Launch Day 4 • Business Spotlight: Beanpress Cards

Sarah Gray Photography Website Launch, Tallahassee, Florida Business Spotlight

Beanpress Cards was named after owner, Selena’s, two boys. When she was expecting them and didn’t yet know their genders, she called them “beans.” From it’s very roots, Beanpress Cards has the heart of motherhood stamped all over it. They were a natural partner for Sarah Gray Photography from the beginning. more on that here…
(Instructions for entering the giveaway are in the Rafflecopter box at the end of this post as well as a discount code to the Beanpress shop just for Sarah Gray Photography readers).

Selena started her business almost 6 years ago when her second son was about six months old. Like many artists, she needed a creative outlet. In those early days, a mutual friend of ours (who happens to be another vendor we’ll be highlighting tomorrow) connected us and suggested we collaborate. It has been a match made in heaven as Selina has used my photos on her sample card designs in her shop (always with my clients model release).

Sarah Gray Photography Website Launch, Tallahassee, Florida Business Spotlight

A Florida native, Selena and her family made the move this past July to a suburb of Raleigh, North Carolina when her husband was transferred for work. Even through the move her shop continues to produce beautiful, fresh card designs.  Beanpress Cards on Etsy has just over 2200 sales. When you take a look at it, it’s easy to see why. Her designs are fun, and she’s always adding new ones.

Sarah Gray Photography Website Launch, Tallahassee, Florida Business Spotlight

Sarah Gray Photography Website Launch, Tallahassee, Florida Business Spotlight

Her valentine cards are my favorites. We’ve used them for my girls the last several years and they’ve always been a hit. Selena also designs custom cards for my clients holiday cards each year when they purchase through me. She’s incredible to work with and is quick to turn orders around. I could spend hours looking at her birth announcement designs… but then again, I’m kind of partial to newborn babies.

Selena is generously participating in the week of giveaways to help promote the relaunch and refresh of my website and is giving away a personalized stationary set of 20 notecards and a matching notepad. It is adorable! I may need to order one for myself.

Sarah Gray Photography Website Launch, Tallahassee, Florida Business Spotlight

She is also extending her generosity to my readers with a 20% off discount code to be used on a digital purchase through the month of February (excludes printed cards). This is perfect for those valentine cards you may still need to order. She’s able to fulfill Valentine orders up until the day before Valentine’s day (ALL THE PRAISE HANDS). Use code SARAHGRAY20 when you checkout with your digital order in her Etsy shop.

To enter the giveaway, follow the instructions in the Rafflecopter box below and we’ll announce the winner on Sunday.  Best of luck to you!!

If you don’t already, like my photography page so you don’t miss out on the upcoming giveaways the rest of this week from other amazing Tallahassee loving businesses. There is more to come!

Be sure to check out the other three businesses participating in this week of giveaways who have already been featured. Their giveaways are still active for entering!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Here's the framework I share with every family I work with:

The location is the canvas. Your family is the subject. Your clothing is the paint.

Get the paint right, and everything comes together. Rush it, and even a beautiful Tallahassee evening can fall a little flat in the final images.

That doesn't mean you need a stylist or a big budget. It means you need a plan and a few principles that actually hold up in real life - with real kids and real closets.

Start with a neutral base. Creams, tans, soft whites, warm grays. These anchor your palette and keep the focus on faces and connection, which is the whole point.

From there, bring in color intentionally. Neutrals with soft blues. Neutrals with blush or sage. Warmer tones in fall - mauve, khaki, olive - especially at a location like Alford Park, where the foliage does a lot of work for you.

Add texture wherever you can. A knit next to a satin blouse. A linen shirt next to a tweed jacket. Texture creates visual depth in a way that flat, solid fabrics just don't. It's one of those things that reads beautifully in prints and most families don't hear about until someone tells them.

Keep patterns small if you use them at all. A delicate floral, a fine stripe, a subtle check - all great. Large, bold patterns pull focus away from faces, and that's never what we're going for.

Outfit planning is one of the highest-leverage things you can do before your session. I promise it's worth the attention.
Earlier this week, I had the honor to speak to a room full of moms about friendship. Later this week, I was in a living room with a brand new baby. 🤍

Here’s what I told that group of moms: I’m not a friendship expert. But I’ve spent years walking into homes with families I’ve never met, and I’ve learned that the best moments happen when they don’t feel like they have to perform.

For great photos, a mama doesn’t need a perfect house, perfect hair, or a perfectly behaved toddler. She needs to feel safe. So we talk, we laugh, we find common ground, and somewhere along the way she lets her guard down, relaxes a bit and just gets to be herself with her baby.

Friendship works the same way. Find something in common. Say “me too.” Listen. Let someone see your real life.

So mama, whether you’re in the newborn fog or the toddler chaos: you don’t have to have it all together to belong. Text the mom you just met. Say, “Want to get together?” Small deposits over time build the kind of friendship that can hold you when life gets hard.

@eproctorsutton it was an honor to photograph you precious family with your newest little miracle. 🩵

#momco #newbornphotographer #tallahasseephotographer #momsupportingmoms #christianmotherhood
I used ChatGPT to help me plan out our landscaping this week and I feel like an absolute genius.

The AI rendered a version of what our yard could look like and honestly, even if we only get halfway there, I will be thrilled. Genuinely hopeful. This is not a drill.

Anyway. Back to photography. But also - technology is wild right now and I am here for it.
I'm speaking at MomCo this morning for the first time, and I'll be honest - I'm a little nervous.

The topic is fostering adult friendships, which feels both very important and very personal to me. Because I was part of this group during a season of my life when I really needed it. The fellowship I found there meant more than I can put into words.

Adult friendship is one of those things that doesn't get talked about enough. It takes more intention than it did when we were younger. It doesn't just happen. And when you find it, it holds you in ways you didn't expect.

I'm excited to dive into that conversation with a room full of women who already get it.

Photo by Mary Katherine Fulkerson Photography
I recently read about the day John Lennon and Paul McCartney met.

John was performing at a church function with his high school band. Paul happened to be in the audience. A mutual friend introduced them afterward, and the rest is history.

What gets me is that there's a photo of it. John's classmate had just gotten a camera for his birthday and snapped one during the performance. Nobody in that room knew what they were watching. It was just an ordinary afternoon.

That photo turned out to be a diamond in the rough.

I think about that a lot in my work. The sessions I remember most aren't always the milestone ones. Sometimes it's an in-between moment - a Tuesday afternoon, a candid laugh, a kid doing something totally unremarkable - that ends up being the one a family treasures most.

You don't always know which moments will matter until later. But if you keep capturing them, you'll have a record when you do.

Do you have a photo like that? One that didn't seem like anything at the time but turned out to mean a lot? I'd genuinely love to hear about it.

Memberships and Affiliations

Sarah Gray Photography | Professional Photographer of America Member
Sarah Gray Photography | The Motherhood Anthology Member
National Association of Professional Child Photographers Member 2026-2027

Sarah Gray creates timeless and joyful images that are designed for living room walls and photo albums. A tallahassee photographer, Sarah Gray also serves Thomasville, Crawfordville, St. Marks, Gainesville and throughout the Forgotten Coast and panhandle of north Florida and south Georgia.

email us | sarah@sarahgray.com

telephone (850) 328-3258

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located in tallahassee, florida