Little Pink Studio

Sorry for the short notice....

We've decided to take a little trip. I know it's short notice, but a tanned, exhausted and oh so excited Trintge came home from summer camp today and we decided we needed to go have some family time before school starts in just a little over a week!! It's been a crazy busy summer for all of us and we need to unwind together. Play games. Swim. Relax. Roast marshmellows. Sit around a camp fire. Read just for the sake of reading. (and it's not school related) Just be.

So we are leaving on Friday for a week in the beautiful mountains of North Carolina where it's only 84 degrees and just beautiful. I'm really looking forward to it. I need a little more time to prepare too for the fact that Trin will be starting high school and Mackenzie will be a junior. I'm nervous for my baby to start high school. Ugh.

So, I'm finishing up a marathon of shipping orders and then we're off. All orders placed from Thursday, July 31st-Sunday August 10th will BEGIN shipping on August 11th. Again, sorry for the short notice, but you have to grab some family time when you can get it, right? I'll check in though, so if you need something, just shoot me an email!

I also wanted to tell you about a fun little date night I had with my wonderful husband last week too. We went to go see Pat Benetar in concert! This is a not so great photo of the beautiful Tennesse Theater where she put on an outstanding performance!! I admit, I'm a rocker girl at heart. I have loved Pat since I was a little girl. I remember getting a bubblegum card with the lyrics to "Hit me with your best shot", and singing them over and over. I loved her especially as a teenager. Do you remember how when you are a teen age girl you have music you listen to when you break up with your boyfriend, and music you listen to when you are mad at your parents? Pat's music was that music for me. It's so funny even after all of these years, I was able to sing along and know every word by heart! And she put on an outstanding show! She rocked just as hard as she did all those years ago!

I was also able to take a little time and work on this collage for a dear friend of mine for her birthday. This collage was fun. Love how the floral tissue paper just added subtle detail over the bing card, and then the layering of the dotted swiss on top of that. The collage and several other things are on their way to her, hope she loves it all. 

One last thing before I go. This sweet little doll arrived in the mail this week. A purchase from ebay. She's really quite amazing. She's a very small doll, very delicate, and her details are amazing!

Her dress is made of a heavy velvet, and layers of lace and trim. Her hair is piled high in the back. I don't know a lot about her other than that she is French and gorgeous. Love my dolls. :0)

I have other fab mail to show you too, a fab swap with my friend Cindy, and a gorgeous piece of art from Beth, but that will have to wait until I get home.

Oh! I also have to tell you about Lollishops!

Lollishops is the wonderful concept of Sadie. It is going to be a cottage style, romantic, feminine friendly market place. I think it will be just wonderful to be able to shop and find all of the sweet things we all love to buy in just one place! It's not open yet, but I just know it's going to be fabulous! Lots of talented artists going in there! You can check it all out right here!

I hope you have a wonderful week! Enjoy time with your families!

Much love, Cerri xo

Something New

When I first opened my business (originally on etsy) way back in November of 2006, I promised myself I would always try to offer only the things that I truley love. I'm happy to say that with very few exceptions, I have always stuck to that promise. I want to bring things I love to create with, things I know you all love to create with, and things we love to organize and decorate with too. Being able to open my own shop has allowed me to do that even more. So today, I am absolutely thrilled to introduce to you a line of stamps that I just adore.

The images I chose for the shop are images that are so sweet and dear, and images I believe truley represent The Little Pink Studio style.

I love creating with rubber stamps. They are such a versatile tool to use in all of your art adventures, and the best part is they can be used again and again. My favorite thing to do lately is to create a wash with paints and paint over old sheet music and then stamp my images onto the painted sheet music. (you know this if you have ordered a Pink Studio Sampler from me). The uses for rubber stamps is really endless.

Eventually, I would like to bring my own stamp line to The Little Pink Studio. I already have several ideas in mind for that, just need to find the right person to work with on it.

This is just a few of the sweet images I chose, and I hope you will love them just as much as I do! You can these and all of the images right here!

Also for all of you that have been patiently waiting, the polka dots are all back in stock and I have added two new colors as well. Lavender seen here, and Hot Pink. I am just loving the petite spools of polka dots. There are a few other new additions and restocks, so take your time poking around and hopefully find yourself inspired to make something new!

It's been a whirlwind of a week around here this week. My sweet girl came home only for a day and a half in between camp sessions. We had to wash her mountain of laundry, go buy everything she decided she "needed" for the second half of camp, and of course get her toes done. LOL Makes me laugh, she's caveing, camping, hiking, swimming, rafting, doing ropes courses and zip lines, but we MUST have cute fingernails and toes to match. (ok, so maybe she is my daughter after all) Here she is when I took her back to camp, and of course had to show you those cute toes. :0)

 

I'm missing her now, but I do hope she is having a wonderful time! The hardest part is not talking to her.

My sweet and wonderful husband also turned 40 this week, but had to be away on business for his birthday. We're planning to celebrate more tonight and this weekend since he is finally home, and of course we'll all celebrate when Trin gets home again too so we can celebrate as a family.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Much love, Cerri xo

Show Us Your Vintage Paper

 

Welcome to Show & Tell Sunday! I've missed visiting and looking at all of your treasures! I'm super excited about this weeks topic, as it really is one of my very favorite things to collect.

Before we get started, I just wanted to mention a couple of things. First, we will probably not be back to a regular every Sunday schedule for Show & Tell until after the summer, but I will try to get in as many as we can,ok? So much going on in the summers! I know Analise is super busy, and I'm still hoping to take a little family vacation before school starts back in 3 weeks! (Wow!) Second, I also wanted to let you know that I will be updating throughout the day, but may be a little slow at it. I have to take my sweet girl back to summer camp and so will be tied up for part of the day.

As I started taking photos I soon realized this is really one Show & Tell I could break up into 2 or 3 segments! I really have that much ephemera! I buy most of it with an idea or intention in mind, or even just because I loved it when I saw it. I'm always looking for for old paper.

 

Most of these are vintage bridge tallies. I adore them. The images are wonderful!

Vintage religious medallions. Again, I adore the images. I seem to be collecting a lot of vintage religious items lately.

I love collecting this antique fashion illustrations when I can find them. This one is authentic, and is from the late 1800's.

I adore vintage sillhouettes of any kind. I have a whole book full of them too, but I couldn't find it to show you. The pale blue ones are greeting cards. I have a box full of them, and adore them. I do collect more types of old cards too.

One of my favorite finds is the old wrapping paper cutter above. It's from a store and would have mounted on the counter for the shop owner to wrap packages in. This is a close up of the wrapping paper. So, so sweet. I wish I could find replacement rolls of paper too, but I have never been able to find them in the right size. I seem to have a lot of baby things. I plan on making some really fun baby book kits one of these days for my shop.

 

The Victorian books above and these vintage Spanish flashcards also have intended purposes of projects for my shop. Like I said, one of these days.... LOL

Ok, I think that's all I will show for now. I may show you some more ephemera soon if you would like to see it?

 So here's your list. Go visit and enjoy looking at everyone's paper goodness!

http://www.mycraftylittlepage.blogspot.com/

http://www.thejoyof.blogspot.com/

http://atticcharm.blogspot.com/

http://www.brandywineboutique.blogspot.com/

http://faeriewindow.blogspot.com/

http://www.fittyspinkyrosecottage.blogspot.com/

http://www.recycledrita.blogspot.com

http://sweetnshabbyroses.blogspot.com/

http://www.shabbyscraps.typepad.com/

http://www.jillsibbald.typepad.com/

http://www.sweetfinds.typepad.com/

http://hazelsvintagepretties.typepad.com/hazels_vintage_pretties/

http://www.dollybellespeepshow.typepad.com/

http://blog.thevintagebutterfly.com/

http://mammabeesattic.blogspot.com/

http://www.diningroomstudio.blogspot.com/

http://shessewpretty.typepad.com/

http://www.suzanneduda.typepad.com/

http://www.talesfromanoccottage.blogspot.com/

http://frontporches-sweet-tea.blogspot.com/

http://sunshinenravioli.blogspot.com/

http://kitschenpink.blogspot.com/

http://twocrazycrafters.blogspot.com/

http://www.cherishedvintage.blogspot.com/

http://rosannes-blog.blogspot.com/

http://countingyourblessings.blogspot.com/

http://keepinupwiththetatums.blogspot.com/

http://jenniferconway.blogspot.com/

 http://kathyjacobson.typepad.com

http://cleverkaren.blogspot.com/

www.mypolka-dottedworld.blogspot.com

http://www.cherishedvintage.blogspot.com

 

http://rosechicfriends.blogspot.com/

 

http://www.heatherbullard.typepad.com/

 

I also want to wish my good friend Lilia a Happy, Happy Birthday today! I hope all of your birthday wishes come true today Lilia!

Much love, Cerri xoxo

A Day to Create

You know when you own your own business, especially an artsy one, you end up working most of the time. At least I seem to. I work on Little Pink Studio usually 7 days a week. At least doing little things, shipping, packaging, taking photos, listing, coming up with new things, answering emails, etc. etc. So I rarely take time to just create. For the sake of creating.I think sometimes people don't even know I create anything! LOL  I've been saying for a while now that once I opened the shop, I was going to take one day a week and just make stuff. No work. Just create. Today I decided to go for it. I can't say that I didn't work at all, because I did, but I did sit down and play.

What's funny was I sat down to make a friend something for her birthday, and when I was going through some trims, these just jumped into my hand and I made something entirely different than what I had in mind. And, uh, I'm keeping it.

So I will obviously have to play some more. :0)

 

It was really nice to sit and play with my things for no reason at all. Don't get me wrong, because I totally love my job, and feel very blessed to be able to have my shop and work at it every day. It's 100% a labor of love, but sometimes I think we need to just create. I'm really going to try and comit to doing this once a week. Maybe if I tell you about it, I'll have to do it. Anyone want to join me? We can hold each other accountable.

Ok, back to the studio....~Cerri xoxo

Paper-y Goodness

When Kim, the owner of this fabulous shop sent me an email last week telling me that she had just brought in tons of old papers from her personal collection and to come take a look, I knew I did not need to be asked twice! I took a little time away on Sunday and met my Mom there. So happy I did.

She had so many fabulous papers and I scooped up a ton of them! Some old books that were tattered, but the images are just amazing, and so perfect for so many projects!

This book was so charming to me. It's a nursery rhyme book and where ever there was not color already, little Carol, the previous owner in the 1930's, went ahead and colored it in. So sweet. Yet, as I type that,  I find it ironic that I think this is sweet, as I never would have allowed my children to color in their books when they were little. Hmmm...Wonder what's changed there? LOL

I also purchased this fabulous wallpaper sample book from 1931. I don't even think I'll tell you just how much of a bargain this was. LOL Page after page of gorgeous old wallpapers. Some a little dark for my taste, but then some look like this.

And this.

There were lots more fabulous pages but I'll save those for another time. Trying not to overwhelm you with paper goodness all at once. (is it working??)

There were also lots of stacks of very old envelopes with that handwriting we all covet. Oh,and calling cards too!

And I absolutely could not resist these vintage Vogart appliques or the little bitty pink notepads. No idea what I'll do with them, but they had to come home with me!

I don't really think I can ever turn down old papers. I just love it so much. I know most of you do too. I've been trying to figure out a way to contain it all, (that's the last part of my studio make over that I have left, but it's a big part) I want to have it organized so that I know basically what's in this container, etc. If you have some fab ideas on how you store your piles and piles of ephemera, let me know will you? If you have photos, even better!

So then, I was thinking. Seems like it's time for a Show & Tell Sunday. Are you up for a round? Show us your vintage ephemera. You know all of that gorgeous old paper. I want to see it all. Postcards, calling cards, wallpaper, ledgers, book pages. Show us. Whatever old paper you collect. (and hey, if you want to show us how you organize it, you might earn brownie points too) So, leave me a note right here if you're ready to play again.

Much love, Cerri xoxo

A little sooner than I thought

The last prints I was waiting on came in yesterday so I spent last night putting these bundles together for you. I adore dotted swiss, I really do. The texture of the fabrics is so fun, and you already know how much I love polka dots.

 

These sweet little bundles have more fabric than the last ones, more sheers, and a couple of pieces with flocked flowers as well as the dots. I have to admit, I saved some of this for me, I love them so much! You can find them right here!

I hope you're having a wonderful weekend. I'm off to look at new (much needed) furniture. Wish me luck. Thought I'd leave with a cute, but slightly creepy photo of a vintage baby doll head packeaged and ready to go to her new owner. :0)

Much love, Cerri xo

Old, New, and Restocked!

Sorry to have disappeared on you this week, we've been super busy here getting ready for summer camp! My sweet girl left yesterday, and the week has been filled with shopping, loads and loads of laundry, packing, making lists, and checking those lists over and over. She was extremely excited, and I was excited for her, but I have never gone 10 days without talking to her. EVER. Her camp is actually 20 days, but she comes home for 2 in the middle. (just long enough for me to was all of her laundry, repack it and take her back) She'll have a blast I know! The itinery includes things like canoeing the Hiwassee River, hiking in the Appalachian Mountains, camping in an underground cave, as well as swimming, zip lines and all those other regular camp things. I'll let you know how she does when she comes home.

I've also been loading tons of items to the shop. The Pink Boutique is full of vintage treasures. Pretty, sweet, girly things. You know, those things we all love.

There's new things in the Millinery section. Both "new" old, and fun new regular items too!

Petite paper roses in bundels of 12, and 4 different colors. They are a wonderful, inexpensive embellishment! And I adore the new velvet posies with either pearl or rhinestone centers. The colors on those are gorgeous.

New embellishments. Gorgeous vintage buttons that are unused old stock, (I found them in the orginal salesman's box) packaged in a vintage trinket box. Darling little bitty pewter keys! They're so perfect for all sorts of projects from jewelry making to paper arts. These and the new watch dials are packaged in adorable tins!

The vintage velvets and lingerie laces have been added, as well as many gorgeous colors of vintage seam binding. All sold by the yard, and just scrumptious!

There's a new color in the embellished wall pockets and many new things on the way for your studio organization! I think the white is my favorite color of these! Isn't it gorgeous?! I love them, there are so many things you can use them for!

I was also able to restock several things, like the Blush Embellishment boxes, and some of the most popular tags. There's probably more, and I'm just not thinking of it right now. (So you might want to check all of the sections, LOL) The vintage dotted swiss bundles will be restocked early next week, I'm waiting on 2 more prints to arrive and then I'll get the bundles together. These bundles will be bigger and better than the first ones! If you need to order now and want me to hold your order until they are listed, just let me know that way I can combine your shipping.

Ok, I have an idea brewing in my head that needs attention, so off I go.

Much love, Cerri xo

 

Fabulous things in my mailbox and a WINNER!

Wow, thank you all for playing along with my little giveaway! So many wonderful comments! I did not get a chance to reply to each and every one of you, but I did read all the comments and visit lots of blogs. I'm going to keep looking at all of those blogs as soon as I get a chance.

So, you ready for your winners? I used the random number generator and the first number was #93

I can hardly wait to get my order! I was waiting opening morning and am so excited for you!!
everything is just lovely
hugs, Stacy
stacyleaw@yahoo.com

Posted by: stacy | July 01, 2008 at 02:55 PM

I also chose another number to give away a vintage dotted swiss bundle (which will be back in stock this week) and that winner was Sue!

Sharing in your JOY!!! So glad to hear that your hard work is being rewarded. I love it that your whole family shared in the thrill of "launch"...great memories.

Take some time to catch your breath! You've been through a lot lately.

I'm looking forward to receiving my own order and peeking back to see what else you add! Fun stuff...
xo
Sue

Posted by: Sue| July 01, 2008 at 09:57 AM

Congrats Stacy and Sue, please email me your addresses and I will get your packages in the mail to you! I wish I could give each of you a prize, but will do another giveaway soon!

My mail box has been filling up with some fabulous packages lately, and not just for my shop!

My good friend Lilia sent me a fabulous package for my birthday! This amazing journal she made for me, a sweet card, and lots of other goodies!

Lilia has such a sweet, whimsical style that I adore so I always love receiving a package from her! She also sent me this stunning plaque for my birthday. She is selling these in her etsy store right here if you want one too. Thank you my sweet friend, I treasure it all. (and I owe you a phone call!)

 My sweet friend Heidi also sent me these fabulous packages of pink crepe paper ruffles for my birthday too! I adore these, and love to use them in so many of my projects! You probably already know you can find these right here! Thank you dear Heidi!

This absolutely adorable little theater was made by the extremely talented Lori! My Mom actually purchased this from Lori for my birthday! It was one of my favorite gifts! It is just so, so cute! I think Lori has been making some more of these darling theaters, so hopefully you can get one of your own!

I won this darling doll made by the sweet and talented Rhea.  She took this old doll and redid her giving her a gorgeous dress and sweet flowers in her hair! I love her Rhea, thank you! I also purchased two of her Dress Me Doll kits from her etsy shop for my niece and I do do, and I'll show you those after we get them finished! Such a cute idea, and I know my niece will be thrilled!

I was also super excited to finally be able to get one of Heather's gorgoeus little remade Nancy Ann's too! I kept missing them in the past, so I was thrilled when I just happened to be on flickr when she was loading photos of her latest little girls. This one looks just like my little logo girl (except she has blonde hair), so she is extra special! I'm sure Heather will make more of these little darlings soon!

Lastly, I was so touched last week when I received this package in the mail from the super sweet Rosalyn-Sue! We had been chit chatting a while back about me wanting to take my daughter to Savannah, GA this summer to take a look at the art school there, and Rosalyn-Sue said she would put together some stuff for me of the area. Well, what she sent was just the most thoughtful gift. She put together a little scrapbook of all the fun things to do in Savannah complete with photos and addresses, phone numbers and store hours. She also included a gift certificate for us to have lunch at one of the attractions she thought we shouldn't miss! Isn't that so sweet?! I am hoping to take Mackenzie to Savannah soon and I do hope we will get to meet her then too! Thank you again, sweet Rosalyn-Sue!

I am so amazed at the wonderful community and group of friends I have found in this blogging world. Thank you again everyone!!

I am burried under lots of boxes of new, and bag of "new" old, that need to be photographed and added to the shop, so check back with me this week for lots of fun things!

Much love, Cerri xo