let's get caught up, shall we

well, someone finally noticed that i hadn't updated the blog in a month. thanks, sis. and since i hadn't posted in awhile, i thought i'd give the blog a fresh look with a new header, a collage of my favorite instagram photos. (click on the link on the sidebar to follow me on instagram where i post a photo or two almost daily!)

so... let's get caught up in what's happening around here. our little finnigan is growing like a weed. he keeps us quite busy. finnigan runs at either a 10 or a 0... there's no inbetween. he's either in his crate snoring or running around like a maniac. we have yet to truly cuddle with him. he thinks he can fit everything in his path in his mouth. and he tries. and then you're chasing him around the house like a fool. i know he's laughing to himself when that happens. he throws hissy fits when he doesn't get his way. and he knows EXACTLY when his next meal is and he will let you know as loudly as he can that you are 30 seconds late with his meal. we love him anyway.

here he is in puppy class with his daddy.

we make finnigan suffer hold a "down" pose before he can eat.

his dangling participle.

and his sweet face.
and let's not forget our oldest, pixel. she turned 5 recently. as a friend commented.... "she doesn't look a day over 4!"

she spends her days in the life of luxury.

and in other homefront news, thanks to my bootcamp trainer, meridith, i've rediscovered quinoa. i'm addicted to quinoa and kale cakes . i make a variation of this recipe. they are so good! i usually serve them with guacamole on top.

and who knew carnations lasted so long?? these have been thriving on my kitchen island for the last 2 weeks. like the vase? it's an antique dental spittoon i bought over the holidays. i love the shape and color and try to forget that people at one time spit in it.

here in flat, farm country we see a lot of hot air balloons. i snapped a photo of these guys taking off at the end of our street one weekend.

and in shop news, i've been doing a lot of custom work. here's a sampling.

these minty stripes went out to a favorite customer. i LOVE her logo/signature!

 malachite-inspired business cards for another favorite client in palm beach.

 after i designed those, i found this image online. yep, rolex and i think alike.

more green.

 and some purple.

and a custom baby shower invite for a friend.

 well, that about sums up my january. i'll be back real soon with another post!

i know where i'll be sunday night

...glued to the tv watching season 3 of my newest obsession, downton abbey.

hubby and i started watching season 1 right before christmas. right after christmas i rushed to target (i had to drive myself... sadly, we have no staff to bring around the motor and chaffeur us.) to buy season 2 on dvd (boo netflix for not having season 2 yet). i'm totally obsessed.... like obsessed so much that i'm on the verge of requesting that friends and family refer to me as "m'lady". 

traditional home online has a feature on downton abbey where you can learn a little more about the real-life castle where they film most of the show. (and from where i borrowed these photos.) pop over there to check out some great photos of the castle interiors and cast of the show.

and then do yourself a favor, and jump on the bandwagon and watch it. if anything to see my favorite character, the dowager countess, played expertly by maggie smith.

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.