Unconditional love - Tilda with puppy

I just love this background stamp from Magnolia-licious! It's just so much FUN! I used a total of three Magnolia stamps on this card, Tilda with puppy, fence with summer background, and the sun. I stamped Tilda with puppy out three times so I could cut the puppies out and place them around the fence. All of these stamps are available at Magnolia-licious. You should check them out! They have the largest selection of Magnolia stamps in North America. And Diana is now offering free shipping on ANY order, no matter how much you spend! How cool is that?!

The DP is by Wild Asparagus and the cardstock is Bazzill. The stamps are colored in wth my copic markers. Tilda is cut out and popped up from the card, and so are the puppies. I used a light blue chalk ink around the edges of the summer background stamp.

The cloud was cut out with my Cricut Expression machine with the Hello Kitty cartridge. That cute sun was cut out and popped up off the card. I love dimension, and this card has plenty of it!

That's it for today. We're halfway through the week and Friday is now in my sights! Thanks so much for stopping by to see me today, and I sure hope to see you back again soon! HUGS!

Justin & Jody's House

This is my beautiful friend Jody!

Yes, that's me taking lots of photos of all the pretty things!

FINALLY, here are some photos of my friend's house. Justin & Jody have just finished building this modern house which they are planning on selling very soon as they are about to embark on another project.

Jody wanted a really pretty look which is a big departure from the look she had in her previous house which was taupe and natural.

They had lots of old pieces of furniture which they had collected over the years which we painted and recovered. There are some more pictures of their bedroom which we did in navy and white which I will post sometime soon as well! Hope you like this fun, happy, bright house!!

What's YOUR indispensable baking tool?...Works For Me Wednesday

Today's Works For Me Wednesday is a backwards edition. This means I get to ask you a question!

What is your indispensable, essential, can't-do-without baking tool?

I thought about this question for quite some time. First, I thought this:

Then, my silicone spatulas...



But when it comes down to it, I would never make cookies without this:
Parchment Paper! I have gone to the grocery store at 10pm sent my husband to the grocery store at 10pm on a parchment run in a cookie making emergency.

So, go ahead and tell me...what's your can't-live-without baking tool?

Be sure to click over to We Are THAT Family for more WFMW (backwards) tips and come back later this week for a yummy giveaway!!! :) YAY!

Pretty Packages

I've mentioned before that I am a complete sucker for packaging, especially when it comes to making wine selections, but it certainly holds true for food items, ok, pretty much all items, as well. Present me with a product that has a lovely package design, and I will likely want to purchase it.

As I said yesterday, Louise Fili's website is full of beautiful work, and what follows are some of my favorite pieces from their packaging portfolio.

Irving Farm

Bella Cucina

El Paso Chile Co.

El Paso Chile Co. for Williams-Sonoma

More From the Weekend and Next Weekend's Plans

So you know, I was thinking on the way home today and it suddenly hit me (insert light bulb here): I am going to be home alone this weekend! Dh is taking ds to see my MIL in Chattanooga, then on the way home early next week, they plan to stop in to visit ds's college for next year. Next week is spring break so the timing is perfect for the guys. But due to poor planning on my part, I have to work next week.

And as I pondered a weekend alone, I suddenly realized that my scrapping girlfriends might be around. And even if they have some plans, surely they may have a few hours to spend relaxing and scrapping!!! So I plan to make the most of my bad planning/unfortunate timing!

Now, on to last weekend. I gave you a sneak peek at three cards, so here are 3 more. I still have to photograph my layouts or I would have posted those. And by the way, if you know our mothers, please DO NOT mention that their cards are posted here....!!! Thanks!

Wedding dream team collaboration :: Photo shoot

Whew! Yesterday was fantastic! I had a great time collaborating with some of my favorites (the best!) in the Portland wedding arena for a gorgeous photo shoot.

Dress extraordinaire, Elizabeth Dye
Photographer, Lisa Warninger
Stylist, Chelsea Fuss (of frolic!)
Accessories, Twigs & Honey (yours truly)
Model, Anna Adams
Location, Ace Hotel

These are just some of my photos... but more beautiful photos by Lisa should be coming in a few weeks.

More photos to come!
Thank you Elizabeth, Chelsea, Lisa, Anna, and Jaime!! I had a wonderful time!
Visit my Flickr photosream for more photos... HERE.

snap and chat with Wendy Joblon

Trish and I headed out to South Dartmouth last week to visit the ultra fab Wendy... wedding planner, small business owner, mother of two, wife of one... and over all very cool lady. We always love to photograph a wedding when Wendy has had a hand in the planning. She has the best taste!

In addition to being a planner- Wendy opened this adorable store Folia in South Dartmouth that carries custom invitations and all things monogrammed (gifts, personalized stationary etc.)

Isn't it adorable? I want to live here.

... and the inside too...




Wendy has been in this space for a year. She's open from 10-3 Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday & Saturday.
In the summer she'll be open until 4pm.



Why add invitations to an already successful planning business? "Wedding invites and planning go hand in hand because there is a theme to it. Many people start with the invitation. It's nice to have that input."

Here she is! Wendy is about to be on the other side of a wedding .... her son is getting married over Labor Day weekend in Colorado. Wendy says she does not want to be in charge of anything!!! She just want to go and have a great time- oh, and wear a gorgeous dress of course...The wedding is planned for 450 guests, and there will be 28 people in the wedding party- wow!

Wendy is so respected in our business. Whenever her name comes up in conversation- it's always a compliment about her great style or just how nice of a person she is. I was curious about how she started her business...

Turns out Wendy went to BU to become a teacher-she made it through but decided it just wasn't for her. She said it was so hard that she lost 25lbs the first year! Maybe I should take up teaching?...

Next, she became the catering secretary and coordinator at the Sheraton Tara in Raynham, but left to move to Dartmouth and get married. Next for Wendy... to baby boys that kept he buys for a while until she started to get a little cabin feverish at home.

She ended up getting a job selling boxes... "I didn't know anything about boxes but boy could I sell them!" No surprises here... Wendy is a knock out, I am sure those companies she was selling boxes too would have bought anything she came in with.

One day when she was getting a manicure, her manicurist asked if she could help her plan her daughter's Batmitzvah. Wendy accepted. She also worked for several years at Hawthorne CC booking, coordinating, and overseeing all things wedding.

Then she decided, "Hey- I should start my own business, and that was 14 year ago!"

Wendy is modeling some of the adorable things she carries in the store, like this terry cloth wrap, with monogram of course. How cute would this be as gift for bridesmaids?

We are suckers for personalized stationary too.

If you need invitations or a fun gift, a trip to South Dartmouth is so worth it, it's the cutest little village with good places for lunch. Also, because Wendy is a wedding planner too she often doles out a little free advice to her customers!

Wendy, it's always so nice to see you- thanks for the snap and chat. We'll be back in for some stationary!

You can contact Wendy through her website: www.wendyjoblon.com

Folia is located at 354 Elm Street in South Dartmouth

They're Coming!!

It seems I am experiencing a few technical camera/computer problems. I know I said I would post images of my friends house tonight however, it's just not going to be possible as I am so hopeless at computer problems! Here is one more image to keep you going for the meantime! Please bear with me. I hope to have the complete set of pictures posted here tomorrow sometime. Thanks for your patience!!

Hello Who, Bunny???

It's Bitten by the Bug Monday and you know what that means.... Time to post this week's challenge. Regina asked the team to use the bunny head from Doodlecharms and create any type of project we would like. If you have not been by BBTB, you are missing some AMAZING projects... They're all cute, cute, cute!


What did I do? I decapitated Hello Kitty!! Really, I did! I used the Hello Kitty cartridge along with Doodlecharms and made "April Showers Bunny". I cut the umbrella Kitty, removed Kitty's head and replaced it with the Bunny head. I had to cut an outline of Bunny so that it could blend with the kitty outline. I did this by layering two bunnies, one slightly smaller and inside the other and cutting it with the same paper as I used for Kitty.


I love the yellow swirl umbrella and Bunny's boots and rain coat. She is all set to splash around in some spring mud puddles!!!

Typophilia

There has been a bit of buzz around the blogosphere regarding the new website for Louise Fili Ltd., a firm specializing in the design of restaurant identity and food packaging, and for very good reason-- the website is chock-full of the creative work of this talented firm.

I fell especially hard for this logo for Rusk Renovations, Inc.; the vintage-feeling ruler and typography completely did me in.


I also am head over heels for what looks to have been an amazing issue of the Italian magazine, Un Sedicesimo. The issue was devoted to the Italian and French script typefaces from Louise Fili and Steven Heller's collections, and it looks like it would provide endless inspiration.

Finally, I adore this image from Louise Fili's sneak peek on Design*Sponge. The vintage tin is gorgeous, and I love that it is used to display some of the matchbooks and business cards from restaurants for which they have designed logos.


Stay tuned for more from this accomplished firm, as tomorrow I will be sharing some of my favorite packaging work from their portfolio.