Park City Retreat.

I have been waiting for this weekend for a long time...Startup Princess is having an all women entrepreneur retreat in Park City Utah this weekend, and I am ready to soak it all in like a dry sponge. The weekend's topics: Learn the Magic of Marketing to Women Online. Speakers include Gabrielle Blair from Kirtsy and Design Mom, Holly Buchanan and Michelle Miller authors of the Soccer mom myth , Janet Meiners Thaeler and expert on internet and affiliate marketing. I am also so excited to meet some attendees there: Gwen Bell from Kirtsy, Marie LaBaron from Make and Takes among others. I plan on coming back with LOTS and lots to share! And if you are in Utah, email me. It may not be too late to come and join up!

Happy Site Friday: Livingplaying

Christmas is here, and we all have our wish lists for our kids. Or, our kids have wish lists for us. Either way, here is a fantastic place to find creative play toys all in ONE place.

About them: "LivingPlaying.com is an online store providing high-quality educational and developmental toys, products, and publications that enable parents to teach, guide and inspire their children through creative play."

Wooden kitchens, wooden cars, puppet theaters, unique decor, doll houses, construction toys, even montessori toys. My kind of store!

Just stay little.

If you are still in the process of raising children, be aware that the tiny fingerprints that show up on almost every newly cleaned surface, the toys scattered about the house, the piles and piles of laundry to be tackled will disappear all too soon and that you will—to your surprise—miss them profoundly.

Thomas S. Monson

Oh how true!!! The total chaos around the house (like Ian pulling out the entire roll of toilet paper and his new found skill of sneaking utensils out of the kitchen and putting them in the washing machine) is simply physical proof that I live with angles. Funny angels. Clever angels. Know-how-to-push-me-to-my-limit angels...but angles. Oh...I wish they could just stay tiny forever! I just hope that when we are all big and fat and old, that we will still love each other just as much...maybe even more. But I sometimes find that hard to imagine! Just stay little!

Stationery, Seasons Greetings, and SALE!!!

Much awaited: Cards are here! These packs were so much fun to put together. Most of my cards just come with cards and envelopes. These have an added bonus: pretty box and gift tags to match! I had a lot of fun making these! I wish you could just see them in person. They are just yummy.

"Winter Cheer" Stationery Set

"Handmade Just for you" Stationery set

"Wellesley and Winslow Christmas Post" Stationery Set

I hope there are more Holiday cards coming, but I as far as "sets" complete with gift cards, this is it folks!

And while we are on the subject of GIVING....

How about a BUY 2 GET ONE FREE sale? Sound good? It does to me!

Just purchase TWO products, and mention the THIRD product in the message to seller box at the time of purchase, and I will include it in your order! Quesions? I'd love to hear from you!

Thanks to those of you who have been so patient waiting for these! Happy gift giving!!!

Have fun in the shop!

How to be a mom and an artist and a business owner.

Have you ever tried Googling that phrase? I have. I know. A little embarrassing. But the truth is, you can't really find an answer to that question. Experience is the only teacher.

Well, I guess if you googledd that phrase now, you would find this.

I was invited to be a guest blogger at Le Papier Studios, (A DARLING shop by the way...get your christmas goodies here!) and I spilled the beans about balance, and life and priorities and trying to live all three roles.

Something I hope to learn more about everyday. Life is meant to be lived...and when life is busy, there is no reason you still can't enjoy it all. So...here is my two cents on the subject. (Ok...more like 10 bucks...it is a bit long, but then, couldn't we all write novels on this subject?)

Enjoy!

What to do when your daughter is wearing a an extremely famous dress for Halloween?

Take lots of pictures!

The dress came in the mail at 3 pm Halloween afternoon, and that was the end of being a Witch for the night! I actually video taped her opening the box...and Oh! The dramatic response when she saw what it was. What an amazing dress!

As we were putting the dress on, Ian ran back to his room, grabbed his "prince" crown and his blanket for me to tie up as a cape. He immediately bowed to Addie and asked for the next dance. He is such a romantic...and well, it doesn't help that he has an Anne of Green Gables for a sister. And...well, I am not much better. I wonder where he gets it from!

This dress is a dream, and Addie is in heaven wearing it. We wore it trick or treating and let me tell you the comments we got! She was quite the featured trick-or-treater. (We only went to maybe 8 doors and took our time going door to door. They will get older one day and figure out faster walking = more candy) We ended up carrying her up each door step making sure she wouldn't step on this masterpiece. And that is what it is. A masterpiece.

I still feel a little guilty for having such an amazing dress..and so popular at that! I am just tickled to see how regal Addie becomes when she wears it. Her manners are perfect, and she becomes royalty. And in response, Ian becomes royalty too. We are already planning a party around this dress! And oh, what a ball it will be.

My Children's Corner

Since we are getting our place ready to sell, I realized I don't really have any decent pictures of my Addie and Ian's room. It is quite a tight space: all of their toys, clothes and beds fit into this little space that I can't even take a full picture of because I can't stand back far enough! But Small Spaces require creativity, which is my favorite kind of problem to handle.

Details:

- "Manners can be Fun": Anthropologie. Published in 1936. My mother used to read this to me, and I am sure her mother read it to my mother. Fantastic illustrations. We bring this down when the kids need a little more reenforcement besides mom and dad.

- "The LIttle House" is on my top 5 children's books of all time. If you haven't read this, you need to.

- Letter A: from Anthropologie. On sale for $6

- Toad likes to hang out up here, but he often comes down to play.

- Wooden display cabinet I hand painted a while back

- Babaar print: We purchased a print while in France at a flea market. I am sure you can get them in the states though. I just liked the size...and that it was from Provence.

- IKEA shelves are a lifesaver. Not only do they fit everything, but they are square. I like squares. And White.

-The felt Crowns are from Cakies. We love these!

-Vintage alphabet poster $4 at a book arts paper store

There are more details I didn't catch here...but all the more reason for me to take pictures when we move into our new space!