I'm still playing a mean game of catch up around here! I finally was able to grab a couple of quick photos of recent design projects. Here is a baby shower invitation for an old friend of mine. Her husband is from Hershey, PA so they had a chocolate theme for this surprise baby shower!

Bernard Lorjou was a French Expressionist painter in the early 1900s. Love these bright beautiful florals of his!      

One of the things I was so excited about in our new house was the entryway. Our last house walked right into our living room so having this space feels extra exciting. I fell in love with the Blu Dot Strut Console Table in this awesome watermelon. However, the price jumped up an extra $100 right before I finally convinced myself to splurge. And well, then I really couldn't justify the splurge.

 
 
I really liked the metal legs so I searched for something similar. I found this one at JCPenney for under $100 so I snatched it up.
 

 
Adam and I sprayed the legs hot pink because I liked the way it tied in with my persian rug (which I bought from eSale rugs). The huge mirror was from an antique store in Arizona, the lamp was $2 from a local campus sale, red box and candle from Target, plant from Ikea and gold basket from a St. Louis thrift store.
 

 
This area is still unfinished...I want 2 chairs to on either side of the console to help balance out how large the mirror is. The Blu Dot console was probably the better size, but I still don't think it would have been worth the cost. I might also add some smaller pieces of art on the wall as well.

 
I just looked back and apparently I missed months 8 & 9 and I'm feeling a little sad about it. Looking at Collier's 7 month pictures compared to these 10 months has shown me how much he has grown since then!
 

 
So much has happened with Collier in the last few months. He has 4 teeth! Which is a miracle because Rilo didn't even get her first tooth until she was 14 months! He also started walking at 9.5 months. He is SO fast now! He claps, says "mama" and "dada" and tries hard to say "Rilo", signs for more, does "so big", gives kisses and plays peek a boo.

 
My favorite thing to watch has been the developing relationship between Rilo and Collier. As he gets older, they have been playing more and more. Rilo hides and Collier finds her and attacks her. A recent favorite has been a game of tag. Rilo runs all around the house and Collier chases after her. Of course, it's not always smooth sailing...Rilo still gets mad when he "ruins her train tracks" or gets in her way. But overall they are becoming best friends and it makes my whole world.
 

 
Collier loves all food. I still haven't found a food he won't eat. And if you are eating in front of him and aren't sharing, he'll yell at the top of his lungs until you oblige him.
 

 
He is so sweet. He shares lots of loves and snuggles along with some slobbery kisses. He definitely loves his mama. And I sure love him.

So I've been keeping this to myself for a little bit, but Adam and I (and our friend Kasey) recently purchased a local crepe shop! It's a cute little place in Provo under Alpine Village for those familiar with the area. ME Crepes has been open for a little over a year and has done great so far, with little to no marketing. We want to take it to a whole new level! We have renamed, rebranded and are currently finishing up an awesome remodel! I cannot wait to show you the before and afters!! For now I'll show you the old and new logo, with our new name, The Crepe Co.

 
 
And our new logo!
 

 
The great part is, we have a fantastic set of employees who love the place so much and have it running all by itself. So I'll get to stay on working on anything design related but I won't have to be there every day. I'll have much more to share next week!!

These two are amazing. They had 3 littles 3 and under! And they make it look easy! Danny and Cait have the most beautiful family.
 
These are from last month but I'm just starting to get back in the swing of regular posting. Lots of fun things happening lately!

You. Guys. I entered Emily Henderson's Christmas mantel styling contest on a whim last week. And guess what? She selected mine as one of the winners! I feel a little bit starstruck. She happens to be my favorite designer and the one I find my style closest to so I squealed when I saw the winners last night! You can check out the other winners here!
 
I didn't buy many new Christmas decorations this year just because we were in the middle of moving right before Christmas. I found a few things from Land of Nod...they had some great Christmas decor this year (all on sale now)!  I also grabbed some Dollar Store Christmas houses that I spray painted gold and white. Everything else I found from my Christmas collection from years past!

I toyed with this for a little arrangement for a little bit, but ultimately I thought it was a little too cluttered.

Here are the little houses I painted.  I tried out 2 different methods with the white houses.  One where I covered the whole thing and the other where I left some color showing through.

We installed 2 pendant lights in the living room (I actually discovered them through Emily's Pinterest board) and we love them!  You can see a sneak peek of them below.

For this year's review, I picked my top 12 moments or posts for the year!  

 
This year I got serious about my Art Series.  I enjoy finding and featuring artists and am happy to be continuing this series in the next year!

Right before I had Collier we threw Rilo's Winter Waterland Party.  I learned that all a bunch of 2-4 years olds need is a room full of balloons!

I worked on a few Custom Address Stamp's for us.  Looks like I need to make a new one now that we've moved!

Before we left for the summer we shared our Bedroom Before/After.  In our new house, our bedroom is one of the only rooms that is remaining almost the same!

I shared a super yummy Coconut Cake recipe!

I finally got around to Painting the Front Door!  Now I can look at it across the street I guess!

I think this is one of my most underutilized posts.  My Image Map Tutorial is perfect for all you bloggers doing any kind of roundups!!

I had a lot of great design clients this year.  I loved so many projects I was able to work on.  I really loved Morgan & Jared's Wedding Invites.  You can check out the rest here.

I shared my views on park play in my post, Let Your Kids Play: Park Tips.

In February, we welcomed Collier Brooks into our family.  It's hard to imagine life before our Collier Bud!  Here are Collier's Birth Announcements.

This past summer I discovered Online Grocery Shopping and it changed my world!!

This year I started the 12 Days of Christmas Downloads.  I hope you loved them as much as I loved designing everything!

 
I am extremely excited for what's to come this year.  A new house, a new business, new posts and much more! Cheers to a happy and healthy 2013!

I started doing these year in review's last year. I love glancing back at all that has happened. I have loved working with so many awesome clients and I look forward to a great new year!

If you'd like to schedule a session in the new year, email me at bri@collectedblog.com!