Family Photos with an Old Truck

If you follow us on Facebook, you know that The Harris Sisters are all about family photos. We take nearly every opportunity we're together to get group photos. We thought we'd share some tips and tricks we used to take photos the last time the whole group was together.

Old trucks are extremely popular right now. This past Christmas, you really couldn’t go anywhere without seeing a “little red truck” – ornaments, signs, decorations, family Christmas card photos – you name it.

So we wanted to use an old truck into our latest family photo shoot.

How To Plan Your Own Truck Photoshoot

Our first step was to find some photos for inspiration. Looking back on old family photos, we found out that apparently our family has always liked to take photos with vehicles!

Here are some throwback photos of The Harris Family with their beloved cars.

Find Photo Inspiration

This is our Great Grandma Wolfe circa 1945:

This is Mama when she was a little girl. We don't have a date on this photo, but judging from Mama's age in the photo, it should be some time in the early 1950s:

These are photos of Mama and Grandma Elizabeth with the same car (back and front shots) in 1972:

Here is a photo of Mama, Deanna, Donna, and their prized rag dolls (both named Raggy) in 1978:

And here are some of the kiddos with a vintage VW Beetle in 2011:

Find Your Truck

The truck for your photos doesn't even have to be a truck - any vehicle that is meaningful to your family will be the best choice for you.

What about an old car? Or a vintage camper?

Maybe a tractor? A motorcycle? A police car? Or a fire truck?

The possibilities are endless!

The Harris Sisters have always had some sort of old vehicle at our disposal for family photos.

Daddy is a long-time car collector and professional tinkerer. He is always on the lookout for a “new” old vehicle to restore, so finding our old truck was easy. 

His current old truck (a 1964 Chevrolet C10 that he calls Pretty Boy) was actually a gift from his good friend. It had previously belonged to the friend's dad, and he inherited it when his dad passed away.

Daddy's friend wanted him to have it because he knew that Daddy would bring it back to working condition and then also thoroughly enjoy it. And he has!

Pretty Boy is scheduled for a new paint job soon, so we wanted to make sure to get a set of family group photos with the truck while it is its current cream color.

Make a Shot List

We started off with list of photos we were interested in getting with the truck during this photoshoot.

That way, we had a plan and we would hopefully get all the photos we wanted. Our mission was to get photos of:

• the sisters
• the sisters and Daddy
• Daddy with all the grandchildren
• whole group

What to Wear for Your Photoshoot

When planning our outfits for this photo shoot, we knew that we wanted to incorporate custom embroidered speed suits that Deanna bought us for Christmas.

When else are you going to get the opportunity to get your photo taken in a mechanic’s uniform next to an old truck?

We accessorized our navy blue speed suits with pops of red and had the rest of the group dress in simple white shirts and blue jeans.

These outfits worked well with Daddy’s cream colored truck for family photos.

Try Different Angles and Setups

We chose to take some photos with the hood up (as if we were working on the truck) and some with the hood down.

We tried to shoot the truck from a few different angles to see what worked best.

We made sure that the truck itself was positioned in front of a nice backdrop – an old barn in the woods behind Daddy’s house.

When it came to the larger group shots, we made sure to arrange people in the truck bed, in front of the truck, and in the driver’s seat/behind the wheel.

That way, we were able to vary the heights in the photo to create more interest.

If you are a long-time reader, you might recognize this truck from some quick family photos we took during Thanksgiving one year.

The grandkids have certainly grown since then!

Just to give you some perspective:

• The baby that Daddy is holding in the picture below is Emma. (And she is no longer the youngest grandchild. That distinction now goes to Lexi, our little redhead shown in the photos above.)
• The little girl in front of Misty is Charlotte (pictured in the driver's seat in the photos above - she is old enough to drive now!). 
• The two boys in the picture below are Aidyn and Jaxon. (They are the handsome young men in the back of the truck in the photos above. Aidyn is in middle school now.)
• Of course, Daddy, Deanna, Misty, and I have not aged a single day! (Magic, I tell you!)

Bonus Tip

Once you get into the habit of regularly taking family photos, we've found that THE BEST thing to do with them is make a custom photo calendar for Daddy.

We make him a photo calendar every year at Christmas that includes that year's photos and he loves it.

It's a nice way to make a personalized and memorable gift for someone with a large family like ours!

Hope we’ve given you some tips and ideas that will help you with your own family photoshoot with an old truck!

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One Man's Trash: Vintage Snoopy Plush

Looky who I recently rescued!  It's an oversized Snoopy from many moons ago, and he is just fantastic!!  Never one to pass on vintage Peanuts, this pup was just too good to be true.   I spied him at the very last second as we were literally walking out the door of my favorite hometown "treasure" shop this spring.   I grabbed him up the second I laid my eyes on him and walked him directly to the register.  

I believe I paid a whopping $8 for him, which is pricey compared to a lot of the loot for sale in this particular shop, but I'm pretty sure the owners also knew they had something special here.  

They certainly don't make stuffed animals like this anymore. He has one small tag that doesn't really give any clues about his age.  But I have my own personal connection to help me date this pup.  When we were little girls, Mama used to let us look through her old photo albums, and I will never forget a single photo that she took of her collection of stuffed animals when she was young.  Among those stuffed animals was a Snoopy that looked exactly like this one! That is all I could think from the moment I spied him.   I had to have him! And if my calculations are correct, that would date this little fella to the 1960s, I'm thinking.   If so, he is roughly 50 or so years young, if not more. AMAZING!   And he's all mine.  He's found his forever home, and we are both just over the moon!

Roxboro Rocks

Has the rock hiding trend hit your town yet?

Here in our very own Little Town, USA (aka Roxboro) people are painting and decorating rocks, and then hiding them at parks and restaurants, in downtown, in the Walmart, even!  Then, other people (like my rock adoring child) hunt them down (at which point, you can re-hide it or keep it, if it suits your fancy).

There is even a Facebook page to give out hints and share photos of your newly acquired treasures.  I have actually been seeing little posts here and there for a while about this, but I just checked it out today.  We got a nice haul, and then proceeded to dig out our rock painting kits (because rock fiends like my child own not one but two of such kits!) and proceeded to fancy up some rocks of our own.

I chose to paint a few to represent plays my oldest has been in over the years. On the back, I included a nice little saying from the play and the tag Roxboro Rocks, so people know, "Hey, this rock is definitely for you!"

We tried out geocaching a few years back.  You can read about our adventures here.  Spoiler alert: We found Oz--as in the Wizard of!  Somehow, though, it didn't produce as much excitement as these rocks have.

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How to Make Your Very Own "Straight Outta" Meme

Everyone is straight outta somewhere. 

The Harris Sisters, as I'm sure long-time blog readers know, are straight outta Roxboro, North Carolina. AKA The Boro.

Of course, half of the fun of creating a meme is uploading pictures and adding silly text like these:

2014 Halloween Fairy Tale Photoshoot

2014 Minecraft Halloween Costumes

2010 Movie Monsters Halloween Costumes

Disney World Tips and Tricks: The Basics

2013 Junk Food Halloween Costumes

So, we've established we're cornballs. But, don't worry! You can be too!

To celebrate the upcoming NWA biopic that will be released later this week, Beats by Dre released this Meme Generator that allows users to upload their own photo and enter their own location to indicate where they're "straight outta." The meme, of course, refers to NWA's debut album, Straight Outta Compton. 

Check it out here: straightouttasomewhere.com 

Pretty cool! Have fun coming up with your own fun memes - the possibilities are endless!

My Fair Lady: Remembering Mama

Her name was Dorothy - Dorothy Jean to be exact.  Daddy often called her Dorothy Jane just to get a rise out of her.  Many of her friends called her Dottie or Dot.  Mostly, she just went by Dorothy. But we just called her "Mama".

She was many things to many people; she wore a lot of hats to be sure.  Daughter, sister, wife, mother, friend, coworker.  Mama was always the first up each day and the last one to bed each night. She worked outside the home 8 - 5 each day, came home and cooked dinner EVERY night, cleaned the dishes, started the laundry, checked homework, and the list just went on and on and on.  She never sat down.  She never missed a PTA meeting, school play, awards ceremony, or parent teacher conference, and with the three of us, there were many of those to attend.  I still don't know how she did it all.  She worked hard, but she never complained.  She loved us girls and it showed. 

But above all else, when I think of Mama, I always remember what a lady she was.

• She never wore pants- only dresses or skirts.  She only owned one pair of jeans and she despised them.  I shudder to think what she would think of yoga pants. 

• She wore makeup every day - NO MATTER WHAT.  But looking back now  I think she just had naturally beautiful skin.  She only wore blush, mascara, and lipstick.  Nothing more. 

• She had really fair skin, a trait she passed on to all the Harris Sisters.  Her skin was so pretty that it glowed.  No wrinkles either.  She did have freckles that she didn't care for very much. She passed those on to me only.  I used to not like them either, but I do now.  They are a constant reminder of her. 

• Mama always wore perfume - usually Avon.  She never left the house without it. 

• She wore pantyhose every single day.  She didn't even own a pair of socks.  When she would occasionally don the pair of jeans to work in the yard, she would wear pantyhose underneath. Now that's dedication. 

• Mama always wore high heels.  She hated flats - thought they made her feet look bigger.  She was 6 feet tall to start with, but would rather be taller with the heels than have her feet look too big.

• She always wore a necklace.  She had several favorites and switched them out daily, but never left the house without one. 

• Her nails were always polished. And they were never chipped.  She used a Revlon polish- usually in a shimmery rose color.  I can still see it now.  She often sat up late at night working on her nails and would fall asleep on the couch waiting for them to dry.  No quick drying polish back then.

• She wore aprons every day.  She would put one on while cooking dinner and would wear it around the house all night.

• At night, she always wore a full length night gown, a robe, and slippers. No sloppy pj's for her. She called her slippers her "bedroom shoes" and her robe her "house coat".

There were so many other wonderful things about Mama too.

• Her laugh was beyond wonderful.  It was infectious, as anyone would tell you.  She would laugh so hard she couldn't talk or hardly breathe, and when she tried to explain what she was laughing at, she would just laugh harder.  Misty has that same laugh today. Donna has her smile.  I have her disposition.   I think we all have her sense of humor. When something is funny to one of the Harris Sisters, it is usually funny to all of us- even if no one else knows what the heck we are laughing at.

• She would tell you she wasn't a good cook.  But I still make some of her recipes today.  We all do.  I miss her homemade biscuits that she made once a year on Thanksgiving Day.  They were the best.

• She took her coffee with cream only, no sugar.  Me too.  She also used to let us have milk with coffee in it when we were kids.  Now that was a treat.  I'll bet it's still good, note to self- must try this again soon.  

• She was a lefty.  Harris Sister, Misty, is too.  And now, Misty's daughter, Charlotte is also a southpaw.  She had beautiful handwriting.  She and Misty always sat together on one side of the table so they wouldn't bump elbows with the rest of us who were all righties.

• Even though she was left-handed, she did so many things with her right hand that many people considered her ambidextrous. For example, she would iron clothes right-handed. And those aforementioned painted fingernails? Well, those were always salon perfect on BOTH hands! But perhaps her most unusual talent was that she could flawlessly write her name forward with her right hand while simultaneously writing it backward (mirror image) with her left hand. It was a fascinating parlor trick that we girls often tried to duplicate, but we never quite managed. 

• She took us to church on Sundays, and helped us say our prayers at night.  She taught us right from wrong.

• Mama always taught us the importance of knowledge, education, and learning.  She was a smart lady and wanted to be sure we were too. She taught us things like how to spell antidisestablishmentarianism, one of the longest words in the English language, when we were in second grade. We Harris Sisters have all inherited her love of knowledge in our own special ways. I will be the FIRST to tell you that I was the only Harris Sister to ever actually win a Spelling Bee, Misty currently homeschools her two daughters in all subject areas, and Donna turned her love of grammar into a career as a copy editor and proofreader at a well-known publisher.

• She would probably hate the picture I used of her above.  I hope she will forgive me, but I love it.  Beautiful smile, cute pose, forever young.  That's Mama. 

Above all else, you were a good mom - the best.  You taught us how to be good mothers too. So on this Mother's Day - and always, Mama, we remember you, we miss you, we love you, and we will see you again.

Love, 

Donna, Deanna, and Misty

Summer Theater

Growing up in a small town, it seems like everyone, at one time or another, had the chance to grace the stage of The Kirby Theater. Here, Deanna and I pose in front of it before last year's production of The Wizard of Oz.

Sadly, I have no pictures of my brief time in the spotlight, but I do still have an original Velveteen Rabbit playbook "customized" by yours truly that I keep inside my Strawberry Shortcake lunchbox from kindergarten.  

 

We are a musical family and by musical, I mean we like the musicals!  Baby Emma Lola has hits from "Mamma Mia", "Newsies", and "Annie" on her Youtube playlist, and it would just be the best day ever if I could find my soundtrack to the "King and I" on vinyl, but that is neither here nor there.  (or anywhere as far as I can tell!)

Ever since I encouraged Charlotte to try summer theater, she has had a blast. This year they performed Peter Pan, and it was just darling. Charlotte was cast as Lyria, a storytelling fairy:

Part of the fun, for me, was putting together the costume. I took one look at this fairy and immediately thought about a dress that I already had in my costume closet. A few years back, Charlotte was Wilma Flintstone for Halloween and Emma Lola was Pebbles:

The dress wasn't quite white though, so after a lightening effort and a whole lot of Clorox, I hand painted the bottom, and probably have spent the most time in the past five days just doing hair and makeup. (and ears!)

And here she is singing with her fairy family:

A star is born:  Charlotte rode to her play in style.  Daddy was kind enough to chauffeur in his classic Volkswagen Beetle!

Today wraps up this year's summer theater.  We have been flying to Neverland every night for five weeks, so I guess now would be a good time for a good ole fashioned roadtrip.  Hmmm...I wonder how the hubby would feel about a mixtape of musicals.

I'll Have a Blue, Blue Blue Blue Christmas

So, I'm not talking about the song (sorry, Elvis) or even the book - I'm being very literal here. Like this:

Or these:

You see, Misty and I were driving down Roxboro's Main Street yesterday and we saw a fully decorated Christmas tree. I suppose seeing a fully decorated Christmas tree a week before Thanksgiving was not quite as surprising as the fact that is was decorated top to bottom in aqua blue in hot pink ornaments. THAT definitely caught our eye!

Some of you might not know that I have an entire Pinterest board dedicated solely to FREE Christmas Printables and I've been loading it up with Christmas themed items of late. So make sure to check that out for the most up to date freebies. 

But today, I thought I'd round up all FREE Christmas printables with specifically those retro aqua blue colors that seem to be coming back into fashion. I've included direct links for all of them below. (And if traditional red and green colors are more up your alley, check out our Red and Green FREE Christmas Printable Roundup. Neutral colors more your thing? Then check out our Neutral FREE Christmas Printable Roundup featuring chalkboard prints, calligraphy, burlap, and all sorts of schmancy stuff!)

These tags will look great on plain white, red, or brown craft paper wrapping. And that will surely making wrapping that much easier when you're not trying to match the wrapping to the ribbon to the tag in each instance. And for the EASIEST use, I would suggest printing these on sticker paper (available at your local office supply store). That way, you can just stick them directly on the gifts!

Noel Holiday Tags from PaperCrave:

Vintage Gift Tags from Free Pretty Things For You:

Gift Tags from Orange You Lucky!:

Hand-Illustrated Gift Tags from Emily McDowell at WorldLabel.com:

Gift Tags from Hey Look:

Holiday Mail Stripes Gift Tag from Eat Drink Chic:

Gift Tags from Sass & Peril:

Dangly Gift Tags from Lemon Squeezy:

Holiday Tags from Design Sponge:

And for you crafty types who might want to make some gifts and THEN label them - here's an idea for you from Balancing Home (link to the hot chocolate recipe is also included at the site):

And finally, I thought this one was too awesome not to include. It's a free printable from A Pair of Pears of the Bible verse that Linus quotes in A Charlie Brown Christmas (note the last line on the print).

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