I just got around to hanging the first piece of artwork at our new place. Yeah, we've been here for 3 months. I know. I'm totally in love with my calendar I bought from seesaw designs. It's pretty, functional & when the calendar is obsolete I can just tear off the calendar part off & frame the rest! I'm going for a grey/gold/tan/black color scheme in the living room, so it's the perfect addition to our space. I'm really excited for the new year. I've already started on a few of my resolutions for next year. Here are a few of mine:

• make the bed every day
• hang up artwork
• organize the house before Felix comes
• make a weekly dinner menu & stick to it
• eat more vegetables

What are yours?

Back in November at the Thrift-A-Thon, I found a fabulous handmade dress (that I neglected to share) for $2. It's super sweet, like cavities all over sweet. I fell in love with the miniature flocked red polka dots, the hand-smocked yoke and the puffy, uber girly sleeves, but I wasn't a fan of the length. Nope. It's too short for me to wear alone as a dress, but too long to pass as a shirt. In 20 minutes I remedied the situation & spent virtually nothing on the update. Here's the before: See how huge it makes me look? Not flattering in the least. Of course, this smock wasn't likely made for a pregnant woman. My best guess is that a sweet mother made it for her 12 year old daughter way back when metal-toothed zippers were what you could buy at the fabric store, not just the cool thing to use. Here's the after: I trimmed about 4 inches off the bottom, hemmed it & rouched the sides for a more flattering fit. I used the same technique here as I did in my sweetheart ballet tee tutorial. Fortunately the fix was incredibly easy and took hardly any time. I like how it makes my growing bump look when belted. I imagine if belted at the true waist, this top would look great even without a baby bump. We'll just have to see. Less than 6 more weeks left to go! Visit my fashion section to see the whole outfit.

• top: thrifted refashion, $2
• belt: thrifted, $2
• jeans: Forever 21, $15
• boots: thrifted, $3

TOTAL: $22

I can't believe Altitude Design Summit is less than a month away! Sheesh, how time flies. I am beyond thrilled to be teaching a calligraphy class at ALT!! The class has limited space, so I'm allowing for conference attendees to reserve a spot for the class in advance. Space is limited, so this is how it's going to work. The first 20 people to CONTACT ME & let me know they'd like to attend the class will get a reservation. This guarantees you a spot in the class; however, if you are more than 5 minutes late to the class, your spot will be up for grabs. Again, this is for conference attendees only. Can't wait to see you next month!

• scarf: hand-me-down
• jacket: ModBod, c/o ModBod
• top: Target, $12
• belt: hand-me-down
• leggings: Target $3
• shoes: H&M, $10

TOTAL: $25

Like I mentioned earlier, I didn't make many gifts this year. I wanted to keep my stress low, so I only made two gifts I gave this year: return address stamps. My mom put a bug in my brain back in september when she showed me a very beautifully designed wedding invitation with an equally pretty return address stamp on the envelope. It's been plaguing me for some time now and I thought that perhaps they'd come in handy with my mom's card-sending & my sister-in-law's wedding that's just around the corner. For these stamps I hand calligraphed (using my wacom tablet & illustrator) the last name & then typed out the address. As you can see I've photoshopped the bulk of their addresses for privacy reasons. The stamps turned out better than I imagined! I'm a little sad I didn't have these stamps to give to my mom & mother-in-law on Christmas, but what do you do when you submit the artwork 30 minutes after the deadline? Not much. I hope they get good use out of their stamps!

This Christmas was awesome. There were plenty of 3+ hour naps, delicious food & no stress anywhere. I had a lot of fun hanging out with my family before we left for Phoenix. We got together & chatted, made caramels & ate delicious hot soup. It was perfect. The next day we woke up super early (5 am - too early for me, sleeping in for my sisters) & took off for Phoenix. Penelope has never been so well behaved on a flight. EVER. She was a gem. We had a great time partying with Chris's family. We ate delicious ribs, home made clam chowder & more treats than anyone could possibly imagine. My mother-in-law's parents sent the family some farm-fresh hand-dipped chocolate covered hazelnuts that were pure heaven. I admit I ate more than my fair share. YUM! I gained 4 pounds over the 5 days we were there, by the way.

Christmas was filled with all sorts of surprises. Penelope got a bunch of fun toys, I got an indoor garden (for growing weeds like basil, spinach, cilantro, etc) and a few other goodies, but best of all was the gift from Chris. About a week ago we were talking about gift giving & I decided to ask him point blank if he'd picked me up a present yet. NOPE. I hadn't bought him anything either, so we decided that exchanging love letters would be the perfect way to celebrate Christmas. And it was. Chris totally one-upped me by writing me a love song & playing it on the guitar. It was, hands down, the BEST gift I got this year & perhaps of all-time. I have the best husband ever. Speaking of music, my sisters-in-law made their 3rd annual lip-synch video! It's hilarious as usual. Penelope makes her debut in this video & cracks me up the whole time. I can't help but giggle how she can't keep her finger out of her nose; she loves digging around in there.

Chris, Penelope & I are in fabulous Phoenix the rest of this week enjoying the warm rain, 65º breeze & company of Chris's family. It has been wonderful. I'm really looking forward to seeing the excitement on Penelope's face when she opens her presents on Christmas. She's really taken to opening presents. Speaking of Presents. Check out FOR THE LOVE for a couple of my simple, cheap tips on making your holiday gifts look extra special. Hope y'all have a Merry Christmas & happy holidays!

All of my Christmas gifts are tied up with string & ready to give! All save the three that are en route & won't make it to our house in time for our 7am flight tomorrow morning. That's okay. I'm not stressing about anything this year. It could be because I'm medicated, or that I'm keeping things simple this year. I didn't go to great lengths to handmake all of my gifts this year as I've done in the past; that was stressful. But I have managed to make a couple (I'll share with you after Christmas) and keep holiday spending to a minimum. To make my gifts a little more special, I took some extra time to wrap each one with care & love. I'm totally digging the black, tan, gold, grey, white color scheme that I've got going on, I had to share a couple of pics with you. Tomorrow(Wednesday) I'll be over at For The Love sharing tips on what I did & the sources & cost of wrapping these gifts, so you'll have to make sure to stop by & check it out. I did want to give you a little sneak peek & a little shout out here to whet your appetite. I want to give We R Memory Keepers a little shout out for the black glitter paper on the gift tags. They were generous to give me a bunch of glitter flocked paper a while back, but I've been hesitant to use it all up. I thought using it for the gift tags would be the perfect little bling touch to my holiday wrappings! I found this black velvet & white wallpaper in my stash (I love!) that seemed so perfect with the combo of papers I've been using. AND, I found some rustic hand-dyed paper that I made back in my college bookbinding days. It makes for the perfect manly wrapping for Christmas. I hope y'all have the happiest of holidays this season filled with lots of loved ones, good food & safe travel!

Penelope is growing like a weed these days! Her pants & shirts are shrinking before our eyes & her feet have finally decided to grow. Not that I'm complaining. She fit in the same sneakers for a year. That's pretty remarkable for a toddler, in my opinion. She's grown out of her Sunday shoes, so I've been on the hunt for a replacement. Her old shoes were sweet silver glittery slippers from Payless. I liked them a lot, but she grew out of them quickly & Pen got marker on the inside of them, therefore staining every single pair of socks she ever wore a bright magenta. I found these lovelies a few weeks ago & gladly snatched them up for $2. They're a little scuffed in the toe, but in otherwise perfect condition. They're gold leather Kenneth Cole Reaction shoes. Kenneth Cole Reaction for toddlers? Who would've thought? They're great & Pen loves to wear them, too. What kinds of finds have you scored lately? I really do love it when you share. Please leave links in the comments!

This post is brought to you by Knock Knock

Knock Knock just recently sent me a few goodies (one I'll be giving to a certain someone for Christmas) & I'm smitten. I love their quirky fun products. This site offers only the best designed paper products & accessories and everything is at an affordable price. You can stock up on stocking stuffers for everyone on your shopping list without breaking the bank. You can find all sorts of cool stocking stuffers from fill-in-the-blank lists(isn't the fashion citation hilarious?!), sticky notes, self-inking stamps & mugs! Many of the items are on the snarky/hilarious side. Also, Knock Knock has great products for keeping new year's resolutions. My resolution for this coming year is to be more organized with meals & meal planning. Often times I find myself at the grocery store just grabbing stuff off the shelves without a real plan in mind. Then most nights we eat peanut butter sandwiches or cheese & crackers for dinner. LAME-O. I'm in love with the list/calendars that Knock Knock gave me. I really think they'll help me with my food goals.

I couldn't help but be a tad jealous of Penelope & her mittens because that cashmere is SO soft & so warm. Thankfully, I had quite a bit of orange cashmere left over from making her little mittens. In fact, I had two sleeves left. So, I made Opera mittens with the leftovers (and I made a beanie for Chris). They're super long. I can scrunch them up or I can pull them all the way up to my elbows. Did I mention how HOT they are? Penelope & I had a lot of fun playing outside in the fresh snow this morning & neither of us came inside with cold hands. It made our outside adventure incredibly more fun. I'm sure I could've made gloves, but as of late I've been completely converted to mittens. I got fur-lined mittens a couple months ago courtesy of DownEast Outfitters and have loved using them. Now I have two pairs of fabulous mittens, just in case I lose (or misplace) one pair. Which is likely with my scattered mom-brain. Click the button below to download the tutorial!

Have you seen the Bloggers Give Back auction info circling the web? If not, here's a quick bit about it. There's a family whose house burned down in the thick of the Holidays & they've been left with nothing. In an effort to ease their burden, three lovely ladies have rallied around the blogging community to get vendors to donate goods for an auction. Today (for the next 8 hours to be exact), the auction is open for bidding. You can bid on awesome items from the likes of Freshly Picked, Alice Lane, Cupcake Chic, EmersonMade, IS•LY and so many others. All of the money will go towards the Gubler family. Read about the Gubler family here. Click here to bid for a hand-calligraphed name plate ($32 value). Heck, I'll even throw in free expedited shipping so you receive it just in time for Christmas. Best of luck!

• scarf: Lands' End, c/o Lands' End
• top: DownEast Basics, $3
• belt: hand-me-down
• jeggings: Walmart, $12
• boots: Bass Outlet, gift

TOTAL: $15

Back in October I felted a giant cashmere sweater in the hopes to make Penelope some warm mittens that would a) keep her warm & b) not come off easily. I failed epically. Penelope did not like them one bit. I was lucky to get the photo with her wearing the gloves even though she was grimacing. I thought that perhaps her hatred for them was because they were a tad too big. They fit her just fine in the thumbs, but they were much too large in the wrist & fingers. It's taken me nearly 2 months to fix them. It was sort of a gamble to make them smaller in the hopes that she'd actually use them, but a gamble I was willing to make. I drafted up a new pattern (based on those $1 toddler gloves at Target) and fixed them in about 15 minutes. The fix was a GIANT success! She loves putting them on & keeping them on! I'm thrilled to say the least. If you'd like to make the toddler in your life a pair of felted or fleece mittens this year for Christmas, I've made my tutorial & pattern available for download! Just click the download button below.

This tutorial is free for personal use and should not be distributed without my consent. If you would like to this for commercial purposes, please email me. Thanks!

I have rad grandparents. Last Friday afternoon, my grandpa on my dad's side rode his trike to my house for a quick visit. I always enjoy his visits. He's full of all sorts of great stories & advice. Well, last Friday, he gave Chris & me a Christmas present that I will always treasure: his unsolicited advice in illustrated book form. I quickly flipped through it & couldn't help but smile from ear to ear. I couldn't wait to devour all of his advice & check out all of his illustrations. The book only took me a few minutes to read; each page was filled with loads of love & advice that I could definitely heed. I definitely watch way too much TV. What's the best homemade gift you've ever received?

Last year I had the time of my life attending Altitude Design Summit, a conference geared towards design-minded bloggers. I met my blogging icons & left the conference feeling so inspired to do more. When it came time to buying tickets for this year, I didn't know if I'd make it or not. My original due date was January 31, just 8 days after Alt. Penelope was 8 days early, so I had all sorts of terrible nightmares about my water breaking while introducing myself to well-regarded bloggers. Thankfully, the doctors felt like my real due date was more likely February 20th. *sigh!* Of course everyone thinks I'm completely bonkers for being so elated for the date change, but Alt Summit aside, I don't think I'd be ready for the arrival of this little one in just over a month! Well, I'm really excited to be not only attending Alt this year, but participating as well!! I'm going to be teaching a hands-on workshop all about Calligraphy! It's going to be awesome. If you're planning on attending the conference, take my class! The class will be held only once & is available on first-come first-served basis. There'll likely be about 25 +/- slots for the class, so if you are attending, you'll want to get to my class early to secure a spot! Can't wait!

As you may know I started a fashion section (aka tumblr) recently. Here are a few of my recent favorites: Total outfit cost: $20 Total outfit cost: $27 Total outfit cost: $18.50 I'm definitely having a lot more fun dressing my baby bump this time around. When I was pregnant with Penelope, I pretty much just wore what a knocked up 14 year old would wear: ill-fitting t-shirts under a little girl's magenta jersey jumper & leggings. Gosh, I was practically considered a knocked up 14 year old, because I was 22 and pregnant in the Bay Area, where hardly anyone has babies under 35. For more of my non-maternity, maternity outfits, check out my tumblr, istilllovefashion.tumblr.com, or just click on the fashion link on the nav bar found at the top of the blog.

I just got back the Christmas cards I ordered through Tiny Prints, and they turned out beautifully. I just love the thick paper & matte printing. It feels so smooth to the touch! I don't much care for glossy printing, because it feels like nails on a chalkboard in my personal opinion. I'm a big texture snob. I know. Like I mentioned before, it was really nice not to have to think about the design of the Christmas card. However, I did want to personalize my card a bit. Here's what I did: First, I upgraded my Tiny Prints order to send me silver envelopes. Silver envelopes are much more fun to send than white ones. Second, I hand-addressed each envelope using my fancy pants calligraphy. In order to not confuse any postal workers, I made sure the address part was very clearly written in all caps. Third, I designed a little blurb including some random tidbits about our family over the last year. I printed them on Avery repositionable shipping labels (courtesy of Avery) & stuck them to the back of each card. I made this fairly simple since I didn't want to spend a whole lot of time designing the thing, but looking back, I sorta wish I had included a decorative border in the design. Meh. I'm over it.

All addresses pictured are fake, btw.

Fourth, Instead of licking or using a damp cloth to seal each envelope, I designed a little flourish and printed it on Avery clear address labels (courtesy of Avery). I was very much inspired by the decorative packing tape offered at Tapeswell (isn't it pretty?). I could've ordered a roll (or twelve) of their tape, but I already had the clear labels on hand so I went that direction instead. What do you think? I feel pretty excited to send these Holiday greetings off to friends & family. While someone out there might possibly be sending a card with the same design, I feel like it's totally different because of these little details. Would you use address labels to seal your envelopes? Click on the button below to download the artwork! If you're struggling with getting it all to line up, click here for just the swirl. This printable is free for personal use and should not be distributed without my consent. If you would like to this for commercial purposes, please email me. Thanks!

• cardigan: Ann Taylor Loft, gift
• top: DownEast Basics, c/o DownEast Basics
• belt: thrifted $2
• jeggings: H&M, $15
• shoes: thrifted, $3

TOTAL: $20

I'm starting to redecorate the living room. It's coming along in some places, but I'm still at a loss for what to do. First on my priority list has been to recover all of my pillows. They're all mis-matched in a not-good way & some of them I covered in fabric that does not wear well. A couple weeks ago when I finished the butterfly chair, I had a little extra sewing motivation left over, so I used that to make this pillow. I've been inspired by stripes & textures recently, so I thought I'd make textured stripes in my fabric. I hap-hazardly made a ton of pintucks going from one end of the fabric to the other. I wasn't too much concerned about each line being parallel or equadistant each other, I just made sure all of my seams were the same size. I really like the organic touch the hap-hazard approach looks!! I think I may have to repeat this technique in another fabric for another pillow. Or maybe a quilt? Oh geez. Typically I just sew an envelope pillow, so I don't have to fuss with zippers. A lot of that had to do with the fact that I couldn't find my zipper foot anywhere. BUT!!! I found it while organizing my studio! hooray! I used a long metal zipper, one that I found while wandering the fabric shops of New York with Susan. I love these zippers, and I love the way they look exposed on the back of the pillow. I have to admit, I saw Susan use similar technique on her pillows at the Bijou Market before Thanksgiving & wanted to copy it, although I did mine on a slight diagonal. I thought putting the zipper in on the diagonal would be super tough, but it wasn't! It was just about the same as putting it in straight. The only drawback to this pillow is the zipper. While it looks super rad, We can't really have it on our new couch, because it tends to scratch the leather. So, I either have to place it on the couch zipper side out, or put it on one of the chairs. Meh. Oh well. BTW, we got a new couch! OH. MY. GOSH. It's like sitting on a supple leather cloud. We love it. It feels so nice to sit on it with my aching pregnant body.

• necklace: handmade
• top: Old Navy, gift
• belt: thrifted, $1
• jeggings: Walmart, $12
• moccasins: thrifted $3

TOTAL: $16

Last Saturday was SO much fun! I truly couldn't wipe the giant smile off my face all weekend. On top of being surrounded by a fun, sassy group of women, I found some FABULOUS stuff. I thought I'd share my spoils with you: I've been on the look out for sweet baby boy clothes as of late & just about died when I saw this U.S. Polo association sport jacket for $1. I also found a sweet $1 sailor romper for Felix AND a $1 hand knit sweater. I'm thinking the sweater was probably meant for a girl, but I'm totally cool with that. The bold blue & green sort of says "androgynous" to me. I found 3 (one's not pictured, cause Pen's wearing it right now) hand-made thermal tees for $6 total. I can tell they're handmade, but whoever made them surely did an awesome job! I love these sweet little prints. I found the raddest gaudy blue & gold leather belt for $1 for me. I can't wait to wear it. I know it'll look so much better on me when I actually have a waist again, but for now, I'm totally going to sport it above my growing bump. I've worn these leather booties every day since Saturday. I love, love them! I especially like the urban/western vibe they give off. They're Nine West & I scored them for $5. Last but not least, I found a little $6 something for Chris. Chris just started a new job last week where the dress code is all white shirts all the time. White shirts can get a little boring, so I was particularly excited to find one that has a little flair to it. I'm digging the epaulets. They totally accentuate his big shoulder muscles. I surely wasn't the only one to score some fab finds. Sydney found 2 rad pairs of boots, Sarah found silver glittery keds (I'm so jealous) and Ashlee stepped out of her comfort zone & bought a skinny belt to go with her new tuxedo button-up. Of course those are all the things I can remember off the top of my head. Our little thrifting excursion was such a success, I'm definitely going to do it again. However, I think next time I'll be a little more organized with the first meet-up. We all kind of wandered the aisles of D.I. asking random women if they were part of the Thrift-a-thon, because no one person knew everyone. So, have you found any good finds recently? Leave your links in the comments!

• 
• cardigan: Ann Taylor Loft, gift
• top: H&M, $10
• bow: part of an old Forever 21 shirt
• jeggings: Walmart, $12
• moccasins: thrifted, $3

TOTAL: $25

It's the time of year when my sisters (and perhaps my mom) and I get together & make caramels & dip pretzels for all of our friends. I look forward to this get-together every year. There's something about being with the women I love most & chatting away in the hot kitchen that I just love. Do you have any Christmas/holiday traditions like that? Well, I'm very excited to share with you this year's (the 4th annual!) Christmas candy box. This year's is a two-fer. I've included one with "Happy Holidays" and one without. The one that says Happy Holidays measures about 4.25" x 5.25" x 1". The plain one is about half the size. If you're not one to send sweet confections, this is the perfect container for small gifts like jewelery, gift cards, small journals, etc!

Here's a preview of the plain one.

I do hope you get around to using this printable! For your convenience I've also included links to previous years' candy boxes. Enjoy!!

More Christmas Candy Printables (By Year)

2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013

These printables are free for personal use and should not be distributed without my consent. If you would like to use any of them for commercial purposes, please email me. Thanks!

I don't usually post about these things, but I can't help but spread the word. You need to go to this warehouse sale if you're in the area. I plan on hitting this up soon. Last year I stocked up on the best paper, ribbons & wrapping supplies on the cheap. Seriously, I believe I spent $15 on $75 worth of stuff. Go! You won't be disappointed. It's the perfect place to find papers & fun embellishments for wrapping your Christmas gifts this year. BTW, speaking of Christmas, I'm finishing up the design for this year's Christmas Candy box. It should be available for download later today, you won't want to miss out on this one!

My sister-in-law is in industrial design school right now & has the coolest assignments. While we were in Phoenix I saw her work on a couple of them; one of which is the following hat. The assignment was for her to take something completely useless & turn it into something functional & desirable. She did a great job transforming a useless soccer ball into a cloche-style winter hat. A hat which I'm sure she's wearing right this minute (Brr! It's cold!). I love it! I think her facial expressions make the hat even radder. We were in Phoenix when Shelley made the hat, so it was a bit too warm to really wear it there. It's literally like a furnace on your head, which is perfect for the crazy cold weather we've been having here in SLC! I think this hat would look totally awesome if rocked with a giant puffy white coat with grey mittens, bright colored leggings & white fur-lined winter boots. Don't you agree?

• top: Forever 21 (mens), $3
• belt: thrifted, $1
• jeggings: H&M, $15
• boots: thrifted, $6

TOTAL: $25

Today I'm over at Say Yes to Hoboken sharing how I made a little Christmas centerpiece out of miniature raisin boxes & flocked twigs! Here's a little preview:

Click here to read the full post.

• top: Shade, $12
• cardigan: thrifted, $3
• belt: thrifted, $1
• jeggings: Walmart, $12
• boots: thrifted, $3

TOTAL: $31