Christmas Cards from Minted

The red cups are back.  Uh oh.  That means it is that time of year again!  I know people out there get annoyed that Christmas is in stores the literal second Halloween is over, but I love it.  I love everything about Christmas, so if I can enjoy it a bit longer, I will! 

With this season means annual photos with your family photographer or getting your Christmas cards ready.  I love getting actual mail (you know, the good ole days) and seeing all the beautiful cards our friends & family pick out.  We are taking our family photos next week, so I always start to scout out the perfect Christmas cards.

One of my go-to places for beautiful cards is Minted.com!  One of the things I love about Minted is that they have so many individual designers to fit all tastes and the quality is superb.  Plus I love that you can completely customize your favorite design. I used Minted for Drew's 3rd birthday last year...

I thought I'd take a moment to share some of my favorite Christmas cards that I have my eye on!

I have to admit, I'm a total sucker for handwriting or any type of scripted font.  That is where my eye goes every time.  My style generally tends to be pretty simple when it comes to the card, as I like our photo to stand out. 

I love the simplicity of both of these designs!  I prefer cards that say Merry Christmas instead of Happy Holidays.

 

I am also completely biased to any Christmas card that says "Joy".  It's my middle name, and my mom had started an ornament collection for me from a young age of all "Joy" ornaments, so I'm a bit partial.  Here are my favorites:

 

I do like Noel too....

And here are my other favorites that I am keeping in my "Favorites" folder!

 

 

 

 

When making my decision, I am so visual, so I end up uploading my favorite family photos and trying them out in my favorite designs to see which one looks the best.  A big part has to do with the color schemes in our pictures and what options each card has. 

If photo cards aren't your thing, they have beautiful non-photo options as well.  Head on over to Minted today and check out all their beautiful designs and check back soon to see which one I chose!

Moose Party on Shop Sweet Lulu

So excited that Stevie & Jessie over at Shop Sweet Lulu are once again posting one of my parties.  You all know Lulu is my go-to spot for party supplies!   Check out Micah's If You Give A Moose A Muffin Party here! 

Here are a few more funny pictures from the party that I didn't post before...

 Here's Drew giving Moose a little smooch.

 Here is the moment when Drew hi-jacked Micah's wish!  She blew out his candle and we had a re-do!

 Here's the birthday boy with his favorite present.

 The favor station. 

 Ghost peeps on sticks (Moose wants to be a ghost for Halloween)!

 Some finished works of art!

 My dad and Mr. Moose!

 Lots and lots of fun on the jumpy! 

Happy Friday-Eve!

DOMINO's back!

Hi friends! I have to say, it was a sad, sad day a few years ago when Domino Magazine made the announcement that they would stop publishing their magazine. That was one of those magazines that I got giddy looking forward to it arriving in my mailbox every month. I know I am not the only one. Before there was ever Pinterest, I would tear out pages and pages of Domino and safe in my "inspiration" file folders (see a few examples below). Yes, I have their book, but I still missed the magazine. Matchbook (p.s. it's fab) the online magazine, is the closest thing I have gotten to my Domino fix since.

Many of you know that I took huge inspiration for Drew's nursery from a room I once saw in Domino. This was long before I was ever pregnant with Micah. Here is the actual page:

I had been a "fan" of Domino on Facebook, and one day recently I was checking FB, and I saw their post that they would be coming out with a special edition issue. I was SO excited. Here is their Facebook page and if you're on Twitter, their handle is @DominoMag. I found mine on Saturday at Target.

I highly recommend you grab one for yourself, if only just for the resources in the back! It gives great suggestions on some easy changes for big impact updates for your home. I was most excited to see they are planning a September issue as well! Yippee! Let me know if you got your Domino fix too!

Pasadena Flea Market

This past weekend, I went up to the Pasadena flea market with my girlfriends Amanda and Kerri. Believe it or not, it was my first time!

Back in September we chicas stumbled upon the Santa Monica flea market, which is miniature in comparison to the almost too overwhelming Pasadena one. This was my big score in Santa Monica...vintage Reader's Digests covered in these fabulous patterns. $1 each!!!! I also picked up a bunch of doilies for Christmas projects.
We quickly realized that Pasadena's flea market was much more pricey and vendors weren't too willing to negotiate. We got there a little after it opened. As we were going in, we spotted Lara Spencer from Access Hollywood. She was there filming a show for HGTV. I was hoping we'd run into Tori Spelling!!!

This picture below was inspiring to Amanda & I for a Christmas project. All of those flowers were made from yarn. Cute, huh?

Here is miss Kerri on a funky chair.

I loved this idea of a big mirror with a planter at the bottom for outside our front porch. I have this miserable little planter to the left of our front door that we cannot get anything to grow in. This looked like a fun solution!

Amanda & I both scored some lamps...Here is how Amanda's lamp looks in her daughter Mia's room!
I am still mourning two missed purchases. One was a cat figurine and one was a faux bamboo table from an awesome seller where I got my lamp from. Here we are...

We had a lovely lunch on Colorado in Old Pasadena. We shopped some more....Paper Source (Kerri had never been, can you believe it?), J.Crew, Kate Spade and a few others. Can't wait until our next trip up!

Dye Dipped Flower Pots

Obsessing over this post at Design*Sponge today! I love creative ways to re-invent table arrangements. This definitely sounds like a project in my near future! What a cute idea for an Easter table, huh?

Look how cool each pot looks...each a little different, but giving off a chic tie-dye look. Who knew? They used natural materials as their dye...I'm thinking that seems a little too much for me, so I'll be going the store-bought dye route. For the full post of instructions go here.

This reminds me of the amazing fabric posted on one of my favorite blogs, Coco + Kelley a few weeks ago seen here and here.

More fabrics like this amazing one can be found at Thai Silks. You have been warned...there is amazing fabric at this shop...I've got about 6 prints I have my eyes on!

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! If anyone has done any recent tie-dye projects, email me!

Made By Girl LOVE!

Happy Friday! I am so stinkin' excited to share with you that some new pictures of Drew's room was posted by the ever-so-talented Jen Ramos at MadeByGirl today. Check out the post here

image via Made By Girl

There's little miss Drew, hanging with all her pals, including her new kitty blabla doll.

I had recently got the bug to start updating Drew's room a bit. I felt that the walls were still a little bare, so I got some great new pieces that I think really make her room look even better.

Above Drew's crib I added the famous LOVE picture from MadeByGirl. Please check out her shop here.

I moved my squirrel lady print from Berkley Illustration over her crib as well. I just love this squirrel print too much...I wanted to look at it more often! I also added the adorable "You are my sunshine" print from Jessica Shift. Check out her shop here. Lastly, I saw this fabric from Hawthorne Threads (where I get all my fabric) and just knew it had a place in Drew's room. I wrapped a small canvas and put it up. I love how it coordinates with the wallpaper giraffe.

As soon as I saw this print from Gus & Lula on Etsy, I knew I had to have it. I love all the different colors in it, which goes perfectly in Drew's room.

Here's a new shot of Drew's bookcase. Did you see the adorable mini telephone? It's pink polka-dots from PB kids...it actually works! I can just imagine Drew talking on it when she's older. Hilarious. I've also added an adorable watercolor card rendering of Darcy and Elizabeth that I got here. I'm still trying to find the right place for it. The mustard colored doile art I did.

For those of you who have been asking, our Etsy shop is not open yet. Still trying to create enough stock of the handmade wire doll beds. We'll have different colors and a few other items coming soon. I'll be sure to post when they are available!

If you have any questions about anything else in Drew's room, check out my blog post here. Also, if your a Facebooker, become a fan!!!! The re-design of Daisy Dreaming is coming very soon...sit tight! I can't wait to share with you all the new and exciting things happening!

Thanks again, Jen! Can't wait to see your new Cocoa & Hearts store!

xoxo

Easter Time, already???

Is it just me or is 2011 flying by? Easter was always one of my favorite holidays growing up. My mom is a super-talented writer and every year, we would get poems or riddles in our eggs that we had to solve in order to get our present! She retired the poems many years ago, but as a special request, I asked if Micah coulg get his first poem last year. Here it is:

CONUNDRUM FOR MICAH JAMESON: To be attempted by his father...

Will you be a Bronco or a Charger fan?

That is the question for you, little man!

Maybe to be safe, just answer "I don't know",

Or be a half-breed...a Bronc-er or a Charge-o!

Whatever the case, be wise as a fox,

But for now, we'll let you walk in your Boulder ________!

For those of you who couldn't figure it out (it's okay, Jason didn't get it either), the answer was Crocs! Isn't my mom talented? I keep telling her she needs to write a children's book one day. I can't wait to see what Drew's first poem will be this year (that is a hint, mother, if you're reading...)! Last year, we went to a sunrise Easter service on the beach...gotta love San Diego! It was beautiful and Micah had lots of fun digging in the sand. We had my family over for an early Easter dinner. Spring is an amazing time at the floral trade center. My brain goes into over-drive. In general, pastels aren't my cup of tea, but I really had fun with this palate. Check out the table... I used two varieties of tulips, anemones, ranunculus, sweet peas, and feverfew. It smelled amazing! I had some leftover fabric laying around that I turned into placemats and tied the napkins with the scraps. It was a very easy project that you could easily use wrapping paper or even wallpaper. The china is from my grandma's wedding! I also used little doilies as a runner. Feverfew is one of my all-time favorite flowers. Who doesn't like mini daisies? Anything miniature is cuter anyway. They remind of one of my favorite scenes from Emma, when she realizes she loves Mr. Knightly. Gwenyth is picking daisies in the field waiting for his return. When she gets he-loves-me-not, she calls them "a drab little flower". I was really into baking and decorating cupcakes last year. I made these Easter basket cupcakes for everyone to take home. I found the idea on Bakerella's website. Aren't they cute? I'm not sure what my decor will be this year. Heck, I don't even have a dining table right now...better get on that! Anyone have any ideas they want to share for their Easter table?

Dining Room

I have been wanting to re-decorate my dining room for a VERY long time. Ever since we moved in, I never really liked it. It was just too rustic for my taste. I have slowly but surely been selling our current furniture on CraigsList to try to make a dent in my budget.

A lot of people don't use their formal dining room...but we do. I always host Thanksgiving and all the other family get-togethers. Plus, everyone walks by this room (it is right off the entry) to get to the main living space. There is no hiding it.

There are a few design dilemmas I've had to work around. First are our 30 foot ceilings. Second is the little "nook" space that is in the wall where the sideboard/buffet should go. Lastly, from the moment we moved in I never liked the slate I chose to go around the fireplace

I decided that my design aesthetic for this room would be a combination of retro (60's/70's) mixed with modern touches. I have diligently been on Craigs List just about every day for the last 6 months trying to find the perfect wing back chairs and lamps....and yes, I found them! Oh and if you've never heard of Craigs Easy....it is a lifesaver! They need a little love, but they're going to be fab! More to come on those...

Here are some of the pieces I'm planning on getting:

West Elm rug, Anthropologie curtains, Mor (the most annoying commercials in the world, but, they have a big enough table for us) dining table, Anna Maria Horner fabric for accent chair

Our upholsterer comes on Saturday to pick up 9 chairs....yes, 9 chairs that he'll be re-upholstering for us. I'm going to be using my two wing back chairs from CL as my end chairs...I really want to upholster them in this beautiful raspberry color to bring some femininity to the space, but not sure I'm brave enough! May stick with a nice royal-navy blue to match the curtains. All the rest of the chairs are going to be cream.

More to come on the dining room!