my folklover

Some lovely ladies in print form over at My Folklover, by Melbourne artist Catherine Campbell.

See even more featured on the 2011 Folklover calendar.

giving thanks

This week I am saying thank you to friends and family with some holiday treats. There is nothing like starting the holiday weekend off with some baking and crafting. Wednesday I spent the morning making peppermint chocolate bark, chocolate dipped pretzels, and some shimmery card stock gift tags to pull it all together. Easy, inexpensive, and festive- my favorite.

days off

Five in a row. I can hardly believe it! Thanksgiving is by far my favorite holiday and I fully plan on enjoying the good company, good weather, and great food. I also plan on spending all waking moments that I am not eating on enjoying myself. Some of those enjoyable activities for today will include:

• Enjoying coffee and strawberry-jam toast (currently enjoying)
• Catching up on laundry and cleaning- not quite as enjoyable but certainly satisfying
• Baking up some yummy holiday treats complete with chocolate and peppermint
• Finishing some dainty new garlands for the shop
• Starting some holiday crafts- can't wait!
  
• Going home to see my family, complete with grandparents and little sister who are in town!!

image.

fairyfolk

Acorns? From felt? In the loveliest colors? Yes, please!
From Fairyfolk on etsy. And they have beautiful photography as well. Nice job.

confetti

just a lovely photo for you today. via oncewed. finally feeling some inspiration seep in on these dark-too-early days.

wednesday wish list

Some sweet, simple necklaces from A Little Dot on etsy.
arrow.
gold sheet.
grey.

happy wednesday.

hearts and owls

Just a little peak at the latest handmade wedding decorations. I finally have a vision that is slowly, very slowly, coming together.

shop update

Last week I told you about reorganizing and relisting my ceramic pieces in my new shop. Well this weekend I finally got around to adding all of my holiday garlands to my original Heart and Craft etsy shop. These are made from the prettiest Martha Stewart Holiday 2010 and metallic neutral card stocks. I will be decorating for Christmas and New Years with these lovelies, and let me know if you want some for your own home or party decor this season!

wednesday wish list

Todd Oldham's Charley Harper: An Illustrated Life. I've professed my love for Charley Harper's work on here before and now that this glorious book has been out for a couple of years, it is finally on the affordable side. Want to revel in all of Harper's lovely mid-century nature illustrations!

bloglove: unruly things

Currently drooling over the Unruly Things, blog of Alyson Graves Brown, a graphic designer and letterpress printer from Portland. She shares a beautifully chosen collection of apparel, home, and paper goods that lately have been making me crave a cozy Portland weekend in floral tights, military jackets, and ankle boots.

edison bulbs

How lovely are these reproduction lightbulbs from rejuvenation? Though not terribly practical or ecofriendly, as the site states "Carbon-filament bulbs offer the unique combination of 1/3 the light at 10 times the price of standard bulbs, but they make any fixture ethereally beautiful." But for an area that just needs some mood or ambient lighting these would be such a nice solution. Starting at $8 you could definitely have some "new age fun with a vintage feel" with these guys. Hope someone gets that reference. :)

vintage finds: the fancy lamb

The Fancy Lamb on etsy is one of the best spots I have found for what they call "reinvented vintage goods". From typewriters and cameras to dishes to rubber stamps, they have a great variety of vintage that seems to be in really good shape. Well curated with an obviously discerning eye for the best of retro, this should be a go to shop for anyone looking for an oldie but goodie.

magnus

I was just telling Jessica yesterday that I have been on this hunt locally for good jewelry. Something simple and wearable everyday that includes no birds charms (I have plenty) and is modern and original (I also have more than enough vintage inspired wares). SO you can imagine my delight when I stumbled upon this today: the magnus necklace on stone&honey. This necklace is so so perfect in two ways. First, it is exactly what I have been looking for in terms of style- and I really lean more towards gold jewelry over silver. Second, Magnus was the name of my late bunny who we recently lost. You may be a bit confused, as we always referred to Magnus as Maggie, but he was indeed a little boy bunny. Either way, I would so love to wear this necklace as a tribute to my sweet rabbit babe and feel super stylish while doing so.

wednesday wish list

Though lately I have been living in plaid, cardigans, wool socks and my moccasins- today I found myself drooling over these super frilly and feminine pieces by etsy shop Ouma. Perfect for a wedding, holiday party, or daytime carnival- just lovely.

reenergize, reorganize, relist

Being sick forces me to spend more time being creative and less time running around like a crazy woman, working out, wedding planning, and having beers with friends. While those are all great things, it is sometimes nice to slow down and get some important things done- creative things that make me feel productive in the life I want to have all of the time.
So I spent some time reorganizing my Etsy shop (this is no easy task) and even decided to open a new one. This second shop will feature only my ceramic work, while the first will include all of my paper and fabric goods, plus whatever else I decide to create on a whim. Heart & Crafts Clay is up and running, though not completely finished in the design department yet, so please forgive the mess :)

I have struggled for a while over opening a second shop or not. I know that it is not like work in my original shop is just flying off the shelves, but I wanted what was in there to have a more cohesive feel and leave more room for new work to be loaded. Which hopefully will be very soon. In the meantime, see some new and old work from me here.