breakfast & lunch

Every once in awhile, when the lighting is good and when inspiration strikes, I like to take pictures of my food. Here is a recent breakfast of blueberries and yogurt, and a recent lunch of home-made potstickers.

sweet mail

A reader recently shared with me an embroidery she had done of my twiggy design (the one used in my blog header), and then kindly offered to send it to me after I told her how much I liked it. Well, it arrived yesterday and I love it! Her work is beautiful - so clean and neat. I love that it's on a drawstring pouch which I'll be able to find many uses for. Isn't she sweet? Merci beaucoup Isabelle!

pocket workbooks

I was working on new jotter designs and ended up taking a little detour to make these mini saddle-stitched workbooks for the shop. They come in 3 different designs in 2 colorways, and can be filled with either blank, lined, or gridded paper. I'm hoping to have new jotters (the little perfect-bound notebooks) ready to put into the shop sometime next week. Hope you guys like these ones!

orla love

I dutifully made the trek out to a couple of local Target stores this morning in hopes getting my hands on the new Orla Kiely line. It looked like much of the tableware had showed up on the shelves before today, as much of the items were picked through already. I still managed to nab a few goodies though.






I first discovered Orla when I was in Tokyo a couple of years ago. I happened to walk into an Orla Kiely store in a shopping center there and could not believe my eyes. Patterns that were simple and bold yet classy. Deliciously colorful but not in a way that was too loud or distracting. Everything was of course way out of my price range, but I was thrilled to be able to take a small souvenir with me: a catalog that is a piece of art in and of itself. I pulled it out the other day for some inspiration and thought I'd share some pages with you.















Oh, and I'm on Twitter now!

More garage sale finds

Ever since finding the globe at a garage sale, I've been on the lookout for more signs around the neighborhood on weekends. It's so much fun finding hidden gems for just a couple of bucks. Talk about guilt-free shopping! Below are my most recent finds - a genuine Italian leather vintage purse, a little coin purse, and an old Penguin book with an irresistible cover.




Oh, and everything was only $1.75. Crazy, huh?

It came!

As some of you know, I won this incredible giveaway a couple of weeks ago from the talented Sharilyn of Lovely Design. Well, the lovely address file arrived today! I am utterly smitten. There is some big-time swooning going on here, my friends. Sharilyn, thank you so much, I absolutely love it! Thanks for the personal note and tags too - such a sweet touch.

Lazy days

I've slowed down a bit since my flurry of crafting activity in December. January seems to be filled with resolutions and new things for many, but I'm having a slow start to the new year. Maybe because sometimes I just need a break from my natural need to always be productive. I think it's a good thing. Things are slowly picking up though, and hopefully there will be a shop update soon!

Old books

Traci took me to an old/used bookstore near my house the other day where everything is around $0.50. Pretty exciting. I got the book of poems simply because the cover is so beautiful.
















And then I found a quilt book published in 1970. I love how playful they are.