letters for baby caroline

One of my favorite children’s books of all time is Eric Carle’s, The Very Hungry Caterpillar… so I was very excited to receive a request to paint letters inspired by the book!
These letters were to be given as a gift to a brand new baby, Caroline, whose nursery was decorated with Pottery Barn Kid’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar crib bedding. I was very inspired by the primary colors & painterly quality of the book’s illustrations so tried to convey that with these letters.
Caroline Hand Painted Letters The Very Hungry CaterpillarCaroline Hand Painted Letters The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Zoom 1Caroline Hand Painted Letters The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Zoom 2Caroline Hand Painted Letters The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Zoom 3   Caroline Hand Painted Letters The Very Hungry Caterpillar - CCaroline Hand Painted Letters The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Caterpillar

I welcome you to contact me if you are interested in having me create something special for you!

hand painted letters for baby ryan

These letters were painted especially for Sweet Baby Ryan’s nursery. She has an adorable modern Jungle themed nursery that these will be displayed in!
Ryan Hand Painted LettersIf you are interested in having me create something special for you, I welcome you to contact me!

put a {neon} bird on it!

My good friend, Ali, asked me to paint something special for her brother & sister-in-law who are expecting a sweet baby girl in the Spring. They hadn’t completely committed to a name for their soon to babe… so Ali asked me to paint a couple of extra letters so they could mix and match between the two names that they were debating (Ruby & Ellory).
I love the outcome of these particular letters! They incorporate so many design elements that I LOVE; bold bright color, graphical pattern, & awesome contrast!
rubyruby1ruby2Elloryellory_2 copyellory3

whimsical chevron baby sower invitations

I designed these special Baby Shower Invitations at the request of the awesome host, Lyndsay. The gender of the baby was a surprise… so I used the color palette from the crib bedding that the parents-to-be chose for their little one!
baby shower invite 1baby shower invite 2I welcome you to contact me if you would like me to create something special for you!

maddie’s paisley & stripe letters

As many of you know, we move around more than the average family! Hopping around from country to country obviously has its benefits, but there are few quirky little draw backs along the way too! Long story short, we just received boxes of our personal items from our ‘2011-12 hockey season home in Malmö Sweden, to our home this year in Augsburg Germany… after a 7 month wait!
Unpacking the boxes we discovered Maddie’s 2nd set of letters, that I made for her bedroom in Sweden. I realized that I rarely post things that I make for her! I created these to match her pink paisley Pottery Barn bedding. Whoa! That was a lot of P’s in one sentence!
Maddie Paisley3Maddie Paisley2Maddie Paisley1
I would love to create something special for you, please contact me to discuss your options!

chevron letters for leyla

Just finished up some pretty pastel letters painted for Baby Leyla. Chevron stripes are very on trend now & they look super cute paired with polka dots!
The font & style of the letter is new too! They can sit on a shelf or hang on the wall.
LeylaLeyla2

a diy bavarian christmas

OK, so let me clarify… it’s not a traditional Bavarian Christmas, but more like a fun American take on a Bavarian theme!
The past few months living in Southern Germany, I’ve learned a few things… Two of my favorite things are that Bavarian’s really know how to celebrate & they really love their pretzels! They also really love their beer, but I wasn’t quite sure how to incorporate that into Christmas decor {other than to enjoy one while decorating}.

Anyone who knows me, knows I love a little whimsy, so after hearing from a German friend {Thanks Corinna!} that she saw a picture of a Christmas tree decorated with pretzels in a German magazine, the idea really stuck with me! Perfectly whimsical, perfectly appropriate, perfectly budget friendly, & perfect to get the family involved! Of course I totally got into the idea, decided to go one step further & created a big, fun pretzel star for our front door.

Since I didn’t actually see the picture in the magazine, I could totally let the imagination run wild. I knew Maddie Maye would have fun with glitter so I painted dozens of pretzels, 3 different sizes, with craft glue & let her sprinkle away! What’s holiday time without a little sparkle anyway? With all that sparkle I decided to keep the tree simple, just pretzels & white lights!

JD & Maddie Maye, glittering away!
glitter time

Our Tree!
pretzel treeclose_pretzel_tree
Our fun Pretzel Door Star!
pretzel starstar_ptretzel_before
I also filled our giant windows with tons of snowflakes! Super budget friendly, I spent 5€ on a roll of white glitter wrapping paper! I used the entire roll to cut out multiple sizes & shapes of snowflakes {1 roll = 50 snowflakes!}. I strung them up with regular old white thread & translucent tape.

Snowflake fun!
snowflakes

the magical amalfi coast

My family & I were fortunate to take a little November vacay in Italy. It was the perfect time of year to visit the Amalfi Coast! Tourist season had just ended, that means no lines or crowds, & the weather was perfect! We had lots of fun enjoying the black volcanic sand beach in Positano & the incredible beauty of the Island of Capri. We seriously enjoyed everything we ate too! The freshness of the ingredients was something that can’t be experienced anywhere else… takes delicious Italian food to an entirely new level!

Here are some pieces of brightly colored sea glass & tumbled tile pieces that I collected from the beach in Positano. I am so excited to add these materials to my global collection!!

Positano Sea GlassThe Little Beauty in a perfectly beautiful place!
Maddie in Positano

My little helper, Maddie Maye, helping me dig for sea glass!

Maddie Digging for Sea Glass

The Magical Positano!
Positano Beach

I welcome you to contact me if you are interested in having me create something special for you inspired by this beautiful place!

upcycled awesome

I had the pleasure of working with my friend, Ashley, to design jewelry for her beautiful flower girl & bridesmaids. It was very important to Ashley that every element of her wedding be “eco-friendly”. Creating eco-friendly jewelry was a new and exciting challenge for me! I really enjoyed researching materials for this project. Because Ashley had a previous career as a Marine Biologist we decided to work with sea glass, it is beautiful, eco-friendly, & definitely added a personal touch for Ashley. I used beautiful bright green sea glass collected from the shores of Prince Edward Island in Canada, supplied by Seaglassin.

Ashley & Ron’s incredible wedding photographer, Rab Bozeman, sums up their celebration beautifully…

Ashley and Ron were married July 28, 2012 at Frog Pond in Skaneateles, in the Finger Lakes region of New York. The wedding reflected their passions for friends, family, and all things local. The flowers and many of the vegetables were grown at their CSA, Marigold Farm, and served up by award-winning farm to table chef Stephen Landon. Local beers, handmade details and live music by Jennie Duberstein rounded out a fantastic day and a tremendous celebration. Congratulations Ashley and Ron.

It’s all about the local: Location: Frog Pond B&B, Event Coordination: Danielle Demers Fleckenstein, Officiant: Kelly Kilmer Hall, Catering: Stephen Landon, Flowers and vegetables: Marigold Farm, Cakes: La Dolce Vita Bake Shop, Asheley’s dress and bridesmaid’s dress’: Amanda Archer, Gent’s ties: Emy Uhlig, Bouquet, boutonnieres and hairpieces: Thea Folls,  Ashley’s ring: Dawe’s Designs, Ron’s ring: Gabrielle Maggi, Bridesmaid’s bracelets and earrings: Compliments from Sarah, Hair, makeup and nails: Bijou Salon, Custom soap: Lucky Goat Soap, Thumbprint tree: Melissa’s Artistic Gifts & Gallery, Seed packet artwork: Tree Space Studio.

Check out Rab’s photography of Ashley & Ron’s wedding at his website, here.

And on to the jewelry…
Green Sea Glass JewelryGreen Sea Glass JewelryGreen Sea Glass Jewelry Green Sea Glass JewelryGreen Sea Glass JewelryI welcome you to contact me if you are interested in having me create something special for your wedding day!

venetian striped bracelet

This bracelet is one of my personal favorites! Maybe its the story behind how I acquired the materials I used to make it… While we were living in Zürich, Switzerland my husband & I were able to do lots of traveling! We were on a little Italian adventure & found ourselves happily “lost” in Venice, Italy. On a side canal I found an adorable bead shop! Although Venice is known for their incredible glass, this shop had a little bit of everything, all made locally! I couldn’t leave without stocking up on some incredibly unique materials!

The fun square striped resin beads, which I found in Venice are accented with Austrian Swarovski Crystals. The bracelet is closed with an adjustable length toggle clasp. If you are interested in making this bracelet yours, you can purchase it here from my Etsy Shop!
I welcome you to contact me if you are interested in having me create something special for you!