Pretty Pear Designs

Chicago here I come!

So, lately I have been feeling like a chicken with my head cut off.  I have been very busy preparing for a special event that I am so proud and honored to be a part of.  This summer at the Elkhart Lake Farmer's Market it was suggested to me by a very lovely woman Laura Schwartz of www.WhiteHouseStrategies.com. that I should do this wonderful event in Chicago and Pretty Pear Designs would do very well.

I have had lots of requests to sell my stuff in Chicago, but have not been sure where to start.  However, Laura was so nice and so enthusiastic about my work that I said sure, why not I am up for a challenge.

So, on Nov  19th - Nov 21st  you will find Pretty Pear Designs making my Chicago Debut at this event

 

To learn more about this event please visit http://www.jlchicago.org/jlc/npo.jsp?pg=event5

As I said I thrilled to be a part of this, the best thing is 15% of all my sales goes towards the Junior League of Chicago.  What could be better shopping and donating all at once!  If you are in the Chicago area stop on by and say hi!

Why Have I stopped Blogging?

Why have I stopped blogging?  That is the question, that I have asked myself a lot lately.  Many of you maybe wandering as well.  I have popped in here and there, but it has been a bit of a struggle for me, which is both good and bad.

So, grab a cup of coffee, cup of tea or glass of wine and I will fill you in - we'll chat.

Last that I filled you all in it was the middle of summer and I was busy at the Elkhart Lake Farmer's Market.  The season is now over (because it has been freezing her in Wisconsin), but it was a wonderful summer, and for Pretty Pear Designs quite successful.  I introduced a variety of new products such as my gift tags, bookmarks and fabric boxes.  Varying price-point has been very important to me.  I also accepted credit cards this year, which made a tremendous difference in my sales.

   

I always feel so fortunate for all the wonderful people that I get to meet every week at the market.  As strange as it may sound I really do remember you.  I have been touched by many, and have been honored by peoples support and appreciation for what I do.

I also had a great summer with my girls, husband, and family visits.  Elkhart Lake is just a beautiful place to be in the summertime.  Afternoon's spent at the lake, grilling out in our backyard.  A nice cool summer, not too hot and not so humid!  I enjoyed my gardening, although my vegetable garden could of used some more tlc - there is only so much time in the day.  Lots of indulgence in ice cream and great meals.  Nothing to complain about.

However, as we all know this is a rough economy, and times are different.  The confidence in job security is fleeting these days.  For the past year we have seen at my husband's company many rounds of layoffs.  They became so common place that it almost seemed surreal, and since we had survived each round we began to feel almost immune to them.  I stress the word almost, because the fear is always back there in your head.  So, as rumors swirled again of layoffs on one particular day, I took it with a grain of salt as my husband left for work that day.  However, when I saw his car pull into our driveway at 10:30 am I knew that was it, he was done.  As he walked through the gate, I Iooked at him and he just shook his head and gave a faint smile.

From that moment I have been in a lets deal with it mode, lets do what we have to do mode, and life is going to change mode.  I have been BUSY.  We decided to put our house on the market - if you have time, visit some of my older posts where I share our unique property with you.  I have been in awe of our place and have loved all of it since we bought it.  It is a living history set in beautiful surroundings.  My husband and I have put a lot into this place.  We are hands on people - DIYer's.  However, it is a lot of work, and it takes a tremendous amount of time.

This has been a difficult decision, we are headed into the unknown.  The headlines do not lie, it is hard to find employment.  My husband is a Mechanical Engineer and his specialty is in engines, so needless to say there are lots of engineers looking for jobs right now, it is very competitive.  We are well aware that there is a good chance that he may find a job that requires relocation, so we took the offensive at put the house on the market, to get a head start encase we have to sell it.

My life has changed and it has not.  I am a much more efficient grocery shopper and have shocked myself by how much I have saved on my food bills by just cutting coupons and getting more organized.  We have sold lots of stuff.  Two weekends of garage sales and lots of time on ebay.  It is cathartic actually, we all have way too much stuff.

The thing in life is this...Love is free and we have made sure that in our house the "bumps" in the road do not get in the way of what we are most grateful for.  Laughter is free, and with two young daughters we make time to all sit down and laugh with each other.  Just because money is tight does not mean you stop creating memories - you just get more creative.  We have our health, which I count my blessings for everyday.  So sometimes having "less" makes you realize you have so much more.

I tell my girls we are on a journey, because that is really what life is, why fear it.  I continue to keep working on my line of stationery.  Pretty Pear Designs is in full swing and will not stop.  I have a huge event coming up....(I will save that for another post), and my production capabilities have greatly increased.

So, there you have it a bit long winded, but oh well.  I have been engrossed in the ongoings of my life and blogging has taken a back seat - however, I feel it is making its way back up again!
 
 

Yikes....I have flatlined

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Ok, so I have completely flat-lined.  For some reason I have felt like I have had nothing to say or share, and I am really not sure why.  So much has been going on, maybe too much, and I was left with the feeling of where to begin.

The seasons of Spring into Summer packs so much potential...new gardens, new designs and ideas, company coming, vacations to take, and mostly importantly kids to entertain.  I have been busy with all of the above.  So, here we are smack in the middle of summer and I have decided to give this little old blog a dusting off and a little resurrection.

Summer is busy lots to do, time is precious, so I am a true fan of a picture is worth a thousand words.  Instead of eating up your time with paragraphed details of the ongoings of myself and Pretty Pear Designs...we will have a photo summer.  Grab a nice cool beverage and enjoy!

 

In the beginning there was my gigantic vegetable garden

 

I live in an absolutely beautiful resort town which makes it hard to be indoors sitting in front of a computer

 

Trip back to NY (Long Island) for 20 yr High School reunion - did I say 20 yr? Oops I meant to say 5 yr...ha-ha

 

Relaxing on the front porch

New look & new label

 

Look of the new packaging

 

My Saturday mornings at the Elkhart Lake Farmer's Market

There is more to share and talk about, but since this is a resurrection from being a flat-line, dead blog I do not want to over do it.  I have been making a conscious choice to soak in time and memories.  Not to feel over anxious for all the things that I should be doing, but to appreciate the balance of living my life.

Hello, Hello

Hello!  I feel like I owe my blog an apology ( again ).  I have strayed away and found a forum that has enabled me to share ti-bits of my life and what I do in a quick and very, very easy way.  I have not blogged because I have been busy tweeting away on twitter.  Yup, I love twitter which has made you ( my blog) sit on the back burner for a while.

However, with spring here and new things going on both professionally and personally I would like to be your friend again.  I have things to share and pictures to take.  I have been busy with lots of family stuff and feel as if I have spent this past never ending winter sitting in Dr.'s offices with various members of my family.  It was a long, long winter here in Wisconsin.  I had been working on new ideas and new items for my shop, but most of my focus has been on family. 

In regards to family, we are like many families out there dealing with the stress of these economic times.  We have successfully made it through 4 rounds of layoffs at my husbands work.  The stress of each round is huge and is always a huge wake up call of reality.  Still employed so that is good.  We have gone through medical issues and testing and finally diagnoses with my husband and daughter.  Both simultaneously, so it seemed like an additional never ending stress.  Very fortunate we have our answers and thank goodness nothing very serious with either one.  As wife and mom you hold it together for everyone and then at times have your quiet freak-out moments.  Very happy to be able to get outside again, enjoy the fresh air, go for walks with kids and dogs and bask in all that I am grateful for.

Now for Pretty Pear Designs, I have stepped back a bit and really tried to evaluate what I have been putting out there.  As you all know I love what I do and I love making fabric cards.  With the economy the way that is I realize that people are making cuts in their budgets and scaling back on items.  To adjust to that I wanted to add more variety of price points to my collections.  I have added smaller sets of note cards, variety pack of sizes, adorable gift tags and bookmarks.  My mind is always playing with different ideas and adds to my sleep deprivation.

I am so looking forward to doing the Elkhart Lake Farmer's Market again this summer.  It is just a wonderful place to spend your Saturday mornings.  I cannot wait to unveil all these new items there.

In the mean time please visit my newly designed website prettypeardesigns.com  and my Etsy shop prettypeardesigns.etsy.com  to see what is new.

Even though I am loving twitter I will try not to neglect this blog so much - fresh air, fresh designs, and a new beginning!

Raising Daughters

 

I love this picture.  I took it last year, thinking it just captured such an innocent moment of my girls.  I had just planted this garden and they had been running around and playing.  They were taking a break and eating an ice-pop on the rock.  Just sitting side by side enjoying the melting ice-pop, the wind, the outdoors and each other....ahh, lifee is good.

I love having daughters, they are silly and fun.  Girly yet tomboy, so sweet.  I spend a lot of time thinking about them and what is to come.  My poor husband, he has no idea what this house will be like in a few more years.  Moods flying, tempers flaring, doors slamming, all over a pair of jeans that just won't fit them the right way.  I know it is coming.  My girls are 27 months apart, just about the same age difference as my sister and me, so I know.

No matter what success I may achieve in life, nothing will trump how important it is to me to raise some fabulous women.  I think that as moms this not becoming harder to do, but something that will be a bit more challenging and in this very fast paced society, will actually take more time to do. 

My husband, is not a guy who embraces technology and likes to make a hard stand "my daughters will not be living on their cell phones"  I chuckle because, there are things that will just be inevitable, can't slow down technology and I do not even argue with him on that one because by the time they are teenagers for all we know they will ditch their life line of text-messaging and will just be able to beam themselves into their friends or yikes...boyfriends homes.  Hey if CNN can do it, the technology it is just around the corner.

I am still at the early stages of raising girls, they are only 3 and 5 years old.  But ask them what makes them beautiful and they say your heart.  One day I was driving in the car talking to my 5 year old.  I said "Emily, who will always be with you no matter what?", she said "you mommy".  It was a little bit hard for me to answer her on this because you don't want to freak them out in anyway, but I said "well, I will always love you and am there for you, but the one person who is ALWAYS with you is you".  She did not get it at first but I explained to her that you should always be your own friend, like yourself, because in good times and in bad the one constant is you (did not word it that complex for a 5 year old), but she understood and thinks about it.

There is so much that is going to be thrown at our kids, they will grow and control will loosen as their independence takes shape.  I know that it will be hard for me.  The best that I can hope for is to provide my girls with a sense of sound judgment, with enough of my faint voice in their heads as they get older to stop and think about what they are doing for 1 second.   I know it will not always work, it did not work for me all the time.  I marched to my own drummer and 17 is 17 years old, you are not always going to make the wisest of choices.

So, raising girls, what a treat.  From rainbows, to fairies, to mud-pies, through total drama of the smallest thing, to utter meltdowns, to raising a girl who becomes a women and says thank you mom.  It is what I have done to my mom, I got what she did for me and what she taught me and I am blessed to be able to pass that on....that is life!

BLOG , WAKE-UP BLOG!

 

My poor snoozing blog.  This darn cold winter has put you to sleep, and has left you unable to think of something fun and Witty to type about.  Why?

Honestly there is no good reason why this wonderful blog has been so neglected as of late.  I have been busy and that is good and that is bad.  Good busy with items listed in my shop, and a wonderful custom order.  Bad busy, with the winter crud that seems to play a vicious cycle in this house of mine.  I think that by the end of this winter there should be a reserved parking spot for me at the Doctor's office right next to the doctor's reserved spot - seriously!

I have been fortunate enough to have been featured in some wonderful blogs such as TheDowntownBoutique and some great sites like www.MomCentral.  and
http://www.derinaud.com/chicweddingstyle.html#stationery .  These have all been great sites that I was honored to be a part of.

If you have a moment please stop by my Etsy shop where I have a special offer going on right now!

Finally a little bit of Spring Fever

Because it has been a ridiculously cold winter here in Wisconsin, and because I just returned from a week vacation in Florida and it was cold down there too, I finally had a day that was draped in warmth and that feeling of Spring Fever in the air.  My family and I spent the day frolicking in the melting snow, enjoyed the blue skies and soaked up every ounce of warmth.

Of course the first hint of seeing grass and the potential for anything to grow makes me think of my gardens.  I cannot wait to start planting again! However, since it is only February 8t I am well aware that this is a giant tease, and that cold air will be here very soon, and a few more snow storms will be knocking on our door.

Since it is too soon to garden, it is not to soon to enjoy pretty floral fabrics and lovely stationery.  So, I felt like posting some pictures.  They make me happy and I hope it does the same for you.

 

 

 

 

 

Wacky Wednesday Questions

This week I am going to answer 2 questions - Hope you are having fun with this, please feel free to send a comment and let me know.

 

First question is from Itsy Bitsy Bracelets Itsy Bitsy Girly Things (Etsy shop) & thecutestshopsonline.blogspot.com

 

1. What is the craziest thing you have ever sold or bought?

Not sure if this is crazy, but I was so surprised by how well it sold.  Since I absolutely love all the fabrics that I use, I have a very hard time parting with it.  I keep all my scraps.  In my head I am always thinking that something could be made with them.  So two summers ago I thought I would play around with making rag balls, just for fun.  I made a handful of them and set them out for display at my booth at our local farmers market.  I was absolutely shocked how fast they sold - and they were not intended for sale, but people kept asking how much?  What surprised me the most, was that most people bought them for toys for their cats.

Having a hard time thinking of the craziest thing I have ever bought.  I had to buy Elk urine spray ( cringe as I type this), it is the scent of Elk urine that my husband uses when he goes Elk hunting, and I actually had to go into a store and buy it for me.  I prefer my Clinque Happy over that!

 

Second question is from SarahElinor.etsy.com

 

2. What's your favorite city in the US and why? And, do you have a least favorite city and why?

I would have to say that New York City is my favorite city in the United States.  I grew up  right outside of there and that is where so many of my childhood memories are from.  There is just nothing that compares to the energy and culture and diversity of New York.  Ever since I was a little a girl the Metropolitan Museum of Art has always been one of my most favorite places.  Once you spend time in New York it is hard to compare other cities to it - Although now that I live in the Midwest, I think Chicago is pretty cool too.

I do not think that I have a least favorite city.  I live in the country now and have spent much of my adult life in the mountains of Colorado.  I really appreciate the variety that so many different cities in this country have to offer.

New Studio Space

I could not be any happier right now.  I finally completed my much needed studio space.  I am so grateful for my husband and the his friends who helped him with "my project".  Let me tell you it is not an easy task trying to convince a man to tear down old barn wood from walls ( and I only won this in 1/2 of the basement).

I am quite pleased with how it turned out, and am in awe of all this new storage space that I have. Thanks to my resourceful husband all of the cabinetry and even the slat boards were FREE!  Thank you to all who wanted to get rid of the stuff and just needed my husband to lend a hand - it is wonderful!

I am also quite impressed with this old house farmhouse.  It is truly amazing to get a space like this in such an old basement.  One of the reasons why we bought this property was it had high ceilings throughout, even the basement.  Most old homes like this have small cramped spaces, that are damp and well just yucky, but this basement has always been dry and actually very pleasant.

So, here are my pictures.

 

The mudding (used to be all old barn wood)

 

Starting to prime

 

Starting to set up the cabinets

 

Beginning of setting up

 

Ribbon station

 

Trying to make the space "pretty"

 

More work areas

I am sure with time lots of tweaks will be made and it will not always look this neat & organized.  It is fun to look back where I started.  My first cards were made on the dinning room table, slowly I took over one closet in our office.  Space and organization are always a challenge, and I am so grateful for the opportunity and help in creating this space.

Next up - the old house or one of our barns!!!!!!!!

My first Giveaway!

Ok, got to start somewhere, and will probably learn more as I go, but I successfully did my first giveaway - yeah!  Fun to do and I loved hearing from everyone.  I will certainly do more in the future and have lots of great things to giveaway.

So with the help of my daughter who picked the name out of a parka hat ( since it is freezing here ) my first winner is...... Jyl of mommygossip.blogspot.com  please if you have a chance go check out her blog it is lots of fun!