Belle of the (snow) ball!

Yep, that would be ME!!! We are buried in snow here in the Land of Oz today, and we're lovin' it!!!! Pic below is our little waterfall (still flowing) in the backyard, just outside our kitchen door.

After 2 years of terrible, demoralizing drought, and a zillion un-fulfilled weather forecasts for precipitation, we're happy to get moisture of any kind!  Yes, the weather persons have been forecasting this winter storm for several days (with great glee and anticipation)...but who knew it would actually happen?!!

The fun began yesterday morning and it's still coming down. We've had snow, sleet, thunder sleet, and every other meteorological term for wet stuff, but we're grateful! Thankfully we work at home, and we're able to clear a path to the office. Actually that's the "royal we". which actually means my husband, Alan. Here he is, creating a path from the garage to the L*K door. Check out the snow on my planter!

And I don't think I'm going anywhere in my Mini Cooper for a while! It's temporarily buried in the driveway.

Why, you ask, don't we have a snow blower? The answer is simple, really. REAL Kansans don't own snowblowers!!! We rarely get enough snow to count, and we send our hearty souls outside to clear the fluffy stuff...when we have it!  I think Alan is gazing at our giant driveway in the photo below, remembering that he already cleared 8-10" off yesterday and now...it's BACK!!!!

Sorry, friends. I won't be having anyone over today for tea on the patio. We could have sat out there in comfort only a couple days ago.

Meanwhile, life goes on at Lizzie*Kate, and we're just a short week away from driving to Nashville Market. We have too many lists to count, and a serious buildup of new kits. Today we'll pack these into boxes for the trek across country. I spent a beautiful day and evening working on these yesterday, fonding gazing at the beautiful falling snow.

Today we're expecting a giant shipment of beautiful Crescent Colour threads, so I hope the US Mail really does go through...rain, sleet, wintry mix, and all of that!

We'll be putting these in an exciting new kit that we think you're gonna love!!  It's a big design in the style of our popular ABC Kits. It's a very cool saying...sweet, sentimental, funny..full of family and love. Stay tuned...and stay warm!

Market prep = craziness at L*K

I've been designing needlework for 18 YEARS now, and going to market every year! Logic tells me that this should get easier every year. Hmmm....really?

Thankfully, I have learned to keep really GOOD records about market. Not just what we sold and how many, but how much inventory I toted to (and fro) Nashville. The tricky part is to haul enough inventory to sell to the enthusiastic shopowners, and not put up those pesky SOLD OUT signs early in the day...but not bring too much stuff that makes the return trip home.

So here I am this week...poring over inventory and sales lists from the past few years, looking for that missing crystal ball, trying to "predict" what is going to sell, and making the 2013 inventory list.

We just released new titles a few weeks ago, so we won't have new chartpaks, Snippets or Flip-its. What we will have are 4 NEW KITS...and they're FUN!!!!! I'll tell you about the 3 Flora McSample Limited Editions kits today.

I'm fondly calling these "grab bag" kits because I am kitting them with bits of this and that...fabric, that is!  Since we do lots of kitting, and lots of model stitching, we have lots of fabric hanging around. When the drawers and cabinets and sneaky hiding places are bursting at the seams, it's time for some grab bag kits. I designed 3 small kits with my sampler friend, Flora McSample. Flora likes to design in a vintage-style, so these little gems look sampler-ish.

Here are some of my beautiful assorted fabrics...before folding, ironing and kitting. I've been gradually cutting small pieces of fabric for the last month or so, and I'm still working on it.  If you looks closely, there are all sorts of lovely colors, some overdyes, pastels, neutrals...it's a real grab bag!  This is kinda like the "ghosts of kits past"...you can spot leftovers from lots of discontinued kits, and just pieces that were too small for most kits, but I  couldn't throw them out!. 

Above is my main fabric storage cabinet. WOW...it's still a mess, but it's much less full than before Flora got to work on her 3 little market kits. I can shut the door with ease!

Since these are here today/gone tomorrow Limited Edition kits, I am doing the photography and graphic design myself. I enlisted my good friend, Bob Bishop, to help me with photography since 1) he has a much nicer camera than I, and 2) he has tons more equipment and 3) he has actually studied photography and 4) he was willing and available on a Ssturday afternoon!

We were quite a pair, doing our official L*K photo shoot in their big living room. If you look closely, you can see the little kit on the table, nestled among the Easter-y props. Did I tell you these kits are LITTLE??? That's me, holding the reflective white paper in all sorts of crazy positions, aiming for the perfect lighting.

I brought all sorts of goodies to Bob's house for our shoot. Each kit had it's own little box of props, as I had pre-planned each shot in advance at my house. I rounded up lots of old stuff from my house and threw in a couple houseplants.

Another perk to doing a photo shoot at Bob's house...while we're working, Connie is in the kitchen whipping up some yummy oatmeal cookies.  Thanks, Connie!

After I got the edited photos from Bob, I got to work on the graphic design for the projects. Making pretty covers is one of my favorite things, and I had so much fun doing the finishing touches on these kits.

I'm still working on folding and ironing the kit fabric. While we were watching a basketball game last night, I pulled the ironing board into the family room and got to work. Our friends who came to watch got a chuckle as I ironed through the game, pausing to yell and cheer on our favorite team, Kansas State Wildcats!

No, we're not previewing photos yet...gotta keep some mystery or else why shlep all this stuff half way across the country to market?  However, as soon as our showroom door opens at market on Saturday. March 2, I'm sure photos of the new kits will be emailing, blogging and Facebooking their way to you!  The intrepid shopowners who come to market will get the word out!

Stay tuned for more market previews!!!

Clean Office Tour 2013

Want to visit Lizzie*Kate? Here's your chance!

CAUTION...this is a working office (translation: warehouse)...so be prepared and wear your comfy shoes.

We've been doing an all-office cleanup for the past few weeks. We seem to have hit a snag...busyness and business has a way of getting in the way. But here's the (relatively) clean part of Lizzie*Kate international headquarters.

The door's open...so come on in!  The weather has been so mild lately, we've had the windows open in the afternoons...go figure! Someday I'll forget to close them in the evening and we'll have a snowy interior the next morning.

As you walk in the front door...OOPS...there's a big pile of freight that arrived this week. Next to it (not shown) is a pile of freight that's going out to needlework shops this afternoon. Here's the challenging part of the whole "clean office" thing. There's always stuff coming and going!

Turning to your left...OOPS...there's another floor obstacle. It's a nice big pile of US Mail crates. These are ever-so-useful around the office. Every day we fill one with outgoing orders and tote it outside to sit next to the mail box. I'm pretty sure we're not the favorite stop on the mailman's route! We also use these totes for all sorts of other projects (but keep that a secret, please). 

Continuing to look left, here is the "heart" of the office...our shipping area!  The shipping table sits right in the middle and is surrounded by shelves of inventory all around. Alan figured out this system when we first built our office, and it has been so practical! Below we'll do "close-ups" of the shelves behind the table. But first...

Under the shipping table are all sorts of supplies...boxes on this side and bubble-packages on the other side...and TAPE...lots of TAPE!

On top of the table, you'll see more shipping supplies, a couple scales, and a drawer thing full of charms and embellishment packs. Notice the standing roll of shrink wrap (to left of charm drawers)...love that stretchy stuff! It's the best way to tame slippery Flip-its and Boxers.

Here's a shot of the shelves BEHIND the shipping table. They're all labeled and (recently) dusted!  The left section and part of the center section hold our entire Flip-it inventory - 128 different Flip-its and Double Flips in all!  WHEW! The other smaller boxes hold Flip-it embellishment packs.  That's a lot of 1" x 1" embellishment sacks....and we try to keep them all filled.  Of course, when a drawer is empty, that's always the one someone orders!

Here's a close-up shot of the other wall. Our inventory of chartpaks wrap around the corner. That's Alan's desk peeking out behind and to the left. Actually, it's some file cabinets with a board on top, but we call that a DESK.  These boxes with the smiley face openings in them originally held one title. Now we have to gang up several titles in one box to have enough room. The NEWEST title gets it's own box...until the next title comes out!

Can you recognize these? These are the BOXER boxes!  From B01 through B42, they're all there! You can spot the most recent Inspiration Boxers on the bottom shelves? Notice the missing box on the right hand side? That Boxer box has been moved to the assembly area to be re-stocked!

Finally, here's the Snippet shelving area. Once again, from S01 to S106, they're all shelved, with the oldest titles on the bottom. We've had to consolidate these drawers once again, putting 4 titles per drawer on the older inventory. We keep BIG boxes of all of these in a separate area. That area (sadly) hasn't been cleaned yet, so it's not ready for prime time viewing!

Finally, this area hasn't been clean yet, so no white glove test here!  This is the KIT area, right behind the other shelves we've been showing you. On the top part are small quantities of assembled kits. There are larger boxes in another part of the office, as well as kit supplies. The lower shelves house all of our punch needle designs. In between, can you spot a shelf that looks different?

Here's a closeup...can you figure it out? It's our supplies for our VERY SCARY Mystery Sampler! This was our BIG project from 2012, and it's still selling well. You can see the 3 piles of beautiful color covers, the little plastic tubs hold embellishments, and there are some assembled Parts 1, 2 and 3 on the right side.

Hopefully, this little photo tour will inspire us to finish our office cleaning and reorganization. It's a never ending saga around here...every time we publish a new design (that's every 2 months) we have to find a place to store it!!!

Suggestions for taming our inventory? Send 'em our way!

Back to Pooh Corner

I never realized there were so many Pooh fans out there! Ever since I announced my new chartpak Promise Me, featuring some human/bear wisdom from Winnie the Pooh, I've been getting fan mail! I don't mean fan mail for me...but fans expressing their lifelong love of Pooh and all of his pals from the 3 acre wood.

This is such a sweet saying, it was a pleasure to graph and stitch myself. As I was stitching along, the melody from Kenny Loggins beloved song kept running through my mind...

So, help me if you can I've got to get

back to the house at Pooh corner by one

You'd be surprised there's so much to be done.

count all the bees in the hive,

chase all the clouds from the sky,

Back to the days of Christopher Robin and Pooh,

back to the days of Christopher Robin,

back to the ways of Pooh.

Ah...Kenny Loggins...long ago celebrity infatuation. Many years ago I owned a video of a Kenny Loggins live concert. Kenny was all beautiful in a shiny red shirt and flowing hair and...but, I digress. Wonder what Kenny is up to these days? And whatever happened to that now-historic VHS recording?

Whatever...I'm so glad you are enjoying the new L*K version of the famous Pooh quote 

I've leave you with another famous Pooh quote. Maybe it would be a cross stitch design, too?

 "A little Consideration, a little Thought for Others, makes all the difference."

COLD weather, HOT off the press!

It's WINTER in Kansas! . Actually, we're having a typical Kansas winter...freezing temps for a few days and then several respite days with 50-60 degree temps. Which is why...REAL Kansans don't wear coats! We just dash and dart from here to there, with maybe a sweater or hoodie, but rarely a heavy winter coat! If you don't believe me, come for a visit!

We'll be shipping new designs early next week, and we just got them delivered from 2 local printers. (Nothing like calling it close!) Now we're springing into action, attaching already prepared buttons and beads (thousand of them!!) to our new JINGLES Flip-it series. 

We're SO excited about this new series. JINGLES are a group of 12 Flip-its! There are 12 ornaments, all different sizes and shapes. Of course, they'll look great hanging on your tree, but you can do lots of different finishes...pop them in a small frame, make a cute easel or door hanger, decorate a wreath...you always 

amaze me with your creativity!

For the first time ever, our awesome finisher is posting a FREE finishing blog with complete instructions, so you can DIY!

Each JINGLES Flip-it comes with it's own embellishment pack, alternating between tiny red buttons, and aqua snowflake button with white beads. All of the designs use the same color palette...classic Christmas colors with some fun aqua, pink and chartreuse thrown in for fun!

All 12 JINGLES also fit together like a puzzle to stitch a big Christmas extravaganza. We'll supply the FREE template to combine everything, with additional stitched elements to tie everything together. Just check our website at www.lizziekate.com and click on the Jingles picture. 

We'll also be busy putting our new chartpak Promise Me into sacks. Do you recognize this saying? It's from Winnie the Pooh. It's actually Christopher Robin talking to Pooh. Promise me you'll always remember; you're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you 

think. Good advice...for bears and humans!

Then, we'll put the Inspirations Boxers...well, in their BOXES! The saying on this new one is a familiar scripture from Jeremiah... As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. The colors are muted and blend with any decor. Great for a gift (wedding, anniversary) or a special keepsake for your own home. Boxer kit includes 30 ct. natural linen, chart with bonus design (we made a cool thread ring) and embellishments. 

Finally, we'll send out the new Spring String Snippets. Thankfully, these don't require assembly...from us, that is. This is so skinny and fun...lots of beautiful spring colors, motifs, and pure fun!  I stitched this in a couple evenings...it's so quick and cheerful!

Call in the elves...it's gonna be a busy weekend!  Happy Friday!

Getting ready for Christmas...2013!

What? My last post was about putting Christmas decor away, and now I'm talking about Christmas 2013!

You betcha! That's "normal" in the crazy needlework world, where Christmas isn't a season...it's a year-round celebration.

We're excited to announce our new Flip-it series for 2013. JINGLES!!! 

We've designed a group of 12 Christmas ornaments. You can hang them, or frame them, use them for package tie-ons, whatever you like. They're all different sizes and shapes this time...just to change things up and keep you guessin'!

And, like the usual Flip-it series, the 12 designs will all fit together into one big Christmas-y stitchery. We'll provide the FREE template, some extra graphed elements to fill in the gaps, and all the instructions on our website at www.lizziekate.com.

We're still waiting on the big beautiful frame for our combo piece, but here is a SNEAK PEEK photo to get you thinking Christmas...in January! What elements can you see...a snowman, a hooty owl, peppermint candies...

Here are some other fun facts about the JINGLES:
*There are 12 designs...we'll release the first 3 near the end of January.
*Each design comes with embellishments - either tiny red button, or aqua snowflake button and white beads.
*We stitched our JINGLES on 30 ct. natural linen, you can choose your favorite fabric!
*We stitched our big combined JINGLES on 32 ct. amber linen (Wichelt)
*Stitch count for the entire project is 80W x 369H.

*Our very talented finisher, Mona, will post FREE instructions on a special finishing blog for this series. First time ever, very cool!
*Thread list - Weeks Dye Works capri, cayenne, chestnut, grasshopper, grits (3), hunter, juniper, Louisiana hot sauce (2), mascara, molasses, pecan, peony, sweet potato.

Excited? We sure are! We'll have lots of other new goodies available at the same time the JINGLES are premiering, so stay tuned for more products SNEAK PEEKS!

Here's to celebrating Christmas all year long!

Bye, bye, dear (Pinterest) Christmas

A few years ago my blogger daughter, Ali, told me about her newest passion...Pinterest. I listened, looked at some pics and thought "what's the big deal?". Honestly, the whole Pinterest thing didn't make sense to me. Then last year at our annual Nashville Needlework Market, I was visiting Anne in her room at R & R Reproductions and she showed me Pinterest...again. Suddenly it made sense and I got inspired to give it a try!

Ali set me up a page (yes, I still need help on these things) and I slowly started pinning things. Then I started to get a nudge to actually DO and MAKE some of these great projects on my Pinterest board. When some girlfriends asked me to join their little Holiday House Tour, I found the motivation to bring my Pinterest board to life! It turns out, you not only can PIN ideas on Pinterest, you can follow the tutorials and do it yourself!

My personal challenge for our casual tour of each other's houses was to 1) shop only at Dollar Store, Hobby Lobby and Michaels and 2) to re-purpose and re-use alot of stuff I already had.

So, several cans of spray paint, 3 yards of burlap, tons of brown kraft paper, many blobs of hot glue and 2 balls of twine LATER...here are some of my (successful) projects!

This was my first Pinterest project - the coffee filter wreath hanging over my fireplace. The tutorial said to glue the filters on the foam wreath, but I used T-pins. I wasn't patient enough to wait for the glue to dry!

The fireplace looks much different this year, because I went with a winter white sort of look (inspired by Pinterest posts, of course!). I gathered up white pottery I had scattered around the house and office, and filled them with real greens from my yard. I jazzed up my Walmart stockings with some letters from Michael's (first can of black spray paint) and hung them with twine.

This project was TOO easy, but I guess it counts, because it was on my Pinterest feed. I downloaded this free 16" x 20" art, picked it up at Walgreen's an hour later and popped it in a frame I already had. This was so fun and easy,  I want to rotate other seasonal stuff in the same frame.

Also in my kitchen, I did some decorating with one of my favorite things...peppermint candy! I bought lots of peppermints at the Dollar store, then artfully arranged them with some other favorite things. The little glass pedestal thing holding the big candy sticks is a Pinterest project. I bought a glass vase and glass candle base at Dollar Tree, then glued them total and...voila...chic holder for $2!!!

While we're in my colorful kitchen, I got the inspiration for the little edible centerpiece from Pinterest. I used some of my giant roll of brown paper as a table runner, then put out chalk so everyone could leave holiday messages.  Of course, a couple men tried to eat the chalk. REALLY...they couldn't tell the different between chalk and appetizers?

OK...these little Santa mugs have nothing to do with Pinterest. I just remember having them as a child, so I picked these up at the antique mall for a little vintage decor. They even had the original box...so cute!

And now for the scary part of the projects...I got out the SEWING MACHINE!  Yes, I put my high school Kenmore to work making pillow shams for some of my sofa pillows. I saw similar pillows on Pinterest, but they were for sale, so I made my own, using fonts I printed off my computer.  I transfered them using my light box, then went over them with a Sharpee marker pen.

Yet another Pinterest project....an Advent calendar. I used a cork bulletin board, attached tags with pins, added some numbers, and hung a little ornament each day. It was strangely satisfying to select and hang a little ornament every day!

I used some old sheet music (my daughter graciously dedicated a book of Italian arias from college) for all sorts of things. I wrapped gifts, made little ornaments for the tree...

even used Modge Podge to attach some sheet music to some old candles. I collect old toy pianos...does it count as a "collection" if you only have two? If anyone has anymore of these these don't want, let me know!

I put some creamy spray paint to work (actually went through 2 cans) updating some stuff. My nice husband sprayed several old picture frames, candle holders, baskets, all sorts of stuff for my winter white theme. I created this Joy to the World art on my computer, sent it to my pals at Walgreen's to print and popped it in a newly painted creamy frame.

I used more brown paper to make little bookjackets for some old books. I know it's silly, but they look really nice, dressed in their brown paper uniforms with white marker text on the outside. I had never bought a white market before, and I'm hooked!

Speaking of updating frames, I used bright red spray paint on this old frame for my front door. I used leftover burlap and random stuff I already had to sew the stocking and added our initial with...what else...a  Sharpee marker!

My creative sister-in-law, Donna, visited one afternoon and helped me create an over-the-top tablescape for my dining room table. The tabletop was a festival of Pinterest projects...topiaries wrapped in paper, little individual ornaments filled with tiny branches in center of each plate, red tags tied around each napking...the craziness continues! We left just enough room on the table to actually EAT a meal!

Finally, the laundry room needed a little Christmas cheer. I spray painted some black branches, then hugn a few ornaments. Can you spot the little L*K 2011 Just Cross Stitch Ornament issue pillow? I completed the scene by displaying our grand dog's holiday wardrobe on top of the washer!

And there he is...our famous granddog, Henry, who has been staying with us while his Mom spends the holiday in Europe. After much sewing and ironing angst (may have ruined my ironing board cover with Wonder Under) I made the brown pillow with the 3 ornaments. Inspired by a Pinterest photo,  I used some extra brown linen and adhered the 3 ornaments to it. I'm not sure Wonder Under and I really get along that 

well!

Finally...a touch of Lizzie*Kate to finish our holiday decor. This little box is the bonus project in our 2012 Joy to the World Christmas Kit. I love the way my finisher Mona decorated this box. It opens up and there is more cuteness inside. 

Christmas isn't really over yet..remember Christmastide and the 12 Days of Christmas? So I'm not putting everything away quite yet.

HAPPY NEW YEAR to all!