Dear Lillie

Our trip to Georgia

noreply@blogger.com (Dear Lillie) — Fri, 25 May 2012 12:30:00 +0000

Earlier this week I shared the kitchen makeover photos from our trip to Georgia, now here are some of the "people" pictures. Meredith and Matt have a beautiful home, as you all saw on Monday, and a fabulous backyard that Lillie and Lola loved playing in. Jon's parents traveled down to visit while we were there, as well, and we had lots of fun playing, swimming, eating, and chasing after Meredith and Matt's dog, Winter, and a cat, Jadis. Lola adored Winter and was so sweet and gentle with her (and Winter was so gentle with Lola!) Lola would follow Winter around and kiss her and kept trying to crawl onto her little dog bed under the coffee table with her. It was the cutest thing!

Winter, "Coach", and Lola

Lillie and Lola "dancing"

Lola on her first ever carousel ride.

It's a super blurry picture but it was fun watching the girls ride around in the wheelbarrow.

Meredith and Matt are expecting their first baby this fall.

In this box were either pink or blue balloons. Lillie was convinced they were pink...

She was right!

Lillie climbing in the box to get the last of the balloons that were stuck.

Lola thought the box was fun too!

We had lots of yummy food there. Including marshmallows and pound cake...

that were dipped in the chocolate fountain.

Grammy and Lillie dipping in a marshmallow.

Mmmmm...chocolate covered strawberries.

Grammy, Lola and Coach

Matt is now deployed and we are praying for him and for Meredith and for all of the other amazing men and women out there and their families who make such incredible sacrifices.

Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone!

Blessed Be...

noreply@blogger.com (Dear Lillie) — Thu, 24 May 2012 12:30:00 +0000

Just popping in super quickly again to introduce our newest pillow cover. This one has the same laurel wreath as our 1776 pillow but inside it says "blessed be the name of the Lord.." from Psalm 113:2. They are now available in our shop!

I hope you are all having a fabulous Thursday!

Moving to Williamsburg?

noreply@blogger.com (Dear Lillie) — Wed, 23 May 2012 15:05:00 +0000

Thanks for the wonderful response to Meredith and Matt's kitchen makeover. I am a bit behind on asnwering all the questions but will get to them soon. We all have been quite under the weather here for quite a few days now so I am a bit behind on the posts I had planned for the rest of the week. I have a couple half written ones and several projects I am working on but nothing ready to go for today but I thought I would at least pop in with a little house tour with a mix of photos from this past year. Jon and I have decided to put our home on the market. We were torn on whether or not to mention it on the blog but decided last night to go ahead. So, if you know of anyone looking to move to Williamsburg who might be interested in an 1800 square foot townhome that is set on a quiet golf course please let us know. It has three bedrooms and two and a half baths along with a long narrow room that holds the dining room and living room, a kitchen, a family room, and a large screened in back porch along with a one car garage. We are about two minutes from shopping areas and about ten from Colonial Williamsburg. If you know of anyone who might be interested they can contact us at either jrholmes@wm.edu or dearlillie@hotmail.com

This is more or less what you first see when entering our home.

From there you enter our kitchen:

Our family room is off of the kitchen:

And off of the family room and kitchen is a screened in porch:

Then when you head upstairs the first room there are three bedrooms. Here's Lillie's:

Next is our guest bathroom:

And then there is little Lola's room:

And last here is our master bedroom and master bathroom:

Oh how I wish our master bathroom actually looked this tidy right now. =)

Paint Colors:

Kitchen and the back arched wall of dining room - Ashley Gray (Benjamin Moore)
Master Bedroom - Kendall Charcoal - (Benjamin Moore)
Master Bathroom - Stormy Monday (Benjamin Moore)
Guest Bedroom and Guest Bathroom - Pebble Beach (Benjamin Moore)
Lillie's Bedroom - London Fog (Benjamin Moore)
Nursery - Alexandria Beige (Benjamin Moore)

The only two I don't know are the living room and family room because those were here when we moved in. They are pretty close to a color in our last home called Cream Fleece by Benjamin Moore, though.

If you know of anyone who is looking to move to Williamsburg and would like more information on our home please feel free to e-mail us either at dearlillie@hotmail.com or jrholmes@wm.edu.

Thanks so much! I hope you all have a fabulous Wednesday!

Matt and Meredith's HUGE Kitchen Makeover

noreply@blogger.com (Dear Lillie) — Mon, 21 May 2012 12:30:00 +0000

About a week and a half ago we traveled to southern Georgia to visit Jon's sister Meredith and her husband, Matt who is a pilot in the Air Force. They moved here about a year ago when Matt got stationed here and bought a beautiful home in a quiet little neighborhood full of lovely houses all loaded with southern charm. I had seen before photos and some during photos but I had not seen their finished kitchen so I was blown away when we walked into this stunning space:

To get a full appreciation for what they did you need to see the befores:

One more before:

Now I will take you on a little tour through the space. (At the end of the post I will include all of the resource information).

When you walk through their side door from their driveway you go through this little hall. It is painted the same color as the kitchen so it feels kind of like an extension of the kitchen. A beautiful old mirror hangs on the wall.

Once you enter the kitchen you see a beautiful display of trays/serving pieces hung on the wall. They painted all of the trim and painted over the dated wallpaper. They also replaced the flooring.

Then you turn and see the gorgeous island transformation. They replaced the old fluorescent lighting with this new light/pot rack fixture. They painted the island and added a new gorgeous marble countertop and then added some large butcher block type cutting boards to give a nice little prep space and help protect the counters.

Here is the kitchen from the other side:

The basket at the end of the island makes for a great space to store baking pans and cooling racks (Lola spent about half her time there emptying everything out of that basket, the other half of her time was spent chasing their dog winter around and giving him kisses).

They moved the microwave to the cabinet out of site above the oven and filled the open space with a little "coffee station". I think that was one of Jon's favorite parts.

They removed the upper cabinet doors over to the back right to allow for open display space.

I love the dried wreath above the sink:

And in case you forgot here's another before and after:

Time for all of the resources:

Wall Color: Benjamin Moore's Chelsea Gray

Trim Color/Cabinet Color: Benjamin Moore's Simply White

Primer for the Wallpaper and all the Cherry Colored Trim: Kilz Latex Enamel Primer

Primer for all Wood Cabinetry: Zinsser Latex Primer

Pot Rack/Light Fixture: Lowe's

Kitchen Table and Chairs: Wal-Mart

Light Fixture over Kitchen Table: Original Fixture Spray Painted Oil Rubbed Bronze

New Knobs on Top Cabinets: from Hobby Lobby and then Spray Painted Oil Rubbed Bronze

New Pulls: from Target and Spray Painted Oil Rubbed Bronze

Bird Prints: from a 2011 Calendar by Cavallini and Co. - matted and framed
Wreath - Williams-Sonoma Fresh Bay Leaf from Christmas that dried beautifully
Butcher Block Cutting Boards - IKEA (just $10!!!)
Basket with Pans: Target
Teacups - Antiques

Stools - Target

And here is a little more of the technical type info that I know readers always like to know. Meredith, with help from her mom, Martha, painted all of the cabinetry and walls themselves. Meredith also put the subway tile backsplash up herself (for about $30!). By doing all of that themselves they were able to keep the cost of this makeover extremely reasonable. They didn't need to do any sanding to the cabinets but they did prime all of the cabinets and woodwork. Because the wallpaper was on so tight they simply primed over it and then painted! (We did this in our last home and I have to say it is a HUGE time-saver if you have really old paper that is STUCK on there!) After now seeing her kitchen in person I can say that you would have absolutely no idea that there was wallpaper under the paint. The primer really does an amazing job!

They had someone come and install the marble countertops and the slate floor (which are 20 by 20 squares) and were very lucky that they were able to come within two days of Meredith calling them. The entire project took about 11 days from start to finish! Can you believe that?

Pretty impressive, wouldn't you say?

Also, we have restocked our Love Is... Pillow Cover Sets!

I hope you all have a fabulous Monday!

Happy Sunday from Lola and Winter

noreply@blogger.com (Dear Lillie) — Sun, 20 May 2012 12:30:00 +0000

I just wanted to pop in and wish you all a happy Sunday! Here's a shot of little Lola giving kisses to Winter while we were in Georgia last week. Don't forget to check back for the huge kitchen makeover!

A Sneak Peek of a HUGE Makeover and Evy's Tree

noreply@blogger.com (Dear Lillie) — Sat, 19 May 2012 12:30:00 +0000

I just wanted to give you all a little sneak peek at a makeover that my sister-in-law, Meredith, and her husband, Matt, did, that I will be doing a full post on with tons and tons of pictures either Monday or Tuesday. Hopefully Monday, as long as I can get all of the editing done.

This is what their kitchen looked like when they moved in:

And if you look at the reflection in this hall mirror you can get a little taste of what the after is going to look like. It's absolutely amazing! They did an unbelievable job with it.

And here's a tiny peek of the island! I can't wait to show you all the whole thing!

I also wanted to introduce you all to our newest sponsor, Evy's Tree.

I have been friends with Amy since right before I started blogging! She makes the most fabulous hoodies and other fun items as well! I have a Grey Simple (shown below), Lillie owns a few and now Lola has a few too (one of her own and the rest passed on down as Lillie has outgrown a couple of hers). Head on over and check out her beautiful shop and blog!

Have a beautiful Saturday!

New Sign for Jamie's Kitchen

noreply@blogger.com (Dear Lillie) — Fri, 18 May 2012 12:30:00 +0000

Shortly after returning back to New Hampshire after sweet little Blake went home to be with Jesus, Jamie wrote this on the chalkboard in her kitchen with a photo of him below it. When I was home a few weeks ago she asked if I would write it on a board for her to put above her kitchen window. I rushed through it the last night I was there and I have to say I am not happy with how it turned out but maybe eventually I will have time to fix it.

Also we restocked the Elizabeth Table Runner this morning!

Jamie and Josh were down here recently for a super quick visit. When they arrived we realized Jamie was perfectly coordinated with Lillie and Lola. =) Unfortunately it was extremely hot and the sun was so bright so I only took a couple of pictures.

I hope you have a fabulous Friday!

1776

noreply@blogger.com (Dear Lillie) — Wed, 16 May 2012 12:30:00 +0000

I was ready to try something a little lighter in our living room now that summer is approaching. With Memorial Day, Flag Day and of course Fourth of July all coming up I thought it would be nice to do something with a subtle patriot theme that could also still be used year round and this is what I ended up with. I have a few other changes I want to make to our living room in the coming weeks so I am just going to show shots of the sofa with the new pillows for now. They are also now available in our shop.

My parents got this for Lola for her birthday and I am absolutely positively IN LOVE with it! Lola's still a little tentative around it - haha, but Lillie thinks it's fabulous! =) I love how it looks in front of the mantel. Hopefully I'll get some pictures of them on it soon! I actually have taken a few but they were blurry.

I hope you all have a fabulous Wednesday!

A 90's Hutch Makeover

noreply@blogger.com (Dear Lillie) — Mon, 14 May 2012 12:30:00 +0000

My parents are in the process of building a new house and while I was home a couple of weeks ago we thought we would get a head start on making over a few of their furniture pieces. We redid the hutch and their dining room table. I will show you them both in full once they are in their new house and I can properly take "after" photos. For now, though, I thought I would at least share some close up shots of the hutch. I didn't take any full after shots because everything that was in here had been packed up so it isn't really styled. I just grabbed a few basic dishes and tulips from the kitchen and put them behind one of the doors to at least get a feel for what it will look like in a couple more months once it is in it's new home!

To start with it was a typical 90's hutch. There was nothing wrong with it but it doesn't go with the feel that their new house has. I was not a fan of either the glass doors on the upper doors or the mirror so those were the first to go. Lucky for us the glass came out easy as could be. Then we took off the knobs and started painting. We used Benjamin Moore's Sea Haze for this and LOVE the color. For this piece we didn't need to sand or prime or anything. We just painted it on. Along with painting all the wood we also painted right over the mirror! We did two coats and then once it was dry took some sandpaper and sanded it down to give it more of a vintage look. We also rubbed some wax on it to help protect the top part of it. We had planned on replacing the handles and knobs but couldn't find what we were looking for. We decided just to spray paint them for the time being. I have to admit it turned out much better than anticipated so who knows if we will ever bother replacing them now! Then for the upper doors we used basic chicken wire. That might be my favorite part.

I have to say this is by far my favorite furniture project to date. My mom was very supportive of this project but I am pretty sure my dad was hyperventilating every moment of the process. I think now that it is finished he's okay with it - or at least I hope - haha! I can't wait to show you the whole piece along with the table once they are in the new house.

For now, though, here are some close-up shots (the paint color in the after shots doesn't really look the same in these photos as it does in real life, hopefully I can get better shots later this summer):

Also, the Reagan Ruffle pillow is back in stock!

I hope all of you had a wonderful Mother's Day yesterday and have a fabulous week ahead!

My mom and little Lola

The Horses

noreply@blogger.com (Dear Lillie) — Fri, 11 May 2012 12:30:00 +0000

It's funny, neither Jon nor I are really what would be considered "animal people", but both of our girls absolutely love, love, love them! Down in Colonial Williamsburg there are quite a few different pastures with horses. We visit them regularly and Lola is growing to love it as much as Lillie. It's so funny watching her hyperventilate and squeal and wave her arms wildly as we get closer to them. Lillie was like that too when she was a baby. They get so disappointed if we go and they aren't there. Fortunately there are quite a few different places in CW where we can go to find them - some of them just require a much longer walk. =) We often bring apples or carrots for them. Lillie normally ends up eating half of her apple before handing it over.

And here are some old pictures of Lillie with the horses.

In this one she's just a few months older than Lola is now.

And this was shortly before she turned two:

And this was last year just a couple of weeks before Lola was born.

I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Jamie's Dining Room and a New Table Runner

noreply@blogger.com (Dear Lillie) — Wed, 09 May 2012 12:30:00 +0000

I thought I would show you a few pictures of Jamie and Josh's dining room decorated for spring. They've made a couple of changes to it since I last showed it here on the blog decorated for Christmas. They painted the walls a slightly lighter color, Cotswald AF-150, by Benjamin Moore and Josh made a new farmhouse style tabletop, which I LOVE! They also just added some new curtains two days ago but I took these photos two weeks ago when I was up in NH so the new curtains are not in these pictures.

On the table is our newest addition to our shop, the Elizabeth Table Runner, which is now available!

I hope you all have a beautiful Wednesday!

Baby's Breath Pom Tutorial (And What NOT To Do)

noreply@blogger.com (Dear Lillie) — Tue, 08 May 2012 12:30:00 +0000

I had seen several beautiful examples of Baby's Breath Pom's on Pinterest and in magazines but I couldn't find a tutorial for one despite looking and looking. I figured it couldn't be hard so I thought I would give it a shot and take pictures as I went. I tried making part of one at home a few weeks before and used floral foam that I soaked and I was really happy with how it turned out. For Lola's party we just went with dry foam, figuring that would make them lighter and easier to hang - that was a big mistake. We made them on Wednesday and the party was going to be Saturday evening. By Friday they were already getting kind of dried up and shriveled looking. =( So, here is a step by step how we made them, but I would HIGHLY recommend getting the floral foam that you can soak if you are going to make them more than a day or two ahead of time. I have to say I was really disappointed in how they looked by the time of her party. They had looked so beautiful just a few days earlier!

So, with that little disclaimer, here is the step by step:

First we bought those long logs of floral foam at Michael's. They came in a pack of four. Going that route was WAY cheaper than buying spheres. One sphere alone was more expensive than the whole pack of the rectangular foam which we could get 8 and 12 of our own "home-made" spheres out of.

We took one of the rectangles and cut it into three square cubes.

Then we used a knife and kind of "whittled" away at the corners to make it more of a sphere. It doesn't need to be perfect, or anything close to perfect. You just need to get a vague shape.

Then we cut down the baby's breath into little bunches like this.

Now for the fun part, start poking them into the foam!

And before you get to far into it, tie some twine or raffia around your foam so that you can hang these.

And then you just keep on going. Once you have it all filled in cut some little bunches in different lengths that you can use to fill in spots to help make it into a nice looking circle/sphere. And that's it!
I really loved the light, airy look of these and plan on making more in the future - I will just make sure to go back to use the floral foam that can be soaked!

You can see more pictures from Lola's party here.

I hope you all have a wonderful Tuesday!

Our Growth Chart in Ivory

noreply@blogger.com (Dear Lillie) — Mon, 07 May 2012 12:30:00 +0000

I am so excited that we will be offering the first of our colored ruler growth charts tonight at 9PM EST. These are painted in a soft ivory color called Ballet White and the ruler marks and numbers are in black. We have quite a few other new products in the works that I can't wait to share with you once they are ready.

I hope you all have a wonderful Monday!

The Lily Voelkel Foundation

noreply@blogger.com (Dear Lillie) — Sun, 06 May 2012 12:30:00 +0000

Each month we donate a portion of each sale to a family or foundation. This month we want to share with you about a sweet little girl named Lily. Lily was born with several congenital defects and at just six days old she had her first major open heart surgery – a top tier level heart surgery consisting of several procedures. She is now 2 years old and in that time has spent 21 months of that in the hospital. She’s undergone about 25 different surgeries, struggled through many viruses and infections, continues to produce puzzling medical conditions – and – through it all, she continues to fight off the medical problems – continues to smile – continues to show motivation and desire to learn, and proves her strength and spirit time and time again. You can read her full story by clicking here. One of our amazing customers Kris, shared her story with us and my heart completely broke as I read what this amazing little girl has had to endure and what her family has been through. Right now she is suffering from a very bad infection and she has practically no immune system to fight it off. Please keep her and her precious family in your prayers. To learn more about this darling girl and CHARGE syndrome please visit her website, the Lily Voelkel Foundation.

And here are a few photos of the beautiful Voelkel Family taken by the talented Kris of Echo Lake Photography.

These first two shots were taken in the PICU! Can you believe that?

You can find more pictures of the Voelkel Family, here, here and here.

We hope you all have a blessed Sunday and that you will keep sweet little Lily in your prayers!

Lola at her Party

noreply@blogger.com (Dear Lillie) — Fri, 04 May 2012 12:30:00 +0000

Here are a bunch of pictures of the birthday girl shortly before her birthday party on Saturday. We didn't open her gifts or have cake until after dinner so it was dark then and I don't have any good pictures from that. These are all from earlier in the day while we were setting up and the lighting was better (except for the last one of her eating her cupcake). Anyway, here they are:

I made Lola a birthday crown similar to Lillie's on her birthday, although I attached Lola's to an elastic headband so that it would stay on her head seeing how her hair is still too fine to hold in bobby pins.

Lola and Mimi

Lola and Auntie Dana

Lola and Auntie Jamie

Lillie had a sleepover the night before and fell asleep before we even had the party - haha!

Me and my precious baby girl

Lola and Auntie Jamie

Lola and Auntie Dana

Lola and Mimi

Lola, Uncle Dutch and Auntie Jamie

Little Miss Lorelei eating her special cupcake!

I was planning on introducing our Family for the Month for May in this post but I am writing this at 3AM and I don't want to get any of my information incorrect so I will share it either tomorrow or at the start of next week. Also we have two new products we will be introducing next week that I am so excited about! I can't wait to share them once I get the photos edited!

Have a fabulous Friday!

All these photos were edited using actions from Annie at Paint the Moon. My new favorite is Pure Sugar Black and White from the Fresh Wonderland 2 Set.

Lola's First Birthday Party

noreply@blogger.com (Dear Lillie) — Wed, 02 May 2012 12:30:00 +0000

Our little Lola Wren turned one on April 22nd and this past Saturday we had a little party for her. The theme for this party was just kind of a simple mossy/earthy look and I knew I wanted to incorporate a little mini tree swing. I originally had hoped to have kind of a mid summer's night garden party under the tree swing at my parent's house. Unfortunately, as soon as I got to NH I realized the weather was most definitely not going to cooperate. And then I really didn't do as much for the party as I had planned and two of the projects I did do kind of went awry and didn't turn out like I wanted so instead we just kept it really simple. I am pretty sure Lola didn't care. =) Some day I would love to do a little something more with the whole tree swing theme. That was definitely my favorite little feature from this party.

We generally try to keep the cost of our parties under $50 so that means using a lot of items and accessories that we already own or making a lot of things. Thanks to the baby's breath poms I went a little over on this one. I will have a tutorial for those soon (with some tips on what not to do as well - these ones were dried up by the time of the party which was quite disappointing. I wish I had photographed them before - oh well, you learn something new every day, right?)

I also want to say a big thank you to my family for helping. Even though we kept it pretty simple it still was a lot of work making a little birdhouse, moss wreath, tissue paper flowers, tree swing, cake, cupcakes (two different kinds - poor Lola can't have dairy, wheat, soy or eggs so she had to have a "special" cupcake my mom made just for her), and other desserts and all of the setting up and then cleaning up. And thank you Jamie and Josh for hosting it at your home.

Anyway, here are the photos:

The straws and little candy cups are from The TomKat Studio.

The bird house as well as the nest and eggs on the side table and nest pillow are subtle nods to Lorelei Wren's middle name.

You can view some of our other parties here.

And here's a shot of the birthday girl. I will share a few more once I finish going through them.

Also, we have restocked our Elizabeth Placemats!

I hope you all have a fabulous Wednesday!

Free May Download and a Winner

noreply@blogger.com (Dear Lillie) — Tue, 01 May 2012 13:39:00 +0000

Because of Jon's job, I often travel without him. I have flown alone with the girls before, but this trip to NH and back was my first time driving alone with them for more than a three or four hour drive. Let me just say it was quite the adventure! We made it, though! Whew! We are getting settled back in and last night I was able to get just about all of the photos from Lola's party edited and sized. I will get the text written tonight so I can post it tomorrow. Seeing how today is May 1st, though, I thought I would at least make sure to post May's free download. You can click here or on the picture below to download the full PDF file.

Also, Congratulations to Meagan Stansbury for winning the $75 London Reid Gift Card!

And don't forget there you still have today and tomorrow to use the Dear Lillie discount over at London Reid.

Just use the code DL30 for 30% off your order!

See you tomorrow!

Williamsburg at Dusk

noreply@blogger.com (Dear Lillie) — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 12:30:00 +0000

Just popping in with a few photos. My favorite time to go down to Colonial Williamsburg with the girls is at dusk. I love watching them flit about and seeing all the lanterns glow. Oh how I love this time of year! (I took these photos before we left for New Hampshire but am a bit behind on posting.)

We are on our way back to Williamsburg today and once I get settled in I have about 1200 photos to go through so I should have lots of things to share in the next couple of weeks! We had yucky cold, overcast weather pretty much our whole week in New Hampshire and although we worked on lots of projects I didn't take any photos until Saturday. Like I mentioned though, I did take about 1200 in about 24 hours. Haha! Unfortunately, seeing how I didn't take any until right before we left I haven't had time to go through them. Here's one shot though from Lola's party. This was a little vignette off to the side and the little cupcake on the tree swing was my favorite part of the party! =)

I was inspired by Tradewind Tiara's tree swing that I saw on Pinterest. I can't wait to show you all more pictures as soon as I get settled in.

Oh, and we have more "Love Is..." Pillow Covers back in stock!

Have a fabulous Monday!

London Reid Giveaway

noreply@blogger.com (Dear Lillie) — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:30:00 +0000

I am excited to offer another giveaway today in honor of Mother's Day!

Today we are giving away a $75 gift certificate to London Reid!

And all of our readers are getting a 30% discount! YAY!

There are a lot of beautiful items over at London Reid, but my favorite is the necklace below:

And here are some other lovely pieces:

So, how can you win this $75 gift card?

All you have to do is leave a comment on this post!

You don't have to have a blog to enter, either. If you aren't a blogger, just enter a comment and then where it says "comment as" scroll down near the bottom and click on anonymous. However, if you do that, make sure to leave your e-mail address so we can confirm that you are the winner. If we draw the name of someone who doesn't leave any identifying information we will simply draw a new name. Make sure to check back here on the blog to collect your prize!

You can comment each day if you would like to up your chances!

For an extra entry simply visit London Reid

and come back here and tell us your favorite item!

You can also "Like" London Reid on Facebook

or follow London Reid's blog or on Twitter and come back here and comment for each of those that you did for more extra entries!

And from now until Wednesday, May 2nd they are offering a fabulous deal for our readers!

Just use the code DL30 for 30% off your order!

This giveaway runs through Sunday evening.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Pink Reagan Pillow

noreply@blogger.com (Dear Lillie) — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 12:30:00 +0000

We have been busy working on quite a few different new products from new Ruler Growth Charts, oversized "As for me and my house..." signs with hooks, and new screenprinted burlap and cotton pillows. Unfortunately because we are switching on how we do things so we can start producing much larger quantites we have run into a few snags as we change how things are printed. We are in the process, though of getting it figured out so hopefully in the coming weeks we will have quite a few new things to be adding to our shop. It is just taking a little longer than we anticipated.

For today, though we do have a new Reagan Pillow Cover now in stock!

Have a great Thursday! I will be back tomorrow with another fun Mother's Day inspired giveaway!

An Evening in Colonial Williamsburg

noreply@blogger.com (Dear Lillie) — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 12:30:00 +0000

We have been busy working away up here in NH. We've been working on several new products as well as making over some furniture and today I need to actually get to work making some projects for Lola's birthday party this weekend. I had all these grand ideas but so far have just made a few tissue paper flowers - ahhhh! Anyway, I haven't taken a single photo since I have gotten to NH (with my real camera) because the weather has been so crummy. Hopefully today will be better!

Two weekends ago while my cousin, Lauren was in town, she helped me take the girls down to Colonial Williamsburg so I could attempt to take some "one year" shots of Lola. Well, Lola wasn't super cooperative so I didn't really get what I had in my mind - or anything close to it =(, but here are some of the shots, anyway. Hopefully I can try again soon and get something closer to what I have in my head. =)

And here is Lillie with Lauren. Lauren recently started a fabulous health and fitness type of blog! You should head on over and check it out!

I hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday!

And the Winner Is...

noreply@blogger.com (Dear Lillie) — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 12:16:00 +0000

I have been busy up here in NH working on some projects so I didn't have time for a post today but wanted to pop in quickly and announce the winner of our Crafted by Kerstin Giveaway!

Congratulations to Rachel! I am so excited for you!

A Painted Side Table

noreply@blogger.com (Dear Lillie) — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 12:30:00 +0000

Last week I decided to paint this little side table. Ever since I painted the coffee table this one has been driving me crazy. I normally don't like "matchy matchy" but I didn't want to spend any money so I just used the leftover Revere Pewter (by Benjamin Moore) from the coffee table. You can see it here before and how it stood out once I had stripped and painted the coffee table:

Also I wanted to let you know we have a new pillow in the shop today:

And our Elizabeth Placemats are back in stock again!

I hope you all have a blessed Monday!

Happy Birthday Lorelei Wren!

noreply@blogger.com (Dear Lillie) — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 12:30:00 +0000

Today our little Lorelei Wren turns one year old! I cannot imagine our life without her. Although I have to say, it has been a very long year with lots of health issues she has been such a blessing and brought us such joy. We love her so much and are so grateful to be her parents and to have the privilege of raising her. Lillie adores her and has become so helpful and protective of her. It makes my heart melt watching the two of them together.

Here are some of my favorite pictures of her from the first year of her life:

Happy Birthday our beautiful little girl! We love you so much!

Love, Mommy, Daddy and Lillian Annabel

P.S. We will be having Lola's party next weekend in NH and I will share the pictures afterwards.

Silhouette Giveaway

noreply@blogger.com (Dear Lillie) — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 12:30:00 +0000

I am so excited about today's giveaway! Kerstin of Crafted by Kerstin is offering one lucky reader one custom piece worth up to $125 from her shop! And this giveaway is just in time for Mother's Day! A few weeks ago I showed you the necklace she made for me. I literally wear it every day! It is my favorite piece of jewelry.

Here I am all dressed up (which is a RARE occurance these days) wearing it. I wear it even when I am wearing my sweatpants though (which is what I am normally found wearing), I love it so much!

Kerstin is an absolute pleasure to work with and she recently made me two more things - this lovely key chain and a smaller, more dainty silver necklace. Her items are lovingly packaged in pretty little boxes and are such a joy to open and make for a special gift.

Here is the original necklace she made for me:

She also has a variety of silhouette jewelry in her shop:

So, how can you win one of her custom pieces?

All you have to do is leave a comment on this post!

You can comment each day if you would like to up your chances!

For an extra entry simply visit Crafted By Kerstin

and come back here and tell us your favorite item!

Or "Like" Crafted by Kerstin on Facebook and come back here and comment that you did for another extra entry!

This giveaway runs through Sunday evening.

Have a wonderful weekend!