oh, hello friend: you are loved.

Happy Friday:

2012-01-27T06:00:00.000-08:00

It's Friday ... and just like that, the first month of 2012 is over! Crazy! How was January for you? I hope the year is off to a great start for you all. I picked up some new (well, used but new to me) clothing items and realized I ended up with a lot of black and white! I really have never been a big fan of black.. or white. But these 2 colors together are so classic.

We have this industrial clothing rack furniture piece downstairs in our living room.. I don't really intend to use it to hang clothes - I want to get a cool light/frame installation going but we'll see. Do you have any fun weekend plans? I really hope to get a home tour up soon, but need to get a couple more things all set in our place before it happens.

Thank you all for all your comments and thoughts this week. I loved all the comments about the Downtown Abby post - such a good show and so good to know fellow fans ;) Anyway, I'm going to launch a blog-comment project next week to encourage more community in this awesome blog-world we get to be a part of. Hope you have a terrific weekend sweet friends. xo.

collections / downton abbey:

2012-01-26T06:45:00.000-08:00

It rained here a couple days ago, on Monday. So I decided to put on Downtown Abbey in the background while I worked on my computer. Then I got sidetracked (as usual) and started watching Downtown youtube videos and interviews and then I did a huge search for Downtown Abbey graphics.. it was fun ;)

You may have already heard of Downton Abbey -- everyone is talking about it ;) They've been winning awards (well deserved) and some friends actually mentioned it at my period film collection post so I decided to check it out. (thanks Laura, Alyssa, & Tiffany!) I'm so obsessed with this show - love the actors, the costumes, the story. Such great writing.

Here is a round up of some fun images and 'fan' art graphics floating around the web. If you haven't watched Downton Abbey yet, you absolutely must. Light a candle and have a girls night or snuggle up with a loved one. You can watch Downton online at netflix or if you have amazon prime!

Anyone else already watching and loving this new series?

lane-kent

Vogue UK, August 2011 via Tom + Lorenzo

Vanity Fair, December 2011. Photograph by Jason Bell

photos from lane-kent: here, here, and here.

enchanted serenity of period films

maggie smith is brilliant. via it's been a very..

beautiful dresses, via lady of the iron islands

love these sisters, via officer parker

Hotel Room Baby Shower:

2012-01-25T11:41:00.000-08:00

Photo from Danyelle!

So my roommates at Alt were Melanie & Karen. Melanie is having a baby in a couple months. I hadn't met Karen yet but she emailed and initiated the idea to have a baby shower for Melanie. I was immediately on board because, let's be honest: Melanie is amazing!

We decided to just have the shower in our hotel room to make it easy for everyone. We both tried to pack light things to use for props and decorations. It was hard because I pretty much wanted to pack my entire garage of props and things.

Brought an instax to capture all the guests that came to Mel's shower.

We did cupcake decorating.

Karen was pretty wonderful and coordinated all the good and cupcakes - isn't it amazing how you can plan something with someone you've never met? When we did finally meet, it was great because I already felt like we were friends. The food was actually suggested by Marta, catered from Cucina Deli.

Annie is so cute. Loved her necklace and her haircut too.

Melanie is just about the cutest pregnant person you will ever see!

I'll admit, I got teary-eyed when I first saw her & her little baby boy.

Loved hanging out with my fellow name-twin: Danyelle!

Karen had an idea to do onesie decorating, which was so super cute!

Can you believe she is 6 months pregnant? She is so tiny!!

Traveling for a shower? Pack flat / paper things. Karen & I both packed all the party stuff in our suitcases. We were going to make the garlands and everything but there would have been no time. Thank goodness for bhldn - that's where I got the all the decor like the garlands and wheel sets.

alt summit extravaganza:

2012-01-25T09:54:00.000-08:00

Okay, this took me a while to get together but I realized I've attended alt for 3 years now and haven't even posted a follow-up about the panels so this year I am determined to get it up. I went to a few panels the first day but the 2nd day we had a baby shower for a friend so I wasn't able to make it to any sessions. So here you go: my full alt recap! :)

Photo: b.a.d photography

On Wednesday afternoon, Alt gave attendees the opportunity to attend Shift Summit. I figured why not take in all the opportunities to learn that I could, so I signed up and I am so glad I did. Here are some points I took from it that really stood out.

Regarding sharing:

- There's never been a time that individuals have been so empowered to have influence on the community.

- Appeal to consumers motivation to connect with each other, not just with your brand.

- Sharing comes down to one thing - its about embedding your content in a message that others do want to share.

Regarding Social Media:

I thought one of the most interesting things said at this panel was by Kyle Snarr from StruckAxiom.

"You cannot just be on facebook and twitter anymore .. its not enough."

To some of us, this may seem really crazy because we can hardly keep up with twitter/facebook as it is. He went into talking about something called The HUB THEORY: It's this notion of picking a location, a place to point your social avenues to - i.e.: your main dot.com website or your blog. Kyle says finding out that right social media mix for you is critical - figure it out and then publish everywhere. Facebook / twitter / youtube / pinterest / tumblr / linked in / flickr.

So everything is at one central hub. For me, my "main hub" is my blog. What is yours? Kyle then says you need to be using Social Media as avenues to direct back to your main hub. Take your content and push it through instagram. or twitter. Everyone is on different communities, they are different groups of people. Personally, I am not on instagram because they don't make it for my phone. But thousands are. Take a photo, share it on instagram and direct that traffic back to your blog. I don't really use facebook but thousands of others do and I have it for my blog. It may seem like a lot but really, you're essentially managing one main community and using social media to direct impressions back to your site.

Adam Young from rcwilley.com pointed out to figure out where you want to focus your social media efforts - for their company - they chose to do it through Facebook and their email database.

While you can be in all the social media places, Adam points out it is most important to focus on branding. Be consistent with your brand. This is always essential. If you're all over the place and fall out from what you truly are, it does not give a true representation of who you are. Your brand IS your social strategy. They're not different, but they are one in the same. Brand brings definition.

Wrapping it up:

Focus on QUALITY, ORIGINAL CONTENT. This seemed to be a main theme at the conference. The speakers stress to focus on fresh original homemade homegrown content. Focus on quality. Take a quick class to become a decent photographer. Thats all it takes. Keep in mind the long term trend toward this usefulness. your posts - have them be useful.

Photo: b.a.d photography

This was a great panel featuring:

Brooke Reynolds, Chrysula Winegar, Kathryn Storke Grady, Sarah Jane

Regarding Balance:

Balance is a state of flexibility that allows me to be creative. To stay balanced, you need to constantly be open to flexibility. It's not this picture perfect life. It's constantly changing on so many levels. The balance is in keeping perspective and always having what is important it in your mind.

Regarding Focus:

They talked about focus and joked about having 17 windows open, then hopping over to twitter. then to pinterest. Isn't this all too familiar with so many of us? My brother came over one day and say all the windows and tabs I had open and said "Man, I'd be stressed out too if I had a desktop like this." haha. I've joked with friends about how crazy it is that we can have so many windows open at once. Maybe it's a way to make us feel like we're busy but we don't need to be inventing ways to feel busy. We can turn it off, just make a deliberate effort to do that. Make effort to CLOSE THE WINDOW and only have 1 window, 1 project going on at a time. When it is finished, then I can go focus on another thing.

Regarding Living:

Here are some notes I typed up that the panelists said:

"its okay for my blog not to grow the fastest or have the most traffic or make the most money. I am better creatively when I am stopping and taking care of myself. It makes my blog better. For me, its giving myself the permission to say "I'm going to stop here. I'm not going to keep going going going. make myself sick" -- This idea of consciously living - taking a long view of who you are. what matters to you. what's important. where you live is irrelevant. who am I, why am I here. What am I supposed to be doing. What do I feel when I wake up in the morning? Your blog/shop/whatever - doesn't have to be your only measure of success. Be authentic about the path you are choosing.

DO WHAT YOU DO BEST AND LET OTHERS DO THE REST

I am going to make a little less money but I will be so much more happy. I can do taxes and package orders but its not what I was made to do. Hire someone to package your orders and free up that time for you to do something else.

Photo: b.a.d photography

I was on a panel with some lovely ladies: Kal Barteski, Sarah Wert, Tracey Clark. Here are some points I touched on about regarding Blog Etiquette:

Regarding Comments:

- Leaving Comments are really about showing support

There isn't one single rule about comments but generally, and I've realized this just recently: We really show support by leaving comments. If you used a recipe or found a great diy resource, leave a comment to let them know you appreciate them. Bloggers work hard to put together content. One blog I regularly frequent expressed she would put so much work into her posts and receive no comments, it was discouraging so she just disabled her comments entirely. I thought that was really interesting but also kind of sad too. Comments are just a nice way to support this special blog support community that we are a part of. I know I actually need to be more intentional about leaving more comments on blogs who I appreciate and clearly put a lot of work + effort into their posts. I think for me, I already feel like I don't have enough time in the day. But it's just about taking an extra 5 or 10 minutes to leave a comment. What do you think?

-Don't self promote in your comments

This pretty bad etiquette. Leaving a thoughtless comment to self-promote yourself like, "nice post. By the way, I'm doing a giveaway here! link." Use the "name/URL" box (or have the link attached to your blogger profile) and if someone wants to click to your site, they'll find it that way.

Regarding Copying:

I talked a little about this because a couple years ago, I got my entire blog design copied. Not sure if you've ever been in a similar situation or experience yourself.. I've heard countless stories from other blog friends about this. Here are some points I talked about:

- Choose your battles.

Grace Bonney from Design Sponge actually said this in her panel last year and I've always remembered it because it's so true. Some things just aren't worth the time and effort.

- Don't air your dirty laundry.

It happened early on in my blogging years and my initial response was to do a post about it and let all the world know this girl was a big fat copycat. Thankfully I had some nice blog friends who I emailed and they advised me not to post about it, but deal with it privately and I did. It was definitely better to handle it that way in the long run.

- Copying / Being Inspired.

Take an idea and make it your own. Work off that idea to make a new idea. In our ever growing creative community, it is really hard to come up with something completely 100% original. It's a tough line because yes, we all gather inspiration from each other to some degree. But we also need to do this on a conscious level.

Regarding Crediting:

To be honest, and some of you may remember, I didn't always used to credit properly. It seems like this should be a given and common sense but I honestly just didn't know. I think so many people just don't realize. But it starts with us, we need to all set the example and others will hopefully follow.

- Give credit where credit is due.

If you see a decorating idea and use it on your own blog, just leave a comment to where you saw the idea first. People aren't going to think you're unoriginal or not creative.. I have a friend who gets copied all the time, for some reason the blogger copying her will just not leave her link crediting back. I really don't get it.

- Make effort to find the proper credit

Pinterest / weheartit / imgfave - are not proper credits. I posted a resource link list here the other day with tineye + google image search (which a reader actually told me about) If I want to use a photo that doesn't have the right credit, I'll take that extra time to search for it and try to find the original source. If I can't find it, I won't use the image.

- Put a disclaimer on your blog.

If you don't want people to use your stuff, post it somewhere on your site. Now and days you see copyrights and messages on blogs like, "all content the right of so and so" .. I personally don't mind if people use my photos but someone else may. I put a little button on my site that says "use my photos, just credit" - so if you are posting your own photos and everything, make it clear about your preferences.

If you want to read even more, check the Alt Blog for lots of recaps. You can also go through the thousands of #altsummit tweets for great quotes from bloggers tweeting during the event. Anyway, here are some images from the fabulous Friday night parties they had.

Photos from Alt Summit 2012 Flickr Stream

Had so much fun hanging out with friends: Lillian, Beth, Karen, Melanie. There were lots of photo booths, smilebooth was a favorite and ruelala's was super cute too.

currently loving ...

2012-01-24T07:59:00.000-08:00

Hi friends! Sorry for the missed post yesterday! Still recovering from a great weekend at Altitude Summit .. Will hopefully have a round up of notes for you tomorrow. The winner chosen for the new blog design giveaway was #534 - Mandi C! Congrats! Please contact me to claim your prize. Thanks to everyone for your sweet comments + for entering/tweeting the giveaway. See you tomorrow! xo.

Today I'm currently loving colorblock items. Is this a recent new trend? because I feel like I'm seeing colorblock everywhere! Well, either way I am a big fan. Love the simple yet bold color statements of these pieces. Anyone else into colorblock?

1/ DSW

2/ Fossil

3/ Madewell

4/ Urban Oufitters

5/ DSW

6/ Anthropologie

Also noticed and happened to find tons of yellow colorblock, swoon! :)

1/ Forever 21

2/ shopbop

3/ topshop

4/ anthropologie

6/ lulus

7/ modcloth

8/ etsy

Happy Friday / lucky number:

2012-01-20T07:00:00.000-08:00

What is your lucky number? Mine is 2. or 22. Either is good. Found a bunch of stuff around my workroom that was the #2, which I thought was kind of fun. I'm heading back from ALT tomorrow, I'll be sure to type up everything and report back to you all :) Have a marvelous weekend, sweet friends.

resource link list for alt:

2012-01-19T12:47:00.000-08:00

should i post this image? by pia jane bejkirk

Pardon the random post but this is a link/resource list mentioned at our Alt Summit Panel today: Blogging Ethics & Etiquette. More to come on all the panels from Alt Summit!

Finding proper links for images:

Google Image Search

TinEye

Great discussions and articles:

Frolic - blog talk: crediting photos

Jessica Hishe - inspiration vs imitation

Erin - let's talk photo crediting

Grace - Biz Ladies: Online Etiquette Part One, Two, & Three

Stock photo sites:

hello diy / shapes business card:

2012-01-19T06:00:00.000-08:00

Today's weekly DIY is a charm-stamped business card.

Pretty simple + easy to make!

Items you need:

Letter Stamp Kit

Hammer

Glue

Blank Business Cards

Brass Shape Flat Charms

Optional:

Self Inking Stamp (I got mine from VistaPrint!)

Steel Square Block

Pick your letters and hold the stamp in place.

Pound on top with a hammer a couple times to make impression.

For the triangles, I wasn't sure which letter to put so I just put an ampersand ;)

I typed out my company and website address with a typewriter.

For gluing the charms, I decided to use 2 types of glue, just to see how it'd turn out. A tape glue and regular glue. I used the 3M 700 ATG gun (if you don't have one, get one! They are magical! so easy to use and the tape is strong!)

Regular glue used here. Each works equally well.

and you're all done! and easy + simple business card DIY.

You could also just stamp the card since realistically hand typing the cards may take a while depending on how many you make. I ordered a self inking stamp from vistaprint for free! For only $2.99, you can edit the fonts yourself which is pretty cool. They have great quality stuff, I'm a fan.

That's it! Hope you enjoyed this DIY :)

collections / words:

2012-01-18T06:28:00.000-08:00

I come across so many nice inspirational art + words so here's a little collection of some little messages and lovely words/advice to live by in 2012. Hope you're encouraged + inspired today, sweet friends.

isn't this so true? some people are so mean. why can't we all just love.

via Simon Walker

beautiful words. via The Ardent Sparrow

Art by by Lizzy Stewart. via Brain Pickings

via 55 some

via Etiquette for a Lady

Love will set you free.

Love Mumford + Sons, beautiful graphic via A Pair of Pears

patrick costilow found via Sacred Lotus

Depeapa print found via Mademoiselle Cranky Pants

love this print. Isn't it so true that actions speak louder than words?

John Tibbott via Atypical Type A

heh, another one by Lizzy Stewart (she is awesome!)

via Joy Ever After

resource / vintage scans:

2012-01-17T06:33:00.000-08:00

Scanned these in from vintage pieces in my paper drawer. An old journal. Index card. Tickets. and the ladies are from a 1951 sewing pattern. Free for your use in designs, personal or commercial. File contains a .psd (photoshop) file with 4 scans, each one is on it's own layer. Hope you like them! Please don't sell or redistribute.. if you use the scans, would love a link/credit back to this post, but not required. They are just for your enjoyment :)

Download file here!

new design + giveaway:

2012-01-16T01:00:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the all new 2012 oh, hello friend design! I am so fortunate to know Ana from Blog Milk, who helped me do all the coding and make my design even possible. It is a lot of fun to design blog layouts, and I realized I've pretty much had a new design every year. Shall we take a look at all the previous oh, hello friend looks?

2008: has anyone been reading the blog for this long?

This seems like such a long time ago. My first blogging days, good times!

Loved this mint green back in the day, before I loved mustard yellow ;)

2009: Saw a complete redesign.. This is when I started "the daily"

which were daily columns and features for the blog.

2010: kept a lot of similar features, changed the logo fonts.

2011: Thought I'd get rid of the "oh" in oh, hello friend but decided I can't take away from the brand and the "oh" is back! ;)

and now we're in 2012 with a new 2-column design. I really hope you like it! I tried to simplify things (it's hard for me to simplify sometimes) but get rid of the blog clutter. There are some new links at the top of features I think is this blog's speciality: packaging/notes/vintage. One thing I did keep and have had since the original design is the "my heart" list. and you may notice a couple new "daily" buttons - I'm going to start doing weekly diy's and resources. Hope you like all the new changes!

Thought I'd also offer a little giveaway to go along with the new blog design launch. Win $50 from each of my 3 shops: the wanderlust, reverie market, and oh, hello friend for a total of $150 worth of credit! Simply leave a comment to enter with the year you started reading the blog (if you remember) For an additional entry: Tweet or post about the giveaway on facebook! (Up to 2 extra entries if you do both!) A winner will be chosen at random on Monday, January 23rd. Good luck :)

golden globe 2012 fashion:

2012-01-16T00:50:00.000-08:00

Did anyone catch the Golden Globe Award's last night? Did a post about the fashion last year so thought I'd do another post this year with some of my personal faves ;)

photo source: hollywood life + just jared

It's crazy that a whole year has passed, it feels like just yesterday I posted about the fashion from the 2011 golden globe awards. Well this year I think this nude color still seems to be in - it is so classic, I don't think it will ever get old! I thought Madonna looked gorgeous and the top of her blouse during her presentation was so pretty. The bottom of the dress is whatever. I do love the dress of Andrea Riseborough (not sure who she is but she is with Madonna) and

Zooey is so cute, she shouldn't be on the worst dress list but I think she made it to a few. Not such a fan of any of these dresses. Natalie Portman's looks like something my friend wore to prom back in 2001. I think some people liked Heidi but I just think it's so plain, not golden globe fabulous.. What did you think of the fashion this year? :)

Happy Friday:

2012-01-13T10:24:00.000-08:00

Can you guess who this yummy treat is from? My little brother's girlfriend: Samantha! You may remember she got us some cupcakes and doughnuts before. She is the best, and is always thinking of others when she buys delicious treats. Not only are they yummy but they're fun to take pictures of too.

These are from a bakery in Tustin called Cream Pan. You locals may have been here. These are the strawberry croissants. So good.

and in about 5 seconds, demolished. :)

So what are you up to this weekend? Nick has been working late all week (he got home around 1am the past 3 days!) so I am just looking forward to spending time with him this weekend. He is taking me on a little date on Sunday, I super excited! I've been keeping myself busy with getting ready for alt next week and a wholesale show after that..

Just a thought for the weekend - we got news this week that a friend was diagnosed with stage 4 liver cancer. It's also in his spine and hip. He's only 30, so young. and he just got married a year ago. I've been processing it this week. It's a little weird that their lives are changed in a second and I go on blogging about what I'm wearing or some pretty food, you know? I don't know. I guess what I took from it was that life is short. Nick and I argue sometimes and get into really petty fights. You know how when you just get really in your head and so angry you can't let it go? I don't know, maybe it's just me. But all that to say, it's just not worth it. Spend some time with someone you love. Be sure to tell someone you love them. One day it can be all fine and the next, changed forever.

Have a great weekend friends. See you on Monday.

blog discussion - blog etiquette:

2012-01-12T07:00:00.000-08:00

thanks to alice b gardens photography for the image above!

Today's discussion is about blog etiquette. I'm actually speaking on this topic at Alt Summit next week and am really curious to hear your thoughts on the subject! Would love to get some of your input and possibly address some of the points/topics.. I'll definitely come back and report on what my panel discussed with you all.

So what do you think friends? Is there a general 'blog etiquette' rule-book out there or guidelines that we bloggers should be following? Are there things you see in the blog world that you may not agree with? Anything can be brought up here - crediting, (which I know we've discussed before) copying, content, dealing with mean people. I've been blogging for 3 years now (wow, actually going on 4!) and I've seen a lot but may also be out of touch with certain blog issues that may be happening out there. Let's also turn it around and focus on the positive too --what are some 'polite' things you notice bloggers are doing? Anything out there you've noticed that you appreciate fellow bloggers following proper blog etiquette?

As always, this post is not meant to stir up controversy or point fingers or anything like that. Just an open and friendly discussion. If you have something you're not sure about regarding blogging etiquette - please be sure to post it for all to discuss! :) Thanks in advance always for a lovely discussion! (and for any input on etiquette-thoughts for the panel!)

Antique Market Baskets:

2012-01-12T06:59:00.000-08:00

This is a bit of a random post but I always see such interesting baskets around the flea market so I thought I'd take some pictures to share with you. Some cute, some practical, some funny, some random. It's almost like each one reveals the owner's personality in a sense.

The always very cute wire baskets..

Love the wicker basket.

I want to sit in this one and be pushed around ;)

A mini shopping-cart basket, so cool!

Huge industrial carts, this works too.

Would be pretty big to load in the car since they don't collapse.

Stacked high with vintage goodness. I think these are my favorite. Lots of open room w/options to tie things down. Pretty nifty.

Shopping carts work too.

This is my cart. Simple and small. Nick asked why we even bring this cart to the market, the stuff we get never really even fits. But you know why I got it. Yellow! Couldn't resist those yellow wheels ;)

Hope you enjoyed this post all these fun baskets and carts!

swoon:

2012-01-11T08:00:00.000-08:00

Swooning today over glitter, stars, prints, and elephants ;)Sometimes do you feel there is just too much out there to take in?That's how I was feeling when coming across these lovely photos.

swooning over sequins and glitter from Preston & Olivia via Kym's Pin

Beautiful work by Luci Everett via The Ardent Sparrow

Swooning over all pretty vintage and paper from Dawbis + here

Swooning over this ice skating picnic from Camille Styles via Coco + Kelley

starry night + map bunting from moon and lion

via Lucy Rose

nietylkodzieciaki poland via nooshkids

Floating drive in? Amazing! from Tim Walker Photography

Diy case from Design*Sponge

sweetest elephants ever. via telegraph.co.uk

swooning over these Kilim pillows from The Brick House

wears / alt summit:

2012-01-10T08:24:00.000-08:00

I'm headed to Altitude Summit next week in Salt Lake City and have been pondering what to wear for the conference. It's a fun event filled with bloggers and creatives from all over, and you know everyone will be dressed in their most fabulous wears. I used to really be into what I wore in high school, it was all stuff from abercrombie & fitch and hollister, heh. I don't think anthropologie existed then, at least, not to my knowledge. But considering when my family members see me and sometimes say "what are you wearing?" or "you look like a bum" I may not have the best fashion cred anymore. I just wear what I like. Not sure if it's in or out.

Well, here are some of my favorite "if I had an unlimited wallet" picks of my ideal wears. We'll see what I actually come up with to wear ;)

1/ zara

2/ madewell

3/ anthropologie

4/ of matter

5/ novica

6/ lotta from stockholm

1/ anthropologie

2. jcrew

3. madewell

4. nautical wheeler

5. seychelles

1/ topshop

2/ ae

3/ anthropologie

4/ modcloth

Any recommendations on what to wear? :)

business cards / personal collection:

2012-01-09T09:11:00.000-08:00

Goodness, there are so many fantastic business cards out there. and certainly in the craft scene because people are so creative - these were all collected at the various holiday craft shows - just had to share them with you!
Love the pattern on Voz.Gold sparkle on Alana Douvros Jewelry.
Recycled cards like wood cut maps using wood scraps are so cool.Love rusty cuts using vintage slides for her cards.
beautifully designed letterpress tag

Cards pictured:
lo fidelity lovepie bird presspaper jam presswoodcut mapspanorama presswith love xoxstitch & hammerrusty cutsalana douvros jewelryvoz clothing and artgamma folkmanvsink

the lovely dozen / updated:

2012-01-09T09:10:00.000-08:00

I announced this last month but it was so crazy I didn't get a chance to follow up about it. Sign ups are still open and the first package will now ship in March and will last until February 2013! I also got a lot of response + feedback from some saying that the subscription price was too high. So I've added a standard package to the mix, and hopefully the new rate is more affordable for some :) Deluxe packages are still available too, if you want to receive a bigger-fun-filled package!

Simply sign up for the club you want to subscribe to and you're all set to receive a lovely package in the mail each month! I am a big fan of mail and packages ;) The lovely dozen is something you can definitely look forward to each month. Subscriptions are available in Standard or Deluxe clubs, 6 or 12 months and this is open to international friends too!

Here are the packages available:

Obviously deluxe club members will receive more surprises in their monthly package. The standard package includes just as fun + nice surprises, just fewer items.

There are a limited number of packages available so sign up now! Sign ups close Friday, February 17th. Remember: Shipping for all monthly packages are included in the price!

Just choose your package & proceed with checkout.

1. What months does the club run?

the lovely dozen is available in 6 or 12 month options. Both will start March 2012. The 6 month club ends in August 2012 and the 12 month club will end February 2013.

2. Is this club open to international residents?

Yes, a handful of subscriptions are also available to international residents where extra costs are calculated in to account for shipping costs out of the country.

3. What sort of things am I going to receive?

It's sort of a secret but trust me, you'll like the surprises :) There will be some monthly themes, such as accessories, jewelry, paper/stationery, travel, etc.

4. Can I have my club start in June? Or another month I want?

Sorry! All packages must start shipping at the same time.

5. What is the value of these items I will be receiving in my club?

The retail value on the items range anywhere from $5 - $30. Items included are valued at what you are paying for the subscription. (ie: you won't receive just 1 $5 item, you will receive a combination of items that make up the value of your subscription. This could be 1 or 2 or 3 items, it will vary monthly)

6. When can I expect to receive my package?
Packages will be shipped around the first to second week of every month.

Any other questions? Just email me!

Here is a little preview of the fun things I've been collecting for the clubs.

Tons more to come - you won't want to miss out ;)

Happy Friday:

2012-01-06T12:01:00.000-08:00

Happy Friday!! How was your first week of 2012? Lovely I hope. I am still packaging and am going to move to a workspace/warehouse that my brother + I rent together, hopefully next week. Gotta get myself organized. I have so much going on (doing a wholesale show next month! any tips?) and I haven't even made it through the first month of the new year.

Is it crazy for anyone else out there? Here's a little reminder for anyone else feeling overwhelmed already.

I just need to breathe. and not take so much on. Know my limits. I love this font by the way. I don't know what about it. I'm just using it everywhere.

Well this weekend I am looking forward to spending time with my husband. What are you up to? Thanks for all your comments this week friends. They are fun to read through and I appreciate you taking the time to leave one. New blog design coming very soon :) See you next week sweet friends.

vintage sale pics:

2012-01-05T11:03:00.000-08:00

These pictures are a from a couple months ago but I found them in my archives so I thought I'd share. Last year I had a few vintage sales. They are somewhat of an outlet for me since I've put my plan for opening my own store on hold. (possibly have other plans) Anyway, here are some shots from some of the last sales:

This little cart is actually now in my kitchen and I love it! Will post pics soon.

Ashley stopped by and gave me the sweetest and one of the most thoughtful gift's I've ever received! A yellow bracelet she made me and a book of memories we had on a wedding event we did together. It was the best.

I am for some reason really into wire. Wire anything. Shelves, baskets. I'm just drawn to it. Need to filter my loves on something else, I have enough wire stuff!

I am so humbled and fortunate to have such a great support of people come out to the sales. There are so many familiar faces that always come back and to those of you, thank you! Lots more sales to come this year.. with even better stuff! ;)

swoon in 2012:

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Here are some things I am swooning over in this new year of 2012.

What sort of things are you inspired by at this moment?

Vintage stamp packs via Send More Mail

Wit & Whistle's DIY Calendar Journal

(also inspired that Amanda finished her entire 12 by 2012 list!)

I got a really nice lens from my husband for Christmas and it made me think of this photo , haha. Just because I have a super-duper mega lens, doesn't mean I'm a photographer. and I don't think of myself as one by any means ;) via You are not a photographer

I love fonts! Especially free fonts.

Round up of fonts from Going Home to Roost via Birch + Bird pinterest

Man, I want a gold nugget! via Design Seeds (great color resource!)

Some lovely words to live by in 2012.

Text added via Only Kiss Graphic via Caiti Borruso

Swooning over these amazing birthday invites via Edyta Szyszlo

Photo a day challenge?! Yes please. Brilliant. Genius. I want to do it.

Amazing idea from Fat Mum Slim via Jen's Pin

Maybe I'll get a tattoo this year. via fyeahtattoos

coming in 2012:

2012-01-03T10:30:00.000-08:00

Hi friends! Not much of a post today, sorry! Just trying to get back into the swing of things. Have so many things to photograph, so much to research (I'm doing a wholesale show next month!) Nick went back to work today and things are slowly getting back to routine. I don't know how I feel about routine. I like it. But it also is so easy to fall into the same old thing and being unproductive, you know what I mean?

Well anyway, I wanted to give you a little preview of the things to come in 2012. I finished a brand new blog design and Blog Milk is currently coding it and making it work, I'm so excited! We're also collaborating on some blog designs that will be available for purchase designed by yours truly.

Reader appreciation week! I had a 'customer appreciation week' a couple years ago, but I think a reader appreciation week is much better. There will be giveaways, downloads, deals, and all sorts of fun things. Nick and I have been trying to think of other fun features for this, so if you have any ideas of how we can appreciate YOU, the reader, please let me know.

New weekly features. Still figuring this out but we're doing some major editing of columns. Keeping some. Taking some away. Which ones do you like? Which ones would you not miss? I'd love & appreciate your input!

Also to come: package exchanges, a home tour (just the downstairs, upstairs is still a mess!) craft show guide, and lots more. Which reminds me, if you participated in the lovely package exchange, can you leave a follow up link here if you blogged about it? I'd love to do a follow up post.

Whew, long announcement.

Thanks for all your input, Happy 3rd day of the new year :)

new month, hello 2012:

2012-01-02T09:55:00.000-08:00

Happy 2012 friends! I hope your holiday was relaxing and wonderful.. Here is a fresh new desktop calendar for you - can't start the new year off without one. I put a little quote in this month's calendar - "not all who wander are lost" .. Last year I feel like I wandered a lot. I have a hard time staying focused and my interests are all over the place so one day I want to do one thing and the next week I'll have interest in something else, anyone else have that problem?

This year I just want to reevaluate my goals and focus! Get organized. Get everything in order. What better time to start than in a brand new year? Happy Monday :)

To Download: Simply click the link and it will take you directly to the image. Some computers will allow you to right click your mouse and give you the option: "Use Image as Desktop Picture" Otherwise save image to your computer and change the background in your computer settings.

To use on iphone/ipad: the easiest way to go about it is just email the photo to yourself. Then open the email on your phone/ipad and save the photo to your phone. Then set the photo as wallpaper once you save it. :)

merry:

2011-12-24T22:07:00.000-08:00

image from Joe Cavazos / edited with pixlr / gif made with gifninja

it's Christmas! I am sitting here in Missouri with my husband (well, he is actually sleeping now) and just enjoying this time of relaxing. No orders to ship, nothing to make, no show to sell at. Just being content. I know the chaos and busy-ness will all start back up again the minute we get home (I actually already have a very long list of to-do's, hehe) so it is really nice just sitting here and just being. You know what I mean?

Can I share with you about why we (my family) celebrate Christmas? Well, many years ago, a baby was born in most lowly and humble circumstances. Jesus. He came into the world to give His life for the sins of man. Some of you may think that sounds like a sad or strange story. It's actually really a story of love. Love so far beyond anything we can comprehend or understand. Jesus knew His purpose for coming into the world, and in His great love for us, gave His life that we may be saved. The ultimate sacrifice. Without His birth, there could be no sacrifice. Without His sacrifice, there could be no salvation. But the price has been paid, and we have all been set free. All He asks is that you simply believe! To Him be all honor and glory, for He is the Savior of the world!

Well dearest friends, I want to thank you for all your amazing support this past year. Thank you to everyone and anyone for even taking the time to read this blog. Thank you for every single comment. and really, thanks for allowing me to share my faith with you. I know there are many of you who hold similar beliefs but I am sure many of you who don't necessarily share the same views. Either way though, you allow me be open without criticism or judgements and for that, I am deeply grateful. You are seriously the best readers a blogger could ask for, I mean it. I think that a reader appreciation week is definitely in order. (it's in the works, was just brainstorming ideas with Nick on the plane ride over ;)

I don't really have anything planned to post for next week and plan to just take a little blog break and gear up for a fresh year of blogging in 2012! I hope you all are able to share this time with family or loved ones. Whatever you celebrate, wishing you a lovely holiday and very wonderful new year! xo, danni (& nick too)