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Welcome to my blog! My name is Jen Schleicher and I am a wedding and portrait photographer based out of Tempe, Arizona. Here you will find my latest work, news and much more. Whether you are a client, future client, or fellow photographer, please make yourself at home.  You may want to bookmark this page or add it to your RSS reader so you won't miss any updates.

Comments make me happy :)  Introduce yourself.  I would love to hear from you!

 

Happy reading!

-Jen


Category Archives: Personal

DIY Kid-friendly thank you cards

Now that the party is over, it is time to write those dreaded thank you cards. I think it is very important for kids to be involved in writing them. But how does that happen when your child cannot write words yet? Well I recently stumbled upon this blog post on penmanship and courtesy from Smile and Wave. Perfect! We set to work. My son traced “Thank you” on the front of each card and signed his name on the inside. I wrote a few words about the gift above his name. Easy peasy.

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Little sister even wanted in on the action.

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If you want your child to trace more than just “Thank You”, you can try this program. It will automatically create dotted lines to trace for whatever is typed in.

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The Big 4 – Race Car Party

We celebrated my son’s 4th birthday early this year. We haven’t had a big party for a couple years now, and I wanted to make it special for him. His requests were easy (balloons, cake, friends and race cars) so I had a lot of room to play. The flags were made from kebob skewers and craft paper.

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Hot dogs, veggies and chips. He was begging for his juice box all morning long. Where is it? He drank it as soon as the party started ;)

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One of his requests was “black cake with black frosting.” Coming right up…

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Blowing out his birthday cupcake:

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My first run at making a pennant. I think it turned out pretty well. How I made this pennant HERE.

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Shirt from Hobby Lobby on clearance for $1.75 + iron on number for $1.35 = one super cheap and stlyin’ birthday shirt!
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Happy birthday my big boy. I love you so much!

If you are wondering where I came up with all those super crafty ideas, I got a LOT of inspiration from Ashley at THIS blog.

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DIY Felt Pennant Banner

My son’s birthday is coming up. He requested a race car party. And what is a race car party without a checkered flag pennant? I have never made one before, so I made things up as I went along. First I went to Hobby Lobby and purchased 4 felt sections (2 checkered, 2 red felt, 2 black) to use as the flags for the banner, and one package of black bias tape (4 yards).

Using a ruler, I measured out 3 equal flags per piece and cut them out.

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After I had all my flags cut, I arranged them on the floor into a pattern that appealed to me. I originally started out using one checkered, then one red, but it didn’t look quite right to me. I went back and bought some black felt to add to the sequence and was happy with the change. If you are wondering why some are cut in half, I was originally going to sew the extra pieces (produced from cutting the main flags) together to make additional flags, but later found I had enough whole pieces and did not need to do this.

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When I was happy with the pattern, I took out the bias tape and pinned the triangle flags in place (sandwiched in the middle). I left about a foot of bias tape on each side for tying the banner.

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Using my old, basic sewing machine, I sewed a straight line across the bias tape, and voila cute race car pennant!

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Making the banner took me approximately 45 minutes to do, but will probably be faster in the future now that I have made one.

Cost of materials:
2 checkered felt sections – $1.00
4 solid felt sections – $1.00
1 package black double fold bias tape – $1.15 (on sale)

Total cost = $3.15!

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I love Arizona Thrift Stores

For those of you who don’t already know, we will be moving to San Diego next month. I am sad to leave all my friends in Arizona, but excited to be closer to family and embark on a new journey in a new state! One thing I will most definitely miss are the Arizona thrift stores. They are just to good to be true. To prepare myself, I have been hitting up my favorite stores more often to get as many deals as I can before I leave. Here are some of the awesome buys I scored in the last few weeks:

Retro kid chairs. These totally remind me of the chairs I had at school when I was little. Super cute and a deal at $4 each.
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Cute necklace – $6
Retro wooden building blocks – $2, bakery twine – $4, pottery barn teen duvet – $7

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Kids apron. We always need another one in case a friend comes by – $1.80.
This stool was a super score. I saw it in the store and thought, “This matches our bar height kitchen table perfectly and will be great when we need an extra spot for someone to sit.” It was a great price too at $7. When I got home, I looked at the underside of it to see the maker and low and behold saw a Pottery Barn sticker. Turns out this $7 stool is currently selling at Pottery Barn for $99!
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Have you scored any good thrift store deals lately?

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Remembering to be Thankful

This time of year is hard for me, the consummate deal-finder.  The onslaught of emails, ads, and twitters offering promotions are so tempting, it makes it hard to remember what this holiday is really all about.

I am thankful for so much: my husband and two wonderful kids, my health, my friends, clients, and the country in which I live.

Wishing you and your loved ones a very happy day of thanks,
Jen

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Another Year Older, Another Year Wiser

Or at least I hope I am. Every year I feel like I am learning more and more, and then I will forget how to spell the word ‘the’ or the three things I need to buy at the supermarket. Age is kind of funny that way. What do you do? All I know is that I love my life more and more every day and am so thankful that I have such wonderful people to share it with!

I will leave you with a picture from my first birthday party. I am the one in the wooden highchair hoarding all the chocolate cake. Thirty-two years later it is still my favorite. Happy birthday to me.

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America the Beautiful

I am so blessed to live in such a wonderful country. On this day 233 years ago, the Declaration of Independence was signed declaring independence from Great Britain. I recently watched the mini series John Adams which documents the former president and his involvement in the conception and execution of Declaration of Independence.  If you haven’t watched this series, it is really well done. You really get an idea of how much our forefathers had to overcome on our path to freedom. I wish everyone a safe and happy Fourth of July!

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A few of my favorite things

Inspired by fellow photographer, Chenin Boutwell’s Cat’s Meow, I thought I would start off this week with some favorites of mine.

First are egrips for your phone:
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These are so much better than iphone covers.  It basically a big grippy sticker that you put on the back of your phone. This makes it impossible a lot harder for your phone to slip out of your hands. The coolest part is that you can lay your phone on the dash in your car and it won’t slide all over the place while you are driving.

Next up, hands down my favorite face lotion ever, is  Marine Daily Hydrator from H2O Plus.  
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My issue with most face lotions is that they either feel heavy and oily or they are so light they are not moisturizing. This lotion totally solves this problem. It feels so light, yet completely hydrates my face. Check it out. You won’t be disappointed!

And finally, the Bachelorette. Yes, I am addicted!  Jillian has so many cute guys to pick from. One guy though is not there for love. He is an up-and-coming country music star and is on the show to promote his CD. The other guys have had a hunch all along, but last week he flat out told him that was why he was on the show! Sweet talker that he is, Wes has Jillian wrapped around his finger. Hopefully she will figure things out soon and KICK HIM OFF! If you love fun reality TV with lots of eye candy, it is not too late to start watching. On tonight’s episode, the remaining guys will take Jillian to their home town to meet their parents.  If you are already watching, leave a comment and let me know who you think Jillian should pick.  I am rooting for Kiptyn.

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Catching up with Jamie Delaine & Melissa Jill

Yesterday I had lunch with the cutest girl ever, Jamie Delaine and blogger extraordinaire, Melissa Jill.  I met Jamie for the first time at Chevy’s just over a year ago when her family was vacationing in town. My how things have changed for her in one year!  She now has over 400 visitors to her blog a day, and super sweet images to boot!!  It was fun catching up and talking shop.

Things I learned from our conversation:
1. Jamie does not know what a taco is?!!
2. Melissa can’t eat cheese.
3. According to the girls, I HAVE to get a 50mm 1.2 lens.
4. Jasmine Star is really as cool as you think she is.
5. Twittering is the cool thing to do.  Naturally I had to get an account.  Follow me! @jenschleicher

To see how much we aged in a year, here is a picture from last year when we met (courtesy of Jamie Delaine):  Me, Melissa, Rachel Priddy, and Jamie.
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And yesterday (We missed you Rachel!):

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Evan is One

My son Evan turned one a week ago. It is hard to believe that I have a toddler now. Here are my favorite image I snapped of him the day before his birthday:

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