An ode to old fashioned written correspondence…
Olive’s AirMail Linen Pillow Cover
Damn French Desserts’ Fragile Handle With Care Card
Kumquat Designs’ Letters She Wrote
The Brit Boutique’s Leather Correspondence Case
RubyDoll Creations’ Ostrich Feather Pen
Today marked Day 6 of my new life and I can’t say this loudly enough – I LOVE IT. I am relaxed, uber content and I feel more productive than ever. This afternoon I joined forces with Megan Lee Designs and Subversive Seamstress once again to continue planning the first art show and craft fair combo we’ve ever organized. 50/50 Pilsen will take place during the 40th anniversary of the Pilsen Art Walk this October. It is our attempt to examine the lines where art and craft intersect. More details will be coming soon, but I’m very happy with our work so far and Meg’s clean web design (which incorporates a certain someone’s embroidery talents…ahem).
Happy to also return to sharing my weekly finds with everyone, this time on a true weekly basis. Hooray! James Hopkins’ Vanitas fall under the “how did he/she/they think of that?” category. Other finds this week include:
Picking up where I left off way back when, I’m dedicating this week’s alphabet Etsy to something we all love – dessert.
3Fun’s Ice Cream Earrings
soapopotamus’s Sugar Wafer Cookie Mini Guest Soaps
Crafty Anna’s Play Food Crochet Pattern – Bake a Pie
devaniweaver’s Cupcake Dress with sprinkles and a cherry on top
Lolasroom Sweet Shop 5×5 print
Today marks Day One of my self employment endeavor. So excited! On the agenda: begin massive craft room clean-up, blog, and continue building Google map of potential stores to sell in. Oh yeah and use new fabric that looks like notebook paper to create an embroidery piece inspired by this:
Sigh. That never gets old.
Do you like free stuff? Do I even have to ask? If you love good design, shopping online and/or winning things, then you best head over to The Bright Side Project pronto. The BSP offers you a chance to win something new every day, just by answering a simple question. Its kind of ingenious, and I really wanted to be part of it. And you know sometimes that old adage “ask and you shall receive” really does hold true, as you can currently enter for a chance to win a $60 gift certificate to my Etsy store if you answer by July 10th. Just a hint – the more detailed answer, the better. Now go!
photo by msconnections
In a little over two weeks I will be embarking on a new, exciting adventure. On July 20th I will be transitioning from full time librarian/manager, part time crafter to crafting full time. A lot of factors went into this decision, but it is something that I’ve been wanting to do for a long time. Despite my love for librarianship, I have not really been happy at work for a while now. Being a librarian and being a manager are two totally different jobs and ultimately I have found that I do not like overseeing people. Overseeing projects? Love it. Being responsible for over a dozen very different human beings and their varying skill sets and personalities? Not my bag. And if there is one thing I’ve learned during my stint as manager, its this – you really need to like your job in order to be effective.
And so I decided to do both my staff and myself a favor by pursuing what really brings me true happiness right now – my arting and crafting. Over the last two years, while I have been growing more discontent at work, I have watched so many creative friends take this same leap and succeed. Now the definition of success is very subjective, I know. My lifestyle as I have known it for the last eight years will likely change. But I am willing to trade in the occasional dinner at a fancy restaurant for the freedom to spend my time managing me and my own projects. I have seen firsthand the heightened self satisfaction and overall quality of life that this has brought to many others and I believe it will happen to me too!
So stay tuned. One my of daily goals once I start my new life is to blog daily. Its a long held desire that I haven’t had time to pursue until now. And there are others too, but I’m sure I’ll be detailing all of them very soon…
After several months of not blogging, I am more than a bit excited to resume it once again. And without further ado, here are my weekly finds for this week. If only I had a Smitten Stick Kit – blogging would be even more fun a la moustache…
New Blogs: I’ve been spending some time sifting through all of the blogs that have highlighted my embroidery at some point and found some gems in the bunch so far. The Violet Hours, Sakura NYC, Little Ocean.
Music Downloaded: Sarah Borges and Broken Singles/The Stars are Out, Ha Ha Tonka/Novel Sounds of the Nouveau South, Nellie McKay/Normal as Blueberry Pie.
Ideas/Inspirations: Postcarden, Victory Garden of Tomorrow, Floating Shelves
Wow I really didn’t anticipate taking an entire month of from blogging! Planning for vacation and Renegade took up most of my spare time, but now I’m back and prepared to flesh out all of the posts that are living inside my head. I’ll start with the next edition of Alphabet Etsy – cityscapes.
prismpop’s DIY NYC
blockpartypress’s Urban Jungle Necklace
theraveniron’s CITYWIDE
beta’s Night Shade Women’s Tshirt
reVisionDesign’s Recycled Shopping Bag Coasters
While I organize my blog posts for the upcoming week, I’ll leave with my finds from this past week. Like these make-at-home paper owls from Mibo (available for download for only about $1.65).
Show Some Moxie 