merry merry! our christmas card!

our christmas card is always one of my favorite things to design each year. it takes months of planning and scheming to think about what silly getup/pose i can make pixel do. this year was challenging because we had to incorporate our newest member of the family, finnigan. and when we took this photo, finnigan had yet to learn basic manners. getting him to sit still for a split second was a challenge (and actually it STILL is!... 2 months later).

after lots of photos and some hysterical outtakes, we chose this as the best photo. the caption followed. (click to enlarge.)

last year's card. (i LOVE pixel's expression!) 

2010's card.

and 2009 (which was sent with a year's update from pixel). still one of my absolute favorite photos of pixel.

and with these, i am signing off until 2013. merry christmas! and thanks for following up with pixelimpress!

randomness around here via my instagram photos

i've had one day off in the last 4 weeks, and, in the spirit of the season, this is what i did. i threw some ornaments in a bowl...

and spray painted my real antler for another holiday display in the house. it turned out so good i'm eyeballing other things to spray metallic gold.

and in shop news....

i love creating holiday photo cards. this bride had the perfect photo for my confetti newlywed card.

lots of personalized stationery going out the door ...

these were some gorgeous calling cards i printed for a customer. we added her pink logo. i love it on the mint stripes.

these are a favorite this year in the shop. i'm about to print another batch.

and now for the four-legged news...not everybody works as hard as i do during the day...

steve's been working hard training the little guy, finnigan. this day he got a double sit at the backdoor before playtime in the yard... their favorite passtime.

i caught finni in this action shot the other day.... nice faceplant, dude.

AND....steve and i have been watching breaking bad on netflix. i'm obsessed. so much so, that i'm gonna pepper my language with b*tch and yo. don't take it personally.

Sale at pixelimpress!!

and it's here.... black friday/cyber monday sale at pixelimpress. FREE SHIPPING on everything and anything to anywhere and everywhere. get in on the action over here. (simply add your items to your cart and add coupon code "BLACKANDCYBERWKD" at checkout.) see ya in the shop!

the store is stocked!

i've been busy... busy getting the shop stocked for the holidays.

there are new holiday cards.

new holidays tags.

and the pixelimpress best selling gift tag is back for another season!

and there are lots of new holiday photo cards in stock.

(andrea isaacs photography photo)

(andrea isaacs photography photo)

(travis dew photography photo)

(travis dew photography photo)

(travis dew photography photo)

head on over and do some shopping! christmas will be here before we know it.

discover paper 2012 holiday guide

Discover Paper released their 2012 Holiday Guide early november. and it's gorgeous! you know when the cover's this pretty, the contents are going to be just as pretty!

you can read the whole issue here. pixelimpress has the pleasure of being a small part of the gorgeousness... our 2013 desk calendar is on page 54-55.

and i also wanted to let you know about the fantastic giveaway that's going on over there right now. $400 of goodies to one lucky winner. books, calendar, stationery, cards, notepads, banner, and gift cards. woohoo!

visit this post to enter.

"i'm just going to look, i'm not gonna buy anything"

i uttered those words to my husband as i walked out the door saturday morning. i was heading to a design center's warehouse sale just a few miles from my home. they hold the sale twice a year when they have overstock and too many items that they've cleared out of model homes. they have quality, name brand furniture, rugs, artwork and accessories at up to 90% off.

most people show up 2 hours before the sale starts to wait in line for the doors to open. i don't. i show up 1 hour after it starts, after the craziness ends. they tell you to bring stickers with your name and phone # on them so you can walk run through and label the items you want to buy. it's an honor system. you don't touch another person's marked items.

i spotted this sofa stacked with items that weren't marked sold. the sofa wasn't marked sold. i gasped. i checked with several clerks and they too agreed it wasn't sold. i slapped my sticker on it. i texted a photo of it to hubby. i had been wanting to update one of our living room sofas for awhile now. this was the look i had in the back of my mind. and i found it. the perfect color, wooden spindle legs, rolled arms, and comfortable... all at an unbelievably low price. there wasn't a thing wrong with it. fast forward a few minutes and it was on a delivery truck to my house.

"i'd have been crazy not to buy it." those were the other words i uttered to my husband later that day.

as you can see, someone else likes it also.

no puppies were hurt in the making of our annual christmas card....

i promise. contrary to the below evidence.

enjoy these outtakes from our photo shoots this past weekend.

October....

has come and gone, way too quickly. what did we do during october? i'll show you in a few instagram shots. (by the way, you should follow me on instagram... i keep up with that more than the ol' blog... link is on the sidebar.)

i cooked butternut squash and kale with cranberries and pecans. it was wonderful. steve even liked it.

these two got better acquainted. finnigan does everything pixel does. they have playtime in the backyard with their bones and a laser at nighttime. it's loads of fun. (i've come to call finnigan finninnigan. i've done it so much that now i stutter when i say finnigan.)

f-f-finnigan is in puppy class. he's the star pupil of his class. ok, fine... he's the only one in his class. but even if he weren't, he'd still be the star pupil.

i put a few pumpkins and mums out for my fall decorating.

our lavender is blooming.

i made some new things for the shop, including these super cute gingham and deerhead hang tags. everyone needs some. you can get them here.

and we all took a few naps. this girl is the queen of napping.

oh target you disappoint me

 you've heard about it, you've read about it, you've seen the ads. it's been everywhere, social media & blogs & tv and on target's own website... the nate berkus collection at target is debuting today, october 21st, at 8 am at target stores nationwide. 

perhaps someone should have told the target stores near me. i drove to my nearest target store this morning. upon arriving i didn't see any of the items i'd seen in the online ads. i asked a clerk where the nate berkus collection items were. "nate who?" as she gazed down the hardware aisle where she was restocking items. i informed her that nate's items wouldn't be in that aisle. they'd be in home decor. 2 other clerks were just as clueless. by the time i got to the front registers, i voiced my frustration to another employee there. he said he was on it! he thought maybe there were 2 items in the back but was hot on the case.  i left frustrated. extremely frustrated.

in the parking lot, i called the next nearest target store, sure that they would be more on the ball. i asked the employee who answered the phone if the nate berkus items that were debuting in their store today were on the shelves. she told me to hold and i overheard her tell another employee that she had to take this call because she had no idea what i was asking for. they were not aware of who nate berkus was and that he had items debuting in their store today.

i drove home extremely frustrated and amazed that target's own employees did not know about this line of products debuting today.

target, i've always supported you. i like your products. i like your prices and  i know you do good things. but i expected more. you disappoint me.

on the bandwagon

i've done it... i've jumped on the bandwagon and joined instagram. you can find me here. i was following a few peoples' feeds and then had the brilliant thought that maybe i should be putting photos up too. it's easier for me than blogging right now. life has been hectic. we had a houseful of company plus a new puppy and then i traveled back to pennsylvania for a few days for a mini family reunion. between all of that and this, i'm a little weary.

so, if you'd like to keep up with me on instagram... please do.

2013 Desk Calendar now in stock!

it's always a labor of love, a culmination of my favorite patterns and colors. all bundled into a clear cd case that folds back to make an easel on your desk. 

it's the pixelimpress 2013 Desk Calendar. and it's in stock now. 

here's the cover page.

 

and a few of my favorite months... 

a little gingham

a coupla elephants strutting their stuff

love this pattern so much it made the cover ...

and here are all the months.

front and back covers.

hop over here to get yours and if you purchase 5 or more, you'll receive 10% off! they make super christmas gifts... teachers love them!

meet finnigan

on sunday, we added a new member of our family... finnigan. he's an 8 week old brittany, the same breed as his new sister, pixel.

meet finnigan.

here he is with his proud daddy. 

 testing out the pool.

 

chewing on everything and anything he sees.

 and playing

 

i can't do a puppy post without posting a photo of his big sister, pixel. i think she's wondering when he's going to go home to his own house...

 and stop following her.

welcome, finnigan. we love you already.