S. Carter Studios

Well, how do you start a post about your dad? I’ll start with telling you some exceptional things about my father. He can spin pizza dough in the air and behind his back. He’s been to a home game of every ACC basketball team and at one point had visited every major league baseball park in the country. He is one of the best in the country in his field. He really likes UVA and has four kids that he’s very proud of.  These are my favorite photos of me with my dad.

Photo by AJ Chan

Photo by Jenny Erdman

I can also tell you some things I’ve learned from my dad. The lyrics to at least half of all of Jimmy Buffett’s songs. How to easily manage air travel. The value of impromptu adventures and vacations. What it looks like to run your own business. How to see the good in others. How great it feels to use your talents to help other people celebrate and feel special. How to entertain three small children in an airport during a crazy layover. That nobody is more important than your family. He’s taught me about hard work and honesty. That the customer is always right and should be happy after your conversations even if they came in angry. What forgiveness looks like. He taught me brand loyalty to Toyota! That Poptarts can in fact be bought by the case. He’s taught me so much more than that but we’ll save that for future Father’s day posts! Happy Father’s day dad, you’re wonderful and we appreciate you!

I grew up in Seattle, WA. I’m a proud fan of recycling, Mariner’s baseball, beautiful snow capped mountains and Ivar’s clam chowder. When I was in high school my family relocated from Seattle to Ridgeland, South Carolina. Two BIG words : Culture & Shock. There were a lot of differences and accommodations to be made by the locals as well as our family BUT I had the opportunity to make wonderful friends and truly learn how to appreciate a little rest and relaxation. I go back to South Carolina about every six months or so to visit some great friends I have there. This time I decided to try and mix a little business with pleasure. Enter: Lauren. I’m going to give Lauren the biggest fan residing in the great lowcountry award. She all but spearheaded my trip down there and rallied the troops to try and get as many sessions as possible! I loved working with her, her brother and a best friend, Jennifer. Here are some photos from our mini sessions!

Lauren and her younger brother Jeremy took photos as a gift for their mom!

Gotta love those Carolina pines!

and mother to be Jennifer (with baby London coming soon) and her daughter Rylynn.

We finished with a few of the ladies together.

We’ll keep you posted on possible mini sessions in Ridgeland, SC, when we plan our next trip!

This is my mom. She’s wearing a clothespin on her shirt because the photo was taken at one of my bridal showers. Don’t be fooled, if she wanted to make a clothespin cool, she totally could. I have to credit my mom, she was dedicated to her education so with one baby on the hip and one on the way (with the help of my awesome dad) she got her nursing degree. She always had the right answer about what to do when I was scared on the first day of school, how to treat my many illnesses (always get some sleep and drink water), and what to consider when buying or renting a house for the first time.

We’re pretty good friends. Probably because she never makes fun of me when I bust out my camera for a picture at some ridiculous time and she’s always up for a Gilmore Girls or Harry Potter marathon. She shares her books with me because she reads faster than anyone I know and she always makes the best food. She can even make a better peanut butter and jelly sandwhich than anyone I know. Here’s evidence of how awesome she is…

Seriously, do you know someone who would do this just to humor her kids? By the way, the kids are 19, 23 & 24. Yeah, we’re often asked if we’re sisters. So thank you so much mom for everything. I love you and hope my some day children will love me as much as I love you!

There are some other wonderful mothers in my life and I’d like to send some Happy Mothers Day love their way too! Josh’s lovely mother Cindy.

And his grandmother Betty.

and my mom’s mother Jane.

Finally, a bitter sweet mother’s day as my dad’s mother Beatrice is not here but I know she’s being celebrated in the hearts of her many great grandchildren, grandchildren and children!

I love having a unique name. There really aren’t very many Sabrena’s out there. Especially spelled with an E. It had its draw backs though. I never had personalized pencils in school or my name printed on my lunch box. I think as a result I became very fond (perhaps obsessed) with seeing my name in print! God must have laughed a little and given me my new last name Deal so that I would find my name in print everywhere. I’ll admit, it’s just as exciting! What does all this have to do with anything? Well, when I was engaged I attended a party that my friend Brittany threw. It was an Uppercase Living party. I loved it! Uppercase living is a fantastic company that creates vinyl expressions which you can apply to almost any surface. You can also create custom expressions by picking fonts, sizes, colors and whatever saying you’d like. The best part is that they are affordable. I should also mention they leave no damage on the surfaces (a bonus for renters!). I was so pleased with my first expression that I decided to host a party myself last year. We had a great time & Josh and I just put up the expression I received as a “gift” for hosting!

The first expression that I used was a stock Monogram with a custom expression: Est. 2009. I applied it to a window pane that I purchased for $3 at the Restore in Lynchburg. We used this as a decoration at the wedding and now it hangs in our dining room!

I invited my friend and S. Carter Studios bride Kelsey to the party and she bought letters which served as monograms on her unity sand containers.

We just recently hung the expression we got at the 2nd party I went to and I was just giddy to see it all come together. We had the piece of scrap wood hanging around, painted it black and applied our expressions to it. The For Ever & Ever part was a stock expression and we custom ordered the amen portion ourselves!

It hangs above our bed and I couldn’t think of a better place for it!

If those photos didn’t leave you feeling inspired check out a few photos I got courtesy of the Uppercase Living product showcase website.

As a monogram at a reception hall.

Living Room Decoration

In a little girl’s bedroom.

For the new baby’s room.

Or for a bridal shower decoration!

Please share your stories if you’ve used Uppercase Living! I am looking forward to browsing and seeing where else I can add more expressions! To find the nearest representative in your area click here!

Well, happy Thursday! I am excited, even more than usual to share with you today’s Take A Look. It’s about US! We’re officially ready to roll with our signature Photo Booth photography and have some great photos to share with you from the first two events we did with the whole set up. Which is quite a load really! Enjoy some photos and we’ll fill you in on the details!

First: Harner Family Photos. The Harners are a wonderful, eclectic family that we know from our church. This is actually a follow up to our 3 year anniversary give away. Preston (mom) entered to win and had to wait 10 months until her whole family could gather in one location. I’m so thankful they waited so we could customize this family shoot for them! Here are a few teasers and the slideshow to accompany them!

S. Carter Studios Platinum Photo Booth: The Harner Family from sabrena deal on Vimeo.

Second: If you follow me on twitter or if you are my Facebook friend then you know I’ve been working on Angi’s Bridal Shower for several weeks now. It happened on Tuesday and I we had a fantastic time! Here are some images from her booth!

My personal favorite from the night!

and a slideshow to accompany with even more!

S. Carter Studios Platinum Photo Booth: Angi’s Shower from sabrena deal on Vimeo.

So, we’re officially ready to book: Weddings, Bridal Showers, Birthday Parties, Office Parties, you name it we’re excited to join you. Please contact us for more info! sabrena (at) scarterstudios (dot) com.

I’m not sure if you can feel it on days like today (Noah may be floating past my house some time soon) but we’re on the verge of a beautiful spring season. Now, I know, verge might be a bit of a stretch but I’d like to start ringing in the Spring with a celebration of Love. It’s fitting that Valentine’s Day is just three weeks away. So, I’d like to make it easy for you to surprise your special someone or someones (or nudge them to surprise you) with an S. Carter Studios Love Is In The Air mini session. I’m happy to help celebrate dating love, married love, the love between parents and even sibling love. I’m just a sucker, a lover of loving love if you will.

The session fee for our special is $40 and will come with an online gallery of your images. Sessions must take place on Thursday February 11 between 2 and 4 pm or Saturday February 13th between 1pm and 4 pm, contact us to get priority scheduling! We look forward to celebrating with you!

Another familiar face for today’s catch up post: Elijah. If you have time you should read this post to find out more about him and his family but in a nutshell he’s God’s gift to Ed and Carrie who love him very very much and adopted him over a year ago! I photographed him in May and was glad to chase him around this December as we attempted to get him to smile! He’s such a serious young man but when that gap toothed smile shows up he’s all little boy! Enjoy!

I first met the Chiens in 2007 when I took their wedding pictures. It was a joyful, beautiful occasion that I can still remember well. God saw fit to give them another bundle of joy in their son Stephen who just recently turned one. We met for a mini session and I’m excited to finally share the results with you!

Love this facial expression!

What a handsome and loving family. Thanks for inviting me back into your lives to capture these new and precious memories!

It’s been so hard to hold onto photos until after Christmas! I took these photos of Cole and Lydia, both of whom I had the pleasure of seeing shortly after their debut into the world. Yes, they’re the Parks kids, the most photographed family in my life. But hey, I’m okay with that. If you knew them, you’d understand! Enjoy these photos of their super crazy session.

Cole was about 2 months old when we took these photos. I’ve got to tell you, he’s quite a charmer. I was greatly distracted by his smiles and big blue eyes today in church!

Lydia is a force to be reckoned with! During the shoot she tried to climb the retaining wall and made a cozy seat in someone’s water run off.

The goal was to get some of the two of them together and I’d say we more or less accomplished that!

There may have been some bribing with marshmallows and chocolate chips.

This is one of my favorites.

I love this look on his face as Lydia leans forward to touch him. The hesitant and slightly scared face of a younger brother. Classic.

We’ll polish off this post with a look at the smile Cole flashes his mom. I am pretty sure I’d be toast if I had him hanging around all the time. I’d be content just to sit and stare.

Oh what to say about the Morris family…well, we go head to head each week, lol. They are part of the Fantasy Football leagues that Josh and I have been a part of this season. They also go to church with us and we’ve had the pleasure of watching their little family grow from two to three with the birth of little Jonah who just had his first birthday! As you can see, he’s quite the ladies man. He’s a very happy little boy with two wonderful, parents. I hope you enjoy a few photos from their session!

I think this one is my favorite from their session!

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