my businesses and my BEAUTIFUL gals

It's been a long while since I've written!  In fact, this might just be the longest bloggy break I've ever taken.  Don't know why ... I haven't felt very inspired to write I suppose.  Nothing much to write about as well.

That, however, doesn't mean I haven't been busy as can be!

We've had quite a few visitors wanting to see our adorable, beautiful, and SO easy going Gloria.  I've also been at work quite a lot already.  My godmother came to visit this entire week and I put in about 25 hours to get things settled and organized so that when I do return in a week, things will be more put together for me. 

I've also been VERY busy with the etsy shops.  Yes, I said SHOPS.  I started a second one with some invitations, menu cards, etc. and while it's not nearly as stocked as the other one, it has added some more work for sure!  I've already printed about 150 invitations for people and it's so fun bringing some happiness in to these events and doing it for a reasonable price.  I get so ANGRY when I see how much others charge.  Yes, it takes me a HUGE amount of time to print them, cut them, and go to the post office everyday, but I like doing it at a reasonable price.  Not everybody can spend $50,000 on a wedding.

I digressed.  When I finally got the inspiration to write today, I thought I'd write about the two things that have been occupying my mind lately: my businesses and more importantly, my beautiful gals!

C'mon Let's Celebrate. Here I have invitations, menu cards, programs, and more.  I'm trying to add more listings (because I have the BIGGEST list of ideas on my phone and computer) but it takes quite a lot of time to design them and my attention is more on the sides of looking at this beautiful face as often as possible. ; )

Gloria has been SUCH an awesome baby.  She had 3 rough days last week because I gave her a stomach virus and while I was sitting on the toilet she was spitting up.  It wasn't pretty.  But the good news is she continued to sleep through it all (we're averaging about 5.5 hours between feedings, but sometimes get as much as 6.5).  I'd LOVE for it to be longer sleeping, but we go from about 9:30 to 3 and then 6:30 we wake up for the day.  Evan does the 3 am feed most nights so I'm sleeping from 11:30 to 6:30 most mornings and with a newborn that's pretty dang good!  As for the daytime, she continues to be SO easy peesy.  She just does tummy time or sits in her boppy for 45 minutes looking at the world without a fuss.  Then when it's time to eat, she lets you know!  But, she feeds quickly, and then takes a snooze or continues on her merry way looking around happily.  It's so wonderful!

So I've discussed one beautiful gal and one business.  Here's the SECOND business.

Pretty Prints Shop is all about that: any print I can imagine.  I've done signs for people's weddings, quite a few baptism gifts, things for the kitchen, and of course a ton in the nursery! I add more to this one because it's my baby and I've had ideas for it forever.  

And my original baby ... here she is ... in her full glory.  She is SO stinking fun right now.

Liliana sings and talks up a STORM.  Her favorite things to say are "Daddy and Mommy are silly!" or she's a big fan of saying "Ok Mommy be right back!" when she goes to the potty.  This morning, she told me "Madrina has my heart"  Yeah, she's warmed up to my godmother quite a lot!  She's such a brilliant little stinker.  I'm pretty obsessed with her.

All in all life has been great since Gloria was born.  I'm REALLY overwhelmed with the thought of going back to work full-time without any help (Evan's hours continue to be insane).  But, that's another blog post for another day. : )

Makes You Think

Last week we were at Meme's house (Evan's aunt, aka Liliana's favorite person on earth) and his uncle told us "Mike was in Colorado this weekend and I still haven't heard from him.  I texted him 2 days ago.  He would be the kind to go to a midnight showing of a movie."

We didn't think too much of it.  But then again, I thought "Mike doesn't seem like the kind of guy to not text back for TWO entire days when he knows his Dad is worried." 

Turns out, Evan's cousin WAS seeing Batman on opening day.  In Aurora.  At the same movie theatre.

Evan and his cousin Mike get along really swimmingly.  We even had him over for dinner a few months ago and I can see why Evan always enjoys his company so much.  He's a laid back guy, super kind, a brilliant artist, and just a really good person.

Mike scraped by though.  He went to the 12:01 showing and not the 12:00 showing.  So he was in the movie theatre RIGHT NEXT to where the shooting took place.

This story isn't over though.  A bullet went THROUGH THE WALL and hit the arm of the man in front of him and some debris hit Mike's ear.  In other words, his life was spared by a SMIDGE.

I told my Mom this story and she said "his EAR?  That's an INCH away from his brain ... imagine."

And it made me think.  WOW.  That is absolutely crazy.  My heart breaks for the people that lost their lives.  For the family that lost their 6 year old in the shooting.  And it really hit close to home when Evan's cousin nearly lost his life last week.

As I type this post, I look at my baby girl sweetly asleep on a blanket on the floor and realize HOW MUCH it would hurt to not have my family in my life.  I am so fortunate that we're all safe and healthy.  And I'm so sorry to those that lost their loved ones, because I can not imagine the pain, anger, etc. that I'd be feeling.

Every now and then, these things unfortunately happen where there are shootings and  every time I promise myself to "stop and smell the roses" and spend quality time with those I love.  But this time it just hit a little closer to home, and I promise, this weekend, it'll be us 4, watching the Olympics, and being thankful for what we have.

PS TOTALLY off topic, but in honor of my 150th sale in the etsy shop, I'm doing a 15% discount on anything until Sunday!  Simply email me at prettyprintsshop@gmail.com if you want a custom order (I do invitations, announcements, etc too!) or convo me on etsy letting me know what you want!  THANKS!  I've added some cute things lately ... take a look ...

Get it while it's hot print.

This is a fun print for the kitchen!  I think I'll also make one that says "drop it like it's hot" ... you know ... taking me back to my high school days!  : ) 

Make Today Totally Awesome print. 

 I just think this will look so fun in any dorm room, office, or kids room.  FUN, positive reinforcement.

"Do What You Love" Free Print!

As I mentioned last month, I plan on doing a free print every month just so people can have cute prints all over their house (or cycle them every few weeks like I do).  I have kept up with my etsy shop and have had a GREAT time with it for the last couple months.  I have quite a few prints in there now and keep putting some new ones up every week!  It's a BLAST!

This month's print has special meaning to me because it's a phrase just like this that really made ME reevaluate my life.  As a lawyer who works in a school, I would say that I'm pretty keen on the phrase "do what you love."  I do think that is SO important!  There are some lawyers out there that work in the firm setting and LOVE what they do and I think that's fabulous.  It wasn't MY perfect calling, but I knew that I could put this degree to some good use and I do nearly every single day.  Doing what you love, even if it means some might think you're crazy, or if you take a pay cut, is SO important!

To grab the free print, just click on it at the bottom of the post and save to your computer.  Then, just send the print off to Sams, Walmart, or wherever and it should look great!  It should work for an 8 by 10 print.  Here is what it would look like in a pretty frame at home, or better yet, in your office!

The ONLY thing I ask before you grab the free print is:

(1) that you go to my etsy shop and leave a comment telling me what your favorite print is (it really helps me to see what's popular and what isn't) AND

(2) that you start following the blog if you don't already!

Other than that, print away and remember to "do what you love!" : )

"Love is Spoken Here" Free Print!

Might sound silly since I've only been at it for 8 days, but I've had SO much fun with having an etsy shop to call my own!  I've already had 4 orders and while for some, they think that's nothing, for me it give me a BIG smile every time I see one!  I'm really trying to make them REALLY affordable.  My main thing is just having fun making pieces of art!  : )

Anyway, I decided that once a month I will have a "free print" available here on the blog.  This free print is for a 5 by 7 and all you have to do it put it in a cute frame and pay something like 30 cents at Walmart!  It would look so cute in an entry way, hallway, livingroom, or even kitchen!

To receive the free print just:

(1) follow the blog if you don't already;

(2) leave a comment telling me what your favorite thing is in the etsy shop (sorry that's kind of a pain and I won't require it every time, but I'm still trying to establish what people like so I can keep doing more similar things); AND

(3) leave me an email address in the comment so I can email it to you and make sure to let me know which color you like best!  I will then send you that print in an email within 24 hours!  ALL FOR FREE!  WHOOPIE! ; )

Option #1: BLUE

Option #2: RED

Option #3: GREEN



 Hope you guys like it! : )

PS I am 20 weeks pregnant with Gloria today!  I had planned on doing the 20 week t-shirt project today but Evan got home REALLY late last night and by the time I remembered that we needed to do the pictures, I was in my PJs.  And you know how comfy PJs are.  Maybe we'll get a chance to do it tonight!

Ummm ... I have an Etsy Shop!

Evan and I had decided not to get each other birthday or Christmas gifts this year.  It just wasn't in the budget.  But on my birthday, I came home to a bouquet of flowers and an apple martini mix (wasn't pregnant at that time obviously), so since he cheated a little bit, I decided to cheat a little bit.

I wanted to do something romantic and something that I knew he'd love.  I am SO happy with how it came out:

The beautiful thing about this project is you can change it around without any problems!  You can have the picture on the left with lyrics on the right and the two don't need to overlap.  You could also do this for your children and have letters that you wrote them during pregnancy overlapping.  Another thought I had: why not do this with love letters you've written to each other over the years?  The possibilities are ENDLESS!

When I first thought of doing this project, I went to etsy, one of my all-time favorite websites.  I found quite a few similar projects but there were all MINIMUM of $30 for just the print.  Knowing that we had said "no gifts" I realized this was out of the question. 

Messing around with digital art like this has become a passion of mine lately and I decided to do something about it, for AFFORDABLE prices! 

Therefore, I'd like to introduce to you, my little and VERY newbie (like as of late last night) etsy shop, found HERE!   I plan on adding other things as time comes, but wanted to let people know because I'm pretty excited about it! 

Happy Birthday to my husband and thank you for being the most incredible hubby and Daddy around!