My Own Personal Prop Giveaway

Hello! Thank you for visiting my newly revived blog...Lil' Bits of Beth. When I started this blog a year or so ago, I really had every intention of adding interesting info about my life as a Prop & Food Stylist in the Chicago area. I had a bit of free time, I was busy writing a "Prop Styling" class for Photo Styling Workshops and I was working on building my base of props. Then "BAM!", food and prop styling jobs started coming at me left and right, I decided with the help of a wonderful mentor, Susan Linnet Cox, I would write an ebook on "Prop Styling", and continue to find amazing props on a weekly basis. It's been wonderful! I have so many photos and stories to share...so, in honor of me starting back on this blog, I will be having a "Prop" giveaway. I will put together a beautiful grouping of kitchen props that I have used on a commercial shoot and send them to a lucky friend! Please start following me, forward my blog to friends and family and let's have some fun here. How does it work? Leave me a comment about what you love to see in food packaging and ads these days....what props do you love to see?....new and contempory?...yummy vintage woods and metals?...what sort emotion do these props make you feel? Have fun with this! I will choose my winner on Easter, April 24th...good luck! For now, here's are couple of shots of some recently used Props :)

An Amazing Prop Styling Job.....

My Love for Summer

My love for summer will never end...I crave it year round. I tell my husband and children I need warmth from the sun, so, they ship me off from NW Indiana to Arizona or Florida. I love my summer attitude, I turn down jobs, I can't wait to get the pool pass, my life becomes so loose and easy. I take photos all summer, my camera never gets a rest. My garden is so important to me, I strive to get outside each and everyday, spending hours in the garden, digging, planning, re-planting and enjoying all the beauty that is given to us. Plan to see many photos, all my favorites from the summer...some of my garden, some from our numerous trips, some of food photography, some of my beautiful children, but know that all of these photos touch my heart...and hope they do the same for you!

In Love with Anthropologie....my love affair never ends

I have always loved fabrics and textiles, as a child, then as a fine arts student at Arizona State University, then as a starving post graduate living in the city of Chicago on a meger starting salary, until today. There is a reason I went into Prop Styling, because I get to see and work with fabrics, textiles, plates, utensils, you name it...almost everyday! It was certainly meant to be...I do know that. While my style in clothing, propping and furniture varies on any given day...I almost always seem to gravitate to a combination of vintage and modern, which brings me to my current obsession, Anthropologie! Sweaters that looked like they could have been my Grandmothers with a modern twist or embellishment, couches and chairs which feature traditional structure, yet covered with an amazing, colorful new pattern from 2009. I simply LOVE this store, did I mention I have visions of the store closing and I am still in it playing house, reading a good book on one of the couches, or sleeping in the ever-so-fluffy 4 poster beds which look as if it came straight out of Paris?!? Of course, I will spend half the night trying on all the incredible dresses, skirts, blouses, sweaters and jackets, each catalog sends shivers through me, what can I possibly buy from this catalog?! The construction going on in our basement has certainly had my design ideas working overtime...the contractor and my husband go running when I say, "Hold on, look at this photo I found on-line!" Seriously, they have taken to pretending they are listening and then gingerly step back away from me and my little laptop. Well, the contractors are done for the week, painting starts next week and perhaps the cabinets for the mini-kitchen and the media room will be delivered as well. Until then, I set aside a little time every day to view all my favorite websites and dream of what the final will look like. Today, in my inbox was the Anthropologie October Catalog...this chair is to die for! I simply can't wait!

Comfort Food...needed on a daily basis

The last week here in Indiana has been wet, and dreary. Thoughts have turned to comfort food, so I spent a good majority of the day pulling out my cookbooks, reading food blogs and seeing what everyone is cooking. I also decided I had some time to cook, set up and shoot some food shots today as well, so I was cooking away! I made ham, au gratin potatoes and then, decided I needed to use up my heavy cream and made the ultimate, creamed peas! They remind me so much of my Mom's fabulous cooking growing up. My Mom comes from a large Irish family, 8 brothers and sisters, lots of cooking and food in their house. Mom always made huge dinners, every night! My sister Kelli & I learned how to cook most of Mom's meals...meatloafs, chicken and wild rice casserole, beef and pork roasts, turkeys, cornish hens, sauteed brussel sprouts in bacon, crab dip, you name it...we learned how to cook it! I have to admit, I was known for being the only cook while in college...everyone came to my condo in Arizona for a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner, stuffing, mashed potatoes and even real gravy! This year, I will again be serving Thanksgiving Dinner at our home, the whole plan was for the contractor to have the basement finished by that date so I can have a mob of family here. I make all the food, I LOVE making Thanksgiving dinner! Anyway, back to the creamed peas...make a roux...about 2 tablespoons of butter melted in a saucepan, add a spoonful of flour and make a paste. Start adding your cream slowly and working it into your flour, generously add salt & pepper. I add at least 2-3 more tablespoons of butter into the cream/milk. Eventually you will add at least a cup or so of cream/milk. Tasting is neccessary for me as I do not really follow a recipe for a roux. Turn off the roux mixture, add 2 cans of drained baby peas. Let sit in the cream mixture for a while to heat through, serve immediately. I can't tell you how much my family loves these creamed peas! You can also use cauliflower, broccoli, and another one of my favorites, spinach. Fall is certainly upon us and with fall weather comes comfort food, be ready for many blog posts featuring cozy, calorie-ridden recipes such as this! Enjoy!

Savory Soup on a Cold Fall Day

I guess Fall is officially here in Indiana...when I awoke this morning, the temperature was 47 degrees. I'm not ready for Fall, nor am I ready for Winter and Snow...I never am. I am a warm weather person! My daughter Sophie and I are leaving for Houston, Texas on Friday for a family wedding, looking at 85 degrees. We then leave for a week in Orlando, Florida last week of October, more warm weather. Where can I go next?! I will do anything to get out of the cold weather here in the good old Midwest...another wedding? Sure, I'll go! A conference in San Diego for Photo Styling Workshops?! Sure, I'll go! Really, if you live somewhere warm, and would like me to come, play, cook, photograph, you name it, I can be there in the winter months! Anyway, sitting at Sophie's freezing cold soccer game yesterday got me in the mood to make a yummy soup. I had a ton of editing and photo printing to do today, so what better day than to start up a huge pot of soup. What kind you ask? This soup happens to have chicken (cooked and shredded), Haricot Vert (french green beans, frozen, Trader Joe's), baby red potatoes, Cannellini beans, a full stick of butter :) leftover angel hair pasta, and all of it is simmering in chicken stock, herbs, and 1/2 and 1/2. I have no recipe...I add whatever sounds good and most of the time I have enough veggies and meat/chicken on hand to make a very simple yummy soup. Although, my soups tend to be rather chunky, so the kids ask for a fork as well as a spoon. I then serve a crusty bread, smothered with butter, and sometimes a simple salad as well. Don't forget to put a dollop of sour cream on top of the soup...really adds a great bit of flavor as well as a richness I really need in these winter months. I hope you are enjoying your day, whether it be warm or cold! Off to another soccer game, this time I have my blankets and a warm fuzzy hat!

Putting away the straightener...today

I know this is off subject, not my normal blog discussing food, propping or photography skills, but about fashion styling and my hair. Yes, my crazy hair. Most of my friends and family do not know that I have crazy, curly hair...why crazy? My hair stylist Dianna knows my terrible hair secrets...a strange little patch lacking hair on the left side of my head, bendy hair on the left vs. very curly on the right side. While my 13 year old daughter's hair styling skills surpassed mine several years ago, I thought I had finally mastered my hair straightener, a long, hard task. Not two days go by without me burning myself on this hotter than h--l piece of equipment. It takes so long to straighten my hair, at least 45 minutes and sometimes I just don't want to do it! Hence the pony tail...a busy week will see my hair in a pony tail 50% of the time. What can I say, it's easy, it looks cute & casual, great for working around food and product, easy way out. So, why the blog on curly hair? Because it's back in again! Yes, maybe just for special occassions, but looking at fashion magazines and ads are just one part of my prop styling job. I have to notice what is going on in the fashion, food, and home styling, it all goes hand in hand. So, today I celebrate not using my straightener, I admit, it's a look that I may use only on occassion or on a high humidity day such as today, but nonetheless, it's curly, not straight. Sophie says it looks ok, I can live with that, she is such a little fashionista, I completely trust her judgement. My yoga teacher tells me it's good to change life up a bit, change is good for the spirit, the mind and the soul...welcome to the new week! What are you going to do differently today?