Aaaaaaand Scene

Fa La La La La!!!


I am back for our final blog of the year, I know…its like coming back from vacay and clocking in for a day before you go on maternity leave, but it’s just how it worked out:)

So here I am, ending 2010 as a madre of two boys. I can’t believe I’m the mama pushing a tandem (I really should have been asked to take a test to drive this thing…one too many diet cokes and I can take someone out easy)

The holidays are “the holidays” to me. As in I’m thankful for a merry treat trickin’, happy new year. Yep…they blend together and I'm giddy as a little girl from when they start to once they end.

At the end of each year, I tend to look back and thank my lucky stars I am still here, reflect on what I have accomplished, learned, and of course, what I want to improve on /change for the better in the year to come.

Here are our top ten reasons for loving 2010 and saying hello to 2011 according to Pinky Swear Designs:

10. The “other” Pinky Swear company who threatened us with “court documents” way back in the beginning of the year has finally realized we’re not giving up our name. You heeeeard me:)

9. CHANEL.com…it allows us to oooh and awww over every collection as if we were in the Grand Palais in Paris sitting next to Karl himself (avec big black sunglasses of course, oh and a hat!)

8. Chocolate…I really think it played a major part in me kicking the baby blues so quickly. It helps release endorphins I’ll have you know;)

7. Unique LA…this “little” show has brought us to a whole new level and has been such an incredible fun outlet for us mama design obsessed fools. Not to mention…it’s keeping this little engine running:)

6. FaceBook-seriously…what an amazing forum for Pinky & personal use to spread the love…and its free…and we get to connect with people even if we’re stuck at home ‘cause someone has pink eye (it’s a glamorous life sometimes)-‘nough said.

5. Friends and fam…as in the ones we talk to off of the FaceBook walls…you know who you are.

4. Coffee…I think it speaks for itself.

3. Nap time…this really deserves to be, like, numbers 5-1, but for now…its 3. Nap time =lunch break/re-grouping (peacefully)…in both of our houses.

2. The Hubsters/loves of our lives, aka graphics department and tech support/CFO. Honestly…we married the same man…just 15 years apart…scary.

1. Our kiddos, aka, the beans, aka, boy wonders, aka, duders # 1 & 2. We’re doing this venture for them. We started Pinky, not only to get rid of some nervous design/artistic energy…but because one day, we’re hoping this will all pan (2 years and still going!) out and we’ll be able to stay home with these babes foreva and continue to raise the true works of art that they are.

Just a quick shout out to these things that we love…and that includes all of you too:)

Talk to you next year!!!

Peace, love, and wine
Love Aj & Lo

p.s. we’re just (b)logging out for the year…you can still and always order a necklace;)

Unique LA - Post Game Roundup

*Ms. A.J. made tiny mossy wreaths for our holiday table! So cute!

We had an awesome time this weekend! We always love doing these shows. We love having a display to plan, we love meeting new people (consumer and artisans alike) and we love any place with a good DJ. And of course its always great to hear feedback about our line and those new orders aren't too shabby either ;)

Thanks again to everyone who came by and hello and welcome to anyone new to us here!

Unique LA Roundup - Everything Else!

So there's no way I could post about everyone that is going to be at Unique LA, so here's my final plug!

There's something for everyone! Seriously! Your music fan can shop at the Amoeba pop-up shop, hang out with the DJs or snag a band poster straight from the source. Your foodie can visit one of the many gourmet food trucks, not to mention the stand alone vendors selling pie, organic ice cream, to die for chocolate and more. Your crafty friends can visit the workshops and make something (for free!) Your kids can go to the photo booth or the creativity zone set up just for them. Your friends with fur-babies can buy some unique pet toys and accessories. And you can maybe cross a few more people off your Christmas list while supporting local artisans and business. Its a blast and everyone that has ever gone always tells me that is was so fun, and so different from any other "craft shows" they've been to. The free booze helps too. ;)

Looking forward to seeing some of you this weekend, if we don't, have a great weekend anyways!

Unique LA Roundup - Kids

Is your baby all grown up? Never fear, there's a ton of stuff for "big" kids too! Check out a few of my favs:

1. Homespun Vintage - To die for kid's vintage! Kid's vintage can be kind of hit and miss for me, but I love every single piece they have on their site. This jacket alone should be enough to get you to LA this weekend. So rad.
2. Jupey Krusho - JK were our neighbors at the Spring Unique LA, and all his characters are adorable. My kids got a couple posters from him and they love 'em. I think this comic book would be a great stocking stuffer for my littles.
3. Allen Ave. - Yes again. I love this stuff! But, hello? Its a pirate. In a plane. My son is already begging me for it.
4. Scrappynaps - All in one fabric placemats that have pockets for a napkin and utencils! Such a great idea. We picnic a lot and these would be awesome to take to parks
5. Stella Industries - There's a ton of great children's clothes makers at Unique, but I do love this line. Everything is fairly simple, but modern with out being too "grown-up" Can't wait to browse through their booth.

Unique LA Roundup - Babeez!!

There's nobody more fun to shop for then babes. Its just a fact. And Unique LA is dangerous on that front. With Ms. A.J.'s bean and my sis about to have her first, we're in big time trouble. Here's a few:

1. Green Thread - Organic blankets and clothing, I fell in love with these guys at the spring show. Everything was sooo soft and sweet and just yummy. Alas in springtime the babies in my life were just twinkles in their mother's eyes. But this year? Its ON.
2. Whimzee Baby Boutique - Really nice burp clothes seem silly at first (why pay more for something the baby is just going to throw up on?) but then you get a few as gifts, and you find your self reaching for the nice ones every time. Cute patterns, and some cute totes as well.
3. Moncalin - Simple, sweet and machine washable. Destined to become your babes lovey.
4. Allen Ave. - I love this diaper bag. Its rad. I'd carry and I don't have kids in diapers.
5. Allen Ave. - Double feature for Allen Ave, but I couldn't just let this giraffe go unnoticed! How cute is he??

Unique LA Roundup - Art & Posters

I loooove all the art at Unique LA, its probably one of my favorite things. Here's a fast and furious round up of just a few of the awesome artists that will be there this weekend:

Lulu Dee - Sweet, retro looking prints. I love this plywood print!

DKNG Studios - Band and event posters, I drooled over these prints last time around. They even "feel" nice.

Alena Hennessy - Beautiful painting and prints. I want this one for my bedroom, so serene.

Roadside Photographs - I love the saturated tones in these photos.

Unique LA Roundup - Home

Today's roundup is for your home! Lots of great stuff (in fact, I had to split up the artwork/posters from this home post cause there's just too much great stuff!)

1. Hysteric Haus - Its a golden girl pillow. Do I even need to say more?
2. Collision Ware - Adorable oven mitts and more. I also love these zombie oven mitts, my six year old would be all over that.
3. Alyson Iwamoto Ceramics - Loving these collaged plates and dishware. I still harbor dreams of having a plate collection to hang on my wall.

I'm really obsessed with Relight candles too. They take vintage glasses, planters, crystal, etc and make soy candles out of them. I'm loving the line of black and gold and if that Andrew Jackson one is sold I might just throw a temper tantrum.

Unique LA Roundup - Men

Here's some vendors I want to check out for the menfolk in my life:

1. Entropy Apparel - Great tees and great designs. Especially love this one not only for its design, but also because proceeds from this tee go to non-profit organizations that support veterans.
2. Suburban Riot - Got a Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia fan in your life? This company has several tees that have been worn on the show.
3. FAQ Clothing - I like the simplicity/abstract quality to this line. And they make women's tees...

And lest you think that there's only some tees out there for the guys, here's some accessories too! This holster wallet from Maiden Voyage is awesome. So awesome in fact that at the last Unique OC a certain member of ZZ Top bought several, even buying the artist's own wallet right out of his pocket. And Graf & Lantz always has us drooling over their wool and leather creations. I would love to replace The Husbands ratty old work bag with this (and I'm sure he would like that too)

Check out the rest of the Unique LA here!

Unique LA Roundup - Women's Clothing

I'm going to post some short and sweet round-ups of some of the stuff we're excited about for Unique LA this weekend (Dec. 11th and 12th!). Today I'm starting with women's clothing!

1. Sabo - Upcycled clothes that are super cute!
2. MNKR - Loving the comfy look of these sweatshirts and tees from MNKR, looks like the perfect thing to add to my "mommy" wardrobe (love anything that is close to just wearing sweats without looking like...well, sweats! ;)
3. Smoke & Mirrors Clothing - Love their tanks and dresses, especially this gorgeous pink one!

And I can't wait to check out Effie's Heart! Everything on their site looks amazing! A vintage aesthetic, which we love, and in fabrics that make them perfect for everyday. Can't wait to see this in person.

These are only a tiny handful of all the great women's clothes that will be at Unique LA, check out all the participants here!

We're Back!!

We're finally back from our extended blogging hiatus! And we missed you! We've been busy little bees working on several different projects. Our most ambitious one? Welcoming Baby E into the Pinky Swear family!! Ms. A.J. and family have been hunkered down getting to know and love on their bundle of sweetness and practicing the phrase "the boys."

On my end I've been keeping up with orders and working on our other little project: OUR ETSY SHOP!! We're so excited about this! It took some work to narrow down what we wanted to list, since everything we make is so different from the last, but I think we've got it down, while still maintaining the very custom nature of our pieces. And as usual we are still taking orders through our website, building pieces with our customers one on one. Stop on by our etsy shop and check it out, and share our link with your friends! Its the perfect time of the year to start thinking about a one of a kind piece of jewelry for your loved ones (or dropping hints for your own)! ;)

Check it out here!

And just as another reminder, we're still on Facebook, check us out there and "like" us! Also, we're getting all set for another Holiday Unique LA, December 11th & 12th, our favorite one!! We love doing our Christmas shopping there. More to come on that...

Work Work Work!

We're taking a little blogging break. We're working on something really exciting and want to be able to just focus on that. Till then, we're letting the blog take a little summer vacation of sorts. Of course, we're still taking orders and making jewelry, so feel free to contact us here! We'll be back soon, pinky swear! ;)

Happy Friday!

While wandering around the internet yesterday I stumbled upon Playscapes, a blog dedicated to playground design. Apart from feeling a little depressed about all the cookie cutter parks near me (with a few exceptions!) I was struck by how powerful it was to see structures like the one above and be overwhelmed by memories of playing on structures like this. I know exactly how that concrete feels in the hot sun, how its cool underneath and worn slick in some places. And seeing things like the giant metal rocket, merry go rounds and climbing domes! Ok, I'll stop playing the "remember when" game, but go check it out and see for yourself!

Also? I'm going to say something I never thought I'd say, but I really really want to go to Missouri. Because omg, look at this place! Why am I just finding out about this???

City Museum in St.Louis, Missouri. Has anyone been here?! It looks so amazing. I showed my son and all he could do was sigh, and ask me, "why don't they build stuff like that here?"

Have a great weekend!

Monserat De Lucca Jewelry

These are just fun. I think if I showed up to volunteer at my son's school in a t-rex necklace or venus fly trap ring I'd be pretty popular...

Toys and jewelry all in one! Find more designs here and here.

Salt & Pepper - Printable Stationery and Art

I've got baby fever over here, what with Ms. A.J. about to pop and my little sis half way through her first pregnancy. I really liked this sweet print above, but then fell head over heels in love when I discovered that Salt & Pepper doesn't sell you the print, they sell you a PDF file for you to print yourself. Which makes it possible for them to only charge $20 for this amazing, totally personalized piece of loveliness for your walls. They do prints, notecards, calling cards, even recipe cards. All the designs are sweet, simple, a little modern. I'm drawn to this little calling card too, if only because there have been so many times I've gone a whole school year only knowing someone as "Genevieve's Mom." If your kids aren't school age yet, you'll understand soon enough. I would have thought this was silly before, but now? I think its totally genius. And for $3, why not??

Find Salt & Pepper here.

Order of the Week - Cherry Blossom

So here's what I love about this particular order (besides it being gorgeous and all). This order started out as an inquiry about doing four separate charms (three for the kiddos, one with gold inlay just 'cause its pretty). But it was a gift, and we decided that four charms was just going to be too much. So we went back and forth batting around ideas and came to this. And it came out lov-er-ly! Probably better than our first idea. This is what I (and A.J.) love about doing each necklace custom, because each necklace really does look totally different from the last one. It keeps us constantly inspired. So thanks K. for the order and for the inspiration! ;)

Happy Friday!

Our house is currently obsessed with Arcade Fire's new album, its on constant repeat. Which, come to think of it, is how we usually listen to Arcade Fire...

Have a great weekend, see ya next week!

From the Desk of A.J. - Eye Candy

A.J. is out of the office, so to speak, so in lieu of writing her usual blog post sent me this ad campaign that we both have been loving. We both envision ourselves pushing a pram in a proper dress, pumps and short gloves...but for now I guess we'll settle for looking at these ads and maybe watching some Mad Men...

Louis Vuitton

Back to School - Etsy Style

My little dude is starting Kindergarten soon and we've been trying to get him all ready to go. It had been awhile since he got all new clothes and I just realized that he's made the jump to the BOYS category *moment of silence please*. And here's what I found in the big boys section. Sport tees. Sport jerseys. Some more sport tees and some track pants. Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating a little, but not by much! And I guess that would be fine, except we are not a sport family. My husband sneaks a football game here and there, but my son could not have less interest in wearing anything with some sort of ball on it. The whole experience left me really depressed. Walk over five feet to the "Baby Boy" section and you've got dinosaurs, bugs, robots, and of course, sports. But the variety in big boys was sports, motocross, skulls. It kind of made me angry too, because what does that subliminally say to our boys? You should be interested in these three things! It'd be like walking into the girls section and everything said princess, diva, sweetie...oh wait. *sigh* We put a bunch of plain tees on our list and I decided to go online to find some tees that were more my boy's style. He has a variety of interests, from space to sharks to bones to roller coasters. And while there are several really great brands who make amazing graphic tees for boys (I love Appaman, Lucky Fish, Monster Republic to name a few) , I'm just not willing or able to outfit my son entirely in $40 t-shirts. So I headed to Etsy with this in mind: the shirts had to be under $20, had to be something my little would absolutely love, and it had to be easy to care for. Here's a few of my finds:

1. Shark On A Bike tee by Dark Cycle Clothing, $18 - I love that this is on an American Apparel shirt, so I know exactly how it will fit, and I know it will last multiple washes.


2. Science Geek tee by Critter Jitters, $14 - My son thinks this one is hysterical! But was bummed that I couldn't read the russian words (I'm such a disappointment, I know)


3. Dragon Kind Smaug tee by Crowsmack, $14.95 - I love the way this dragon is illustrated, my son just loves that its a dragon.


4. Skeleton Diagram tee by HappyFamily, $14 - This one is just cool.

All of these Etsy sellers had several awesome tees to choose from (some really amazing ones for girls too! maybe I'll have to do an all girls post next) and I'm so happy that sites like Etsy are enabling not only these small businesses from selling these kinds of things, but also enabling us consumers to be able to buy "outside the box" a bit. Happy shopping!

Order of The Week - Medium Charms

These Medium sized charms are so sweet in their simplicity. Two names, two dates. So perfect to wear everyday. :)

Contact us here for information about your own order!

Happy Friday!

*That's my dad in the bow-tie! :)

We moved into our new house I don't even know how long ago. Sometimes it feels like yesterday, sometimes months ago. But I finally got my family pictures up the other night and it feels so good. I adhere to the more is more philosophy when it comes to pictures, and I have so many that I love dearly its hard for me to keep them all put away. Its difficult for me to choose which pictures to frame and which to put away, so I came up with these "empty" frames as a way to be able to quickly change out the pictures if I want. I just mounted the frames, and added another nail inside it and hang the picture from a plain old binder clip. I want to get some larger ones for the kid's artwork as well. This wall is part of the hallway that leads to the kid's room, but its also the wall our kitchen sink faces and its so nice to do dishes and look up and see this.

Hope you have a great weekend! :)

Order of the Week - Family Tree

I love it when a family's birthstones color coordinate! ;) Isn't this one pretty?!

Unique OC Wrap-Up

*Billy from ZZ Top! For reals!

We had a blast at Unique OC. The weather stayed nice (as long as you were in the shade!) the beer was nice and cold (and free!) and we met a ton a of great people. Not to mention all the amazingingly yummy food. For reals. Even if you don't like to shop, you need to come to the next Unique show just for the food. The Manila Machine truck's french toast was so yummy, I had to have twice. Best believe I was the first one at that truck Sunday morning! Thank you so much to everyone who came, hopefully we'll do another Unique OC, it was very cool to meet our neighbors and realize how much great creativity is coming out of little 'ol orange county these days! (I'll be sure to post about them separately in the near future!)

*My french toast from The Manila Machine, half gone because I couldn't wait to eat it.

Happy Friday!

We'll be spending today gearing up for the big show this weekend, getting our little mini PinkySwear world put together. ;) Just one more incentive to come this weekend for you foodies, the restaraunt Habana will be there, as will the LA food truck The Manila Machine and Sweet Lucie's organic ice cream! Num! And for your $5 entry fee, you get a free drink (Sanghai Beer, Izze soda, Real Honest tea, or wine!) a free tote, AND the poster pictured above. Then if you get too tired from shopping all the amazing vendors, put up your feet at the lounge or sit yourself down at one of the free crafty workshops and make something! Such a fun way to spend your day!

And because this almost made me spit out my coffee yesterday when I saw it, I had to share quite possible the best celebrity song on Sesame Street. I heart Ricky Gervais!

Unique OC - Lo's Picks Cont.

"Let It Go" print from Nan Lawson

NYC stamp set and Know It All pencil set from Paper Pastries

Plywood Art and super cute cards from Dee & Lala

Collars and Harnesses by Sophie's Threads