happy birthday to me. (BIG giveaway!)

Today is my birthday!
I'm 29...
plus 3.

:)

A few weeks ago,
Tessa asked me what my favorite animal was when I was a little girl.
I told her a panda bear.
This was her gift to me this morning...



Wasn't that thoughtful? (especially for a 6 year old!)

* * *

To celebrate, let's give away some gifts!



I'm giving away a $100 tvp gift certificate
to 5 lucky readers!!!



Just leave a comment to be entered
and extra entries if you blog it, twitter it, facebook it, etc.
(please leave a separate comment for each).

a few new things.

We have a few new products to show (woo-hoo!)

First is our chunky spinner ring,
that was featured here (thank you Ree!)
and comes in your choice of a copper or sterling spinning band
(the outer band spins around!)



Our eternity heart bracelet matches our
ever popular eternity heart necklace,
the hearts are handmade and molded from scratch:



And yes, another ring...

(we are kind of addicted to making new rings I think,
we are having so much fun with them!)

This is our sweet birdie on a ring:



you can stamp 2 lines of text on the inside,
mine is stamped inside to say
"if you're a bird,
i'm a bird"
(name that movie).

Which one is your favorite?

double digits.

How in the world did this little person...



turn into this giant???



When did that happen?

*

Happy 10th birthday Caleb!!!!

ask tvp a question {fun!}

A couple of years ago orders grew to be too much for me to handle alone, so I started enlisting help from friends. The team has grown and I am incredibly thankful for the amazing women God has brought my way to help! We have grown to be close- we laugh together daily and have even shed some tears together.

Each one of them plays a unique but important role (stamping, assembling, shipping, retail, customer service, etc)...


(this is not the entire team, it's rare that we are all at the studio at the same time for a pic).

I thought it would be fun to do a "ask us a question" post,
something I've never done before!

So if you have a question that you'd like to ask me or any of the team,
(it can be about anything),
ask below as a comment,
and we will answer them at the end of the week!

our new puppy.

She barks.
She pants.
She sits.
She rolls over.
She shakes.
She even plays fetch...



Isn't she cute?

vintage chinese love {new!} plus a coupon.

Something new...



Any names or words are stamped around the Chinese character for LOVE
on a hand-sculpted charm made from fine silver-
so sweet and meaningful.
You can find it here!

* * *

Remember these?



We have had lots of inquiries,
asking when they will be ready for purchase...
they're ready
(and a great price too!)
You can find them here.

* * *

We are preparing for Mother's Day in the studio
(custom order by April 20th please)
and we have a special coupon for the early bird shoppers...



...use coupon code
"SPRING"
when checking out for 15% off your order!
(expires friday night at midnight, so hurry)

look mommy!

Poo-poo'd in the potty.

all. by. my. self!!!!

(she is so excited and proud of herself! love it!)

ROAD TRIP!

Friday afternoon we decided to jump in the car
(we've been very last minute planners lately!)
and we took a road trip down to Dallas for the weekend,
and spent all day saturday at Six Flags.

We rode lots of roller coasters and rides,
(we splurged for the Flash Pass- no waiting in lines, soooo worth it!)
played some games
(even Eden won a stuffed animal all by herself!)
swam in the hotel pool, watched a few movies,
and Jonah lost a tooth!

Great family time, can't wait to go again :)

* * *

We've been scoping out all of the best amusement parks
with the best roller coasters in the US to plan future vacations for,
do you have a favorite one?

the vintage sports necklace.

Several of you have spotted my boys wearing our new vintage sports necklaces,
good eyes!

At TVP we have alot of sports Moms,
so we had to come up with a trendy necklace for us to support our little athletes :)







You can even stamp their numbers on the back of the charm or add a name on a rectangle a la carte charm if you would like.

We currently have soccer, baseball, basketball and volleyball,
with others in the works.

My boys also each have a necklace...



(Caleb has a baseball one
and Jonah has a soccer one,
since that's what they are playing right now)
and I oxidized their sterling chains so they would be darker and rustic looking instead of bright and shiny
(just like the baseball necklace chain above),
and they love them!

I like wearing oxidized chains sometimes, too,
so the option is there if you would like one.
My "mom" necklace has 2 soccer balls and a baseball.

Girls will like wearing these too,
Tessa has a soccer ball necklace on a shiny sterling chain :)

Which charms would you pick out?

my kiddos.

I don't usually care much for the school pictures,
so I try to take my own :)

Here are our "spring" pictures this year:



Eden, 2 1/2



Tessa, 6



Jonah, 8



Caleb, turning 10 in 12 days





Grandmas and grandpas,
your copies are being printed and will be mailed soon :)

pottery barn. {swoon}

I'm swooning over the latest Pottery Barn catalog,
it's full of eye candy
and even some inspiration!

I will have to make some easter eggs like this with the kids
(looks so fun!)



Loving all of the twinking lights...



and I think these birdies would look cute hanging in our store,
don'tcha think?



they go with this shabby birdhouse...



and these lanterns...



These chairs are gorgeous,
especially the aqua (but the red would work too)...



I like the idea of hanging pictures like this...



I. want. little cubbies. just like this:



Thinking of painting the back studio this blue color...



Even glasses in the perfect blue!



How sweet is this jewelry stand?



LOVE this mirror with all my heart...



over this bed set...



My birthday IS in a couple of weeks...

just sayin'.

:)

Do you have a favorite store that makes you swoon?

in NYC. (with Jill)

Don't you love
when necessary business happenings
happen in NYC???

We were able to sneek away
for dinner in Times Square
and a cupcake from Magnolia Bakery :)


What's your favorite thing to do in NYC?

free bird.

Our "free bird" is flying high, soaring past any troubles and living life to the fullest.

This pendant is hand-sculpted in fine silver, then antiqued to a dark vintage finish.

Find this necklace here!

winner, free earrings, biz randomness.

Smile, it's FRIDAY!



* * *

The winner of The Pioneer Woman's book and the vintage love charm necklace is Carrie aka Cozyflier. Email us Carrie!

* * *

Today we are giving away FREE double pearl drop earrings
with any $50 or more purchase!
Simply type "FREE EARRINGS" in your extra notes box before checking out.



* * *

Did you know we are on facebook, twitter and we send out newsletters?

You can "like" our facebook page here!
(we show sneak peeks, contests and just a place to chat with us!)

Follow us on twitter here!
(to keep up with our happenings and twitter contests!)

Subscribe to our newsletter here!
(we send out sneak peeks, new products and coupon codes!)

* * *

It's officially Spring Break here!
I think the kids and I might head to The Zoo today :)

Happy Friday!

the pioneer woman ( a giveaway! )

Jill, JuneAnne and I went to see The Pioneer Woman last night,
we got our books signed,
and she was amazing as always-
I'd like to be her when I grow up :)



We grabbed an extra book and asked her to sign it,
and we are giving it away along with one of our
vintage love charm necklaces
(since it's a LOVE story.)



Simply leave us a comment to be entered,
winner will be randomly chosen friday morning!

turquoise.

It's our new favorite nail color
(and perfect for spring!)



What's your current favorite nail color?

winners {plus and sneak peek.}

The randomly picked winner of the Allora Handmade necklace is Emily Joyce, who said: "I love the headbands! I would get one in mustard :)"

Please contact Jessica here to claim your prize!

And the randomly picked winner of your choice of one of our new rings is Our Beautiful Life, who said: "i like the simple band and i'd have "worship always" printed on it..."

Please email us at customerservice@thevintagepearl.com.

Congrats to both and thanks to all that entered, I love reading all of the comments :)

* * *

A little sneak peek of something coming to the site this week:



Vintage charms in color!

We have (starting on the left) plum, denim blue, cherry red, black, carribean blue (my fave), shamrock green, soft yellow, orange and bubblegum pink.

Which color is your favorite?

simple shish-kabobs.

I made chicken teriyaki shish-kabobs for dinner last night,
it's very easy peasy, so I thought I would share.

Cut your chicken (or beef) into 1" or so chunks and then
marinate it in a teriyaki marinade-
you can make your own or buy a store marinade
(I like the 30 minute marinades).

Chop peppers (whatever colors are you faves,
the more colors the prettier they look)
and onions into 1" or so chunks.

Throw the meat, peppers, onions and pineapple chunks
onto skewers and grill them,
or bake them at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes.

I serve them with more pineapple and teriyaki rice
(or brown rice).

Great for entertaining :)

YUM!

let's take a "business" trip.

Tuesday morning Ryan left on a business trip for a few days.

Later that day I get a text from him that says
"I am working".
And then he sends me this picture:



and he even waves to me from the beach:



and then later I get another text that says
"working hard",
and he shows me the beautiful golf course he is playing at:



Because you know, playing golf? It's "business".

I have to admit, I was happy for him, but a wee bit jealous too.


So I'm thinking I need to take a "business" trip,
that requires me to lay out of the beach
and shop all day (maybe Hawaii?)
for 3 days.

Anyone with me?