Notes from A Cottage Industry

Going the extra mile, in an oh-so-charming way.

When I began training for my new position at my grown up girl job, I knew I wanted to make a lasting impression on the clients I would be dealing with.

And, I knew exactly how I was going to do this.

I immediately called my incredibly talented card-designer gal-pal and asked her to create some fabulous note cards for me to send out correspondence to clients.

She ordered some rubber stamps from a grouping that I had liked on her previous cards. They are all stamps of girls doing things, without showing a face.(You see, we work with offices all over the nation and so we do not necessary meet face to face, at least not too often, so I really liked that idea.)

Anyway,

As I said, she ordered the stamps I liked. Then, she got busy crafting and designing, using oodles and toodles of various shades and patterns of purple paper, since our logo is purple. Finally, she added our company logo to the cards. When she got them finished, she sent them by post.

They arrived last Saturday.

Be still my heart.

She out-did herself. So cute. So professional, and polished. So....perfect for what I needed.Now, when I finish a job for one of our members, I will write a note to them inside one of these sweet little cards, and pop it in the mail, post suite.

*sigh*

I heart these little works of art, masquerading as stationery, and I know my clients will be tickled purple when they find one in their mail box.

The coolest tool on earth for making apple pie.

My, oh my.

I am embarrassed to tell you exactly how long I owned this tool before I ever tried using it.

Wait. Let em back up.

Way back.

Maybe eight years or more ago.

I first saw this tool at a Pampered Chef party. I was wow'd, (wowed? wowwed?) but I couldn't bring myself to buy it because, even though I am a baker at heart, pies rather intimidate me for some reason. Well, that and the fact that I was suffering from sticker shock. This little baby is about fifty bucks, if you get the little wooden stand to go along with it. (which pretty much is a must, I think.)

Fast forward a few years, to about three years ago. My Pampered Chef friend was making her last order and I said, in a total weak moment of bakers insanity, "Order me one, please."

It arrived shortly thereafter. The mere thought of assembling the little wooden base seemed overwhelmingly too mechanical for me. Completely intimidated, it sat there in it's little Papmpered Chef box.

Mmm hmm, just like that.

Years passed (um, as I stated before...three years) and then,  this past spring, while out yard saling with a friend, there on an old bookshelf in someones driveway, sat the identical Pampered Chef tool.

Assembled.

It mattered not that I already owned this too-cool-for-school-tool, I grabbed it. For three dollars, I had to. (That and that fact that it was ready to use...fully assembled!)

So, I gave one of my girls the new-in-the-box Pampered Chef Apple Corer Peeler (While I can agonize over dropping fifty bucks on myself, I have no problem giving a fifty dollar item to family or friends.) and I kept the thrifted one.

And, it sat there.

For months.

Until now.

My Rock n" Roll Buddy called me one day last week at work and said he had just bought ten pounds of honey crisp apples and could I make a pie from scratch for Thanksgiving?

Well, certainly I could. (After all, I had that handy-dandy-ready-to-use tool.)

That brings me finally to the point of this post.(Hmmm, I got a little wordy I am now noticing. Oh well. You like that about me, right?)

Anyway.

Last Tuesday evening we got our the gadget and I realized I still did not know how to operate it. Luckily, Ralph is the King of YouTube, and so he immediately suggested we look there(He swears you can teach yourself anything on YouTube, and I do believe he is right.)

Oh yeah, baby.
After watching a thirty second video of a fifth grader demonstrating the corer-peeler, we were in business. Within five minutes Ralph had cored, peeled and sliced all the apples for the pie, thankyouverymuch.

He was having so much fun with it that I had to stop him, lest we have ten punds of skinless, cored apples on our hands.

The pie came out perfectly, by the way. Sweet, and juicy, and yummy.
I think 2013 just might be my year to take on mastering pie making.

Weekly Words To Live By...

Piglet: "How do you spell love?"
Pooh: "You don't spell it, you feel it."

Goodbye, my friend.

I have the sadest of news to share. The unthinkable has happened.

Bob Kennedy, half of the wonderful "ReTreat" duo, creator of such fabulous treasures like his piano wine bar, died on Thanksgiving, after a motor scooter accident.

(photo via Pinterest) Anyone that ever met Bob in the Vintage Industry will tell you he had a giant heart, a generous spirit, an incredible talent, and sported an unforgettable smile. Always ready and more than happy to help anyone, he was a class act.

He was all about his family. His grown kids, those precious grandsons, his folks. Our friendship bond grew closer when he found himself going through the whole suddenly single experience. We shared countless emails as I encouraged Bob to always, always remember who is driving the bus.

I consider myself priveledged to be on the list of people he called friends. While I know God had a plan for Bob, and he has moved on from this life, to a new and better one, my head cannot grasp why he was taken from us so soon.

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Happy Thanksgiving, twenty-twelve.

There is always, always, something to be thankful for.

Life is good.

Adding a little charm to my work-place supplies.

I think I shared a short while back that I got a nice promotion at my grown up girl job.

And I am really enjoying it.

As I am learning the various aspects of my new job, I have divised some strategies for keeping various data straight, and in order. That brings me to today's post.

I bought a pile of composition books back in late August, when it was back-to-school sales were in force, and I got them for fifty-seven cents a book at WalMart. (Still cheap, they are normally about a dollar each.) Anyway, I decided to use some of my composition books for work, to use for note keeping...
...and tracking my activities with certain members.

All I needed to do to add a little charm to these other-wise ordinary comp books was to personalize them by covering the generic cover wording with home-made labels.

Easy, peasy.

In no time at all I had three personalized journals for my desk at work, and they look like me. (does that make sense?)
After creating these, it occurred to me these sweet little journals would make fabulous gifts as well, and for mere pennies.

I like that part too.

And I'm sharing it with you, 'cause I thought you'd like it too.

Weekly Words To Live By.

It's not what's on the table,

but who's in the chairs.

Original Art Exhibit.

             






*sigh*

Each one is absolutely perfect, and positively one of a kind, and all of them melt my heart.

Oh, and I love the cute tree pictures too.

A tablescape from an early Thanksgiving family gathering.

My son and his family flew into town this weekend to meet the new babies, and so we celebrated an early Thanksgiving together.

(It's so fun, with all of the grand babes these days!)

I wanted to follow up and share what I ended up doing with the fabulous (and super cheap) CHristmas ornaments I got at my local WalMart.

As you can see in my top photo, I used the two ornaments together with asimple satin ribbon as place markers for all of the guests.
I used white pumpkins (Some faux ones from year's past, and some real) as my centerpiece, along with candles.

Oh, how I adore candle light.

The thing is, it really doesn't take a lot of money, or time to create a charming table that looks inviting and makes your guests feel special.

**Edited to add: Sources for items on my table:

Glasses: LIBBY Water Glasses (My daughter has them and so do I- each slightly different) from WalMart- sold in 4 packs
glitter letter- Christmas section of WalMart with ornaments $1 each
Faux Mercury Glass Leaf Ornaments- WalMart Christmas Section $1.97 each
White pumpkins- some real, from the grocery, some fake, from Michhaels Craft Store AFTER Thanksgiving 75% off
Glass Candlesticks- from various thrift stores, usually a $1....trust me, they ALWAYS have these kinds of ]candle sticks.
Faux Mercury Glass Candle sticks- my daughter's- she got them most likely at WalMart or the Craft Store.

The look and feel I was going for was kind of a rustic-vintage-elegance, and I think I came pretty close, don't you?

What about you? Do you have atraditional table setting for Thanksgivng each year. or do you do a different look each time? Do you use place mats, chargers or tableclothes, or do you prefer to showcase the bare wood of your table? I'd love to hear what all you do!

Weekly words to live by.

...and I think to myself, what a wonderful world.

Allow me to introduce myself.

The position I hold at my grown up girl  involves working with two separtate teams. Today, I made an appointment to meet with each of these teams to introduce myself formally.

You know, some of them already know me, but I wanted to give them my own little five minute elevator speech about my career background, and I especially wanted to make sure they knew just how thrilled I am to have the opportunity to to work with their respective teams.

I decided that a nice touch would be to start my introduction with little treats; spice cupcakes with maple frosting and starbucks frappacinos, specifically.
Needless to say, the treats were the perfect ice breaker, and the teams were even more awesome than I was anticipating!

I think I am gonna love this job.

Christmas ornaments doing double duty.

Have you seen all of the Christmas decor out in all the stores?

Oh, my.

I absolutely go to crazy-town when I cruise the holiday aisles. Last week I spotted the same glittery alphabet letters I bought last year, and promptly scarfed some up to use as place cards for my Thanksgiving table scape. (Only a buck each!!)

I also discovered the most fabulous mercury-glass-wanna-be leaf ornaments, and I had to have them. (at $1.97 each, these were actually in my budget, and they simply scream Pottery Barn, don'tcha think?) Just you wait till you see how these are going to be used on the same Thanksgiving table scape. The trick is to not only think Christmas when looking at ornaments. I found items that will make wonderful New Year's Eve decorations, and plenty of charming Valentine's hearts, all for no more than two dollars each.

Think a little further outside the box next time you pass by the holiday decorations in your nearest big box or dollar store, and I think you'll be thrilled with what you find.

Weekly words to live by, and lots of baby love. (Oh, and FREE printables AND info on a great non profit.)

A new baby is the beginning of all things- wonder, hope, a dream of possibilities.                        Eda J. Le Shan


We have two new baby boys to love on here in my family, both born within the span of 8 weeks. Jonah (above) and Keaton (Below)
Needless to say, I am completely head over heels...
And, as if things couldn't get any better than this, I will be in total Gramma heaven next week, when the two out-of-town grandbabes arrive for a visit with the cousins, and we have all six of them together!

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Now, speaking of babies....A friend at works daughter emailed me this weekend.(did you follow that? I work with a gal...who has a daughter...and that daughter contacted me...) about a friend of hers (Still with me?) named Katlin.

 

Feeling extra blessed in the baby department around here, I could not help but feel more than a little compelled to share her story here, and hopefully spread the word of the good work they are doing.

 

Kaitlin founded a very cool non profit called "Haiti Babi" after making several visits to Haiti. She learned that many children were living in orphanages not because they didn’t have parents, but because their parents simply could not afford to care for them. Katlin knew that something could be done to keep families together. (To read more about Haiti Babi’s story click here).

 

 

Haiti Babi’s mission is to give mom’s jobs. The non-profit “trains, equips, and inspires Haitian mothers to knit high-quality artisan baby goods in order to earn an income, and care for their families”. Moms in the U.S. have the opportunity to purchase these products in support of the Haitian mothers. “Moms helping moms.”

 

I know. Way cool concept, huh?

 

Anyway.

 

They just launched a fabulous online event to build awareness and excitement for Haiti Babi and I just had to share it with you all!

Haiti Babi is offering 8 days of FREE baby shower downloads. From the invitations to the thank you cards, Haiti Babi is giving you everything you need to throw a hip and stylish baby shower.

 

 

Beginning on November 2nd Haiti Babi began releasing one download per day, for a total of 8 FREE downloads. These stylish party products were designed by the talented Julia Warren and are perfect for any shower. You can not only throw a cute baby shower, you can also help contribute to social change! Downloads will be available on Haiti Babi's blog.

Check them out!