Hi there! I'm Katie Stasiak…soon to be Katie McCaw. I'm a St. Louis Portrait Photographer and First Grade Teacher. My blog is where I showcase my photography, family and friends, crafts, and everything else in my life!
As your photographer, I will make your portrait session fun, creative, and comfortable for you and your family. Together, we'll have a great time capturing your life as it truly is!
I always love meeting new people so take a look around the blog and come back often!
This weekend I shot a wedding in Springfield, Illinois. I rented some extra equipment and Shawn came along for the ride. It was good to have him there when I needed things. I could have shot the wedding by myself, but I felt good to have someone there to help me out with all the small details of the day. He was there for support more than anything, but when he did have the camera, he captured some great moments from the day. I love looking at photographers blogs when they have images posted of them shooting. How cool is it that I now have a few pictures of me shooting? I’m excited.
I get to shoot all day tomorrow! Yeah!!! We’re headed up to Springfield, IL for a wedding. Can you believe that my brain has been so programed for school, kids, IEPs, and this wedding…that I forgot about my dog? Let me repeat. I forgot about my dog. Yes. What a terrible doggie mother I am! Lucky me, we’re headed to Springfield, Illinois. The home of Shawn’s Dad. He said Scarlett can stay at his house for the day. Thank gosh. This brings up a funny question that I was asked this week. Actually, I get asked it every once in awhile. “What do you like better, teaching or photography?” Answer: I love both. No lie. There are so many nights where I can’t fall asleep at night because I’m thinking of what I can do to help this one understand time to the quarter hour… or that one understand the long e sound. It’s true. There are also times when I’m totally engaged in my computer with photography. “Times” doesn’t really even begin to describe it. I spend hours on photography forums studying how I can get better. So when I get asked that question, I always end the conversation with, I like both and I do both because it’s who I am. I’m both.
I can do both. I then start thinking that I might not be able to do both for my whole life. I can now, because you can throw a small dog in the back of your car and put her in a cage when you need to. When I have a kid, life just isn’t that simple. When I do something, I completely do it. I completely do it the right way. The first time. So where has my mind been? It’s been doing what I love.
It’s no secret how cold it’s been lately. How snowy and bitterly cold. There is no question as to how much everyone has been indoors…just sitting around…getting cabin fever.
Which leads me to something that I have been having a lot of thought about. A dining room. I’m not a dining room person. I don’t need a dining room. (I don’t have a dining room…so who am I kidding?) Seriously though, while being cooped up in this condo all winter…I’ve dreaming of new spaces to stretch out in one day. So..I’ve been thinking. I’m not a dining room kinda person. I don’t do china and because of that, I am not going to register for it. What am I going to register for? A sewing machine. (I really want one!) And a hose holder. (Isn’t that weird?) Maybe even some tools. (Seriously!) Not china. I probably won’t even have a dining room. I will have a ME room somewhere though. One day I will move out of my condo, and I will still make sure that I still have my very own “space”. A me room. Just as much as a man needs a “man cave”, I will have a “lady lounge”. One day. That’s right. A lady lounge. Yes, I made it up myself. It will be a place where I can be myself. And relax. And create. And be me.
I will hang my photography on large canvases.
I will have color all around me.
I will just “DO IT” how I want to do it. Whatever “it” may be.
I will have tiny important stuff small jars.
I will have a big white chair to relax in.
I will have random things in my room that most people just won’t understand.
ONE day.
I found these pictures from all across the web throughout the past few months. I’m sorry, I don’t have names or even links for you to follow. Normally, I keep all that stuff for me to link and give credit to. I literally pulled most of those off of my hard drive. I like to save ideas so I have them when I need them!
I feel in love with my friend Megan’s wreath and I decided I had to have my own. Megan’s is even cuter than mine so hop on over there and check hers out.
Megan has a link to the tutorial on her page for directions. You can even google them ….there are so many cute ones out there! I decided to just use extra fabric I had around the house from this project. Sooo, it might match my rocking chair at school! I also added a TON of those little flower/circles on there. 120 to be exact…and I only know that because I used pins instead of buttons…and I had 120 pins. I also frayed the edges to give it that textured look. It might be a little too soon for spring, but I think after Valentine’s Day, all is fair in the game of wishing for warmer weather. Wishful thinking…I know, I know.
After I made this, I ended up making three hair pins out of the left over material. I think I got the idea from my mom who recently made some cute flower pins.
Guess who sent these to me at school?
Shawn is so sweet. The day before these arrived, I got a mysterious card in the mail sent from Pennsylvania. It was a personalized card that he sent…just because. I guess you can order them and select where you want them sent from. He tricked me…. the inside was really sweet….and perfect. Then the next day I got these flowers! It wasn’t even Valentine’s Day yet!
I love snow. If it’s going to be this cold…it might as well snow!
Today I was off for President’s Day so Scarlett and I took full advantage of the beautiful white day. I took her for a walk in the woods so she could run around and play in the snow. Scarlett was definitely more interested in all the smells than the snow…until she learned that you can eat the snow. That kept her interested for a few minutes. Then she let her nose get the best of her again. She loves all the wild animals that she smells and she would probably find something if I let her. She turns into a full blooded beagle when given the chance. Except for barking…she doesn’t like to raise her voice.
Sorry to those I’m boring with Scarlett pictures! It’s the dead of winter… I’m lucky when I get my camera out at all. I can’t wait for Spring Photo Sessions!
Love color? Love to color? I love both.
This project is so easy and fun! Who doesn’t have a bunch of old crayons around their house somewhere?
1. Peel the wrappers off the crayons and place them in some oven tins. Make sure you spray the tins with vegetable spray and then set the oven at 275 degrees and keep an eye on the crayons. It should only take about 5-8 minutes for the crayons to melt.
2. Pull the crayons out and let the wax harden. You can put it in the freezer…but don’t let them harden up too much in there. I had a bunch that cracked when they came out.
3. Flip the tin over and there ya go! A big heart crayon!
These are super fun!
I got this amazing idea from this blog. She made adorable print outs to go with them….
Just in time for Valentine’s Day!
I think my First Graders will love them!
I’ve been really bad about blogging lately. I blame it on the fact that I’ve been between two computers for the past 6 weeks. Well three, if you count the first computer I had to return. I don’t want to bad mouth a company on my blog so I won’t. All you have to do is (G)oogle flicker and (m)ac and you will see where I’m going with this. Will I have to return this computer? I hope not. They fixed the flickering, but there is still no answer to the yellow tinge on thousands of these new computers. Everything is perfect except a major part of the screen is a tad yellow. Yellow on one side, perfect on the other. Most people can’t tell, but when you spend the majority of your time on a computer with photography stuff, you just know when your screen isn’t perfect.
Another computer issue? It turns out my PC version of (P)hotoshop can’t get transferred over to my new platform because the serial number can’t be registered. I’m now using a free trial version because there is rumor of a new version coming out in the next month or so. If I have to drop that kind of money again, I better get the latest and greatest.
Are you wondering what all of those parentheses are for? That’s another issue I’ve been having lately…spammers on this blog! I think it might be product company names that they search for and then they insert their information in my comments. So from now on you’ll be seeing those parentheses whenever I have a company name or anything like that.
Do you see how I’m between two computers right now? I’m hoping pretty soon I’ll have all my information on this computer. I’ll use the laptop as another back up system. Kind of like my “tail” I have now. If you look closely in the photo you will see my computer’s “tail”. Most people call this tail an external hard drive. The tail is my life. I called it my tail after a year or so of being my laptop’s life support. It followed that laptop everywhere. I backup everything. Everything. If you are a current client or one in the past don’t you worry. I’ve always backed up. I’m a freak about it. Now your images will be backed up on four different ways. My laptop, new computer, external hard drive, and a DVD.
How fitting it is that as I’m writing my post our internet goes out. Shawn ran to the store to get a new modem just to find out it was just the power supply cord. So now we are using the old modem and the new power cord. Just another day. 
