random thoughts

most mornings i get up and start thinking about all the things i have to do that day and what i have coming up. lately that gets a little overwhelming when those thoughts are mixed with everything else i have going on. so today instead of a standard post, i'll let you in on my rambling thoughts, a peek inside my head...


- get invitations out for jeannett's shower (finished last night!)
- work on new posy pins throughout the day - fun fun colors!
- what are we supposed to be doing for home school today?
- research hotels for this weekend
- try out joy's machine (i'm researching getting a new machine. where do you start?)
- pass out flyers for next wednesday's boutique HERE!
- get the vomit smell out of the carpet - good times, good times
- cut some roses for the house, prune the dead ones
- try out a prototype for new apron - flat front with a tiny ruffle at the bottom
- got new business cards - thanks, j! your package is coming soon - we keep adding to it!


- mom and dad are here - yay!
- debate throwing away half-finished christmas cards that i never got out
- i really want to cut some of my new fabric for more projects, but i literally have PILES of works-in-progress that i need to get through first. but crayon rolls are done - 24 of them!
- get all upcoming shows/boutiques on calendar - home spring boutique, mother's day indie boutique, strawberry festival, art in the park (debating?), summerfest (with nicole!!!)
- ohh! nicole and fam will be here next friday for easter!!!


- ummm, make easter skirts for my girls and nicole's - in my free time, of course
- work on jeannett's shower details - fun fun
- try to sneak in a date with the hubs this week. please mom?
- take pics of the loft. its been painted for awhile now. beautiful!
- its 7:56 and gracie is still sleeping. lucky girl.
- stop rambling. go make breakfast.


-lindsey

on a roll

new crayon rolls are in the shop, and more are on their way!

-lindsey

lemon buns

nope, no recipe (shocker).

just something to make you laugh...

hmmm... maybe i should've wiped it before i took it's picture.

-lindsey

some things in life are free

economy in the dumps

+
no "extra" money
=
unnecessary expenditures out the door


haircuts and colors from a salon
=
unnecessary


any sort of style from the neck up
=
out the door

exhibit a:
long, overgrown hair.
no style.
note grumpy expression.


enter kind and generous friend.
with hair cutting skills.



exhibit b:
much shorter
much better
much happier :)

guess who turned 2 today?

me! well, ok not me, but my blog did! so i've been wracking my brain for the last few days trying to think of something fun to do to celebrate these past 2 years of spilling my guts out on you guys. i figure, first of all, a big huge THANK YOU is in order. i so appreciate all the support and fun comments i've received here. i enjoy this little outlet (probably more than i should) so much and have fun connecting with other women i never would have otherwise. so how abut 20% off all your purchases at the pleated poppy through sunday night? sound good? good. enter the code BLOG to get your discount.

and i think you all should get to win something too, because that just sounds fun to me. hmm.... what would be a good prize? maybe a set of posy pins? mmmm, thats good, but you deserve more. how about a tea towel? yes, they are very cute, but i still think you're beter than that. oh, i got it! a ruffled apron! yes, that will be the *perfect* prize. and it will look so cute on you! yes, you can choose which one you want, but thats only because i love you and you're nice to me.


"so how do i win," you ask? good question. i think we should do a quiz, a trivia game of sorts. it will be about my blog, my business, and me and my family. how's that sound? but, yes, i do have a lot of family that reads my blog so, sorry family - you're out! it just wouldn't be fair, and besides you could always trade some babysitting for an apron. i won't say no to that.

all the answers can be found somewhere on my blog or website. you may have to search for a bit. use the categories on the sidebar if you need some help. ok, here we go!

1. how old am i? what happened for my last birthday?
2. what are my kids names?
3. what are their ages?
4. what is my business name?
5. when i was deciding on a business name, what were the other 2 top choices?
6. what is my favorite kind of soda?
7. where do i do most of my sewing?
8. what is the least expensive item in my shop?
9. my anniversary is on the same day as what other special day for our family?
10. what's my favorite color?
11. how much did my son weigh when he was born?
12. what is the best seller on my site?
13. where do i buy my grosgrain ribbon?
14. what color is my couch?
15. who redesigned my blog and website, and what is her blog called?
16. what is my best friend's name?
17. what kind of birthday party did my oldest have for her 4th birthday?
18. how many crayons are in a crayon roll?
19. how did you find my blog?
20. what do i do all day?

are you up for the challenge? i'll try to check the comments as often as i can to let you know how many you have right. the first person to have them all correct wins! and if no one gets them all i'll put you out of your misery tomorrow with the person that gets the most right.

have fun! i'm off to drink my second favorite soda and eat some chocolate, in celebration of course!

***contest closed**** rebecca b. from so cal is the winner! i'll give all the right answers tomorrow so you can see how well she matched up. thanks so much for playing! rebecca, email me with your apron choice. fun, fun! but not just for rebecca, you all still can get 20% off at my shop! woohoo!

-lindsey

huge discount on posy pins!

i just marked down 20 sets of posy pins to $10!!! that's 1/3 off from their normal price of $15 for a set of 3. i need to clear some space in my shop for all the new products coming in... better hurry!

-lindsey

guest blogger nicole: MY FAMILY RULES...they really do rule!

Hello again! I am back to talk about the FAMILY RULES project. If you walk into our house, you cannot miss a pair of old Indonesian doors. They were used in a store front in their native home and made their way to LA and then to a sweet little, funky store in Bend, Oregon. I paid way too much money for them when that store closed down and punished my hubby and his subcontractors by moving them all around the house before settling on a spot. They are fabulous and difficult all at once. I am always struggling with what to put in the space behind the open doors. At Christmas, it is advent calendar…Tree of Thanks for Fall…and so on. However, from March until November, I have nothing to put there. I had originally envisioned old blue prints of our house. We lived in an 800 sq foot house on the same lot before building. No luck there…the stuff my husband found at the city was b o r i n g .

So, I brought an old canvas down from the attic...I bought it years ago. It is huge (40"x30") and is a beautiful gallery wrap. I first thought I would put a family tree on it…maybe something like that anthro print again. But somehow this family rules kept calling me.

Here is how I did it…

1. Paint the canvas (you see the paint on the border and on the sides)
2. Spend a whole lot of time at the paper store picking out paper you cannot resist
3. Write your rules. Be careful of what you put. My kids often refer to the canvas. My favorite is…”Daddy, hug mommy”. A rule is a rule, ya know? I should have put HUSBAND- MASSAGE YOUR WIFE’S BACK DAILY
4. Now, cut that beautiful paper into strips. I varied the widths, used “torn” scissors, scalloped scissors, and so on. Use glue, mod podge, or spray adhesive to lay it out on the canvas.
5. I then went on to the computer and typed all the rules in different fonts. I am a font junky thanks to lindsey’s sister, Jennifer, showing us how to download free fonts. Do it…get hooked! It is easy and wonderful!
6. I printed them and “eyed” or copied them onto my papers with black and white paint pens.
7. Cover that baby in mod podge and make your man hang it!

post any questions you have! i would love to hear that your family rules too! :)

So…for next time: You tell me! A tour of my basement…where I craft and never clean up OR a tour of my kitchen and my big, bright turquoise island! Leave a comment and let me know!

tata...

***edited to add: if you want a more detailed description on how to do this, click here!***

nicole

table detail

i thought i'd show you some detail shots of the table i showed you last week (or the week before? i never know what day it is). for the entry table/table-that-used-to-be-my-sofa-table i painted 2 coats of paint, totally skipping all the usual prep work of sanding and priming. i let the paint dry overnight between coats so it had time to harden. i didn't prep it well because a. i'm lazy, and b. i knew i wanted to distress it anyway and this would make it easier.

after the paint had dryed really well, i got a razor blade and went at it. i went at an angle, almost flat against the wood and scraped it up. i don't like when things are distressed and look really fake. i like to distress where the furniture would naturally get more worn, like in the edges and corners, but not too evenly.

i still plan on doing a darker wash over this piece to age it out a bit more, but i still like it the way it is.

these 2 pics are from my coffee table. this one i (well, "we": me and my mom) painted a base coat of dark brown then a couple coats of blue on top. the i sanded through to the brown. some of the previous owners' paint colors came through, too, which i like.

i also did a lazy wash on top of this: watered down black and brown craft paint, rubbed it on and wet ragged it off. i don't really recommend this because you have to work really fast as the paint dries very quickly.

if any of you have tried out that paint color yet (behr's mermaid net), post a comment with a link to pictures.

-lindsey

super dedooper capes

i've been busy lately with a few custom orders which included a few capes.
i love working with customers to get them exactly what they want, but also having a little creative license to make them love it even more!

this one is for a little girl who loves bunnies.

this one is for a little guy with an obsession with dinosaurs.


this one is my all-time favorite! it is covered in amy butler fabrics. the customer chose all the fabrics and said she wanted a patchwork back with the stars on front.

i love the font of the "e".

and here's the beautiful back. my favorite fabric on here is the one i centered, the hexagons in pink, coral, orange, and brown. i think i'll be ordering some of that for future products.

and its hard to tell from the pics, but these new capes all have velcro closures at the neckline, rather than the ties.

if you're interested in a cape for your little one, and want to do some fun custom designs, contact me at thepleatedpoppy@gmail.com and we can talk through all the details.

if you already know how to sew and want to tackle this project for yourself, i wrote up a tutorial awhile back. please contact me with any questions!

-lindsey

what?

i got to sleep in saturday morning.
until 8:40!!!
i'd like to thank elmo videos and easily accessible boxes of cereal for making this all possible.
i'm also thankful for vacuums.

guest blogger: nicole

so, this is is me …wife to ricky,

mama to tyler,

drew,

and hawken

... umbilical cord and life source to baby #4,

and best friend to lindsey. thanks for my “love letter” linds…you make me sound worthy of the title of your BFF.

i have promised to do this guest blogger thing for a bit now…scared of learning the process and afraid that i wouldn’t be able to follow through, but here we go! it is now or never as i approach my nesting season. i am naturally a nester but being prego kicks me into high gear. here are a few things my hubby will find me doing over the next nesting months…
1. Sorting the utensil drawer
2. Cleaning the condiment lids in the fridge (that stickiness gunk drives a nester crazy)
3. Smelling all of the towels in the linen closet to see if any should be trashed….you know that “old towel” smell….ughhhhh
4. Organizing the attic. I actually went through 5 years of baby girl clothes and 3 years of boy clothes this past weekend. It felt so good. I found some treasures for little miss lily may
5. Plucking my eyebrows as often as I can bring myself to look in the mirror
6. Organizing old Martha Stewart mags by month and season
7. Reading my Bible as often as I can (as if I will never have time to read again)
8. Planting a vegetable garden with my soon to be kindergartener (sniff, sniff)
9. Clipping everyone’s nails way too often (believe it or not, my boys love this)
10. Making lists of all the things my hubby must finish on the house before this baby comes

so, you see i am a bit neurotic…i am one of those people that cannot do things last minute. ms. “IMPERFECT” works best that way. we are similar in many, many ways but also very different. my house is always a mess but i can’t think straight unless i know what is for dinner. lindsey’s house…equally messy but at 4:30 pm she still hasn’t looked in the fridge to see what’s cookin’. we are same…but different…but those differences make our friendship better!

all of this leads me to my first little show-and-tell project. my need to get things done ahead of time is sometimes advantageous. while my hubby spent last winter building our house, i spent the winter months making pretty things to fill the house with. one of my fave projects was my five year old, tyler’s bedroom pillows. she didn’t even have drywall in her bedroom at the new house when i was sewing these little guys. she is a girly, girly, GIRLY girl with lots of input. we did these “together”. most of the time she was asking why we had to use any green fabric (after all, it is a boy color). miss tyler bella has the bed I dreamed of as a little girl…check these out.

check out the snow outside the window! she has the best view in the house.

layers of petals stitched down...rough edges...i am planning to put a covered button in the middle. the yellow button is too bright.

very messy ruffles stitched down...tyler's favorite pillow

simple and clean with a "tufted" button center

scalloped scissors on narrow stripes on the sides...scrappy mama and baby bird taking flight

LOVE the turq pom pom trim...found it at a flea market. the red stripe is corduroy...i love to change up the texture

tyler totally disapproves of this one when it is on its own...no pink at all mommy? but it looks great with the others.

inspired from an anthropologie piece of wall art...those folks at anthro always make me look more creative than i am

i love the flowers stitched on the base...and the repeat of the birdie

a bit boring but hearts are always a hit around here

all of the backs are really fun too. you see the heart one here. most are just what i had left of the fabric...all scrapped together. fabric conservation at its best!

sorry for my oh-so-long winded post! she said I was chatty…she doesn’t lie. see ya next week.

:) nicole

sneak peek for next week...

winner winner chicken dinner!

congratulations goes to......
#5

SECPumpkin:

"My Fav is French Girlie Wallpaper...I think that could possibly make me love my camera more! And I already love it a whole lot!!! : ) i love your blog, and am totally going to subscribe to it! Thanks!"

head on over to *shey*{b} and pick out your very most favorite camera strap slipcover!

and thank you to all of you for participating - aren't giveaways fun?!

-lindsey

ps - nicole has already done a great post for you, but we're struggling with getting her pictures bigger than a postage stamp. any help?

before + after

ahhh, much better.
still needs a brown antiquing wash.
i'll get to that, um.... later.
aged it with a razor blade this time, rather than the usual sand paper.
i'll get a close up pic of that for you.... later.
and painted the mirror black, too.
loving that.

wall paint: restoration hardware silver sage
table paint: mermaid net by behr from ho d'po (home depot)

-lindsey

sweet baby shower: details

here's a closer look at the shower i hosted on saturday:

these little brownie flags were made with cardstock, toothpicks, and hot glue. i printed out #4 (because this was baby #4 for the guest of honor) in alternating colors to match the color theme. i used a font called "big top", downloaded free from dafont.com. i also used this font on the food signs at silas' first birthday. i made sure to leave enough room to the left of the #4 so that it could wrap around the toothpick. i cut the flags in a rectangle shape, folded them around the toothpicks, added a tiny bit of hot glue, then snipped the ends in an inverted "v". i think it took me longer to give these directions than it took to actually make these! printing out "sweet baby" would've been cute, too.

there were 2 hanging banners (umm... don't all banners hang?). one over the candy bar said "sweets", the other over the mantle said "sweet baby". i started this project again with the big top font and customized the color. did you know you can usually customize the color of your font? you don't have to always choose from the standard choices - if you scroll to the bottom of the color options there is usually a choice that says "custom". after i printed out the letters, each on a seperate page, i used my circle cutter (or you could trace with a clear bowl and a pencil) and cut out the circles. then i cut my blank cardstock to about 7" x 10" rectangles. i used my quilter's square to lightly mark lines every inch, vertically. oh yeah, all this was done because i couldn't find red and white striped paper. that would have saved time... but also cost more money. i did most of the decorations for this shower with things i had on hand. i love that. so then i took some red craft paint and painted the red stripes. yep, i'm silly like that. it didn't take that long really. i finished before the little tornado woke up form nap. when the paint was dry, i stacked a few together, and scalloped the ends. then i hole punched the corners and strung truquoise grosgrain ribbon through. again, more difficult to explain than actually do.

for the candy bar i used containers i had around my house. this urn i had floral foam in, shoved in the honey sticks and rock candy sticks, then covered the foam base with sea glass. easy peasy.

so here's what not to do, which i, of course, did:
-thank the guests for coming and forget all about the gift opening!!! thankfully, someone who hadn't lost her mind was sitting next to me to gently remind me about the usual order of things.
-thank the guest of honor for coming. as if she wouldn't have. i'm an idiot.
-think that having my husband in the loft with 3 kids would be a good idea to occupy them during the shower. not so much. kids can smell candy a mile away.

but, despite my accidental attempts to derail the shower, the mom-to-be (again) was well showered and hopefully blessed by the fellowship of supportive women surrounding her.

-lindsey