pippin + pearl

Stella & Dot Spring Collection

on January 27, 2012

I’ll be honest, when I first heard of Stella & Dot, I didn’t “get it”. I thought it was like Tupperware. :)

I love accessories and I’m a big fan of shopping locally. Nearly all my favorite pieces of jewelry are handmade locally or vintage. So when I was invited to my first Stella & Dot party, I wasn’t sure if I would like anything but I did like the idea of a) a party b) with pretty stuff to try on and c) that it was a local girl, trying to earn a living. Also, I heard there would be baked goods at the party. :)

My Favorites: 1. Tigris Earrings //2. Luna Wrap Bracelet // 3. Sierra Statement Necklace //4. Alexandria Bib Necklace (+this is the piece we’ll be giving away!)

Stella & Dot stylist Rachelle Tucker created this huge beautiful arrangement of jewelry on her display table, so I dove in and started trying things on. I think the thing I loved most was that each piece had a unique detail and you could really feel the quality of the clasps and materials. I fell in love with the Renegade Cluster and the Pegasus. I had to drop a few well placed Christmas hints to my husband (I mean tearing out the pages and leaving them taped to his computer), but I managed to score both of those necklaces over the holiday season and I LOVE LOVE LOVE them.

So, I’m excited to share with you a sneak peek of my first giveaway* from Stella & Dot. I’ll give you all the details next week, but you can get a head start by visiting Rachelle’s Facebook Page and “liking” her. We will post the details here on the blog and on her Facebook page, so be sure to check back with us!

*Giveaway Sponsored by Rachelle Tucker, Independent Stylist for Stella & Dot

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DESIGN: WONDERLAND

on January 26, 2012

When I first met Ally she was, as you’d expect, impeccably turned out head to toe. We sat down over coffee and talked about her life, her plans, and shared big ideas. She’s an inspiring young woman with a plan and a clear view of what she wants. Ally reports on fashion primarily, but she’s branching out into other areas like design and travel. Her followers have come to expect her daily posts and tweets that are chock full of “of-the-moment” observations and witty commentary. CooperHouse has just finished creating a new online home for Ally’s popular blog, Allyson In Wonderland. When we discussed her project, she was clear that her new blog design should be clean, modern, and mirror the style of her favorite glossy magazines.

We kept things clean with a monochromatic palette to keep the focus on her colorful content. We used a mixture of fonts inspired by Harper’s Bazaar and Interview Magazine. All the sidebar items “pop down” when clicked allowing her to have her long blogroll, archives, and categories without taking up too much space . The layout is meant to accommodate the easy addition of banner and sidebar ads as her readership grows. She has a featured post area to highlight her favorite posts and sponsored posts with the most recent articles tiled below.

When we design a blog for a client, we have different levels of what we can accomplish for them based on their budget. I have done everything from just consulting on a blog redesign to designing every element from scratch. Tim has built all manner of special features and functions, so trust that anything you can think of, we can build. If you have an idea for a blog, keep in mind that the days of just throwing up any old template and calling it finished, are no more. If you want to make a splash, you’ve got to have a design that reflects your brand, looks fresh, and garners attention. Of course, there is a lot more to blogging than just having an amazing design, but it is one of the most important steps in building your readership.

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New Mommy Survival Kit

on January 23, 2012

The Honest Truth: Having a baby is hard. It’s natural, but it’s not easy. The first few hours and days after having a baby, your sweet little bundle of joy is likely to be the main focus. You have to remember to TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF. Your body will be sore, worn out and recovering from a major event, so you need to pamper yourself a little.

You will find lots of lists on various blogs about product round-ups for newborn babies, but what about the mommies? As a new mom, I want to share with you a few little items that will benefit you during your post-partum recovery.

1) Motherlove Nipple Cream

For new breastfeeding moms, this is an indispensable little product. It’s all natural and safe for you and baby. It will take a few days to adjust to the new traffic on your breasts, and this will help heal any chafing, blistering or redness. (Also good for diaper rash!)

“Motherlove’s organic nipple cream has a zero rating (zero toxins) on EWG’s skin deep database and is made with 100% certified organic ingredients. An all natural herbal salve that quickly relieves the discomfort of sore, cracked nursing nipples. All ingredients are safe for ingestion, so it does not need to be washed off prior to breastfeeding baby.”

2) Aura Cacia Lavender Essential Oil

A few drops of this in your peri-bottle will keep your tender nether-regions feeling fresh and soothed. A few drops in the bath or shower will relax and refresh your senses. A pleasant little side-effect is the scent memory it can create. For the rest of your life, when you smell lavender, you’ll be reminded of those fleeting twilight moments with your cuddly little newborn baby.

Lavender’s perfectly balanced floral-herbaceous aroma provides an unmatched array of attributes—calming, relaxing, refreshing, toning and cleansing—making it the most popular oil in aromatherapy.

3) Wooden Foot Stool

A stool next to the bed is SO helpful as you’re climbing in and out over those first few home-bound weeks. Your lady-bits are going to be very sore and this will prevent you from having to hike up to the edge of your bed.

4) Dressing Gown

A new mom needs something that is “company ready” to throw on over pajamas. It’s important that it opens in the front (for breastfeeding), it’s nice to have a print that will camouflage spit-up or leaking breast milk spots, and it should be machine washable. A cute dressing gown will make you feel a little more put together as friends and family are dropping by for visits.

5) Aden + Anais Bamboo Muslin Swaddling Blankets

These blankets are primarily for baby and are the softest thing EVER. They are the best for swaddling, but they are also big enough to make a great nursing cover and I often wear one as a scarf. A scarf that swaddles, provides nursing coverage, and happens to be super cute!

If you’d like another list to review, Oh Joy! has a great list of all the baby essentials she registered for.

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Kris Knight

on January 23, 2012

Kris Knight is a Canadian painter whose work examines performance in relation to the construction, portrayal and boundaries of sexual and asexual identities. Drawing from personal histories of rural escapism through imagination, Knight paints disenchanted characters that are lost between youth and adulthood; they hide their secrets, but desperately long to let them go.

Kris Knight via Art Hound

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DESIGN: The Crimson Poppy

on January 20, 2012

The Crimson Poppy & I have a long history. I first came to Jenny Jafek-Jones as a customer and admirer of her lifelike paper florals, and we ended up working together with her first iteration of her branding, back when she first started. Over the last two years, we’ve stayed in touch and I’ve watched her business grow. She has gone from being a part-time crafter to a full-time artisan with lots of fans in the wedding industry.

Jenny came to CooperHouse for a branding update and to design custom packaging for her DIY Flower Kits. The event that precipitated all this change was the exciting invitation for The Crimson Poppy to be represented with The Artisan Group in the gift lounges for the Golden Globes and the Oscars. I was thrilled to get a change to work with The Crimson Poppy again and help bring her brand to a new audience.

For her updated branding, we went with a delicate guilloche design applied to a seal with a combination of bright floral colors and soft natural shades.

Soon, I’ll be posting images of the finished packaging, gift certificates and business cards we created for this unique business. For now, you can follow along on The Crimson Poppy’s amazing journey to Hollywood here on Facebook.

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Goodbye, Paka

on January 19, 2012

Paka is Swahili for “cat” and also an expression meaning “sly one”. We got Paka shortly after we first got married 7 years ago. Our other girl cats were already 6 and 7 years old and at first they didn’t love having a little rambunctious kitten around. Before long though, they’d each staked our their territory and managed to co-exist pretty happily for all these years. Paka was our wild one. He was NEVER happy indoors. He was so miserable for the one year we lived in an apartment in downtown Denver. When we moved to OKC and bought this house with it’s ample yard space and healthy bird population, he was in kitty heaven.

Our sweet kitty Paka became very sick this week when his kidneys started failing. We don’t know the exact cause, and we probably never will. He was home with us and mostly peaceful in his last moments, but after a visit with the vet, we had to make that painful choice that his suffering needed to end. We will miss his handsome face, his wild panther ways, and his mousing skills.

So, one of our furry little friends has gone and things are pretty sad at our house today. Hug your meows. Their lives can be so fleeting.

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COWBOYS

on January 17, 2012

I’m loving these paintings by Jason Cytacki. Beautiful, haunting, and masculine.

In these paintings, I challenge the archetypical image of the cowboy by casting him as a tragic hero in a perpetual state of arrested male development. While the fiercely self-reliant cowboy of myth must ride off into the sunset to avoid being tied down, my characters are not going anywhere. Instead, they wander around in the twilight, aware that change is imminent.

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Re-Freshiness

on January 16, 2012

Hello all! I hope your MLK day (off) was nice and relaxing. As you can see by looking around, I did a little update on the blog over the holiday weekend.

I like to rearrange my house and my blog fairly often. :) It makes me feel all fresh and fancy. If you’re viewing this post in a reader, I’d like to encourage you to click over to the site and let me know what you think of the new look!

NEW IN 2012:

All new organized post Categories. I have simplified the list and will be posting more on those specific subjects.
Updated Bio & Site Description
Etsy Shop Re-Opened. I’m currently listing only custom artwork entries, but plan to list several paintings over the coming weeks.
Contact Form: Ask me a question or just send me a private note. I love hearing from you!

I’d also like to ask that you all join me on my social networks:

And, as always, if you’d like some help refreshing YOUR blog, or even just designing a new header, drop me a line!

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I wish I was wearing…

on January 13, 2012

Now that I’ve got my figure back (for the most part) and I can wear dresses with actual waistlines… I just want to bust out of my fashion rut (leggings, leggings, leggings…) and wear something bright and amazing. Enter the Erdem Spring Collection.

Erdem Pre-Fall 2012 – Honestly WTF.

Or perhaps, these Brigitte Bardot-esque little numbers from Anthropologie. Did I mention that Anthro opens here in mere weeks? I’m gonna need an allowance. Seriously.

Tie-Neck Sweater Dress – Flared Brynsk Dress

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Day 22: Post-Partum Wrap-Up

on January 11, 2012

I wanted to write a quick wrap-up for those of my readers who are pregnant. Even though I’ve done this before, there were a few things I forgot about the first few weeks after having a baby.

1. Week # 2 is HELL.

The first week, yes, you’re exhausted, but you’re still basking in the new Mommy glow and likely have lots of helpers around to make sure you’re napping and not having to work too hard. THEN, week #2 happens. Your boobs are raw from nursing, your nerves are raw from all the newborn crying, and you’re running on a 24 hour schedule. Days & nights are meaningless. Your hormones are raging, and your moods swing wildly from elation to tears and there isn’t much you can do about that.

Well, take heart! Week #3 is better. A lot better. Yes, you’re still exhausted, but your hormones should mellow out a bit by this time which will allow you to cope with everything in a much more rational way.

2. Cankles are not forever.

It took about 5 days, but finally… I got my ankles back. You’ll pee a LOT. You’ll sweat a LOT. Eventually all that water you’ve been carrying around in your butt/face/elbows will flush out and you’ll start to look a bit like your old self again.

3. Spread The Love.

If friends are offering to bring you meals, have them spread it out over the first month. You can get by on a couple dinners a week, plus ordering out, and trust me… you’ll want just as much help in week #3 (and 4, and 5 and 6…) as you did in the first few days.

4. Your baby will likely have major baby acne from week 3 – week 8ish.

So, get those newborn pics knocked out in the first 5-7 days. Don’t worry, your precious baby will get their complexion back and be just as perfect as ever. Don’t scrub their face or mess with their skin. It’s not from filth, it’s from hormones and it will mellow out on it’s own.

5. Get a baby carrier.

Try the Moby. Try the Sakura. Try the Maya. (If you’re in OKC, go to Green Bambino and let Morgan find the perfect one for you!) You’ll need to get your hands free to start doing things around the house and the right carrier can make a world of difference.

NEXT: Mom & Baby Product Post – A round up of awesome & helpful items for new moms & babies