Carry On

Just got (off etsy) this vintage carry-on piece -- the newest member of my vintage luggage family (and they're all Samsonite!) Woot!


And, inspired by Elsie at A Beautiful Mess (one of my very favorites!) who was inspired by Orla Kiely (j'adore!), I added some hand-embroidery. It's just 6 strands of floss, doubled (Elsie used yarn). My fingers are a bit blistered now but it was totally worth it in my book. :)


This cutie will be serving as my carry-on for Scandinavia. It's packed to the brim with goodies to keep a 2 year old and a mama entertained and comfortable (?) for a 14-hour flight. We're only four days out now! Eek!

Etsy Mail

I recently placed an order on The Lucky Button etsy shop! One of my favorite things about buying stuff off etsy is how cute everything is always packaged. It's always a fun surprise to see what different sellers do.

Darling little bag!


With even darling-er gift tags inside!


And amazing vintage button bobby pins which I love love love!

I found The Lucky Button because Christen posted on her blog about this dress that is for sell in that shop.


Ack. The top of that dress just kills me. Like, slays me to death. So amazing.

Just a couple more...

Two of my favorite ladies should be getting these in the mail today, so I'll post these pics now (and, if they don't get them today...then surprise!).

For my lovely soulmate-on-many-levels friend Christen of The Deliberate Life -- a late little Christmas present.

Christen would know how to fix the punctuation/grammer of the above sentence. She's cool and smart like that. She actually gets paid to do it.

And for my wonderful, beautiful, talented sister-in-law Christi (see her etsy shop, Tickled Whimsy) who fixed all of my broken necklaces while we were in Utah. Thank you so much!

Bethany made this tree.
Love you chicks!

Sofia Blanket

On Saturday night we attended a really beautiful baby shower -- lots of twinkly lights and pink tulle and white linens. It was catered with some amazing Italian food, cake from Bread Basket Cake Company (as was the cake from my baby shower -- yummiest cake ever!) and attended by over 70 people!

The shower was held at the father-to-be's grandmother's house and I fell in love. The grounds and gardens of this house were my dream. Beautiful flower beds, fruit trees, lots of room for vegetable gardens, a beehive, grassy lawn and patios. There were even sheep next door. *Sigh*



But anyway, what we're really here to talk about is this Sofia Blanket that I designed and made for the baby-on-the-way. It's made with 3 different fabrics from Heather Bailey's new line. This fabric is so vivid and soft and with just some thin flannel as batting, the weight of this blanket ended up being so yummy. It was really, really hard to part with, but seeing how much the mommy liked it made it a bit easier. :)



So anyway, I'm thinking that I will make a few of these for sale on my etsy shop, once I get that up. My only worry is finding a good price point for something like this -- where it makes sense to cover the cost of the fabrics (this used nearly 3 yards of fabric total) and also so I could make a little bit of profit. What do you think? How much would you pay for a blanket like this? They would be made with beautiful, designer fabrics, the dimensions are approximately 30x36 and the batting is organic, un-dyed flannel. ???

A Couple Lovely Things That Also Make Me Somewhat Sad

I just re-discovered this blog, Inside a Black Apple. I say re-discovered because I used to be a devoted reader until I quit working and lost all of my bookmarks (cause...I did all my blog reading at work). So anyway, something reminded me of her tonight and I looked her up. I'm so glad I did! Her paintings are just so beautiful, I think. I love the colors she uses and the subject matter. She also has a very similar style as me and I'm often want-y of her decor and clothing.



This painting is beautiful. I just love everything about it. And what really does it for me are the trees coming from the pipe. It just makes me feel a way I like to feel.




Here's a photo of Emily's new studio. It's adorable. I hope to someday have a studio of my own. Until then, I'm more than a little obsessed with checking out the studios of my favorite crafty ladies (ie Posie Gets Cozy and Heather Bailey -- kill me!).

I have all kinds of jealousies on this girl. She has the top selling shop on etsy and she's been on Martha Stewart (see here). And, I just found out, she recently moved to Portland. For crying out loud. I may die.

Emily also has a fashion blog called Some Girls Wander. It's fun to see what she's wearing or what she's found.

Anyway, this kind of turned into a big commercial for The Black Apple. But, I just had to share because her stuff makes me happy. Even while she makes me depressed. Haha.

Maybe Kind of Flakey?

A list of miscellaneous thoughts. I promise to post something crafty soon.

1) Okay, so remember how I was training for a 5K. And was like, dudes, I am GOING to run a 5K. No. Matter. What. Don't let me flake out. I'm running it. Seriously. And then I got shin splints. And then I started my training over again but this time made sure to warm up and stretch really well before and after running.

Well, then I got shin splints again. Took a break. Started again trying to run differently along with lots of warming up and stretching. Got them again. So, I'm out. I've done a lot of research on the topic and found a lot of really great exercises to strengthen the shin muscles and blah blah blah. The thing is -- I don't like running. It's not something I have a passion for or a drive to do. It's not something that I want to do so much that I want to spend a lot of time specifically working on those exercises to just be able to run. Call me lazy, maybe. But, I'd rather just find something else to do.

2) Also, remember how I was going to have my etsy shop up by February? And then by July? And then, "any day now". Well, also not happening. I have a few things done, but I feel like it'd be pretty lame to open a shop for a whole 5 items. And it was stressing me out so much thinking about it constantly and feeling like a failure because I wasn't making the kind of progress I wanted to on it.

So, I'm just chillin' and am going to see what happens. I have no deadline any more. Truthfully, there are other things in my life right now that I need to focus on. Other things that I need to make a priority at the moment. I'll open the shop eventually, but I'm not going to make myself feel bad about it anymore.

3) This week the weather has finally cooled down! I'm SOOO happy. I can't even express my joy. It's actually pretty disturbing, and also not very balanced, but the weather actually has a great impact on my entire life. When it's hot I just feel like I don't care about anything. I'm unmotivated, uncreative, lazy, and don't care that I'm those things. Or don't care enough to actually do anything about it, anyway. When it's cool and overcast and winter-y I'm like, stoked on life and get a million things done. I just feel so much better. It's like backwards Seasonal Affective Disorder or something.

Every morning this week I've gotten up at 7am and gone walking, done some strength exercises, showered and dressed all before starting work at 8:30. It's been incredible -- cool and foggy and gray in the morning. I've been amazingly productive and motivated to make and meet goals. And I just feel so...right. Like, at peace. Maybe I'm silly, but it's how I feel. I'm crossing my fingers that the weather stays and continues to get more fall-ish. I need it.

P.S. By "cooler" I mean in the 80s. In the mornings when I go walking it's in the 60s. Doesn't sound all that cool, I know, but compared to last week when it was 85 by the time I got up in the morning...it's downright winter-y.

4) I just found out that there is another baby in our circle of friends that is on it's way. Yahoo! It seems like every time one baby is born, someone else gets pregnant. It's been non-stop babies for the past year. Fun! Who's going to be next??? :)

P.S. No, definitely not me, thanks.

102

Apparently, this is my 102nd post! Wow! That Post a Day in May really sped things up around here.




I want to do a give-away, like I see so many other blogity ladies do when they reach 100 or some other milestone. So, in anticipation of my etsy shop opening in a few weeks, I'm giving away a Dear Little One tshirt! Unfortunately, I have no photos of said give-away yet.



However, if you'd like a chance to win, just leave a comment telling me what book you're reading right now! I need some new reads!

The shirt will be a white, 100% cotton American Apparel tshirt in whatever size you specify (including toddler or infant sizes, if you'd like one for your little one), with raspberry pink (like in the photo above) or minty green ink. I'll have William pick a name out of his bucket to determine the winner.

Let me know what books I need to put on my reading list!

Edit: I will pick a winner on Monday!

I Just Can't Get Enough

I spend probably an hour or more per day on etsy. I just can't stop!

These are from Robin's Egg Pink's store. Too cute!!




I've posted some artwork from this girl before, Elsie of Love, Elsie (she designs scrapbooking products. Her shop is elsiecake).



That just cracks me up. My favorites would be the red ones, too.

One More Etsy Visit

I've got pictures to show you tomorrow of what I finished today!

I'm heading to bed but first had to show you these...


Talk about adorable. They are from Fantastic Toys. I'd want the raspberry one, I think. It'd be too hard to decide.

See ya in the morning!

Sometimes You Just Have to Make a List

A LIST WITH PHOTOS OF WHAT I'VE DONE THIS MONTH
because my brain can't handle putting together paragraphs

1. Birth Announcements: Not the most original ever, but I think they turned out pretty cute. And it gave me an excuse to buy some Martha Stewart ribbon from Michael's.



2. Christmas Cards: Also not super exciting. Had to do something quick. Next year I hope to have time to do something a little more fun and 'me'.



3. Christmas Decorations: Just a couple of my favorite ornaments, both new from last year.




4. Not Running: Um yeah. This photo speaks for itself I think.



5. Etsy Store - I'm hoping to open an Etsy store sometime in the next couple of months. Of course, that means actually having product to put in the store. Which means making things. Hmmm...

6. At least I'll have a sweet logo. My fabulous cousin who is a fantastic artist is helping me with that, seeing as how I can't draw even a little bit. So, that'll be good.

7. Oh yeah!! And also -- this is probably the most exciting thing to happen to me all month -- I got an email from Superbuzzy, and guess what!? Their warehouse is now in Ventura!!! Sweet Mother of Mystery I'm stoked. They used to be up in Portland and I dreamed of maybe someday getting to go visit. But now they're just a quick jaunt up the road! This means no more paying for shipping AND I get to see what I'm buying before I buy it. Woot! I love you Superbuzzy, see you soon!

8. Pretty much the best ever: Ruth got me these bookplates from The Paper Princess that I've been wanting. Mine have my name on them of course, but my camera battery died so just use your imagination



9. For William: Ruth gave Will these adorable little fruit dolls. I am so in love with them. They are made by Under The Nile which means they are 100% organic cotton and part of the 13 Village Project.



I got these amazing books for Will -- How to Behave and Why, How to Speak Politely and Why and Manners Can Be Fun -- by Munro Leaf (cool name) of The Story of Ferdinand fame.



I also got him this maple teether and fish rattle from Nova Natural.



10.William & Santa: I'm not sure Will was very impressed.



So that's it from me until next year! We're leaving for Utah tomorrow and will be there until the 30th. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a white Christmas! Merry Christmas everyone!

Hurray! It's done!

The cradle is done! It turned out better than I could have hoped for, considering my lack of painting skills, but thanks to lots of help from my little bro Ivan we got it done. The green turned out to be the exact color I wanted -- and now that this is done I feel like I'm pretty much ready for this baby to show up. Only 7-ish more weeks (hopefully)! I'm so so so happy!


Oh, hey what's that little critter?


It's a felted owl that I started yesterday and finished this morning. Isn't he adorable? Ruth sent me a kit from Crafty Alien on Etsy to entertain me while laying around. It was so much fun that I'm planning on getting a couple others -- I'm thinking the raccoon, the deer and the beaver. Adorable, no?

P.S. The quilt in the cradle is from Pottery Barn Kids -- Cottontail Friends.