My great friend Kristina Griffo came to the studio the other night to take some photos. She currently is going to school to become a nurse and just finished her third year at SUNY Binghamton . Every once in awhile we pair up for some fun and fantastic photo shoots. Here’s some highlights from our most recent shoot. Have some free time and want some fun photos? Come swing by. It’ll be a blast.

Jump on the ferry and get out of the city for a fantastic cause. PortraitBug is a proud vendor for the Grace Foundation Crop for Autism. This event will be held at the Moore Catholic High School on Staten Island March 28th, 2009 from 9am to 9pm.

Autism is a developmental disability affecting as many as 1.5 million Americans. It is the result of a neurological disorder that impares the normal functioning of the brain, causing decreased communication skills and difficulty with social interaction.

The cost of this event is $65.00. There will surely be phenomenal food, lots of fun, and great company. We will have a wonderful table full of lots of goodies and there will be chances to win PortraitBug prizes.

Sign up for the crop directly through the Grace Foundation http://www.graceofny.org/CROP.htm

There are now several more open spots for our first free crop on February 7th. There was such great response that we decided to transform the portrait studio into another crop space. If you would like to reserve a spot please go to our meetup.com page to rsvp.

http://www.meetup.com/PortraitBug-Scrapbooking-and-Photography/calendar/9545719/

We cannot wait to host everyone and are planning a great time for all. There are lots of giveaways coming…..

If you are unable to attend, please let us know at least 24 hours in advance. There may be a waiting list and we hope you would be fair to those hoping to join us for the evening. Our policy will be that no shows will be automatically wait listed on upcoming crops and allowed to attend only if space is available at the last moment.

We’ve received our newest shipment of albums! We now have a huge collection of Modern Albums from American Crafts. We carry four different sizes: 12×12, 8.5×11, 8×8, and 6×6. Colors available include black, chestnut, blueberry, raspberry pink, lime green, blush pink and lavender. We also now have beautiful corduroy albums in several colors that have a space on the front for a photo. In addition, we have cloth albums, both ring binder and post bound. They are a beautiful vanilla color and perfect for wedding albums!

We offer personalized classes for groups of four or more children! We have a “BFF Book” class in which each child makes their own book of them and their best friend! Just bring pictures and everything else is included. Another class we recently held was to make Valentine’s cards. Call or stop by today to schedule your class!

For all of you who join meetup groups, we have created a meetup so you can easily know about our upcoming events. If you are looking for our monthly calendar it will be posted here on our site, in our newsletter, and meetup.com. Our new classes for February and March are being finalized. Meetup is just another way to get up to date information about events at the store.

ready for more maya road?

new fringes, ribbons, pins, some super cute vinyl flowers… and a sneak of a few more new chipboard books. one PERFECT for us in the big apple!

We are absolutely in LOVE with the new line of papers from GCD called “Paris Nights.” They are gorgeous and would go perfect with our Riff Raff Eiffel Tower!

We now carry beautiful unique handmade cards made by the staff at Portrait Bug! Here are just a few samples:

Our collection of baby books is unparalleled. From handmade wooden albums to album kits, we have the perfect book to archive your memories. My favorite is a green Binth book with a small rabbit on the front. It has a place for firsts, favorites and memories from each of the first few months. It has also has a place for the origin of the baby’s name, which I love, and plenty of space for photos. Our Rag & Bone baby books are beautifully bound with ribbon and as well as a family tree and plenty of space for photos, they also have an “expecting” page for memories such as the first time the mother felt a kick! The gem of our collection is an Italian leather bound Pinetti album with a stork that wraps around the binding.