Taylor Made designs

:: we have a winner! ::

Congratulations Leslie! You have won an ABC print designed by moi. For those of you who didn't win this time... you can alway buy a print here :)

I'll send you an email to get your address and to find out what letter you'd like. Thanks to everyone for your sweet comments. I really do appreciate them.

I'm busy working on a HUGE wholesale order for my Tags. I am also preparing a new mailing campaign as well. I'm finally able to give "TAG-it" the attention it deserves. So many of you have been so great sending me addresses of companies that would love to carry them. {which I SO appreciate}

Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend.

:: custom baby annoucements ::

I do a lot of custom baby announcements, wedding invitations + showers, birthday invites etc. They are always fun to work on. The people I do the work for are aways so nice and appreciative of the work I do. Which is no surprise as the events are always happy occasions.

I just finished these baby announcements for my friend's sister-in-law. (I also did her wedding shower invites a few years ago) Next week I will start her christening invites. I never took photos of these kinds of projects, but decided that I should. Something fun to put on my blog :)

Anyway, my client knew she wanted to use a shamrock and the color green. {they are pretty Irish} Other than that, she was open to anything I came up with. She provided the wording and a bunch of photos, which I converted to black and white. I usually show two designs and most of the time the end product is a hybrid of the two. I think they came out pretty sweet. I also like creating a custom sticker/stamp for closing up the envelopes. This is usually the one detail that I create that people absolutely love.

Don't forget, today is the last day you can enter to win an ABC print. Just leave me a comment on the post below (well, two below) and you'll be entered to win!

:: New Drapes sewn by me :) ::

Tadaaaa...Well, I finally took some photos of the drapes I made for my bedroom - here they are.  Aren't they pretty? Let me tell you, they were extremely easy to make.

Now – when I look at these photos, the art director in me comes out. My bed sheets are not tucked in properly, the drapes aren't even + my couch cushions are not straight + neat... You can tell I didn't "prep/style the room".

What has happened to me? I use to be a total "type A" personality. I think I'm downgraded to a type C now :)

Anyway...I plan to make new pillows out of the same fabric for our bed. Maybe a project for later in the week. The type box {sorry, I am at a loss for the proper name of it} over our mantel holds the shells Neal and I collected while we vacationed at Sanibel Island many years ago. I want to take the shells out and paint the box black. That will be a project in a half as those shells have been super glued in there! Notice I did paint my step stool base black. {it was white} I think it looks so much better.

I really love hanging out in our bedroom. It's pretty spacious. What you do not see in the photos is all the space in front of the coffee table + couch. Right off the bedroom is our bathroom, which use to be a small bedroom. It has a lovely fireplace and it's nice and spacious too.

So there you have it. My new drapes :) I'm now thinking of new drapes for my family room. Just need to find the right fabric!

:: We have a winner :)

Erin S is the big winner! Woo hoo :)

Congratulations Erin! Send me an email with your address and I will send you a fun filled package!
{kat at taylormadedesigns  dot com}

Thanks to everyone who left me a super nice comment. After I wrote the post, I thought, "Gee, talk about asking for compliments!" And thought I would change it... but then it was nice to hear what you like about my blog. Some days I just don't know what to post or what interests people. I sometimes worry that I post too many photos of my kids... and not enough "crafty substance". So thanks for letting me know that my blog is entertaining + fun to visit. You sure know how to make a girl feel good.

Kids are feeling better, but not a 100%. Today was picture day at school. (figures, right?) So I sent them off on their merry way. Can't wait to see how their photos come out. 

So far, I've managed not to get sick!  How crazy is that? I'm drinking  Emergen-C everyday, and trying to go to bed before 11:00pm. though... I am working away in the evenings... I'm totally swamped with work!) The Emergen-C is a 1000mg Vitamin C drink. Maybe that is helping? Plus, rain or shine, I take my dogs for a three mile walk in the morning. I have to tell you, the walk is one of my favorite times of the day. It's just me, Monty + Koty. I usually leave the house at 8:15. Neal drives the kids to school, and I do the pick up at 11:30am.

Can't believe it's Wednesday already. My favorite show is on... Pushing Daisies. Oh if you haven't seen it, you are missing out. It's so sweet, so surreal, and charming. It has the feeling of Tim Burton's "Edward Scissorhands". It's definitely not your "normal" TV show. It's quirky and some people don't get it. But I do. I really enjoy it... which means it will probably get the can! {while other junky shows live on forever!}

I can't get over the fires and all the people who are losing their homes out in Southern California.
Nancy over at Right Brain Gal has a post of what it is like living + breathing over there. Reminds us, that while we're complaining about little things in life... bigger things are happening around us. I'll be keeping them in my prayers.

:: Happy Happy ::

Guess what? I have been blogging for a year now! Woo hoo, happy birthday to me :)

Not sure of the actual date {for some reason typepad hasn't archived 2006, so I can't check} but I know I started the week before Halloween.

It's funny, in the beginning I was afraid I wouldn't have anything much to say, and that it didn't much matter because only my sisters and my mother were reading by blog. But now, I actually have non-family who stop by everyday and read + view whatever I happen to post :)  Thank you so much! 

I really love being part of the blogging community.  I've been motivated to do crafty things, inspired to give a go at sewing {you should see the new drapes + pillows I have made for my bedroom + dining room}, and to finish projects I started but never seemed to finish. But best of all, I've "met" some of the nicest people around. Really, it's the people who make blogging fun.

SO, a big fat thank you to everyone out there who visits me regularly and leaves me comments + emails! I wish I could send you all a little something :) But since I can't, how about if you leave me a comment on this post, tell me what you like best about my little blog {this way I can see what you like and dislike + make my second year of blogging even better} I'll then have my little monkeys pull a name out of a hat {contest closes at Tuesday 10:30am EST} and the winner will win some Taylor Made design stuff :)

Happy Monday!

:: And the winners are...

Yup, that's, right  –  TWO winners.
Two kids = two winners :)
You try having one kid pick a name! {you'd think I would know this by now!}
It's funny, William + I kept asking Davis to show us the slip of paper + she kept showing up her banana! silly girl. 

Congratulations to Beki, Artsy Crafty Babe + Cristina from String*theory!
You are the winners of the Taylor Made designs drawing extravaganza! Woo HOO!

So what do they win?
Well, I'll put together a bunch of handmade goodies that I think, hope, and pray they will enjoy :)
I'll show you the loot when I get it all together :)
I'll contact both Cristina + Beki to get your addresses!
Congrats!

Again, thank you to everyone who took the time to provide me with some feedback on my TAG it site.
Over the weekend I was able to make some improvements. I tried to incorporate a lot of your suggestions. The homepage is totally revised. I added a new navigation menu + some new pages. The only thing left to do is to finalize the individual tag pages. I decided that I'd show the tags in each colour via rollovers. {boy, tons of work to show this} Those pages should be revised this week... but meanwhile the site is still functional :)  I won't push my luck and ask you what you think!

:: we have a winner! ::

All the names in Davis's new spring handbag.

William danced and made sure the names were mixed!

Davis picked the name.

There you have it

A N G E L I Q U E   

is the winner of a "taylored" MiniBook :)
Congratulations!

Thanks to everyone who left comments. The wonderful thing about leaving comments – I get to find new and fun blogs to visit and wonderful new people to meet. So don't be shy! It's the only way to get to know each other :)

I have tons + tons of stuff to post. But I have been a bit busy with work and now I'm leaving to get my hair cut + coloured. So I'm off to the city today. I've been thinking of going blond, you know, the totally new thing in hollywood. I wear my hair in a pixie now, so going blond would make me, oh, so trendy. But since I live here, and not in hollywood, I think I'll just aim for some nice definition and a gloss and keep my brunette hair :)

More tomorrow! Again, thanks everyone for visiting. Congrats Angelique. I'll be in touch with you!

:: Big Thank You ::

I am. Wow. I'm just ovewhelmed with the amount of visitors my site has had in the last 24 hours. I'm so grateful to Typepad for featuring me on their home page. I'm glad I decided to set my blog up with them rather than with someone else. They rock :)

I have to say, I've met the nicest people through this blog + feel incredibly lucky.

Are you feeling lucky? Why?

Leave me a comment and tomorrow @ 5:00pm eastern standard time I will put all the names of everyone who has left me a comment into a hat. I will pull a name out + that
"l u c k y" person will win one of my Mini Taylor Books. I'll "taylor" it just for them. My little way of saying "thank you" to the blogoshere :)

Good luck! And thanks for stopping by!

:: we have a winner! ::

N I C O L E,  Y O U   W O N !

Thanks to everyone who left me a comment this last week!

W e  h a v e  a  w i n n e r ! 
My 100th post was the "desk vignette" featuring my elephant tape dispenser, lucky bamboo + photo of Davis. Nicole was the first person to leave me a comment on that post. Though, I do know that Nana was in the process of leaving me a comment on that post, but I interrupted her when I was dropping off the kids. So I might just need to give Nana a book too :)

:: getting close ::

Just wanted you all to know, I'm going to hit the 100 mark soon. So if you'd like to win a mini taylor book, keep checking back in + leave me a comment. If you happen to be the first person to leave me a comment on my 100th post, well, you're a winner! Good Luck + thanks for visiting! I love to hear from you. Even if it's just to say hi!