The Most Popular Boy and Girl's Names for Babies

Being a Canadian baby and children's photographer allows me to get to know my little customers by name. While I hear the classic names, John and Michael for boys, Katherine and Elizabeth for girls, I also hear some very creative names too! I've had the seasons represented with Autumn and Summer, the botanticals with Lily and Sage, and of course, lots of Biblical names.

Some "old" names are popular again too, Emma and Sarah were in the top 10 most popular names for girls in 1880 and in 2005! Popular boys names, however, do not change as much over the years. The popular boys names from the late 19th Century remained fairly constant until about 1980s. Check it out yourself at the Baby Centre - they have the largest Baby Names List. Their 2005 list reflects name data from more than 320,000 BabyCenter members.

I do have to share one of the cutest comments I've heard regarding names, a little girl told me her name is Sierra, and that she is named after her grandfather's truck!

Valentine's Day - Chocolates or Lockets?

Or both? I love chocolate and boy are they easier to find than lockets! Since we are a photography studio, I often get asked, "Do you know where I can find a locket?"

I looked all over for a supply of lockets and only found some at Birks... perhaps more stores will start to have them now that Valentine's Day is a little closer. I did find a few places on the Internet: Elite Jewels out of Ontario and Pictures on Gold out of the US. *** Just a word of caution when ordering items from the US, make sure you know what the brokerage fees and duties might be as those can add up. It doesn't hurt to call the US retailer to find out all that info first and also if the retailer can pay some or all the brokerage fees.***

Also check out the trendiest locket I found - by Juicy! You can order it from Amazon.com

There is something so magical and romantic about lockets, perhaps it is because they are like a safe and keep those close to your heart in a secure spot, only to be opened and revealed when you want.

Mini Images for Lockets and Photography Tips & Product Reviews.

As I put away the last of my Christmas ornaments, I muse that life is full of celebrations. I spied my old box of Valentine's and am reminded that the "celebration of love" is less than a month away! Oh boy, another excuse to eat chocolates! So much for the diet I started last
week read on...


Free Mini Images for Lockets

However, a decidedly less caloric treat might be a locket. I've looked
far and wide for the nicest lockets as I've thought about carrying
them... but I think I'll focus on what we do best. Therefore, from now
till Valentine's Day, we will gladly size any image you email to me to
3/4 inch by 3/4 inch for you to insert into your lockets. We will
print up to four different mini images for everyone - just send us an
email with the image. You will need to pick them up at our studio on
Granville Island or alternatively, please send us a stamped self
addressed envelope and we'll get your mini image out to you via the
mail.

Looking for a Locket?

If you are looking for a locket, I only found one local store with
them, Birks (birks.com) - they only have two choices, a sterling silver
one for $155 and a diamond crusted 18K white gold one for $3,500!!!
And nothing in between! I checked out everyone from hbc.com, sears.ca,
peoplesjewellers.com, ragnar.ca, and even Tiffany.com without any luck.

However, I did find some online and I've ensured that they will ship to Canada.

For brand name and high fashion, I found a very stylish locket on
Amazon.com by Juicy Couture for $95 USD! Search for: jewelry juicy
couture locket

A nice selection of mid-priced lockets starting at just over $40 CDN
for sterling silver can be found here: Elite Jewels out of Ontario. Be
sure to click on lockets from the top menu and click on the Canadian
flag for Canadian currency. Most of their lockets are in the $50 to
$150 dollar range for sterling silver and 10K yellow or white gold
designs. They have everything from classic styles to simple plain
ones to contemporary square shaped lockets too.

For something a little different, check out, Pictures on Gold, they
laser etch the images onto the locket so the image is waterproof!

Pictures on Gold offers a greater range of lockets and all sorts of
other items that can be laser etched - from cuff links to key chains
and charms! The prices for most is about $150 to $200 USD plus
another $70 USD to etch two images.

Photo Tips/Product Review Section on Website

We will soon add a new section to our website - photography tips and
product reviews. Our first review will be on photo books - these are a
wonderful concept! It is now possible to easily create professional
hard cover books with your photographs, to add stories and captions
that will remind you of all the small and big events in your life. Let
your imagination loose... create books to record special occasions,
vacations, or the year in review. Photo books are a beautiful way to
display and share your life with all your loved ones.

While a number of companies now offer photo books, I reviewed the
following so far and here is a brief overview of each, more information
to come soon:

HP Snapfish - the least expensive hardcover book at $19 for 20 pages,
linen is the only cover option, limited layout colours, need to edit
your images first before starting to create your book

Kodak Gallery - the only one to offer leather (starting at $39 for 20
pages) as an option for the book cover. Their linen and faux leather
starts at $29 for 20 pages) They also offer a Martha Stewart design
option for their photo books, starting at $35 for 20 pages

Photoworks - the most choice for types and style of photo books, also
the only one that lets you crop and edit while creating the book and
their system also "dog ears" the images used which really helps make
the process go faster. They are the only ones to offer a full
hardcover cover while the others use a cut out. Medium sized hardcover
books start at $35 for 20 pages

Have fun creating your books! I’ll have a more comprehensive review on our website in a few weeks.

All prices above are USD, they do ship to Canada, and 20 pages is 10
double sided.

Most Popular Fairy & Angel Backgrounds

Happy New Year Everyone!

At this time of the year, after the fun and crazy Christmas season, I like to take "stock" of what was popular with our customers. And without surprise, our most popular background continues to be our angel on the swing background. I think it is popular due to its soft muted colours and that it works with all ages of girls and baby boys. Our next most popular background is the garden inspired by Monet's Waterlilies painting. Fairies look very adorable in any of our garden series. (BTW, if you like fairies in garden artwork, see Cicely Barker's work over at art.com. Just do a search for her at the site.)

The Rose Fairy Buy From Art.com

For the boys, our most popular background is the dock. The shades of blue and the nice wood colouring of our dock makes it a classic. Close behind is the background with the canoe or boathouse with the soft autumn colours on the tree. Please note that I supply white golf shirts for boys to wear for our portraits - it seems not many parents buy white for their children! (I don't even wear white... especially not when eating a pasta dinner!)

Our new background with the tree and pond is also coming on strong. It looks great for both boys and girls, especially with our new fairy dresses. Check out our new gallery on our website and see all the new backgrounds for 2007.

See you at the studio.
Ellen