Introducing Baby Bijou Designs LLC

June 23, 2017 CaitlynLeave a comment

All photos within this post taken by Kara Hanes Photography

You may have already come across Baby Bijou Designs on Instagram or Facebook, but I thought it was time I officially introduced you here. To do so, I thought it would be fun to answer a series of questions about my business below.
BabyBijou46 1. For starters, what exactly is Baby Bijou Designs?
Baby Bijou Designs is a company I started that is named after my daughter’s nickname, Baby Bijou (more about the fun story behind her nickname can be found by clicking here!). I create original designs for baby clothing and nursery decor, often incorporating my love of travel and my experiences from living in Japan into my work.

2. What has been your favorite part of having your own company so far?
I think I actually have a few favorite parts so far. The first would be that I can work my schedule around my daughter’s schedule, and also that I get to be creative in my business. The second would be all of the collaboration that is possible with Baby Bijou Designs. I do a lot of custom work, which has included everything from custom-designed clothing (for babies, children and adults) to custom frames, mats, prints and more. It is really fun to be able to not only personalize designs I create, but to work with others to make their original ideas into a reality as well.
BabyBijou20 3. What are some of your goals for your business?
My biggest goal for Baby Bijou Designs is just to continue having fun with it. It is super exciting to create items I love, and even more exciting when I get feedback that shows other people also enjoy my work. Getting to see babies wearing clothing I create just makes me swoon, though I must admit I’m especially biased when my daughter dons Baby Bijou Designs! Eventually I’d like to save for my own camera so that I can learn to take better pictures for both my business and for my blog, but in the meantime I just hope to keep getting the word out there that Baby Bijou Designs is here and that I’m always up for collaboration!

4. Where can we learn more about how you got started and why you chose to work from home and for yourself?
You can read all about how I decided to leave my part time job and what starting my business was like by checking out my guest post on the lovely Kara Hanes Photography Blog. I talk about launching the business and how things are going so far – be sure to check it out and leave me some advice!

5. Where can we find Baby Bijou Designs online?
Please feel free to peruse my Etsy shop at babybijoudesigns.etsy.com, and follow Baby Bijou Designs on Instagram and Facebook as well!

Baby Bijou Designs on Instagram
Baby Bijou Designs on Facebook

Lillian origami
Thank you for letting me share about my business with you. I’d love to hear from you – what would you love to see from Baby Bijou Designs? What are your favorites in the shop so far? Also, please enjoy 10% off anything in the Baby Bijou Designs shop with the code BIJOUTHANKSYOU before June 30th, 2017!

xx Caitlyn

Lillian’s cake smash photo session

February 12, 2017 CaitlynLeave a comment

Can we please talk for just a minute about Kara Hanes Photography? (Oh, and would you also like to take a look at my beautiful daughter?) Just two days before Lillian’s first birthday (and the day before her party), we had a Cake Smash Photo Session with Kara. As always, we were welcomed into Kara’s studio feeling comfortable and ready to have fun. We took guesses: would Lillian destroy the lovely pink cake and become painted in frosting? Or would she ignore the cake completely and try to race off–tutu bobbing as she crawled to whatever else she could get her hands on? Before finding out for sure, Kara took some really darling shots of Lillian on a couple of Kara’s beautiful studio backdrops.

Are you not just squealing at the cuteness here!? After shots like these we almost felt like we didn’t need to even mess around with the cake, but we knew it was important to settle the debate once and for all: what would this cute baby do when presented with cake?

And the answer issssssss: she took a lot of coaxing to get messy! She just sort of touched the cake gently at first, and then–after it didn’t peak her interest further–was ready to go explore elsewhere! Did Kara care? Of course not! She just kept up her playful attitude, chatting with Lillian and guiding Chad and I with ways to move Lily around the set. We even tried to tell Lily “NO!” to see if she would suddenly feel more inspired to touch something she shouldn’t!

Eventually, as you can see above, Lily did get into the cake, and it was pretty darned cute. The photo shoot was full of so much laughter (and frosting!). Kara was able to capture Lillian’s happy spirit, but also the pure sweetness of her, too, as pictured below.
I can’t say I’ve ever looked that beautiful after stuffing my face with cake…

As with our family photos, these pictures of Lillian are true treasures. We feel so lucky to have a family photographer who is genuine, playful, and who makes everyone feel relaxed. Though Kara has a lot of experience, she still approaches each photo session in a way that makes you know she cares about capturing your story–a story that is uniquely yours. I truly cannot recommend her enough, and hope that even if you’re not currently in need of a photographer that you go look at her gorgeous website and blog! (Oh, and side note: if you are in need of a photographer, Kara is currently offering a deal on studio sessions through February 29th!)

Have you ever witnessed a baby’s cake smash? What kind of cake would you smash into, if given the choice?

xx Caitlyn

Life with Baby · Reviews

Our family pictures

October 9, 2016October 9, 2016 Caitlyn1 Comment

Years ago when we got married, one thing we decided we would pay a little extra for was our wedding photography. After hearing a lot of stories from people who had negative experiences, we wanted to have a good one. The photographer we chose did take some nice photos, but we didn’t actually get our prints–let alone see very many of the digital ones–for SIX MONTHS. Even years ago that was a bit unheard of. Our photographer also lost the receipt of the package we purchased from her and tried to give us her smallest package (luckily I had kept my copy!), among other things.

Fortunately for us, we also had our good friend Kara Hanes at the wedding, who happened to shoot a few photos of her own. Still today, some of the pictures she took from our wedding are my favorite because she got some really nice candid shots. That’s why I was super excited when we got the chance to have our family pictures taken with her in August, all these years later.
lilliandykehouse22 I absolutely love the way the pictures of Lillian turned out, though I’m obviously a little biased on the subject! Here’s the thing though: despite it being a summer day, it was really cold and–especially on the beach–windy! But Kara still managed to get smiles out of Lillian (who was grumpy on top of being cold that day!). Lillian just loves Kara, and it’s easy to see why. Kara not only has confidence and talent, but also a way of making you feel relaxed and at ease. She was playful with Lillian, but made us laugh, too. And she didn’t even blink an eye when we had a crazy wardrobe issue in the woods when Lillian suddenly got hungry (let’s just say any passersby would’ve been met with quite the scene!). Kara can take lovely staged photos, but she also is great at capturing candid moments. The family photos she took for us are treasures to me, and I got to see them not six months later, but within days (some of them that very same night!).
Thank you for letting me show off my family, and for letting me share what a great experience we had (and always have) with Kara. Even if you’re not in need of a photographer at the moment, you should check out more of her work on her website, and also check out her engaging and fun Instagram and blog!