hair pretties love.

I have been a big fan of Meghan's ever since I first discovered her adorable etsy shop.

I scooped up several of her precious hand knit booties for Baby Isaac and we were even so honored as to have Meghan naming a pair after him! That was a HUGE honor for us! (Okay..maybe for me more than Isaac but I'm sure he'll be honored when he can understand honor :)).

So imagine my delight when I saw Hair Pretties tagged in these super cute photos today. Isn't she gorgeous? She sure knows how to rock a limited edition pretty if I do say so myself too.

Thanks for the shout out today Meghan! You made my day!

whole lotta love...

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! This morning I woke up to the sweetest gift from my husband and I received some fabulous drawings from my littlest love bandits.

I always wondered if there were special perks to being married to an artist...turns out there are! He water colored the lollipop hearts onto this card and I must say I was impressed with the hand lettered "Happy Valentine's Day"...there's no way I could write that nice! But what I love the most is that Billy bought me a plant...I love flowers but they always die so quickly...in the planter, Billy stuck this little plant stake that says, "Grow Old With Me." It makes me smile every time I see it. And as sappy as it sounds, I think its a good reminder that in order for something to grow..whether it be a plant or a relationship...there has to be nourishment and care...and some sunshine doesn't hurt either. :)

Instead of a card I wrote my message to Billy on this red inflatable heart...I also bought this "Happy Valentine's" kite from an artist in Barcelona (last two pictures in this sequence are her photographs). Isn't it cute? I set them up with a bag full of some of Billy's favorite candy. I know Billy doesn't probably care too much about kite cuteness, so I am sending him off to my spa next week for a massage...which I think every hardworking man deserves. :)

There's also a giveaway going on over at the Hair Pretties page...contest closes on Friday night so be sure to enter!

The sweetest thing.

Seriously one of the most beautiful babies I have ever seen...I think I want her! How cute is she wearing the *keeps me searching for a heart of gold* hair pretty?

You can view more of her talented mama's work (or book her for a session) right over here.

a week in...

So. Here we are...first week of the New Year has come and gone...We are pretty excited over here because we went down and got our 2011 business license! We have set financial goals we need to make in order to be able to design full time and open a design studio...and I am so happy to announce that even though we are only doing this part time with NO advertising, for the first week we have succeeded our FULL time financial goal! I hope this is just the start to a great year and I really have to give all the glory to God.

Also, at the end of December I shipped out an order of couture headbands I made especially for Meg Fish. I'm sure you've heard me rave all about her work right on here on my blog!

Looks like they arrived just in time because she was using them as gifts for all her newborn baby girl clients (how sweet is that?) and today I was tagged in this sweet photo! This adorable little girl is the daughter of the wedding photographers over here.

Also excited to announce that the full page ad we designed for Moments To Remember Photography studio (we also designed their logo too :)) is now circulating in this month's issue of Me and Mine.

I should really be in bed right now but my husband is up watching Tombstone and so I figured I'd catch up on my blog reading while the movie is on :)

2010

I can't believe its already December and 2010 is coming to an end. I secretly like when the New Year comes. I always make resolutions and have been putting a lot of thought into what I want to change for 2011. I once read to learn to be "content with what you have but never with who you are." I thought that was a nice challenge!



We don't do "santa" in our household, but I took the boys over to the studio to get a "santa" picture...minus the santa! :) I recently designed an ad for Moments To Remember Photography that my husband flawlessly executed...God must have known what He was doing when He paired us up! The ad was featured in a local magazine.


In other news I was really happy to see another hair pretty picture over at one of my favorite photographer's sites. The beauty in the simplicity of her work never fails to inspire me!

honored

One day while I was pregnant with sweet Isaac, I google searched something along the lines of 'beachy baby showers' and managed to come across some beautiful images that linked me over to the work of the ever so talented Meg Fish.

While I love and respect the different types of photography, I must say Meg's work is especially inspiring to me because of this key element: simplicity! I love me a good prop, I do, but there is just something so elegant and understated about her photographs and the lack of overpowering colors or extras. You have no choice but to focus on the subject and there is nothing to distract from the natural beauty she captures in the fleeting moments of pregnancy, infancy, and motherhood. I love every picture she takes, they quite literally take my breath away!

So, to say I was honored to see her feature hair pretties on her site does not quite do my feelings justice. I am so in love with these pictures of her beautiful daughter Ella. Thank you for the shout out Meg! I hope you too will become a daily follower of her blog.

Meg requested the *santa baby* with a white band and I created the nude/peach flower on the stormy grey band just for baby Ella. I have been getting lots of requests for it now, so I am so happy everyone has liked it :)

So its past my bedtime..I was actually sleeping but awoke and was unable to get back to sleep..so here I am..catching up on blogs, including updating my own! :)

late night blogger

soooo should be sleeping right now! but sadly Isaac just fell asleep and so I need a little quiet time to unwind...poor little guy has been so fussy lately, I think he may be cutting in some new teeth.

Other than holding him 24-7 we've been working on some design jobs which are always a fun challenge. We'd love if you'd come by our site and say hi!

I have been working on getting the hair pretties collaboration pieces ready and here's just a little peek at the sweet bobby pins featuring the beautiful hand crocheting flowers lovingly made by my adorable Grandma.



Been doing lots of reading lately too...mostly on simplifying life....its funny how easy it is to let life get cluttered with things that don't matter....spiritually, emotionally, mentally...physically...! It can be draining and sometimes its so nice to purge ourselves of old things that no longer hold any value or meaning.

So there you go...the mindless rambles of a tired mama!

Today.

the weather (in my humble opinion) was beautiful today. Even though I have allergies I loved the breeze today...reminded me of our vacations in Laguna!

A few pictures I snapped up of the boys...Colby and Micah are both so artistic I love it. I think Micah has inherited Billy's eye for design...the other day while playing with blocks at Grandma Gloria's house he put blue and green triangle blocks together to form a square and said, "Look mom. I made the Sam's Club sign" (logo). That's my boy :)







Other than being busy with my 3 little boys and my handsome husband I was selling Hair Pretties at the California Beer and Wine Festival at the Wow Now Photography booth! It was so nice to meet so many lovely girls!

We just finished a fabulous logo for one of the few photography studios here in town. I can't debut it yet since we have yet to hand over the final files, but everything has been approved and I LOVE it! :)

Hope everyone's week is off to a great start!!!

broken record.

so I know I keep saying this but really...can life just slow down for even ONE minute?! We have so much going on right now I'm not even sure where to start! Colby and I got sick (again). We should win some type of medal the way we've had the flu around here!

In happier news a few weeks back I had the honor of snapping a few photos of Meagan and her sweet little girl. Aren't they beautiful?! I am NO photographer, but I was happy Meagan humored me because she and her little one made for beautiful models! And yes. They are both wearing their hair pretties!



I also received these photos in my inbox taken by the talented enluce photographers! Natalie was a beautiful bride and she even wore a hair pretty too! LOVE! I may have looked at her pictures a million times already! Congratulations Natalie!!!



And in other news we are getting ready to launch our site for Different By Design. We did some studio work with Gary Roberts for the site and I can't wait to get some edited pictures but here is a raw image for fun :)



Gary was even kind enough to snap a picture of my little sister in a limited edition hair pretty and sweet baby Isaac running wild in his black sheep costume! Thanks Gary!!!




SO. Life has been keeping us busy to say the least :) Hope everyone is alive and well!

anniversary.

Yesterday we celebrated 2 years of marriage...I must say being married is hard work..but it is so worth it! My mom was kind enough to keep all 3 of our little bandit boys so we could escape for a dinner date. Later this week we will continue celebrating where we spent our first mini honeymoon... in San Francisco. I LOVE that city!

Tradition has it that the second anniversary is the cotton anniversary. I had these fern animals custom made by the talented Ashley Anna Brown...they make me so happy! I had the Liberty of London fabric imported for mine and then picked a vintage brown gingham for Billy. She stitched our monogram and wedding dates on the backside. They are too cute for words!



I got Billy a new 49ers hat (hey..its cotton and he had bought one on our honeymoon but that one is pretty beat up now) and Billy sewed me this little banner and even embroidered I love you under the heart! I love him :)

I cut 4 inches off my hair and it feels great! Had to celebrate with a hair pretty. We took a quick picture and then we were off! It was a fun night. Happy Anniversary Billy! I love you!

life...

It feels like life has been going by so fast lately! I wish I had a little timeout button! Isaac has been going nonstop, you'd think he'd come out of the womb walking :) Poor little Micah has been sick for a month and a half :( and Colby is just so grown up in the 2nd grade!

Billy's corporate America job has always kept him busy, but we've been designing away together too, which I can't wait till we are able to do full time!!! We are preparing to launch our web site and have a really fun photo shoot scheduled with a great photographer in Sacramento that is all part of the top secret web design :)

In the mean while, we had pictures taken of our three little love bandits by the very talented Jessica Cole. And we've had the honor of working with Meg of Captured Images on some secret projects!







Hair Pretties is keeping me busier than I could have thought but I truthfully love every minute of it!!! I even received an email today from a fabulous store interested in carrying them, which had Billy and I both smiling ear to ear...we LOVE this store! Above are some photos I took of new pretties...I love how unique and different they are! The limited editions completely sold out in 3 days, with the exception of one!

SO. Enough blabbering! Anyone else feel like life is just going by at an extra fast speed right now? :)

keeping on...

since I happened to bring home some fabulous little trinkets from our family trip to the city, I decided to make some limited edition pretties. I think they turned out quite lovely...and did I mention how much I love my little sister? She has a heart of gold :)

I am in love with the flower/leaves one...it has me so excited for fall! And I can't wait to see the holiday items in Ann's shop. Her headbands are pretty all year long, but I especially love her holiday pieces!

If you'd like to keep up with hair pretties, you can find them here. :)

hair pretties...

As long as I can remember I have been wearing pretties in my hair. Probably to distract people from staring at my not so pretty face! haha! :) But really. If I don't have a clip, a headband or a flower or SOMETHING in my hair I just don't feel right. I tried to take our last Christmas photo with just my hair down...it didn't happen. Literally while everyone was sitting in the car waiting for me I ran back inside and put on a thin black headband with a little bow. You can't even see it unless you are looking for it but for some reason (probably the reason being that I have bad, unruly hair) I just feel better with something on my head.

In fact, for our spring session with Joey I brought 2 hair pretties because I couldn't decide on one! Even had a custom headband made for our wedding. Oh wait, I even had one made for our rehearsal dinner. What can I say? I love them! I also have a fabulous little collection of these.

Well, last night I did the unthinkable and instead of buying pretties I made some! They didn't turn out too shabby for a first timer...I even broke down and cut bits of my Liberty of London tana lawn fabric to back the flowers. And of course when Colby and Micah woke up the next day they said, "Mom. Those are so pretty!" (they are the reasons I call them hair pretties). Micah learned it from Colby who since he was 2 used to tell me I was "pretty" if I put a flower in my hair. :) Actually, maybe Colby learned this from Billy because he always loves when I wear flowers in my hair too :)

To me they are a simple pick me up. They don't require any work (like makeup), you can just throw one on and go...

So. Enough babbling. Here's some photos I took of the headbands and thanks for all your sweet comments and the messages you sent on facebook. While I made these pretties for my little sisters, a few of these are on their way out the door to new homes. It's so fun making something so small that can bring a big smile on someone's face. :)