Denver, Colorado – What to Wear for Your Family Portrait Session – Part 1 (from Natascha Lee Studios)

by | Jan 29, 2014 | Denver Colorado Family Portraits, What to wear

Wow! I’m booking Denver baby, children and family portraits into June and January isn’t even over yet!

So excited to meet all these new families!

One of the first questions I get is “What should we wear?”

Here’s the first of a few ideas on what to wear for your family portrait session.

This image from Lina Jarmond is one of my most popular repins on Pinterest,. I figured it was worth a share here, too.

What I love about this is how it doesn’t matter if your family portraits will be done in Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall – it offers color palette ideas for all seasons:

What to Wear from Lina J on Broomfield Family Photography by Natascha Lee StudiosDenver Colorado Family Portraits : Vibrant, Fun and Joyful!

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Denver, Colorado Family Photography: Portrait Display Inspiration Guide for Hallways and Small Spaces- Natascha Lee Studios

by | Jan 26, 2014 | Denver Colorado Family Portraits, Display Ideas

I recently had a viewing session with a super fun family from Denver – I did their 3 generation family portraits (Grandpa, Grandma, Mom, Dad and twin tween Brother/Sister) and the images are just amazing!

BTW, all my clients get a personalized preview/viewing session where I show you your lovely family portraits in person, and help you select your favorites for wall art and albums. It can be overwhelming to try to select your favorites, and it is very helpful to have an expert help guide you through the process.

Back to my family from Denver and their Fabulous Family Portraits – their challenge was limited wall space, and they found this tool (below) useful to visualize different combinations for prints for their hallways.

I don’t recommend these small sizes for large rooms, but they work well in hallways, offices, and other small wall spaces.

This concept can also work well for things other than portraits, such as your children’s art, your favorite calendar images, etc. Using the same frame will unify the overall theme, and the different sizes and orientations will give you variety.

And a big advantage of the shelf approach (lower right) is that you can easily swap out or rotate the images to keep it all fresh.

Denver Colorado Family Portraits - Print-Clusters-Blue-Couch-2014

Denver, Colorado Family Portrait Photographer: Outdoor, Vibrant, Fresh and Fun!

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Broomfield Community Spotlight Series #1 : Usborne Books

by | Jan 23, 2014 | Broomfield Community Spotlight, Broomfield Companies for Mothers, Children, Community Spotlight, Local Broomfield Business, Resources for Children

Hello! This is Brittany, Natascha’s assistant, and we are so excited to introduce Broomfield Community Spotlight, a new series showcasing small, local businesses in our Broomfield, Colorado community. Driven by passion, small business owners fearlessly take on the risks associated with working for themselves. In this series we’ll take an intimate look into the lives of these small business owners to see why they are doing what they are – and the impact that they hope to have (and have already had) on our local Broomfield community. We are thrilled to introduce Lost Lagoon Books, owned by Gail Sawchuk in Broomfield. Boomfield Colorado Lost Lagoon Books Logo - books and activities for Children Lost Lagoon Books is based out of Broomfield, CO and specializes in selling Usborne Publishing Books. Usborne’s are known for their ability to both educate and entertain young readers- winning the Children’s Publisher of the Year 2012-2013.  Usborne has a strong mission of providing education to our children, while embracing family values to have a positive impact on their lives. As an advocate for childhood literacy, Gail started a non-profit, Heroes and Dragon Slayers. Heroes and Dragon Slayers partners with many local community agencies to provide free books and literacy training to those who are at-risk to encourage a love of reading and education at an early age.

[caption id="attachment_2811" align="aligncenter" width="113"]Broomfield Community Spotlight - Usborne and Lost Lagoon Books for children Gail Sawchuk of Lost Lagoon Books in Broomfield, Colorado[/caption]

“Lost Lagoon is dedicated to providing books, tools and resources to parents, teachers, schools, nonprofits, mentors, counselors etc.
 It is our goal that all children develop into resilient and independent adults with strong characters”

-Gail Sawchuk

Q:         Tell me about Lost Lagoon Books.

A:         I sell children’s books and promote literacy as an independent consultant with a publishing company called Usborne Books & More.

Q:         How did you decide to get into this business?

A:         I was looking for an opportunity where I could be my own boss. Set my own hours so I could spend time with my boys who are 5 ½ and 4. Make my own decisions and be able to be creative.  All of my career has been focused on children and families. I know how vital it is for children to learn to read so they can be successful in school and life but unfortunately, too many do not. Plus, I love children’s books and find so much value in the time I spend reading with my children. Usborne provides a connection of all of this for me.

Q:         What is your favorite part of owning Lost Lagoon Books?

A:         The flexibility and creativity. I love being able to schedule my time so that I can be with my kids. I enjoy exploring all the possibilities and finding the ones that best meet my skills and passions.

Q:         What prepared you to take on the challenge of owning a small business?

A:         Prior to this, I was Executive Director of a non-profit called Parenting Place. That experience provided me with a lot of the skills I needed. However, there I had an amazing staff to help run the day to day operations and programs. Doing this on my own does present challenges. I think the most important lessons I have learned is to start simple with what has been proven to work for others and then when those pieces are working smoothly you can add some creativity and personal flair. It is a constant evaluation of what is working and finding ways to build confidence rather than be discouraged by setbacks.

Q:         How do Lost Lagoon Books and Usborne positively affect the community?

A:         Illiteracy is a huge problem in our country. Nearly 2/3 of fourth graders cannot read at grade level. By providing free books to schools and children I am providing access to books they may not have had. The books are interactive and educational. They inspire a love of reading and learning and give parents tools to engage with their children in that process. Through Home Shows I can talk with parents about the importance of reading to their children and share some of the ways they can get involved with fighting illiteracy with their own children and in the community.

Q:         In the New Year, where do you see your business heading?

A:         I see my business growing. I am looking for enthusiastic people to join my team. There are so many things I want to do bring more books to the schools and children who need them the most but I can only do so much on my own. One piece I plan to focus on more is partnering with local businesses to support their community schools. I would also like to work with local literacy programs to support the amazing work they are doing. Contact Gail via:   Lost Lagoon website, or Facebook  or her blog with tips and tricks for nurturing a love of books in your family!   Every online order helps to support and provide books to a young mothers club in Longmont to spread the knowledge of the importance of reading to children and the impact of literacy can have on children’s futures.

Do you have or know any small businesses that would like to be featured here?

Email us at CommunitySpotlight @ NataschaLeeStudios.com

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