Follow Me: the Making of Bergdorf Goodman's 2010 Holiday Windows

A dream job of mine, of course... Amazing to see how these amazing little worlds are created...

and a couple of the finished creations as seen from the street...

See the full article about the Bergdorf Goodmans window creations in the Holiday Issue of Lonny Magazine

Pretty.Simple.Things at Sacred Art Gallery-Boutique in Chicago!

I'm so excited to announce that my paper goods are now carried at an amazing gallery-boutique called Sacred Art, in Chicago, Il! This lovely shop in Lincoln Square is a space where folks can buy art from emerging artists without the pretense or mark-up of a gallery. The shop's emphasis is on local Chicago artists, but they have recently branched out to include artists from other areas who's work fit's the shops aesthetic and vibe. I'm so excited to be one of those artists! Check out the Sacred Art website to see pics of the store, and images of some of the other work they carry...

Handy for the holidays...

These casserole carriers by Vonny are exactly what I would buy for all of the wonderful cooks in my life who I share meals with potluck style through the Holidays. As we are hosting the second annual Potluck-Thanksgiving in our home for some of our friends who have become like family to us, the burden of transporting hot casserole dishes (so as not to have a traffic-jam at the oven right before we sit down to eat) would be all but solved if I had discovered these nifty carriers a few weeks ago. I will definitely be buying one for myself for all the Christmas holiday parties I will be schlepping hot dishes to! They retail for $46.00 at vonny.com

The Perfect Holiday Dazzler...

I love this dress by London based designer Anna Popovich... It is oh-so-perfect for holiday parties!

Find it at her Etsy shop!

Holiday Dinner Party Invites...

It's been so long since I've posted any pics of the custom orders I've been working on, and this is due mostly to the fact that my camera has taken a bit of a knock and is taking less than clear pictures. I'm so frustrated that I can't share photos of the designs that have kept me so busy for the last 4 months, so I decided to post some pics of a little job I had worked on a few months ago that entailed a customization of one of my existing designs, ordered on Etsy.

For a holiday dinner party these "Dinner With Friends" cards were screened in Red and Green ink, doing half the order with red text/green imagery, and half the order with green text/red imagery. The cards held vellum invitation inserts, that I printed in red or green to coordinate with the text color on the front of the card. The finished product was super sweet, and full of holiday whimsy!

PetitPlat Food Art by Stephanie Kilgast

I stumbled across the art of Stephanie Kilgast a couple weeks ago, and keep going back to her blog to see what she's up to. She is a french sculptor, working in the form of miniature foods for dollhouse and jewelry. Her website PetitPlat is full of beautiful imagery, tutorials, information, and a link to her etsy shop. Her work is hyper-realistic, mouth-watering, incredibly detailed and oh-so-tiny! But what I love the most about Stephanie's work is that even though it may not be in one of the traditionally recognized mediums of art, it is most definitely art! I love the fact that etsy and the movement supporting handmade crafts has helped the world to recognize that art comes in many non-traditional forms, and no matter the size or medium, all handmade art is of great value and should be recognized as so! Enjoy the pics, courtesy of Stephanie's Blog...

Yellow Elm Felted-Wool Accessories

It's been so hard for me to find the time to post to the blog lately as I've been (happily) swamped with tons of custom work, busy with lots of family holiday's, and in general exhausted due to the little one I'm due to have in May. That being said, I've been dying to share one of my new favorite makers, Elizabeth Blanton of Yellow Elm, whom I had the pleasure of meeting at the Indie Craft Parade.

Elizabeth crafts beautiful (and incredibly unique) hair accessories, hat adornments, and brooches by hand, through the process of felting wool, which she describes as layering wool, pouring soap and boiling water over it, and scrubbing until the fibers interlock to make felt. She then adds embellishments, decorative stitching, and artful details to each piece by hand, creating little works of wearable art. She also has a wonderful blog, which puts my very-bad-at-blogging-self to shame! Check it out http://yellowelm.com/blog/

Photos courtesy of Yellow Elm

The Indie Craft Parade!

The first annual Indie Craft Parade in Greenville, SC, was a huge success, with 4000 attendees, and 77 amazing artists showing work, it was inspiring and overwhelming! I had the pleasure of meeting so many wonderful artists, and getting feedback on my work from thousands of shoppers! I came home to lots of orders that were generated from the faire, and have been so busy trying to keep up with all the work I haven't yet gotten a chance to share on the blog about the experience. I plan on featuring some of the amazing artist that I got to meet while there, so check back in a couple of weeks (when hopefully I will have emerged from my studio having successfully completed all these orders while still staying in one piece)!

Below are some pics of me at my booth, and some of the many items I have yet to get up on the Etsy site that I debuted at the show.

photos courtesy of Yellow Elm and the Flickr page for the ICP

Pretty.Simple.Things in Babiekins Magazine!

The current issue of Babiekins Magazine just came out, and I'm happy to share the pictures of my work is from the magazine. My Alice in Wonderland Party Invite (fully customizable and for sale in my Etsy site) is in the first shot of the Wonderland themed story, and the paper butterflies used throughout the shoot for styling are also my creations! Check Babiekins out!

Linus's Birth Announcement

Printed on 100% recycled paper, featuring my "Animal Parade Pennants" Design and an original graphite drawing of lovely Linus by his mother, and my talented friend Marisa, this little announcement was a fun project. In fact, we were so happy with the results (and I am just such a fan of Marisa's art) that we are thinking of teaming up and offering this collaborative announcement design on Etsy. She would create an original graphite drawing of your little one from a picture, and I would do the announcement design and printing. You would be getting not only a beautiful keepsake announcement, but also an original work of art featuring your little one!

Find me at the Indie Craft Parade in September!

The Indie Craft Parade is a juried craft faire held September 10th and 11th in Greenville, SC. I am so ecstatic that I was selected to show there, I can't stop smiling! If you live in the Southeast, it will be a great show with tons of artisans and crafters, and would be well worth the drive to come peruse (and visit me of course). Please visit the Indie Craft Parade official site for all the info...

Sweet Paul Magazine

Maybe it's because I still miss Domino Magazine everyday

(not to mention Cookie Magazine, and Blueprint Magazine)

but I am so excited by all the new online magazines

that have been springing up.

I've loved Sweet Paul the blog for sometime, and was

thrilled to learn about the new Sweet Paul online magazine.

It's filled with amazing recipes, and some of the most

gorgeous food styling and photography I've seen in a

magazine thus far.

I may have found my mother's day breakfast recipe in the

page below!

Click Here to view the whole magazine.

	Look inside >
Spring 2010

Off the grid living...

I came across these amazing photographs by Keliy Anderson-Staley today on Apartment Therapy, originally from Ahorn Magazine. Anderson-Staley grew up off-the-grid, without electricity, plumbing, or phones, in the woods of Maine. She started this project of documenting life "off the grid" before she moved away from the community. She returned to finish the project, and the pictures are not only beautiful, but her musing on life as it was, and is, off the grid is lovely.

Both my parents (separately) live off the grid, but with solar power, well-water, septic, and they both as of the last few months have cell phone service reaching them. My dad has a log cabin, my mom a submerged adobe, they both live within 1 hour of a large town or city. Although they do have creature comforts like electricity and water, there is still a huge decompression that happens when you travel down a long, very bumpy, 4-wheel drive necessary, unmaintained road, to reach there green-homes, and there is something satisfying about watching your consumption out of necessity rather than choice. You have to monitor usage and waste of all kinds to live this way. I find it so refreshing to unplug, and focus on simple pleasures and pastimes, the beautiful, quiet landscape surrounding, and all that sky!

New Work on Etsy!

I have been overwhelmed lately with all the projects I've been working on, and have intended on getting more of the new work I've done up on the blog and the Etsy shop, but haven't had the time. In part this is because I have undertaken remodeling our upstairs (a finished attic that we have been using as a guest bedroom and bathroom) to turn into my studio. I have outgrown the sunroom I have been using as my studio, and decided to redo the upstairs with a rustic-glam look, where I can get away and focus on creating. The project is taking much more time than I had imagined, as we are putting in new flooring, new wall colors (and let me tell you - painting bead-board is not a quick process), new lighting, and new furniture. Will post the before and after when it's all done, but in the mean-time, head over to the Etsy shop to see some of the new notebooks and cards I have been working on...

Also, if you want to win one of the "Always Something To Do Notebooks" head over to the amazing site Just One Week to enter the awesome give-away that Erin has going on for the next 10 days!

A good week for Pretty.Simple.Things...

It's been a busy week for me here, I was busy working on several new designs (that I will be adding to the shop tomorrow), finishing up some projects for different events, and getting lots of love from some talented bloggers, Etsians, and online magazine creators. I am very excited about the projects that have come up because of the Pretty.Simple.Things features that popped up on the web this week.

First of all, I was contacted by Priscila Barros about featuring Pretty.Simple.Things in an upcoming issue of her online magazine. Priscila (a very busy mommy herself) is the owner of the amazing online shop called Little Miss Heirlooms, and the blogger behind littlemissheirlooms.blogspot.com, the gorgeous blog attached to the store (think Odeedoh with a more vintage vibe),

who is also the creator of Babiekins (an awesome online magazine for trendsetting kids).

Below are some images from the current issue of the magazine, it's full of beautiful art, fun photography, interviews with artists and designers, fashion for kids, and to-die-for toys and home decor. I'm so excited about the exclusive work I will be doing for an upcoming

issue, I'll post the link and images of the magazine when all is said and done, but I will tell you that I'm ridiculously excited about it, and have been incredibly inspired by what we are working

on!

As if that weren't enough to make my week, my "Always Something To Do Notebook" was then featured on a wonderful, witty, site that I am so excited to have discovered as a result of the notebook being featured yesterday in her "If I Only Had" post. I had never come across a site or blog like Just one Week, it's a beautiful journal-esque site by a woman named Erin who's heartfelt writing about changing her day to day habits is full of humor, and hit's home in so many ways. Aside from perfectly examining the human psyche in her posts, Erin also has amazing taste, and features awesome products, blogs, and art, on the site. I'm excited to be part of her upcoming Giveaways, and will also post a link to that so you can enter to win as well.

Below is an excerpt from Erin's welcome message for the site, but the page that really sucked me in was her introduction page, I mean for me she hit the nail on the head.

I have a long, long list of habits I want to create and projects I want to complete (or start!). I feel guilty way too often about items stranded for years on my to-do list and about habits that never seem to stick. I am done feeling guilty. I need Just One Week.

And last, but not least, two of my items were featured in treasuries on Etsy today!

The black sewing machine notebook was included in this treasury

and my piggy card was included in this treasury!

It's been a great week, and it's week's like this which make it all worth it.