Blog Books

One of my very best friends had a beautiful baby girl on St. Patrick's Day. Throughout her pregnancy, Jess did an awesome job updating her blog with pictures and stories. Even though we live in different cities, I really felt like I could share in her excitement and anticipation. Reading the updates and seeing pictures of her growing belly made me even more thrilled for little Lucy's arrival.

As a gift to the new mom, I decided to design and print her blog as a book. I did this a couple years ago for my sister-in-law when she was pregnant with the twins. I just think it will be so cool for these kids to go back and read how excited their moms were for their arrival, and how much they were loved even before they were born.

Here are some pictures of the blog book I created for Jess:


Blog books don't have to be limited to pregnancy blogs - imagine baby's first year blog books, traveling blog books, engagement blog books, cooking blog books. If you spend all this time documenting your life, won't you want to cherish it in a hard copy some day? A blog book allows you to share your adventures with future generations - isn't that an exciting thought? If you are interested in making a blog book, let me know and we can discuss custom pricing. Don't let your stories be lost in cyberspace - create a lasting heirloom!

Featured on NBC Los Angeles

Happy Friday everyone! I have some great news to share this morning. As you may remember, I've been selling these subway signs in my Etsy shop since December. I started out with the Cincinnati signs, and eventually designed NY and Toronto signs as well. Yesterday I released my newest creation, the LA Subway Print. A few hours later, a freelancer for NBC Los Angeles contacted me to ask if she could feature the print on nbclosangeles.com. Of course I was more than happy to oblige!


You can check out the NBC Los Angeles post here. Thanks to Alysia Gray Painter for featuring me. This Friday is off to a great start!

Trip to Raleigh

As promised, here are the pictures from Easter weekend in Raleigh. Brent and I were so excited to visit his family and meet baby Hailey. Even though it was a short trip, we packed it full! We had a picnic at the park, an Easter egg hunt, a b-day party for Savi, and even time for the adults to chat around the fire pit.

Here's little Hailey, a little over two months old. Isn't she the sweetest?


And here's Hailey's big sister, Savi. This picture cracks me up. She really didn't want a family Easter picture!


Brent and I on Easter morning:


The whole Kruithof clan together! I just love this family!

Happy Easter...a day late

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter weekend! Brent and I got to visit his family in Raleigh. It was so good to see everyone again, and to meet our newest niece, Hailey. Unfortunately I left my camera in Raleigh, so it will be a couple days before I can put up pictures of the trip. But I do have a couple pre-Easter pictures to share.

Before we left, I made some Easter goodie bags for Brent's family. Each bag had a little something inside - candy for the adults, chalk eggs for the girlies, and wrist rattles for the babies. The tags were personalized with their names and a vintage Easter postcard image.


I also used similar tags on the Easter bread I made for my family and neighbors. Zucchini bread is one of our favorites!


On Palm Sunday we did a little Easter egg dying at Sarah and Garret's. We had so much fun! Here's Brent's masterpiece:


Jack's masterpiece:


Noah couldn't dye his own eggs this year, but he sure did look festive in his "Chicks Dig Me" shirt. He is such an easy going little guy!


Here are the finished products. I think we did pretty good!


Hope for all had a joyous weekend too! Easter in Raleigh pictures coming soon...

Baby Hailey Announcements

I recently designed birth announcements for my newest niece Hailey. Such a beautiful baby girl, it was easy to make some cute cards. Here's a couple of the designs I created:


This was the final design:


And here's the back. Isn't Savannah an adorable big sister?


I'm so enamored with this little one. We are making a trip to Raleigh for Easter - I can't wait to meet Hailey and see my other nieces and nephews again. I still can't believe Brent's side has produced 5 kids in 2 years!

If you are interested in a custom designed birth announcement, please email me for more information (krubooks@hotmail.com). I'd love to create this special keepsake for you!

Subway Signs

A couple years ago, Brent and I were watching What Women Want and saw these posters with Cincinnati neighborhoods hanging in Mel Gibson's NY apartment. Then we started seeing them in other movies like I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry and Just Friends. We loved the look and thought they would be cool personal touch in our home. I did an extensive search but couldn't find them anywhere online (though I did find a whole bunch of other people looking for them - so I knew I wasn't crazy!).

* Edit - I was told you can find similar signs on www.subwaysigns.com for $279 each. They have a lot of other cool vintage subway signs as well...check it out! *


So this year for our anniversary, I decided to make my own posters in the same style. I made them for Brent, and then thought maybe I should sell these in my etsy shop too.


In the shop, you can purchase the Cincinnati trolley signs for $50 each, or get your own custom subway sign for $75. I was contacted by an interior designer in Canada (Carol Reed Interior Design) about creating a custom Toronto sign. I checked out Carol's site and was amazing with her work! She bought the print for a bachelor's condo she was finishing up, and recently posted picture on her blog. I thought it would be fun to share the finished product!


If you are interested in the Cincinnati or Toronto prints, check out my etsy shop for more information. And if you have a custom project, send a message...I would love to help!

Senior Album

I recently completed a senior album for one of my favorite photographers, Mark Ketcham. This was an especially fun project since a couple years ago I did Amanda's sweet sixteen album. What a beautiful young lady! As much as I love wedding albums, I always enjoy the chance to mix it up a bit. Here are some spreads from the book:

photography by Envision Video and Photography