rainy days

Sarah arrived safely in Kenya and will be traveling until the beginning of March.  I am so excited to hear of her adventures and to see the fabulous fabrics she will bring home! In Portland, it's a rainy, rainy day in the studio.  I'm going to cut out early and have my own mini snowboarding adventure up on Mt Hood with my friend (and amazing photographer) Amy & my oldest son, Ethan.  The conditions are looking good and it will be rejuvenating to breathe the fresh mountain air!

This past week was busy! I just finished some really beautiful, hand-pieced infinity scarves for a client.  I love creating special, one-of-a-kind pieces.  These scarves were all made with coordinating, vintage fabrics.lace infinity scarveshand-pieced scarvesvintage fabric scarf

happy!

Balancing work and family can be a challenge. Amidst the chaos, there are moments when I feel truly grateful to provide my four kids with a creative environment. Every year my son Aidan makes valentines for his classmates. This year he incorporated some Frankie & Coco techniques into his creations.We hand paint designs onto ceramics and I have been carving my own stamps to add detail to some of our sewn products. Aidan grabbed the X-Acto knife and we went to town on an eraser, creating triangles on one end and chevrons on the other. He used a glass to trace circles, stamped his designs, stamped HAPPY (which I love) across the top and cut them out. The finishing touch was a Twix, of course. 20140213-124031.jpg

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snow days

Portland was graced with snow this past weekend!  Our kids were so happy to have a 4 day weekend and frolic outside.  My older boys enjoyed sledding down the neighborhood hills on plywood (in lieu of real gear). The little girls were mystified by the garden blanketed in white. Sarah & I were working together on Friday and she ended up trapped here for a few days...impromptu work retreat!  We used this opportunity to work on the new website (soon!), brainstorm some new products and watch the Olympics (of course).  The new Slopestyle snowboarding event was awesome!

Today it was back to the status quo...school, work and rainy PDX.  Here's some highlights from the weekend.

sarah

frankie

coco

maya, micah, frankie & coco

backyard view from the studio

 

guilty pleasures

This time of year, with our gray Portland skies, it's hard to stay motivated and I can most likely be found hibernating while listening to melancholy music. Remember the soundtrack of Once?  That's often on repeat in January. In order to keep moving this past cold January here at Frankie&CocoPDX we found inspiration in some booty shakin' music to keep us going. Here's two of our favorite motivational guilty pleasures. Enjoy! Maya has Beyoncé's new amazing album on repeat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1JPKLa-Ofc

Sarah can NOT stop listening to Flo Rida's up-do of Nina Simone's "How I Feel."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BMqNWTlNPQ

f&c in january

It’s been a wonderful few weeks into the new year here at Frankie & Coco PDX of making, designing, card playing, studio organizing, tennis watching (and playing), retail opportunity on the new horizon, karaoke, visiting with friends and meeting new ones. There were even a few PDX Etsy celebrity sightings.

We were excited that Frankie & Coco’s fuchsia wool with black canvas foldover clutch was in Ann Cosgrove of acbc Design's bold + beautiful  treasury featured on the front page of Etsy!  A great collection making us dream of a bright spring ahead.

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Last week we had a fun night visiting with other PDX Etsy-ers, many of which we have been crushing on for a very long time.  It was a blast to meet the makers of Prunella Soap, Reverse Chronology, Portland Apron Company, The Cozy Project, Huzz Art Shop, Pom Love, Kyra Botanica, Ready Maker Design and Etsy guru Melissa Santos.

February is already shaping up to be a busy month. We are looking forward to a little down time this weekend to say goodbye to January and welcome in a new month.

The Perfect Gift...On Sale!

We have some really lovely new bags in the shop, perfect gifts for the impending holidays or just for yourself.  Made by hand in our studio, these one-of-a-kind wool & canvas foldover clutch purses are the perfect complement for your fall to winter wardrobe.  They are 6" x 10" folded and 8" x 10" opened flat, large enough to carry all the essentials. Currently in a rich dark brown wool with rust canvas accents, a gorgeous plum wool with wheat washed denim accents, and a vibrant fuchsia wool with black canvas accents.  All three have a heavy duty YKK antique brass closure and leather pull. Use coupon code NOV13CLUTCH for 15% off any clutch purse in our etsy shop until 11/30/13!brown wool clutchplum wool clutchfuchsia wool clutch

Happy Movember!

Hand Painted Mustache Mugs, Made To Order, Set of Five Mugs, Movember, White Mustache Mugs, Holiday Gift, Groomsmen Gift, Christmas Gift It's that time of year when people everywhere are busy growing, waxing and trimming their facial hair in honor of men's health. You can visit Movember for the complete hair trimming details. Also give a shout out to our Frankie & Coco PDX friends!

Movember is a busy time for Frankie & Coco mustache mugs. You can check out our recent feature and we are filling up the shop with new mugs every week.

Happy Movember!

It's HERE! Christmas In July Sale!

It's here!  The PDX Etsy team has joined forces and our Christmas in July Sale is in full swing. Our team has 49 amazing sellers, so hurry up and get some amazing deals before it's all over.  The sale is running from July 11-21, and many of the shops don't offer sale pricing or free shipping very often.  Frankie & Coco PDX will be offering the sale through the last day in July. Use the coupon code PDXCIJ13 at checkout in each shop. For a full list of all the PDX Etsy team shops participating in the sale, go to fellow PDX designer, Holly Marsh Mueller's blog:

http://www.hollymarshmueller.com/marshmueller-blog/christmas-in-july

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