My mom has been into making jewelry for as long as I can remember (I remember those plastic earrings of the late 80′s – early 90′s, like these) well, she has continued to make jewelry and has just started a business. She makes one-of-a-kind jewelry (currently necklaces, bracelets and earrings) and the prices are extremely affordable.

You need to check out her website: TheJewelryBox.ca and see what she has to offer.

Also, she will be at the Broadway Street Fair on Saturday from 10am-5pm. Her booth is set to be around 9th street so make sure to come and check it out! I know she has been busy the last few days getting a lot of jewelry made specifically for the street fair -I can’t wait to see it.

I tried my hand at some product photography a few weeks ago, here were a few necklaces she had then:

TheJewelryBox.ca -go now!

I will be giving away a gift certificate for $100 off of a photo & video session.

To enter you can leave a comment on this post or send me an e-mail at: info@chantelklassen.com (or go to the contact form at the top of the page) and I want you to tell me about your family. Tell me what a photo & video session would mean to you, tell me about the quirks of your family, the cute things your kids do, the hard times, the fun times, make me smile, make me laugh, make me cry (I’m rather emotional these days so that one really isn’t too hard to do).

I’m going to leave this open until 11:59pm on September 22 (that’s my due date and I’m hoping she doesn’t go past that!). But please don’t put it off until the 22, I need some stories to read while I am waiting, help keep me entertained.

Stories submitted may be posted on the site -everyone will want to know why you have such an amazing family.

I can’t wait to read your stories.

Fine print: This is for new sessions only and must be used by December 1, 2011 -that’s right you’ve got over a year.

Here is a quick shot from the nursery.  Jared spotted this at HomeSense when we were in Calgary and I just love it!

Last week, thanks to Creative Live, I watched a 5 day online workshop (the internet is so amazing). The workshop was put on by Jasmine Star –arguably one of the most successful wedding photographers of all time. It was during this workshop that I felt renewed and excited to start shooting weddings again. I’ve set a plan out for myself this time though. I want to enjoy every single wedding and give the couples that hire me the best experience they could ever have imagined.

This has gotten a little long winded! Thanks for those of you that are still with me. All of those words to say that I am now excited to start booking weddings again. I will be taking on a limited number of weddings each year and have made a few other exciting changes.

Just a little run-down: each wedding collection includes an engagement session and the disc of edited images, as well as engagement session video short (thanks to Jared who will be shooting those). In addition, each collection includes two photographers for your wedding day.

Over the last few days I’ve been setting up a sub-site for some wedding information and a gallery to view some of the weddings I’ve photographed in the past. For pictures and more information you can go to: http://chantelklassen.showitsite.com/ or just click on the photo below.

Here we are as we wait for the next 4 weeks to pass . . .

Thank you so so much to my wonderful husband for capturing me now. I know I’m not the easiest subject but I’m so glad that I’ll have these to share with our little girl in the years to come.

Also, we are getting actual maternity photos done (no more remote trigger), so don’t worry -this shoe maker’s child will have shoes!

Photographs are a great way to capture a moment in time. They can capture a baby’s first smile, a child’s cheeky grin, interactions among siblings and the love between a couple. I enjoy being able to capture these moments for people so they can look back on them days, weeks and years later and reminisce. One of the downsides of photography is that it only captures that one moment, that split second. Video has the ability to connect these moments. As a result, Jared and I are offering sessions that include both photo and video. These sessions are perfect for newborn, children, family and engagement sessions.

Come take a look into the childhood of these two adorable girls . . .

If you want to see the video in HD just hit play and on the right hand side it says 480p -change that to 720p HD.

And a few photos from the session . . .

You can also view videos from other sessions.

I do plan on taking sessions again later in the fall and will continue to book these sessions over the next few weeks but I won’t be deciding on an exact date of my return until sometime after our little girl arrives.

Another important note: We will be taking the month of December off with the exception of newborn sessions but please book these ahead of time.

Okay, I think that’s all the business stuff out of the way! The next few weeks I will be working on nursery projects (I’ll definitely show photos once I’ve completed some -anyone have any cool nursery crafts? I’m feeling crafty lately) and getting ready for baby to come (any tips or hints on things that I should get done before she comes?). I will continue to update the blog and have some cool things coming up.

Here’s us at 36 weeks -photo by yours truly. Feeling ready for this baby to come.