Dot Girl Blog

Hello Dolly!

2012-01-27T09:59:00.000-08:00

Sales taxes, recital choreography, POOL Trade Show prep and my day job have me buried these days! Lucky for me Duncan has been home again this past week so that helps a ton. Instead of feeling overwhelmed by all of the things I haven't blogged about I thought it would be good to just throw out what's new.

Dolly! I bought this Dolly Parton print on Fab.com a while ago. She looks stunning in my kitchen against my new wall paper (it's removable)! This paper will also be decorating my booth walls at POOL next month.

Wedding Pics! Our friends over at Love Me Sailor let us know that our wedding photos are officially en route! I am so excited to see them and share them too! This is a shot from our photo booth. Aren't I the classy bride with my bud light!?

POOL Trade Show. I'm headed back to Las Vegas next month to show my new line and hopefully pick up a bunch of new wholesale accounts. Instead of the usual Cash and Carry booth that I've done in the past (where I sell on site) I'll be sharing a booth with Plastique. Since I'm not busy making thousands of items to sell on site (just samples this time) I get to focus more on new products and fabric prints. I hope to have everything photographed this weekend so I should be able to start sharing some sneak peeks soon!

Hope you all have a great weekend!

How to have FAB Valentine's Day

2012-01-10T15:02:00.000-08:00

Fab.com has put together a a feisty collection of fun gifts to give this Valentine's day. Their collection is anything but cliche. Here's a round up of my favs including one of my own. It's okay to love your own creations right!?

Happy Shopping!

Custom Polaroid Necklaces

2011-12-14T16:33:00.000-08:00

New product alert! The Polaroid Necklaces that, up until now, have exclusively featured the beautiful shots by Diana at Our.City.Lights are getting a bit more personal. Now you can have your own favorite photo framed in necklace form!

Will it be a family portrait, a shot of your adorable furry friend or your all time best instagram image? Whatever you chose you're sure to love it even more shrunken down to fit onto a one inch button within a Polaroid bamboo frame. Even better, you'll also receive a print of your image on high gloss photo paper printed to look like a polaroid, accompanied by a matching, heavy duty photo magnet perfect for displaying the print on your fridge!

I thought it would be fun to work with a few of my favorite blogger friends to see how they would choose to personalize their necklaces.

Danielle - Sometimes Sweet

Danielle went with this gorgeous shot of her beautiful family in front of a stunning back drop. The vibrant color of the sky draws you in and that little Henry with his loving parents makes my heart melt!

Diana - Our.City.Lights

I couldn't launch the personalized version of the Polaroid Necklace without hearing how Diana would make one just for herself. This dreamy image was taken on her way home from a romantic trip to Rome with her husband.

Katie - Skunkboy Creatures

Katie's daughter's Hope and Poesy are seriously too cute for words so it's no wonder she's excited to keep them close to her heart in necklace form!

Liz - Srsly Liz

It's Walter! If that little furry face isn't the perfect fit for a 1-inch button, I just don't know what is.

If you place your order and get me your image by the end of the day Sunday 12/18 then you can still receive your own personalized Polaroid Necklace via USPS Priority mail before Christmas!

A Sweet (and minty) Christmas Deal

2011-12-02T10:36:00.001-08:00

The Fab.com sale concluded early this morning and now it's time for the Vivi Dot elves to start packing up all of those orders. I am so, so happy about how the sale went and feel very thankful to have been featured on such an awesome site. In celebration of a very successful sale on Fab I though it would be nice to feature a holiday deal in my online store as well. I've put together a minty fresh gift pack perfect for the holidays. Here's what it includes:

One Holly Jolly Button Set that also doubles as a gift tag

One Minty Fresh Peppermint Ring

And one pair of festive Peppermint Earrings

You can wrap it all up for one lucky recipient or divide it up and stuff three different stockings with some holiday dots. There's always the option to keep some of it for yourself too! If you buy each item individually it will run you $24.50, but this special holiday set will only set you back $18! No coupon code is needed for this price - nice and easy!

Extra Bonus Gift: If you leave me a comment at check out that let's me know you follow me on twitter and/or follow the Dot Girl Blog then I'll throw in an extra free gift with your purchase. This extra bonus deal is valid on all orders placed before the holiday order cut off (12/19/11)!

Thanks again to everyone who supported the Vivi Dot sale on Fab by tweeting about it, inviting friends to join, blogging about it and making purchases. It's been a week filled with a ton of happy emails and congratulatory tweets that made me feel so very warm and fuzzy!

Some Fab News

2011-11-28T09:30:00.001-08:00

I am so excited to share that Vivi Dot will be featured on Fab.com tomorrow!

Fab features daily design inspirations and sales at up to 70% off retail. They work with really incredible brands so to be a part of it is a huge honor. They also offer generous referral credits when your friends sign up through your unique referral URL so it's super easy to rack up 'free money' to spend on gifts for the holidays or to treat yourself (full disclosure- my referral link is used in the post).

The Vivi Dot sale is tomorrow, November 29th and runs for three days. If you sign up today you'll get access to my sale and all the other great sales they run daily.

Happy shopping!

Shop Update

2011-11-25T14:37:00.000-08:00

I just published a bunch of new items in the shop!
Here are a few of my new favorites.

The Bicycle Ring Double Set

The Alamo Square Ink Blotter Necklace

The Mesa Dessert Lexington Necklace

Triple Ring Set - Cool Colors

Check out the rest of the new items and shop this weekend and you'll receive 20% off when you enter the coupon code BLOGFRIENDS at checkout. Happy shopping!

Thankful

2011-11-23T17:23:00.000-08:00

I have so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving, just as I always do.

In the last month I've gotten married

to the man of my dreams

who I got to hang out with for seven magical days in paradise (after throwing an amazingly fun wedding/dance party).

And when we got tired of that, we did this

I hope you all have an amazing Thanksgiving filled with love, family, food, good health and good cheer. I can't wait to share all of the wedding details with you in the coming weeks as well as some big, exciting news next week.

PS- I've missed you!!!

Wedding Day Crunch Time

2011-10-11T15:21:00.000-07:00

My wedding day is only twenty-five days away! Duncan and I have been plowing through our todo list and we're feeling pretty good about things. I keep waiting for the S*#T to hit the fan which I'm sure it will, but right now we're making things happen at a quick, but bearable pace. We're making sure we keep things fun by feuling our wedding craft days with good music, movie marathons and mimosas.

The big planning pieces are done for the most part and now it's all about executing the DIY aspects of the event which is the best part for me. Right now I'm in the midst of making a belt for my dress, boutonnieres for the boys, jewelry for the girls, centerpieces, and place cards (to name a few). I've also enlisted a few of my favorite artists to contribute to our decor to make it extra special and personal. I am getting all kinds of excited for the big day and can hardly wait for when I get to share all the little details here on the blog.

My Mom and soon to be Mother in Law are doing all of the flowers for our big day so we got up way too early on Sunday and explored the wholesale flower market. We came up with some pretty ideas for the centerpieces and the bouquets so I'm really excited to see how they all come together.

I had a professional blow out last weekend to confirm that it's what I want to do the day of the wedding. I figure it's a good way to start nice and smooth and then put the curls back in myself. It's less nerve wracking then hoping for a good curl day. I won't be wearing it all down, but here's a peek at how the curls will hopefully look- Next week is my makeup trial which I'm very excited for! If you follow me on Pinterest you may have noticed I'm on the lookout for good wedding makeup options for my dark hair, blue eyes combo.

And now I'll leave you with little Olive all wrapped up in ribbon from one of our wedding gifts.

I'm off to my dress fitting tonight! It's all happening people! It's ALL happening!

Halloween Rewind

2011-10-04T10:29:00.000-07:00

With the wedding just a month away I've had zero time to keep up here. Instead of feeling guilty about this blog being a ghost town I thought I might do a blog rewind and highlight some fun fall favorites from years past. First up my easy lace pumpkin from last Halloween.

This pretty lace pumpkin is super easy! Simply cut a little hole for the stem and then use black duct tape to attach it securely at the bottom of the pumpkin. Top her off with a shiny black bow and she's ready to go! It doesn't get much easier than that!

Sorry to any long time readers that have already seen this. I figure repeats are better than complete silence.
Happy Fall!

Thrifted Love

2011-09-01T09:35:00.000-07:00

Just look at this love seat! I've passed by Antika nearly one hundred times on my way to dance, but have never been able to go in. A few weekends ago when Duncan and I were out running errands for the wedding we spotted this lovely mid century piece in their window. The parking gods also thought we should stop in so they granted us a parking spot right out front!
This store is worth a trip to Seattle! I couldn't help but think of all of you vintage lovers out there as a perused their perfectly curated rooms filled with furniture, home accessories and other fun trinkets. I braced myself as I started checking out the price tags, but was pleasantly surprised. The prices seemed fair and approachable, much more so than other similar shops that only seem to price the items for collectors who are will ing to pay an arm and a leg for something specific.

I hope to go back again soon once I'm off this strict wedding budget. We allowed this purchase to bend the budget rules by deciding to use it in our photobooth - two uses is always better than one!

A little PS- I've been sad that I've been unable to post more regularly, but let's face it until the wedding is over posting will likely be light. I'll pop in with posts when I can and plan to really recommit myself to a blog post schedule mid November (just in time for the holidays)!

Doorbell Makeover

2011-08-18T09:20:00.000-07:00

Our house was built in 1946 and there are a lot of wonderful nods to that era in the design. The doorbell with its long chimes and its own little cubby in the wall is definitely one of those features. Unfortunately, the brown plastic housing and gold metallic material that topped off the pretty chimes was well past its prime.I had this doorbell makeover project planned before this house was even officially ours so it was extra fun to finally execute the update. The best part of this project is that it cost me zero dollars because I used materials I already had. I found a spray paint fabric combination I loved and got to work. With a few coats of robins egg blue spray paint and some fabric glue to cover the board that fit into the frame, I was done! Our 1946 doorbell now has a touch of today!

August Birthday Love

2011-08-12T09:48:00.000-07:00

My birthday is coming up this weekend (the 14th to be exact) so it's been fun to see who else in the blogging community was born around the same time. I have been pretty behind on my twitter feed lately but I have been by enough to pick up on all of these lovely leo's birth dates (so sorry for anyone I've left out). It makes me feel like the universe really gives the August babies an extra dose of creativity and drive. All of the images I used are pulled from each birthday girl's/boy's blog so just click on each one to be sent straight there.

I hope you all let your lion manes down and party big in celebration of the all kinds of awesome you are!

Pool and Persimmon

2011-08-09T09:55:00.000-07:00

Jeni and Keith have made an appearence here on the Dot Girl Blog before when I helped them save the date for their wedding. That date they had us save came and went over the last weekend. I had such an incredible time being a part of their beautiful, thoughtful wedding weekend on the Russian River in Northern California. Every little detail was thoughtfully executed. Jeni, the bride, was the visionary and her family and friends helped her execute everything she had dreamt up. It was such a collaborative, pretty weekend filled with love that I think I'm still glowing in the aftermath of it all. There was an outpouring of love for the couple vocalized through amazing toasts, poems, songs composed especially for them and so much more. They are beautiful people inside and out and this amazing weekend of events was a fantastic reflection of them and the love all of their family and friends have for them.

Top left: Jeni's parents who are stunningly gorgeous * Top right: table decor * Bottom left: tasty cocktails with pretty straws * Bottom right: Rice Crispy Cake!

I love me some market lights above a dance floor!

Me and Stacey (2 of 6 Bridesmaids):

A photo booth print and a party party favor:

Seamus even flew out from NYC for the doggie friendly affair:

Congratulations to Keith and Jeni! If your wedding is any indication of your future life together then I'd say you're in for a beautiful ride!

Signed Sealed (keys) Delivered - She's Ours!

2011-07-25T10:28:00.001-07:00

It's official! As of Thursday evening Duncan and I are home owners!
I'm overwhelmed with excitement and can hardly wait to get settled. We have been working our butts off ever since we received the keys. We've ripped out the dirty old pink carpet, hauled it to the dump (all 600 pounds of it), pulled out all of the nails and staples, sanded the floors, scrubbed the kitchen from top to bottom, packed, and started the moving process. My mom came over both Saturday and Sunday to help me with the kitchen which is pretty much set. The rest of the house is empty and filled with dust from the hardwood floor project, but we've got a kitchen! The backyard is just perfect too. We brought over our patio furniture so we have a place to relax when we need a break.

We've got a huge todo list that needs completing before we move all of our furniture this Saturday, but we'll get there. Moving is horrible, but knowing we won't have to do it again for years makes it WAY easier. I hope you're ready for lots of posts related to decorating, home improvement, and caring for chickens in the coming months. I know I can't wait!

Baby Love

2011-07-20T12:01:00.000-07:00

I saw my little niece Audrey Jean four times in the first few months of her life. Since then I've been surviving on facetime calls, photos, and videos... until last weekend. It was so fun to finally see this little cutiepie in person. She's the happiest little baby I've ever met and has quite the personality. I love her to pieces and can't wait to see her again in September.
This one of her sleeping is my absolute favorite!

So in Love

2011-07-11T12:01:00.000-07:00

I've been so focused on buying a house that wedding planning couldn't be further from my mind. I guess I can only handle one major life event at a time. I haven't looked at a wedding magazine or blog in weeks, but today I got sucked in for a few minutes and was instantly inspired to get back to it. (photos by Joielala Photographie via 100LayerCake Blog)

Ron and Dominique aren't just any stunning bride and handsome groom, they're our friends! Duncan and I weren't able to make it to their amazing wedding because it was the same weekend as the end of the year dance recital. It's obvious we missed a beautiful wedding and a rockin party. Waaaa!

Ron and Dominique are also the talented twosome behind Love Me Sailor Photography. They did our engagement shoot and will be photographing our wedding as well!

Make sure to go over to 100LayerCake.com to see all three parts of their spectacular wedding.

Unfortunately, I can't spend any time on creative wedding projects until after the move is complete later this month. I'll be heading to what will surely be another inspiring wedding the first week in August. Once I return I'm going to come back to these posts about Ron and Dominique's wedding to get my wedding planning excitement running on high once again.

Summer in Seattle

2011-07-06T15:18:00.000-07:00

If my lack of blog posts wasn't already a dead giveaway then let me fill you in - it's been a crazy few weeks. My calendar shows no sign of letting up, but it's okay with me because there's a ton of exciting things going on. I've got a bachelorette party weekend in Portland for one of my best friends, a wedding in Idaho and we're closing on our house (knock on wood, barring no unexpected hiccups, etc) all before the end of the month! Plus it's light from about 5 am until 9:30 pm so I've got extra daylight to make things happen. Speaking of, I'm also trying to squeeze in as much outside time as possible to make sure that the amazing Seattle summer doesn't escape me.

Here's what I've been up to....
This is the view through my shades on my first trip out on Lake Washington this past weekend. It doesn't get much better than being on a boat on an 80 degree day! I went down south for a wedding shower and got even closer than normal to the beautiful Mt. Rainier. I will miss the peekaboo view of this beauty we have from our rental house now.Duncan's friends flew up from LA and SF and road tripped down the coast, camping and hitting a bunch of skate parks along the way (it was Duncan's Bachelor party). I got one night in Seattle with all of them before they took off.Nothing's ever official until we get those keys, but we're getting close on the house! It has a chicken coop with 5 chickens in the already amazing backyard. I can't wait for it to be ours!!I've been trying to get in some evening sun after work each day. Don't let this Instagram photo filter fool you - I am as white as can be. And of course little Olive and big Indy have been hanging with me as always.Hope you all had a great 4th of July weekend! What's new!!?

Miss You!

2011-06-23T19:00:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to pop in and say hello real quick. House hunting, dance recitals, guests from out of town, retirements and birthdays have made for a busy week. I will be back as soon as possible to fill you in on all of the exciting things that have been happening. I look forward to catching up on what I've missed on all of your blogs shortly too, but in the meantime tell me what's new in the comments! This is my new favorite photo. I think it looks like Olive is posing for a fancy painting here.

A is for _____

2011-06-14T20:28:00.000-07:00

If you're a google chrome user then I'm sure you're also used to typing in the first letter of a website and pressing enter. Just type 'A' and viola, your favorite website starting with 'A' comes up. I started going through the alphabet to check out what sites I visit the most. What I found was a gorgeous group of, artsy, funny, fashion forward, design focused sites with some of most feisty females behind the wheel (and some rad guys here and there too). I did cheat a tiny bit by removing anything related to my full time job, cause those sites are far less interesting. Since compiling these sites in graphical form took quite some time I've decided to break this into two big posts. And now without further ado, here's A through M for your reading and/or viewing pleasure.

Any favorites in the bunch? Any that you're extra excited about and didn't know before now? I'll be back soon with N-Z!!

Saving Our Own Date!!

2011-06-08T07:00:00.000-07:00

I've designed many save the dates in my day and both Duncan and I have put hours into producing other people's magnets. We love making them unique and perfect for each uniquely awesome couple. It's great to contribute in a very small way to so many people's weddings and I think doing so made making our own save the dates that much more special. It was our turn!I was worried that I'd never be able to come to a decision on a design for myself, but I was pleasantly surprised to fall in love with the first one I created. After a few minor tweaks, font tests and sign off from the groom to be, the card design was complete! We wanted to do something that we hadn't done for anyone else so we made the magnets fabric covered instead of the usual paper with the plastic cover. I used glassine envelopes and round mailing labels from Paper Source and made my own stickers to match the card. I cut a purple piece of paper to slip inside the envelope so the back of the postcard wouldn't show through. I used a clear adhesive made especially to seal the glassine envelopes. I should note that I don't suggest using these pretty envelopes for anything other than paper. They are technically mailable, but some of the magnets broke free from them on their way to their recipients (so sad).I added a 64 cent stamp and a clear return address label and they were ready to go!We also created a Save the Date Video for our website. I hope you like it!

Save the Date Video from Duncan Hooper

If you're interested in getting a quote for save the date design or magnets just shoot me an email and I'll be happy to fill you in!

Leopard & Dots & Stripes - Oh My!

2011-06-07T20:26:00.000-07:00

I'm so happy to finally sneak in a little bit of time to blog! I put this mixed print outfit together on the first really warm day here in Seattle, minus the sweater when I was outside. I later added some leggings underneath and wore the whole ensemble to dance practice. Two in one is always a bonus!Speckled Dot Romper from H & M
Dark Blue & Black Leopard Sweater from GAP
Faryl Robin Sandals via Gilt Group
Striped Scarf from Target
Amethyst Stalactite Double Ring from Moorea Seal
What's your go to outfit on a warm day?

6 years and 90 days

2011-06-01T18:36:00.000-07:00

I was so looking forward to Memorial Day weekend. Duncan was finally coming home after being gone for two weeks and we were excited to celebrate our six year anniversary on Saturday. The universe decided to rock our little world on Friday though when we received a letter from our property management company letting us know that house we've been renting was going to be for sale and we have 90 days to vacate. 90 DAYS!

We're used to California renters laws where the renters are, for the most part, in control of when they want to leave. In San Francisco you have to pay to make people move when you want to sell the property. We knew this wasn't the case here, but also never imagined our time would be cut so short. We wanted to stay here for another year (resigning a lease in August) so we could focus on the wedding and then get ready to buy a house the following year. The last thing we want to do is move especially since we were just starting to feel settled (we moved from San Francisco in August). But here I am, a mere 5 days later with loan applications, meetings with realtors and our first open houses already completed.

No matter what we end up doing- buying, renting, moving into storage unit- it all has to happen in 90 freaking days. That's really, really overwhelming. It's going to be a wild ride keeping up with my increasingly busy day job (headed to DC next week for a meeting), teaching dance (with the end of the year recital in a few weeks), weddings and showers to attend and a wedding of our own to plan and pay for. I'm sad to say so long to that fun summer hanging out in the yard we've been working so hard on and hello to new plans.

Don't get me wrong, I'm really excited about the idea of buying a house and feel so very lucky that we've been good savers and are in the position to do so even though it's so much sooner than expected. I am also extremely thankful that I have my best friend by my side to keep me sane through the roller coaster of emotions this process will surely take us on. If I could see into the future to our 12 year anniversary I'm confident that we'd both be looking back on this time and think, 'dang that was a crazy, but it definitely worked out for the best.'

Whenever I get especially flustered and caught up in the details and the todo's I just remind myself that this 'problem' is just a bump in the road and really not a problem at all in comparison to what other people have to deal with. How do you put your 'problems' in perspective and calm yourself down? Any tips? Thanks for letting me vent!

The photo above is one of our engagement shots by the always fabulous Love Me Sailor Photography. In this instance let's title this one - Little Problems, Big World.

Meet Miss Stacie!

2011-05-26T14:09:00.000-07:00

I have a good number of offline friends that I met as a result of blogging, tweeting, or other online activities. On the flip side, I recently talked one of my offline friends into joining me online by starting a blog. Stacie is a coworker of mine at the dance studio, hence the 'Miss Stacie' title. We danced in some of the same classes before I moved to San Francisco way back in 2002, but I didn't know her very well before I left. I'd see her at the yearly dance recital (I've never missed one) and she was a big Vivi Dot supporter from the start. She may even hold the record for the most online orders from one person! Since the fall when I began teaching classes again I've gotten to know Stacie much better. She's as beautiful on the inside as she is a on the outside as well as one of the prettiest dancers I know!The main reason I planted the 'you should start a blog' seed in Stacie's head was because she is an incredible dresser. She's one of those people that can mix prints, accessories, and change up her style like it's her job (or it should be). She has a gift for putting perfectly finished looks together all while making it look completely effortless. Most importantly she LOVES it! Sounds like a great style blog in the making, no? She's been at it for a few weeks now so I think it's time for you to see for yourself. Make her feel welcome by following her and/or leaving a comment over at Pretty Birdie Brown. She also just signed up for twitter so you can follow her there at PrettyBirdieB.All the photos in this post were pulled from Stacie's Blog PrettyBirdieBrown

The table is set!

2011-05-25T11:27:00.000-07:00

Duncan and I love to cook and entertain so, unlike many couples, registering for some fancy dishes actually seemed like a good idea for us. We planned to use them when we host holiday dinners and other festive occasions. Well, last week I removed all of those dishes from our wedding registry because my Grandma (Dot) is giving me her Spode Geisha China!! I couldn't be more excited to have these beautiful dishes passed down to me.Grandma picked this pattern out when she was sixteen years old. Sixteen! I'll be twice that age when I tie the knot! When the dishes were shipped over from England they sent the wrong pattern so Grandma had to send them back. When they resent the correct dishes they sent two sets of eight instead of one! This means I have sixteen place settings to work with (minus a few casualties). The creamer and sugar bowl are the daintiest, prettiest little things too! I can't wait to host my first dinner party with these beauties.

Grandma is one my most loyal blog readers so I want to say directly to her- Thank you so, so much! I'm honored to be the recipient of these amazingly lovely dishes! I know Duncan and I will have so many great memories with them just like you, Papa and the rest of the family already have.

Phototime

2011-05-20T11:12:00.000-07:00

I think it's a great day for another round of Instagram catch up! Here are some of my most recent favorites.

Olive won't eat anything but her kibbles and green plants or leaves. I think the camera phone snapped just at the right second for this one! Now it's Indy's turn - thirsty budy.We've been spending the weekends assembling patio furniture, mowing the lawn, weeding, and planting. Easter came and went.I stopped to enjoy a sunset. There have been beautiful skies and sunny dog walks.Delicious weekend meals have been prepared. The animals are cute as ever.Fun new murals by Henry have popped up around the neighborhood. Vivi Dot HQ has been tidied. I've been cranking out save the date magnets.And Indy and I have chased squirrels and made new friends at the Woodland Park dog park.Hope you all have a great weekend with many photo ops! If you want to keep up with my Instagram pics real time you can find me at user name vividot!