sadie olive ~ le journal

Happy New Year!

In honor of the new year, and just an overall change in scenery, I have decided to change blog hosts. My new blog is at http://www.sadieolive.com/theblog. Please update your bookmarks and continue to visit me. Even though my new blog design is focused more around my photography, I will continue to share photos of my home, and give shop updates, and continue along the same lines as I have done with this blog over the last two years.  

The new blog is hosted on my own site (one of the main reasons for my switch) and is through Wordpress. I have very little experience with Wordpress, but hope to be comfortable with it soon enough!

There are a few changes I plan to announce in 2009 that I hope will be as exciting to you as they are to me! (Business related that is .... no baby announcements are planned as of yet! ... lol)

I wish all of you the best in this new year to come and I hope 2009 will bring happiness, new opportunities, and a stronger economy for all of us!

Love to you all! And Happy New Year!

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Something fun....

I received my issue of Artful Blogging magazine today (Autumn 2008 issue). This issue is beautiful and filled with inspiring blogs and many of my friends! Carol at Raised in Cotton, Tammy Fischer, Amy at Inspire Co, Cari at What Should We Make Today are all mentioned or featured in addition to many, many more fun blogs.

I was interviewed for this issue and provided some examples of items I have designed for my customers. I am thrilled to be in such good company and was delighted to share some blog design tips with Artful Blogging readers.

If you haven't checked out this magazine yet, please do so. It is so worth the money! They even offer a quarterly subscription at Stampington & Company.

This article has been reproduced with permission from Stampington & Company.

Copyright: Stampington & Company 

Perspectives

I've been slowing trying to snap some new photos of my house to share on the blog again. It's always such a mess, it's hard to get motivated to clean up around here just for picture taking... (lol)...

I know you probably have seen my dining room before, but I took these two new photos this weekend and I liked the room from this perspective... I think it gives you a better sense of how my house is actually laid out...

I love that you can really see the tin ceiling in the dining room from this angle... as well as the built in bench and cushion. The room in the background is our front room (kind of a more formal living area) and off to the right is the kitchen. The kitchen is actually in the center of our home. 

The dining room steps down into our family room (the more casual space where we watch t.v.). This room was actually an addition one of the previous owners did many years ago. The owners just before us added a faux finish to the walls and took out a window, added a huge built, in and paved the floor in red Mexican tile. Josh and I basically gutted it and started from scratch as it just wasn't the style we were hoping for.

Many of you asked about the floor covering before... it's seagrass carpeting. I chose it because it's rustic enough to compliment the wood floors that most of our home is done in, and it also stands up great with spills and pets!The wine fridge and cubbies we built in ourselves to house Josh's extensive wine collection. 

During our construction phase... some of the workers were vibrating the walls behind the dining room so heavily when working that a magnum size red wine bottle shimmied out of the wall and broke on our freshly installed seagrass carpeting.... amazingly the red wine came completely out of the carpet, with not even a spot left... but the wool rug unfortunately did not fair so well... we had to spin it around so the stain is under the sofa (shh! don't tell anyone!). 

My cup of tea...

My friend Bari started a flickr group today called "Creative Calling Cards". I quickly joined the group and got busy snapping some photos of my latest business card design. I wanted to share two of the photos with you since I thought they came out pretty neat!

   

This little teacup set up inspired another photo session for a fun postcard design... that I will soon share with you all.

 

And this picture was inspired by my nephew Brandon, who took a similar picture with one of my old business cards. I thought it was clever so I had to recreate the look with my new business cards, so I could show off my new design. (I did design them myself). :)

I didn't forget my blue today either... I am just a little late in the day posting about it.... today it was all about the books.... French blue books.

If you aren't using Flickr yet... come and join in the fun! It's free! 

Yup, it's true...

I can hardly believe it myself. Not only have I been managing to post at least five times a week, but today I am adding a second post....lol.... I have been playing around with my blog and giving myself a fresh clean look for summer. (If you can't see my new banner and background try refreshing the page). And all that sprucing up made me stop and take a look around my home. I know most of you have seen pretty much all of my home in previous photos I have shared, but I was looking back at those photos thinking how much better they could be with the right lighting and my much improved photography skills. So, I grabbed my camera and started snapping away. I haven't changed much in the kitchen and dining room, but I decluttered and cleaned up a bit to share a new perspective on the space.

I took quite a few pictures, so I hope you don't mind scrolling through them all... Maybe I went a little overboard? :)

Hope you enjoyed the tour of our kitchen and dining room. I'll see if I can spruce up some more rooms in our house for some updated photos. I know I always enjoy a peek inside other's homes.

FYI: The "PARIS" letters that people always ask me about I bought at a flower shop several years ago in Villa Park, CA. I'm sorry to say they no longer carry them and I'm not sure where you can find them now. :(         

a day at the park

This last week my best friend Tyler and I went to the park with her son, Gavin. She wanted me to take a few pictures of him to decorate his room.  Tyler is pregnant again, and Gavin will soon have a baby brother, so she wanted to give him a special day to remember before the baby comes. We had a blast and shot a ton of photos, so I wanted to share some of my favorites with you.

I was LOVING Gavin's cute little jeans... (Joe's Jeans for kids) so I edited this next one to be in black and white and just his blue jeans in color.....

And this last one cracks me up.... Gavin and Elmo are both sad to leave the park.....

More little things....

Here are a few more of the "little things" that have been inspiring me.  The general store cards and the "I serve" Red Cross Pin are some new treasures I picked up this week. And the little bundle of clothespins were a gift from my good friend Cathy.

I am getting better with the post-processing and learning all the fun stuff you can do with Adobe Photoshop. (I use CS2, in case you wondered). I have been buying new tools I can use on my photos, which makes photography all that more enjoyable to me. It's another way I can be creative when I am bored with web design. I have been working non-stop doing design work for awhile now, and I welcome a break every now and then. The girls at this site inspire me so.....

I must also use today's blog post to wish my baby girl, Hannah, a happy birthday.

   

Boy they sure grow up so fast! ;-) The joy she brings to my life I wouldn't trade for anything!   

Love of Little

Ever since I bought my new Cannon Macro lens, I find myself drawn to the details. I am inspired by textures and colors, and all the littles I seem to gravitate toward at flea markets. I love to buy trinkets and small decorations, if for no other purpose than to just look pretty in my home.

It was a fairly cold and slightly gloomy day today but I was feeling inspired by the natural light coming through my window in the office. So I grabbed my new lens and snapped a few shots to share on the blog in hopes of inspiring all of you with the little details. :)

This one (above) has got to be my new all time favorite! I love the subtle color and textures at play.

Bits of paper and metal "notions" I purchased online from French General. I don't know how to make anything with them, but I had to have them. :)

This little door pillow is from the shop, but I love it in this photo paired with this old key. It actually is the key to an old door I purchased at the flea market last year. 

I took a bunch more photos, so I will break them into a few posts over the next few days. Lookout readers, I'm feeling inspired! :)

Spring is in the air....

It's starting to feel a bit like spring around here.... I'm seeing Easter decor in the stores and spring fashion in the magazines... so I decided to change up my blog a bit for the season.

I also had my hair done yesterday and took a new "head shot" photo for the blog. I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I actually did a whole mini photo shoot of myself with my remote control and tripod. I was hoping to get a few new pictures of myself actually feeling pretty. (Josh was out of town and I was home alone, so thank goodness no one saw me). I always love the way my hair looks the day I get it done, and I can never quite do it the same as my hair girl does, so I thought it was perfect timing. Hannah wanted to join in the fun, so she got in a few of the shots with me...  this one was one of my favorites.....

The tripod needed a slight adjustment because Hannah's cute little nose got cut off in most of them. (Isn't she a sweetie? ) Anyway, it beats being embarrassed in front of someone else trying to take your picture! And I got to delete all the ones I didn't like!

Thanks to all you sweeties who already left a comment about my new photo! You are too kind!

Romantic Homes

I finally received a copy of the March 2008 issue of Romantic Homes and got to see my feature. I feel like I am the LAST person to see it, but it was worth the wait. :)

As promised here are the pages from the article:

I just love the title! So cute! Jacqueline did such a good job with everything. This page has a few of my favorite linens from the bedroom. The ticking quilt is from Pottery Barn, the Grainsack pillow I made myself (thank goodness it was the right size and only required a very crude stitch by me), and the number pillows are from Catherine at Red Shoes LC.  She makes these beauties herself!

I'm so happy Hannah made it in the issue. :) She wasn't being very cooperative that day! Keys and silver pedestal plates from Pottery Barn. Rug from Restoration Hardware. 

This hutch is from the Long Beach Antique Fair, and the print above is from Ballard Designs. Tall vases from Pottery Barn, flowers from Restoration Hardware. The crystal light is from Regalo in San Juan Capistrano, CA.

The hutch is from the Long Beach Antique Fair again, the bunnies from Blessings in Orange, CA. The tin, planter, and orange stool are from antique shopping and the bobbins are from the gals at the Barn Sale "La Maison Rustique" in Temecula.

The table my mom gave me. The chair and crown molding shelves are from Pottery barn.

The little peat pot baby on the bottom left is made by Lauren.

I don't totally care for that picture of me, but I think we are all very critical of ourselves. I think my arms look fat, and I look awkward like I am trying to hold really still (which I was!)

White stools, dining room table and chairs all from Pottery barn. Tablecloth from Anthropolgie. Black and white ticking cushions from Sturbridge Yankee. The chalkboard was from Heather at the Barn sale again in Temecula.

Whew! can you believe ten pages! I can't! What's even more fun is quite a few of the pictures in the rest of the magazine were shot at my house. :) I love this issue because it's so fun to say I watched them create a lot of the shots!

Thank you all for your kind comments! I am loving every bit of my mini-fame!