Friends, I’ve been feeling extremely nostalgic lately because we are coming up on the ONE year anniversary of the Lily & Val Flagship Store! Ahhh! There’s so much I want to say and so much reminiscing I want to share, but before that, I want to invite you to the Lily & Val Flagship Store One Year Anniversary Open House Celebration!

The Details:

On Saturday, October 7th, join us at 5900 Ellsworth Ave. in Pittsburgh for a fun day. We’ll be opening up our upstairs office for tastings and snacks. There will be a photo backdrop and PRIZES! You guys! The prizes. All day, we’ll be giving chances to win some really great products.

AND, from 10am – 12pm and again at 5pm – 7pm, yours truly will be personalizing envelopes on all card purchases with brush lettering!

Each day that passes I keep saying to myself “A year ago we were at THIS stage in the process of getting the store ready.” It’s really surreal. I will be sharing more trips down memory lane in the coming days, but here are a few photos of our store from last year when we opened the doors!

A Trip Down Memory Lane: 2016

Now fast forward to Fall 2017! Here are a few current photos around the shop!

A Current Look: 2017

Thank you so much to everyone who has supported our store and workshops over this past year! We’ve been honored and grateful to meet neighbors and also humbled to meet friends that have traveled so far to come see us. I can’t say enough how thankful I am for all of you. The past year has truly been an adventure. We hope you are able to make it on October 7th to celebrate this milestone with us!

Visit the Lily & Val Flagship Store website and plan your trip! I can’t wait to meet you!

For this week’s Pretty Ordinary Friday #69, we’re documenting snapshots of our week. While our pictures may not be the prettiest or the most interesting, we enjoyed each instance and want to remember them! These are the behind-the-scenes, in-between moments – the small peeks that would otherwise be forgotten. Join us as we use this series to scrapbook the unedited, memorable happenings at Lily & Val and what is inspiring our team!

The team says:

1. “I cannot get enough blue pumpkins this year!! I want them all!” – Valerie

2. “Driving through the apple orchards in Adams County during this time of year is one of the most beautiful sights you will ever see! I was grateful for this time to explore a bit after visiting our shipping department in Gettysburg!” – Valerie

3. “Such a fun project drawing this fall-themed chalkboard wall for Urban Fit Co. in Sewickley for the Art & Music Festival!” – Valerie 

4. “Me: ‘Take my picture with the pumpkins!’ I have no shame when it comes to pumpkins! haha. This is one of our favorite spots to visit – Hollabaugh Bros.” – Valerie

5. “Photo shoot behind the scenes! Our new paper supplies just launched yesterday!” – Valerie

6. “Emily working her styling magic. If you look closely, you’ll see something exciting coming for the holidays!” – Valerie

7. “Another peek of the holiday item I mentioned! 😉 I am also in LOVE with this vintage, mint green radio. So pretty.” – Valerie

8. “Every Monday I get to play with all the pretty things in the Flagship Store for my floor reset day. This week I got this awesome vintage market piece! New pieces mean new inspiration!” – Emily

9. “Pittsburgh can’t decide what season it is…but I’m in sweater weather season…and I’m not going back!” – Emily

7. “A little BTS of our most recent product shoot! Shoot days mean I bring in all the pretty things and we kick off our shoes for a fun day!” – Emily

8. “Went to see one of my all time favorite bands, Mutemath, this weekend. Their musical creativity was matched by their stage production! Perfection!” – Emily

9. “Most days you will find me here…at the PRINT BAR! I love seeing customers come in and fall in love with all the pretty things! Thanks to all of you who come back and see us time and time again!” – Emily

I have been out of school for quite some time, but there’s still something about this time of year that makes me anxious to get new paper supplies! Well, be still my paper-loving heart because today we launched TEN new desk supply products in the shop! These items have been much-requested for so long!

In this season of back-to-school, it also seemed like the perfect timing t0 include a dose of learning as part of our “school supplies” launch! So, from now until Monday, September 25th, you can get our Chalk Lettering Bundle for an extra 25% off!! (Use coupon code: NEVERSTOPLEARNING at checkout!)

The Chalk Lettering bundle includes a signed copy of The Complete Book of Chalk Lettering plus our award-winning Chalk Lettering toolkit! I hand-picked all the supplies in the kit and it’s everything I use regularly to create chalk art!

Between the book and the kit, you’ll have everything (and I mean EVERYTHING, the book even includes fold-out chalkboards) to get started learning a new hobby!

The bundle is already a reduced price as opposed to purchasing the book and toolkit separately, so the extra 25% is really an amazing deal!!

Purchase your Chalk Lettering Bundle!

And now for the paper supplies…

Whether you’re getting started in your school year, working at an office, or trying to get more organized at home, we have some pretty paper goods for you!

The launch includes two weekly planner pads (a large one and a small one), a magnetic notepad, a 2018 agenda/planner, a tear-off notepad, a trio of three sewn-bound notebooks, a spiral bound notebook, a soft-cover journal, and TWO wall calendars. Whew!

Below is the Agenda Planner! It has gold foil details (as do many of the products in this launch!)

A fun sticker sheet is included in the front! It also has both monthly and weekly layouts as well as plan-ahead and goal-setting pages.

Below is the gold foiled magnetic notepad– perfect for the fridge. I love the blush, black and white colors on many of these products. It’s elegant but cute!

The size of the below weekly planner pad is SO nice. I love how large it is for all my weekly planning ahead.

Another tear-off notepad. The “adventure is out there” chalk art theme coordinates beautifully with the planner and journal, too.

I love the flower illustrations in our smaller weekly planner pad. I keep this one at my home studio!

Three gold-foiled notebooks beautifully packaged together and ready for gifting! Or, give two and keep one for yourself! 🙂

I think my favorite part about the “Adventure is out there” journal is how the gold foil sparkles on some of the stars.

Calendars launched today too!

Our best-selling “Cooking with Love” recipe calendar is back for 2018 and I’m pleased to introduce a new recipe wall calendar featuring Craft Cocktail recipes. Our recipe calendars sell out every year, so be sure to grab yours right away!

I really hope you love this collection as much as I do!  I can’t wait to hear what you think.

Shop all the new paper goods.

Don’t forget to take advantage of that 25% off on the Chalk Lettering Bundle, too (code: NEVERSTOPLEARNING)

Hi friends! The details of the next Chalk Project Night at the Lily & Val Flagship Store have been finalized and I’m excited to show you the October 6th design! Ahhh pumpkins and leaves! They just make me so happy. 🙂

I think chalkboards are particularly perfect for decorating in the Fall and this design is not only fun to create, but it will add such a lovely, versatile touch to all types of Fall decor.

What Are Chalk Project Nights?

These special workshops will walk you through a chalk art sign from start to finish! I will teach you all the steps for creating the sign in our intimate workshop space, and you will have a new sign at the end to proudly display!

More Details…

Beginners are welcome although some previous lettering or drawing experience would be helpful.

All supplies will be provided for the project. We will utilize a combination of my favorite Crayola chalk and a smudge-free product called, Butterstix. You will want to make appropriate arrangements for transporting your sign home as some portions of the sign will smudge!

I’m also really excited about the chalkboards we will be using! Everyone will receive a handmade 12″ x 15″ chalkboard sign made exclusively for us by Scott at Rivet Design Co. Scott built so many pieces for our store and he is just the best!

After we complete our signs, there will be time for private shopping in the Flagship Store with a special discount! I hope to see you there and can’t wait to draw with you on October 6th!

Reserve Your Seat!

For this week’s Pretty Ordinary Friday #68, we’re documenting snapshots of our week. While our pictures may not be the prettiest or the most interesting, we enjoyed each instance and want to remember them! These are the behind-the-scenes, in-between moments – the small peeks that would otherwise be forgotten. Join us as we use this series to scrapbook the unedited, memorable happenings at Lily & Val and what is inspiring our team!

The team says:

1. “This week I made honey-roasted figs and they were amazing! Figs are just so pretty & delicious.” – Valerie

2. “It’s always a good day when you have lunch at Whitfield at the Ace Hotel. How beautiful is this space?” – Valerie

3. “Our server at Whitfield described the desserts as “life-changing”. There was no way we were resisting that! I had a “melon sundae” in an almond cookie and Lindsey had the peach cheesecake with cardamom-infused caramel. I was obsessed with the black floral plate. And yes, I would have to agree with our server.” – Valerie 

4. “Last weekend marked the Annual Sewickley Church Sale! Last year, Emily and I rented a Uhaul for our finds. This year, we managed to fit everything in my car (with two trips). We had so much fun and found some really great things to re-purpose for the Flagship Store.” – Valerie

5. “Little peeks of falling entering my home! I’m slowly but surely getting my fall decorating done. Raw cotton is one of my favorite fall decorating staples.” – Valerie

6. “My kitchen chalkboard got an update for Fall too!” – Valerie

Does this wreath look familiar? We’ve been using it in SO many photos for the new L&V Fall Collection and I’m excited to say, you can make your own at our Flagship Store in Pittsburgh on Friday, September 22nd! 

I am completely smitten by this wreath! The beautiful colors played a part in inspiring this year’s unexpected Fall color palette!

The September 22nd workshop will be such a fun night of wreath-making plus learning all the skills for modern faux floral arrangements. We’re big fans of faux florals here at Lily & Val especially when they are done in fresh, modern ways!

Our Merchandising Director and Stylist, Emily, will be leading the class. She is responsible for the amazing custom arrangements you see throughout the store! Her eye for arranging plus her vast knowledge of faux blooms makes this a fascinating class. I learn SO much during these workshops. You can read a re-cap and see a workshop in action here.

Emily will be sharing her expertise for choosing faux blooms, what pairs well with what, and when to go faux. Her techniques are so valuable and everyone will be equipped to even tackle future arrangements on their own!

Plus, of course, you get to take home your STUNNING Fall wreath. I love the idea of hanging this wreath as part of a gallery wall! (more about that here.)

I also love the modern copper frame – it’s handmade specifically for our store and class.

All materials needed for the workshop will be provided. The workshop also includes a special 20% discount to the Flagship Store and light refreshments and snacks.

Our workshop space is small and intimate so seats are limited! Be sure to get yours! Hope to see you there! 

Sign up for the class here! We can’t wait to see you!

It’s that time of year for Pumpkin Everything and today I wanted to share one of my absolute favorite Fall desserts with you along with how I crafted the Pumpkin Cheesecake Bar recipe in my Keepsake Kitchen Diary using new Tombow markers & pens!

These pumpkin cheesecake bars are gluten free (Sadly, I’ve needed to be gluten free not by choice for the past 18 years!) But these bars are one of those instances where you forget that you are GF! For that reason, I’ve made them for dinner parties and no one has ever noticed the difference!

The original recipe is from Betty Crocker and the recipe uses her gluten free yellow cake mix, which is delicious!

Filling Out The Keepsake Kitchen Diary

The Tools:

To craft this special recipe in my Keepsake Kitchen Diary, I used the new Tombow TwinTone Marker pens in Pastel as well as Tombow MONO drawing pens from the 3-pack. It was the first time I used both and I LOVED them. I would highly recommend these tools for decorating and filling in your Keepsake Kitchen Diary!

The TwinTones have both a fine point and a medium point, which was the perfect size. Neither pen bled through the pages. They would also be perfect for your planner and scrapbooking.

I also used my Angora watercolor pan. (I have the 36 color set.)

The Method:

I knew I wanted soft watercolor leaves to act as a backdrop for the recipe, so I started by painting these. When using watercolors in your Keepsake Kitchen Diary, you’ll want to be sure to not oversaturate the page. The pages do hold watercolor, but since it’s smooth (as opposed to watercolor paper), the key is avoiding warped pages as much as possible.

The technique works best for soft details with minimal brush strokes. I also used very little pigment to create that light wash.

After my leaves and washes dried, I was able to use my Tombow drawing pen to fill in the recipe and memories on top. The leaves were soft enough to make a beautiful background.

Tip: When filling in a more complex recipe, add two lines of text between each divider as I did here.

I wanted to include pumpkins on the pages since it is a pumpkin recipe, so I used the drawing pens to add black and white botanical-style pumpkin illustrations! I drew a large pumpkin on the “memories” side, but left myself enough room to continue to use this page as a running log of dates/occasions for each time I make them.

I thought about coloring the pumpkins but opted to leave them black to contrast the colorful leaves for a pretty balance.

Lastly, I went back through with my twin tone and added bits of color to the potholder and the spoon on the bowl illustration. I also used the smallest tip drawing pen to give some of the leaves fine veins.

I’m really pleased with this spread – it reminds me of what I love about fall and it was fun to create.

I can’t decide what I like more about these bars – the crumbly streusel topping or the creamy pumpkin cheesecake. They are the perfect combination of both and certainly don’t last long in my house! At the first hint of Fall, Mak always asks me when I’ll be making them! I hope you enjoy!

Gluten Free Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars by Betty Crocker

Ingredients:

1 box Betty Crocker™ Gluten Free yellow cake mix
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
2 tablespoons whipping cream
2 eggs

Directions:

Heat oven to 350°F. In medium bowl, stir together cake mix and pecans. With pastry blender or fork, cut in butter until mixture is crumbly. Reserve 1 cup mixture for topping. In bottom of ungreased 13×9-inch pan, press remaining mixture. Bake 10 minutes.

In large bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add remaining ingredients; beat until well blended. Pour over warm crust. Sprinkle with reserved topping.

Bake about 35 minutes or until center is set. Cool 30 minutes. Refrigerate about 2 hours or until chilled. For bars, cut into 6 rows by 4 rows. Store covered in the refrigerator.

Hey friends! It’s been over a year since the launch of my Intro to Chalk Lettering Online Class with Brit + Co, and since then, I’ve heard many requests for a next level class! The time has come! I’m thrilled to present to you- Intro to Chalk Illustration!

Throughout the years, my style has developed into pieces contains lettering + illustrations. The illustrated portions are a big part of what I do and I love the texture chalk provides to these drawings!

In this course, I will show you how to draw one of my absolute favorite things- flowers!  They may look intricate, but I promise you can do it! Although the course is designed as a “next level” chalk class, it will cover all the questions you might have as a beginner.

We’ll cover basic design principles, how to draw flowers, and how to add depth to your designs. Each lesson will also reveal a few tips and tricks for working with chalk.

By the end of the class, you’ll know how to:

• Apply design principles to plan a balanced and cohesive illustration.
• Sketch multidimensional flowers that have texture and depth.
• Add focal points and floral fillers to create a complete piece of chalk art.

I can’t wait for you to dive in with me!! This class is on demand! After purchase, you will be directed to the class for you to watch wherever you are and at your own pace. It’s yours to come back to again and again!

Also, we’re holding a class giveaway for a limited time!

To everyone that enrolls now through 9/19, you’ll automatically be entered into our class giveaway. You could win prizes up to $125 in value, including:

• A Chalk Lettering Tool Kit from Lily + Val.
• An 11×14 L&V art print
• Two Brit + Co classes of your choice.

Three winners will be chosen at random on 9/19.

I absolutely cannot wait to see what you create!! Please be sure to tag me on Instagram @valeriemckeehan so I can see! Happy chalking, my friends!

Enroll for Intro To Chalk Illustration Online Class!

There’s no denying things have just been downright heavy lately. My thoughts have been with everyone affected by these devastating storms.

Also, today on 9/11, I think back to that horrific day and remember the fear and disbelief. The words “strength” and “hope” come to mind and these beautiful words. I wanted to do something to help and decided to offer this design as a $5 digital download in the shop.

100% of the sales will be split and donated to both Hurricane Harvey and Irma relief.

For my friends facing hard circumstances in your life right now -whatever they may be – I hope this download gives you some comfort too. Strength for today, bright hope for tomorrow.

Purchase Strength & Hope Download for Hurricane Relief.

For this week’s Pretty Ordinary Friday #67, we’re documenting snapshots of our week. While our pictures may not be the prettiest or the most interesting, we enjoyed each instance and want to remember them! These are the behind-the-scenes, in-between moments – the small peeks that would otherwise be forgotten. Join us as we use this series to scrapbook the unedited, memorable happenings at Lily & Val and what is inspiring our team!

The team says:

1. “There are so many photos I want to share this week from Mak and my vacation to Boston, Nantucket, and Cape Cod! This was one of the many highlights- water-coloring at Quincy Market! They had a table set up with postcards and paints that anyone was welcome to use! I loved it!” – Valerie

2. “The Boston Public Library stole my heart (as did the entire city)! I wish I had the time to sit down in this courtyard with a book and just get lost.” – Valerie

3. “While in Boston, I spotted Lily & Val for Anthropologie juice glasses in store for the first time! It was an exciting moment!” – Valerie 

4. “Also while in Boston, I was able to meet my instagram friend Holly Nichols! I have been a HUGE fan of Holly’s fashion illustrations for so long. She gave me a sweet Boston print as a souvenir of my trip.” – Valerie

5. “While in Cape Cod, I found this botanical beauty in a vintage store. When I saw it was “October” I knew I had to have it!” – Valerie

6. “Mak at the Brant Point Lighthouse. This is such a special spot in Nantucket.” – Valerie

7. “One of my favorite places in the world – Steps Beach in Nantucket. This week of slowing down has me feeling refreshed.” – Valerie

8. “Mak snapped this photo of me on the beach. Haha! It was quite chilly on our beach days, but I loved every minute – even bundled up. I also was able to read the book “Little Paris Bookshop.” It was a sweet novel. I really enjoyed it.” – Valerie

9. “We had one rainy day in Nantucket, but even then, it is absolutely beautiful. This is why the island is called the ‘Grey Lady.'” – Valerie

10. “Did a little antique exploring with these two beautiful ladies. This is Mom (who taught me how to decorate) and Nanna (who taught me how to antique and find those unique treasures). What wonderful memories!” – Emily

11. “I’m still dreaming about this gorgeous bathroom from our recent stay in Columbus. Heart eyes for that sink/vanity!” -Emily

12. “Remodeling continued as my amazing dad started laying our bathroom floors! Simple but still my favorite tile pattern.” -Emily

13. “Did a little photo shoot with an adorable little one this week. Mustard yellow will always be my favorite color…throw in eucalyptus and I’m happy!” -Emily

14. “It was a big day in our house this week. Back to preschool! Jordan starts 3 day preschool this year and was so excited about his new outfit and “Flash” hightops. He is the cutest, right?” – Nicole

15. “The hubby and I visited the Air Force Museum recently. I have always loved historic political cartoons, and studied them a bit during art school. I love the marriage culture, history, and beautiful artwork.” -Emily