the end :: a new beginning

the time has come to move on. it's been nearly 5 years since i started this blog, and it's time for a change. oh, don't worry, i'm not quitting, just moving! (to a self-hosted wordpress blog) yea!



head on over to the new site and check it out! there are a lot of great new features! the new home will also involve a few changes. while i’ll still be posting photos of the day as well as my other daily features, i really hope to introduce more crafty tutorials, before & after projects, and free downloads for all to enjoy.

oh, and don't forget to add our new site to your blog reader so you don't miss anything!

in other news :: top 100 arts blogs

i just had to share this little tidbit with you. the lovely katrina over at pugly pixel informed me yesterday that i had made the top 100 arts blogs list on technorati! what's technorati you may ask? (so did i!) it's a site that rates blogs. i'm not totally clear on how the rating works. it has to do with links to your blog from other blogs. the higher on the list those other blogs are, the better your score. from what i understand, we're not talking about blogrolls here. these are content based links. so, things like being linked from design*sponge really helps my score because they're high on the list themselves. (see, i just helped her out by linking to them in my content! not that she needs it, but you get the idea)

so, anyway, just a fun little thing to share. right now i'm #55 on the arts list, but from what i hear it changes a lot and often. so, i'll bask in the "fame" for a moment in case it doesn't happen again for awhile!

in other news :: new header

check it out! the new header, thanks to all of you, is live! thank you for all your votes and suggestions. i did take the advice from a few of you and switched up the owl and the photo of the boys so that it matches with my tagline. now that this piece is done, i hope to update the rest of the blog with a matching look! stay tuned!

in other news :: vote for my new header!

as you may have noticed, i've been playing with my header over the past couple day and would love your help deciding which direction to take. (i changed it back to the old one during the poll so as not to influence anyone's vote). i'd like it to be immediately apparent to people who stop by my blog for the first time, just what my blog is about, with a quick glance at my header.

i'd like it to include something that reflects both family and my work. the photos of the boys are obvious additions for family. the pattern on the blue bar is a pattern from my fin+roe brand. in some of the headers i have an option of either one of my marzipan illustrations or multiple illustrations.

once the header is decided on, i'd like to alter some of the other items on my blog to coincide with the new theme. so, that will all come as well....

with that said, i'd love it if you'd take a minute to vote for your favorite header option below. if you have additional comments, feel free to add them in the comment section! i'd love to hear what you have to say.  i'll leave the poll up until this coming friday, the 23rd.

new addition :: pages

blogger has added the great new option of adding pages to your blog. now, i can have more info here for you without clogging up my sidebar even more than it already is! go check them out! hopefully you'll learn something new! is there something else you'd like me to add? let me know and i'll do my best!

and the winners are....

a big thank you to everyone who participated in our 4 year blogiversary giveaway! i love reading everyone's comments....now if i could only get you all to comment without having to give something away! ;) i joke.

we have 4 winners, the first being the grand-prize winner! using the random number generator, comment #10 was selected to be the big winner! congrats to....


julie fellow mother, stationery entrepreneur, and blog writer.

and now for our 3 runners up, also selected by the random number generator. and the winners are....


#1 kat, fellow mother and blog-writer.
#11 leslie, fellow mother and stationery entrepreneur.
#15 heather, fellow blog-writer

thanks again to everyone who participated! if you're a super-special winner, please contact me at lori @ marzipaninc dot com and we can work on your custom winnings!

4 year blogiversary!

i can't believe that i started this blog 4 years ago today! it seems like yesterday! i also can't believe that i actually remembered it this year! i think it's the first time ever!

a lot of big things have happened since i started this blog:

we moved into a new house
had another baby
had some big business changes happen along the way.
started a photo of the day post

more often than not though, this blog has been about the daily in's and out's of being a mother, designer, stationery entrepreneur, crafter, and wife.

thank you to all of you who have taken the journey with me!

as a thank you for visiting, i'm having a little giveaway. what's up for grabs? well i thought i'd focus on my newest venture, so prizes will be provided by fin+roe. one winner will receive a set of 25 custom notecards (color, pattern, & text chosen by you!) as well as 10 custom magnet mementos featuring the photo, illustration, or logo of your choice! 3 other lucky winners will receive a set of 10 custom magnet mementos as well! plus, there are sure to be a ton of other freebies thrown in as well!


to enter, just leave a comment letting me know why you visit, what keeps you coming back, and what you'd like to see more of in the future! i'll leave the contest open until midnight on friday (CST).

scheduled posts

i've been a really horrible blogger lately, only posting photo's of the day. this is going to change. i'm going to try to stick to a schedule of themed posts. here's my plan:


monday: marzipan monday - i'll talk about what i'm doing business-wise, feature some of my designs, etc.


tuesday: things i want - i find so many things that i love and want (mostly from etsy), so i'm going to start sharing them with you!


wednesday: that's what he said! - a feature that i've done in the past, but need to do on a more regular basis. i have a ton of back-log on these that need to be shared!


thursday: thrifty finds - we've been trying to go thrift-ing as a family on saturday mornings when we don't have other plans. i'll share some of my finds with you here. 


friday: family fridays - pretty self explanatory. this could be anything from a project we've done, a trip we took, pictures of the boys, etc.

i can't promise that i'll never miss a day, but hopefully having a map of what i want to do, and writing it down for all to see, will help encourage me to be better about it.