1, 2, or 3?

I actually made several layouts and thought I'd ask you guys which one you like best! Just let me know in the comments below ;) Excited to get the new blog design launched soon! 2 columns on both sides with content in the middle.

Similar to current layout, 2 columns on the right side.

Main content + 1 side bar.

Happy Friday:

I love rubber stamps! Here are a few new designs we'll have available at our upcoming craft shows. Be sure to check our holiday show schedule! This holiday we'll be in Seattle, Portland, Chicago, Los Angeles, & San Francisco! Hope you can come by to visit one of them. I love this time of  year!

What are you up to this weekend? Nothing exciting over here - we're just working as usual. Have a lot of work to do to prep for craft shows - it is quite a task to prepare enough inventory and everything :) Hope you have a lovely weekend, thanks for reading OHF this week. xo.

encourage:

This has been huge in my life lately - I tend to be really critical. I am  not sure where that comes from.. upbringing?  environment? the way we are born? I think this is really encouraging. I need to be intentional about not being so critical about such little things, things that aren't a big deal. Especially if kids are in our future. I wouldn't want to put that on them - kids are so easily influenced. What do you guys think? Has anyone struggled with this or have any helpful advice on ways you've progressed on being un-critical and letting things go? :)

four favorites:

fabulous: prism calendar from Julia Kostreva, $33 free: mini arrow brushes from oddhearts font: chameleon from my fonts, $30 fun: salad plates by shanna murray from west elm, $6

advent swap:

photo from silly old suitcase

Hopefully this isn't too late but I thought it'd be fun to do an advent calendar swap to get us in the holiday spirit. We haven't done a trade here on the blog for quite some time. I was looking through advent calendars and just love them. 12 little gifts to be opened starting December 14th and you'll have 1 gift to open every day leading up to Christmas! Read below for more details! 

You'll be paired with 1 partner and exchange your interests. You'll then gather up 12 little gifts and package them up with the gifts numbered #1-#12. The gifts can be a range of things: stationery, vintage ephemera, cards, artwork, pens, stamps, lip balm, mix cd, keychain - Get creative! Perhaps even something like a secret family recipe or something fun. There's a great list of ideas here.  Please make sure your gifts are thoughtful and are in line with the interests of your swap partner!

- You know we're all about packaging here at oh, hello friend.  gift packages should be wrapped up thoughtfully! - Suggested swap dollar amount is $40-$50. - Sign ups close on Friday,  November 15th. - Limited to 50 sign-ups!  - Trades must be sent by December 5th and arrive by December 10th. - Due to the limited amount of time we have, this trade is open to us residents only - sorry international friends! - Please take photos & blog if you have a blog so we can see how everything turned out!


If you're interested in participating, leave a comment
with the following information:

Name:
Email Address:  Do you use any social media? (blog/instagram/twitter/facebook)
What are your interests?
Favorite shops/sites/blogs: Any questions, just leave them in the comments below! Here are some inspiration advent calendars to get you started:
a few things from my life


a ruffled life


Rammealvor



muffins in my backpack




Hinzhej




Susan Magnolia

photo props:

Was taking some photos the other day and thought I'd take a couple photos of photo 'props' I use. So if I'm taking a photo of a main subject or item, these are some items I use with styling the photo. My usual go-to props are old items like keys, postage stamps, spools, scissors, tape, etc. Lately I've liked to use dried flowers in my photos. I have a little box sitting around filled with little items like this. Do you have any items you typically like to use in your photos? 

encourage:

via Emily McDowell

I thought I'd start this week off with a little encouragement. I love this print by Emily McDowell, have you seen her work? She is amazing. Anyway, does this resonate with anyone? I think it's pretty right on. It's so so so easy to see what others have online and just start comparing. It is really dangerous to fall into that too. I know I find myself guilty of this. But we need to keep in mind we only see glimpses of what people choose to post online, we don't know them or what is really going on in the other 95% of their lives we don't see.
I get lost in reality sometimes and I've joked with Nick and some blog friends about how things in blogger's lives sometimes are "staged" just like a movie set or play. I've posted photos of our house but it certainly doesn't look like that 90% of the time! It's staged just right and ever so neatly so you are left to think we live in this lovely place where it's clean all the time when in reality, Nick & I are really messy slobs ;) 
Sometimes I get discouraged about people's houses I see and think, why can't our house be neat like that? I just need to accept the fact that it's not going to happen for us because we are not by nature neat people! and it's okay that the house doesn't look like a picture perfect catalog all the time. it needs to be lived in. But when that feeling of comparing begins to creep in and I allow myself to become discontent with what I've been so abundantly blessed with, that is not good and I know I need to give myself a reality check and pep-talk that I'm being an ungrateful brat. Anyway. I didn't mean to go into it so much but I'd love to hear your thoughts! :) Hope you are encouraged today and have a wonderful week friends.

four favorites / travel:

fabulous: seek adventure hand paper cut from Bird mafia
font: carlino font via Pio Pio
fun: adventure awaits map from imaginations
free: printable airline tags from loveit.com

Lovely Wear:

I love this dot print top with the yellow cardigan, it's my favorite blouse as of late and kind of used it as inspiration for the new blog design. I was sent a pair of Swedish Hasbeens and I have to say, I am a huge fan!! They are incredible and legit! I often forget that feet are so important and the shoes we wear really go along with that - yet sometimes I just buy inexpensive low quality shoes that are rough on my feet. So treat yourself to a quality pair of shoes! :) 

Shoes: Swedish Hasbeens
Top: H&M
Sweater: Urban Outfitters
Bag: Vintage Find, only $5 bucks!
Jewelry: Our Shop / Floral bracelet from Love Nail Tree a really long time ago, love it!

7 Sites that offer Blog Templates:

I was thinking after my Friday post that not everyone has the ability to just design a new blog layout every now and then. Fortunately there are many lovely designers out there offering lovely blog templates at prices that won't break the bank. So I thought I'd compile a list of places you can buy a pretty blog template :)

1. Blog Milk

From $80, love all of Ana's work + she coded our blog too!

2. Sincerely Lara

From $45, beautifully simplistic layouts.

3. 17th Avenue Designs

From $30, offers Blogger & Wordpress & upgrades too!

4. Lovely Templates

Lovely templates has both Blogger & Wordpress,

and as you browse through there are many free templates available

5. Pink and Lola Shop

From $25, these layouts seem like they'd be great for photography blogs.

6. Ello Themes

From $35, has both Blogger & Wordpress layouts.

7. La Designerie

From $69, lovely blog templates from a designer in Italy. 

Hope that helps if anyone is looking for a blog template or to update their look. These shops typically offer installation so it'd be all done for you. If you're brave enough, you can mess with the code to customize your layout too!

If you know of any other places to get a lovely blog template, free or paid, feel free to leave them in the comments below!

Happy Friday:

Happy Friday friends! Yesterday was really productive - I spent the day redesigning our logo and branding and I designed a new layout for the blog. I've posted my work file from Illustrator above, I'm a messy worker - layouts and elements all over the place ;)

Anyway, it's kind of similar to the current layout - I can't seem to get away from PEACH/PINK, YELLOW, and MINT!! it's kind of a sickness, I'm just drawn toward those colors. I've tried to change the blog layout every year and am running behind this year but I'm thinking it can still get done before 2013 is up. You can see past blog layouts here if you're curious what oh, hello friend looked like 5 years ago.

Well this weekend is full of workshops! We are having 3 calligraphy workshops with Jenna Rainey and a book of notes workshop on Sunday! There is still room in the book of notes workshop - we're also doing a string art class + floral arranging workshop next week so you can still sign up for those too! Hope you have a fun weekend friends, thanks for reading this week.

5 years:

OH, HELLO FRIEND :: 5 YEAR ANNIVERSARY from Arthur Jung on Vimeo.
Last Friday we had our 5 year anniversary party! Arthur Jung came to document the night with his film skills, really love how it turned out - he captured all the fun stations and entertainment we had. Be sure to follow him on instagram too.
Planning for a party is some serious high-level stress. In past events I've done or helped friends with, I get super stressed and I wear my emotions easily. This event I was determined to not let the stress get to me and turn me into crazy-danni. Early on in the week I had a chat with Nick that it was going to be a stressful week and I may freak out but I didn't want to take any of that out on him. I think that really helped set the tone for the week and I can proudly and thankfully say I didn't stress out hardly at all especially on the day of, which I usually am the most stressed. Thankful because the Lord helped me through the week and I give all glory to Him because I wouldn't have been able to get through it on my own. I was so grateful and humbled to have so many wonderful friends helping out the day of (thank you Rebecca+Michael, Sunny, Ashley, Katie, and my Aunt Irene who baked 150+ tea cakes & cookies for the party!) 
Nick said it felt like setting up for a wedding ;) We had a ton of people come out, I'd say around 250 or so. We gave out 200 swag-bags and the lines were long but I think everyone had an all around good time. We raised $800 for Zoe International, will do a post on that later. 
If you're local - these vendors are wonderful ideas for entertainment for parties & events: we had cotton candy stand, a silhouette artist, a calligraphy artist, some amazing live music by me & mr cassidy, a photo booth, and we used found rentals for all our beautiful furniture & props (like the heart like in the video) Rialto Cafe in Fullerton does some great catering too, we use them for all our events.
Anyway, if you're like me and get stressed out for things like this, I recommend just prepping your mind for the week. Set realistic expectations and map out everything that needs to be done. I am a big procrastinator too which does not help with the whole stress-thing ;) I just made a lot of lists and had a lot of great support. 

four favorites:

today i thought i'd do a period drama theme, because if you didn't know, i love period dramas ;)  fabulous: for a temporary downton abbey fix, i've been watching mr selfridge, really enjoy this show and the history of London's first department store!
font: today is not a font download but a pride & prejudice print from the love shop
fun: mr. boddington's penguin classics from anthropologie
free: roses from digital gallery via pinterest

inspire: lovely

graaceseas


bungalow classic


style me pretty


nv-studio


red, green, white photography


sideshow sign co


drop anchors


the design files


we are all star stuff


tomoliveroneill.tumblr.com


kygp

Birthday Book of Notes:

Made this book of notes for a friend's birthday and thought I'd share some photos with you! These are always fun to make and I think fun to receive if you like notes and little gifts!
We're actually having a book of notes workshop this Sunday where we'll be making these! :) There are still some spots so join us if you're free, it'll be a lot of fun.