I'm still here!

It's been quite a long time since I've blogged! Funny how time just seems to get away from you! Over the past 11 months, another craft show season has come and gone, my Etsy sites have been very busy, and we've grown as a family!

Our daughter was married on August 6th, adding a new son-in-law to our family.  We had so much fun preparing for her Victorian-style wedding, and it was absolutely beautiful.  Things never go quite as planned, though, and her wedding was no exception.  Three days prior to her wedding, my husband was rushed to the hospital and ended up fighting for his life in the ICU for almost two weeks before he was well enough to come home.  He was diagnosed with severe pneumonia, acute respiratory distress, and septic shock.  Before being sedated and put on life support, he asked for us to continue with her wedding, and to make it a beautiful day for her. He also asked our son to walk our daughter down the aisle. She carried his photo in her bouquet.  I left him for a few hours to attend the wedding. His survival was a miracle and against the odds, and we count our blessings every day that he is still with us.  It was a very difficult time, and one we are glad is behind us.  His recovery is ongoing, and most of the fall and winter has been spent caring for him to help restore him back to health.

It was a fun and successful craft show season, and I loved adding my daughter, Emily, to my shows! I am so proud of her and all of her craftiness!  Glad some of that rubbed off on her!  We are having a blast with our Etsy site, Lottie Elizabeth. Check it out here and our website here.

I have recently revamped my website.  All of my patterns are still available, but my website now directs to my Etsy site for ordering.  This has allowed me to have epatterns - how 85% of my patterns are sold, able to be downloaded immediately.  I still can send any of my patterns as paper patterns...just use the order form on my website.  See my website here.

It has been a long, hard winter here in Southwest Washington! We've had multiple damaging ice storms, and have had snow since December 8th! There isn't much left now, but there were snowflakes falling this morning.  I just wanted to crawl back into bed and stay there until it's 70 degrees!  Our lambs will begin arriving in about 4 weeks.  That always means spring is here, right!?!

Wishing you a blessed spring!

~Laurie

Another Johnson Wedding!

It's been a while since I have posted!  We had two kids get married within 4 months of each other! Our son recently married his sweetheart in a beautiful outdoor ceremony.  Not quite as much planning on our part - as parents of the groom, but I made all the wedding desserts, and we threw a rehearsal dinner and did all the cooking and DIY decorating.

Here are some photos from our rehearsal dinner.  It was like having our own restaurant for the day! Daughter Kari made the beautiful cake.

Here are some photos of the dessert bar at the wedding:

The bride and groom decided to have pie at the wedding rather than cake (but we had to sneak one in on them at the rehearsal dinner!)  They cut a full-size pie to feed to each other, but I made 195 mini pies and crisps in jars, as well as 72 mini cheesecakes and over 100 shortbread cookies.  The pies in jars were a lot of fun, and really quite easy with a lot of prep ahead of time.

I bought 16 dozen 3 oz. jars and had them washed ahead of time.  A week prior to the wedding I made up the pie dough, and added a little sugar.  I bought a set of graduated circle cookie cutters with regular circles on one side, and the opposite side was fluted.  I used a smaller round cutter to cut out the bottoms of the pies, and poked them with a fork.  I cut out the top of the pies with the fluted circles in a little larger size, and used a tiny heart cutter to cut out the middle.  Then I sprinkled them with coarse sugar and baked the tops and bottoms like cookies.  I froze them all (with plenty extra). Two days before the wedding I thickened and sweetened the berries, and just assembled the mini pies, since the pastries were already baked.  The pie jars never went in the oven at all!  The crisps were just a little different.  I put the thickened berries in the jars and added the crumb topping to the top. Those went in the the microwave for a few minutes.

I had so much fun with wedding prep this year, that I opened another Etsy shop - LottieElizabeth - with our daughter Emily, featuring wedding and baby items.  You can check it out here.  Now it's time to step on it with primitive Christmas things for my fall shows that start in a little over three months.  Yikes!

Hope your summer is wonderful!

Primitive blessings,

~Laurie

Springtime at Prindle Mountain!

It's been way too long since I've posted on my blog! A month ago we had the lovely wedding of our daughter and new son-in-law, and now we've moved on to lambing here on our farm.

Emily was our first child to marry, and throwing a wedding was time-consuming, but something that I thoroughly enjoyed!  In the next few posts, I will focus on some of the DIY projects we did for her wedding.

First, here are the invitations we designed.  Invitations have changed considerably since my husband and I were married 30 years ago.  No longer are they necessarily ordered from a company with 2 envelopes, the paper liner, and as formal as they used to be.  Many brides just use postcards or even wedding websites to correspond with their guests.  We designed these on my computer using various graphics and fonts, and ordered them from Overnight Prints.  I am crazy about this company and all of the products and great prices that they offer!  I used textured navy cardstock and made folders with a flap to hold the RSVP postcard, an info card, and an engagement photo of the couple. It was tied up with ribbon.

With shipping included, 125 5x7 invitations, 125 4 x 6 RSVP cards, 125 business card size details card, and half-size business card name plates for the front of the invitations was less than $75!

Other postcards we made and ordered from Overnight Prints include Emily's December Bridal Shower invitations.....

.....Wedding programs......

.....and thank you cards......

There is one other thing we ordered from Overnight Prints, which was a super good deal!  Emily and I loved the chalkboard look, and before I realized that it was possible and really fun to make chalkboards, I ordered a poster sized print of a chalkboard that I designed on PicMonkey.  It was super fun to make! 

PicMonkey is a great website for altering photos. To make this, I looked online for a chalkboard background and found one in a large resolution.  I trimmed it on PicMonkey to be the start size that Overnight Prints suggests for their posters.  (These posters were only $2.99 at the time I ordered - and that's a big 18" x 24" size!)  Next I downloaded fonts that I liked free on the internet.  Below are some great free fonts, and you can find out how to download them here.

Anyway, from PicMonkey, you can use their fonts or your own.  Arrange your chalkboard how you like using the fonts and graphics of your choosing.  Change them to white.  Once the poster arrived, I mounted it on some stained wood and rubbed over it with some chalk to make it look more like it was hand-lettered.

Like I said, "before I realized that it was possible and really fun to make chalkboards.....", in my next post I will show you and tell you how I learned how fun it is, (and how easy too!) to make some cool looking chalkboard art.

Oh yes....I mentioned it is lambing time here on the farm.  We have currently 9 little lambs (5 born in the last 2 hours!)  Here is a photo of Emily with a lamb this evening. (While she is married now, and lives in an apartment in town, you can't take the farmgirl out of the farm, and she's back for her farm fix lots....much to our great happiness!)

Primitive blessings,

Laurie

Weddings.....weddings!

My daughters and I at Emily's Bridal Shower in December

Happy New Year!  This will be a very special year for our family!  We have two weddings!  First, our daughter Emily will marry her childhood sweetheart on March 7th!  We are so excited!  Lots of planning going on, and that is the primary reason I have been lacking in any new activity in the pattern department!  I got through all my Christmas shows, and dug in big-time with wedding planning!  Not to fear, after March 7th I will start cranking out some new designs! :)

The next wedding to follow will be when our son Lukas marries his lovely fiancee on July 20th. While there is less for us to do for that wedding, we are planning a fun wedding rehearsal dinner, and I will be baking all of the wedding mason jar pies and cheesecakes!  Yum! :)

Don't forget that my patterns are always available on my website, as well as Etsy, and PatterMart. You can also follow me on Pinterest. Have a warm and safe winter, and I'll see you soon!

Primitive blessings,

~Laurie

Home of the Free....Land of the Brave....

On this  Memorial Day, make sure you thank a veteran! Remembering my Great Uncles who served in WWII. Thank you Ernie and Anton!

I've gotten entirely too addicted to Ancestry.com lately!  Family history has always been so interesting to me, and  I've been able to trace our family back farther than I could ever have imagined!  I have found veterans from the Revolutionary War, some Indian wars, and that I am even related to the early explorer, William Clark!

I've been so busy with gardening, farm chores, a month full of birthdays (including my own "Big 50!"), I've neglected to post for two months!  I'll be back soon with some craft ideas and new patterns. Stay tuned!

Primitive blessings,

~Laurie

Day after Christmas....

Did you have a nice Christmas?  We sure did!  All seven of us were together, so that's a good start to any day!

I just listed on Etsy and Pattern Mart a special sale you may be interested in!  I have any ten of my epatterns on sale for just $25 when you purchase this bundle!  Check it out here to go to Etsy and here for Pattern Mart.

Happy Crafting in 2014!

Primitive blessings,

Laurie

Ugghhh! I did it again!

Yup!  Just like last summer, this one has flown by so fast and I haven't blogged in over two months!  Where has the time gone!  After my last post, when my twins graduated, we went on a cruise to Alaska as part of their graduation present.  It was so much fun!  If you haven't taken this amazing cruise, I'd highly recommend it!  We're all ready to go back again!  We spent the 4th of July in Glacier Bay, and it was beautiful!

Once we returned home, I spent a week trying to get over the withdrawals of wearing the sea-sickness patch!  It took a full week to stop feeling dizzy and like I was still rocking!  Without it, however, I would've been one sick puppy the whole cruise!  

Haying season took a couple of weeks, as the family cut and put up 3,000 bales of hay.  A hot, dusty time, but we've gotta keep the livestock fed in the wintertime!

I lost my beloved Grandma on July 18th.  I last saw her on May 26th, and I'll forever treasure this last picture with her. 

Her funeral was a beautiful, family-centered memorial that she would've loved!  I made a video slideshow set to music, my son and his bluegrass band played some of her favorite songs, our oldest daughter did the opening prayer, and cousins and other relatives all played a part as well.  Two days later we had a family wedding, and that was another time spent with family that was so special.

Something I've waited my entire life for happened in late July!  I've always wanted a horse, and we found the perfect guy at the perfect time!  This is Ace!  He's very sweet, gentle, and is a trail horse.  We just love him!!!

The next week we spent a week at our county fair.  Used to be all five kids showed animals in 4-H, but we're down to just the last two - the twins.  They have one more year left of 4-H.  Daughter Emily was the sheep superintendent, however, and son Lukas and his bluegrass band were the main stage music Friday and Saturday nights.  The twins had an awesome fair, walking away as the master showman and reserve master showman of the entire 200+ livestock showmen at the fair!  They made it into the Round Robin competition where they had to show one of each species:  swine, beef, sheep, alpacas, meat goats, pack goats, horses, and dairy goats.  They've always been so close, and they scored just 1/2 point difference, with Kari coming out on top as Master Showman, and Kaitlyn right behind as Reserve Master Showmen!

Next up is a 50th anniversary party that I'm throwing for my parents!  I'm having so much fun preparing for this, and crafting some great stuff!  Click here to go to my Pinterest  stuff for it.  I ordered a great design for their invites.  I found them on Etsy.  Click here to see all the wonderful designs this gal does!  I had them printed from Overnight Prints.  Great company to deal with!  Check them out here.

So, that's pretty much my summer so far!  Haven't done much crafting at all, but will step into high gear once my girls go to college (DREADING that with a capital "D", underlined, and in bold!!!!)  That's September 22nd...so be thinking of me! :(

I have added most of my e-patterns to Etsy, and they are available as instant downloads.  I love this, because you don't have to wait for me to send them!  Check it out here.  

I hope your summer has been equally good!

Prim blessings,

~Laurie

Graduation!

Our twins graduated over the weekend, and I couldn't be more proud!  Love you forever, Kari Christina and Kaitlyn Grace!

Hope your weekend was as amazing as ours was!

Prim blessings,

Laurie

Did you have a nice Mother's Day?!

I sure did!  I had all my kids together, and that is a great start to any day!  Not only that, they cooked dinner for me (Hawaiian...and I even wore a lei!)

My sweet youngest daughters (the twins) posted the following on my Facebook page.  Not to toot my own horn, because they seem to put me on a higher pedestal than I deserve, but I just wanted to share the sweet messages and the video Kaitlyn posted:
Happy Mother's Day to the most amazing, loving, caring woman I know.  You and Dad raised all five of us to be the kind of people you want us to be.  You have taught me that I can do anything I set my mind to, and I love you so much for that.  You have come to every single one of my track meets, supported me more than anyone else, and picked me up when I've been down.  I love you so much Mama.  I wouldn't be the person I am today without you as my Mommy!  Love, Kaitlyn Happy Mother's Day to the world's most wonderful Mom!  I am so grateful to have someone as amazing as you to look up to in my life.  Thank you for being there for me every day and for your support.  I hope that one day I can be like you.  I love you Mommy!  Love, Kari

I'm a lucky, lucky girl!

Here's a picture of me with all the kids eleven years ago. Seems like yesterday!

Prim blessings,

Laurie

New Easter patterns!

Finally got my new patterns all done and on my website today!  To me, this is the most tedious part of being a pattern designer.  I love creating, but having to sit down and type out the instructions, draw out the pattern, and make sure it is all complete, no typos or incorrect grammar (really a pet-peeve of mine!), is time consuming and not so fun!  I did have fun making these guys, though, and hope you like them!

Meet Peter and Petunia!

I looked at a photo of a real bunny to decide how I was going to make Peter.  Petunia was an afterthought, because I thought he needed a friend, and I liked how "Peter and Petunia" sounded together!  Find this pattern on my website here.

Next is Clovis Cottontail.

Clovis is made of some velveteen that was my Grandma's.  I didn't know what I was going to do with it, so a year ago I coffee stained it, and had used some for some Santa coat trim.  Clovis' coveralls are made from a men's wool jacket that I got cheap, cheap at a rummage sale.  I used sisal rope for his whiskers.  He was a lot of fun to make!  Follow the same link above to purchase the pattern on my website.

Easter is only 4 weeks away!  (Early this year!)  It is also my Grandma's 89th birthday!  A photo of my Grandma as a toddler is the heading to my "Spring" category on my website.  Such a cutie then, and a cute and sweet lady now!  

Hope it's acting like Spring in your neck of the woods!

Prim blessings!

~Laurie

Back to School!

This summer has been so busy and kind of crazy, and if you didn't notice, I haven't put up a post since the middle of July!  In addition to lots of out of town company, we moved two of our kids, took a couple of trips, spent a week at our county fair, some home improvement projects, and now it's back-to-school day!

Our son, Lukas, finished Grad School on June 1st, and was hired as a full-time English teacher on May 31st!  On August 1st we moved him from Pullman, WA, where he had been a student at Washington State University (Go Cougs!), to his new home in Asotin, WA.  Asotin is a tiny little Mayberry-type town in the southeast part of Washington State.  He really lucked out with the home that he found to rent!  It's on the Snake River, with fishing, hunting, and in the country, albeit, a dry part of the state.  He's very happy, and with school started last week for him, he said he can't believe he's getting paid to do this job!  We're so glad for him!

 

That's my boy!

 

His back patio

 

The Snake River is right there! I don't think your first home out of college is supposed to be quite this nice!!!

The next week we moved daughter, Ashley, (also a teacher) to her apartment in Camas, Washington. She lives in a refurbished apartment above Camas Antiques, which is the best antique store anywhere! She has a clawfoot tub, a built-in Kitchen Queen, hardwood floors, and best yet, they allowed her to take her kitty cat! I haven't taken photos of it decorated yet, she's still hanging up pictures, but here are some before move-in. The perfect place for my antique-loving oldest daughter!

 

For 17 years now our kids have shown animals at the Skamania County Fair.  (Prior to that, my husband and I did this fair years ago!) This year, one of our twins was the Round Robin Master Showman!  Kari won a big belt buckle, that she's hardly taken off! (You'll notice it below in her back-to-school photo today).  Kari was the beef grand champion, and the reserve champion for sheep, so she was eligible for the Round Robin, where she had to show her cow, her lamb, a horse, a meat goat, dairy goat, horse, and alpaca.  She did really well, and we were so excited for her!

Kari (left) and twin sister, Kaitlyn (right)

 Also at the fair this year, our son, Lukas, and his band "Train of Thought" were hired to be the fair entertainment!  Take a listen here.  It was a really good fair!

Once the fair was over, I decided it was time to move daughter Kaitlyn into Lukas' old bedroom.  The twins have shared a bedroom since day one, and they were ready to have their own bedrooms.  This dark green bedroom was painted (several coats!) of cream paint, and we just got it finished!  Kaitlyn made the patchwork quilt on the bed, and she won grand champion on it and a nice trophy!  She's proud of her work, and even more impressive is that this was her first quilt and she completed it in only 2 weeks!  

 

We made this "headboard" out of an old screen door I had been hanging onto. I took off the old torn, rusty screen (you can bet I saved that for another project!) and replaced it with chicken wire, after a fresh coat of white paint.

 

Just purchased this nice oak commode cabinet at my favorite antique store!

We re-purposed some old drawers into shelves after painting them and adding some paper liner.

 

We're in the process of painting the outside of our house now.  I also have plans to make a spare bedroom into a new craft room.  So excited!  I'll post pictures of the progress later.

Before school started, we made a trip to Deer Park, Washington to visit family and I got to see my 88 year old Grandma.  She's doing pretty good!  

Today was back-to-school day!  Kari and Kaitlyn are now seniors, and the last of our children.  Kind of sad, as it's been 21 years since I first sent one of my kids to school, and now it's almost over!  

So, there is my summer, in a nutshell, and a big reason why I haven't been getting any work done for my website!  Time to think about firing up the old sewing machine!  Happy September!

Primitive (early) fall blessings,

~Laurie