Spring has Sprung

Spring has sprung... Well not here in chilly Alberta, but I can dream, and in the meantime look at pretty pictures of spring trends!

I am loving all of the bright colors for spring! Neon has made a comeback, and as a young child growing up in the eighties, I remember this trend well!

I love how www.theaestate.com uses a pop of neon pink in home decor!

I also love this hot pink blazer. Not sure where this one is from, but a similar one can be found at Zara.

Nothing says warm weather to me like bright lemons! Try this delicious lemon bread from www.sweetpeaskitchen.com.

I was fortunate enough to visit the french countryside in the spring, a few years back. Flowers blooming, people riding their bikes everywhere, and the smell of the air is divine. This picture reminds me of that time, and is also my inspiration for an upcoming new hair clip set coming to the shop!

Here is a springy hair clip set now available in the shop! I love the shabby chic polka dot fabric in bright spring colors!

Stay tuned to Giddy Up & Grow for more designs coming soon!

Happy Spring!
xoxo

**pictures provided by pinterest.com, or my own photography**

Craving Spring Color Story

Always, around this time of year, I start to crave the warmth of spring. Although it may be sunny, mother nature fools us with her cold winds and bitter cold!

Here are some images that have been inspiring me lately, and keeping me sane while I wait and wait for flower buds to appear!

Adoring this gorgeous Fedora hat, with lace trim and flower accents. I plan on making something similar for my vintage hat!


This hat was found at spottedappeal.blogspot.com



This is my vintage Fedora that I found on Etsy.com

 Since mother nature keeps us Canadians a bright, stark white color almost all year round, I have been obsessed with these makeup cult favorites!

Stila bronzer, NARS blush in Desire, Chanel lipstick in Chance, and YSL lipstick in Lingerie Pink

Another trick to help me think its spring, is to wear a giant flower cocktail ring! These beauties are by a favorite shop of mine, called Blush Envy. Brandi from Blush Envy will custom color a special piece for you, and she is a doll! Plus she just introduced a new Mommy & Me line. Check out her shop here Blush Envy.

Flower rings by http://www.blushenvy.etsy.com/

Not just for spring, but any time of year, I like to wear & layer a mix of store bought and DIY jewelry. Here I have a couple of bracelets by Kenneth J. Lane, and a mix of brightly colored wood & gold beaded bracelets that I made myself. Kenneth J. Lane pieces are timeless, but can be expensive. Try searching on ebay for much better deals on new & used cocktail jewelry. The wood bead bracelets cost aprox. $3-$5 each, depending on where you buy the supplies. Try your local dollar store, or a Michael's Craft Store.

Lots of brightly colored flowers are influencing my designs in the shop lately...

Here are a few of the spring designs at Giddy Up & Grow!

You can now follow Giddy Up & Grow on Instagram, search username: giddyupandgrow!

xoxo

Winter has hit, and hits hard!

Just to give you some perspective on where abouts I chose to live (you will think I am nuts)... Today is January 17th, its2:48pm and the temperature is -29 degrees Celsius. That is aprox. -20.2F... A weather advisory has been issued for our region with an importance that severe frostbite may occur within less than 10 minutes of direct exposure. School will likely be cancelled tomorrow as temperatures are to drop to -40 to -50 overnight with windchill. We have to plug our car engines into an electrical outlet, just so that our engines start... Its nuts I know, but there really is a lot of beauty in these regions, and I love our little town. Infact, I wish we had moved from the big city to our little town years ago.

We are about an hour away from Banff National Park. Some of you may have heard of this place, which is nestled within the Rocky Mountains. I love going there... I love going there on girls' weekends, and I love going there with my family. So much to see and do, and I always meet someone new from another country. Skiing is the most popular activity, as there are so many famous ski hills all around. On occasion a girlfriend and I will rent a hotel room for a couple of nights to get some girl time in! Most of the hotel rooms have fireplaces in them, so you can curl up by the fire, glass of wine in hand, and have girl chat for hours!! So fun! The hot springs are always a must, and the shopping is great. I also may be known for coming home with a new tattoo!!

Here is a picture of the glorious Banff Springs Hotel!

Marilyn Monroe also filmed a movie here called The River of no Return!

Now with all this cold, snow and gloom talk... Imagine that all I can obsess about are flowers! I am loving all the bright colors for spring (that is if it ever arrives here). Some favorite colors right now are fuchsia, seasprite green,bright yellow and turquoise!

There have been a few new flowing items added to the shop lately!  I have added some Easter accessories as well, and will have some St. Patrick's Day accessories coming soon. I know, I know... I am jumping holidays!!

All the hair accessories can be found at Giddy Up & Grow!

Hope you are all staying safe & warm where ever you live!

xoxox

Images provided by Pinterest.com and Giddy Up & Grow

New Year's Rezzies

Well its that time of year again... The decision to make any New Year's resolutions, and the decision to actually keep them...

Do you make any resolutions, and do you keep them? That is the questions!

Here are my top 10 resolutions for 2012!

1. Buy a unique piece of furniture for my home! I am saving my pennies for the lucky chance I find an amazing vintage dining table. I want to pair it with some new modern dining chairs!


Although I love this white dining table, I am hoping to find a dark wood table and white chairs!

2. Have one of my Dad's photographs printed on a large canvas for my walls! My dad is an amazing wild life photographer. He recently went to Africa with a photographers group. They camped out in the wilderness to be as close as possoble to the action. He got a ton of amazing shots, and all sorts of great stories to go along with each one. This is one of my favorites below.


Two very large Bull Elephants chatting at a waterhole in Etosha, Namibia, Sept 2011

3. Buy a cool piece of jewelry! If you know me well, you know I am a lover of all things accessories! I use to make and sell jewelry before I got into making hair accessories, but now I just make pieces for myself. I would love to indulge and buy myself a nice pair of earrings. I have been admiring these beauties from an etsy shop in the Netherlands.

4. Stop biting my nails when I get stressed!!!! A bad habit that I have done since a toddler... I reward myself with gorgeous polish!

5. Wear more leopard print! Spruce up the old wardrobe!!

6. Cook more make ahead meals... I love to cook, but with two kids and activities, I often find myself struggling last minute trying to come up with a dinner plan!

7. Do something cute with my hair that is easy to style! I have been growing my hair long, but it often ends up in a messy updo or ponytail. I would like to get it texturized for some added volume! P.S. need to find a new hair dresser as mine as moved... Bummer!

8. Download a bunch of upbeat songs that make running more fun! I hate running... Like really hate running, but recently bought a gym pass. The gym has this amazing track that makes me motivated to run!

9. Get another tattoo! I got my first tattoo almost 5 years ago now. I have been itching to get another one,and found one I am in love with! Friends of ours own a tattoo shop so I know I will be in good hands!

10. Buy more fresh flowers! I love how my house looks and smells with fresh flowers in my little vintage floral vases. I made it a New Year's rezzie to buy a bouquet of fresh flowers once a month. If you cut the stems short, the flowers last longer. Also, add one drop of bleach to the water to help ward off the bacteria that grows in the water and kills the flowers faster!

More than anything else, I want to dedicate 2012 to just enjoying life. Stop sweating the small stuff, sit back and take it all in, imagine with my kids, and spend even more time laughing with my husband! Life is a beautiful thing!

Happy New Year Everyone! Wishing you all a hugs full of happiness!

xoxox

Things Inspiring Me Right Now

I must say I have been in creative overload lately... So many fun things are inspiring me right now. It could be anything really... A specific color or color combo, a theme, photograph, art work, flowers.

My motto for the NEW YEAR!

For months now, my obsession has been Christmas, but now that the end is near, I am really excited to start focusing on other things.

Here are a few images I have been loving lately!




I am really loving hot pink and seasprite green! So vibrant and reminds me of spring! You will start to see lots of vibrant colors in the Giddy Up & Grow shop!

  I have been designing some Disney Princess Hair Clip sets for the shop, as I was getting a lot of requests to bring back the Disney Halloween headbands I had in the fall. I wanted to make something that was a little less costumey, and more wearable for every day. So I made smaller versions. Here are a few examples of the sets in the shop, with some of my inspiration!

I was recently contacted by the style editor at Babiekins Magazine. Currently an online magazine, with their first print magazine to come out this spring! I love the way this magazine focuses on photography, and they are really picky about the types of images and products they feature in their magazine. So, I was thrilled when they asked for me to send them one of my accessories for an upcoming photo shoot!

This is the accessory they asked to use, so I can't wait to see how they shoot it!

Also, I currently have a promo on the mini studded bow hair clips! Buy 2 Get 1 Free, for a limited time only! I get so many compliments on these little guys, and I wear one myself all the time! My daughter calls them her "hair pretties"!

I hope you all have a fantastic holiday with your loved ones!! I know I am looking forward to playing with the kids, sledding, eating and eating and eating!! New Years rezzy is to go to the gym!! LOL

Love you all!
xoxox

Images courtesy of Pinterest and www.giddyupandgrow.etsy.com

A Fresh Look!

Over the past month or so, I had the pleasure of working with a very talented artist! Her name is Stephanie Fizer Coleman, and she is the owner and creator of The Fox & the Teacup! I came to Stephanie back in the fall with the hopes that she would design anew business card look for my shop Giddy Up & Grow. She said YES, and I was thrilled.

She came up with several ideas, but what we ended up going with was a hand sketched version of one of my headbands! The perfect look to showcase both her work and mine! Here is what my new card looks like, and you can start to see them in the New Year!! Thank you Stephanie!! xoxox

On another note, I hope everyone is having fun gearing up for the busy holidays! Are any of you traveling to see family or perhaps a tropical location?? We are staying put this year! In fact its just our little family this year, as the rest of our family is headed to Mexico... Yes, without us! We are ok with that though, as the idea of traveling with two kids, stuck at a busy airport,with the weather we have, is very unappealing to me.

Instead, we plan on having a white Christmas, staying warm by the fire, eating, drinking and of course lots and lots of Merry!!

This is what a "classic" Christmas photo looks like at our house!

Our Christmas tree is now up, and did look like this the first day!

It now looks Brazilian from the mid point down, as my little one keeps collecting the ornaments as treasure, and hiding them.... Oh well!!

Happy Holidays!
xoxox

Holiday Spirit!

I am just itching to put the Christmas tree up, but alas the hubs insists its too early. I say its never too early for Holiday decorations, and the amount of effort it takes to hall everything up from the basement... Oh boy! But they look so darn great!!

Well,I guess I will settle for some festive Holiday baking for now. Like these amazing cookies from Oh,Sugar Events. These are way to cool to eat! I am trying to convince this company to ship these to Canada!!

I also love this idea of truffle hot chocolate. What a neat gift this would make for a hostess, or teacher! Balls of chocolate you just drop into hot milk! How decadent!

Here is a fun Christmasy activity for the kids, or kids at heart! How about playing with Gingerbread play dough!!! Ahhh I bet the smell alone makes you want to eat it, and hey if your like my kids, you probably do eat it!

If you plan on attending several Holiday parties, you might want to check out Rachel Pally! One of my favorite designers. Her clothes are effortless, super comfy and you can wear them over and over for many occasions. Just change up your accessories, and you have a different outfit every time! The caftan dress is my favorite style. This dress got me through two pregnancies, and they look great with gladiator sandals or heels!

The Giddy Up & Grow Holiday collection is almost sold out! It will only be available until December 1st, so don't wait if you plan on getting any holiday accessories for your littles!

The Heart Giddy Valentine's Day Collection is also in the shop now! Check out some of the new items! Lots of hot pink, glitter and sparkle! These make great gifts!!

Its Wednesday (hump day), so have a terrific res of the work week!!

xoxox