fresh picked whimsy

Still on cloud 9

Wow!  The Open Studio was a huge success!  Beyond my wildest expectations.  At 10:05 a.m. on Friday morning, my sister Kim and I sat at the table in the studio and said "what if nobody comes?" and then at 10:15, the floodgates opened.  We were elbow to elbow the whole time.  It was crazy cool.  I did take photos of the studio before, but we were so busy during, that i didn't have much time to grab my camera at all.  I'm bummed about that.  But, it's a good bummed.  Take a look...

 

 

 
 
 My mom made cake and my sister and K made cookies.  We had coffee in the morning.

My sweet friend, Jane (a.k.a. Fun with Frannie) made these darling reindeer hats for the kids that came. 

She also made little goodie bags for the kids, too.  They were a huge hit! 

My fun friend, Beth brought me this bottle of vino...because i'm the middle sister!  Isn't that cool?!  If you have a friend or sister that's also a middle sister, you must get this for her.  The back label is hysterical!  She found it at Target.

This was the best...my talented friend Tamara took one of my pieces and put it on a coffee mug! I'm on a mug!  I don't know why that is so thrilling for me, but it is!!!  Even if i'm the only one who has it.  It's like official or something.  I know I'm weird, but i'm totally over the moon about it.  She has a catalog business that caters to hot air ballooning enthusiasts.  We're going to get together at the beginning of the year and collaborate somehow.  So excited about that. 

  
 
Look at how they dressed up the Fat Tire box for the holidays!  Isn't that sweet? I love it. 

The wine and beer was flowing in the evening and lovely friends came and stayed late to visit and toast this wonderful day.  It was just perfect.  Thank you, all who came, who wanted to come but couldn't and those who were here in their hearts.  Once again, i am feeling the love.  ♥

almost ready...

 
Feeling leery about putting my address out there, so if you're local and want to stop by, just email me and I will email you back with directions.  I will post pics of the festivities on Saturday.  The studio looks so pretty.  I should have taken a before picture...it looked like a glitter, paint and paper tornado had hit it.  :P 

We've got spirit, yes we do, we've got spirit, how 'bout you!

 
So, what gets you into the holiday spirit?  Is it wrapping presents, shopping, holiday music, Christmas lights?  Perhaps, it's giving back in some way.  I made the illustration above for the latest issue of atCarmel.  The cover story is about how Carmel residents and businesses get into the Christmas spirit.  I also wrote an article for the issue about our family hobby, letterboxing.  The link to my article is here.  I've blogged about it before here and here.  That could be a fun thing for you and your family to do over Christmas break.  Barring heavy snow, there's no reason not to get outside and find some letterboxes!

Another new Christmas inspired print is in the shop today.  I have had Pandora blasting in the studio for a week tuned to the Michael Buble holiday station...fabulous vintage and new Christmas music.  I'm loving every minute of it and am very inspired by it.  Fa la la la la!

i want to live in Bedford Falls...

 
Hands down, my favorite movie of all time is "It's a Wonderful Life".  I will watch it multiple times over the holidays.  We make a family night out of it at least once before Christmas, in our jammies, by the light of the tree, with popcorn and snuggly blankets.  Can't wait for that.  I'm really a sucker for any and all holiday movies, specials and shows.  I've tried to explain to my kids how special it was when all the classics like Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Santa Claus is Comin' to Town, etc... came on when we were kids.  We didn't have VCRs, DVDs, or DVRs.  There wasn't a kid in America who missed them.  We planned our evenings around them.  You could only see them once a year and if you missed it, you would have to wait until next year.  {the same went for Wizard of Oz and the Sound of Music!}  Now, they show all of those specials many times over the holidays and you can own them on DVD or just record them on the DVR.  It's just not quite the same.  I guess that's why I still get so excited when I see that they are going to be on.  In addition to It's a Wonderful Life, my picks for the BEST holiday movies (movies that instantly give me holiday spirit!)...White Christmas, Miracle on 34th Street (the classic, not the remake), Love Actually, Elf, and The Santa Clause.

*New "atta boy, Clarence" print (above) available in the shop! 

Happy Holiday Season!

As you can see, the blog is dressed for the season and we're ready for the holidays here at fresh picked whimsy!  To kick off the season, i would like to thank you for stopping by fpw from time to time, maybe even daily to see and read what i have to show and tell.  This year has been amazing and i want to thank you for being a part of it!  I love my little corner of the blogosphere; and i'm so happy to share it with you.  So, please enjoy this holiday gift tag FREE download* as my gift to you.  I recommend you print them on cardstock and cut along the dotted (and wonky) lines.  Then top your gifts with a little bit of fresh picked whimsy love!  This download is available by clicking here and by clicking the Free stuff just for you button to your left.  You will also find last years FREE downloadable gift tags* there, too!  Happy wrapping and fa la la-ing, friends! xo

 *As always, please enjoy these tags for personal use only. Not for commercial use.  ©Lori McDonough

Are you a lake person or an ocean person?

I'm an ocean girl, myself...having spent my childhood summers at the beach.  So, after I made the Lake Lovers illustration for my cousin, and got such a great response from it here, you know I had to follow it up with the Ocean Lovers version.  Both versions can be customized to include your family name and favorite vacation destination.  Here it is...

I was also recently commissioned to create a fun version of this illustration for my friend, Sue Atkins, author of Raising Happy Children for Dummies.  She is a parenting expert and can be found here for all of your parenting questions.  She's created a club for frazzled Mum's (she's British...love that they call Moms...'Mums'!) to decompress!  This is what I came up with for "The Me Time Mum's Club"...

The original Lake Lovers illustration just keeps inspiring...just received a request for a farm version, too.  Can't wait to get started on that one!  You can find Lake Lovers and Ocean Lovers in the shop!  xo

Family portrait

Painted this for a friend for her birthday, at her request.  I had such a lovely response from it when she opened it at her party that I am going to offer it in my etsy shop.  I will take custom orders for it.  When purchased, I will need a photo emailed to me to use as a reference.  Just my little take on a family portrait...no need to photoshop out the wrinkles, blemishes and the kids are always smiling! ♥ Looking for something unique and personal for someone for the holidays?  Click here.  Thanks, friends...xo

I'm talking about you...

www.urbandictionary.com defines kajillion as 1,000 bajillion.  Yup, that's about right.  New print in the shop! xo

bliss in a big yellow bag...

a fun time was had by all on...

 

even though the shopping gremlins tried to trip us up first thing in the morning!  We departed the neighborhood at 6:30 a.m. and stopped for coffee about a half hour later.  When we pulled into the parking lot at Starbucks, Stacey's Suburban went kaput on us.  It was just too early and there were no service stations available.  So, we called S's hubby and my hubby to rescue us and then popped into the cozy Starbucks to wait for them.  We weren't going to let this little "bump in the road" rain on our IKEA parade!  Then, we spotted him...

do you see him?

He was just sitting there....going over...his list {and checking it twice}!  Fo' rizzle!!!!  Surely, if our men couldn't get us out of our transporation jam, Santa could hook us up with some reindeer, right?!  Yeah, we had some good chuckles about our brush with greatness....ho ho ho!  Our fellas transferred the roof top carrier and the hillbilly hitch {we were anticipating some large purchases} to another vehicle and we were on the road again!  Thanks, guys!

You know, half the fun is the chit chatting that goes on in the car!  We had home baked goodies, Martha was knitting up a storm,

 
and we solved the world's problems, too.  And then the clouds parted, trumpets sounded, angels sang in chorus and we saw it...

We spied this dandy van in the parking lot and decided maybe we should look into taking one of these next year...

I told you all about our IKEA shopping process last year.  This year was no different.  You gotta love it when your day starts out with a warm welcome like this...{oops, my apologies to the stranger coming out of the stall}

Martha was still trying out the merchandise...

Monica was shopping from our discard pile...

We still salivate over the homey rooms they have set up...seriously, i love this and this and this and that...

Parade of carts lined up while we lunch in the IKEA cafeteria...good deals to be had there, too...99 cent Sweedish meatballs for lunch!

Lovely IKEA sentiments...so true:

Although we had to forfeit our planned trip to Jungle Jim's in the morning due to our technical difficulties, we did make it to the outlet mall after IKEA.  By then it's been a long day, and we're all a little goofy as illustrated by Stacey in the discounted textiles bin at the Pottery Barn Outlet store...

All in all, the day was quite productive with lots of lovelies purchased, a leg up on Christmas, and quality girlfriend time.  Same time next year, ladies! xo

Positivity is contagious...pass it on

♥ Just listed in my etsy shop ♥