Harper's Toy Box

I think it's safe to say that I would tackle just about any project for Harper.  I've been watching her five days a week for over two years now, starting when she was under a year old.  She's the little model in all of my pictures, and the first picture I ever made was for her 1st birthday.  So you can kind of say that picture inspired me to make more, start this blog, and open my Etsy store.  But back to the toy box; Lisa, her mom, asked me if I would paint Austin's old toy box because the tropical fish theme didn't really match Harper's lavender and daisy thing she had going on her room.  

I went to work thinking of a design and took the toy box home.  After a ridiculous amount of coats of primer, I finally made all of the fish disappear and had it to the lavender that was the same color of Harper's walls.

 

Then I drew out where I wanted the daises to go and went hard to work cutting out petals and blades of grass out of multiple pieces of scrapbook paper.  I wanted all of the greens to match the soft greens in her room, and I didn't want to go too crazy with the patterns but I did use a couple bold prints.  I decoupaged them all to the bottom part of the toy box

I traced her interlocking monogram from a couple different fonts I found online, and then painted a hand-drawn version of it on the top part of the box.  I also decoupaged some paper daises that Lisa bought at a craft store that matched the daises on the letters in her room.

After all of that, I added some big gems to the centers of the large daises on the bottom half, and applied a heavy amount of mod-podge to the whole thing!  Here's the end result, with a very happy looking Harper.

To be honest, I think the whole thing came out a little better than I expected.  The project was so much fun, and who knows, maybe this could be another new outlet for The Periwinkle Palm?  Here's one more look at the before and the after.  

Enjoy!!!!!!

April Showers bring Easter Flowers

I worked really hard to design a ton of PETALS for the Springtime so that people could  have an adorable hair accessory to use for Easter Sunday.  As a little girl, I remember Easter as a celebration of Spring and wearing some really girly outfit that your mom bought for you to wear on Sunday.  I was never too fond of the outfits my mom bought me because usually they were pretty girly, and I was a bona-fide tomboy so I wanted nothing to do with them.  I distinctly remember one year where she tried to get us to wear matching Easter outfits!!  Not like the same coordinating colors, like it was the same dress in the same fabric just made in two different sizes.  I mean, are you crazy?!  I know that one day, if I ever have a daughter, that I will dress her up to the nines for Easter, but I promise to spare her the matching outfit showdown!!

I love that these are just an accessory, so you can go all out with the Easter outfit, or subtly announce its Spring with just a petal.  They are all in beautiful pastel colors so that they will complement any Easter outfit you choose to buy.  Since there are different options on the backing of the PETAL, you could order the barrette and when Easter is over it can be clipped on the Easter basket!!!

Directing a 2-year old to hunt for Petals instead of Easter eggs was slightly challenging, but it was just a warm up for the real thing next Sunday.  Harper is a true girly-girl and she loves dressing up in tutus and dresses so she particularly loves her Petals.  I hope your little girls love theirs too!!

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PETALS First Photo Shoot

When I came up with the idea of PETALS, my newest product addition to my store, I knew exactly what market and what clientel I was going to market towards.  I had one and only one person in mind for all of my prototypes, my pint-sized best friend Harper.  Harper is the little girl that I nanny for and we spend roughly 40 or so hours a week together.  I started watching Harper when she was 11 months old, so I've seen her from the time she couldn't even walk to the little person she's growing up to be now.

Throughout the design process of PETALS I would make various prototypes, bring them to work and try them on Harper.  It wouldn't take long to realize whether the design was a bust or a bust.  It took countless times to finally come up with the design and when it was right, it looked perfect on her.  Not to mention how gorgeous Harper is, so she makes everything look beautiful.

When it came time to photograph the product, I expected the worst!  Telling a toddler how to look, where to look, and when to smile, all before naptime is never a brillant idea, but she was so excited to get her picture taken so I became slightly optimistic.  I pulled out my camera, got her in a "pose," encouraged her to "say cheese," even bribed her with a cookie or two, but she was not having it! 

Fortunately, Harper still looks pretty darn cute even when she's not smiling so I was able to get just enough pictures for my listings.  Unfortunatley, I deleted all of the pictures where she was purposely frowning so I don't have any blackmail when she becomes a teenager.  I'm sure there will be another PETALS photo shoot or two in her day and next time I'll be sure to save the all the negatives!!

Blog Love

Recently I was approached by the blog Drops of Jupiter to be featured in their October sponsors, based on my new addition to my Etsy store "Welcome Signs."  I was pretty excited considering that I haven't really been recognized from anyone other than my facebook fans, my mom, and my loyal friends, so I created a small ad and submitted it.  The blog is based in California, and so technically this would make TPP bicoastal, right?  Regardless, I'm grateful to be recognized from someone who appreciates my work and so I'm sharing her link with you here.  Enjoy her blog and check out my little "fall leaves" ad on the left side of the page!

I'll always be a Braves fan

When I started making my newest "sports themed" pictures for my Etsy shop, I knew I would have a fan in John. What I didn't know is how much he'd like them! So for John's very sophisticated bachelor pad, I made him a baseball themed print. He couldn't decide if he wanted his name on the picture or if I could find two wooden "T B" letters for the front (Tampa Bay), but then I had a better idea; I could paint the logo on. It ended up turning out great!! Here are some pictures of it hanging in his office.

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Check out my listing on Etsy!!

Landon + Me

I finally got to meet sweet little baby Landon this past weekend in Georgia. Even though Lauren swears he never naps, he took a nice long nap on my chest while I was there, occasionally waking up to make sweet little baby noises. Before I left, Lauren showed me his nursery and where Mike hung the letters that I made for his baby shower. I love the room, and I LOVE that sweet little baby. I can't wait to watch him grow.

Mom's Quilt

This is a project I did for my mom for her quilting room. She sent me pictures of a quilt she had made for her church, and wanted me to duplicate the patten. I wanted to do something bold and colorful, while incorporating florals, a pattern already used in the space. Below is the step-by-step process of how I created it along with the finish product hanging in her room. She loved it, and I hope to use this pattern for many other projects.

First, I glued all of the napkins to 4.25" square pieces of foam board.

Next, I glued down the background and attached the foam board pieces with hot glue.

I applied the outer border first, and wrapped the edges around the sides of the canvas.

Then, I cut an inner border out of foam board and applied napkins to it.

Last, I glued the inner border which finished the piece. It looks perfect in her room!