exit, pursued by bear

merry, merry!

warm wishes for a very merry Christmas, from our family to yours!

and don't worry, we didn't forget our other boys:

the components of cute.

hedgehog diaper:

plus hedgehog shoes and appropriate under attire:

plus hedgehog cute suit:

equals a very hedgehog-y hedgehog :o)

(showing off his tail - gah, the cuteness! - and some cuddles from his Momau):

these are a must.

{"Santa's Village Set - 5 wool felt finger puppets," $40 from etsy seller stayawake}

the perils of pumpkins.

{Charlie at the Pumpkin Patch - October 16, 2010}

tiny prints, part III + more

Since our holiday cards should have all arrived - I thought I'd share the finished product!

It was not ... the best of years for Santa pictures with the boys. We must have an every other year thing going, because last year's pictures were pretty fab - here's one of the great shots we got:

But 2007 wasn't pretty either, 2006 was good ... Anyway - this year, I had to do a lot of cropping and adjusting to salvage a cute photo for the Christmas card - but I think I managed :o)

I was really pleased with my Tiny Prints cards and I will definitely use them again. I had to order some additional Christmas cards for a holiday card exchange that I'm a part of, plus some extras since I (as per my usual) grossly miscounted how many cards we need each year ...

This is the card we ordered from Snapfish - pretty cute, right?

So, what do you think? Everyone keeps asking me if this is the last year we'll use pictures of Louis and Norman on our Christmas cards ... we'll probably always do at least one version with the two of them, since we usually participate in a French Bulldog holiday card exchange (so many cute pictures of puppies!) - but for our "regular" card list next year - we might just have to feature our newest member of the family :o)

Here's a photo from one of our recent "photoshoots":

I think the baby has my nose :o)

tiny prints, part II!

I neglected to mention in yesterday's review that the design I ultimately chose was one of the nine that I posted. Did you guess which one? I was going to wait until later this week to share which design I selected, once my cards arrived -- but they arrived faster than I expected and showed up last night :o)

So, after careful consideration and debate (it was a tough decision, folks!) - the hubs and I selected "Holiday Speckles":

I love that it's sort of a Kate Spade-esque design. Just a simple, lovely little card -- perfect for making your photos standout. I don't like some other photo cards that I've seen where the design of the card itself seems to conflict with your photo.

The ordering process with Tiny Prints could not have been easier. Lots of flexibility with photo uploading -- it was very easy to edit your photo and make color changes -- full color, a sepia tone, black and white, etc. They also have a great proofing system that lets you e-mail your initial designs (card and uploaded picture) and share what you've been working on. This was great when I could not decide which photo to use, so I could send several different variations to my husband and get his opinion.

Shipping was very reasonable -- and they have several options to expedite the process, either through shipping or at the front end, during printing. E-mails kept me updated on the status -- that my order was received, when it was printed and then ultimately shipped. And then my order arrived faster than expected: bonus!

I'm really, really pleased with the final result -- the cards look really nice. The printing was great - really high quality. I'm so excited about my cards -- I can't wait to send them out!!

And once they have been sent out, I'll even upload a picture of the design with the photo we chose. I hope you like it!

tiny prints!

A few months ago, I was contacted by the lovely Amanda, of the charming TinyPrints.com. She asked if I was interested in reviewing some of their holiday cards for my blog and I happily agreed!

Who am I to say no to the chance to check out paper products! She also gave me a generous $50 gift certificate so that I could check out their stationery in person. Thank you, Tiny Prints!

Let me tell you how difficult it was to choose ONE design -- there were so many fabulous options! Here are a few of my favorites:

{Tasteful Ticket}

{Holiday Speckles - several color options: black (shown), green and blue}

{Heartwarming Mittens}

{Gridded Greetings - several color options: green (shown), teal and orange}

{Peppermint Delight}

{Seasonal Stripes}

{Vintage Santa}

{Gift Wrapped: Chocolate}

They even have some lovely, non-photo card options. This was one of my favorites:

{Blossoming Birds}

And this is just a TINY selection of the cards that I loved. I tried to stick with simple, clean designs for the examples I posted here -- but they have a great selection of a variety of designs: contemporary, traditional, whimsical -- you name it!

Once my cards arrive, I'll share with you the design I selected and give a more detailed review of Tiny Prints -- site navigation, ordering process, etc.

Stay tuned!

eerie entry.

Love this look from Good Housekeeping:

{"Three Steps to an Eerie Entryway," Photo credit: Michael Partenio}

I've been wanting a pair of black planters like that for ages now. Think I'm going to have to go on a hunt this weekend!

black and white pumpkins.

Hard to resist artfully decorated white pumpkins - love the faux bois one! Think I'll pass on the cockroach, but the spider + web is fantastic, too!

{"Black & White Pumpkins" from Savannah stylist Liz Demos, photo by Dana Gallagher for Country Living}

More pumpkins here.

welcome, autumn!

Saw this photo on Martha's blog earlier today and it just reminded me so much of all the great things that autumn brings!

{photo from the Martha Blog}

I wish my garden had room for such a big pumpkin patch. The blog post that accompanies this photo, "from Seed to Harvest," is definitely worth a read! It's so neat to see all the different pumpkin varieties she grows!

I'm a little late with my fall/autumn greetings, since yesterday was the first "official" day - but I'm looking forward to all the wonderful sights, sounds, smells that are in store over the next few months.

Are you excited about autumn?