Vanessa Rivera

Only Addy could make her chicken chores look this fabulous 💅🏼😂

The only eight legged friend welcome for tea at my house is Mrs Sparkles We made her out of pvc pipes and a lot of love, then invited her over for some biscuits and tea with Vienna. I snapped a few photos of these two cackling ladies and brought my complete vision to life in @photoshop First off, Indie was on a mission to photobomb every photo and Mrs. Sparkles spun a bit too many webs around the room so I tried the new Generative Fill with Nano Banana feature in Photoshop to remove our uninvited guest and the webs from the photos. It saved me hours of clone stamping whoohoo! Then I blended all the photos together and added all those extra details I live for. This photo took a lot longer than I expected and the weather was on a mission to crash the party but we pulled through and now I’m unwinding at Adobe MAX surrounded by so many amazing creatives! Check out my stories to join me on my Adobe MAX adventure this year and hear about all the magic coming to Photoshop! #AdobePhotoshopPartner #AdobeMAX

Even witches need a girls’ day, right? 💅 Vienna and I obviously just want to be like Addy when we grow up 😌 Sooo I got us some hair rollers and did a little mommy and me photoshoot in our backyard ✨ The way the story evolved real time was hilarious. It was meant to be a serious photo of us just doing our hair but between all 3 of us being our goofy selves, we ended up with a spider in Viennas hair, me doing Addy’s signature yawn and butt scratch, and Vienna’s toad with a little too much lipstick 😅

Our tie breaker baby is a 🩷💙… This photo was inspired by months of constant debates 😅 Vienna insisting it’s a baby Princess, the boys placing bets that it’s a boy, and Addy saying she cannot handle another little brother 😂 Ok but honestly, we’re all just excited and grateful to meet this baby whether it’s a princess or little rascal 🥹 And because I love documenting moments of our life with a little art… here’s our slightly dramatic interpretation of the great sibling debate 😂🥰

The minute the boys walk through the door after school, Vienna immediately drags them upstairs to play dolls, make up, or tea party 🤭 Do they like it? No Are they good sports about it? Also no… (jk…Kind of 😅) So obviously I took this sibling era and turned it into a photo we could keep forever 💛

Addy started high school this week and has been waking me up at 5:30am every morning to tell me she has nothing to wear. Clearly 🙃 But even though she leaves her dresser a mess as she runs out the door, I know one day I’ll miss mornings like this. So obviously I made it a photo✨

We’re officially at 36 weeks! And let me tell you, the midnight cravings are getting out of hand 😅 the amount of times I’ve been caught red handed at 1 am with a mouth full of ice cream, cookies, pie, cheese, pickles, literally anything, is ridiculous lol So here’s my second maternity shoot inspired by my total lack of self control 😂

Here’s how we make our Who-Ville Christmas tree every year! This time narrated by our cousin Grinch who just arrived at our house for the holidays 😉🎄 Supplies needed: 1 artificial Xmas tree, wire cutters, wire (I used jewelry wire from the craft store) Step 1: remove the top part of the tree. Step 2: cut 2 pieces of 1ft long wires Step 3: take the top part of the tree you removed and put the 2 trunks next to each other (don’t connect them like you normally would). Step 4: wrap the wire pieces you cut one by one around the 2 poles until the top part is secure. Step 5: you can now tilt the top part of the tree down to an angle Step 6: cut some of the leaves from the back of the tree so there’s no visible gaps. Step 7: cut a couple of pieces of 6 inch wire and wrap the wire around the bottom of 3 bundled leaves (make sure you leave about 3 inches at the end). Step 8: attach these leaves to the ones at the top of the tree to round the angle to a curve so there is no longer a gap. Step 9: add some leaves to the tip of the tree so you get a more dramatic curve at the end. Step 10: decorate your tree with fun whimsy pieces and you’re done!! 👉You can also use a garland attached to the tip for a dramatic curve, but I didn’t feel like buying one and I like a very minimal curve on our tree so I just used a few leaves from the back and it’s never been noticeable 😅 . . . #thegrinch #drseuss #christmas #christmastree #whovilletree #diy #ohchristmastree #thegrinchwhostolechristmas #christmasdiy

It’s been almost 5 years since I made this and I’m not sure if I ever shared the story behind it so I figured I’d share it today. 2 weeks before we had gotten this very special email asking if we’d like to take on this project, we had just sold our home, most of our belongings, hugged our families good bye, and dove into an adventure. Immediately, we realized it wasn’t going to be as easy as we thought and started to feel that maybe we made a big mistake by taking such a massive risk. Then we got that email. So I took all of those emotions and came up with this story. A mermaid longing for adventure in the city of Vienna, Austria. The jelly fish represent the courage to take the leap. I’ve always been asked about the reflection in the mirror because it looks like a mistake but the truth is that it was intentional. Her expression in the reflection as she looks at the jelly fish is happy and hopeful compared to the expression on the mermaid herself. That photo changed our family’s life so much and it gave me the courage to continue to take leaps in my life. Anyway I love telling stories through our family’s art and I’m so grateful I was given the opportunity to share this one with the world 🫶🧜‍♀️ (PS Vienna, our youngest daughter that was born 2 years later, was named after the city and the photo as we had named it Vienna Mermaid at the time) 🥰 Anyway let me know if you’d like to see more editing breakdown videos like this! . . #digitalart #creativemom #madewithphotoshop #thehappynow #photoshopart #letthembelittle #childrenseemagic #magicofchildhood #childhoodunplugged #art #dailyart #enter_imagination #launchdsigns #photoshopedit #art #photoshop #photoshoptutorial #art

A year ago, Vienna grew her first truffula tree made out of yarn and a toy ball. Who remembers that one? Today that truffula tree grew some furry pink tuft and proudly sits outside our front yard 😅 Anthony asked if I was going to bring it back in after, I said “negative, I’m making a whole forest next” 😬 . . . #drseuss #truffulatrees #digitalart #creativemom #madewithphotoshop #thehappynow #photoshopart #childrenoftheworld #mamaswithcameras #letthembelittle #childrenseemagic #magicofchildhood #childhoodunplugged #art #dailyart #enter_imagination #launchdsigns

We might be a little late to the Beetlejuice party, but consider this the official kickoff to our spooky photo season 👻 I literally can’t wait to show you all the BTS and the chaos behind this one 😅 at least now we have a giant sandworm to bring out every Halloween 🎃 Anyway, after we fiiiiinally called it a wrap, we celebrated with a family date night and watched Beetlejuice 2, and loved it, except…poor Bob 🫣 So what do you think, did we give Beetlejuice the flowers it deserved?! 🤍🖤 . . . #beetlejuice #childrenoftheworld #letthembelittle #halloween #timburton #childrenseemagic #launchdsigns #enter_imagination #madewithphotoshop #digitalart #dailyart #photoshopart #theuniversalart #spookyseason #theartofchildhood #magicofchildhood #photomanipulation #fxcreatives #spooktacular #spooky #jj_its_kids

Our newborn shoot got a little unhinged 😅 2 weeks deep in the newborn trenches with the newest member of our family…Ziggy Cruz. Our double rainbow baby 🌈🌈❤️‍🩹 He’s spent the last two weeks being passed around like a hot potato between all of his siblings, who are constantly fighting over whose turn it is to hold him. Meanwhile, he and I have quietly watched every sunrise together ✨ So I might be a little sleep deprived but after the last 2 years and 2 heart breaks that led us to this moment, there’s no where else I’d rather be than here, holding him at 1 am, 3 am, 4 am…🥹✨🤍

In a world that moves too fast, this turtle rider prefers to take the slower road with an old can of peas and a good ol’ record 🐢✨ 4 years ago I got this photo idea in my head, so I found a person that had a pet tortoise and while the kids fed him lettuce we took some photos of him 🐢 But then life happened and the photo just stayed in my head till a few weeks ago when I was like “that’s it, I’m doing this!” Ok but it ended up being absolute madness 😂 Anthony just gave me the side eye the entire time and our neighbors probably had dinner discussions debating “what on earth is that thing they’re making out front?” 😂 It rained on him for a week, he fell a dozen times, poor turtle has been through a lot but he got his moment to shine and got a ton of love and now he’s being transformed into something spooky 😅

I love the idea of a character whose job is to sprout Spring in his picnic basket flying cart 🌼 So we created Indie the Spring Maker! The kids and I made a giant flower propeller and a picnic blanket parachute which ended up being a complete nightmare but that’s a tale for another time 🫣 Anyway Anthony and I built this little set in our garage which we are slowly turning into a photo studio so I can stop destroying my living room. Our next photo has tons of sand so he’s super happy to know it won’t end up in our living room floor anymore 😂 Anyway we put on a little show we’ll share soon along with a poem I wrote and took photos of everything which I then put together with some digital art magic to create the final photo art. Raise your hand if the Spring Maker has made his way to where you live 🙋🏻‍♀️ He finally made his way here and Spring is finally blooming! 🌼🌷🐝

This Beetlejuice 🪲🧃photo took foreverrrrr to make! I remember telling Anthony it would only take like 3 days, so when I was 14 days in, he just gave me a long side eye 😂 The worm alone took like 5 days between sewing it and making all the tiny teeth. Also, thank goodness I’m not a sculptor because Bob’s head just came out terrifying 😅 but Vienna struggling to wobble around with him on her head was the highlight! We were dyyying 🤭 Anyway as Vienna mentioned in the video, the original shoot didn’t work out at the sand dunes, Vienna quit before we even started 😅, I couldn’t get the boys to stop chasing each other with the worm and my vision just wasn’t giving. Sometimes that happens. Things don’t work out as you planned. I planned on trying again the next day but sometimes you just gotta improvise. So as soon as we got home I jumped out the car and literally threw this together in 2 hours and somehow pulled this shoot together as a team. We didn’t finish till like midnight so I’m sure my neighbors have a “we hate the life of aivax” Facebook page somewhere 😂 but I’m so proud of my little family team! 🫶 anyway this year we’ve been a little slow at creating Halloween photos, like i mentioned earlier, sometimes life just doesn’t always play ball with you, but we do have a couple more coming in the next 2 weeks so I hope you stick around 💛 . . . #beetlejuice #timburton #halloween #childrenoftheworld #digitalart #theartofchildhood #photoshopart #spooky #letthembelittle #magicofchildhood

How we made our Willy Wonka inspired photo! This was originally made for a campaign so the boys actually went dressed like this to a diner which was hilarious then we came home and shot this after a week of prepping. The hardest part was sewing Xander’s costume. I am not good at sewing at all but somehow I figured out how to make the whole costume although I wouldn’t look too close 😂 I’ll be posting the still photo soon with a little hidden surprise so stay tuned! 🍫 . . . #madewithphotoshop #photoshopart #humansofjoy #documentyourdays #photoshopmanipulation #fansy_kids #jj_its_kids #magicofchildhood #cameramama #the_sugar_jar #childrenseemagic #let_there_be_delight #wildandbravelittles #pixel_kids #letthemexplore #theartofchildhood #letthekids #childhoodunplugged #launchdsigns #childrenoftheworld #willywonka

Check mate ♟️🕸️ As of Wednesday, things are getting spooky over here 🎃 Addy reminds me so much of Wednesday just a bit more into skin care and hair rollers 😂 so we decided to kick off our Halloween photos with a little game between her and Thing, played by Anthony. Just squint your eyes when you look at him cause I’ll never try special effects make up again 😂 3 tries and he fired me 😅 I’ll stick to painting 😌

#adobepartner Last time we visited an amusement park, Indie wasn’t tall enough to ride the big rides. He was soooo mad. At one point he asked if we could stuff his shoes to make him taller. And that’s how this photo idea came to be 😂 Anyway, I used 2 @adobecreativecloud apps to create this. In Photoshop I digitally painted a base, changed Indie’s pose using the puppet warp, and used blending modes for lighting. Then I passed it over to my hubby who animated the balloons, clouds and more using tools like the wave warp and wiggle position in After Effects. Adobe Creative Cloud really has everything you need to get as creative as you want including making you tall enough for rides 🎡😅 #MadewithCC #Headinthecloud . . . #photoshop #photoshopart #digitalart #magicofchildhood #art #childhoodunplugged #summervibes #childrenoftheworld

After two heartbreaks, we’re so grateful and hopeful to meet our double rainbow baby this June 🌈🌈 The last 6 months have been so hard as I battled constant fear and anxiety while also wrestling with a quiet guilt for grieving at all. I kept my heart guarded and didn’t allow myself to feel joy or hope for a long time, because honestly, that’s what survival looked like for me. It wasn’t until about three weeks ago that something shifted. Maybe it was that kick to the rib or that I could no longer pretend my belly was just “bloated,” but suddenly it clicked in my mind and in my heart…maybe this is really happening. And when it finally clicked for me, well, it clicked for Anthony too. That’s actually the little inside joke behind this video. From the outside it probably looks funny, like how is the husband just realizing she’s pregnant when she’s obviously very pregnant!? The truth is, Anthony and the kids gave me all the time and space I needed to process this journey at my own pace. So, when I finally said, “Okay… I think I’m ready to feel excited,” it felt like we were all getting the news for the first time together. So with cautious hope and so much gratitude, we’re finally excited to share that our family is about to get a little louder, a little more chaotic… and even more full of love! To anyone walking through infertility, loss, or the complicated emotions that can come with announcements like this, my heart is with you. I know how difficult these moments can feel. Please protect your peace however you need to. 🤍

One of my goals for this year was to use my art to bring a smile and positive energy to families. I’ve been following @meg_nlo for years and Leo’s story. So when I found out he loved Star Wars I really just wanted to create something for him that helped him see himself as the warrior that he is. Life can be so unfair, but kids like Leo remind us how strong and resilient children are. Seeing his reaction to the photo was a core memory for me. #strengthforleo 💛 . . . #madewithphotoshop #photoshopart #photoshopmanipulation #jj_its_kids #magicofchildhood #childrenseemagic #wildandbravelittles #pixel_kids #letthemexplore #theartofchildhood #letthekids #childhoodunplugged #childrenoftheworld #digitalart