I've got news!!!

Since I've been home with Lucy I've been working on getting back to my roots with art and design. I love retouching but something was drawing me back in to using paper, pencils, pens, and creating and designing interesting things. Once something like this pops into my head I can't seem to get it out and I become a woman on a mission. Except, this hasn't happened in a long time. I don't know for sure why now but I just felt like it was something I needed to do.

So, of course, I was looking for a way to make a little money on the side while I do this thing that has taken over a good portion of my brain and time. I started an Etsy store (lulu and ellie) and started working away on stationary designs. I was still working out my little business plan when I got this email early last week...

Sweet Baby Designs is thrilled to be looking for New Designers. We are looking for 3-5 motivated designers that would like to showcase their designs in our store!

I was thrilled. Beyond thrilled. I purchased Lucy's birth announcements from SBD and was very impressed with this company. So I decided to go for it. I had already been working on some designs so I finished them up and sent them off into internet land hoping for the best (but not expecting to hear anything). For all I knew they were getting thousands of applicants all of whom had worked for Hallmark. LOL.

Well....

I got this email on saturday...

Nicole,
Thank you so much for applying for a position as a Sweet Baby Designs designer!

We are thrilled to offer you a spot as one of our permanent designers! Your designs/samples were a wonderful showcase of your creativity and talent and we believe that you will be a wonderful fit for our company!

On Monday we will send you out a welcome packet/folder via email, which will contain a design schedule for December, Tips, Tricks & Guidelines for Design, our favorite font list, and a contact for your approval.

We are so excited to welcome you aboard and we can't wait to get to know you better!

Thanks,
Jaclyn Bernardo
Owner, Sweet Baby Designs

Yippee!!!


I got all signed in yesterday and have already gotten my first assignment for 10 new designs due in a few weeks. I'll keep you posted on when my work goes online!!!!


Oh, here are the designs I sent them....

Smile Big + Meeka

When I ask, "Can I have a big smile?", this is what I get...


















And this...




She loves LOVES to talk about Meeka

Stuff in my Backyard

I loathe these short fall days. The first week after the time change in the fall is always difficult for me. It seems silly...it's only an hour but every year I find myself exhausted, moping around the house.

But, BUT this low afternoon sun of these short days creates something magical. The trees in our backyard are nearly bare but there is something beautiful about how the sun peeks through them.

Here's some stuff I found in my backyard last weekend...

Cinnamon Raisin Bread

I love baking bread. The best are cold days when I don't have much planned outside of the house. Lucy was dealing with a cold and teething so we were a bit stuck at home. Perfect time to bake!

I've had a few requests for the recipe for Cinnamon Raisin Bread that I made last week so here it is! This is a slightly modified recipe from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook (my go-to book for many of my baking recipes).


Cinnamon Raisin Bread

Makes two 9 by 5 inch loaves

1 envelope (2 1/4 tsp) active dry yeast
2 cups warm milk (about 110 degrees F)
6 ½ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting (I weigh and then sift my flour)
1 stick butter, room temperature, cut into pieces, plus more for pans
½ cup sugar
2 eggs, plus 1 egg, lightly beaten
2 ½ tsp coarse salt
1 cup raisins
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon

filling:
1 ½ cups sugar
2 Tbsp ground cinnamon


1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, sprinkle the yeast over the warm milk and whisk to combine. In a seperate bowl, mix together the, butter, sugar, 2 eggs, and salt. Attach bowl to mixer fitted with the dough hook and mix wet ingredients into yeast, then slowly add the flour. Mix on low speed until all the ingredients are well combined, about 3 minutes. Raise speed to medium-low, and continue to mix until the dough is completely smooth and pulls away from the sides of the bowl, about 3 minutes more.

Turn out the dough on a lightly floured surface. Pat out the dough into a big round. Sprinkle with raisins and cinnamon and knead and fold until they are just incorporated. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, and cover with oiled plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour. (In the cooler months I find that the oven on off with the oven light on makes a nice warm environment for my dough to rise)

3. Return the dough to a lightly floured work surface, and pat into a round. Fold the bottom third of the dough up, the top third down and the right and left sizes over, pressing down the seal. Return the dough into the bowl and let rise again until doubled in bulk, about 40 minutes.

4. Make the filling. Combine sugar and cinnamon with 2 Tbsp water in a small bowl.

5. Generously butter two 9 by 5 inch loaf pans set aside. 6. Return the dough to a lightly floured work surface, and divide in half. Roll each half out to a large rectangle, a bit bigger than your loaf pans - about 10 inch. Brush with beaten egg and sprinkle each with half of the filling.

7. With the short end of the rectangle facing you, fold in both of the long sides of the dough in. the roll the dough towards you, gently pressing forming a tight log. Roll back and forth to seal the seam. Place loafs in the prepared pans. Cover loosely with oiled plastic wrap, and let rest in a warm place, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 425°F.

8. Brush the tops of the loafs with beaten egg, and transfer pans to the oven. Place pans onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper (this is very important unless you like scraping bakes sugar off of the bottom of your oven!) Bake, rotating pans halfway through, until loaves are golden brown, about 45 minutes. If the tops begin to brown too quickly, tent with aluminium foil. (I tent soon after it is in the oven to prevent browning too quick). Turn out the bread onto a wire rack to cool completely before slicing. The bread can be kept, wrapped in plastic up to 4 days. I freeze the second loaf for later!!

Because I like to make lists.

Here are the things I will miss:

1. Talking about what is for lunch. Usually beginning around 10:00 am. WTFIFL

2. Never having to worry about saying something inappropriate.

3. Being in an environment where saying inappropriate things is encouraged.

4. Being around some of the most talented and interesting people in the world.

5. Morning coffee stops, alternating between Biggby, Dunkin Dounuts, and Starbucks. But never the Hot Spot.

6. Snack time.

7. My snack time friends.

8. The coolest bosses ever (no, I'm not just sucking up, I really mean it)



Here are the things I won't miss:

1. "The Mondays". This is what I refer to as our monday evenings. Baby starts yelling 10 minutes after I arrive home and doesn't stop until she falls asleep. Every. Monday.

2. Driving by the Hot Spot. I don't know why that place annoys me so much. Maybe it's because they started advertising "topless tuesday".

3. Traffic. Construction Traffic. Snow Traffic. Rain Traffic. Accident Traffic.

4. Having two jobs and feeling like I'm not fully committing myself to either one.



Things I am looking forward to:

1. Not missing anything that my daughter is learning. These days are really flying by so fast.

2. Never feeling jealous of the time somebody else is getting to enjoy with her.

3. Hopefully feeling a little less overwhelmed with trying to manage this house and family.

4. Learning some new skills and revisiting some skills that I haven't used in a while *more info on this to come*

5. Giving myself fully to this crazy job and this incredibly demanding (but oh so cute) boss.


I know I'm not the only person who has come to this decision. It was not an easy one. Part of who I am has always been what I do. And I am one of the fortunate ones who loves what I do and the people I work with.