The Pretty Poppy

Valentines Day

2012-01-18T19:29:00.000-08:00

Did you know that The Pretty Poppy now sells key chains? They are my newest product, and have been pretty popular! I think the upcoming holiday is the reason behind the popularity of this particular item in the shop:

I like Valentines Day actually. I think my love centers mostly around the candy and the crafts. Red and pink hearts are right up my alley.

Also right up my alley are Lincoln Logs and the hours of entertainment they are providing my little five year old. Hours I tell you!

And...let's not fail to mention this lovely weather we are having. It's been chilly and overcast and cloudy! Hooray! These are elements that cause an Arizonan to feel giddy!

Blue Lilies

2011-12-11T14:27:00.000-08:00

As many of you know, I love the Whitacre's, aka, the masterminds behind Blue Lily Photography. They have taken our family photos for the past 4 years. What's awesome, is the fact that they travel everywhere (literally, you should see where they went in 2011). Happily, I can probably continue to use them if we move. They are so fun to work with (seriously cool, hip and HAPPY people). And, I am so impressed year after year with our photos. Thank you!!!

Wendy also recently wrote a really wonderful post on her blog about women and confidence. It's pretty amazing. I reccommend you check it out.

Little Monkey

2011-12-02T13:45:00.000-08:00

This little miss can cross about half the monkey bars on her own. I don't have it on tape, but it was amazing. My five and a half year old boys probably can't even cross two bars yet. This girl is a tough cookie. I think it's time for gymanstics!!!

Have a good weekend!

Cyber Monday

2011-11-28T07:08:00.001-08:00

Enjoy free shipping today on all purchases in the shop. Enter code freeship2011 at checkout. Happy shopping!

We are heading off on a farm field trip!

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-25T21:27:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I love everything about it. The food, the season, the weather. Love. It. All. This year was no disappointment. We were able to spend a rare day together as a family (my husband is a full time student, so he essentially lives at school.) We traveled over the desert highway and through the cactus to my in-laws home. We enjoyed a fantastic dinner (which I had absolutely no part in preparing...I did the dishes later..still...no comparison as I definitely know how many hours go into preparing a meal of the sort. Thank you Marilyn and Aunt Janet -- it was delicious!!!) We enjoyed lots of relaxing and visiting. We even got to Skype with Uncle Steve (my husband's brother who is home for the next couple weeks on his R&R leave -- he is in the military and currently fulfilling his deployment in Afghanistan.) He surprised his wife and children last Sunday with his arrival. So exciting!!!

For the past few years, Thanksgiving night always ends with a few pieces of pie, and Black Friday shopping. Yes, my friends, I participate in the madness. Traditionally, we only hit the outlet malls, but this year, we stopped in at Target too. Madness!!! Lynsee was not into the craziness of the crowds (the line wrapped almost all the way around our Target store). She decided to wait outside and let my friend Tricia and I brave the masses. We were an excellent team -- she manned the cart as I darted in and out of aisles grabbing our goods. We were done and out of there in 25 minutes flat. Then, it was off to the outlets. We were slightly disappointed with the sales, but somehow I ended up coming home with a few shopping bags full of stuff. At one point I remember talking to Lynsee and fully realizing that I could no longer make rational decisions about what I was buying. Do you think that is why the stores stay open all night? They know you will buy because you literally cannot think straight?? It was amazing.

Biggest score of the night? My rotating waffle iron from Kohls: $9.99 -- originally $69.99. Oh yeah!

Overall, I love Thanksgiving, not only for the traditions, but because I love having another reason to reflect upon my life and how blessed I am. I love my family, both immediate and extended. We are healthy. Our basic needs are met. We are surrounded by wonderful friends. Nothing to complain about at all.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

BNNB Winner!

2011-11-20T06:21:00.000-08:00

Thanks to all who entered the BNNB giveaway! The winner of the ruffle bottom bloomers and baby legs is:

Comment #8: Pie! Who said

...I follow BNNB (andI love it!!!)

Contact Tricia at babynightnightbotique@gmail.com to claim your prize.

Don't forget to check our her shop and follow her blog for lots of great tutorials and Christmas gift ideas!!

Giveaway extended for one more day

2011-11-18T07:59:00.000-08:00

I've decided to extend the giveaway for BNNB for one more day! I will announce the winner in the morning! Don't forget to enter if you haven't already. Details here.

In the meantime, enjoy this photo of me with 3 chins. We went to the Breaking Dawn midnight showing last night. We stuck out like a sore thumb -- us moms with our cardigans amid a sea of teenagers. We still had a wonderful time! Now, we're just excited for March to get here so we can see the Hunger Games!

Free stuff!

2011-11-15T20:12:00.000-08:00

Hi friends!

I have been working like mad getting my shop updated for the holidays. There is a never ending stream of products to photograph and upload to Etsy. I could literally spend all day long working at it. But, in an attempt to achieve work/life balance, I have tried to only work on it for designated segments each day.

To celebrate all of the new stuff being added, I wanted to let you wonderful blog readers know about a little sale I am about to introduce. I have lots and lots of colorful little flower earrings coming down the pipeline. They make great gifts, and are fun accessories to have for yourself or your daughter as well!

Purchase any three pairs of earrings this week, and receive the fourth pair for FREE! Just mention in the "message to seller" box at checkout which pair you would like to receive free of charge (the free pair must be some that I have in stock. Don't worry, I have a lot!)

Also, if you purchase my current favorite necklace for sale in the shop (designed by Lynsee!), you can receive a free pair of earrings as well. Follow the same procedure and just mention which pair you would like in the "message to seller" box upon check out.

Yay! Fun free stuff! Happy shopping.

P.S. We are LOVING the new and improved cooler weather in our neck of the woods. Makes for lots of fun outside playtime.

BNNB Giveaway

2011-11-13T07:42:00.001-08:00

Today is rainy and I have a handful of sick kiddies on my hands. We are staying put and declaring a movie day today! I am actually very excited. I haven't stayed home with nothing to do for a really long time. It's going to be wonderful.

Doesn't today feel like a giveaway day? I think it does. Tricia from Baby Night Night Boutique is generously giving away a pair of her infamous baby ruffle bloomers and a pair of baby legs. A very cute outfit for you little one! Seriously, though. Cute.

How to Enter (Leave a separate comment for each entry)
1. Follow Baby Night Night Boutique Craft Blog
2. Follow The Pretty Blog and/or FB page
3. Tell me your favorite holiday tradition

I'll announce the winner this Friday (the 18th). Sometime after I recover from Breaking Dawn midnight madness. Am I going at midnight you ask? Of course I am. Of course. It's not necessarily for the movie, but more for the girls night out.

{Some of you may have previously been followers of the BNNB blog. However, the blog has changed (it got hacked so Tricia had to create a new blog). Be sure to follow her new blog. She shares lots of great tutorials that you won't want to miss! She loves her followers and treats them right.}

Photos via BNNB Etsy

For my Mom

2011-11-03T22:32:00.000-07:00

My cute mom has been waiting patiently to see pictures of the children from Halloween. My regular camera battery was dead (of course), so all I have are phone pictures.

This year, we had a Robin:

A Super Mario:

And a Rapunzel:

All of them had very specific ideas about what they wanted to be. There was no hope for coordinating costumes. They loved them though. Super Mario ended up being the most commented on costume of the evening. I heard at least 10 people say, "Look, it's Mario!" They had a lot of fun trick or treating to all the non-scary homes. A lot of people in our neighborhood create haunted houses. Cool for the older kids, but terrifying for mine. After an hour of canvassing the neighborhood, we have enough candy to last for DAYS.

Finally, the classic group shot. This is what I get when I asked the kids to pose like their character. Still figuring out how 7 fingers represents Rapunzel.

How was your Halloween??

Emmett's Fight Button Battery Awareness Fundraiser

2011-11-01T09:48:00.000-07:00

Today is the kick off for the Emmett's Fight Fundraising Event for button battery ingestion awareness. (I blogged about it here.) I am so excited and honored to be a part of it. For the next 12 days, 100 percent of the proceeds from the purchase of any of these products will be donated to the Emmett's Fight campaign. The Pretty Poppy is offering necklaces and keychains. Baby Night Night Boutique has super cute t-shirts available in all sizes. Apple Avenue is offering darling hair flowers. And finally, you can even support through the purchase of Scentsy candles!

Visit the Emmett's Fight blog for more details.

Even if you aren't able to purchase any of the products, just simply spreading the word is a wonderful way to contribute. Awareness is everything and can save lives!

Oldie but goodie

2011-10-31T14:56:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween!

I haven't had a chance to take pictures of the kids today, but I found this picture from our first Halloween with kids in 2006. The boys were chickens. Love it. My husband and I look so young!!!

Adorable Halloween Tree

2011-10-28T08:59:00.000-07:00

This Halloween tree is my favorite decoration that I have seen so far this year. I think it turned out so CUTE! I love the stamped bunting. I have actually seen it in person, as it was made by my darling friend, Janvier. This girl is crazy talented in pretty much everything and one of the sweetest people you will meet. You should check out her new blog, here.

Photo via Bonadventure

The week my brain stopped working

2011-10-24T13:39:00.000-07:00

One day I will laugh about the weekend that I caused myself and four friends to completely miss the Taylor Swift concert. I think that day will come in a couple years, probably after I've actually been able to attend one of her shows.

Let me explain my complete and utter brain lapse in more detail. First of all, please note that I consider myself to be a fairly responsible person. I make mistakes just like everyone else, but for the most part I'd like to think I normally know what's happening in my life. That is what makes this occurrence all the more frustrating to me. Last APRIL, when we discovered that Taylor Swift was coming to our area, we (myself and 3 friends), got excited and decided that we would all go together. We figured out how to purchase tickets in the presale, which we did.

Lapse forward 6 months. We are all getting excited for the big night out. I check online to see when our concert date is so that I can let everyone know. Completely positive of myself, I let everyone know that Saturday is the date of our extravaganza. The week goes on. We plan for our concert on Saturday. Friday night we enjoyed an evening with friends. Saturday is busy. At 4pm I head to the computer to print out the tickets. There is a problem with my order, Ticketmaseter tells me. I contact them on the phone.

"Hi, my tickets aren't printing and there is a message that says I need to call you."
"Okay I can help you with that."

I provide my order number, she looks them up and says, "Check the event date."

Epic FAIL! Friday??? How can this be? I have no idea AT ALL how I completely messed up the dates. I was literally positive that the concert was on Saturday. It's such a dumb and stupid mistake that it kills me every time I think about it. The worst part was calling all three girls to tell them we had missed the concert. I obviously felt like a complete dork. Luckily, I have the best friends on the planet. Though I am sure they were all disappointed, not one of them let it show. They were all so great and understanding of my error. Even though there was no way I could make up to them the missed experience. (Luckily we know she will tour again!)

Hopefully this will make someone out there who has done something equally crazy feel better. Am I the only mega dork out there??

:o)

Cinemagraph & a discount code

2011-10-20T13:52:00.000-07:00

A Pretty Poppy locket is featured cinemagraph style on this blog. It's the coolest thing ever. While you're there, check out the discount code being offered as well. Good til the end of the month!

FYI: There really are so many reasons you should read the above mentioned blog. Hue and Hum (aka, artist and rockstar) are both ridiculously talented and inspiring. Hum is a member of the band Fictionist, who I have blogged about before. Their amazing band just got signed by Atlantic Records, which I think is so incredibly exciting. I can't wait to start hearing their stuff on the radio. You should all start listening now so you can be in the "cool crowd" who knew about them first ;o). It's fun to follow their story through their blog.

Dream house

2011-10-18T11:49:00.000-07:00

Check out this home transformation. It's incredible. Not sure that I would ever undertake the project of fixing up a complete wreck of a home, but I sure love what they have done with this one. We used to live in Virginia, and loved taking long drives into the countryside where there are homes like this one all over the place. My husband and I even picked out our favorite "dream house". It looked a lot like this one.

Check it out! Image via the Nate Berkus website.

Emmett's Fight -- Button Battery Awareness Campaign

2011-10-17T21:01:00.000-07:00

Button batteries are all around us. Remote controls, garage door openers, car key fobs, tea lights, bathroom scales, singing cards. These seemingly harmless little batteries are the source of many tragedies, and sometimes even death, every year. These batteries are easily accessible by small children, and if swallowed, can have extremely negative side effects. Once stuck in a child’s throat, saliva triggers an electrical current which causes a chemical reaction that can severely burn the esophagus in as little as two hours. This exact tragic situation happened about a year ago to a small child that lives in my town. His name is Emmett and he is a living miracle and inspiration. Upon swallowing a button battery, his esophogas was horrifically burned, and he had to have two inches removed. Now age two, Emmett has undergone over 20 surgeries, and hasn't stopped fighting. The campaign bearing his namesake was organized to promote awareness and provide support to others in similar situations. Go to www.emmettsfight.com to learn more about his story and this campaign.

Emmett's Fight is hosting a benefit during the first two weeks of November to raise funds and promote awareness. I am honored to be a part of this event. I have created a couple of items (see here) to sell for this wonderful cause. 100% of the profits from the sales of these items will be donated to the cause. Other small business will be participating and sponsoring this even as well. Tricia from Baby Night Night Boutique is selling t-shirts. See them here.

I am so grateful personally for this campaign in that it has helped me to become aware of a situation found within my own home that could be potentially very dangerous to my little ones. Spreading the word will save lives!

A pretty bun for thin hair

2011-10-13T09:07:00.000-07:00

I have thin hair. Definitely my least favorite feature, but I have learned to embrace it (and hope for long, lush extensions one day). :o)

When I saw this tutorial explaining how to create the look of a full bun using a sock, needless to say, I was pretty pumped. My hair isn't quite long enough to try it yet, but you better believe that I will be rocking this look come Christmas time.

Hope this helps some of my thin haired friends. Anyone else have any fun hair secrets?

(Image via Say Yes To Hoboken)

Fall inspiration

2011-10-05T13:25:00.000-07:00

Each year I get really excited to decorate the house for the holidays. I think it stems from my mom always decorating when I was young. Good memories. I love Fall, and luckily, the weather here has been getting cooler this week too. I am actually wearing long sleeves and jeans and not melting. It's a miracle! Here are some of the decorations I have out right now.

Burlap wreath I made. So easy and inexpensive. I used the tutorial found at Jones Design Company.com. IE will not load up the tutorial so I can link to it for some reason. I will try again later. I did not use any hot glue -- just straight pins. Can't mess around with stuff that can melt in Arizona!

Pumpkins and my new little green star on the tv armoire. The wooden blocks say Happy Halloween. Possibly everything is from Target.

Card stock bats that we hung outside. The kids love them. Unfortunately it rained on them and many have fallen down. They are also all crumply. Oh well! Maybe they look spookier. Better believe I am not taking them down after how long it took to cut them out.

A fun new fall wreath on the wall. And my Blue Lily photos -- soon to be retaken in November! Yay!

This little sis got her flu shots today. Actually, her nasal mist (which we referred to as fairy dust to boost appeal.) It must be Fall!

Earrings on sale -- Christmas in October

2011-10-01T16:37:00.000-07:00

The Pretty Poppy is having a major sale on earrings. All sets have been nearly halved in price. Check them out here. Have fun!

New items

2011-09-28T14:12:00.000-07:00

The Pretty Poppy has had a couple special requests lately. We love special requests because it affords the fun opportunity to make something new and different.

First, this little baby bracelet. It was made to commemorate a baptism, but the charm can be switched out and changed to reflect any occasion. Very cute.

Next, this special necklace was ordered as a keepsake for a set of parents who lost their sweet baby boy. I felt so honored to created something so special for them. I am in contact with the family to see if there is a special organization for "angel babies" they are involved with. I would love to donate a portion of the proceeds from this necklace in his name. We will see what we can come up with!

I love Target (and their coupons)

2011-09-27T13:49:00.000-07:00

Check out the little goodies I found in the dollar spot section of Target. They were actually $2.50 each, but I was still pretty excited. I had literally the day before thought that I really wanted to find some more pumpkins for our Halloween/Fall display this year. Thank you Target for answering my wishes!

I also wanted to talk a tiny bit about Targets coupons too -- I only recently became familiar, and I want share the love! First off -- I am new to couponing, and I am not a coupon fanatic. I only get one newspaper and I only buy stuff I need or would use. I use couponsense.com to help me organize the store ads - this is one of those sites that matches up sale ads with the coupons so that you get the best deal. The cardinal rule of couponing is to only buy something if it's on sale too! ;o) It's worked well for me so far. It's not only saved me money on the basics that I purchase, but it's also changed the way I think and shop. I am more aware of what I buy and the prices I pay for things.

Once I started couponing, I became aware of Target coupons (thanks, Kelly!) Target has coupons that you can print an unlimited number of times from their website! They have good stuff on there too. Money off clothes, and housewares and all sorts of stuff. These coupons can be paired with a manufacturer coupon and used in a single transaction. I had NO IDEA you could do this, and have gotten some really great deals doing this. You can also use the FREE site, http://thekrazycouponlady.com/. She matches up the Target ads with coupons. It's helpful!

Today for instance I printed a coupon they have RIGHT NOW for $5.00 of a $5.99 or more Transformer toy. I found one for $8, which means I basically got either a stocking stuffer or a birthday party gift for $3. I was pretty pumped.

Anyway, just wanted to share this since it's something I didn't know anything about a couple months ago. I will say, couponing is a tiny bit addicting once you start!

Anyone else part of the coupon commotion?

Just a reminder...

2011-09-25T17:16:00.000-07:00

...that we have blessings all around us! Life is good!

Tangled Birthday Party

2011-09-18T22:16:00.000-07:00

My little baby turned three a couple weeks ago. And, like many little girls her age, she requested a Tangled birthday party. I love the movie, so I was more than happy to oblige! There are so many great ideas for this birthday found online. I used many of them and am happy to share my sources!

We started by hanging hair our of our own tower. You can't tell from this picture, but our house has a rotunda style entry that looks like a tower. Of course Rapunzel would let down her hair for all of our guests! This was LONG hair. It took about two skeins of yarn to make. Loved it.

The decor continued inside with about 2 dozen pink and lavender balloons displayed about the room. The balloons represented the floating lanterns. Had I thought of it earlier, I could have made the balloons into lanterns, but for 3 year olds, this worked great! I made pink cupcakes with green frosting, and applied paper scrap booking flowers to the top. Simple!

You can see in the picture that there is a banner hanging. I couldn't get a great picture of the garland, but it essentially looks like the one in the town square. I cut little purple triangles, and applied a golden sun using this template.

The table was set with Rapunzel coloring pages, from here. The perfect thing for little girls to do as they arrived.

The party food was based on the movie as well. Of course we served Hazelnut soup, which I loved (maybe not the little girls so much), bread with cheese or jam, fruit, and blue jello with boats. (I borrowed the jello idea but can't remember where I saw it to give credit!) I think the kids liked the jello part!

I gave each girl a canvas and a set of paints for their favor and to use as part of the activity. I think the girls really did enjoy painting, and I loved that they could take the canvas home and hang it up in their room. I love kids art in the house! I of course didn't get a picture, but I labeled each set of paints with the phrase, "Rapunzel's Paints".

The most exciting part of the day was the pretty hair and makeup. I asked my two darling friends, Tricia and Lynsee, to style each girls hair in a princess "do". They are both phenomenal hair dressers so I knew they would be up to the task. All the girls looked amazing! I made flowers (I glued the same flowers I used for the cupcakes onto bobby pins) for their hair so they could look like Rapunzel.

As the girls got ready to go, each took a balloon "lantern" to release. I told them all to make a wish too, but I think they all just got excited to let go of their balloons and forgot.

I had a fun time and I hope all the little girls did too!

This was the best picture I got when I asked all the little ladies to smile at me. Hilarious.

Hello, again.

2011-08-30T21:23:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile! Forgive me for abadoning the blog all summer. So many ideas, and so little time. Now that school has started and schedules are beginning to form again, I am back! And am here to stay.

My adorable sister in law got married about a week and a half ago. The wedding was AMAZING. There was hapiness bursting at every seam. It was great. The reception was amazing as well. The flowers were to die for. More pictures of all of that to come.

The wedding colors were various shades of green. I was able to assist with some of the decoration creation. One of the things I made was a pennant garland for the tent at the reception. I wanted to share a little tip (which I actually learned from Lynsee), for creating a quick and easy pennant garland using paper and ribbon.

First, start with some gorgeous paper:

Cut the paper into triangles.

Then, use your sewing machine and sew the triangles onto a piece of ribbon! I love the sewing idea, because it's so sturdy, and the stitch line is so cute. I used white ribbon and white thread, but green thread would have been a cute added touch. Of course I have no picture of the finished product (it was a crazy week), but I do have this picture below where you can sort of see the garland hanging in the tent above us.

(This picture is me with my mom, my son (left), my nephew (right) and my other son in the background looking at some of those amazing flowers!)
Still can't believe I didn't get a picture. But trust me, if you are making a pennant garland from paper -- sew it together with ribbon! So much easier, faster and prettier!

More green wedding stuff to come!