Refrigeration

The very wise and considered people in our local council have decided that our extension plans need to change AGAIN.  We are back to having to make the extension look as if it is seperate to the original house Arghhhhhhhh! 

The bigggest impact this has for us doesn't seem that bad on paper but in reality it is a pain in the arse.  Our fridge has nowhere to go!

Our beautiful kitchen now does not work.  Who would have thought that one fridge could ruin the design of an entire extension.

Sooo today I am on the hunt for fridge alternatives.  Maybe a slimmer fridge will help - maybe an under the counter fridge - maybe a seperate freezer in the pantry....

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Our First Link Party!

Welcome to our first ever link party! We are so excited to offer this opportunity for you to share your SEI projects at the end of each month. This is how it works...

1. Add a link to your SEI project on our blog by clicking on the button at the bottom of this post. Your project must use at least one SEI product to participate.
2. Link back to us by adding this button to the bottom of your blog post.

<a href="http://seilifestyle.blogspot.com"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlR7quLjN9iN8OC8w8B8tTFu5yU1GUhAdCmViVbK2Xkspb-edZPBn16GYl06KdCd11DDU17iOXiYNPSykJ7LCINz-BuowuZqO5-_eBOEKgrNJBXeSE3o09EVw_CJHO03F01M-G5qQfwOA/s1600/link.jpg" /></a>3. Check each other's projects out and be sure to leave lot's of comments.

Let the party begin!

Clemence Poesy

My new style icon perhaps?

Little Winter :: November 6-7th

The wonderfully talented Abby Powell Thompson and Chelsea Fuss have organized the most amazing group of designers, artists, jewelers and more for a handmade market called, Little Winter, which will be November 6-7th at the Ace Hotel in Portland, OR. I'll be one of the vendors so definitely stop by if you are in town and say "hi"! Even if not to say hello to me, come by and support the lovely handmade community and be prepared to find some delightful buys. I am actually really excited to have the opportunity to meet the vendors who I have admired for quite a while. I'm predicting that I'll be walking away with some treasures.
For the last few weeks and probably until the night before, I've been and will be developing some new goodies for the event. New pretties that haven't yet been seen... actually, I'll be enlisting the help of my hubby to help make some of these things. Many of the new products will be at much lower prices than most of the Twigs & Honey pieces you see online - nice things to treat yourself with and maybe loved ones during the upcoming holiday season? ;) I can't wait to show you what I've been up to. Very exciting! Very new! I will also have Twigscent products available AND popular Twigs & Honey styles at deep discounts, so if the new stuff wasn't enough to draw you in, perhaps the latter will be? Lots of everyday pieces! I hope to see you all there! Just a few of the vendors:

Black & Spiro Today

This morning I pottered around my garden at home and collected a few flowering things for the shop. I arranged some pink bougainvillea and some native gum leaves in a couple of shell encrusted baskets I picked up in Bali a while ago. There's something so Summery and vibrant about bougainvillea and I do love it mixed in with a few classic blue and white ginger jars.

Above is one of a pair of amazing hand beaded African chairs we have in the shop at the moment. I think these chairs are a favourite of mine right now. To think of the work that goes into them...

We just received this gorgeous geometric patterned rug in today. The girls and I couldn't wait to put it in place under our bright orange coffee table in our front lounge room display. I think it has added so much colour to the shop...I just love it and I am very tempted to take it home!

Just thought you might like to see a few of the new things we have in at the moment.

2011 Design Team

The time has finally arrived for our big reveal! Thanks again to everyone who applied for our design team. Now, please welcome six ladies who are the best of the best... SEI's 2011 Design team!


Audrey Yeager
• I am a former high school Biology teacher, now a SAHM to 16 month old Charlotte, and married to my sweet hubby Keith.
• We moved to Houston from New York about 3 1/2 years ago. I love the winter and spring in the south, but nothing can beat the summers and fall in New York State.
• I love being "domestic": all things crafty, baking, cooking, and sewing (but not so much on the cleaning part! :) )
• I love the outdoors and am so inspired by nature. I love indentifying birds and butterflies and trees.
• I listen to all kinds of music, but most of the time I will be singing out loud to heavy metal or hard rock!


Caroline Ikeji
• I live in foggy San Francisco, where summer seems to finally be starting as the official start of fall just passed. No seriously, summers are like winters here. Other than the fog, though, I absolutely LOVE it up here.
• I'm a college student, scrapbook designer, photographer, and I recently started working at a chocolate shop. It's a sweet job, literally (although it hasn't been good for my waistline).
• I loooooooove food, and especially talking about it. My specialty is making people hungry :)
• I am a coffee addict, especially Blue Bottle Coffee. You don't want to cross me when I'm not caffeinated, it seriously won't be pleasant!


Julie Bonner
• I live in Crownsville, Maryland with my husband, 3-year-old son Ryan, and 3 toy poodles.
• I have always preserved pictures, cards, newspaper clippings, and mementos in albums, but it wasn't until the birth of my son that I threw myself completely into all the wonderful products & techniques the industry has to offer :)
• I enjoy using hand-sewing, inking, misting, and pen detail to add that special touch to my projects - while still maintaing a focus on photos.
• I LOVE exploring new ways to organize photos, patterned papers, and embellishments on a page & am constantly creating sketches to record these ideas.
• SEI was one of the first brands of scrapbook supplies I created with & I am SO excited and honored to be part of their 2011 Design Team!!!


Kate O'Brien
• I am originally from New Orleans, Louisiana. We relocated to Seattle, Washington last year and I am loving it so far!
• Being a mommy is my first priority in life and my family means the world to me!
• I love anything creative be it photography, scrapbooking or sewing.
• When I am not working, making art or hanging out with the people I love you can find me in the kitchen baking something sweet!


Lisa Johnson
• I live in Anacortes WA with my Husband/best friend (Chris) and our four daughters (Alex, Hannah, Pepper and Ella). We have two boy cats, Mozart and Haydn, to keep Chris company.
• Making cards is my favorite type of paper crafting. Stamping is my favorite creative method!
• My styles are typically clean, simple, cute and elegant.
• In addition to my passion for paper crafting I love being involved in my church, spending any time with my family, singing, dancing, hiking, camping, hanging with my friends, blogging and being a silly girl!


Lori Mancini
• I live in beautiful Ontario Canada with my husband Dan and our two handsome teenage son's.
• When I’m not scrapbooking until the wee hours of the morning I enjoy spending time family and friends, and keep busy running our Custom Cabinetry business with my husband.
• I am a "Scatter-Brained" blonde who loves to read blogs by the hour, take photo's by the 100's, and finds inspiration in everything around me.
• I enjoy The lazy days of summer, Starbuck's pretzels, and cheering my kids on in whatever it is they're doing. In the winter you will find me hibernating in my scrap room with fuzzy slippers and a cup of tea, or camped out in front of the TV watching Grey's Anatomy or The Biggest Loser.
• I am honored to have had my work published in Canadian Scrapbooker, Scrapbook & Cards Today and Scrapbook Trends magazine’s. I look forward to inspiring all of you with my creations and being inspired by all of you!

October Calendar Page

Are you ready for October? The leaves are starting to turn in our neck of the woods and the air is getting wonderfully crisp! And you know what a new month means...a new calendar page.


Here is October's calendar page and lovely layout. All you need to create this is the Spooks assortment pack. We hope this helps you with our challenge to scrapbook one page each month.

Each month we post a FREE monthly calendar download and a single-page scrapbook layout idea. Create the layout, print off the calendar page and slip them into a sheet protector so at the end of the year you will have a calendar to display with your own photos and twelve great layouts to represent the year! Go here for previous layouts and calendar pages.



Just so you know...our big Design Team Reveal happens Monday! If you haven't received an e-mail from us, let us know at seiblog(at)shopsei(dot)com.

We really want to thank everyone who applied. We enjoyed getting to know you a little. You have all been so patient and kind as we have been busy sorting, sending, and replying to so many e-mails. It was a difficult decision because there were a lot of talented paper-crafters to choose from. We are excited to announce the new team so come back soon!

Wednesday Wedding - At Camp.

Love Me Do Phpotography has posted the most wonderful wedding on their blog. Ben and Katherine's wedding at Camp Choconut.

This couple rented a camp for the entire weekend and invited friends and family to 'come stay, swim, play games, dance, sing, and celebrate with them all weekend long.'
You can read more about it over at Love Me Do

Need It Now

I'm completely loving these vintage Indian embellished shoulder bags Louise over at Table Tonic just got in!! I love, love, love the silver necklaces too!

Big Day Tomorrow

3rd Thursday: Moonrise

Club SEI's October kit features the lovely Moonrise collection. Click here to see what club members can make with this kit. If you aren't a club member, you can still sign-up.


We love the beautiful, custom journal that comes with the kit. It has a band to keep it shut and a convenient little pocket in the back for keepsakes, coupons, whatever!


Today we would like share a card that you could make with some of the contents of the kit. This card has great details, like the beautiful layouts from the kit.


We love the layered pumpkin, which is a technique from the kit. The mesh paper adds another great detail. Happy 3rd Thursday!

Serious Undercushioning

Finding the time to work out a few little things I need for home has proven to be a bit hard lately with a baby in the house and a busy shop to juggle.

If my friend Faux Fuchsia could see my very undercushioned sofas right now she would be in shock as undercushioning {her very own term for not enough cushions} in her world as well as mine is a big NO NO. Actually, I think many of you would be in shock. So, late this afternoon I spent a few little minutes with myself and my collection of fabrics in our stock fabric room at Black & Spiro. I found a few old pieces of fabric I have been saving for a rainy day and let me tell you my rainy day has come. So I whipped them out and packaged them up and off to the workroom they will go tomorrow.

I can't wait to get some fresh cushions in the house. It really is amazing what a few new cushions can make to a room!! How's your cushion situation at the moment?

Behind The Red Door

Twigscent on Etsy!

I forgot to mention but I opened a little etsy shop for Twigscent for all those who love to buy on etsy. :) You can find it HERE or http://twigscent.etsy.com.

Oh! And has anyone recognized Twigs & Honey on the Etsy FrontPage up top these past few weeks... you might need to refresh. Yeah! Top front and center! Thank you, Etsy. Model: Megan Hodge; Photography: Lisa Warninger.