Flashback: Kendall's Sweet 16 Photos

As we all know, I'm an inconsistent blogger.  And that's putting it mildly.  But its usually because there are lots of great things going on … or that hard stuff is going on … either way, life calls and leaves little extra room for reminiscing (which is what blogging feels like to me).

Note: There ARE pictures (lots!) in this post, feel free to bypass my rambling and head down to the prettiness!

So, I've missed sharing/documenting some great things!  As we head into fall … my most favoritest season of the year for so many reasons … the weather, almost every single person in my family's birthday, holidays, football, etc … and are making plans/getting excited about all that this fall holds (TONS!) … I have been remembering last year.  And I've got some stuff to share :)

I'm working on some invitations for my big sister right now … more to come on THAT exciting news later … it reminded me that last year I was working on invitations for my little sister … for her 16th birthday!  Not a small thing in my world.  And I was determined to do my part to let her know that.  She and her best friend, Avery, have birthdays just 2 days apart in the first week of December.  It's a busy time and has in the past been, their birthdays have had to play second fiddle to a variety of other things.  Not this last year.  Not on my watch ;) So, the moms and I got to planning their Boots & Bling Sweet 16.

I don't have many great pictures of the actual party … the girls absolutely loved it though!  It was in a storage building on Avery's family's land … but it was totally transformed that night, mostly by Ave's crazy talented mama … and the kids all decked out in their boots & bling.  I, unfortunately, had gotten really sick a couple days before with a high fever and was not at my best and even headed home early and crashed :(

But, just two days before the big day and mere hours before the sickness creeped in, the girls had this fun, last-minute idea to go take pictures downtown.  And I got to play photographer :)  I absolutely love these pictures!  I have so much to learn about photography, but these two beautiful, fun-loving ladies couldn't take a bad picture if they tried and they couldn't be more interestingly complimentary in their outfits and coloring.  They were so natural, it made my job super easy.  But the thing I love most about these pictures is that you can't look at them and not catch their joy.  

After I edited them in Photoshop (a little desaturation and increased contrast to make them feel a little rustic) with Kendall's help, we printed a few to frame for the party and had a slideshow of them playing throughout the night on the wall with some others of their friendship and friends over the year.  It was a great hit and such fun to capture them at that moment in time.  

So without further ado … the stars of the show … my wonderful, gorgeous sister Kendall …

And her crazy-fun, beautiful best friend, Avery …

This is literally the first or second picture I took, still trying to figure out if I had the settings right, and I told the girls we could go home after this one … its perfectly them to me.  Don't you want to be their friend?

We ran out of daylight, but set-up a little make-shift studio in my mom's dining room (we were worried we didn't get enough good ones … we were very, very wrong) and they just kept being fun and beautiful!

And if that wasn't enough for you, you can click here to see all 54.

And here is the Save the Date postcard I designed …

And a mock-up of the invitation … the zebra was furry paper and the turquoise was glittery.  And we added a few rhinestones to each.  Extra fun!  And the pattern on the boot is their names repeating.