thegoodlife

hoop.dee.do and la.di.dah

Etsy Buy Handmade littleprettystudio

I have filled the shop with oodles and oodles of new hoop.dee.do's! Some of my very favorite fabrics (woodgrain!!)are now available and I am so excited!! I hope you like them as much as I do.

What did you do for National Scrapbooking Day? I celebrated with the peas, chatted it up as usual and even had the chance to host a quick scrap challenge. Here's what our group did:

Take 3 minutes: Grab the following (fast-don't think about it)...
one sheet of cardstock
one piece of pattern paper
one tag
one label
one stamp
one sticker
one rub on
one brad
*optional: one embellishment/chipboard/acrylic etc.*
and either one photo or skip the photo
and by the end of the chat, make one super quick page or 2 cards using only these items (you can add letter stickers or journaling too if needed...oh, and obviously your scissors, pens, adhesives, etc...)

The object of the challenge is to work super fast, don't worry about mistakes- you can always go back and change it later.
FUN????
Ready, Set, GO!!!!!

Here was my page- honestly the fastest page ever made by yours truly. It was such and exhilarating and freeing experience.

That is a picture of my at what I think is my 4th birthday party? I am opening up my Princess Leia Star Wars action figure, which, if I can remember that far back, was one thing I really wanted for my birthday.

And, speaking of wanting things and scrapbooking....oh man, some new favorites have arrived in the store at 2peas and I can't wait to play!!! Fellow shoppers, I give you the *new* La.Di.Dah collection from KI Memories:

Is that cute or WHAT??? I cannot wait until I get my hot little hands on it. Come to mama!!

And with that, my computer has decided to give me the royal fits, I need to sign off for the evening before I pull out all my hair and I let it ruin my hoop.dee.do and la.di.dah happiness...so, just a quckie tonight dears;P ...I hope you have a great Wednesday and I will be back soon with more chatter later:)

(((hugs)))

National Scrapbooking Day 08

Is today!!  Come Join The Party!!!

The party is already in full swing!! There are free classes, a whole new garden of ideas, chats all day, a TON of prizes, discounts in the store and more! Come check it out!!

Also, I just finished another big fat batch of hoop.dee.do's! These will go up in the shop either today or tomorrow- and then early this coming week, we'll add a bunch more of the larger sizes with new fabric!! I can't wait. Especially for the fabric choices- super yummy!! There will also be a few "kids" style fabrics as well, and depending on how well these sell, we may do more.

Thank you for all your kind words and prayers for Dottie. I know that I only had the chance to know her late in life, so my experiences with her are much different from others in the family. I am looking forward to the service and hearing more about her, the memories of the rest of the family, etc.

((((((hugs)))))))
See you at the NSD Party!!!

Grandma Dottie

(layout from December 2007 kit at MyScrapbookShoppe)

I am sad to report that John's Grandma, Dottie (Dorothy) Pebbles passed away last night at age 96.  It is both a sad time for our family, and a time where we consider how blessed Dottie was not only in life, but in her passing. Dottie was mostly self-sufficient until only very recently- last week she finally moved from her own apartment into full nursing care. Over the past few days, Dottie was visited by almost all of her grandchildren and each of her own children as well. Just after the family spent most of the day working together to help clear out her apartment, at dinner time yesterday we heard from the doctor that she wasn't doing very well. Our immediate family, (John, Sally and parents Ann and Harold) headed up to see her along with Pastor Crabtree from Dottie's church. We all had a chance to comfort Dottie, give kisses, say prayers and goodbyes. Only a few hours later, Dottie passed away in her sleep.

This is from the page I made about Dottie for our family scrapbook just before Christmas last year:

"Dottie Pebbles drove her own car until she was 95, and always over the speed limit. She played Scrabble like a champion, winning almost every game played with her children and grandchildren, only recently has her ability to play diminished. As a kid, she wasn't considered the "fun" grandma, but as John got older, he appreciated that she treated him like an adult. Dottie survived the death of her husband and her daughter Sally. Before Sally passed away from breast cancer, Dottie and her daughter would bake sourdough bread together. For 15 years after Sally's death, Dottie would still use the same batch of dough she made with her daughter to make new loaves, adding new ingredients to stretch the remains as much as possible. Dottie always dresses beautifully, she has to be the best dressed senior in Silverdale, still wearing Banana Republic and classic wool pants suits that look like they were just purchased at Nordstroms yesterday. Dottie still drinks her daily dose of one part gin to two parts water. We all swear that it's this, plus the loving sourdough, that has kept Dottie with us all these years.

Dottie was an amazing, spunky, smart woman; and we will all miss her greatly.
Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers.

Hybrid Challenge

Hey friends- if you are so inclined, I am hosting the digital/hybrid challenge this week at 2peas, "Text on a Path"- so break out the photoshop skillz and play along:

Can you see the typed journaling? That typewriter has already come in handy!

weekend junking + happy earth day!

It started with my search for a typewriter on Craigslist...I luckily found this one, posted for sale by Pat in Renton, she and her husband Jerry used to run a payphone business and they had this lovely Adler typewriter waiting for a good home. It has an extra wide carriage, so I can put an entire 12x12 paper in and type on it! Shazzam!!! If that doesn't make my lazy butt happy, I don't know what will. Pat also gave me some ribbon that is still in the package- I really scored on this, and it was only $15. I plan on typing my "journaling" for my scrapbook pages with it...we'll see. Pat gave me extensive lessons on how it works- most of which I forgot by the time I got home, but I was so impressed that she could tell me all about it, even though it's been years since it was used.

While I was there, Pat mentioned that they were hoping to get rid of a lot more of the stuff they had accumulated- and that is when I spied this beautiful treasure on her wall and asked if she was looking to sell this as well...

This beautiful vintage Seattle map has found a loving new home with John and I here in Redmond. It is pretty big, I had to drape it over the curtain rod behind the living room couch to get this picture. Note that Drake is asleep and could care less about the goings on around him, as long as no one tries to move him. :)  The map doesn't have a date, but Pat said she has had it for a really long time, so I will have to do some research. She also said if she saw it for sale on Ebay for $1000 she'd hunt me down! lol!! No worries, I am not going to be parting with this pretty treasure.

Now,  normally I would call it good, but I needed some props to help style some of the hoop.dee.do photos I took over the weekend, so I stopped by my local Goodwill and Redmond thrift store- Goodwill was nuts- it was literally worse than IKEA with all the people shopping. My local shop was better- I ended up getting really lucky with a few finds there:

I really like that retro shaped dish, I used that for all the hoop.dee.do photos...I also scored a box of vintage flash cards, a silver tone ceramic apple, an adorable squirrel nut bowl, a mini red wagon, mini Playskool mailbox, a balance scale, 2 retro wire baskets, a metal owl and last but not least; an old vintage pinking machine...I have been looking for one of these for a few years and got really lucky finding one at a thrift store! I haven't hooked it up yet, but when I do I will make some pinked edge paper with it and show you how it works. It's freakin' heavy.

Lots of fun stuff!! Not what I would call a "cheap" weekend...where I live, even thrifting is not really that thrifty. I put back a lot of stuff because it's too pricey. I guess that's just the reality of living in Microsoft Millionaireland: :) you have to be doing pretty good even to shop at Goodwill!!

Looking at that pile, you may wondering what I do with all this crap...(don't worry, you're not alone, John wonders the same thing all the time)...some of the stuff I pick up goes up on display immediately in a vignette somewhere in our little shack, but most of it goes into my stash, and I use these pieces as props for my photos, or I just save things so I can redecorate when I get a wild hair. I do hope one day to get to a point where I feel happy with the collections I have and maybe get a booth at an antique fair or something...but that is a long way off. If I had a cute house with an adorable front porch like some junkers I know, I would totally do a porch sale...but I live in a teeeeeeeny little hole with no place to host something that fun without irritating our irritable neighborhood. :)  So for the time being, I just hoard like a pack rat!!! Good times!! :)

That is my junking update. I should put some new pictures up of the house and add to my vintage finds gallery, I will put that on my list of things to do soon; but for now, I have some scrapbooking and stamping to do...

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Oh, and also, thanks so much for all your kind comments about the hoop.dee.do! I want to welcome any new readers who might be visiting from my link on Etsy, or who found their way over from Decor8.  and...here is another picture I snapped of the hoop.dee.do with some of the items from the above junking trip staged for a Kid's Room...

That's some of my art from my Kindergarten and 1st grade years, and a delightful photo of me with my long hair...ha!

Ciao!!

Etsy: introducing hoop.dee.do

After many hours of "ideating", supply chain management, labor disputes and concept-to-market negotiations ;P...we've finally put it "out there"...our new product, the hoop.dee.do is up in our Etsy shop!

Introducing hoop.dee.do: the embroidery hoop bulletin board!

Here is the official info from our Etsy shop (littleprettystudio.etsy.com)

We (Jennifer + John) are the makers of the hoop.dee.do embroidery hoop bulletin board...

+ Each hoop.dee.do bulletin board is handmade, stamped + numbered...

+ The outer hoop is removable to allow for paint or stain...

+ We like to use bright, bold patterns for each hoop.dee.do, but if you would like to use a different fabric, you can remove the outer hoop and stretch your own over the existing board...

+ We try to keep a consistent stock of the following sizes:
14", 12", 9", 6" rounds (some unique sizes may be available from time to time)...

The hoop.dee.do idea came to me one evening while John and I were taking down the last of our Christmas decorations and I was looking for something fun and lively to decorate with. I was going to stretch some fabric over a few of the thrifted hoops I had laying around a la purlsoho- but when I was actually in the process, I thought- "hey, wouldn't this make a cool bulletin board?"....I proclaimed, with much enthusiasm to John, that this was going to be our new joint venture- he would do the manly construction part, and I would do the frilly chick part. It took a few more months for us to get on track, and since then we have been hard at work. John has learned all about batting and fabric and olfa cutters:) I have learned about "prop styling" and the limitations of shipping in a standard USPS priority mail box.

I was up until dawn this am working on finishing up the photos and posting each hoop.dee.do to Etsy, and was delighted to wake up a few hours later to find that someone beat me to blogging about it- JennSki is an amazing artist (I already have my eye on this print for my wall) with a very fun blog and awesome Etsy shop! I am tickled that she found me!

So that's my big surprise!! I really hope you like it and will tell all your friends, lol!! I have more ideas up my sleeve for products for the shop, and I am really looking forward to this new side of my crafting life.

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BTW.... I did go junking this weekend!! I SCORED on a few awesome items that I cannot wait to show you...but it will have to wait until tomorrow, I have to clean up my mess and make room to take a picture of one very large item that just may be the best find ever. Craigslist is my new best friend. :)

also, if you can give your pups a hug today in memory of Honey, that would be wonderful. It was a year today that she crossed over the rainbow bridge and I have been thinking about her all day. I miss her little snuggliness.

(((((big hugs)))))

not allergic to scrapbooking:)

Is anyone else knocked out by allergies? I have spent the past few days dragging around like a person in a coma. It sucks!!

I was hoping the shop would be up and ready with a big launch today- but we're at least a day behind- after the dentist on Wednesday (no cavities, yay!!)  we ended up spending the rest of the day in Silverdale helping to get John's grandma transitioned into assisted living- she is 97 yrs old and is just now getting where she needs 24 hour attention and care. So, while it was a nice day spending time with family, it didn't make for much productivity around here.

This was inspired by the cute pages in Shannon Tidwell's gallery...that girl can scrap! I made this one during my flurry of activity the week before last...I like Shannon a lot, she was friendly and chatty with me the minute I first met her, and she inspires me all the time. I just love how she uses the shaped Bazzil- I just stocked up on a few more sheets myself recently. This is the first time I have used this big scallop with the holes...me likey:)

Oh- and that's not paint on the background paper- that's where I ripped off the other paper I had glued down. I decided I liked the way it looked all messed up, and just went with it. I think it works for a masculine page....and that is green painters tape, in case you were wondering.

I am hoping to do some junking this weekend- either at a few garage sales or at Goodwill. I will post an update if I find anything fun. Otherwise I will just spend the weekend working on the Etsy stuff- I added more ideas today for things to make in the future- I am getting excited about it even now, when I can't keep my itchy eyes open.

Hope you have a wonderful Friday!!!

Mid-Month User Inspiration

I can't begin to tell you how much I LOVED the April Theme for the 2peas Garden- User Inspiration!! When I am in a slump, (which is quite often) I don't think anything fixes it faster than finding inspiration in other people's layouts. Whether it's a whole concept, creative use of product, topic idea, or color scheme- there is always something that can be absorbed and re-interpreted.

(if you click on the pictures, it will take you to the actual seed where you can see the inspiration pages)

This was inspired by Jen Gallacher- who rocks, one look at her gallery and your heart will be full of crafty inspiration. Her page was so awesome, this is as close as I could get to an exact copy- I didn't want to change anything!! Plus, I got to use the delicious new Dill Blossom from SEI!! It's one of my favorite new lines from CHA. (some of the stickers and rub-on's are from a LBKOTM from last year.)

I loved Natasja's tissue paper layouts- I asked her to be a User Inspiration for me back in October, but I missed signing up for the project, so I was glad when this month rolled around and I got to put some tissue and frills on a page a la Natasja! This page is about the Junk Beautiful review- and I used some stamps from Cavallini & Co. as well as Purple Onion, and that black card is from Collage Press- I have my eyes on a few more sheets of their journaling cards and a few sets of their stamps...:D

These book projects were inspired by Karla Dudley- who rulz! I love all the journals and mini books she posts in her gallery- her style reminds me a lot of Ali Edwards, but with her own twist. It's graphic, simple, pretty and clean....These notebooks are from Target and I have to tell you, I used the new velvet SEI paper for that mini-book- it's so soft!!! SEI is killing me with the cuteness of their stuff lately.

I had one more User Inspired page that I didn't get done until after the seeds were already planted, so I saved it to share here on my blog instead. I got to "meet" Melissa over email after I asked her if I could post this page.  I made this after I was inspired by an awesome ticket layout she did while recovering from a broken foot- and she laughed and said that "anyone with a husband or boyfriend would think this is funny." when she could have said- "ugh! you are disgusting!!"...Thanks Melissa!!!- she gets me.:D

(Journaling: I usually have to take 10 or so photos of John acting like a moron before he'll let me take a nice one.)

:D

Tomorrow (or today I guess, since I am writing this late) I am going to the dentist for the first time in forever!! I don't like the dentist at ALL!!! I think I had too much dental work done as a child and it scarred me for life. I will never forget the time I puked all over a hygienist (chocolate donut- thankyouverymuch) after I told her that she put too much paste into the mold tray and it was making me gag. I think I was about 8 years old. uuuuugggghhhh.

Before I go, I wanted to post another couple of pictures from the Tower- "Tammy T" left me a comment yesterday asking if I took any pictures from the women's bathroom- and YES!! I did Tammy!!- The women's bathrooms in the Columbia Tower Club are famous for their incredible views. You know how newer establishments have stalls that are more "rooms"?...well these little room stalls have their own counter with a sink, towels, and even a mirror on the wall...and the view from where you...well, you know... this is what it looks like:

This is the view from your toilet!! Crazy or what?? This looking directly east from Seattle over Lake Washington, on the right you can see the high rise buildings in downtown Bellevue (Redmond is further east) and on the left you can see Mercer Island, and in the back are the beautiful Cascade Mountains.

Here's me trying to squeeze more of the proof of the potty into the photo:) you can see the sink and soap pump...

 

and here is me squeezed back as far as I could go to get the reflection in the mirror...

It was the wackiest thing!!

As far as other pics...here is one of the table-side flambe, and a dorky picture of me holding my very special Bday gift from ma and pa Pebbles- an Art Department Space Needle!! I love this thing!! I love all their pieces, but this one is my favorite. It's going to be the first in my future collection- I want all the Happy Houses!!!

So- that was the fun night!! Now I just need to scrap the pics! Maybe I will do a mini-book too, who knows:)

Well, it is super late, and I have to get up at the crack- so I better sign off...but, before I do, here is one liiiiiittttllleee sneaky peek at what's coming to my Etsy shop...:D heeheehee...

Can't wait!!

Wish me luck at the Dentist...blech!!!
(((hugs)))

the big week

Last week was hysterical busy for me, but in a good way- and now I have some fun and exciting things coming this week and next and I am sooo sooo sooo hoping that you guys like it!!

Do you remember a few months ago when I mentioned very briefly about working on a new product for my Etsy shop? Well friends, I am thiiiiiiiiiiis close to launch day and I am going like gangbusters to finish up the details as fast as I can! I am dying to share. Dying!! I am not going to give you any hints today- but I might just post a few hints as the week goes on, just for fun. :D This is something I am really proud of and John and I have been working on it together, which makes it even more special for me. I've been keeping it secret squirrel since JANUARY!!! GAH!! That's a long time for me to not talk about something I am so excited about! So stay tuned and maybe save some of that tax refund lettuce... just in case...:D

In the meantime though, I have a bunch of scrappy shares to get us through the week!!

Scrapbooking has really changed for me lately. I think because I am still "new" to it, I spend a lot of time being frustrated, scattered and fussy about my stuff- I want to have my own style- and I have been struggling to define it- because I like so many different things. I guess recently I have just started to find my flow. I still don't think I have "found" my style...but maybe I have a little bit. I am seeing things I like more clearly, and recognizing what I don't like in my work.

For example:

I did this page for a BHG color article, and at the time when I was making it, I really struggled. I liked the flocked damask, the shaped paper, the letters and the photo, even the colors- which were the basis for the assignment...but the finished product didn't feel right to me. I couldn't solve what ever problem I had with it at the time due to deadlines, so I sent it off.

I just got it back in the mail, and I took it out and looked it over. And then I made a decision to just do what I could to make it into a page I loved, since the original was something I knew I was going to fuss about every time I came across it in my scrapbook.

Here is the made over version- I like it so much more- even though I covered up the flocked damask stamping...I figured that if I liked it that much, I could always add it to another page in the future. (basically, I stamped a Damask Pattern using my glue pad and sprinkled pink flocking powder over the impression to create the flocks, in case you were wondering).

Now, normally I don't think you should re-do a page just for your book...but if you reeeaaaaallllly feel like you want to, go ahead and do it. I know I felt better after I did.

And I just love this picture of Sally! It's one of my very faves.

Speaking of Sally...we had a such a fun weekend!! On Friday we had the most special night! The Pebbles saved my family birthday celebration until this past Friday so that we could have dinner at the Columbia Tower Club in Seattle. The Tower Club is on the top of the Columbia Tower in Downtown Seattle, the highest point in the city. I guess it's supposedly Seattle's most "prestigious" club- it's member's only access. How'd we get in?? Well, turns out that my in-law's belong to another club in Seattle whose building is getting renovated- and they get access to this one instead while it's being redone??? I think that was how it worked. It was incredible. Here are a few pictures- I took a zillion.

I will share a few more of the Seattle pictures in a later post.

Not only did we have that event on Friday night, but then on Saturday night John and I went out to the Showbox to see "Big Head Todd and the Monsters"- and someone...I won't say who :)...may or may not have had a few too many cocktails and is not feeling so well. We literally crammed like 6 months of social highlights into one weekend. Since we never do anything, we felt incredibly fun and popular. Too bad it's back to reality:P

So that is my update and now I am off to zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...I can't wait. :) I can't wait to sleep off my hangover, and I can't wait for it to be tomorrow so I can get back to more crafting, more sharing and 1 day closer to Etsy fun day!!
Ciao!!

a calendar day

Hi Friends!

Just popping in to say "Hi," hope your week is going well so far. I have been crafting up a storm lately- yesterday I was browsing the member gallery at 2peas and was SOOOO inspired by all the new additions- I added a bunch of stuff to my "bookmarks" (what used to be the "book of scraps") and then I just started making some goodies. I will share those with you in the next few days (gotta stretch it out you know, can't post all in one day and then having zero things to talk about for a month:) - I still have a few more things I want to make and maybe we can do a play along activity or something:)

Today I am the page of the day in the 2008 Autumn Leaves Designing With Desk Calendar, (I found some in stock at Scrapbook.com) so I thought I would put that up. It's amazing to me how empty this layout seems- when I look at it photographed- I think it really needs more, but then when you see it in real life, it doesn't really seem as plain? I don't know- sketches are hard for me, especially 2 pagers. They don't feel natural to the way I like to scrapbook- but I love seeing this type of thing when other people do them. It would be great to do more publication work, but sketch assignments scare me, lol! Better left for more qualified individuals :)

The journaling talks about how much fun we had taking Drake to the dog park the first few times he went, before he could swim- and how we wished that Honey wasn't sick because Drake might have encouraged her to be more playful. I miss her a lot. I think of all the pictures I take of Drake with my new camera, and I wish I would have had it when she was alive. I would have been able to take more expressive and detailed shots of her, and the things that made her such a quirky dog, like her big huge ears and the psycho angry face she used to make when John held her. It makes me laugh just to think about it.

Anyway, just a random Tuesday! It feels good to be productive in the crafting department again.