secondsister suaviloquy

Suaviloquy Has Moved!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 04:30:00 +0000

Suaviloquy Blog can now be found under the main Secondsister site.

www.secondsisterdesigns.com

paper garlands are classic- christmas mantle 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 04 Dec 2013 23:51:00 +0000

I really can't quite believe it's Christmas time again. It seems like we just took down the tree from last year like 3 months ago.

This year I am inspired by the amazing and intricate work of various paper cut artist.

I hand cut the village and trees. I ended up buying the sleigh and reindeer because, well, I saw them and it saved me some time. I also bought the snow flakes. Everything including the black and red paper used to create the silhouette and garlands is available at Paper Source, a.k.a. One of the Happiest Places on Earth.

new dates for Kenya

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 21 Nov 2013 20:00:00 +0000

Hey guys.

In case you were wondering, we did change the dates of our Kenya trip. Please go to the Vagabond Creative website and check out all the details. We have put together a once in a lifetime, amazing trip. You can see all the details on the site.

If you are interested, don't delay because we only have a limited amount of slots left to fill.

Here's hoping we see you in Kenya 2014!!!

schmancy halloween dinner party

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 29 Oct 2013 03:02:00 +0000

Small plates are from Pottery Barn. Pumpkin bowls are from Linen N Things. Wooden treat coffins are available at Michael's Craft.

My Mr. Fox painting got a halloween update for the party.

Candelabra is from Joann's Fabrics. Bottle labels are all part of the Witch's Larder printables.

See's candy fit perfectly in each little coffin.

The best part was the company.

specimens & curious findings

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 15 Oct 2013 14:00:00 +0000

I am planning a very special Halloween dinner for later this month. All my guests are flying in from out of town so I wanted the invitations to be extra special. The theme of the party is Specimens & Curious Findings. I added in a little "specimen" gummy snake to each invitation box. Ben and I are working out the menu.

The decorating is under way.

I finally got to bring out Lily and Oscar, the art dolls I made special for the mantel decor this year.

I thought it would be fun to share the invites with everyone. I also created place cards to use at the dinner party. Scribble your guests names on them in scratchy script and they will look great. You can click the download button under the images to download.

The poem is an excerpt from Shakespeare's Macbeth. The bottom is in Latin and reads:

The one safety for the vanquished is to abandon hope of safety.

I hope you enjoy! If you use them, please tag me in your twitter or Instagram photos! I'd love to see what you do.

Download these printables here.

Atelier East Collection

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 09 Oct 2013 16:31:00 +0000

Introducing Secondsister's newest design collection Atelier East. Most items are one of a kind, so if you see something you like, don't delay!

Start Shopping!

Enjoy!

April

the pemberley collection

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 12 Aug 2013 13:00:00 +0000

I guess it's no secret that I've sorta kinda given up blogging. For now. Maybe forever. Maybe not.

I don't know yet.

But I haven't given up all my busy little projects I do to keep my life happy and healthy. No, not at all.

In fact, I have been quite busy.

This new collection of digital patterns, brushes and elements came from my deep love for Jane Austen and the literary worlds she created. I think they would be great for making cards or party printables. I envision book club invites and art journaling pages.

All of the collection is orginal hand drawn sketches. There are 20 digital brushes (or stamps- whatever you like to call them) available. I created 6 patterns that mix and match. The elements file contains 11 separate watercolor images and 2 watercolor banners.

These graphics make great blog bling!

The entire collection can be purchased as a package or each file separately under the "Shop Digital Art" button at the top of the blog. Please make sure you read through the terms and conditions before buying the art to make sure that it is suitable for use regarding your particular project.

vagabond creative society

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 15:36:00 +0000

Friends.

Hello there.

I want to tell you about one of the projects I've been working on behind the scenes of Suaviloquy.

Mindy Gledhill and I decided that our trip to Morocco last year was such a big success we really need to do it annually.

We have been working together with our husbands, to form our new partnership, Vagabond Creative Society.

Our mission is to inspire people to tap into their own brand of creativity and use that creativity to life fuller, happier lives.

We have planned our next creative retreat for April of 2014.

Vagabond Creative Society presents:

The trip we are planning is going to be amazing. We have incorporated a service project this year that we are really excited about. We will also be spending a couple days on safari and meeting with the Masai people. We will have workshops and shopping and all the the fun of being on the beach.

Please check out our new website. If you are interested in joining us in April, please send an email. Registration opens today. Space is limited.

friendship garland

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 19:46:00 +0000

My daughter has so many cute friends, but unfortunately not many of them live close to us.

I decided to make her something to help her feel closer to her girlfriends that live far away. I saw a paper doll garland on Pintrest that sparked an idea.

This garland was super simple and cheap to make. The most expensive part was the fabric stiffener I used to make the dolls stand upright. I used scraps of fabric for the dresses. One important thing, as I have said before, is to use good felt. I have a local quilt shop that sells quality felt. Search one out. It will make a lot of difference in your end product.

Top roll:

Charley, Patterson, Ivy

Bottom roll:

Eloise, Amelie, Emerson

the woodland project

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 01:29:00 +0000

I have been painting lately.

To be more specific, I've been painting woodland animals. I'm working on a collection. It's a project.

What it really is is a distraction. Because, you see, lately I've felt a little inundated with bad news. Stressful news. It doesn't help that I'm a bit of a news junky. I read every little bit of bad news out there. And we all know how the media just loves to make every thing dooms day.

I should just stop reading the news. But then I would feel uninformed. So I read.

So I'm painting woodland animals.

Because they are innocent and not at all scandalous.

And fluffy.

I think I'll paint a squirrel next.

love is a many splendored thing, and it's free

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 03:14:00 +0000

Free download here.

2013

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 20:26:00 +0000

1. creativity bubbles, 2. ♥ Txuster, 3. In white, 4. fuzz, 5. 119.365, 6. ei phais hi, 7. ., 8. perfect little white things, 9. enter softly

Here's to a great new year.

Here's to laughing hard, eating well, living creatively and throwing caution to the wind.

Here's to being compassionate and understanding and living in peace.

Here's to hard work.

Here's to seeing through the crap to what is really important.

Here's to holding onto hope.

Here's to all of you and the love and friendship you have shown me.

country christmas mantle

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 15:00:00 +0000

Welcome Christmas.

We are gearing up for a magical year here in the Meeker house. Our children are all believers. Their Christmas spirit is contagious.

Every year I design a new theme for our mantle. This year I was inspired by country life. I love old barns and natural fibers. I'm also loving all the mounted animal heads as long as they are fake. I find real animal heads to be disturbing. Taxidermy. Not for me.

Anyway, Ben humored me and constructed my pint sized barn door. I painted it with our initials. I found the stag head at Target along with the small snowflake votives. The mercury glass jugs are from World Market. The larger porcelain votives are from Crate and Barrel. The garland was made by ripping natural linen into strips.

You can't see it too well in the photo but there is a pair of antique ice tongs propped against the door that I found in an antique store. I can't remember where I got the large bells.

Because the mantle isn't overtly Christmas, I think if I take away the bells I can leave it up through January.

Hopefully I will have time to share more of our Christmas this year! Remember that I can be found on Instagram almost everyday.

merry vinter

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 15:00:00 +0000

The snow has started to fall at my parent's house. There is Christmas music playing in the shops. As much as I can't believe it, the holidays are upon us. It's time to tackle one of the most difficult of all tasks: getting a good family photo for the Christmas cards. Oy vey.

I've conjured up a little motovation to get us all going on our cards.

Introducing "Merry Vinter"! I created this line of digital papers and ornaments for you to use to create your cards this year. As you can probably tell, I was strongly influenced by all things Swedish. I love scandanavian design in any form, but I am especially taken with Swedish kurbits and ornamentals.

The entire Merry Vinter set includes all the papers (6), the brushes (12) and the ornanaments (6).

The entire set is $18.00. You can also choose to purchase the kits indiviually for $7.00 each.

Purchase Here

whatever janet hill, it's not fair

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 15:00:00 +0000

Sometimes I get really pissed that some people have so much talent. I feel like Amelie when Henry gets something while she is at school and she comes home to discover him enjoying the spoils of the day. At first she just stands there sort of stunned. Then you can watch her little face as she goes through the emotions. Puzzled. Intrigued. Indignant. Pissed.

Janet Hill got a lion's share of talent and quite frankly I won't feel better about it until I can A) crawl inside her head and absorb some of her genius or B) own one of her originals.

You can buy her prints on her Etsy site.

woosh!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 05:36:00 +0000

click here to download

Well folks, say hello to the end of the year. Because you know that once Halloween is over the year flies by at astonishing speed. It's just the way it's always been. There is nothing you can do to change it. Believe me. I've tried.

The best thing to do is just give in and embrace the madness.

I made a free wallpaper for you to download to help you ease into November.

talk is cheap

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Everybody knows a big talker. You know, the person who's always got the most fantastic plans that just never seem to happen. They are going to start this new company, or they are really gunna let this person have what's coming to them, or they are going to be getting a new something any day now.

You know. Big talkers.

So yeah, talk is cheap. Everyone talks big to some extent. We like to talk about our dreams. It feels good. It's as if talking about them makes them more tangible. The problem is that research has shown that when we talk about our goals to other people we become less likely to achieve them because just the act of telling someone what we want to do tends to give us a sense that we have already done it.

So the moral is, keep your mouth shut. At least when it comes to goal setting. I learned that from a TED talk.

Here's another thing I learned: good friends are cheap therapy. Sometimes you just need a good bout of verbal diarrhea to feel better. I'm not sure why, but just talking about my day to day grievances with my best friends makes me feel so much more normal, even if their response is "That's weird."

In general, I feel like I talk too much. Kids will do that to a person. You can't just say something once. Oh no. You have to say it three times to be heard. It's exhausting. So I bought a megaphone.

Let me tell you, it's the best thing I've purchased as a parent next to the punching bag (Mother's Day 2010). I don't have to say things three times. I don't even have to raise my voice to call my kids from upstairs. Believe me, if you have kids, you need one.

It was cheap.

get yer art here!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 17:20:00 +0000

A while back I created some art for Paper Coterie. You can now purchase these two works as either a 12X12 wrapped canvas or as a 16X6 poster.

Paper Coterie is meticulous about the work they send out so you can be sure it will look great on your wall.

Right now they are offering some really cute Halloween free printables. Check out their selection of cards and calendars too. I think they have some really great products.

casbah creative magic

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 15:27:00 +0000

I thought I'd ease back into this whole blogging thing with a simple slide show of our trip to Morocco. This trip was a long time in the making and I'm happy to report that it far exceeded my expectations. Everything about it was pure magic.

Casbah Creative from April Meeker on Vimeo.

If you are interested in participating in a trip similar to Casbah Creative in 2013, please send me an email and I'll add you to the interest list.

dispatch

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 02:13:00 +0000

rich girl

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 14:00:00 +0000

I have a friend who has taught me this truth lately. (Katy you know I'm talkin' bout you.)

Education would also fall into this category. I guess you could also buy stocks, and they could pay off and make you richer, but I'm talking about real riches here.

Here's what I want you to do: take a minute and remember a trip you took with your family as a kid. Think about the actual travel part. Think about the destination, and the food you had, and the funny things that happened.

What is that memory worth to you?

We talked about just flying to our destination for our summer trip. But, you know, I think there is something to be said about road trippin' with your kids. The misery. The smell. The togetherness. It's a hellofa long haul eh? Memories people. Memories.

We are road trippin' today. We are driving cross country in the family wagon. We are taking treats. We are taking movies. We are not taking the dog. Although that was, at one point, an irrational thought.

We have quite a few trips planned for the rest of the year. Big trips and little trips. Trips with kids and without.

I am so excited to see where all of these journeys take us. I feel rich.

**** If you are looking to enrich your own life, there is still room for you if you'd like to come to Morocco with Mindy and I in October.****

let's build a wall

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 14:00:00 +0000

I have a friend named Kimberly who lives on a farm. She has chickens and sheep and white farm furniture and a really great airstream trailer and, well, just go look. She inspires me.

Anyway a week or so ago she sent me an email about a project her mother Barb is working on in Uganda.

Barb is building an orphanage. A home for children who's parents are gone. A safe place for these babies. She made and sold banana bread to fund this project. She is an amazing person. The buildings of the orphanage compound are finished!

But the thing is, Barb has to have a security wall around the orphanage before children can live there safely. And so until the wall is built, the children remain homeless. My heart aches for these little people.

This wall is a big wall. It has to be. It is almost complete but there is still one side that needs to be finished.

Barb needs our help to pay to complete this wall. My answer is yes. Yes! I will help. What an easy way to make a difference! What a great way to help the people of Uganda directly. Like I said before, my heart tells me that we must not remain blind to the struggles of these people. If you are going to put up emotional walls, they should be this type!

My mother likes to say~ what goes around comes around. And I believe it. This wall will go around this orphanage compound. It will keep these children safe from those that might harm them. It will allow them to grow up and become good productive people.

What say you? Will you chip in? No amount is too small.

Add this button to your own site!

well here we are again

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Oh for heaven's sakes where has the time gone?

Here's the dealio. I can't keep up. And I don't want to. And I don't have to, because I have been smart enough not to commit to having sponsors. Sometimes to do something right. Like every 10 years or so.

Summer is just too, hummm, (busy? no. scheduled? no. hot? no, not in Carlsbad.) lazy. Summer is too lazy to blog.

I could give a bunch of lame excuses like we are getting all new flooring and traveling for almost four weeks and I'm focusing on sticking to my workouts. All these things would be true, but really, I just need to slow down a bit.

I think I will give myself permisson to take a Summer break. Not that I won't be around. If I have a stroke of genius you know I'll be posting it all over the internet. But if I don't, and I want to go to the pool, then I won't be here.

Until after Labor Day.

BUT, you can still connect with me on Instagram. You can find me under Secondsister. I love The Gram! Do you have the app on your phone? It's available for iPhone and Droid. Get it. You won't be sorry.

And I leave you with a gift. Because that's how I roll.

A little gift, to make life with your kids this Summer just a wee bit more organized.

These job charts are 12X16 inches. I had mine printed out and laminated at Kinkos. It cost me $8. I laminated so we could use dry erase markers instead of printing a new chart each week. But you could do that too. Whatever! It's Summer! No worries!

My boy earns extra money around the house by doing extra chores. I made these tickets so we can keep track of how many extra chores he has done. Heaven forbid we forget. He has important things to save up for, like gum and legos.

Silly boy. Happy Summer!

I'm going to be sending out my freebies through my email list from now on. Sign up and you can download the charts and tickets and get those kids of yours doing their chores!

tower 21

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Okay so still no workshop photos. I'm going to need a little leeway on that one. This time of year is hella busy.

Someone needs to inform new moms that the end of the school year is akin to Christmas in activities to attend. This realization took me by storm.

So if you are a new mom, you have been informed by yours truly. Prepare.

But like Christmas, it's all good and exciting. We bought new swimsuits, the boys got their short hair cuts, we are making Summer job charts and gathering books for the kid to read over the next few months least his brain atrophy.

Living near the beach during the Summer is a dream come true for me. It never gets old. Never. We have a few trips planned, but for the most part, this Summer you will find us at the beach. To the south of life guard tower 21. Big umbrella. Cooler full of Coke Zero and strawberries.

Feel free to join us.

the jubilee and other some such stuff

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 14:00:00 +0000

I think Queen Elizabeth is just absolutely charming.

Now I don't know her personally. But I like her M.O.. She's classy like. And she's been at it for sixty years.

I can barely keep my kids in check long enough to pay for groceries, let alone rule over a country for sixty years.

She's classy and evidently made of steel.

Her diamond jubilee starts this weekend. I'm not one to watch these sorts of events, but I wish her the best of luck. The world needs more female role models that look like a well dressed grandma.

I also wanted to mention that it's Summer. I mean like officially. The Boy still has a few days left in school, but there's no doubt that Summer has arrived. I've decided to spend the next two weeks going to the pool everyday in an attempt to teach the babies to doggy paddle.

This hard work is my plan to better the chances of not having to get off my lazy butt every other minute later this Summer.

Here's hoping you have a great weekend. I'm still working on getting a post together about the workshops. One can't rush these things. Maybe Monday.

Maybe.

Cheers!