If you want to own one of these babies please do call or email me, they're £60 each and ready to go today, one of them has already gone this morning!

Random Photos from a week with the Charltons

So this mornings photoshoot got cancelled at the last minute which means I haven't a thing to blog about..... except I have because I've taken a few photographs this week of several things which have happened or places we've been to so lets go with those instead!

Firstly lets go back to last Sunday when we took the girls to see Santa, really bad dark place and I didn't have my flash so took the following at 3200iso using my 24-70mm sigma f2.8, yes it really was THAT dark..




Santa was also not very good as this year an outside company had been brought in, hmmmm

On Monday we paid a short visit to Walkworth Castle



This shot my favourite of several (and if you want to see the whole weeks photos click on any of these to be transported to the Facebook album)
On Tuesday Poppy gave birth to 5 kittens and we're keeping one who we have named Primrose



She's a cutie, I took this yesterday when she was 3 days old!

Also yesterday a quick shot of whoever was around at the time



Looby with one of the other kittens



Abigail - love this, might even get it on a big canvas!

then mr husband decided he wanted some photos of himself, he is of course a narcissist but hey so would I be if I looked this good, LOL!



Thank goodness he's gone back to blonde!



This one, I really love and it's been retouched and had lots of photoshop magic, he gave me free reign even though he usually doesn't like to think of himself being retouched, yes it's vanity but hey everyone can use a little photoshop massaging!!



he is good looking and I know that I totally traded up when I married him, I tell myself that every day, LOL!!

Tommorrows session will hopefully happen as planned as will the rest of the weeks so look out for lots of cute kids and a throng of fabulous families!!

Old Friends, Good Times, Jam and Marmalade

Now thats the way to start a blog post don't you think?!

So firstly the Jam and Marmalade - well they're our latest kittens, they're four weeks old and will stay with us for another couple of weeks, they're both little girls and we've called them Marmalade and Jam, it would be lovely if these two ended up going to the same home so if you're fancying yourself a new kitten or two please do get in touch, here's a few quick snaps I grabbed of them this morning.




Marmalade is slightly lighter in colour (and smaller) than Jam



awwww



are you feeling gooey yet?




and the final one



It's going to be very hard to say goodbye to these 2 little pumpkins!

So, my other news, well an old friend of mine got in touch yesterday through Facebook, let me tell you a little about Darren, Darren and I got up to so much mischief together in our younger days, we could party for 3 days without stopping and let me tell you we had some pretty fun times, it's so great that he found me again and we had a big ol chat on the phone, it's wonderful to know that he's doing well and happy and in this ever changing world of relationships it's great to know that we're both with the same people we were 8 years ago!

Darren did tell me some very sad news though about an old friend who was very near to my heart, Mark was a party animal, he was the life and soul and I think there were times when he could out-party us all, he was so funny and the stories he would tell could make you laugh till your stomach ached. He was a really great friend to me when I didn't have anyone else, I would take my son around (Iain was 2 or 3 at the time) and we would watch movies, walk his adorable but very slobbery bulldog Bailey and laugh a lot, on a Friday when I would finish work early and Iain would be away I would meet Mark in town and pretty much we would party till we dropped, fun times from over ten years ago. I found out that Mark died suddenly at home on June 13th at the tragically early age of 39, the last time I remember seeing Mark was 8 years ago when Paul and I got married, Mark really contributed to me becoming the person I am today and I know that he'll be sorely missed by all who knew him.

I'll leave todays post here but I know that if Mark were still here he wouldn't want people to be sad, I think he'd probably want a big party and whilst I'm not sure I could party like I did all those years ago, I'll be drinking a toast to him this weekend.

Not more kittens?

A couple of weeks ago Poppy gave birth to seven gorgeous kittens, this is her second litter and she's going to the vets as soon as the kittens are weaned. At the moment though we're just enjoying the new little ones, they'll be two weeks old on Saturday and are simply gorgeous.

This little one is my favourite at the moment, maybe it's because it was the only one who would stand still long enough to have it's photo taken. It doesn't have a name yet so suggestions on a postcard please!



Smile for the camera little one.



Just sooo sweet.

Have a great Tuesday everyone or as I like to call it To Do's day!

Just a couple of Random Photographs...

I decided that yesterday I would restrict myself to only my 50mm f1.8 lens should I feel the need to pick up my camera.

Well I couldn't get through the whole day without one or two shots, the first was part of a Photo Scavanger Hunt set by a fellow photographer of large organisation that I belong to, I didn't manage 3 or round but I did get Blue :-

Then there was this one of Abigail, always eager to smile for the camera,

Then last night I managed to catch Iain in the livingroom (note our livingroom at night has the worst light ever)

Lastly, just standing by the lamp I managed to get an up to date photo of little Pumpkin who is now a boy again, we've got his sex wrong so many times it's hilarious!!


Happy Tuesday everyone :)

Studley and Darling

This is Darling!



YThis is Studley!

Studley and Darling are brother and sister, their mum is Elphaba our 3 year old cat, Elphie had her kittens about 2 or 3 weeks after Poppy had her brood. We're keeping Studley and Darling is off to live with my very good friend Mandi in about a months time, we'll really miss her when she goes as she's so cute, they're both lapcats and love nothing better than lazing about and having cuddles!!

It's a quick kitten update

Yes indeed the kittens are growing, Poppys kittens are now 6 weeks old and Elphabas are 3 weeks old, they're very very cute and total monkeys!

Looby of course is the kitten meister as you can see here:-



Todays kitten of choice happens to be dumpling, he's one of the kittens who will eventually go to a new home, he's gorgeous and I'm sure we'll miss him but whilst he's still here it's so good to have fun!!


New years eve tommorrow, can't quite beleive we're at the end of another year, anyway more on that tommorrow.

Getting in the mood.....

For all things Christmas that is!

Today has involved much cookery in the Charlton household, My favourite creation being my White Christmas Cupcakes, they went down a treat.

Also I've helped Abigail wrap her presents up for everyone, I just have the entire families presents to wrap up tommorrow night now. I think it will have to be with some mulled wine as theres quite a few.

We wrote emails to Santa this morning, if you're bored and want to fill in 5 minutes of the childrens time you can visit Email Santa

Tommorrow we'll be tracking Santa with Norad and watching his progress as he flies around the earth, I beleive that if you have google earth theres' going to be a special plug in so I'm looking forward to that.

Actually today I downloaded Google Earth for the very first time and I have to admit being astounded especially as you can now view the planets etc

The children of course are suitably hyperactive, I know it's only normal but please let me not have to tell them to stop manhandling the kittens or to calm down one more time.

2 more sleeps till Santa everyone!! :D

The Daily Kitten...

Since things at Mandy Charlton Designs are winding down for Christmas (actually since I have a photoshoot on Saturday and some last minute prints to deliver thats not even true LOL) I thought that I would try and post a daily kitten so please welcome todays starring kitten of the day Angel :-

Angel requested a Venture Photography style shoot but couldn't afford it so she had to cope with me and a bathroom towel on an armchair!!

After showing Angel the proofs from her session she's informed me she's very happy and will be ordering 2 5ftx4ft canvases! LOL Actually since she's really only around 20cm's long I think a 5ft canvas might be a little scary! Ya know I would love to get all 7 kittens photographed together but me thinks I can barely keep one still long enough to photograph!

Kitten Update...

So it's been ages since I updated on the kittens progress and now probably wasn't the best time to get my camera out as it's so dark in our livingroom I had to get my industrial spotlight out, that with a high ISO and dark coloured fast moving kittens on a dark wood floor and all photogs reading this are now covering their eyes!! LOL Sounds like the average wedding lighting in some English churches actually!!

Anyway, these are the best I could get so without further ado ;-


Ella, she's the number 1 kitten, Poppys eldest.

Angel, Abigail's kitten, she's a cutie as you can see here.

Abigail with Pumpkin, my personal favourite as he's the tinker and the alpha male of the kittens.

Abigail again cuddling Yogi (I think, could be casserole) she really loves those kittens.

This one is one of Elphabas 2 kittens who were born last Thursday, he's gorgeous and hubby named him Studley.

No piccies of the others as they were either sleeping, hiding or just running too darned fast!!

Just a Couple of Photographs....

Ok, I know that I posted the slideshow but seeing as it was eensy weensy teeny weeny I just wanted to share a couple of the photos from Finlays Festive Photoshoot, after all with all that gorgeousness how could I resist!

This one is my absolute favourite!

If anyone doesn't remember who Finlay is, he's the son of the most wonderful couple David and Elizabeth who's wedding I shot earlier this year

Delighted because it's the first time I've ever been able to do a bonafide photoshoot at my house, yay the decorating must be working! LOL

Just a couple more random things I wanted to add today -
As you all can see festive toddler fun photos are awesome and I do have a little availability in my schedule so why not give me a call, contact me details are available at Mandy Charlton Designs.

Got a wedding enquiry today for December 28th ( crossing my fingers as it sounds like such fun) it got me thinking, if you receive a surprise proposal and you want to get married at lightening speed then do give me a call, I'm no stranger to last minute wonderful occasions and I might just be able to squeeze you in.

Came home from Tesco last night to find that Poppy had moved her kittens, when we found them we also discovered that Elphaba had her kittens as well, Yay for a house which currently has 2 cats and 7 kittens, we may have 1 or 2 which need lovely new homes to go to in Mid January/Mid February so if you think you might want one why not drop me an email. Elphaba only had 2 kittens and we're definetly keeping 1 ( Paul has called him Studley). I must try and get some photos, Poppys kittens are enormous compared to Elphabas, suprising when you consider there's only 3 weeks between them!!

Sunday is my Christmas wedding with the gorgeous Stuart and Kate, I shot their E- session earlier in the year and I have been so excited about their wedding given that I love weddings and I love Christmas, they are of course having their reception at Matfen hall which is beautiful and also adds to the excitement.

Lastly, I've not had chance to blog about the Childrens Christmas performances, they all did fantastically well, I'll try and sort those photos out and share them on my blog soon but in the meantime take a look at the little video I shot at last years performance.

Kitten Watch - Day 1

If yesterdays photos made you a little broody then I would suggest that you avert your eyes from this blog post as it's a cute kitten-fest of a post!

So all kittens are doing well except for the fact that mum has abandoned the nest and after much searching has decided that a great place to have the kittens is on my chair, I've come to the rescue and put a blanket on it and I guess we'll be sitting on the floor for a few weeks!! It did however mean that I got these corking photos!
This one is going to Jules and we're going to call it by it's name as soon as she decides what she is going to be called.
This one is a noisy little boy and I have to admit to being very fond of him.
here's 3 of them though you can only see one of the boys and the head of Abigails kitten, Angel!

There's a few more shots of them on Flickr so feel free to click through and see the rest!!

Kittens!!!

Yes the kittens have arrived and I got to see it all, I even had to cut the umbilical cord of number 5!!

I know these aren't the best photos but they'll do till I can get some better ones tommorrow.
This one is Abigails and is called Angel.

This one is the other girl (2 girls and 3 boys) and will be going to my good friend Jules for her hubbys Mum.
and here they all are cuddled together, mine is black and white and Looby in her genius has decided we're calling him Catpin Jack (work that one out ;) )

More photos when it's light!