Those of you who have been following me may remember, last year I decided to start a special project with my daughter to encourage her creativity.  You can read about it here.  It was all about maintaining that playful connection as she grows closer and closer towards the teen years.  It was about encouraging her to continue the pretend play that she loves and not worry about it being too childish.

We knew from the start that this was going to be a two part project.  We recreated a Cinderella story by creating Cinderealla before the ball.  Now, it was time to create our own version of Cinderella ready for the ball.

Through the process, I have to admit, I ended up feeling a bit like a fairy godmother myself.  First we needed a dress.  But I didn’t want the Disney dress-up dress.  I found another option but it was out of my budget and still not quite the look I was going for.   Then I ended up stumbling across a dress that another photographer was selling.  A vintage blue dress with sequins (or squeens, as Sadie calls them), a tulle skirt and silver stars.  It was perfect.

Then while we were out visiting family this summer, we spent some time checking out the shops in Lititz, PA.  I ended up in a vintage clothing shoppe, The Curiosity Shoppe and discovered pairs of ladies gloves.  I grabbed Sadie to show her and she loved the idea.  She picked out a pair of fancy short, white gloves with light blue embroidered flowers.  They were lovely.

So we had the dress.  We had gloves.  We needed shoes but I was stuck.  No glass slippers.  Not even silver sparkly girls’ dress shoes.  So the project stalled for a bit.  We got busy with life.  However, there was one additional problem.  I have a growing girl and a dress that was just her size.  We needed to do these pictures before she outgrew the dress.  Then last week she asked me if she was too old to play dress up…

This weekend became the perfect weekend for pictures.

“Mommy, this is how a lady removes her gloves.”

And Cinderella wouldn’t be complete without a little acting but in our story, Cinderella drops her glove instead of her shoe.

These sessions are so much fun and a great creative outlet for that imaginative boy or girl.  I love having the opportunity to look for costumes and locations that recreate memorable characters.  Contact me to start designing your very own Storybook Session!