Journaling

After a few days of non-productivity and a few weeks of focusing solely on jewelry I finally have a few new journals that I'll be sporadically listing in my etsy shop.

As always, here's a sneak peek ♥

Handmade Fusion

Creating outfits on etsy ♥

♥ Chameleon Shirt by Isadora Clothing
♥ Grace by Kenton Beadworks
♥ Sterling Silver Hammered Bangle Set by elizabeth scott designs
♥ White Silk Double Strand Headband by Mixbaby


♥ Pleated Pants in Indigo Denim by Trapper Jane Clothing
♥ Orange Blossom Leaf Earring Set by fiberalley
♥ Crochet Bubble Beret in Rust by softspoken
♥ Screen Printed Jersey Scarf by Michelle Brusegaard

A Dolls House

Awhile ago, in a fit of "I've always wanted to do this" my mom went out and spent a few hundred dollars on an unbuilt dollhouse, along with wallpapers, paint, brushes, and everything else that she would need to construct it, minus the furniture.

She has since hammered the house together... and that's it. Sometimes life happens and the plans you make to do something never get done. Not to mention that I have three teenage brothers still at home that take up alot of her time. And the poor house has sat, lonely and unfinished for a few years now.

Yesterday I finally convinced my mom to hand over the reigns of the dollhouse so that it could be loved and she agreed with a "you're more into that kinda crafty shit than I am anyways" (lol, three little brothers have turned my mom into a bit of a tomboy)

So I have a new project now. Its still pretty buried under the things that the years have brought with it, so I don't have a picture to share yet, but believe me, I'm on my dads tail to unbury it and bring it over to me :)

So here's a bit of dollhouse inspiration for today ♥

1. Work table, 2. Kitchen - full view, 3. My dollhouse, 4. ...what seems to be the beginning of a dollhouse..., 5. "Fairfield" Dollhouse Kit, 6. Miniature food for Dollhouse - Cookie Preparation Board!, 7. Re-Ment Contest Entry, 8. Sweet Lil' Dollhouse, 9. kitchen

Wordless Wednesday

Somewhere underneath all of that my Jeep is Red :)

Scraping For A Cause

Over the weekend I had a really fantastic opportunity to not only help out my cousin but also to scrapbook!

Mikes cousin's son, who is a senior in high school, is going to be a student ambassador to China this June. Seriously, how amazing is that? What an incredible life experience to have before he heads off to college! Anyways, his mom put together a fabulous fund raiser for him which allowed me to gather a fraction of my hordes of paper goodies and scrapbook the day away, all in the name of helping to support my cousin.

Oh, and even though I made a few new pages to add to my scrapbook, I walked out with more than I went in with thanks to the amazing vendors from Stampin' Up and Creative Memories.

Needless to say, surrounded by my family and all of that paper goodness, I was in my element!

(My friend Kelly and I - showing our Paper Love)

A Bit of Yellow

I know its a bit premature, especially considering where I live it has been known to snow clear into June before, but as I was standing outside this afternoon waiting for the school bus to drop Brayden off I spied the most wonderful sight.

I have two very little daffodils sprouting out of the dirt in the flower beds of my front yard.

That little bit of Spring has just made my outlook on an otherwise blah day significantly brighter.

Handmade Fusion

Creating outfits on etsy ♥

♥ Grey Ruffle Tank by Ellaina Boutique
♥ Berry Pendant by The Pebble Collection
♥ Hemp Gathered Bag by Uzura



♥ Where is your Love Top by Sealmaiden
♥ Red Ceramic Leaf Pendant by Georgie Designs
♥ Pussy Willow Bracelet by Lauren Ramirez

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Big Congrats to Melanie of Sweet Pickles Pottery for winning this weeks super fab giveaway courtesy of Elegant Paperie

Bad Picture Monday

I'm busy working on a scrapbook for my younger brother Ron as a graduation gift for this June. (Shhhh! Don't tell him, its a secret!) I was hunting through boxes of old pictures when I found a few old gems of my own.

Now I'm pretty sure that everyone has pictures like this. You know the ones I'm talking about, where whatever was happening in front of the lens seemed like a lot of fun and hilarious-ness at the time but 9 years later you look back and laugh relive the memories but tuck the picture back away never to see the light of day again because its pretty awful.

Well I'm going to start a revolution here! Introducing Bad Picture Monday :)

This photo is circa 2000/2001 (I don't remember which) I was a senior in high school and we were at an 80's themed dance .... dressed as Jem and the Holligrams. Yeah....

Feel free to laugh... it IS pretty stinking funny!

Inspire Sunday

This weeks bit of daily inspiration courtesy of the Flickr Mosiac Maker
♥

1. Type, Hype, Skype, Ripe, 2. ranunculus print, 3. 081113-IMG_0527-finalfallday2, 4. You got so much love in you! (52 Weeks; #9), 5. 3.1, 6. Multicolor flower windows, 7. Ranonkel Flower in Orange, 8. The Robin's Nest, 9. [pansies]

Etsy Feature: Elegant Paperie ♥

Etsy Feature: Elegant Paperie ♥

Shop Names:
Elegant Snobbery Illustrations
Elegant Paperie - Paper goods featuring my illustrations
Tootsie and Grace an illustrative collaboration with my 3 year old daughter

What do you make? I make very vibrant colored pencil and water color illustrations, as well as matching paper goods.

What are you inspired by? I'm inspired by all sorts of things, but mostly by color. I love rich, saturated colors and I think that shows in EVERYTHING I make. As far as the subject matter for my illustrations, I'm inspired by children, and the imaginations they possess. I try to make all of my illustrations creative and fun, perfect for kids.

Tell me about yourself: My name is Marisa and I'm a stay at home mom with two little girls who keep me very, very busy. I graduated from San Jose State University with a BA in Creative Arts and try to bring creativity into every thing I do. My days are spent doing one art activity after another, and I'm thrilled that my daughters are following in my footsteps and creating their own works of art. I aspire to be a children's book writer and illustrator and hope to have books published as soon as my daughters are in school and I have more time to myself in the day.

Other etsy shops you love:
(If I say Oh Mandie, is that just sucking up?? If not, than, I say Oh Mandie!)
I'm a huge fan of The Dreamy Giraffe. Not only are the illustrations the cutest I have ever seen, but KJ herself has been a huge mentor for me. I love Winklepots hand-painted clothes and accessories, as well as Sweet Pickles Pottery and LJ Design and Photography.
I'm an Etsy addict and I hate only picking a few... I could name favorites forever!

Advice for fellow artists/crafters? I say, do what makes you happy and don't be afraid to share it with the world. Don't let the fear of being a failure stop you from doing what you love best. I was terrified to open an illustration shop and held off selling my work for so long. Once I just decided to go for it, my happiness tripled. Now, I can't believe I was ever afraid of showing my work. Creating and sharing my illustrations truly makes me happy.


♥Giveaway♥

This weeks giveaway is seriously fabulous!! The super talented and awesome Marisa of Elegant Paperie is celebrating the opening of her fabulous store of paper goods and is offering a stellar giveaway to all of you wonderful blog readers!

One lucky winner will win a lovely set of Thinking of You Note Cards featuring the adorable Muschka Mouse!

How to enter:: RUN, dont walk, on over to Elegant Paperie and find a treasure that you love and leave a comment here stating your favorite item from this spectauclar shop! I guarentee that you'll have a hard time picking out your favorite because Marisa's work is incredible!

Want and extra entry into this giveaway?? Then just follow my blog!

Standard Rules apply ---> You must leave a way for me to contact you in case you win! On Thursday 03/19/09 I'll announce the winner!

Building a Brand

I've been trying the past few days to learn how to market myself more and build a brand and a style that I like and that is cohesive to my style and to what I make.

I never would have imagined it to be this hard!

I'm starting with my blog, changing the banner (yet again!) and the color palliate to something a bit more me, if there is such a thing, lol. All in all I think its a bit more user friendly, eye pleasing and simplistic.

I changed my shop banner also to something a bit more minimal but still matches the style of my blog as well. I'm officially carving out a small niche for myself. ♥

And also in a fit of insomnia I made a slew of new goodies for the shop, so look for them to start popping up soon.

Two Year Olds and Cameras Just Don't Mix

For some other worldly reason I thought that I would get the boys' pictures taken together. Now I'm decently skilled in the fine art of digital photography, or at least I like to think so (when it comes to taking pictures of my jewelry and journals at least... which coincidentally don't move.) But I can snap a cute picture of Brayden and Gage together and smiling every now and again. And silly me thought that it would be no problem to take them to a professional to have their pictures done.

Boy oh Boy was I dead wrong.

We got the The Picture People, which is an hour away from where we live, at 4:30 yesterday. I was super careful to set up our appointment at a time when Gage could take a nap and not be a crab for the event. Well, in the land of two year olds sometimes a nap just isn't in the cards, at least in their little minds it isn't anyhow. When Gage fell asleep in the car on the ride there I thought that it would be perfect; a nice little snooze to mellow him out right before the pictures.

Unfortunately he didn't want to wake up nor did he want to have his picture taken right after waking up and proceeded to scream bloody murder for around 30 minutes in the picture studio.

Finally someone gave him a giant punching balloon, which stopped the tantrum but left him running all around the studio away from the photo backdrop, chasing the thing and bopping the photographer in the face and in the cameras face as well. And of course in a matter of 5 minutes Gage was tired of the balloon, but still adamantly refused to sit down beside Brayden for a picture.

Next Gage discovered that he could walk behind the backdrop, which is on a great big roll thing for when they change them, like a tunnel. He decided he liked to hide back there, much to my dismay. And when I finally pulled him out of his new hidey hole, so that I would not be buying a new photography studio, it brought on whole other round of crying and tantrum throwing.

We're now about 45 minutes into this and I'm pretty sure that the photographer was able to click her camera about 3 times and none of the pictures are usable because there is either a giant green punching balloon in them or Gage is screaming his head off. I found a few blocks in a bin and gave them to Gage to try and stop his crying, which to my utter amazement worked. After drying his poor little eyes and positioning him beside his brother to play with the blocks the photographer was finally able to get a few shots between Gage throwing the wooden blocks at her head and his constant attempts to get up and carry the blocks around.

I should add that through all of this Brayden was a perfect angel and sat just as he was told and smiled beautifully for every single click of the camera. He may or may not have egged his brother on when it came to chasing the giant balloon around the room, but at that point I really didn't care and was ready to give up anyways.

I finally told the photographer that we had enough I was sure that there was not one usable photo in the bunch and that I would be stuck paying some outrageous sitting fee and getting nothing in return.

But by some miracle out of the pictures we got a few usable shots and one absolutely amazing one that I ended up getting a gigantic 12x24 print of for my wall and about 99% of my other prints of. I'm sure by looking at the pics you can tell which one it is :)

Morel of the story - I was a darn fool to think that I could get the boys' pictures taken and it would be as easy as pie, nothing ever is when you're dealing with a 2 year old boy!

PS: Sorry for the watermarks on the pictures, these are the ones I got from our session on the Picture People website, seeing as I didn't buy the crappy ones I didn't have any of those to scan into the computer, and the ones that I did have to scan into the computer I was far far too lazy to actually do.

A Long Time Coming

When I was 15 I kinda sorta tricked my parents into getting me a tattoo for my 17th birthday. Long story short, my dad said that I could get one when I was 17 (he messed up and meant to say 18 - oh the joy of daughters who beg you for ridiculous things when your busy and not really totally paying 100% attention) I asked him if he swore it, and he said yes.

Oh silly daddy... a teenage girl never forgets! So obviously the closer I got to 17 the more and more I reminded my parents to their bargain and on Sept 16th - my birthday I went and got a crescent moon with a shooting star wrapped around it tattooed on my right shoulder blade. Right then and there I was addicted and I knew it.

Somehow, as is the case with most things I grew to find out, life happened. I always planned to get another 10 or 50 tattoos. I love them! But then I moved out of my parents house and found that I really didn't have the extra cash for things like that when I was just starting out. Then the week before I was supposed to go get one I found out that I was pregnant with Brayden. Then, finally, again I had planned to go, had the design all picked out and everything. And, again, right before I was due to go I found out that I was pregnant with Gage.

But finally, FINALLY after 8 and 1/2 years since my first one, I went and got a tattoo. ♥

Its based off of a Moroccan henna design that symbolizes the strength of love in a marriage (sweet ain't I?)

And as for the placement on my wrist, well you can all thank Marisa of Elegant Snobbery the one who talked me into getting there. I certainly couldn't let a first grade teacher be more hardcore than me, a jewelry making, journal selling, momma of two :)

Its love ♥

Handmade and Vintage Fusion

Creating outfits on etsy while combining Vintage with Handmade
♥

♥ Vintage Lace Ruffle Top from amanda archer
♥ Enamel and Rhinestome Leaf Headband from BeSomethingNew
♥ vintage Cream Bow Slingback Pumps from DearGoldenVintage
♥ Vintage High Waist Mini from ramonawest
♥ Dahlia Collection lined in Navy Silk from FIAZCO
♥ arwen . ring . from trystbykerry

I Do No Like Them Sam I Am!

"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go."

Hey boys and girls - it's Dr Seuss Week!

If you didn't know, Monday was Theodor Geisel aka Dr. Suess's birthday as well as Read Across America Day and this whole week has been declared a holiday week to celebrate the brilliant rhymes of one of the greatest children's authors ever!

So how are you going to celebrate?

Well first off - read read read and maybe have some green eggs and ham for dinner!

You can also visit The Official Dr Suess Site which has tons and tons of fun for your kiddos including print and play activities and a Suessville Story Maker.

And if a piece of Dr. Suess history is what you want, then go to this website and read all about the stories behind 10 of the most popular Suess books written.

As for me - well I'll be reading to Brayden's kindergarten class on Thursday. We've narrowed it down to either The Lorax or The Yellow Bellied Sneeches - I just can't decide which!

"From there to here, and here to there, funny things are everywhere."

We Have A Winner!

BIG Thanks to everyone who left a comment and entered the amnazing Lauren Alexander Art Giveaway!

Congrats to eyeslikesugar who wins her choice of a free small print!
♥

"You're right; all of the art is amazing! I love The Day of Inner Peace, Strawberry Fields Forever, and The Patient Partner. But my absolute favourite is Honey Bunny! I love bunnies :) Thank you so much for offering this giveaway!"