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!

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.

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.

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.