15% off at Libby Dibby - 4 days only - last coupon code for a long time!

we sent out one last coupon code over email last night...
i know - we've only sent one email out, all year, and here we go with 2 in one week... but if you didn't get it and want it to be sent to you - it's 15% off everything on our website!
email me if you are interested - and I promise, we won't kill your inbox - this is just a special week!

Going back to the beginning... jewelry

I've been really meaning to get out my beads and jewelry tools lately and yesterday I was able to go pick up a few boxes of beads and spend a few hours cranking away on some ideas - just for the fun of it. When I last made jewelry, I was always "cranking it out" - trying to get enough to fill store displays or ship to some of my retailers. This was purely for fun. And I really had a lot of fun!I tried stuff I haven't ever done and I am really pleased with what came of it.

Now I just need to figure out what I am going to do with it.... I'm not even sure these are really anything I'd wear - even though I love to look at them. They may end up with friends and family, or maybe in the etsy shop eventually... not sure. For now, they're sparkling up my living room.

sample scrap skirts

the three sample scrap skirts are up in the etsy shop... they have elastic waistbands and are sized for gals sized 10-12...
=)

Mailing List... get on it...

I've just updated the etsy shop (more spinny skirts and a few sample sales) and am putting up the finishing touches on our holiday email - complete with coupon codes like never before ... (I'm feeling mighty GIVE-Y right now... everyone deserves some fun shopping with a little less guilt these days!)

If you've not signed up on our mailing list yet - check out the new gutter feature on the blog here that signs you up!
This particular email is only going out once... so get yourself on the list!

Hello Christmas projects!

I've made a few of these already this year, but they excite me each
time. I've been sitting here, with piles of great-grammy's unfinished
quilt pieces... And then I saw a spread on some magazine turning them
into wreaths. How happy am I?
Great-Grammy herself will be getting one of these... (good thing she's
not
A huge blog reader!)

Scrap surprise!

We were making a custom skirt for someone and also had these whipped up. They are around a size 10, but would likely fit a 12. If you are interested, there are only one of each... And they'll be going on etsy, but if you really want them, email me and they can be yours... $38 each.
(elastic waist... not a wrap skirt)

Half a moment

I love love love gingko trees and I adore them in fall. I took Z today to city hall in Beverly Hills (his favorite building... Budding architect?) and in my one moment of peace, I sat with this lovely leaf on my knee and took a deep breath. Then we played "boo" around the columns and the moment of quiet was gone. I have to steal them when I can...

beauty shot

here's one beauty shot of the spinny skirts from our family portrait... sofia just HAD to wear her red shoes. I loved it.

Yo Gabba Gabba!!!!

Setting up for Felt Club today, we were right next to the stage and right next to DJ Lance from Yo Gabba Gabba... Here's a shout out to my two preschoolers at home. (they did get to meet him later in the day when they came to visit me - they were so excited that when he came over to talk to them they ran away screaming with joy!)
Lance is super super sweet and had a mini crowd of preschoolers ooohing all day. He is a gracious and warm person. (plus, the music by him and his buddies was so fun all day!)

Spinning and spinning

Today was our family portrait, for my side of the family - with my parents, my sister and brother-in-law and their kids. We decided to stick the girls in Libby Dibby spinny skirts.
This is just a snapshot J took, but I can't wait to see the real shots!
what a happy image this is to me...

Here's a moment of autumn peace

I'm still here. Between holiday boutiques, stress at preschool, family portraits (with every permutation!), finishing up our house bolstering, filling orders and gearing up for the holidays as a family...
Whew! Blogging falls by the wayside.

But here is a moment of beauty... Autumn sunlight streaming through stained glass of a Craftsman chapel in Beverly Hills.
Soak it in.

New Pattern Name winners!

Thanks again, friends, for the votes on the new pattern names...
I've finally decided which I love best.

the Leopard Print one:
COCO IN LOVE - by Shankat....

and the black/tan one:
ETOILE - by dina

Thanks so much ladies... and all who submitted ideas.
I love hearing from you.
Shankat and Dina... email me your mailing addresses and look for some fun mail!
love.
libby

Floradora hats

I always fall in love with some other vendor nearby to me at the festivals and boutiques that I do... This past week it was two... (Second one still to come...)
Debbie from Floradora hats had the booth behind me and I bought the two hats at the bottom of the frame (like my new collage software?)... Debbie was shy to have her photo taken, but I must say, she's a delight to spend a day with and I invited her to join me on December
3rd... Her website isn't up yet (I'm pushing her for an etsy shop)... But you can count on me for updates about her.
Her stuff is all handmade and affordable... I had to stop at the two I bought... Aren't they gorgeous? (I sent the photo of the brown one to J with the title... "I love myself and that's why I bought this hat!" (I'm so tempted to have a hat boutique at my house for her)

Bachelder tile detail from fireplace

Window grapes

After the robbery, we were faced with the fact that we had some pretty vulnerable windows on our nearly century-old house. The most upsetting to me, personally, were the two full length windows to the sides of the beautiful front door. The door, and its windows, are probably our favorite part of the house besides the fireplace, porch, storybook roofline, craftsman details... So I was really upset about losing the aesthetic.
We are not putting bars on all the windows, just one additional particularly vulnerable one... And after much deliberation... We came up with this design for our windows. It was a tough choice, because Craftsman lines have an art deco flavor, but are mostly straight and
very clean... (Like jail bars?) but our Bachelder tile on the living room fireplace, ties in this grape design quite nicely.
We are so very pleased with how they came out... Our worst fear was that our newly bolstered house would begin to visually scream, "we've been robbed!"
But now instead, we have this shady garden like view from the living room, and a new element of beauty from the outside. Hooray for form meeting function!

Boutique #1

What were you doing at 7am this morning? (yawn) I was here, setting up my booth after watching the sunrise while I drove up Pacific Coast Highway.
I'm meeting the cutest vendors today... You can be sure we've got some blog entries coming....

Boutique #2

Boutique #3

Where I'll be (for those of you LA readers)

I've been so blown away by the craziness of these past few weeks, that I have forgotten to put out my list of holiday events (I don't actually do that many!)
confession... we got NOT a one cute picture of the momma and girlie ladybugs that I stayed up so late working on... (argh)

Tomorrow, I'll be at
Calvary Christian School's Holiday Boutique... one of my favorite events.
It's at 701 Palisades Drive Pacific Palisades, CA 90272 phone 310. 573. 0082
from 8.30am - 4.30pm

Next, it's FELT CLUB... on November 16th.

After that... There are two events for MOPS up in Thousand Oaks that I will be at...
Calvary Community Church
5495 Via Rocas
Westlake Village, CA
one is on November 18th, and the other is Saturday, Nov. 22, 2008
9:00 am to 1:00 pm

Then the last one will be December 3rd, at the Hollywood MOPS group that I actually attend.
It's a small thing from 9am-11am.

If you're wondering about my very MOPS heavy schedule, I must confess... I do love my MOPS group, and I believe in it wholeheartedly, but that's not the only reason I attend these events.
Seems word of mouth remains the best publicity, and though I have attempted many other festivals and events, the ones out here in LA just rarely seem to pay off... I did a few over the last few years, and have generally been so disappointed with the amount of work they take and the low turnout! The MOPS groups tend to pull from within the attendees of the regular group, so we know who is coming... and people come looking.
In Chicago, it was so very different... the festivals were where people knew to look for local artists to find, discover and support them... not so much in LA.
So, since babysitting adds up, and gas, and exhaustion is hard to rid with two monkeys waiting for me when I get home, I've had to get really selective about what I do... and I do enjoy each one of these events greatly.
Which reminds me... I have to go pack the new minivan... which will ALSO make things SO much easier tomorrow!
love... libby