Happy Halloween!

I'll post our own silliness later, but for now, if you need a little Trick and Treat...
check out Ruby's blog for a happy Halloween tale!

Be THANKFUL

Thanksgiving is my 2nd favorite holiday! That means you get to celebrate, because I'm thankful for you, blog friends! Use THANKFUL as a coupon code for free shipping all month!

Home furnishing for the soul

I drove past this store today on 3rd street in LA- I drive past it often.
And the tagline hit me... "home furnishing for your soul"... Though I agree that my soul feels at rest when I am in a room that feels right, "mid-century modern" does not do it for me... And that's actually what I grew up with...
But I'm kind of thinking about how design is good for the soul - and yet different styles are so different and affect people differently...

For me, I love vintage, but not super old or with too much rust. I like shabby chic, but I don't love white. I love a riot of color and pattern, but I want clean Craftsman lines on my furniture. A little bit of art deco is good, but too much and it feels stuffy and formal, to me. I enjoy looking at scandinavian design, but not living in it. I like some kitsch, but not too much. I'm not into straight up traditional of any kind. And there has to be room for stacks and ollections. And I hate carpet. (says the girl who spent 6 years as a carpet designer)

Which design is good for your soul?

The book is done!

Pajamas and tired eyes included... I still don't like photos of myself, but I had to share my news... My book is done! It's super super cute and I'm totally proud of it. 20 pages of
preschool butterfly happiness.. (now I just need to make a customized version for my kids as a
Christmas gift... With their photos instead of the school friends... That will be fun!)

site updated

so my very busy hubby... while working late on his show... managed to update the website.
we have had to replace 2 patterns, Original, and Fall Springs... with new patterns - as they have discontinued fabrics in them.
We've replaced them with new (beautiful) patterns.
The replacement for "The Original" is actually the same print that you'll find in Sweet Tea, but in red and (get this) chocolate brown... it's gorgeous.The replacement for "Fall Springs" - the windmills pattern - is actually one I'd never planned to use for skirts. I had made curtains out of it for my living room and so many friends came through asking if they could have skirts made from the curtains, that, well....
And then... we've got the recently named: CARAMEL LATTEand also... another new one... AT THE DINER (It has a little tiny reference to my being a PepperDINER... and this being in our colors...)
And (drum roll, please)
another naming game! woohoo!
(Sheac Yee... did you ever receive your gift from me? please let me know if I forgot it in the midst of the robbery and all that junk...)
What are you friends suggesting for these two?prizes will be given to the winners... keep up the inspiration gals! I love that you are now inspiring me!

Spinny Skirts are up

Thanks to all of you who've expressed interest...
the spinny skirts are uploaded to etsy now.

I've also just created a facebook page for the business, where you can share photos and dialogue and all that jazz.

Happy Sunday night.
your friend,
libby

Mama spinny skirt outfit

I hate getting my picture taken, but I wanted to show that I finally found a good way to wear the mama spinny skirt today... With a really long tee (confession: it's a maternity shirt , though I'm not prego, I liked the length. LOL... I never fit this type when I was pregnant since I was so huge immediately!)

Happy Anniversary

So, there are a few things that are hard when you call two towns (LA and Chicago) home.

LA - I grew up in and live in now, but never have felt like I fit in... so in addition to the obvious LA complaints (traffic, smog, superficiality)... other than family, you could take it or leave it with me. But, my entire family is here. And I LOVE family.

Chicago - Spent 5 of the more foundational years to becoming myself there. But, alas, no family, though I left many irreplacable friends there. And I ache, missing them.  I also miss the seasons, the arts culture, the architecture, Oak Park, the forest preserves....

Yet, I call both "home" - Chicago tends to adopt people. It adopted me.
The biggest problem is that no matter which one I am in, I feel a little homesick.

Tonight helped out a lot.  To celebrate our 8th anniversary (Tuesday) - J took me to Silverlake - a great part of LA only 15 minutes from our home - that has more of a Chicago flavor than anywhere else... great boutiques, fabulous food (Cha Cha Cha - YUM!), and best of all.... our very own Intelligentsia Coffee store.
We were seriously geeked out when we walked in, as we've been shipping ourselves their brews for fun treats and special occasions since we left... and I was given the most lovely latte ever known to me.
We sat. We sipped. We waxed nostalgic.
We celebrated.
What a sweet and happy moment.
Sweet like...  cream, no sugar necessary.

(Happy Anniversary, sweetie. You're still my hero. ...and thanks for the coffee.)

Mimi and mama

Today our new tags and stickers arrived for our girl projects. "mimi and mama"
I'll try to post a better picture later. This is still a first draft, as I will eventualy have time for some original artwork for the tags. (the last non-backed up artwork on the stolen computer was an adorable set of labels and designs for this. I haven't yet had the heart and time to redo them, so I used vistaprint (again) to get something done quickly. These will do for now. They're cute.
The text at the bottom reads, "this special item was made for you by our own 4 hands."

On another note... The book nears completion. Everyone around me is pulling weight so I can get it done (thanks!). I read it at the school today to the class and have already had requests to make custom versions of it for other kids... This could get interesting.
(if any of you readers have good recommendations and/or experience as to what type of fees apply to something like that, I'd love to hear. This is a totally new area for me.)

New spinny skirts

Okay... So I got a bunch more skirts this morning.... These are all in that size that should fit all sizes between 3t-5t... (I've got some 2ts on order)
This design rocks... The others I got today are the red gingham like Lily's skirt... And also more Blue Sky Girl skirts (blue/brown) with either the dots or the damask. Email me if you're interested. I need to get them onto etsy, but with the book and the retreat decorations
(I'm also doing all the nametags) and also Halloween... I'm slammed this week.
Will try to get them up soon as they are perfect for holiday gifts!