thinking

That's what I've been doing a lot of lately. I'm in the middle of some big decision making. It involves expanding and I don't know if I'm ready for it. There are a lot of doubts and questions. So, while the production work I'm doing is rhythmic, my mind is going crazy. It doesn't help that I'm coughing every 2 minutes (so over it!).



I was thinking that flowers will help calm the mood around here. Before you ask, you can learn how to make this flower in my book. Can you tell I'm dying to show more of it?

In other news I've registered for Mom 2.0 Summit which will take place here in Houston. I'm looking forward to meeting lots of people and learning whatever I can. Anyone else going?

And totally random... How cool are all these? Love them all.

Have a great weekend everyone!

I can check it off the list

I've been wanting to have a portfolio type site under my name for a long time. Not A Little Hut, not Zapata Design, just little ol' me. Well it's finally published. Notice I didn't say finished. I still have a few tweaks to make and add a little something of my graphic design work. But I think it's ready for the world to see. It's very simple and straightforward and the images there won't be anything new to those of you that visit me here.

Patricia Zapata site here.



Speaking of all my sites, I've always wondered what people refer to me or think of me as - the magazine bowl girl, the alittlehut gal (lady?), oh what's her name patricia zapato, o no! zapata?

Another thing I'm still working on is my name/logo. I freeze when it comes to working on a logo for myself. It's the same problem I have with deciding the paint colors for the walls of our house. After chatting with someone about for a couple of minutes about their concerns, tastes and dislikes and even though I'm the furthest thing from an interior decorator I can suggest wall colors without batting an eyelash. Me? My house? Again, I freeze. Sigh.

I feel the rambling wave coming on. I'll spare you all and exit now!

recycle project no. 15 - tealight holder

I don't know what it is but some of my project ideas come just as I'm about to drift off to sleep. The funny thing is that now that I've realized this, I look forward to those minutes of free-for-all thinking and it makes me go to bed sooner than I normally would. I'm a night owl at heart so this helps me a lot.


This small project is one of the ones that came about in one of my 'pre-sleep' sessions. I would be happier with the design if the paper were flush with the votive. The obvious safety issues with a flame being so close to paper keep me from doing that. I still consider this a work in progress so that's why I'm not posting a tutorial.

love comes in all shapes and sizes

Thank you so much for all of your kind words and support. Every comment just made me smile. You're all so very kind.


I've been a little quiet because I've been hard at work on all the great ideas you gave me in my giveaway thread. When I have so many fun ideas in the works I wish I could work at twice the speed or have a week worth of 'just work on what I want' time.

These l.o.v.e. boxes came about because my little C was playing with her alphabet wooden blocks one day and I just had the urge to make them as favor boxes. I will have the complete alphabet available as soon as I finish all the illustrations. It'll just take me a bit to finish 3 illustrations per letter. But I'm really happy with the ones I've done so far. This will be the only set of alphabet blocks that will be red. I'm using a different color palette for the whole set. I can't wait to finish them all.

•••

Mommy snippet - While I was getting dinner ready, my little C decided she needed to put a small stuffed giraffe to bed. She found a toy blanket (which is one I used to use at her age - yep, it's still around) for the bed, a little pillow. All she was missing was another one to cover the giraffe. She asked me to help her find one. I followed her to her room and after we found what she needed she was so happy that she skipped out to keep on playing. Walking behind her and seeing her skipping like that sent such a wave of happiness over me. It was such a very short moment but it was sweet, spontaneous and just plain ol' happy. I caught myself smiling all the way to the kitchen.

home, paper, scissors

So here it is! I'm so excited that I can now at least show you the cover. I found out a couple of days ago that my book is now in pre-order status. For more info and ordering details click here.


Even though the official publishing date isn't until August it's fun to finally start unveiling the work that consumed me last year. The Nesting Bowls project that you see is one of my favorites. I'm particularly proud about the designer picking this shot for the cover because I took it. I worked with a professional photographer for all my beauty shots (I took all the how-to photos) so I didn't expect this one ending up on the front. I really like it.

Now all I have to do is wait to get a printed and bound copy in my hands. Then it will really hit me.

winners

A random photo (my camera lens broke!) for a list of numbers that were picked that way (Random.org). The winners of the giveaway are:

The framed piece will be sent to:
Mary

Four printables each will go to:
Annaelyse
CraftMonkey
Little Green Doll
j3n

Congratulations to the winners! Please email me so I can send you your goodies.

Once again, thank you for all your ideas. I wrote down a list of all the possible sets of boxes I can make with your ideas. For whatever reason, I decided to count the list and it turned out that I have 44 new ideas. A fitting number on a day like to day. What a day!

thank you!

I knew you'd all give me great ideas but WOW! Every single comment I got yesterday had my mind going and going with new ideas for projects, gift boxes and more. Thank you SO much! There's still time to enter my giveaway. I'll be drawing a name on Tuesday the 20th. Check for details here.



This is the calendar I set up for myself. Some of you may have caught the post I wrote about it about a week ago. It got deleted for some reason and I was too tired to write it all again. I'm reposting it because I don't have new photos to accompany this post. I broke the lens of my camera. Big, HUGE, sigh. I didn't realize how much I'd miss my camera.

Back to the calendar. I'm using the patterned initials calendar as a wall calendar this year but I made this one for my desk using an old acrylic calendar frame. The right hand column has my daily schedule - at least my ideal of what my Monday-Friday should look like. Has it happened? No. But I'm not beating myself up about it because it supposed to be a flexible guide and it has helped me stay on track.

Small reminder :: Starting today with the purchase of any 2 printables you will receive a patterned initials calendar for free.

Have a great weekend everyone and thanks again for all your help and kind words! xo.

401st post giveaway

My 400th post slipped by me so, to celebrate, here we are at my 401st post giveaway. I don't have a special piece to offer this time (my daughter got sick and the plan for that went out the window) so I will offer four printables of your choice to four people that post a comment and a little framed surprise in the mail to a fifth person. I will end the drawing on Jan. 20th at midnight. To participate simply leave a comment below and answer one little question for me. I want to make another group of gift boxes but I'm undecided as to what theme to run with this time. Do you have any thoughts for me? If you don't, how about... what do you want to see me make next? Just curious.

And to give you a heads up... Starting January 17th (until the end of the month) with the purchase of any 2 A Little Hut printables you will receive a 2009 Patterned Initials Calendar for free!

Thank you to all of you that visit and comment on my blog and make my efforts here so very rewarding. It is all truly appreciated.

from the outside looking in

A concentrated Lego building activity was going on at the dining room table while everyone was waiting for dinner. When the three of them are oblivious to the rest of the world I thoroughly enjoy the view from afar.

memories on paper

Memories is the name of my latest printable stationery set. I named it that way because I think that even though we may not all have carved our initials in a heart on a tree we do have those special times and places that we remember fondly. This tree is a symbol of the good times. The heart is blank so that you can 'carve' your own initials and those of someone special.



I've went back and forth between printing this design as actual block print cards or leaving it for a printable set. I decided for the later to offer an option that wasn't as geometric as my previous designs.

Speaking of block prints, my cards are back—at the request of a customer. I thought about it and decided that yes I do miss working with ink and paper. For now I only have three old designs in my shop but more will be coming—slowly.

nine

My little D isn't so little anymore. We've had him in our lives for 9 years (+2 days - no time to post over the weekend when you have a family party to cook and get ready for) and it seems like only half that time has passed. The people, with grown children, who kept telling us when he was a baby that it would go fast—they were right. Pudgy cheeks are now replaced by a leaner looking face but the twinkle in his eye when he's being funny or mischievous is still there. I hope it always is.

Happy Birthday my little/big guy and thank you for ignoring your mom's lack of pastry prowess and saying that it was ok that half your candles were pink because your mom forgot to buy more candles and we had to use leftovers from your sister's last birthday party.

this afternoon

Seeing pink in the sky got the kids rather excited ("take a picture mom!"). My little C was particularly amused since it's her favorite color.



Who needs Top Chef when I have this little one under our own roof. I love how she was wearing her brand new chef's coat (embroidered with her name!) and hat given to her by my brother and his fiancée with her slippers.

Feeling very sick at the moment. I will succumb to the calling of my warm blankets and fluffy pillow. Nite!

last night

A paper lamp


Wreath above our mantle


I didn't think of it at the time but this turns out to be a small preview of two projects that will be unveiled later this year.

new year, new printable stationery

Happy new year! I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend. I realize that I'm a little on the late side but I promised myself I wouldn't blog until today. I wanted a break from everything and just be 'mom' (although twitter did keep me entertained there for a bit). Our new year's celebration was very, very low key—just the four of us at home. Perfect.

This past weekend I suddenly had a burst of work energy and I got some new designs made, flushed out some future ideas and designed my new site I won't link to it yet because it's being programmed by my awesome "in-house" IT guy. ;)

So here they are my new printable designs:

For a less cute + more contemporary sensibility:
Love u stationery set



Hearts duet stationery set



For the kids (or grown ups!):
My hope is that the outlined illustrations will be colored in with crayons or markers by random markings of little hands. I would love to see a 'badly' colored in bear. Kids drawings are the best!

Lined loved birds stationery set and heart gift box



Lined Valentine bear stationery set and heart gift box



I'm going to count these as my Monday photo post too. Of course the weather was gorgeous over the weekend and just when I needed the light for these photos it got all gray and cloudy today. C'est la vie.