merry christmas & happy everything!

(click to enlarge)

i'll say it.... i'm tired. i'm finishing up a few last orders from here and then stick a fork in me, i'm done. until the new year. i'm going to sew (yes, lori and julie, finally!). i'm going to read. i'm going to nap. i'm going to watch movies. i'm going to bake.

i'll leave you with our christmas card this year. click on it to enlarge and read the captions. it was fun to do. pixel's such a good sport. (ooh, and that chevron fabric in the background... it's going to be our new headboard.)

so until the new year.... merry christmas and happy everything! thanks for reading!

little brown pen

i took advantage of cyber deals black friday weekend. nope, not for christmas gifts for others... for myself. i ordered prints from little brown pen. they arrived in this package. love the sticker.

then there was this sheet. more packaging love.
then this. oh my goodness. i seriously want to frame this belly band. it is the deepest, darkest shade of green. and i don't even like green. it's not my favorite. i bought this set of photos to go in my guest bath. they would be the perfect wall art. but they're so beautiful... i want them in my office where i can see them daily.
this was the picture that sold me on the set. stunning hydrangeas.
but these do not disappoint.

and the photos are printed on a heavy cotton rag paper. so luxe. AND to top it off, i was poking around little brown pen's blog shortly after i got these and entered the contest she had going on. and i won!! real simple sponsored the giveaway. so it's a few goodies including something from little brown pen. i'm so excited...

just because

she hasn't made a blog appearance lately, here she is. looking very angelic by our tree.
she has not been very angelic the last 2 nights whimpering and whining in her crate during the night. steve and i are exhausted (as i'm sure she is but.... she gets to nap all day. we don't) as we've been up for several hours both nights trying to figure out what's wrong with her. normally she LOVES her crate at nighttime. runs in to it at bedtime without instruction. steve took her outside 5 (yes, 5) times in the middle of the night in a torrential downpour for potty breaks the other night when her whimpering woke us up.

speaking of our tree.... here he is. yes, it's a "he" because he's 9 feet tall. i tried my best to get a good photo of the tree but it wasn't happening. mainly because there's been no natural sunlight in the house for, oh, the last 3 weeks. so you're getting the indoor shot with flash. trust me, he looks better at night with his lights on. (and thanks to my mother-in-law, there's actually some presents now under the tree since i took this photo!)
i searched high and low for wide ribbon to pull off this effect. but could not find any that i liked. i think it would be the finishing touch on our tree.

image via here

goofballs.

and some of my favorite ornaments. this one from here. i ordered some coasters from her shop and this flew along in the package. love it!
crate and barrel.
got this one at craft show. love it too.

run, don't walk

to your nearest computer. there's still time to order for christmas. and there's some new stuff in the shop. personalized notecards. and cabana striped cards with graphics. stuff your friends would love. or you would love. (you can do like i do.... and buy for yourself at christmas time because the bargains are so good.)and there's a new design in the calling cards. faux bois. woodgrain. i made it myself.
you can find it here.

i'm having an affair

with my new paper cutter and my husband totally approves. in fact, he welcomed him into our home. he ordered him. he set him up. he showed me how to use him. and showed me what NOT to do so i don't lose a finger.

his name's martin. he's dark, with hints of silver. and he works very hard, so i don't have to.

he's only been here 3 days. but already he's cut my production time by 75%. now maybe i can go back to having a social life. or at least go back to the gym in the evenings instead of cutting paper.

(and yes, he's sitting on the dining room table. he'll be there until we find a home for him in my office, in the background in the top photo).

tis the season

i wanted to show you our xmas tree shopping trip and then the decorated tree which we finished last night. (is it really ever finished, i think i need some ribbon on it). but i'm too tired to upload those photos because i'm in the throes of photocard mania. i've been working all day printing tons of these puppies. like this one above that i printed for my sister yesterday. she hasn't even seen the final product yet. it's in the mail to her as you read. i took those photos of her and her husband when they were here this september. i made a little collage. and added some text.

i don't even have my cards done. our first photo shoot attempt didn't pan out. here's steve prepping pixel for it. (hopefully i haven't spoiled it, but i find it soooo funny). and it wasn't the subject matter that ruined the shoot. she did great. i had the wrong backdrop. round 2 later this week.

it can't be...

december 1! how does it happen? that means there's only a little over 3 weeks until christmas. i'm not ready. we got our tree last friday. it's still bare of ornaments. we were going to decorate it last night and then got sidetrack by this...

an order for 800 hang tags that must ship tomorrow. steve put eyelets in 500 of them last night. bless him... he's a trooper. i'm sure it wasn't fun as he was on a work conference call at the same time.

i'll be back soon with pictures of our tree. and our tree shopping. i love christmas tree shopping.

so cute!

my customers have the best, cutest ideas! customer kate is starting a book club. she named her bookclub "eat, drink and read books!"

i recently supplied my shop with bookmarks. kate asked if i could put her book club name on the bookmarks to kick-start their club. of course! what a fantastic idea. and kate generously said i could use the saying on my bookmarks. they'll be in the shop soon.

SALE!!!

go here to take advantage.

happy turkey day!

***

what are your plans for thanksgiving? one of these years, my table will look like the above for thanksgiving. not this year. steve and i are eating with friends. should be a large crowd with lots of food. i'm looking forward to it, although a little bummed that i won't have thanksgiving meal leftovers... they are the best! steve promised that we'll cook turkey and all the fixins for christmas this year.

on sunday we're going to see the seahawks play the kansas city chiefs with steve's co-workers. i've never been to a pro football game. i'm thankful we'll be in a box suite since the temps are hovering in the low 30s here.

hopefully there will also be time for naps, movies, and reading. no shopping though.... you won't catch me anywhere near a store the weekend after thanksgiving.

have a great long weekend! pam

snow!

view out the back. um... do you think it's time i bring in the sofa mattress?? (bottom right above)

and the view out my office window.
they (you know.... them) say it's going to be one of the worst winters in 50+ years here in the pacific northwest. could this be an indicator. a white thanksgiving.

'tis the season of giving

lovely sarah, of flourish design and style, is hosting a giveaway of pixelimpress holiday goods! head over there to enter. and be sure to stay awhile and check out her blog. it's quite lovely also. thanks sarah!

erika, of urban grace, had a giveaway every day this past week. go here , here ,here, here and here to enter all of them. there's still time. (ok, did you ever type a word so many times that it no longer looks like it's spelled correctly? i just looked up 'here').

and the ultimate giveaway of all giveaways by the queen of giveaways, which i will watch today with envy...

i'm. in. love.

get them here.

tonight

i know where i'll be at 6pm* tonight. plastered to the sofa watching this. it's sure to be fun and educational... think thanksgiving recipes.

*that's 6pm pacific time.

(image from the pioneer woman blog)

i have an event

tomorrow. it's the only one i'm doing this holiday season. 50 moms will gather here for an overnight stay. the event is organized by hiptravelmama. they'll have a wonderful dinner, a travel lecture, spa treatments and shopping. i'm part of the shopping. i'm offering all this.
i've spent the last week making some new stuff for the shop. they'll see it first. globe notecards.
atomizer notecards. i love these!
hello and thank you notecards.
and then sunday i'm treating myself to something here.

hope you have a good weekend!

free shipping!

at the shop until november 15th! just order your items, don't pay, let me know you read about it here, and i'll send you a revised invoice without shipping to pay.

you can get cool stuff. like these octopus cards, which are flying off the shelf. flying.

or how about some gift tags to fancy up your holiday packages.
these

remind me of this, which i just saw for the 2nd time in blogland, over at pinkwallpaper.

or, let me print your christmas card this year.
so, stop on by!

she was needy

this morning. needing hugs, needing petting, needing her chest scratched. which she loves.
which brought on a yawn.then there was paw shaking.then patting the tiny heiney.
then, after 10 minutes of it's-all-about-pixel-time, interest in something else.just our morning ritual.