Little Pink Studio

Saying goodbye to 2014 on a personal note.

Hello! Happy new year to you! Saying goodbye to 2014 is a bit bittersweet for me. Some fantastic things happened, some hard things, and it was the first of everything all year w/out my sweet Grandma. 

I would say though, that the biggest events and changes this year had to do with my beautiful girls. 

My oldest daughter, Mackenzie graduated college just a couple of short weeks ago. She has already found a job in her field as a graphic designer, and begins her new life and career on Monday. She was just home for a little over a week at Christmas, and I suddenly realized that was probably one of the last times she will be able to just come home for a week or two at Christmas and in the summer months. That was a bit of a bittersweet moment. I am so excited for this next chapter of her life to begin, but that was also a little bit of an ouch moment. This momma is still at times struggling with the whole empty nest thing. 

I know amazing things are going to happen for this girl, though. Like I said (and please forgive my unabashed bragging for a moment) she found a job in her field in just a week after graduating. But she has also illustrated an ad for Nashville Lifestyles magazine that will come out next month. She interned for them this past semester and designed several ads for them as well. She has been involved in TWO children's books as the illustrator. (neither have hit publish stages yet) As her senior thesis she designed a magazine called Clever, and found herself so in love with that process that she plans on continuing to publish that quarterly. You can read a copy of her first issue right here.  (there's even an interview with me in her magazine with a glimpse into my studio) So yes, all around I am super proud of my daughter and can not wait to see what happens next for her in this chapter of her life. 

My baby girl turned 21, has worked all year making the difference in the lives of young adults with disabiliites, and signed the lease to move into her first apartment. Which, of course, made me an official empty nester. Again, I have been excited to watch her next chapter unfold,  but that too was quite bittersweet. You see, I have been a Mom since I was 20 years old, so I not only grew up with my girls, but also devoted my entire adult life to them. At first I had all of those questions of "who am I besides a mom?", and "what do I do now?", etc. 

But it does seem as time has gone on that I too, am enjoying the next chapter of my life. My husband and I have become even closer, we have traveled more, gone on more date nights, and even began taking selfies. Ha. I'm usually one that really shies away from the camera, but I've been trying to change that a bit. 

Here we are in a dark and grainy date night selfie. (in the car) Maybe with practice we'll get a bit better at it. :)

So, I am happy to see what 2015 will bring. Last night Michelle Gellar posted on instagram that her mantra for 2015 was to make her a priority. I think I too will adopt that as my mantra this year and discover more about who I am as a 43 year old woman with grown children. 

I'll be back tomorrow with a look at the year for The Little Pink Studio and what looking forward is going to be like for the shop. I'll also be back this week to share some of the fantastic swaps I participated in this holiday season. 

Much love, and best wishes for a blessed new year!  Cerri

Something a little different....

Happy Monday! First, since you are not seeing photos of my studio in this blog post, you would be right to assume I did NOT get it finished. Ugh. I started rearranging furniture, got frustrated and walked away. Still. Not. Finished.  I'm going to be working on it this week, though. So whenever I have some photos to share of something that is not a total mess, I'll be sharing them. I'm going to get this done. Really, I am. 

So, what you are seeing here today is something I made a couple of months ago. I had a craft day with my youngest daughter, that loves to create things with old dolls, and after many hours, this is what I came up with. She's a shabby, raggedy, butterfly doll. 

Years ago, I made soft dolls, and they were nothing like this little cutie. However, as you probably know, I still have an affinity for dolls. This little gal started out as a vintage knickerbocker doll with no arms. (and she was naked) I didn't really have any idea exactly where I was going wiht her, so I just started playing. 

I would say I was definitely inspired by Joanna Pierotti. I adore her dolls, especially the bunny dolls she creates. I love the tattered, whimsical style she creates with her dolls, and that is something I was going for. (speaking of Joanna's bunny dolls, one of these days I am hoping to be fast enough to be able to purchase one of those!) Anyway, once I got started she mostly came easily. 

Except for her hair! That hair was a LOT of trial and error, and taking it apart and starting over, and took me forever. Definitely the longest process of creating this doll was her hair. But I wanted her to have this wild hair with little antenna like things sticking out, and eventually I was happy with how it turned out. 

Her body has all sorts of layers of paint and a little glitter, her skirt was made from tea dyed cheese cloth and scraps of lace. Her arms are borrowed from another, and her wings were created with a butterly wing shaped christmas ornament. They're covered in bits of old lace and paints as well. 

I am thinking of making some more dolls like this, especially after I was able to master that hair, but I think this little gal is going to go live with my own baby girl that will be 21 years old tomorrow. Sheesh. When did that happen? 

Back soon, friends, and hopefully with photos of at least some progress in that studio! 

Cerri xo

My beautiful Grandma

Hello. Sorry for my absence, I had a lot of things planned to share over the past couple of weeks leading up to Christmas, but on the 18th, we lost my beloved Grandma, and on the 27th we said our last goodbyes. If you have read my blog for very long, you know just how much I cherished my Gram and how close we were. To say that I have been sad, would be a complete understatement. I am glad she is no longer suffering, and I know she is in a better place, but to imagine not talking to her again, or crafting with her, or having lunch and antiquing, that's a pretty rough thing to think of. 

I wish you all could have know her. If there was ever a pure heart, it was my Grandma. She never said anything negative about anyone in her entire life. She never uttered a swear word. She never took a sip of alcohol, except one time she thought, "at a college dance, she felt funny after drinking the punch". She was sure someone had spiked it. 

She never judged anyone, she just listened and loved you, no matter what bad decisions you might have been making. She was married to my Grandpa for 65 years. She raised 7 children, had 21 grandchildren, and 32 great grandchildren with 2 more currently on the way. She always knew just by looking at me what was on my heart. She graduated college with honors and was meant to become a missionary until she met my Grandpa. :)

(my Grandma and Momma)

I am blessed to have had her in my life for the past 42 years. I am also blessed that my children were close to her for all of their 22 and 20 years. She passed her love of cooking and baking along to my youngest daughter, who is also named after her. She loved spending time with all of her girls. She loved to craft, and sit and talk into the night. She loved to laugh and be silly with all of us girls as well. 

Every year for Mother's day we went away for a mom's retreat and those are truly some of my very best memories. In the photo above, that is my Grandma and Mom's hands. I took that at one of those retreats a couple of years ago after painting my Grandma's nails red for the first time in her life! (she was 84 or 85 at the time!) She loved it, and said it made her feel sassy. Not sure my Grandpa approved of her red finger nails, but it became a thing after that and she always wanted me to paint her nails red. Most of us girls painted our nails red in her honor last week before we said goodbye. 

This is another photo from one of our retreats. That year we all learned to decorate doll cakes. She loved doing that so much. But what I love most about this photo is that it's just so her. You can see her sweet personality through that smile, and even this year as her health was deteriorating, anytime you saw her she had on her jewelry. Always. Even if she was in sweat pants, she still wore her pearls. Pink and pale blue were her favorite colors. I guess that's where my love of pink came from. 

In the last days I spent a few over nights with her in the hospital as we didn't want her to be alone when she passed. I held her hand for nearly 8 hours at one time, she couldn't talk at that point but would squeeze my hand so I knew she was hearing us. I have cried more than I ever thought possible, but we have also shared stories, smiled, and relived our memories. But most of all, I know I will forever be blessed for having such an amazing woman in my life, and she will be dearly missed. 

If you think of it, please say a prayer for my Grandpa. After 65 years together he is feeling more than a little lost. 

I'll be back to posting and sharing things soon. 

Much love, Cerri

Tuesday tutorial: A little paper play

Hello! I hope your week is off to a great start! Today's tutorial is a bit less of a tutorial and more of some simple tips and such. 

One of my favorite things is when the gals in my family get together to craft. It's always a really special time, and I wish we made it happen more often than we do. However, because my Grandma (now 87 years old!) has limited dexterity, and my sister in law is very new to crafting, we will a lot of times use kits. Often I will just put together kits myself, but sometimes, I will grab some simple looking scrapbook or paper crafting kits from the scrapbook store. Of course, then I bring out all the vintage things I can find in my studio that I think will coordinate. I always love to add the vintage elements and mixed media things that I love. So today's projdect started out as a simple scrapbook kit, and I've added paint, sanded papers, added vintage ephemera, and bits of vintage lace, as well as some super cute images. 

Unfortunately, I could not find the packaging for the scrapbook items, so I do not remember who made these products, but I can say the scrapbook itself was made simply from kraft card stock with regular copy paper stapled inside for the pages. Super simple, and something you could easily create with materials on hand. 

On the cover, I added some blue paint. Note: I almost always use latex paint, you know, regular old house paint. I love buying the sample pots in all sorts of pretty colors, and I find that latex paint dries super fast on paper. I also like the texture of the paint a little better than acrylic paints. 

I added some layers of both the scrapbook elements as well as some vintage book paper, a vintage doily, and vintage lace. The gorgeous blue rose element was a scrapbook element that I sanded to make it look older. I loved the little girl image so much, I actually used it twice in my book! 

On the inside cover, I simply printed an image I loved and adhered it with a bit of glue and some gold dot washi tape. 

This page has the sweet image I shared here on the blog last Friday, some vintage book paper that has been painted over, a very old paper doily, and a scrapbook embellishment. 

I sanded the rose down to take away the glossy finish, inked the edges a bit, and stamped some pretty script words. (the words blend more than they show in this photo)

Here's that image again. (this time I printed her much larger and added a vintage lace bow to her dress)

I used layers of the gold script washi tape to create an extra layer over the polka dot scrapbook paper. 

More paper doilies, and washi tape as a background here too. 

Old book pages, some rub ons, printed images, paint, vintage lace, and a great vintage doily make up these pages. 

See that vintage netting with the flowers wrapped around the vellum envelope in this photo? I have had that for years! I think I got it from a Teresa Collins class at CHA several years ago. Ha. Talk about hoarding, right? 

For these two pages, the scrapbook paper that came with the kit was a dark brown floral paper. I used a blue paint and painted over most of the page. I added some book pages, painted and inked over those a bit, then added the printed images. 

I made the rose/doily embellishment a pocket by simply adhering the bottom and sides to the background pages, but leaving the top open. That allowed me to slide in come little envelops for extra notes. 

The background pages here are just printed book pages again covered with paint. I added some washi tape for added texture. I adhered the little girl holding flowers so that she would overlap slightly onto the next page. I added another envelope over part of her image and added some scrapbook embellishments as well as some vintage lace. 

And how cute are these two "sitting" on a doily wall? 

So, that's it. A fun project to do, plus I loved taking the scrapbook elements and mixing them into all of the vintage stuff I love. I also loved that everyone's book turned out a little different, as they used other materials and had ideas of their own. My sister in law adds photos to hers to make it more of an actual scrapbook. My favorite thing is to watch my Grandma just take off and do her own thing. It's precious. 

Happy crafting, Cerri xoxo

A mini book

Hello, and happy Friday! Any exciting plans for the weekend? I think the Mr. and I are going to go see Oz, but other than that, I'm planning a weekend in the studio. I have some ideas, and finally am feeling up to creating again. Yay! 

So, this is the little book I made while in Nashville with my Mom visiting my daughter. We were all only allowed to bring one craft bag, so that was a fun challenge. I also bought a few things at the Archivers there, and I wanted to use a mixture of some cute Valentine things I found there in conjunction with my favorite, go to vintage items. 

There are a lot of photos, so I'll try to talk less. :)

I used used canvas for my pages, and just sewed them together by hand with embroidery floss. Easy, peasy. 

So that's my little book.  liked the mixture of the vintage things with the new scrapbook embellishments. As I was working, my Mom was working on something else, but liked what I was doing so I quickly put together a kit for her and snapped a bunch of photos with her phone so she could make one too. I haven't heard if she made hers yet though...So, Mom, have you? :)

Have a lovely weekend, I'll be back Monday, and I WILL have a new tutorial for you on Tuesday. 

And just in case you're working on something Easter related this weekend, this might inspire. 

xo, Cerri

A little catch up...

Hello! Anyone out there, still? I certainly did not mean to disappear on you, but I have had pneumonia, and am just now recovering. Wow, I really don't remember ever being so sick before, that was really rough. Hopefully, I am on the mend now, and will be feeling 100% again soon. So today, let's do a little catch up, shall we? 

The above photo is my newest vintage cake topper. This one is chalkware, from the 40's, and I love it. I have a small collection of these, and like to bring them out in February for a bit of Valentine decor. 

Here's a few of the others. I like to think these toppers all belonged to sweet couples whose marriage's lasted forever. :) 

The week before Valentine's day my Mom, niece, and I went to visit my oldest daughter in Nashville. We rented a nice little 2 bedroom suite hotel and spent some time crafting. It was such a lovely weekend, and I really cherish the times I am able to get together with the gals in my family and spend time creating, and laughing, and just being together. 

I finished 2 projects that weekend, and this canvas is one of them. 

It's just a little heart sampler I made for my studio. I used a burlap canvas I found at Hobby Lobby last year, some old felted wool, bits of ruffles and lace, and some lovely gold thread for a bit of stitching. 

The felted wool came from the lovely Lisa, and the sweet image I purchased at this wonderful shop. 

I also created a sweet little Valentine lace book, and of course we did a bit of antiquing! I'll share those things this week, so I think I will do a bit more catching up this week, and start doing weekly tutorials again next week. I hope you will join me!

How have you been? What have you been creating lately? I would love to see, leave me a link to what you've been working on!

xo, Cerri

Forever Friends

Hello! I hope you're having a lovely weekend. I wanted to share something with you that I made my Mom for Christmas. In my studio I have this sweet little licensed piece by Nicol Sayre that my Mom really likes, and since it has been retired I haven't been able to find one for her. So, I decided to make my own version of it. If you've read my blog for very long, you know I'm quite close to my Mom, she's not only my Momma, but also my best friend. So, I thought this was quite fitting. The dolls I chose to use represent a mom and daughter, but also "forever friends". 

It took me quite a few hours to put together, but it was so much fun! For my base, I covered a box with vintage flocked wallpaper and rows of lovely ruffles I purchased from Julie Collings shop.  I also used lots of vintage millinery flowers as well as some new ones. All of the new flowers were spritzed with Glimmer Mist and edged with Stickles glitter glues. I used a box base so that my Mom could store special keepsakes inside. 

I also used some vintage stamens, and lots of pink sequins on the arch. 

Both dolls are vintage Nancy Ann dolls I've had in my collection for quite a while. I have lots of these sweet dolls, some I display, and some I've kept with the thought of creating something with them. 

I added some vintage blossoms embellished with Stickles to their hair. 

I loved the sweet details of their dresses. The "mom" doll's dress is flocked, and oh so sweet. 

I loved making this sweet piece for my Mom, and I hope she will treasure it. I'll have to admit, once I was finished creating this, it was a bit hard for me to give away. Ha. That's ok. I need to make another with 3 dolls for myself and my 2 girls, as I hope we'll be forever friends too. 

Tonight my Mom and niece are coming for a sleepover. We're going to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the publication of Pride and Prejudice with an all day movie marathon. (We'll watch the different versions) I think there will be copious amounts of tea, sandwiches, and pastries involved too. Can't wait! Are  you doing anything to celebrate? 

Check back with me, I've been working all weekend on packaging all sorts of sweet Valentine goods for the shop. I can't wait to show you what I have up my sleeve!

xo, Cerri

 

Craft-a-thon with my niece

Hello! Hope you're having a lovely weekend. Before we get too far into the new year, I wanted to share with you my craft-a-thon week I had with my niece. Every year my niece and nephew come spend time with us during the Christmas season and we do things like bake cookies, make gingerbread houses, craft, watch movies, and drive around drinking cocoa and looking at lights. This year, my niece stayed a whole week with us, and we did some serious crafting. :) Here she is in my studio. She stayed in her jammies and wore a Christmas hat most of the time. 

We made more wine glass snow globes. I think I liked hers best of all. If you can't tell, there's a little mouse and bunny kissing inside her globe. 

We also made this one as a gift for my Mom's birthday. Isn't it sweet? Desi and I did a holiday swap with my sweet friend Lilia and her daughter which was lots of fun! (My niece's first swap!) The girls swapped handmade ornaments and little trinkets for each other, and Lilia and I swapped ornaments and art supply goodies. 

A few more shots of our creations and fun. That bottom photo is the silly amount of marshmallows we like to put in our hot cocoa. I can spoil her that way, because I'm just the aunt. 

I cherish these times with her and hope that she always will also. 

xo, Cerri 

PS, As a few of you have already figured out, I extended the free shipping sale on qualifying orders through the weekend. It will end on Monday at midnight. I'll announce the winner of the giveaway then too, so don't forget to enter if you haven't done so yet. I love reading about your favorite Christmas gifts. 

Before we get too far into November...

I wanted to share a few snippets from our Halloween. This is my youngest daughter as she headed out to her first Halloween party in college. Isn't she the cutest Raggedy Ann? 

It's a tradition that every year my Mom brings my niece and nephew to our house for Halloween festivities. They live on a farm in a rural area, so they like to come to our house for trick or treating and all the other fun stuff that comes with Halloween. I will be sad when they are too grown up for it as I love that they do this every year. 

My niece was a super cute scarecrow this year. Isn't she a doll? I am so glad she didn't feel too old for this since she just turned 12. 

I am still finding hay everywhere I look in my house. :)

And this boy, oh does he have our hearts. He is the silliest, but most adorable little guy I know. 

My Mom was wanting some "serious" photos from him, but I couldn't help but just keep snapping away at each of his silly faces. 

We always try to fit in time for pumpkin carving too. Love how they turned out! I texted Kenz a photo of my husband helping the kids scoop out the insides asking her if that brought back her own memories of all the years we did this with our own children. These are some of those special times that kids remember. The family time and traditions, it's so important. 

And speaking of our Kenz, here she is getting ready for her Halloween festivities. We don't get to see her on Halloween anymore as her college is 3 hours away, but she texted me a photo as she was heading out, and I grabbed the other from her facebook page. She and her roommates were all Disney princesses this year. I think she makes a pretty awesome Snow White, don't you? 

Oh, and I have some really exciting news to share about our girl. I'll be back with that soon. :)

I hope your Halloween was lovely, and you made some lasting memories. 

Cerri xo

PS, Just a quick note to let you that I am planning a Little Pink Holiday event again here on my blog, so please stay tuned for details to come very soon. 

And if you're wanting some sweet images, I've been posting a new image for every "like" we get on the facebook page until we hit 700. 

 

Currently...

Hello! I hope you've all had a lovely week. Here's a few things I have been up to. My husband hung my new ruffled shades from Ikea in my studio. I've finally been working in there again. Sheesh, it's been a long time coming, but was pushed aside for so many different reasons. Hoping to have it finally complete SOON! Still trying to figure out what to put in the long frame at the top of the wall there..

Also in the studio I've been trying to figure out what to do with my vintage prom dress collection. I've been thinking of hanging them across the fireplace...not sure yet though. It's so funny, they're all too small to fit on my antique and vintage mannequins! So they have to be displayed somehow on their own.

 The other thing I'm currently working on is a large shop update. I've been taking and editing all sorts of photos. So many new (and new, old) things! -Like the vintage ribbons and trim above. Don't you love that sweet, vintage peachy colored fabric trim? Definitely keeping some of that for myself. :)

Gah! And don't you love these super sweet old store stock butter cartons? I discovered these sweeties at the 127 sale. I think they would make the cutest packaging. 

So, I'm planning on a shop update on Monday, the 27th. I'll pop on and post some previews over the weekend. 

And lastly, my baby girl starts her first day of college on Monday, so there's a bit of girly shopping in our future this weekend as well. 

What about you? What have you been up to? Any exciting weekend plans?

Much love, Cerri xo