Beyonce and Jay Z did something rather unexpected when they decided to release pictures of their newborn daughter, Blue Ivy Carter. Rather than accept a multi-million dollar deal to publish them in a magazine, the happy parents decided to release them for free and set up a website dedicated to the photos.

The website, a Tumblr blog called Hello Blue Ivy Carter, has five personal shots of the adorable baby, who has a full head of hair already, at just over a month old. One shot features Blue Ivy in the arms of an ecstatic looking Beyonce Knowles; another one sees her being held by her rapper father Jay Z, who, too, looks very happy but also slightly tired. A handwritten note at the top of the page says: 'We welcome you to share in our joy. Thank you for respecting our privacy during this beautiful time in our lives. The Carter family.'

Talking to US Weekly Beyonce's stylist, June Ambrose said: 'I couldn't say a word. B really really thought about this and she really wanted to do it this way. She just couldn't imagine selling pictures of her baby.' Talking about Blue Ivy, she called her 'a princess' and added: She's definitely very alert, you can see from the photos, you feel like she's been here before...she's always in a loving environment, and you can see that she's born into greatness. I think that's what those photos really say. She's a good baby!'

It also seems that Blue Ivy's future career has been planned out. Ambrose declared: 'A girl with big full lips, she'll be a supermodel, I can't wait!'