merry christmas & happy everything!

(click to enlarge)

i'll say it.... i'm tired. i'm finishing up a few last orders from here and then stick a fork in me, i'm done. until the new year. i'm going to sew (yes, lori and julie, finally!). i'm going to read. i'm going to nap. i'm going to watch movies. i'm going to bake.

i'll leave you with our christmas card this year. click on it to enlarge and read the captions. it was fun to do. pixel's such a good sport. (ooh, and that chevron fabric in the background... it's going to be our new headboard.)

so until the new year.... merry christmas and happy everything! thanks for reading!

little brown pen

i took advantage of cyber deals black friday weekend. nope, not for christmas gifts for others... for myself. i ordered prints from little brown pen. they arrived in this package. love the sticker.

then there was this sheet. more packaging love.
then this. oh my goodness. i seriously want to frame this belly band. it is the deepest, darkest shade of green. and i don't even like green. it's not my favorite. i bought this set of photos to go in my guest bath. they would be the perfect wall art. but they're so beautiful... i want them in my office where i can see them daily.
this was the picture that sold me on the set. stunning hydrangeas.
but these do not disappoint.

and the photos are printed on a heavy cotton rag paper. so luxe. AND to top it off, i was poking around little brown pen's blog shortly after i got these and entered the contest she had going on. and i won!! real simple sponsored the giveaway. so it's a few goodies including something from little brown pen. i'm so excited...

just because

she hasn't made a blog appearance lately, here she is. looking very angelic by our tree.
she has not been very angelic the last 2 nights whimpering and whining in her crate during the night. steve and i are exhausted (as i'm sure she is but.... she gets to nap all day. we don't) as we've been up for several hours both nights trying to figure out what's wrong with her. normally she LOVES her crate at nighttime. runs in to it at bedtime without instruction. steve took her outside 5 (yes, 5) times in the middle of the night in a torrential downpour for potty breaks the other night when her whimpering woke us up.

speaking of our tree.... here he is. yes, it's a "he" because he's 9 feet tall. i tried my best to get a good photo of the tree but it wasn't happening. mainly because there's been no natural sunlight in the house for, oh, the last 3 weeks. so you're getting the indoor shot with flash. trust me, he looks better at night with his lights on. (and thanks to my mother-in-law, there's actually some presents now under the tree since i took this photo!)
i searched high and low for wide ribbon to pull off this effect. but could not find any that i liked. i think it would be the finishing touch on our tree.

image via here

goofballs.

and some of my favorite ornaments. this one from here. i ordered some coasters from her shop and this flew along in the package. love it!
crate and barrel.
got this one at craft show. love it too.

run, don't walk

to your nearest computer. there's still time to order for christmas. and there's some new stuff in the shop. personalized notecards. and cabana striped cards with graphics. stuff your friends would love. or you would love. (you can do like i do.... and buy for yourself at christmas time because the bargains are so good.)and there's a new design in the calling cards. faux bois. woodgrain. i made it myself.
you can find it here.

i'm having an affair

with my new paper cutter and my husband totally approves. in fact, he welcomed him into our home. he ordered him. he set him up. he showed me how to use him. and showed me what NOT to do so i don't lose a finger.

his name's martin. he's dark, with hints of silver. and he works very hard, so i don't have to.

he's only been here 3 days. but already he's cut my production time by 75%. now maybe i can go back to having a social life. or at least go back to the gym in the evenings instead of cutting paper.

(and yes, he's sitting on the dining room table. he'll be there until we find a home for him in my office, in the background in the top photo).

tis the season

i wanted to show you our xmas tree shopping trip and then the decorated tree which we finished last night. (is it really ever finished, i think i need some ribbon on it). but i'm too tired to upload those photos because i'm in the throes of photocard mania. i've been working all day printing tons of these puppies. like this one above that i printed for my sister yesterday. she hasn't even seen the final product yet. it's in the mail to her as you read. i took those photos of her and her husband when they were here this september. i made a little collage. and added some text.

i don't even have my cards done. our first photo shoot attempt didn't pan out. here's steve prepping pixel for it. (hopefully i haven't spoiled it, but i find it soooo funny). and it wasn't the subject matter that ruined the shoot. she did great. i had the wrong backdrop. round 2 later this week.

it can't be...

december 1! how does it happen? that means there's only a little over 3 weeks until christmas. i'm not ready. we got our tree last friday. it's still bare of ornaments. we were going to decorate it last night and then got sidetrack by this...

an order for 800 hang tags that must ship tomorrow. steve put eyelets in 500 of them last night. bless him... he's a trooper. i'm sure it wasn't fun as he was on a work conference call at the same time.

i'll be back soon with pictures of our tree. and our tree shopping. i love christmas tree shopping.