Monogrammed Pocket Notebook

 The book above is the gift I gave to my Valentine on Monday night. The card underneath is an oldie from a Current catalog, it was fun to put my colored pencils to use! By the way, it's true. He really is tops!

My Valentine is great at filling up little sketchbooks, and really enjoys those made by Moleskine. I must admit, I do too. I especially like their city notebooks and went through two of them in Boston, and one in Paris. I thought I'd try my hand at making this nice little size, complete with the elastic closure.

First Etsy Treasury

 Back in December I thought I'd try my hand at making an Etsy Treasury. I added a few items and then got busy with something else, but I picked it up on Monday and finished my first treasury. I enjoy looking through other people's collections, and my Favorite Items list just keeps growing and growing, so I thought it would be fun to start grouping my favorites together!

I wrote to those I included with a note and a link, and then my favorite part happened, their comments rolled in all day long! They sent private messages and left comments under the photos and it just made it fun and exciting! This might have to turn into a habit! All of these people have great shops, here's a link to check them out.

Custom Folding Trinket Boxes

Upon our return from France, my bags were a tad heavier with the weight of souvenirs and trinkets. Among my favorite were beautiful silky cotton prints by Liberty of London. My friend Camille introduced me to the fabric and the Liberty craze that seemed to have taken over all of the shops in Paris. 

I didn't have a specific plan for these treasures, but they just had to come home with me! I spread all of the fabric out for my family this summer and one of my aunts had the idea to have me use some of it to make something for her and my cousins for Christmas. These photos are of the boxes that were under their tree on Christmas morning. The box above uses Liberty's Small Susanna print.

I sent thumbnails of all of my fabric to my aunt and she asked my cousins to pick their favorites, without giving them a reason why. This was a top-secret project! This Liberty print, Mauvey, is the first that caught my eye. I bought a metre of it at the most fabulous store, Merci, also introduced to me by Camille and her friend Cynthia.

This sweet floral print was a JoAnn's find.

For the guy in the brood, Liberty's Pelagia print gave a bit of a masculine touch.
 
I found this print of the Tuileries Gardens at Hearbeat Quilts in Barnstable, MA. You can just see a few details in this shot, but I have a couple of yards of it, so I imagine it'll make its way into a quilt (and more photos) this year.

These boxes were based on a trinket box that I made for my dad to give to my mom a while back, and now that I've gotten back into the groove of making them, I'm thinking I'll have to make a lot more!

Perfect Holiday Wrapping

Look how crafty my sister-in-law and brother are! We got to open their presents after our long drive back from snowy North Georgia and it was a major treat! Of course, who doesn't love a brown paper package tied up with string, but look at those other sweet touches ♫ buttons and pom poms, and stamping of stars... these are a few of my (other) favorite things ♫

They used rubber alphabet stamps to stamp our names, traditional brown paper, and a few other special techniques. There were pom poms on multiple gifts that made me want to turn into a little pom pom making factory! Stacy saw the tutorial on the Purlbee blog, and picked up one of the contraptions at Joanns. The third present's wrapping job comes from Alton DuLaney's presentation on Rachael Ray's Show. After delaying the unwrapping so I could take some photos, the gifts were just as fab as the wrapping. :)

I love when we get to stretch the holiday out! Tonight we're off to Tampa to see more relatives. I have twelve large books to round and back today, so the drive down and back will give me some time to relax my arms before I sew 24 endbands tomorrow! Is it possible? We'll see!

A Week of Celebrations!

 This beauty is named Emmalyn and Josh and I got to meet her at the hospital before she was even a day old! Our friend Sarah had her baby in the wee hours of Monday morning. I had never seen a baby so new to the world and I felt so lucky to be there. I spent a couple of great hours with Sarah, her mom, and the baby on Friday - just amazing! Congrats Sarah & Jason, let me know and I'll come over any time your arms are tired! 

 
On Friday night, Josh and I headed over to Winter Park to have dinner at Dexter's before stopping by the Rifle Paper Co. grand opening party open house. We were there right at the beginning, which I think was perfect, because we really got to take everything in, and to talk to Anna for a little while. I didn't think to have Josh take an iphone photo, but Becka & Nate of Studio 222 were snapping away before we got there, so I'm sure there will be plenty of lovely photos to see. Above is a photo of Anna & Lisa mid-transaction at the old Rifle location last year. Anna's twitpic gives an idea of how wonderful the space looks. It's just perfect, and I'm looking forward to going back during regular hours to make a purchase or two! Congrats Anna & Nathan!

My mom's birthday is today! Happy Birthday Mom! She thoughtfully called my brother and me to let us know that she didn't need any presents, and a card would be perfectly lovely. Little did she remember that I had taken her little falling-apart address book when we were together last, with the promise of repairing it for her b-day. Something small like that needed some fun packaging, so I put it into the Longaberger basket that I found at Goodwill for a whopping quarter! 

'Tis the season! It's almost time for stocking stuffers, so I pulled out a bunch of books that had gotten really cozy on their shelves and I put them in the Sale section of the shop.

And the celebrations just continue! Spice cake is in order as soon as our schedule aligns with our friend Wyatt, whose birthday wasn't too long ago. And we're off to Ohio for Thanksgiving this week. Can't wait!

And here's to you! Hope you have a celebratory kind of day!

Pasteurized: A Blank Book About Milk

As the granddaughter of a dairy farmer, I feel like I have an "in" with milk. Sure, I've never milked a cow, but I did sit next to my grandpa on a milking stool while he taught me how to plant flowers in his garden, so there's a connection there! Plus, I love milk!

More specifically, I love pasteurized* skim milk. I've heard tell of the delicious stuff straight from the cow, and I do love cream over blackberry cobbler, but as far as drinking goes, skim is just right for me!

God bless Grandpa, Louis Pasteur, and cows!

Oh! & the reason for this post is that I just put this book in my shop! Click here for more pictures.

Now, off to the kitchen to drink a tall white cold one!

* While in France we drank milk that was "ultra heated" when it was pasteurized and then stored in sterile containers that were unrefrigerated. I discovered that I much preferred the taste of our sans ultra milk from the states, and ended up not drinking milk for over two months! Not to worry, I had more than enough cheese to make up for it!

Autumn Quilt for Baby Mira

My friends Wendy and Matt had a beautiful baby girl in June. Her name is Mira and the photos and videos I've seen of her are just precious! I can't wait to meet her in person some day.

These are photos of Mira's quilt that I finished in time for Fall! I followed a pattern for the front and thought I'd try to improvise and add some strips of color on the back to break up all of that white.

Wendy shared her color palette with me and I picked out the fabric. Of course, Ollie always has to approve my materials before I get to work.

Cheers to the happy family! May there be plenty of snuggling, cuddling, and cozying up as the weather gets colder!