new items and set sale deadline

Hello!  Yes, I'm blogging again and 3 weeks haven't even passed by!

I'm starting to get back into the swing of things and it feels really great!

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So... I finally have my little birthday cards listed for sale in the shop!

My sweet sister who lives far, far away on the east coast has been asking to buy some for so long and I am just now getting around to posting them.  So thank you, Jensina, for the motivational "push"!  I needed it!

They come in a set of 6 (3 blondes and 3 brunettes) or in singles.  And they all come with coordinating Kraft brown envelopes!  I don't know what it is about Kraft paper, but I LOVE it!  So cute!

You can find the cards for sale HERE.

I also have more paper products coming soon, but those will probably not make they're debut for another few weeks.  But they are DARLING, if I do say so myself!  I guess that's a good thing, right?  You'd better love what you sell or you probably won't be able to sell it!

And as far as the current Set Sale, it will be ending VERY soon so you'd better hurry!

It will be ending this week! 
Wednesday, Sept 1st is the last day
 and you'll have until 9pm MST
that night to make your final purchases with the sale prices!
That's the latest I can go because a gal needs her beauty rest!
So click HERE for the Set Sale!

It has been a very successful sale (excited squeal!) and we are most grateful to all of you for your wonderful support, encouragement and kind words!  Thank you, thank you!  I love being a "working artist" and that's only possible when you actually sell your artwork and are motivated to keep creating!  So thank you again, from the bottom of our hearts!

noah's room and a feature in TIME magazine

So I know in my last post I said I'd have my next post up in a week, but....  I didn't.  What a crazy month!  My brother has moved in with us temporarily, school has started so I'm watching my niece, Della, again, and... I have some wonderfully fabulous news that's making me go cookoo that I will share with you in the next few weeks!

A feature in TIME

So... first things first, I have to share some very exciting news I woke up to today.  I got a message from a fellow Etsy seller that Etsy was featured in TIME Magazine and my shop was mentioned specifically!!!  Click HERE to see for yourselves!

What happy news and I'm so flattered to be mentioned!  Especially when there are sooooooo many darling shops that fit into the Family & Kids category!  Yay for great publicity!!

A tour of Noah's room

So the other thing I was planning on showing you is a few pictures of how my artwork has been displayed.  Hopefully this will give you ideas and some courage to decorate with fun and happy artwork.

Noah's room is FULL of artwork!  I have the originals hanging all over and he loves it!  He talks and points and names and sings songs about all of the artwork in his room.  Not only is it cute and fun, but it's a real learning tool for kids.

Here are the photos (click on photos to enlarge):

Here I have displayed the construction set.

I used frames made of "reclaimed" looking wood.  Super cute!

Here is the rescue set.

I used matching black frames for these, though I have a friend who framed them in white and that looked fabulous too!

Here are six of the animals.

I LOVE how this grouping turned out!  These originals are 11x14 so they are a little bigger than my usual 8x10 size.  I used unfinished wood frames and stained them with a dark walnut color.

Here's a photo from a lovely customer who was so kind to send me pictures of how the prints she purchased look in her baby nursery.

This is my very favorite way to frame the prints!  With bright white matting and black frames, I think they really pop!

Thank you, Jennifer, for the darling photos!

The sale on sets is still going on at the shop, but not for too much longer!

Only a few more days!!

So head on over to the shop and get a head start on Christmas this year!

new print sets and a SALE!

Yay for print sets!
We are celebrating our new print sets by having an

End of Summer
Print Set Sale!

Here are the sets we have available now:

This first set is comprised of the newest print additions to the PP family:

Each print is also available seperately.

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Safari Set

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All prints in each set are available seperately as well.

The sale is featuring drastically reduced prices on just the print sets.  It's a great deal because you already get a price break for buying the prints in a set!

We've been working on getting this together for quite a while, so we're super excited to finally be able to offer it!

So come on over to the shop and enjoy the

End of Summer Sale on Sets!

Next week I'll be giving a tour of Noah's room where he has several of these sets so you can see how they look together framed. 

where has my summer gone?

Wow!  Life has been SUPER busy!  Why is summer always so darn busy??  Isn't it the time to relax on a hammock with a glass of pink lemonade and a bowl of fresh strawberries?  Where are the lazy days of summer that I so long for?

I had made plans with my dearest friend, Annie, to ride the train down with Noah and meet her at The Gateway in downtown SLC periodically so that our kids could run through the fountain and we could have much needed friend time. 

 Well, much needed friend time opportunities have whizzed right past me and now it seems that our "much needed" time has turned into "desperately needed" time. 
I miss my tall, skinny friend.  I love her so.
She always loves me no matter how bad I screw up.  She is silly and funny and the sweetest person I know.

Here is my dearest friend pictured with me on my wedding day in 2007:

I miss you, Lez!

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At least with all the busy days, I've had a bit of productive time.

We are introducing some of our newest Print Sets to be available in the shop in the upcoming days!

I've had SO MANY requests for these prints at print-set prices, so we just had to oblige!

I will be introducing the sets as soon as we can make them available to purchase.

another boutique!

So I mentioned in my previous post that I'd give you more info about the

And it's not just "Pickled" stuff, there's LOTS of amazing vendors selling there!

You can go to Sassy's blog HERE to see a small sampling.

Here are the details:

click HERE for directions

(house is actually about 1,000 feet west of the point on the map)

So come by and do some shopping! 

(Only 4 1/2 months until Christmas!  Eeek!)

Should be super fun, I can't wait to do some shopping myself!

And some cupcake eating...  that's reason enough!

Hope to see you there!

{ yard sale and boutique(s) }

We are having a

yard sale and a mini boutique
at our home
tomorrow!

I'm super excited to pass on a lot of fun stuff!  We have a bunch of great stuff that's difficult to part with, but if it's been in storage for a year (or more), then it is time.

We just hope it can all go to happy new homes!

AND

The boutique part will, of course, have my art prints and various handmade paper goods along with some so fun shelves and such from Abe's woodshop!

We will also have a

lemonade

& sweets stand

(source)

So come on over if you're in the area! 

It will be held tomorrow

Saturday, July 17th

8am and go until 1pm
(or later if things are still moving)

We're in Layton
on Antelope Drive a mile or so east of Hill Field Road.

And speaking of boutiques...

We are now featuring my prints, some paper goods and shelves in a brand new permenant boutique up in Logan, UT called

Violet Hill
755 North Main
Logan, UT 84321
1pm-8pm Tues-Fri
10am-7pm Saturday

Darling Alex and Courtney have put together such an amazing assortment of consigners, you just have to see it!

Grand opening is also tomorrow July 17th

And yet another boutique
The Sassy Cupcake
 will be featuring the same affore mentioned goods of ours in South Weber next week!

Here is their blog.

(more details to come)

So lot's of exciting stuff happening!

Please swing by our yard sale / boutique!
Even if it's just to say hello!
We'd love to see you!

noah cuteness

I know I say it all the time, but being a mom is the BEST!  I love it so much!  No matter if it's a good day or a bad day, Noah makes me smile, melt, laugh, feel wonderful, etc. at the very least once a day.  But it's usually a LOT more than just once.  It's so fun to be his mom!

I love when he concentrates.

He gets so into his games sometimes, it's adorable.

I love how he plays.

Today he walked around with this pirate patch on all morning and every time he saw me, he'd say"Aaaarrrrggg!"

I love how much he laughs.

He thought he was so funny drinking his milk out of a fry sauce cup at a local fast food joint.

Lately he's been talking so much more and really putting sentences together.

This morning as he wandered around with his pirate patch on, he'd say,

"Momma....  where aaarrre yoooouuu?"

Then he would giggle.

He has his own little language for things, which is really an entire post all to itself (stay tuned for that).

But one of my favorite examples would have to be

"owie barf".

It took me a good long time to figure out what he was saying.  Turns out that

owie barf = granola bar.

Seriously??  Hilarious.

I love this kid.

4th of july fun

I suppose it's about time I did a post about our Independence Day celebrations.  We did SOOOO much, yet I have soooo few pictures.  It's truly disappointing.  The weather cooled WAY down for the weekend which was just wonderful!  Was in the low to mid 80's with a lovely light breeze.  Perfect! 

We partied with friends on Saturday afternoon into the night.  It was full of games and kiddie pools and yummy food and good conversation and a neighborhood worth of fireworks! 

Then on Sunday we enjoyed dinner al fresco at my inlaws. 

Then Monday morning we ran the Layton City 5k with family, ran home and showered in time to return to the center of town for the Layton City parade.  It's kind of a silly little parade, but Noah loved it.  Here are some photo's of that:

This is our little spot on the side of the road.  Again, it was perfect weather!  Certainly hot, but not too hot to sit in the sun and watch a silly parade.

I know that Noah doesn't look thrilled.  But once the candy started getting thrown, he was plenty happy!

He LOVED the firetrucks!

This cool old tractor was fun!  Click on the photo to enlarge and see what the sign says!

This here is why I love silly hometown parades! 

Just an old guy on his lawnmower with a little trailor all decked out in red, white and blue!  Love it!

Noah loved the pretty horses!

We did too until they ALL decided to unload right in front of us!

And then these guys were our parade heroes:

I supposed they anticipated a LOT of horse poop to bring out the tractor...??

They got the BIGGEST cheers from the crowd.

That about sums up my pictures, but we had more dinner al fresco at the inlaws with more family.

Then we headed down to the park for the fireworks. 

Noah loved it!  It's so fun now that he's old enough to enjoy stuff like this.  He kept yelling out the colors and saying "again!".  We had a great weekend.

Abe and I both have July 4th at the top of our holiday lists. 

It's great because it's summer, it's picnics, it's fireworks, it's family and above all, we feel very blessed to live in such an amazing country!

matchbook notebook tutorial

I'm no good at tutorials, but maybe I should practice.  I made a bunch of little notebooks that were so fun and so easy to make.  They turned out so darn cute, I though maybe YOU would want to try!

So here's a little tutorial:

the matchbook notebook

supplies you will need:

cute cardstock, scratch paper, ruler, exacto knife or scissors, bone folder, stapler, pen

Use scratch paper to decide size and play around with the folding.  Be sure to leave room for the flap to tuck into the bottom fold after it's stapled.   When you get the size you like and the folds right, mark them with a pen as this will be your guide.

Now lay your cute cardstock on top of your guide paper, lined up like so.  Then use the ruler and bone folder to score the folds into the cardstock.

Now fold on your score lines and cut some insert paper (I use scrap paper or printer paper).  Cut the insert paper just smaller than the middle folded section of your cardstock.  Also, don't try to pile too much paper in as you will need to get the stapler through it all. 

Now tuck your insert paper in that small fold and staple close to the fold, but make sure you are still getting all the paper in there.

Now just tuck the top fold under the flap and..

VOILA!! 

A cute little matchbook notebook!

I've made lots of these and they are super fun for gifts or party favors or a fun craft for kids.

If you don't feel like making one yourself, I've got some for sale in the Pantry shop!

Yay for fun crafts!

some new things

I have been meaning to write about this for a while now.  Abe (the husband) has been busy making some fun shelves and I've been helping with the painting and sanding.  They are so lovely, I've already put my dibs on a few to keep here at the house.  But we can only have so many decorative shelves in our home, so.... we've been listing them in Pickled Pantry shop!  We've already sold one and Abe has so many more that we haven't posted yet.  He's such a talented carpenter and they are tunring out so beautifully!

Aqua shelf with lime green undercoat:

 

Black shelf with aqua undercoat and rope molding:

Aqua shelf with dental molding and an antique finish:

Aqua ribbon spool with lime green undercoat:

He has lots of colors available and more styles that we haven't posted yet.

I'm so lucky!  My husband can make ANYTHING!!

Well....,  almost.

a trip south

Last weekend we were able to escape for a short trip down to beautiful Southern Utah.  We started the first day with a short hike to the Lower Emerald Pools in Zion National Park.  I've visited this park many times before, but each time I'm there, I'm overwhelmed by it's beauty!

Here's Noah cradling Abe's head.  Have no idea what he was doing, maybe he just wanted to snuggle Daddy's head??

The next morning Abe took Noah swimming to cool off a bit from the heat of the desert:

Noah got a little tan:

The rest of the time we spent with my parents who live in St. George, UT.  It was SOOOOOO hot so we filled up the baby pool and Noah had so much fun!

We all enjoyed watching him from the shade of the patio.  Here's my mom and Abe relaxing (and me reflected in the window!):

All in all, a lovely relaxing trip.  We had so much fun!