Hello all who still happen upon this blog. Things have been pretty crazy over here..in short, we did get the house and are very happy with it, though we are in the midst of giving it some needed updates before we can start sleeping there. It's alright because even if it were move-in ready, we'd both be mostly at my parents' still. The only down side to getting a house, a new place to live, and then have to do little renovations that force you to imagine how it will be, is that there is nothing solid for me to envision going back to when this is all over. It's difficult to imagine it all when you've not lived there before this sickness. Before, I could try to envision going back to our apartment in the city, that was familiar..though admittedly, it actually was still difficult to imagine..so who knows. But I like to be able to have a vision, otherwise I become worried that it will not happen.
The holidays have are proving to be a nice distraction to everything. Still no new kidney inside of me. I go to dialysis and in the waiting room I wonder how I can do this so often. I am so lucky though, because according to the days I usually go, their holiday schedule works out that I do not have to come on Christmas or New Year's eve. That is a huge massive deal to me. I will have my weekend for that week as the eve's and days of Christmas and New Year's.

Did you see Anabela's wedding on the Etsy blog? You may have spotted a Glittering Fringe Banner that I made for her and Geoff! I am still sad I couldn't be there for their day, but she's told me it was lovely and reading things like this Etsy piece is very nice. I am so happy for those two.

I should have stopped in sooner to remind you that my mom still has her shop, Oh Merci, open and is shipping until the end of Sunday December 16th. You can also contact her for rush orders. I decided to whip up a little gift guide including some special items that will be lovely for your Holidays...

So that is that. I am hoping to pop in again this week with another tiny surprise. I've been meaning for a month or so now to share something with you all. I hope your having a wonderful December! xoxo

Pretty Places

photos by Anabela / Fieldguided

Today the Etsy blog is featuring Anabela + Geoff's home! Head over to the feature to be inspired and find lots of nice things to add to your own home. I have been trying to spring clean when I have a free moment, and so this post serves as some more motivation. Sigh. I have too many treasures. Too much stuff. And not enough time to keep it all organized properly. I digress.
I'm so excited to see my Shoegaze Light Shade, as well as a shot of my one of a kind Happy Cloud Light Shade which Anabela purchased from me a while back. I am flattered that she has chosen to hang it in her sewing room, a place where she creates lovely things.

My Eskell Window

I wanted to pop in quickly to (finally) share with you some photos for the window display that I did for Eskell! I mentioned it was inspired by the opening for Picnic at Hanging Rock, so here is that..

The song always gives me chills! So yes.. Doing a window near Valentine's Day, how could I resist drawing inspiration from a favorite movie that is involved around Valentine's Day. Lace, candles surrounded by glittering rocks, roses floating in a basin, feathers, Victorian Valentine cards, vintage lockets..

The In God We Trust engraving event with Eskell was a lot of fun, especially since some great pals came out! We all got a lil something engraved..here is what I got:

It says 'girlfriend', cos James and I are silly in love and way back when we started addressing each other as such (as in, "Oh hey, Boyfriend!" or "Girlfriend, do you want to go get something to eat?") because we were/are so happy to be that special kinda friend. awww, I know.

So that's that! It was a lot of fun and I just may do a few more windows for them in the near future! 

But in the nearer future I will be finishing up fringe banner orders (I've got to take the time to think of a better name for them)..hold tight! I swear they are comin soon to your mailbox! I've got a lot of Love Always to make... 

xo

My Window for Eskell

So the window that I did for Eskell is up! I was very excited to have been asked..nervous..but mostly excited. There was limited time so I kept it pretty simple, though installation took longer than I thought it would. My mom actually came down to the city to help me put it up! I knew she'd really like the store and it was really nice having her help. Anyway, it's up! And I hope people will enjoy it.

I don't have any photos yet, but I'll tell you that I was inspired by Picnic at Hanging Rock, specifically the opening sequence.

I hope you can all swing by Eskell today from 4pm - 8pm or so for the custom engraving event with In God We Trust! I'm really looking forward to it....although strangely I am having troubles thinking of sayings or words I'd like to have engraved on something...I've been so busy I haven't been able to give it much thought. Hopefully I'll come up with something good!

Hey it's a giveaway!

I'm doing a giveaway with the Renegade blog!

Head on over to enter before Wednesday, and this lil banner could be yours!

Cool Happenings

Nice was featured on Refinery29 and Nylon Daily! Pretty, pretty cool!

 

http://warp.net/records/broadcast/a-statement

Christmas Time

 

I hope you all are having a wonderful holiday season! These photos were taken out apartment on Christmas Eve. We had a very pretty snowfall that night. This is our first Christmas at this place and it was pretty nice. We have lots of trees in this neighborhood and it was very pretty to watch the snow collect on branches outside our window.

James and I had a very nice holiday this year. Christmas eve was spent with most of James' family and that was very nice and relaxing, as always. Christmas day was spent at my family's and in the evening we had a fun time with my parents going for a drive to see extravagant holiday lights and staying up very late playing games and laughing.

In shop news, another custom Hooray Banner has had the honor of being a part of a beautiful wedding! Click on over to the Style Me Pretty blog to see the rest of Colleen's wedding, photographed by Jonathan Hoffner.

Also, one of my Hooray banners made it into the Green Wedding Shoe's top 10 Favorite Wedding Fashion Moments of 2010!! 

Renegade Recap!

Renegade was so much fun this year! I have to admit, I've never been as behind with prep work as I was this year....It was a busy summer. We moved, I added new product, and for me it's always hard balancing work with summer. So the past few weeks have been SUPER stressful and busy..I didn't get much sleep the week before Renegade and by the time the eve of the event came, I kinda wasn't sure how I was going to survive the weekend! haha I just wanted to take a long slumber and watch some TCM or something.... James and I did manage to set our alarm clock wrong and oversleep by and hour, but that wasn't enough! So the rainy, misty, gloomy set-up weather of Saturday was sort of a bummer to my system. I was not into setting up at all..I tried to convince my dad (shout out to my family who are enormous helpers during Renegade times) that we should throw the ugly blue rain tarp on top of the tent, I guess I kept having flash backs to the Rainegade of 2008, and I figured better safe than sorry..he kept assuring me that the weather said sun later on, and I had heard that forecast as well, but at this point it was just so hard to imagine the sun ever coming out haha. I probably should have put some whiskey in my coffee or something.

The sun did come out and both days ended up being beautiful. It took me a while to get in the groove Saturday I think..I wasn't feeling very well, again, think my body was just ready to power down after the stressful prep weeks..and by the end of the day I was feeling dizzy and sick. My awesome brother came down to help James and I pack  up for the night so that was really nice. When we got back to our place we just took it easy and watched Maria Bamford on the internet hahaha. Laughter is the best medicine people. By Sunday morning I was feeling myself again, or maybe that's a tough call to make, because early in the day, right after the always stylish Danny from Renegade came to snap some photos of my booth, I did notice that my fly was down. Classy. Boyfriend or Brother, you didn't notice this?? Hoping it didn't show in the photos. I told you people, I should  not be photographed by people outside of my close circle. Update: While I'm writing this post I'm obviously multitasking and noticed the Renegade gang linked to their Flickr on Twitter....thankfully they posted a photo where I'm hiding behind the counter, as if I was aware my fly is down. haha

Anyway, all in all the fair was fantastic! I had so much fun, I truly love Renegade and I look forward to it all year. I had a nice talk with Sue of Renegade who I was fortunate to have as a neighbor this year, and she's got me thinking of Brooklyn and San Francisco Renegades. If I can, I will do it. I want to very badly. I had a great time talking with friends through out the weekend..Casey and her boyfriend Josh are always so much fun and she showed me a lot of the great things she picked up at the fair (she should be a guide, she makes a list!).. met many new adorable craft friends and saw old adorable craft friends.. Lisa, Katie and Elsie, Kellee and Matt, Esther, Sarah, Susan, Amie, Kara and Meagan, Lynn...and many more.

On to photos! Here are some things that I took home with me...

Wood block prints from Mat Daly (top left). When I saw these I immediately thought of James...this was a gift for all of his loving support! He put them up right away in his music room.

I met a lovely girl named Mona who is traveling from Mexico to report back on the handmade movement. She was the sweetest and stopped by my booth both days..the second she brought me this necklace!! I am still smiling about meeting her..

I snagged this beauty from Cursive after chatting it up with Sarah. I'm so glad she's in my town and I hope to see her way more often- we totally ran into each other the day before Renegade at JoAnn Fabrics, haha! It was like 1pm and I hadn't eaten yet and still had to get to the suburbs to pick stuff up and I was sooooo frazzled..so it was really great to take a break and visit with her! ..Her booth looked great as always and she had the prettiest display work...



Really want to ask her if I can have a garland made haha



Love these new pieces!



Think I want to add that black and grey piece to my collection next!



Amie of Thief and Bandit had these tassels hanging up as display in her tent and I was able to buy a set off her! I love them! Then yesterday I got a fantastic package from Anabela and one of the things included was a beautiful golden tassel! It was the perfect addition!!


Later, while walking briskly and trying to focus on getting back to my booth, Esther of Essimar called out my name while relaxing on the side of the street!So happy she spotted me as I missed her pinata making booth with the Chicago Reader. I can't wait to see photos- I know it was amazing! She was beaming and had great stories to tell about her day teaching. It was great to talk with her and she gave me this garland that she had made during the day and this pin (below) right off her outfit! What a sweetie, right?? I absolutly LOVE little random bits that people make..reminds me of art classes and getting odds and ends that friends made on the side of a larger project. Things like that are just very special to me (also why I love the Sarah and Amie's tassels so much!).
Esther is actually having a giveaway right now on her blog! Ends today!



And here are shots of my booth this year..
















This Bouquet doily light shade sold! I usually sell all of the shades online so it was really neat to see it go to someone in person. I am sad that I didn't get any good shots of it though!




New! Haven't named this one yet but it's made with lucite, vintage lace, handmade tulle flowers, and silver glitter leaves!



New! Crystal Garden light shade! These will be available in the shop soon..email me if you have any questions.




James and I at the end of Sunday. <3

There you have it! You can see more photos on my flickr. I'll be updating the shop with banners, new styles of Mini Deer Plaques, chalkboards, key hooks, light shades, etc. very soon! And seriously, if you were at the show, leave a comment at the Facebook page and you've got a pretty good chance of winning a necklace of your choice!