What is it about weathered patinas that we find so beautiful? This is a metal gate from a house down our street that is shaded by a pink tulip tree in Spring and an ornament from the Native Sons building on Mason Street in San Francisco. Perhaps it’s that nature and time seem to be more focused on the details than even the most intricate Sullivanesque motif…

Lately, every time I have been taking my “get the mail” break, I have been hearing a little rustling in the leaves near our studio. Believe it or not, I thought it was our armadillo friend (really, and that’s another story), but after much searching, I spied these little fellas (or maybe it’s a loving couple) hiding in the drain pipe. It was so Beatrix Potter!

And, they reminded me of these little characters who adorned the page for Baby’s First Teeth in one of my baby books several years ago. I might have to revisit these little guys!

Not long ago, we received an email from this sweet mother:

“Hello, I am the mother of an 18-month little girl. We have had your adorable ‘Little Pond’ collection in her room and crib since she was born. When we bought the collection, I also bought a cute little stuffed elephant that is holding a small blanket, which is also from the ‘Little Pond’ collection. Our baby girl fell madly in love with her little ‘Ellie’. As you can imagine, after 18 months of so much love, the ‘Ellie’ blanket is starting to look a little rough and we fear everyday that we may lose him and our baby will get no sleep that night!”

This was a dilemma, because, unfortunately, that product was no longer made. So, we promised to take a look in our warehouse and see if we could find one, as we could all remember how difficult sleep was around our house without Hamlet, Blankie or Junior.

The good news is that we were able to find one sample left, which we sent right up to Pennsylvania. I’m happy to report that “Ellie2” saved the day and we sure hope this cute baby can sleep at night now, as well as get some great chewing in on Ellie’s excellent-for-teething trunk. And we didn’t even know that our product could be used as a charming hat, as well!

One of our favorite products out right now is the Our Special Recipes scrapbook collection. It inlcudes a binder and coordinating craft papers and 3D stickers. It’s a great way to save favorite family recipes and combine them with pictures from some of the family events where they are served, like Thanksgiving or Fourth of July! I can’t wait to give one of these all-filled-out to each of my three girls when they get married. Oops, one already got married. Sorry, Ellen, maybe for your first anniversary!

You can buy this collection online from Tapestry by C.R. Gibson.