merry merry. happy happy.

i stole my post header from a customer. we put this on her christmas card. i liked it.

this was our card this year. i searched high and low for those boots. pixel's glad i found them so she could pose for y'all. see how happy she is.
wishing you all a very merry christmas and happy new year. see ya in 2012!

again and again

this past weekend, steve and i made a trip to again and again, the fab vintage furniture store opened by leslie pritchard in dallas. we went first to the warehouse/slice of heaven on howell street and then popped over to the smaller store on bonita street. we were on the hunt for dining room chairs. (the hunt is getting exhausting.... chairs that look good aren't comfortable, chairs that are comfortable aren't our style, chairs that are both comfortable and our style are out of our price range. you know the drill....)

the very kind gentleman who was working sunday allowed me to snap a few photos to show you all. i loved this white dresser.. and those blue lamps. gorgeous!
in my opinion, this is the showstopper of the warehouse. fabulous hot pink linen twin headboards with nailhead trim.
and the second show stopper. this aqua blue lacquered dresser. i love the detail!
we also spotted this brass chandelier. it would be perfect over our breakfast table. i'm still not sure why we walked away from it.
i spied this little fella. loved his pull.
these would be perfect end tables in a family room.
beautiful white leather chair.
gorgeous campaign style low dresser/media shelf.
my eye kept wandering to white pieces. here's another one...
if you'd like a sneak peek into leslie pritchard's lifestyle, check out this post on hilary inspired showing leslie's apartment. (wonder what her kitties' names are?)

and another post on the furniture warehouse. total eye candy.

if you're in the dallas area, be sure to stop by leslie's again and again. you won't be disappointed you did.

my favorite so far

kelly smith (all last names and addresses have been changed to protect the innocent) is one of my favorite holiday customers. this is the 3rd year i've done her christmas card.

in 2009 she opted for this....

kelly and kevin got married in 2010. we incorporated this gorgeous wedding photo into her christmas card. it was sent out with persimmon envelopes. i loved this!
this year kelly was in a bind with a quality photo to use for her card. she said she wanted to somehow incorporate the new house they had bought in 2011. the card could then also serve as a change of address card. i asked her to simply sketch the house. and quickly... we were running out of time! she pulled through with this sketch. i loved her simple line drawing. it was exactly what i had in mind. (perhaps i should hire her to draw some artwork and i'll incorporate it into stationery for the shop). then she came up with the brilliant idea to color in the christmas tree.

this is my favorite card i've done this year (ok, well, excluding my own... which i'll show you in a few days as they're still en route). we paired them with christmas red envelopes.

kelly hasn't seen these in person yet. they're heading to her now. hope she likes them!

books!

i haven't read a book in so long that i wonder if i've forgotten how to read. i hope to pick up a book after christmas. life is just too busy right now. but... it didn't stop me from making a book. after reading about blurb on stephanie's blog awhile back and having a need to make a book, i decided to give it a shot a few weeks ago.

remember our family outing to dealey plaza in dallas a few weeks ago? well, my brother-in-law asked me to send him the photos from the visit so he could show his dad. rather than just putting the photos in a photobook, i decided to try out blurb. there was a slightl learning curve with my first attempt. it took me about 3 hours to put together a 26 page book. next time i'm sure it'll go a little quicker now that i know what to expect.

i got the book a few days ago. here it is. the cover...
i decided to make pixel the author, since she and her uncle bobby have a small love affair going on.i put jfk quotes on the back cover.
i'm really pleased with the quality of the book. the dust jacket is a quality, glossy paper. the book itself is covered in black linen. i ordered the book with premium paper pages and they're gorgeous. they have a slightlustre. i'll definitely do more books with blurb.

and speaking of books, have you seen this one?? menagerie by sharon montrose. you can buy a signed copy here.
i'm a huge fan of her photographs. i can never decide which one to buy... with this book i could enjoy a bunch of photos!

to bring a smile to your face, head here and watch this super cute video on sharon's site.

and.... looks like pioneer woman has another cookbook coming out in march. i have her first one and use it a lot. her comfort meatballs are a favorite!
the book comes out in march but you can pre-order it.

and.... one more book... little brown pen has a book coming out titled 'paris in color'. i love her photographs and have several throughout my home. you can preorder her book here.

this is my latest favorite photo of hers.

christmas in the house

so last night i got out our christmas decorations. we decided not to do a tree this year. we got spoiled with the most gorgeous, lush trees in seattle and can't find the same here in dallas. so we just decided to forego one this year. but that didn't stop me from making some pretty holiday vignettes around the house. my favorite thing... a bowl or vase of ornaments. oh, and poinsettias.

here's a pretty pink one with my mercury tree.
and i got a little practice time with my new macro lens.a little stove mantle holiday spirit.
my breakfast nook is mainly decorated in blues and green. my ornaments fit in perfectly!
mini stockings.i hope i don't regret hanging this mini cowbell.master bath holiday spirit.

i love our velvet stockings.
more macro practice. ornaments are the perfect subject!i also came across these
that we used in last year's christmas card photo shoot.pixel was kind enough (like she had a choice!) to sport them again last night for the camera.

i love a fire

there's nothing quite like cozying up by a fire on a cold night. especially if you've got your warm fuzzy slippers on, a book, and hot chocolate.

steve and i finally have a house with a wood-burning fireplace. yippee. a cold front has come through dallas, so we made our first fire last night. steve brought home a small bundle of wood.and got to work with his best assistant.
success. (well, it does help that there's a gas starter.)
semi-roaring.
mesmerized.