fresh picked whimsy

it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Gosh, i hope you can come! I promise to put you in the holiday spirit with all kinds of holiday goodness and cheer! xo

 

seeing stripes

Wow

These striped pumpkins were "the" item to buy at the pop up shop.  Who knew?

I've painted them for my friends in years past...just a silly little gift that i left on their doorstep each October. 

For the sale, i only made 7 ahead of time and left the black monogram oval blank.  My intention was to take orders for them and then they could be picked up next day.

and then i sold 37 of them.  what? 37?!

Some of those sales came from the instagram pic i posted (above).  I posted the pic, and then went into the middle school for an event for Griffin.  They have no signal in that school.  One hour later, when i came out...my phone was overflowing with messages and comments requesting pumpkins.  It was nuts.

The trickiest part was finding enough of the right sized pumpkins locally.  SO many places had pumpkins that were damaged, too small or had no stems.  Shout out to my sweet husband who went to a pumpkin patch on his lunch hour, in the rain, his work clothes and brought home a trunk full of wonderful pumpkins!  Whatta guy.  One night we were heading into Lowe's and i spied a few good ones at the bottom of a deep bin at the entrance of the store.  Again, still in work clothes, he reached in to lift the chubby pumpkins out and accidentally fell in, head first!!!!  My only regret is that i didn't get a photo of his feet flailing out of the bin.  We had a good chuckle after that.  So did the Lowe's guys who saw the whole thing go down.  ♥

It took me a week to paint them all.  Meanwhile our house looked like a pumpkin patch.  A very cute and preppy pumpkin patch.

Once again, thank you friends!  Happy Halloween!

the yummiest

Finally getting around to blogging about our first ever fall open studio... the Whimsy Studios Yummy October Pop Up Shop!  It was amazing!!!

As i told you before, i had some special guests join me for this sale.  We had originally planned to hold this event under white tents in my front yard and then spill into the studio.  Mother Nature had other plans and gave us a rainy, blustery, cold weekend.  So, plan B...we squeezed it all into the studio.  When we first brought it all in to begin staging, we were overwhelmed, but somehow, it just fell into place perfectly and the studio was transformed into this cozy, magical shop. 

Let me show you around...

My friend and neighbor Stacey, of The Rusty Toolbox brought all of the fun vintage stuff and my sister Susan, of The Gingham Chair brought the re-loved painted furniture.  We had so much fun doing this   sale together.  It was sweet having co-workers for a change!

My sweet Katie and her adorable roommates surprised me and drove down from school just for a few hours.  Those crazy kids made my day!

Susan and I really missed our sister Kim, who lives in Georgia.  Couldn't resist taking a family selfie "with her" when my parents stopped by...

These striped monogram pumpkins were the surprise hit of the day for me.  More on those tomorrow...

Thank you, so much to everyone who came out to support us!  I loved meeting so many new people.  It really was a blast! It was a huge success and we will do it again!  Next up for me is my Holiday Open Studio, the weekend before Thanksgiving.  Susan and Stacey will be participating in the Holiday Market on Cherry Tree in Noblesville on November 8th. 

It will be November at the end of this week, so it's time to get crack-a-lackin'!

Thank You, friends!!!!

staying in is the new going out

{print available in the shop}

Maybe I'm showing my age, but i love to stay home.  Yup, that's right, i'm a homebody.  Although i might have to make another print; only this time it would be a wine glass instead of a cocoa mug.  just sayin'...

Tis the season to snuggle, right?  Me and the Mr. are pros.

Snuggle on, my friends.

xo

This message is for you...

i think everyone needs to be reassured from time to time.  This new print is available in the shop now, and it will remain at a lower price than my other prints, to make it a little easier for you to share with others. 

Be at peace, my friends. ♥

hello you

are you still there?  i've been a bad blogger.  i know.  Seasons end and begin and i didn't make a peep.  Online that is.  i have been working like a crazy woman here, behind the scenes in the studio preparing for my first ever fall studio sale.  i'm calling it...

if you're local, i would love it if you would stop by.  The date is next Friday and Saturday, October 3 & 4th at my home studio. (details at the bottom of this post)  I will have special guests this time (another first!)...my friend Stacey of The Rusty Toolbox and my sister, Susan of The Gingham Chair.  Stacey is bringing her vintage and upcycled home goods and Susan is bringing her handpainted and reloved furniture.  I'm super excited to see our 3 styles merged together. 

if you follow me on facebook and/or instagram, you have seen my sneak peeks that i've been posting. 

If you're not local, no worries.  None of those new goodies are available in the shop yet, but will be after the sale.  There's so much more, too...new prints, and all new items!  Can't wait to share it with you all!

i promise to get back to blogging regularly after the sale.  My life becomes a swirling tornado of paint and paper and chaos leading up to one of these events.  I'm so lucky my family supports me and this little studio of mine.  i couldn't do it without them!

i couldn't do it without your support, either.  Thank you for all of your sweet comments, messages, tweets and for pinning my art on pinterest.  whimsy studios fans are the BEST fans.

Have a great week, friends!

xo,

Lori

 

 

Back to school lunchbox notes free printable

And just like that...summer is over.  Okay, i know...on the calendar there are still weeks to go before the first official day of fall.  But, when my kiddos go back to school...for me...it's over.  We're getting ready to send our oldest two away to college in just 3 days and our youngest started 8th grade today. 

{Deep breath.  Sniffle.  Holding back the tears}

They may all be too old for lunchbox notes, but i will keep making them for others to enjoy because i know how much my babies loved them when they were littles. 

So please, download yours here  for FREE and tuck one in your child's lunchbox or bag. 

Feel free to share them {as always, a link back is always appreciated}.  You can also find more of my illustrated lunchbox notes from years past and lots of other free printables here and by clicking on the free stuff for you button on the left column.

 

a dreamy country wedding

Last weekend we drove down to Georgia to attend the wedding of my sister's stepson Nathan and his lovely girlfriend, Audrey.  I was honored to make their invitations at their request...

It was held on a beautiful farm deep in the country, and every detail was Pinterest perfect! 

The only flaw in the day is that it was hotter than the surface of the sun.  Thankfully, it was an evening wedding and we didn't have long to wait before the sun to set.  They gave us fans which doubled as their programs...

The bride's uncle fabricated the iron around these doors for her grand entrance.  I know, right?

She arrived in a convertible vintage car driving slowly down that hill behind the doors.

Mr. & Mrs. Urquhart!

Time to party!

The barn held the food, bar, lounge, cake and photo booth...

i didn't make it over to the cake until the topper was all that was left! A friend made it for them.  It was key lime cake...so yummy!

the kids loved being with their cousins...

selfie with my sister and my katie...

My sweet parents...

and me and my love...

 Congrats, Nate & Audrey!  Thank you for sharing your day with us!

Love wins!!! 

 

cozy it up

 Been working on new whimsy studios things for the upcoming holidays.  Playing with ideas that have been rolling around in my noodle.  These newbies are straight out of my sketchbook...

and even a little Christmas in July!...

I've got so much more to share with you.  Stay tuned! 

 

This is what it's all about

Growing up, my parents worked hard and made sacrifices throughout the year so that we could go on our vacation to the Cape every summer.  It was very important to them that we would have those two weeks of uninterrupted family time each year.  It was a priority. 

Because this is what it's all about...family.

{MawMaw & PawPaw with all of their grandkids}

I'll admit we wondered what it might be like to all live together for a week.  Eight adults, eight kids...4 families... 

But, it really worked.  And we really loved hard for that week. 

We kicked it off with Father's Day! 

We celebrated by heading to the fish market and buying lobsters.  We brought them home alive and cooked them.  None of the kids had ever experienced that.  We ate on the deck as the sun set.

I hope the kids will always remember it.  I hope one day Griff will say to his cousins, "remember that time we were eating lobster on the Cape..."

"and i broke the wooden mallot trying to crack the claw..."

good times...good times.

These cousins have been raised more like siblings than cousins...

these two were born 9 days apart and they've been partners in crime ever since...

 
they're all goofballs

the littles had no trouble hanging ten with the bigs...

love is sharing your earbuds with your cousin...

enjoying sundaes and cones on the porch of The Ice Cream Sandwich...

and midnight games of spoons...

One of our vacay highlights was the mini family reunion we had with our Massachusetts family while we were there...

Lots of love, laughter

 

 and lobster!

It's serious business learning how to eat steamers (steamed clams)...

like this...

 

it was a night we'll never forget.

This week was precious time with sisters...

and re-living cherished memories at the penny candy store in Hyannis we adored as little girls.

there was quality family time in the sun during the day...

and around the beach fire by night...

 

We made s'mores and sang sitcom theme songs and laughed so hard!

   

Do you like pina coladas?...

or can i interest you in something else?

Our accomodations were ahhh-mazing. 

And, staying together there was a wicked pissah.  (We all had fun trying to talk with a Boston accent)

We even threw in an extra little adventure on our journey home.  We stayed overnight in Buffalo, NY and made a late night run to see Niagara Falls.  The kids had never seen it before.

This entire trip was a big family fest with a heaping side of nostalgia most especially for my parents, sisters and I.  The Cape is magical for us.  Nothing but happy, lovely memories...going all the way back to my parent's honeymoon here and then years and years of family summers together here. 

The original 5, back at the Cape...

We are so blessed!  Thanks, Mom & Dad!