Design Director's Tree Collage

Mimi tried her hand at one of momma's collages last night.
How much do we love this?!!!!!

Date night

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you know that I really love my coffee. Especially if its Intelligentsia Coffee... We had heard that Intelligentsia had opened a coffee "experience" in Venice Beach, on Abbott Kinney Drive.. But didn't visit until last night on a date ... Wow. The latte art holds nothing to the taste of this coffee. We (of course) bought a lb of happiness, which even made this morning a little sweeter.
The place itself was indeed a coffee "experience" to be had... Each customer gets a barista (think coffee-making waitress vs. bartender) and you are guided around to a specific machine for your drink order. It seemed odd, but was really personal and a latte is the same price as anywhere else... Only it tastes about 100x better. Yum.

Unique LA

Come see Libby Dibby, and my pal Mazie Kane www.maziekane.etsy.com at Unique LA next weekend! It's the largest indie design and gift show in the country and it's an honor just to be accepted into it... Come see us and get some great shopping done. (you know we will be shopping, too)

Our Thanksgiving Pics

Isn't it funny how once Thanksgiving is over (even if it is only a few hours ago) - it suddenly seems like it's really in the past - since the next day is all about moving on into the Christmas holiday season? Our family (the entire extended family) are really into Christmas - we ALL decorate a LOT for Christmas... rotating out artwork, taking down regular decorations to make room for the holiday decorations. The day after Thanksgiving is "Christmas Tree day" for all of us... so today is a big day for us.
But I can't properly move into the holiday season without sharing these great pics from yesterday. We traditionally spend Thanksgiving at my sister's in-laws (our extra in-laws) house in Malibu - every side of the family is there (though my in-laws were out of town yesterday), as my in-laws and my sis' in-laws have been close friends for 30 years. (Victory and I each married one of their sons, and thus brought the families from friends to relatives - I know, confusing)This year, for our after dinner sunset walk to the beach, we remembered to bring sleds for the huge sand dunes - which made for some great pics of the cousins, and the rest of us too - having a great time 'doing the dunes". (Yes, that is me, in my dress, getting ready to side down the sand hill) Plus, we pretty much have all of Zuma Beach to ourselves, so it really feels like it's OUR tradition.Our kids love each other so much, and our family is so close - you can see that in the photos. We love Thanksgiving.This year, we also had some awesome crafts displayed, and though we actually were able to fill out some "I am thankful" cards on behalf of the adults, the volume in the dining room was so insane with 7 (plus one more) cousins that we never even got to reading them. We've agreed
that next year, maybe the kids get to eat a little earlier so that the parents can have a civilized (and warm) turkey dinner. We love our family. Hope your turkey day was also filled with warm and happy memories, too!

I'm on iTunes!

okay, not really... my sister in law (Jen Ludwig) is, and my artwork is her album cover...
It was August this year when my sis in law, Jen, asked me if I'd consider doing a collage that would go with her Christmas album that she was working on. As we sat in my living room, I had an immediate image that represented what I wanted to say as she titled her album "Back to the Manger"... and here we are, a few months later - Jen's album is out, on iTunes and also at cdbaby - complete with my artwork on it's cover. Check out her album on itunes. You also can peek at her website and listen to samples there, too.
Jen has a beautiful voice and the album has some beautiful renditions of classics and some original songs. Jen both sings and plays guitar so wonderfully... she's the resident musician in our family. Even before she and I were ever introduced or became family, I used to go to events at Pepperdine (where she also was a student) and listen to her sing, now I have her in my family and also on my ipod.

Happy Christmas!

It's that time of year! I Iove the holidays, don't you? So much inspiration and so much family time...

Hope your Thanksgiving was beautiful - and the perfect start to your season...
As my little gift to you, my special friends and readers... I'm offering free shipping through Dec. 31. Just type in the code from my collage posted here... ("JOYJOY") in the coupon code at checkout. (Orders on my etsy site - www.libertyworth.etsy.com - will be given refunds for shipping if you type in the code)

Happy Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving in Malibu is part of our family tradition each year, complete with a wall filled with kiddo artwork, lots of wine, and yummy food, a sunset walk on the beach and much laughter. (and yes, that is the ocean, right over the hedge and the sweet potatoes)

A happy thanksgiving to you and yours.

A dose of happy

It's hard to be completely wrecked with sadness (even if it hard) when
you have this in your world.

SCRAP bag post

Hooray for my friends that love scraps as much as me!
I sold right around 40 bags of scraps at the sale this weekend and Jill already went home and turned hers into adorable skirts for the girls in her family! Check these out!

Christy Extra-ordinaire also has been using more and more of her Earth Day box of scraps and is working on the most amazing Christmas stockings from her box of happiness. Here are some unfinished pics. Suffice it to say that though we don't really need new stockings around here, (J's mom knitted and felted us some gorgeous ones that we've been using the past 5 years)... I'm feeling the urge to at least make a few quilted ones for display at least.
Maybe I need to just give in to the fact that I love Christmas stockings... they're not really a fashion item, but I seem to feel like we need more than a few around here... hmmmm....

Upscale Backyard Sale Recap

Mornings are my saddest time around here right now - if I'm not busy, all I can think about is the baby I am missing a lot. Today is Sunday, one week later than the precious photo that I took last week where AJ was snuggling with J in church. We had no idea that 48 hours later he wouldn't be ours. It still feels weird. J and I are still catching up on sleep and marveling how going from 2 kids to 3 kids to 2 kids is surreal and makes 2 seem like a breeze.
I decided in the quiet of this morning to write a recap of my Sale yesterday - which was honestly, such therapy for me. Thank you to everyone for coming - what a great day! We had people coming into our happy backyard all day long and it was amazing to meet bloggy and online friends in person for the first time in person, and then also to see friends that I hadn't seen in nearly 10 years. My design mentor - who hired me right out of college to do textile design - came, as did friends from every aspect of my life in Los Angeles, both before my move to Chicago and after we came back. The distraction was divine, it was fun to feel surrounded by friends.
Christy (who is taking our family Christmas shots today) took some great pics and brought some rockin pumpkin scones, and Tifanie manned the checkout with Kendra. My friend, Paula - who is starting a bakery in Hollywood, brought rockin' treats for us (see here for some other SUPER cute and YUMMY cupcakes she made for a recent event I had)... and the new (enormous) trampoline that J set up for the kids kept the mood light and giggle-y.
It was so much fun to see all of my stuff in one place... I had ALL of my skirts out, a sample sale rack, a spinny skirt rack, housewares, stationery, baby items, and jewelry sections... I had 6 large laundry baskets of scraps packaged into parcels, that by the end of the day was down to 1 laundry basket.... (that's 40 bags of scraps, folks!), and 23 bags of bead supplies, too. I just knew that the people who love Libby Dibby are also so very creative (or are working at getting there!) and it was fun to see people "inspired" (heard that word a lot!) to go home and make stuff with their finds.
The sale (I almost just called it a party) was so fun - and so much easier than doing craft sales - since I had to pack and move stuff all of about 10 feet... that I think I am going to bow out of more craft sales and simply do this instead. Maybe 2 times a year? What do you think? My thought was to have it again in May, before Mother's Day.I still have a few shows this year - the most notable being UNIQUE LA in a few weeks. But other than that... this is my new ticket... lots of you gals came over -THANKS SO MUCH!
(and thanks, again, Christy, for the awesome pics)

Someone stop me... Or maybe not (mod podge again)

I went to Anthropologie a few months ago and saw some fabric covered teapots that made my mouth water with C U T E... But alas, like everything there, the price was a little steep. Okay, I'd never spend $60 on a teapot... Especially when I thought I could make it at home.
So I tucked the idea away until I found a teapot to try it on. The one I found had a hideous bamboo handle that needed to be replaced... (enter the knotted grosgrain handle)... And then I Mod-Podged the heck out if this happy little piece. I will put it out at my sales that remain this December. (after that, if it doesn't sell, it might be mine...too cute to let go of)

It's beginning to look a little like Christmas

Okay, not yet... But watching Glee (tivo'd) tonight, I needed something to do with my hands, of course. This is one issue of a recent magazine... Folded just so... It makes the happiest tree. I
learned about this in Marie Claire Idees... Though I had to figure it out since I can't read French...

Collages - on the subject of AJ

Per my earlier scanned drawings...

tonight, while J and I worked on some legal documentation of this whole situation, I kept my itchy fingers busy by giving them scissors, a glue stick and some catalogs that recently came through the mail slot. I was able to get out at least my thoughts and heart from the "mountain" drawing posted earlier... which felt really good.

I'm still amazed that after years of being so frustrated in art school and classes with paints and other mediums that my preferred medium boils down to catalogs, scissors and glue sticks. Very portable, though - and gratefully, I seem to always be satisfied with

the outcome of my time spent. I know I can get my heart out onto that paper. Here is my heart tonight.

The only way I can describe this is my heart (worn on the outside of my skin) for AJ as I wish so desperately that I could give him the love and protection he needs. The storms of life are so near and the dream of being a family is as well, but the future remains uncertain.

Libby Dibby Jewelry - it did exist once

I told you I made jewelry in a past life, right? Well, I found it all on time for the sale. It is utterly ridiculous how much there is. (oy vey) The circle photo below is the image of a necklace I made the other night... Trying to keep my hands busy so my mind and heart can process it all is totally my MO around here. This necklace was not "designed"... I literally scraped the bottom of of my unsorted bead boxes and came up with this. I've worn it the past two days. It feels therapeutic and also kind of "scrappy" to wear it. (plus it goes with everything). I'd forgotten how much I love to make jewelry... That was fun.

Mod Podge Strikes Again

I made this the other night for the sale, but now I don't want to part with it after lighting the candle in it today...

Artwork for AJ

There will be more of this - more development of these thoughts for sure... and please pardon me as I grieve a little publicly. This blog is how I express myself and seems the most appropriate place to put my heart right now.

Today, cleaning up, packing up AJ's things into boxes to be put into the attic, I found this picture that Mimi made for him last week. She loved making him drawings and then taping them to the rotating mobile on his swing so they would move around as he swung.

The two (not great, but expressive nonetheless) drawings were quick sketches that I made in church two different Sundays. The one in pen of myself holding a broken earth was drawn with AJ sleeping peacefully on my lap.

The second one was drawn right after I took that pic of Jay holding AJ in church. These were my promises to him - I made many more... and will have to let them unfold naturally, but it seemed appropriate to share them. Maybe it's not, I'm not sure. But I know that I love that baby and the dark heart in the image of me walking him to the mountain (a symbol to me for the hardships of life that need to be climbed as we reach for God) is very much a reality this week. Though I didn't know that AJ would be taken from me less than 48 hours after I drew this, I had a sense in my soul that I couldn't ever hold him close enough, long enough or make him safe enough on my own.

This is how I am coping

I spent the morning playing with AJ and wearing him in the sling as I killed the waiting time by preparing for Saturday's backyard sale. Tonight I pulled out all the jewelry from days of old... (4 years ago!) and set it up too... (pics tomorrow)... Then Tif came over and we engaged in some Mod Podge Therapy (thanks, Amy!) and laughed and dished about Twilight like two teenagers while J medicated himself with some "so you think you can dance"... I'm glad this weekend's sale
is happening. It's keeping me moving.

Yardsale Invitations

I sent this out to the friends that are on the evite for this weekend's event. If you are interested in coming to the First Ever Upscale Backyard Sale... let me know and I'll pass on the details...

and yes, I am paying the sales tax (9.75%) and there's no shipping, so this is a great deal!

like the graphic above says, bring a friend, and you'll get a little thank you treat from me!

Keeping busy... Upscale yardsale prep

This week is my backyard sale! That means that I'm working every spare minute on fun little stuff for it! Today's project was lots of my favorite "scrap-books"... I love mine so much, everyone needs to have these! Now about 16 more people get to enjoy them now too...

Did you see this too?

The most recent anthropologie catalog about sent me into cardiac arrest when I saw this page...(oh, and many others!)... My new crafty, knotty, quilty, designy neighbor mommy pal, icole, emailed me... "have you seen page 17 yet???" and sent me a link.

I believe a red/brown/pink/orange/green version is in my future. (as soo nas I build up the nerve and catch up a little on sleep... Maybe it's a project for January, my favorite month)

Nicole's email was so funny that I had to post it here. (my points exactly)

"Didn't get past that page last night. The syncronicity of it short circuted my brain:) just looking through it now and there are more quilts and knit chevron throws and crocheted amiguri ornimemts. Not to mention all the pretty clothes, shoes and bags. Damn recession."

The patch has grown

He must love me

J came home the other night with these two mags for me, saying that now I didn't have to go through the embarrassment of wanting to buy the Vanity Fair... (I never would have, too embarrassed)... But (sigh), Rob does bring Edward to life... And um, it's for the articles, man!
:)
The quilt mag is awesome, too. I think J was wanting to get me one with projects in it that he actually approved of and could envision in our house/life.
Nicely done, J!

Yoyos on parade

Told you I had been busy making these.

Yoyo barrette

Been making a bunch of these yoyo barrettes for the Upscale Backyard Sale... And found a new use for them today...

This is my quiet time

I've been itching to feel normal. Wanting to blog, sew, read, meditate...
But my new life with foster care appointments, social worker visits, sleepless nights and a week of half days for Mimi- along with an adorable, but sick baby who is happy as long as he is being held... (thank you, sling) .... Has left me with minimal time to be Libby. So today, this is my moment of peace... Walking Z home from preschool before hopping onto the 10 freeway off to get Mimi. Note: the lump in my shadow is a happily snug slung baby.

International Sanctuary - aw, shucks.

I was peeking in on Tori's blog the other day and saw that she'd helped International Sanctuary get their new website up and running. Which of course I had to check out - because I love the whole "purchase with purpose" concept that they have.

If you've been a long time reader of mine, you'll know that I had lunch with the founders of International Sanctuary a while ago whose mission is:

"iSanctuary is a new and growing non-profit organization that was formed to develop social enterprises for survivors of commercial sexual exploitation.

Currently we are training 40 rescued girls, from the ages of 13 to 18 in Mumbai India, in the skill of jewelry making. Once the girls are trained, their products are brought to the US and UK to be sold to fund their futures."Anyhow, I figured, even though I would be seeing them soon at an event I am hosting for MOPS - a mini-boutique in December, that I needed to make a little purchase in support of them. For a while I've been eyeing their "Ring of Fire" bracelet - it's kind of a signature piece for them and when I have noticed it on other women it's something I immediately recognize as an International Sanctuary piece. So I dropped one of those into my cart. Then I went over to the necklaces page and saw something that was so sweet! They have a necklace named the Liberty Necklace and is fashioned after a design that I made with Stephanie that day last December. We had such a fun time talking about clustering colors and shapes in the variety that would create a rich look... and I'd made some earrings and a necklace for her and off to our lunch we went. I knew we'd had fun together, but I'd never dreamed that they'd use my design and name it after our work-session. What an honor.
I bought one. And wore it proudly yesterday. I may need to buy a few more as gifts. At a mere $20, they are a lot of fun to pick up for thoughtful gifts this winter. (and they're cute!)