It's super simple, sweet and not too late

Have you ever thought, on February the 14th - UGH, I should have got my $&it together and made something cute for my boyfriend/girlfriend/kids/mom/bestie/crush...etc? You know, nothing super crazy fancy shmancy, but just something heartfelt and simple (I like heartfelt and simple, you?)...Well, this year I did it, and, if you want in on this pretty little idea, I am sharing...
I simply took one of our little Mini Ribbon Boxes (which are coincidentally on sale) and crafted a little love note to fold inside. I leave the rest, (and, the rest is not imperative), but you could add a tiny heart chocolate, a little photo of yourself or yourself with your Valentine, a pretty piece of jewelry, like an engagement ring even... or a folded up gift certificate for a complimentary make-out session (choose this person wisely).
Now listen, you might say
YES! I am ordering the mini ribbon box and I am doing this! and then get to the shipping charges and get angry...don't... Realize that we have no control over shipping charges and only charge you what we pay (sometimes even less), so be a good little shopper and stock up on a few boxes, this way the shipping becomes, well, like nothing. I am so happy that we had this little talk.
Now go, make pretty things and share the love!
xo Nadine

 

as an added bonus, here is the paper print out that says - I LOVE YOU SO MUCH.

This is for letter sized 8.5" x 11" paper. Print page 1 and then flip over your sheet of paper and print page 2 on the back, cut it out, fold it on the lines, and presto, you're in business! (if you have some heavy stock paper or card stock, it looks prettier!)

Harry's Birthday

I hadn't caught up with my friend Mandy in forever, I had five minutes yesterday and I called her. She didn't even say "hello" she went right into "oh my god, I was just thinking about you" in her bubbly way... She was also scrambling to get something together for her adorable Harry's 7th birthday party. Since I had an hour to kill, and let's face it, it doesn't take much for me to agree to make stuff, I offered to throw something together for her. She was thrilled, here's what she told me,
- Harry's Winter Classic,  it's a skating party and I was trying to find something cute and vintage - Coincidentally, I had just the thing!...Here's what happened,

 

Kind of makes me want to be seven again... Happy Birthday Harry!

a little new year Feng Shui-ing

As 2011 was ending, I had this feeling of urgency to really start 2012 with a bang.
I have never really paid much attention to starting new or fresh on January 1st, but somehow, this year felt different, it felt necessary.
I pulled out my old notes from Katie Rogers (my Feng Shui mentor turned friend) and looked at the objectives I had a year ago and her suggestions and recommendations from our long distance consultation.
It was pretty amazing how much of what we had discussed had taken form in my life. From my company shifting and transitioning to designing for other companies to my finances. A year can make a big big difference.
I also realized how I can easily tell myself that I haven't achieved something or haven't done as well as I should have, yet I rarely take the time to look at what I actually do get done. This year, yesterday as a matter of fact, I decided to create a little list for myself of what I have achieved in the past year, and mostly, what I am grateful for. I know, you have probably all been doing this forever, but it's new to me, and it felt really good. If you haven't done it and are late joining the party, as I am, try it, you will be in for a pleasant surprise.
Well, my urgency for starting 2012 just right manifested itself in my living space (yeah, I know, there's a shocker!). I have to say, I love this place so much and have the best time playing in it, it brings me endless hours of joy (now, how to get the landlord to sell it to me!)...Anyhow, I checked my Feng Shui list and immediately saw that I could improve quickly and inexpensively.
I started with a little more charcoal grey paint. I had it leftover from here. So that certainly made the project take shape quickly, but I'm telling you, I love the grey! Having been a "white" wall girl for so long and loving that California white washed fabulous soft, comfortable look, I just never would have imagined how warm and cocooning and wonderfully elegant I find the grey. I started with the last white wall in the loft (remember, there aren't too many walls in here and the 2 largest ones are brick)

here's the before

 and here's the after

 alright, here's the total wall...

this photo sucks and apparently my fabulous design sense
told me that I didn't need to worry about Tess' table and lunch
in the photo...ugh.

 I also started to re-arrange some of my art and my big gold mirror. At one point I thought I should run to IKEA and buy all new frames and really do it, until my better sense (*cough* bank account) kicked in and I said, meh, I can make do...which, I actually think worked out in the end. I moved the big gold mirror to the entrance hall, just to the left of the kitchen ( I was tired of standing on my coffee table to see if my shoes looked good with what I was wearing) and decided to worry about a new mirror later...Since the mirror was there now, I took my fabulous Christian Chaize photographs from 20x200 and put them on the grey wall, with Tess' blackboard (an early bluedogz design piece that I still had kicking around)...To top it off, my amazing Marc Tetro print, which pops even more than it usually does (which is hard to believe) on this wall! 

I also put my little print of the vintage NYC map on the inside kitchen wall, normally, I had my Andy Davis surf print there, but I decided to move it...mixing things up in Feng Shui is key and I felt that things were becoming a little too predictable and stagnant...not good at all. Moving stuff keeps things alive and Chi flowing (just ask Katie!), plus, it gives you the feeling that you have a new house (kind of)...and that's exciting (to me). You like so far?
Then I had to address the living room, where it looked like I had lost a tooth, without the gold mirror.
(or maybe more like a lost my "grill")

from this:

 to this (think lisp)

 to this!

So much better, right?...I remembered that this rounded corner mirror was just collecting dust in my dad's basement, so I grabbed it, and the Paris map above it had been leaning precariously on a wall for months (NOT good Feng Shui at all!) and my Andy Davis surf couple print had spent a day or so, after I had taken it out of the kitchen leaning too...This leaning thing is a slippery slope, just saying, so I figured, get it on the wall and then deal later...I did, and I am loving it. I have a few more pieces that I absolutely love and have a lot of meaning to me that I will be framing soon and that are quite a bit smaller than these, I think I might end up with a pretty cool art wall above the couch. Added bonus? My living room is in my prosperity corner, let's face it, I MUST feel good there if I want to prosper. This whole little revamp is feeling good.
I also folded up the second cow hide rug that was under my dining room table for a change, just because it was feeling tired...I am sure I will put it back at some point, but for now, it feels right without it.
Next up...a chandelier make over...stay tuned!
and hey, move your stuff around if you need a change or a quick re-charge, and if you don't absolutely love it, dump it! Happy New Year everyone!

Wholesale Pricing

I wrote another piece for the very cool Vianza, this time about wholesale pricing.
I also spent some time this past week reading all a lot of the amazing information on their blog. So much great stuff. If you are starting a business, restructuring your business, a designer, a retailer or just interested in business in general and Indie Biz...you really need to get familiar with Vianza.
here is my latest article,

and, if I don't see you before this weekend,
Have a safe wonderful holiday weekend,

thank you for reading!

The little open letter that could, an Update.

Natalie's open letter to H&M is gaining momentum, here are some more links :
Montreal Gazette
Fashionista
The Star
The Tattooed Girl

Thinking of doing a trade show?

It seems my blog posts about trade show booths get a lot of hits, especially right before trade show season starts (like here, here and here). I also get a little rush of emails with questions,
usually with a large HELP in the subject line.
I am thrilled that you like the info!
There is a new Indie Biz platform on the block called Vianza, I haven't seen anything like it and so far I like what I see. I am writing a few guest blog posts for them about trade shows and business.
Here is my first, things to think about or how to know if you're ready to do a trade show, hope you enjoy!
oh, and don't forget, if you have questions, comments, thoughts, feel free to let me know!

The little open letter that could. Happy Holidays!

This past week as I was designing, I thought to myself - I wonder if I will ever make a difference in the world. I know, sounds a little dramatic, but it's true.
Then, last evening, I received this note :

 

Nadine,

I just needed to thank you again for connecting me with Christina. I can't believe my little letter made it all the way to H&M... And to so many other readers and potential shoppers. That's all because of you. It's so important to challenge the Goliaths of this world... And today you are proof that one person can make a big difference.

I hope you're having a wonderful evening!!

Natalie xo

 

I cried. 

a lot.

I love this story.

I joined twitter a few years ago, and I love it. I follow roughly 300 people and there is probably a handful who I always look forward to reading. One is Christina Binkley of the Wall Street Journal in LA. Christina goes to every major fashion week, tweets and writes about it all and overall simply writes the best pieces on style. Christina has clout, when she writes, people read, she's big. She is also incredibly approachable and generous and I say this all from knowing her on Twitter. I read, whatever she writes. Voila, c'est tout.

 

The other person is  Natalie Karneef, a writer here in Montreal. She writes for various magazines and newspapers, but it's her blog that I read and love. Whenever she posts anything on twitter about a new blog post, I click, I read and I usually cry. She writes about her life, her in- laws, her feelings. I adore the way she writes, she doesn't have a big super fancy high traffic blog, but she should. Her writing is so heartfelt and honest and real. 

Last week, before going to bed, Tess was watching one of her shows on TV and I was flicking through twitter on my BlackBerry, squinting and trying to read. I saw a tweet from Natalie, it said something about an open letter to H&M, with a link. I clicked, (as I always do), and there I sat, desperately trying to read the post on that teeny stupid screen with my 44 yr old, (waiting just a little longer to get glasses) eyes and a loud kiddie show in the background. The letter was in regards to H&M's new line launching, based on the character Lisbeth Salander from the book The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. 

Here is the letter.

 

I was moved by the letter, I thought about how insensitive H&M was and Natalie and I sent a few tweets back and forth wondering how the mass merchant couldn't have thought of who they might offend...Blame it on the teeny screen, the kiddie show or maybe fatigue, somewhere along the way, I had not understood that the letter was in fact written by Natalie, that she was the rape victim. I don't know why I hadn't understood this...I was sure that Natalie had re-posted the letter and that it was something that was circulating on the internet or in the fashion/style bloggisphere.
Fast forward to 2 days ago and there I was, on my larger, more readable computer screen and up pops a tweet from Christina. It was something about how she was writing about H&M's launching of their new Girl With the Dragon Tattoo line. I quickly sent her a private message saying that I am sure she has read about the open letter to H&M, but if not, there was one out there definitely worth reading.
She responded that she hadn't seen it and asked me to send her the link.
I clicked over to Natalie's blog and as I was copying the URL I decided to re-read it.
That's when I understood. The letter had been written by Natalie, she was the rape victim. I clicked through all her links in the post (which are just a visual nuisance when reading on a postage sized smart phone screen) and the story started to come together.

I quickly started frantically messaging Natalie, apologizing for my oversight the previous week and what must have seemed so nonchalant in responding to her story, I felt like such an ass. I also told her that I was sharing it with Christina Binkley of the WSJ.

Then I started to frantically message Christina (remember, you only get 140 characters per tweet...so I sent a string of tweets to both of them!) telling her that this open letter was not what I had thought, but in fact, written by my twitter friend and not something circulating (at that point) widely.

I quickly got a message from Natalie telling me not to worry, that she was touched I was writing back and thrilled that I had passed it on to Christina. I also got a note back from Christina thanking me for the link and telling me that she would be writing about it. Ah, nice!

Well, this catches you up to last evening, and the sweet note Natalie sent to me.

From the note, I had assumed (and god knows, I am really in NO position to be assuming!) that Christina had been in touch with Natalie and that she had probably told Natalie that she would be sending her link to H&M. 

I just love when this stuff happens, don't you?

But wait...

Look at this .

I told you Ms. Binkley had clout. Not only did she write one of her great pieces, yet again, but she clearly put Natalie's letter into the right hands and there is a response! (Just wait, I guarantee this whole story is only starting to get legs now!)

Maybe it's that magical time of the year. 

I love and have always loved to connect people but this connection just feels different, it feels so much closer to home. I haven't worked out all that I am feeling inside, but I am so very grateful on so many levels; that Christina brought Natalie's letter to a much  larger audience. That Natalie has never given up or backed down in her fight for justice. And maybe somehow, on some level, because so many of  the most special people in my life have been hurt, abused and molested, maybe somehow, this connection is for all of you. Thank you all for being so strong, amazing and special to me. And a special thank you to the person who's abuse hits the closest to home, my perfect daughter's daddy. I will always be your witness. And I will always be grateful. 

Happy Holidays everyone, from the bottom of my heart.