november 30, 2009 :: vibrant vine

november 27, 2009 :: craft row

:: BLACK FRIDAY SALE ::

3 days only! black friday (and weekend) sale on now! 20% off EVERYTHING at both shades of violet and fin+roe.





ALSO: buy 1 get 1 free on all prints over at fresh snapped photos!

thankful

what i am truly most thankful for.

november 25, 2009 :: lace pod

that's what he said :: where is it?

ok, this has got to be on of my favorite "that's what he said" posts of all time!

a little back story: the boys have really been into coloring lately. crayons, markers, colored pencils, it doesn't matter. they love it all. well, the little dude got a buzz lightening and woody pencil awhile ago. one of those that has all the little color inserts that you can pull out to get to the color you want....know what i mean? the baby has been obsessed with coloring with it. so.....

the other day we're in the kitchen and he's getting very agitated. he's digging through drawers, his toy box, anywhere he can think of while yelling out: "where's my woody, i can't find my woody. where's my orange woody? i want my woody. i can't see my woody."

if there ever was a time that this kid cracked me up, it was certainly this one. luckily he was doing it while i was home and not with some babysitter who had no clue what he was talking about! that would have been quite the story!

things i want tuesday :: cotton ring

yeah, yeah, i know this is two pieces of jewelry in a row for my things i want tuesday. i'm sorry, but this was just too gorgeous to not feature. i promise next week i'll feature something other than jewelry!

cotton ring

november 24, 2009 :: berry branch

november 23, 2009 :: rainbow leaves

with today's photo of the day comes a little announcement. you may have noticed that there were no new photos over the weekend. going forward i will only be posting photos monday through friday. things are a little busy around here and i'm trying to trim time wherever i can. if you have the urge to see more pretty photos, you can view all of the photo of the day archives on flickr. year 1. year 2.

kid's artwork magnets

i'm so excited about joining forces with ruva cards (another WI stationer) to offer these exclusive children's artwork magnets. you get an entire vintage tin of 24 magnets featuring the artwork of your little one. there are even options to add more designs to the same tin (ie, 12 each of 2 designs, 8 each of 3 designs etc.) what a great one of a kind gift for grandparents, relatives, and even school teachers! go check out the details here.

november 20, 2009 :: final blooms

thrifted :: spool display :: before & after

hold on to your seat! i'm about to reveal my all time favorite thrifty finds before & after project! i'm hoping you're as thrilled about it as i am. this project has been in my head for the last year or so and i'm so excited that it's finally complete!

a little back-story. i started collecting spools about 8 years ago or so. i loved them for their vintage qualities as well as their vibrant colors. my collection has grown quite a bit over the years and the large apothecary type jars i was displaying them in were overflowing. i needed a new way to display them that would also allow for more growth. (because, well, you never know when you'll find another great spool!) the following idea was born....



i spent my summer thrifting wooden boxes and/or display pieces. all different shapes and sizes. i then took them all and coated them in nice bright white to match the trim in our house. this process took me more hours that i can count. all the little nooks and crannies in those boxes was enough to drive me mad! but, i did it. i laid them out on the floor to determine the layout for the wall.



after lots of measuring and leveling, this is what i had. (there is a shelf missing in the lower left corner that was still drying when i took this photo).



then came the fun part! laying out all my spools and arranging them by color.



these are just some of my spools. i still have more, but only used my most favorite in this project. i knew i wanted to arrange the spools by color but didn't want it to look too much like a rainbow so i started out with blue and worked from there.



after 8 years of collecting spools and a summer of collecting the right display pieces, here is the final result. it is so exciting to see my idea a reality. what's even better is that it looks like i envisioned it. sometimes i get ideas in my head but then when i finish it, it's nothing like i thought it would be. i think this might be even better than i imagined!



a close-up of the lower left shelf.



the bench in this photo is another thrifty find from this summer. i love how it's so old and obviously vintage, but has such clean and modern lines. the epitome of my style. modern vintage. the suitcase underneath is also a thrifty find. one of my favorite finds at only $2!



this project is in our front entry hall. it's the first thing people see when they come in the front door, and the first thing i see when i come down the stairs in the morning. i don't think i can look at it without smiling. those bright and cheery colors just put an instant perma-grin on my face.

i hope you enjoy my thrifty hallway!

november 19, 2009 :: the crabby apples

that's what he said :: school pledge

this isn't my typical "that's what he said wednesday". it's more like "that's what he says and i think it's great, wednesday".

i just learned about the little dude's school pledge that they say at school. it hit me hard and i want to incorporate it in our daily lives at home. here it is:

today is a new beginning and i can make a difference!
i pledge:
to be responsible for my learning;
to always be and do my best,
to be respectful to myself and others,
to be honest and truthful,
as a part of the Lake Country family, i will help keep the school clean, and model good citizenship.
when the day is done, i will take knowledge and wisdom and truth with me, to help make the world a better place.

while some of it is really geared to school life i thought it would be great to take the beginning and the end and turn it into our family pledge. something like this:

today is a new beginning and i can make a difference!
when the day is done, i will take knowledge and wisdom and truth with me, to help make the world a better place.

what a great pledge to live by. i think i need to make it into a big poster and hang it in our home in a prominent place.

what are your thoughts? do you have a family pledge? something that you as a family believe in and strive for? please share in the comments. i'd love to hear about it!

november 18, 2009 :: green frills

things i want tuesday :: porcelain beauty

yes, yes, yes. i know i feature jewelry as the thing i want a LOT. but really, truly, look at this beauty. i think i want this more than any piece of jewelry i've featured before. theautomaticcrystal (found via scoutie girl)

november 17, 2009 :: ruby red

the reveal :: my studio

the time has finally come! i know many of you have been waiting to see my studio/office for many, many weeks now. i finally got around to taking some photos today. so here you go!



this is what the main studio/office area looked like when we moved in. not pretty. when we moved in we painted and put carpet down but other than that i hadn't really done anything at all. it was always one of those things on my list that kept getting pushed to the back burner. i scheduled my first open house last weekend in order to force myself to finally do something with the space. here are the results.



my grandpa helped me cut out the marzipan inc. sign in the background for the national stationery show. what you can't see here is that each piece is glittered on the front side to add a little sparkle. the big island in the middle of the room is one of our main work areas. it's where we pull all the inventory together to pack orders up, as well as many, many other things.



the top left photo is taken from my assistant's work space. the shelves over her desk hold embellishments of all sorts, my new thrifted canisters, and the marzipan inc. sign hangs to the right. the bottom left photo is from my desk. the photos are two of mine from my photo of the day study turned fresh snapped photos. the tin box holds greeting cards from other stationery designers that i use for very special occasions only. the vintage radio was my great grandmother's, which is topped by a couple journals. the right photo is what sits to my right side on my desk. lots of drawers from ikea keep everything organized. they're topped with personal mementos like a family snapshot, a photo of my hubby from way back when, my lucky buddha, and a sketch i did in high school. (just to remind me where i came from)



this "information center" has been in my head for awhile and i finally executed it before the open house. the big white board will help organize orders, to-do's, etc., the white pen/misc holders are also from ikea. to the right is a long white shutter which i've put some of my favorite stationery designer's work. the clipboards are for keeping current project organized and at our fingertips. of course, with kids, they need a place to occupy themselves while i work. below the information center is their little table and some of their current artwork. the photo on the right is a mobile clip thingy where i put some of the designs i'm currently working on. we have 2 in the office which always contain our most recent designs.



last but not least is our inventory room. it basically speaks for itself. it's where we keep all of our unembellished, unpackaged cards waiting to be done. yes, i have a ton of rubbermaid drawers. it's the first thing people comment on when entering this room. they always comment about how organized i am, but really i'm not quite sure how else i would do it. i lived with boxes piled on top of each other for quite some time and there's just no way at this point in the game that i could manage that.

we also have a few other rooms in the studio that i didn't photograph because of boringness....our supply room which contains all the envelopes, embellishments, adhesives, papers, etc., and our shipping area. they're just not that interesting. maybe someday i'll do something to make those more fun as well. until then, i hope this satisfies all your curiosities about where i work!

november 16, 2009 :: golden glow