Starting 2010 With a Giveaway!

It seems like it has been so long since I have posted on my blog. I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday and I sincerely wish the very best to you and your families in the New Year. 2010 has started off rather busy as we are getting our Spring line finished. I am so excited with some of the new designs so I thought I would share a few with all of you.

2009 was an amazing year for our burlap pillows, so we will still continue making those as well as some new designs in different fabrics. I would love to hear your comments so please leave a post.

Now that the holidays are over and we are finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel we thought it would be a perfect time for a giveaway. I love giveaways with a twist. Here it is… Tell me the most creative thing you did in 2009, I love to hear about how creative all of you are. I have decided to offer our Piano Recital 20"x20" pillow slip.

Here are just a few other new designs.

I hope the rest of your week is filled with love and laughter,

The Elf's Are Exhausted...

It has been so long since I have added a blog post and I can honestly say I have missed all of you. The elves are completely worn out and it is now time to just enjoy the holiday. We will continue to offer our free shipping ( U.S. customers only) on any burlap pillow slips until Friday. We also have a special on our tea towels. Buy two and get the third one free, that will end on Monday.

My Christmas tree is still waiting to be decorated, I still have not done my usual holiday baking so I am looking forward to a few days of getting into the spirit. I hope all of you have had sometime to reflect back on this year and remember the blessing that you have received. I know for myself, I can get caught up in the everyday events and not recognize all the wonderful gifts I have been given throughout the year.

This has been an amazing year full of love, health, family and friends. I greatly appreciate each one of my customers who have become friends and for the support they have given me. I also am so fortunate to have met so many wonderful and inspiring women who have taken time to visit my blog, you are all such a treasure!

Each Christmas Eve we have a tradition of drawing names, we then go around the room and express our Christmas wish for the name we have drawn. It is such a wonderful heartfelt time when we express our wish for that person. Many tears are shed and it has become one of our families favorite traditions. My Christmas wish for each one of you is an abundance of love each day, health and happiness in all that you do and the ability to
recognize the small blessing that come each day.

I wish each of you a very Happy Holiday full of love and laughter…

Love Vintage Suitcases? Make Your Own..

I started thinking about vintage suitcases like this one, and how they tell a story of where they have been. I have a collection of vintage suitcases and they are wonderful for storage. It seems that they are scarce and not many flea markets have them, so I thought it would be fun to offer a solution where you can make your own. These would also make a wonderful gift.

From time to time I’ve seen these great cardboard versions of vintage suitcases. PaperSource actually has a wide variety of them at pretty affordable prices - these black suitcases range from $8.00 - $14.50 each. These would be great for storing photos, stationary and craft items.

Lucky for me, I came across this DIY suitcase. It’s apparently made out of a Bisquick box! Who would of thought? Find the instructions here for this simple project. This project gives you so much more freedom, because you can use whatever boxes you have available to get the size you want, as well as fabric or paper that matches your color scheme, and it will cost next to nothing!

I envision creating a stack of these suitcases and decorating them with vintage travel stickers which you can purchase at a very reasonable price at Hello Traveler. Or paint them with chalkboard paint and write a personal message and give them as a gift.

I hope all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Just Five Minutes, That’s All I Need

Whew! Made it through another very hectic week that consisted of so many mishaps. I always find it so interesting that Monday always seems to start off so good, I’m upbeat energized and ready to tackle the week ahead. Then by Friday I am in desperate need of just five minutes, five minutes to take a deep breath and take a look back at the week and see what I have accomplished and what still needs to be done.

I look forward to Saturday just as much as I looked forward to Friday night when I was a teenager. That sense of hurrah, I made it through the week and now I am rewarded with a day to myself. I love weekends, they give me a sense that I can stay in my P.J.’s all day and work at my own pace and if there is a spare moment I can allow myself to put aside some of my work and just design. Priceless!

I hope all of you will find more then five minutes this weekend to just stay in you P.j’s relax and find inspiration for the week ahead.

Have a wonderful weekend and I will see you next week.

Mid Week Buzz

It’s only Wednesday, and I feel like the idea of getting caught up is just an illusion. Between work, trying to keep my house clean, taking care of my family and chasing after the dog as he tracks mud across my living room carpet, it’s a wonder I have time to comb my hair in the mornings.

I have added a few new tea towels, and if your anything like me, I love to design my own gift baskets for the holiday and I think these would look adorable tucked in a basket.

So how is you week going? Do you find you’re under the gun and over a barrel? On days like this I am reminded of a quote from Kin Hubbard who says, "A bee is never as busy as it seems; it's just that it can't buzz any slower."

Let’s hope the rest of your week buzzes by quickly.

Shameful

Just Shameful !!!!


I know it’s just shameful to be sitting in the dark on Halloween night, with my porch light off while all the children in the neighborhood are dressed up in their adorable costumes. Ringing door bells and trying to hit as many houses as they can before their parents have had enough and call it a night. Okay, I do feel awful, and the only excuse I can come up with is I have been so busy all week and I kept putting off the horrible trip to Wal Mart to stand in line for what seems an eternity just for candy. I promise, I will make up for it next Halloween.

I so enjoyed all of your costume stories and they did make me laugh. I especially liked Martha’s story and did get quite a laugh out of it. I just envisioned her in her orange pumpkin costume year after year. So Martha you have won the rug. I want to thank all of you so much for posting on my blog, I do love to hear from all of you.

Be sure to stop by again, as you never know what I will be giving away next.


Happy Halloween!

Trick or Treat, Halloween Giveaway...

Halloween Giveaway

With Halloween right around the corner, we thought it would be fun to reflect back on one of your worst costumes. I think there was nothing worse then having your mother purchase your costume without you being present. What your mother thought would be a really cute costume often times turned out to be the most embarrassing, especially when your ten. While all the other kids had the cool trendy costumes, you were left with a Casper the Ghost costume that was made entirely out of plastic, with the full on plastic mask that only made your face sweat. We all wanted to be either the princess or the bride.

Of course there were some really ingenious costumes like the kid that was wrapped entirely in tin foil, who went as a leftover. Or the girl who spray painted her hair pink and tied a pink tennis shoe to her head. When asked repeatedly what she was supposed to be she said "she was a piece of bubble gum stuck to the bottom of a tennis shoe.

We have all been there. So to make this really interesting we thought it would be fun for all of you to share your worst or most embarrassing costume. To really give you incentive to share your worst costume we decided to give out a little Trick or Treat. Our treat will be our newest rug design. So jump right in and let all of us know. I think it will give all of us a great laugh. We will pick the winner of the most tragic costume on Halloween night.

I do hope all of you have a great week and do stay out of the Halloween candy!