her bouquet.

It’s amazing to me how the pictures always seem to come out like the bride is completely happy, calm, and at rest…but ladies we know there is a different story inside, don’t we? Cassie was an amazing bride to work with and is so beautiful inside and out.

The father daughter dances always make me cry and this one was no different. It seemed from the camera that Cassie was a Daddy’s girl and from talking to her dad I would agree. He was a very sweet man and started to tear up during the dance. She couldn’t resist the urge to hug her dad one more time on the dance floor and this was the shot.

I had to add one of the younger ladies of the bridal party, Mya. Let me tell you something ladies, lock up your boys!! Mya is only 5 and this little girl is stunning, out going, and super sweet! Her parents are going to be in trouble when she gets older. I’m not too sure what the story is with the boy she’s with, but they were having a great time chasing each other. They were in their own little world talking and playing each with a bouquet in their hands. When I got closer to them with my camera, she pulled him closer and you see the finished product. So cute!!

There will be more amazing images to show off at a later date, these are just my current favorites.

Good luck Cassie and Anthony! You have a great life together ahead of you!