People think us country folk aren’t refined and sophisticated but let me prove you wrong, I can’t tell you how many lovely people I interact with daily in my community. There are some really great friends to be made who will bake just about anything when you have a baby or just have a bad day (with crying babies in the background ;) -ENTER SPUDNUTS – I don’t like to get too personal because it’s not in my nature, but its been a rough few weeks with diabetes management with my 5 year old. High carb foods, especially things like donuts are the bane of my existence. Not because he’s diet restricted, but more because he’s sensitive to certain foods with carbs. Even when we calculate how much insulin needs to be injected, if the insulin hits his system faster than the food digests, he can have a serious reaction which we found out when cooking these. I feel like it is a complicated algorythm in which I’ll never learn no matter how hard I study quantum physics, molecular biology or advanced mathematics. So I just continue on being a mom and designer.

We made some SpudNuts from our famous Idaho Potatoes and crazy blood sugars ensued. DUH. Granted they were about 100 carbs each, so with David’s insulin to carb ratio that equaled 5 units of insulin. He usually has about 15 units a day so that was a ton more than he usually gets. That will be the last time that I’ll attempt to cover for something totally unreasonable for his little tummy.

Thankfully he wasn’t too keen on the cinnamon/sugar dusted SpudNuts so I got to eat all of those. However he really loved the sprinkled variety. So we decided to make mini-SpudNuts and survived the sugar-high and following insulin crash. Rounded out at about 26 carbs each, they were the perfect solution to our donut exploration. Although still high for some, I feel that in our house if we restrict all sorts of treats then it will only backfire. David is such a good boy, I just couln’t say no to the donuts when that was his request for the recipe of the week. And we survived with only one blood sugar reading above 200 for the day.

Look at that pink vanilla bean nutmeg glaze just dripping with goodness. Yea for smaller portion sizes and for smart country friends who really know how to cook in smaller portion sizes (I can’t take full credit for sizing the recipe down).

Yet again I find myself falling behind on this here blog! It’s been a busy month preparing for a few birthdays in the family and getting Valentine’s Day custom orders out the door. To pause a moment and give you a glimpse into my personal life, I’ve been catching up from the holidays, getting my taxes done for 2009, getting a plethora of new invitation inquiries (it’s wedding season officially for letterpress brides) and settling into the cold weather and snow that we are finally receiving. At the first of the month we celebrated Evelyn’s birthday which encompassed everything princess imaginable. I never thought I’d see the day where Disney Princesses ruled my household from top to bottom. However the only pretend play Evelyn will allow with my involvement is princesses. No school. or art class. No coloring or ballet unless the princesses are present. So for her birthday I thought we’d go all out and do a princess party for family. Original I know, but since it’s not about me I indulged her every princess fancy. My first attempt at a princess cake wasn’t totally fruitless and I can indeed confess that the frosting was the best part, vanilla bean paste and all! I’m just glad it was a success this year, because last year the power went out right when we were singing happy birthday and stayed out for the rest of the night. Not too exciting for a two year old who was afraid of the dark!

The best part of it all? When Evelyn exclaimed, “Mom, Cinderella’s bum is on fire!” (when we lit the candle’s to sing happy birthday). Although mediocre in piping and craftsmanship, I have to say it was a fun first attempt at trying to create a princess cake. Evelyn notified me after her party that next year I will be making a Belle cake, so I better get working as her dress is much more complicated than Cinderella’s.

Today marks a day in history I often thought I wouldn’t make it to. 9 Years in marriage. As I think about the last nine years it’s hard to pinpoint any particular point in time. We’ve had the “itch” years (4 & 7), the honeymoon, everything in between. Death of a parent, stroke, heart stents, diabetes, toxemia, vacations, power outages (lots), building a home, starting a business, buying a business, school, marriage counselors, and more – mind you not in that order just a random jumble of things.

As I think about our 9 years together, and my nine years as a young adult, there are so many overflowing emotions that I am filled with and yet have no idea how to express them.

I’m a counter by nature and when we got married I counted (when the days got rough) how old I’d be when I was married for a 1/3 of my life. That seemed like a large milestone to me and something to reach for. Being a young married person, it was hard and still is to fathom a golden anniversary, so I settled on a much smaller goal. 1/3, I could do 1/3. And here I am at 1/3.

I am 27. I was married at 18. In a backwards sort of way here is my history before I got married.

1982, Birth.
1984, Glasses and eye surgery.
1987, Kindergarten.
1989, First art contest won on a school level.
1990-1996. Many state art contests later and then my first writing contest on a state level. 9th grade.
1987-1999. Ballet | Flute | Art my three talents I stuck to from K-11.
1998. Drivers License, 16.
1999. Graduation from High School, 16 (summer birthday – school got out early that year + early graduation).
Boys.
1999-2000. College freshman, 17. Boys.
2000. Marriage, 18.

Everyone, including my parents, thought I was nuts – that we were crazy. However although our parents thought one thing, they were led with their hearts by another and Brian and I set a date for October 20, 2000.

Some say don’t marry young, you miss out on so many opportunities. There were times I felt like I was missing out. But even after only 9 years down the road I know if given the second chance, I’d still make the same decision I did when I was 18.

In the last 9 years, I’ve driven 100,00 miles in a Toyota 4Runner, and 147,000 in a Honda Accord. Most commuting to and from college. I’ve gone to school, and received a BFA (2005), worked at 9 different jobs. I’ve given birth to 3 children, one with toxemia (2004), one with an epidural(2007), and one naturally (2009). We’ve lived with parents, and moved 4 times. I’ve started a business (2006), become a mother, and learned to be domestic (still learning). These days I give injections like any well trained nurse (2008).

I’ve lost my mind on numerous occasions (all the time;), and my poor vision and hearing are by-products of lame pregnancies, screaming children and a laptop.

Patience is a virtue that printing via the letterpress process has taught me (to a certain degree at least).

As I think about who I am as a person today, I can’t help but think about how my husband has supported me and helped shape me in these last 9 years. My husband has been there to cheer me on and help me up when I’m down. He’s supported every crazy idea I’ve ever had and has been there all along the way to help me achieve my goals. Through his love and friendship, I’ve become a strong woman and mother.

I can’t imagine these last 9 years without him. If I try to think what my life would be like in another aspect, I realize that I’ve erased the most trying yet happy memories of my existence.

I’m married to an enabler. Brian hasn’t been there to tell me what to do, he’s been there to empower me to do my own thing. I think selfishly I’ve taken more than I’ve contributed to this marriage, and I wonder how on earth such an amazing man could stand to live with me these last demanding 9 years – and then I think, “I guess I’ve developed a special talent at brain-washing!” Just kidding, what I mean to say is that I am a blessed woman to have Brian by my side and I only hope that in the end I’ve balanced things out by loving and supporting him along the way as much as he has loved me. Cheers to the last nine and hopefully the next 9 (in which I’ll then have met the 1/2 life mark)!

Happy 9th Anniversary, I’ve now been married for 1/3 of my life to the love of my life! Thanks for putting up with your crazy wife.

How I doth love thee – when we’re apart, my heart does surely bleed! I don’t know what it is about Delia’s but I’ve been a fan since the wee age of 13. You’d think I’d grow out of this tween/teenangester clothing line now that I have three children but every couple of years or so I check out their website and fall in love with them all over again. Maybe I’m a rebel at heart. Maybe I still look for youth in such a serious adult life, whatever it may be, I know for certain -

- these colors make me happy when the days are sometimes gray. Now if only I were that skinny…and had rock hard abs…and well nevermind!

Well, my internet has been out so my blogging has become bogging. This lovely post comes from the iPhone, but if I manage to get it going again then you’ll have some lovely Independence Day surprises!

So it’s inevitable that poor eyesight and genetics play a dominant role in both our families resulting in the need for lenses among many family members. I’m just a little surprised that I haven’t thought about my own children’s vision until recently, when in contrast I had eye surgery the first time at 18 months and the second time at 3 years to help correct my own crossed eyes.

Needless to say, with diabetes playing into the mix as well, it will become a reality probably sooner than later that Dave (the 4 year old who almost knocked out his teeth on Monday) will have to get lenses for vision. He complains sometimes that he can’t see very well, and occasionally when I’m pointing a very large moose out on our drive home, he will miss it by a mile. We’re told that his blood sugar readings can affect his vision too – in that if he’s high – there will be spots and blurry vision however it is only temporarily.

Which got me thinking: I had UGLY glasses as a child. I don’t know if it was a combination of 80’s large frames and my petite heart shaped face, or my parents not wanting the boys to chase after me EVER (which worked until I was a freshman in college and I then took matters into my own hands, THANK YOU DKNY)! Needless to say, do any of you know of good looking little boy frames? I just can’t stand to take away from these lady killer eyes.

I’ve found some awesome frames from Lafont Eyewear but alas they are definitely a girls frame.

I love the simple design and the flexibility of it all but was sad to discover there aren’t any boy alternatives! Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

I didn’t get the watch due to my inability to type the right credit card number. By the time the page refreshed (which was seconds), the watch was sold out. Now I just don’t know what to do with my self!

UPDATE: I GOT ONE!!! Thanks Helly Hansen in Bozeman, MT for making my day!

So I LOVE to check out TasteSpotting over the weekends to try to meal plan for the following week but it seems that I always get sidetracked with desserts instead. Enter Pancake Cupcakes – this one seemed too easy to just pass by, originally posted by The Simple Me. So we just had to make it with the kids on Monday to try it out, and they were delicious little nuggets of goodness! We put Hershey’s kisses an jam inside (not together) and it became a pancake surprise with powdered sugar on top.

The only adjustment I made to the recipe was that we made them in a mini-cupcake tin and baked for 15 minutes instead of 20. This will be one of our new staples at home I think, how good would these be topped with whipped cream and strawberries on the side for brunch?

So being housebound after baby kind of takes it’s toll on one’s mental stability with 3 kids. With that being said, I’m going to make these

this weekend, and maybe build a few veggie garden boxes if it stops raining for one minute. Wish me luck and Happy Friday!

So I’ve been looking for a well made customized carseat cover for each of my kids – never had any luck finding one that didn’t look like a bag – maybe I didn’t look hard enough. Sorry Graco, you just don’t cut it when it comes to designing fabric :(

I did one more search a few weeks back on Etsy to find the new shop YourCarseatCover
and after looking at closeup shots of Heather’s photos I thought I’d give it a try. And I really wanted to be her first buyer! So I ordered some of my new favorite fabric by designer Lizzy House from her new collection Red Letter Day. You can find it here at FreshSqueezedFabrics on Etsy too!

As you can see in the results above, FABULOUS! I was beyond thrilled and will be gushing about Heather and her impeccible sewing skillz forever. I sew a lot so can recognize master craftsmanship when I see it, something I have yet to attain in that arena!

Be sure to check her out because the best part of it all? It was only $45 for a custom cover, headrest, and canopy (not including fabric). Thanks to FreshSqueezed for working with my demanding shipping needs, and to Heather for making this in a record 1 day! The cover came in the mail the day we got home from the hospital!

So I’m really trying to not have this baby until at least THURSDAY! However my 36 week along baby body is telling me otherwise. I have 3 jobs that ship this monring, yea! And 3 small jobs that will print and ship tonight/tomorrow. Then I’m free to let this baby run it’s course. I thought I had given myself at least a week (like until next week (after memorial weekend) to get everything together with the blog, and the house before baby #3 made it’s presence known to the world considering my actual due date isn’t until June 9th!

Unfortunately you are the ones that will be suffering from adamant baby arriving earlier than anticipated. I’m betting Wednesday or Thursday at the latest. Not wishful thinking here. So without further adeu:

Mormon Temple Giveaway: Winner will be announced before Baby is due.

AND since I’m leaving you hanging with no other scheduled blog posts for the next week and a half at least, check back before Thursday for my last giveaway before the baby is born, you’re going to love this one!

A little about the custom design process: FYI, I LOVE custom work, it’s what really drives me. The one thing I thought I’d miss about agency and more corporate design was the fulfilling need to be challenged by someone else’s parameters and ideas. Custom jobs give me that challenge and it’s always fun to work with someone who is ordering stationery for a life event. I like to really try to get to know the person I’m working with as well as what sort of event they are going for (wedding) or what sort of lifestyle they live (announcements, personal stationery). I try to take elements they’d like to incorporate into their stationery and then graphically convey who they are through illustration, type, and style. Custom jobs are fun because everyone is so different. One day I may be working on a refined rustic invitation suite, and another a whimsical baby announcement. It keeps me up on my style education and art history!

How long do custom orders usually take to complete? I recommend 4-8 weeks due to the nature of proofing, revising and printing (which takes some time too as everything is hand printed by yours truly)! Number of pieces can add or subtract to that time frame as well as how many colors are being printed on each piece. Some wonder why it takes longer to turn around until they get going with proofing and realize all the little nuances that go into the customization of their specific suite. Upon completion and approval of proofs, there is also printing. Due to the nature of hand printing, rushing the process isn’t advised so that proper and accurate impressions, color and alignment/registration can be obtained and a beautiful and impeccable product can be shipped to the client.

To Be Continued…

I couldn’t resist sharing! We had these done last weekend while down visiting family in Salt Lake. I can’t believe in the 2.5 years I’ve never had Evelyn photographed professionally (2nd child neglect I think). I just got my online key to view the whole sitting (living in Idaho and being almost due doesn’t facilitate a second trip to look at photos in the studio) and can hardly stand it, I love my darling girl!

Photographer: Dave Labrum of Busath Photography

If you are ever in need of a good portrait photography studio and are in the area of Salt Lake, you really can’t go wrong with Busath. They did my senior portraits (10 years ago!), photos of David and now despite the fact that I feel I can’t quite afford it, I’m glad I bit the bullet and had Evelyn done as well. I can’t wait to get one of these for daddy for father’s day!