Welcome, Baby Ellie, formerly known as Hashtag #5!
I’m so excited to share this session. Shortly after Nicole found out she was pregnant, we started planning little Ellie’s sessions. I don’t really remember what spurred the idea, but I had this vision of a little bitty baby as part of a paper doll scene. This led to lots and LOTS of brainstorming and we’ve formed an entire first year of images around this one little vintage toy. The wall above my desk is covered in giant post-it notes with sketches of the sets, and I have a small pile of supplies to make various props and pieces.
The paper doll set, in particular, was the center idea behind it all. I had several different ideas for doing it, and then, just a couple of weeks before Ellie was born, the idea really finalized in my head, and as soon as Ellie was born and we knew her measurements, I got to work! Each dress is part of an original paper doll set, blown up, colored in by hand, and pieced together. I tried to size them as close to Ellie’s real size as possible. At around 5 pounds, it didn’t take too much to make them “fit” her!
Ellie wasn’t crazy about the paper dresses the day of the session. I have a feeling she is going to love dressing up in real ones when she is older, though!!
The wooden scissors were the perfect addition! They were featured in Ellie’s big sister Maddie’s fairy tale session!
Another vintage toy favorite, Mr. Potato Head, was an absolute must-do. My son has all kinds of potato head parts, and I found as many as I could from his oldest set, and made the potato “skin” from suedecloth. Can you believe that those are actual Mr Potato Head glasses, and that they fit Ellie so perfectly??
