Lucky 15 Paper Arts

She's Finally Open

Olive Annie that is...  My very wonderful friend Lani has finally filpped her open sign!!!  Olive Annie (the name of the store) has all sorts of very cool frocks (I swear I want all the jewelry) for you and your home... All local or small independent vendors (like me!!!) and ohhh so cool..  Yes you will find some of my personal creations (check out le mur de toilette) there and more to come after the web store is up...  I am so happy for Lani and her Olive... Congratulations!!!

Craft My Ride

A few weeks ago I was contacted by a marketing firm in LA about a contest that Scion (toyota) is sponsoring call "Craft My Ride."  Basically the contest is to come up with car accessories for a Scion that are hand crafted.  The winner gets a new Scion xD.  I am expecting a press release next week with more details and I will make them available when I get them, but in the mean time for those of you that think this might be cool... Start your crafting engines...

Totally Fresh!!!

As part of our New Year's Resolution to shop local, I have been dying to get my act together to start doing my product shopping at the Public Market that is held every Saturday morning in downtown Phoenix.  So... This past Saturday Maryanne and I loaded up our blue Goodwill basket (new use, makes a great shopping basket for the market...even Maryanne can pull it around) and headed to the market...  It was hot (get over it people...) but for the wonders of the fresh produce that no kidding was harvested the day before, I will brave the sweaty morning. 

These are the carrots that we bought (Michael thought that there was something wrong with the purple ones) and let me just tell you, they taste like CARROTS.  Sweet and loverly.  It reminds me of my Culinary Basics Instructor who would talk about how his tomatoes that he grew himself tasted like "TOMATO".  As he would yell the word across the room and we would all look around like this guy was a little too excited about fresh produce... BUT here I am...  Anyways, the tomatoes were super good, the peaches that Maryanne picked out OMG!!!  Seriously, take the time to go find out what fresh really tastes like and you will never want the picked before it was ripe, flown in from another country (oh yes, Strawberries in December.. not grown here) product that you generally find in the supermarket...  The farmers market is YUMMM. 
So off the soup box...  I will be at Art Unraveled this weekend and the site should be up in just a short time...  Just working out a few bugs and we are up and running.  For all of you "crafters" check out the Church (of Craft)  blog for info about a new contest coming up, just for you.

tempt your palatte???

So I told you that I would post pictures of my most marvelous morsels and here they are... 

I am having so much fun doing this... {not that I am giving up on the paper arts}  I love that I get to just make what ever and I LOVE the fact that you never know what is going to be in the bakery case and so I have people coming in and asking for their favorites... 

And I can guarantee that all my pastries are made with love and above all else that's what makes them good...

Where have you been???

So I know that the last month, I have been a little absent on the blog scene...  Well when it rains it pours.. Right???  I have been totally busy cleaning out the store (what a mess) and trying to figure out where it all is going to go in my house (even bigger mess)!!!  I am almost done with that web site that I have been promising you, lots of custom work has come up and I am getting everything together for our booth at Art Unraveled in August.  On top of all that...  I have been baking for my Palatte Pals (Christine and Mitch) because they are OPEN!!! (finally) and let me tell you (not because I am contributing) this place rocks.  It has everything that makes a place special... and the food rocks too!!! {plus I don't know who is doing those pastries, but they are to die for :)}  If you are in town come check it out... You'll get to experience my alter-ego that many of you have not seen before. (pictures to follow of the yummies, I keep forgetting the camera... it's pretty early when I get there)  Other than that..

Maryanne is doing quite well...  Her scar is completely healed (well, at least on the outside, her skull of course will take months, if not years to completely heal).. I am just so grateful everyday to see her smiling face and to hear talk about everything (she has now entered the "Why?" stage).  I am working on the class thing..  I think that you can expect the microscope necklace class to be held, (somewhere) for those of you who have been there done that I am working on something a bit harder (the next step up) and I am working on mini shrines too...  ( just give me a bit to catch up) So stay posted (I will try to keep up too) there is so much more to come.!

Lucky Stuff...

So it has been a whirl wind the last week or so and I want to thank everyone for their love and support through this change...  I have heard so many wonderful things about Lucky 15, I am glad that I was able to create such a special place for everyone.  I know that the web store won't be completely the same but I hope that with the classes and some trunk shows that you will still be able to get a little of the Lucky feel.  Because of the overwhelming response to our sale we will be calling Friday the 13th our last day...  That means for the rest of the week everything is 75% off.  If you have already purchased fixturing I will be calling you to make appointments to pick up your items.  There are a few pieces left...  If you see something that you like please let me know... 

The work tables... I have three of these for sale.  Totally love them!!! If you need a work table at home I highly reccomend one.

There are two of these... The legs are adjustable.  They make great little sewing tables if you are short on space.

There are two of these...  These are the Jar tables.  They have adjustable legs too.  Good funky accent tables, they also make good desks.

Big center table...  It's big and sturdy....

There are six of these chairs left... The colors that you see here.  These stack (obviously) and are super comfy!!  Great to have around for parties.
There are some other "fixturing" that would really be for any other retail store out there.  If you are interested drop me a line...

Hours Update..

Due to the overwhelming response to our sale... Everything will be 75% starting Tuesday the 10th..  We are closed today and Monday.  I will post pictures of all the remaining fixturing.  Thank you for your support.

A New Leaf...

Thank you to everyone for all of your love and support for Maryanne.  She is doing well and the doctors cleared her for daycare.  We got to wash her hair on Tuesday and with half a bottle of detangler and the movie Robots (twice) we were able to comb out all the tangles from her hair and avoided the dreaded hair cut I thought she was going to have.  With her accident behind us it is time to get back to business...  So with that I am announcing that Lucky 15 is turning over a new leaf and we will be closing our store front.  That web site I have been promising is almost ready to launch and that will be where you can get the unique and eclectic things you have come to love us for.  I will still be giving classes around town and custom work is always available.  We are not putting everything on the web so that means BIG SALE!!!  Starting today June 29th everything is 50% off...  The 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th of July Everything is 75% off and the furniture and store fixturing will be available.  First come first serve so don't be the last one here...  Our store hours will be as follows... Tues- Thurs 10-5, Fri-Sat 10-7, Sun 12-5.  If you can't make those times please call me to make arrangements.  Thank you again to everyone for your support...  Stay tuned for the new phase Lucky15Paper.com..

Update...

First of all I want to thank everyone for all of their wonderful words of encouragement and support through this time of healing for Maryanne.  Truly the power of positive energy really does work.  Maryanne is making a fast and speedy recovery.  She had another CT the day after surgery and the doctors said that it looked perfect...  Which means there was no long term damage to the brain from the large clot or the surgery.  We came home a week ago Tuesday and I quickly realized how hard this was going to be.  (What to you do with a two and half year old who has no concept of "taking it easy")  When you're two if you feel good it's time to play..  Well by Friday her body had had enough of her crazy ways and it made her slow down.  It kind of came on quickly so we took another trip to the ER.  Two stuffed animals, a new IV,   a new set of EKG pads (these are the dreaded wires that keep you attached to your bed and hurt like heck to get off), another ride on the CT machine, and two Spongebob Squarepants temporary tattoos later the word came back that everything was fine and that she was just feeling the effects of major surgery.  I was relieved and I think that so was she..  There was a fever for a few days and now she is back to her normal crazy two and a half year old self.  The biggest thing is keeping her from running, jumping, wrestling with the dogs (good luck).  And the worse thing... She can't wash her hair until she sees her doctor next week.  I think that we are going to have to cut it off in the end (maybe I will cut mine off with her).  It has been good to spend these days with her to help her through this and I am totally grateful for that.  She has a follow up appointment on the 26th and if the doctor gives her the ok to go back to school (which she is dying to do) then the store will be open at 10 am on the 27th.  I of course will keep you posted...

The Scariest Day of My Life...

That was my day Sunday...  It started as a regular Sunday in our household, we got up, got dressed and went to the Zoo... It ended with me facing the reality that I may lose my little girl on an operating table. 

Maryanne tumbled off the back of a wagon at the zoo and hit her head on the pavement.  Immediately after-wards she seemed fine but with in a few hours it was clear that she needed to get help.  She was assessed and a CT scan was ordered... with in 15 minutes a pediatric neurosurgeon was explaining to me that the large white blob on the screen was a large blood clot on her brain that would kill her and that it had to be operated on immediately...  What a choice, do nothing and she would die, consent to the surgery (that would require them to cut open her skull to remove the blood clot, that was like the size of a baseball squished between her brain and her skull and then find the vessel that was bleeding and stop it) and risk, infection, paralysis, or death.  Of course Michael and I consented to the surgery, but I felt the saddest weight on my heart as I signed that paper.  It was not long after that that I was saying "Good-Bye" to a very small, very frightened two and a half year old, as a complete stranger carried her into the OR.  Two hours later, the lead surgeon emerged bearing the news we had prayed for, she made it through the surgery like a champ, no complications and the artery that was bleeding (in the words of the surgeon) was right there "like it was screaming here I am come get me!"  So the best possible situation was there, the clot was removed and they didn't even have to touch her brain in order to stop the bleeding. 
Last night she was really out of it, but she tolerated the anesthesia and all the poking and prodding well.  Today she was up and walking on her own, making jokes and being her regular funny self.  By this afternoon, we have realized that this is going to be a trick, how to keep a two year old with a head wound (but doesn't know it) from jumping on the bed and well basically being a two year old.  (the doctor suggested a helmet)  So here I sit in this hospital room, totally trying to grasp what has happened.  It still feels surreal to say that my two year old had brain surgery yesterday, and not because she is super ill or something like that, but because she feel off a wagon at the zoo and hit her head just right to make this vessel bleed and because of that I almost lost her.  I am so grateful to all the nurses and doctors here at Phoenix Children's Hospital for all of their hard work and their skillful hands because without them I would not be able to hug my little girl and tell her that "I Love Her." 
The story is...  I will have to be home with Maryanne for a while and because of that the store will be closed.  I will keep everyone posted on what is going on so that all will know when we will be open for business...  Thank you to everyone for your prayers and understanding.

It is just so crazy how your whole life can change in just one day...