Have you had it with the tedious task of editing out wrinkles from your newborn backdrops? It can really slow down your editing workflow and can become so mundane. Well, get ready to get your life back and be done with editing out those wrinkles!!

I was determined to have wrinkle free blankets straight out of camera and I've tried a lot of different techniques, but nothing had worked until now!!

Before I share with you what I've found that works for me let me go over a few mistakes that I've made.

1. My backdrop bar was way too high in the beginning. I thought it had to be high enough so the wall wouldn't show, but I was wrong. If you shoot at the right angle it won't show. Your bar should be approximately 2 ft (give or take) above your bean bag.

- Once I lowered my bar I thought that would fix everything, but it didn't.

2. Next I had about 50 clips on my blanket to hold it in place, but it still didn't seem tight enough. I tried having my assistant hold it instead which helped some, but still not enough. Also, I like to have her down near baby spotting baby at all times.

3. I realized that I needed to stretch the blankets out on each side as tight as they would go, but what was I going to use? I certainly couldn't afford to hire 3 more assistants (1 holding blanket in back, and one on each side) plus it would get a little too packed in my little studio.

Since I am extremely stubborn and refuse to give up I finally came up with an easy solution that worked perfectly for me. Here's what I did. I made buckets to clip each side of my blanket to and I sewed a slip at the top of all of my blankets and backdrops so it would slip onto my pole like a curtain! It worked so much better than the clips! It also helps to have at least 2 other blankets on top of any stuffers you are using!

Materials Needed

(2) Home Depot All Purpose Buckets (they are the perfect size), spray paint (because a Home Depot bucket just isn't pretty), twine (purchased at Michael's), T-shirt (purchased at Michael's)

T shirt - $3, HD Bucket - $2.97, Spray Paint - $6.98, Twine - $6.36 A total of $20.33 with tax!

When you are spray painting your bucket I would lay it on it's side and be patient and let it dry before you turn it. If you spray it upright you will get lots of paint drips.

After your bucket is completely dry turn the t-shirt inside out and put the head opening at the bottom of the bucket. Fold the t shirt over the edge of the bucket. Take your twine and wrap it all around to hold the t-shirt in place. I also wrapped twine around the bucket handle. Make sure you put some weights in the buckets so it doesn't tip over and will stay in place. That's it!

Now just put a bucket on each side of your setup and clip the blanket to the buckets.

The buckets also came in handy to hold my stuffers!

I hope this post helps you cut down your editing time and get your life back!! Please leave a comment or contact me if there are other topics you'd like to see blogged!

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DIY christmas light up sign | sarah kane photography

I love decorating my house for Christmas, but decorations can get pretty expensive. If you wait until after Christmas for the big sales typically all of the good stuff is gone! I learned to be very thrifty during my college years and still love a good bargain. What I love more than a good bargain is making something myself. I am a total DIY kind of girl and even if I won the lottery and struck it rich I would still make many of my own decorations!

I've been a crafting fool this last week! As the busy season of photography is coming to and end I finally have time to do something other than sitting at my computer editing, so I've been crafting like crazy! My favorite DIY Christmas decoration I made this year is my light up sign! I wanted to make it last year, but just couldn't find the time. Now that I've done it though it really wasn't difficult and didn't take too much time. All of the supplies I bought at Michael's, but you can get them at any craft store. Here's what you'll need:

Canvas

Paint (I used spray paint, but any paint will work)

Mini leather punch set (click here to view)

Wooden mallet or small hammer

Christmas lights (you will need a long string of lights for this)

chalk

marker or pen

extension chord

a block of wood (to use under canvas while you punch the holds for the lights)

FIRST draw your word using a piece of chalk (one that will show through the back of the canvas when held in light). It's best to use chalk because it can easily wipe away if you make a mistake.

NEXT hold your canvas in light so you can see the chalk outline show through from the back of the canvas. Using a pen or marker mark dots where you will be punching your holes (make sure you measure how far apart your Christmas lights are and do not make holds larger than the length).

YOU want to punch the holes from the back of the canvas. Take your block of wood and slide it under where you will be punching the hole (do not use a plastic or wooden cutting board as the tool will hammer through them and you will be left with indents)

TO punch take your punching tool (use the tool closest to the size of the Christmas light. It will likely be just a tad too small, but we will fix this later). Hold the tool where you want to make the punch hole and then hit it a couple of times with the hammer or wooden mallet.

ONCE all of your holes are punched paint over the entire canvas. You will later paint the outline of the word back in using your holes as guides. My chalk outline actually still showed through with the spray paint so I was able to follow it more easily.

WHEN the all over paint is dry outline your word with white paint.

ONCE the white paint is dry it's time to place your lights in the punch holes. Very slowly twist the lights into the holes until they punch through (don't do this too hard as the canvas may split or tear).