I have finally taken almost all of my maniacal sketches I created these past couple months and turned them into artwork for some new custom stationery stamps for the shop.  I am really excited to show you how you can incorporate these into your wedding, personal / family stationery or general gift giving. I never ever put anything in the shop without making an actual live sample prior, I am all about quality control and I like to be confident that my designs can translate well and make a proper impression. The thing is, I have about 8 billion stamps with my and my husbands names or initials emblazoned on them; I need to branch out–that is where you come in!  This is but a small sampling of some of the new designs I have to make samples for so I am going to need to find a lot of names, dates, friends/family names, etc. There is a catch, (tiny one mind you), if you win I am going to need to test and photograph your stamp prior to it’s arrival to you, so if you are getting married this weekend and need to win your custom stamp like yesterday, it’s not going to happen. That being said if you get married this weekend (congrats!) you can still use these on your thank you stationery. If you have been married for 20 years or know someone that has, this makes a mighty sweet gift.  Heck, you can adjust this to be for you and only you the possibilities are endless!

Yes, another storm. I had no idea that it would be so rainy here, neither did my little Frenchie. Bella is not keen on this whole sky suddenly spilling buckets of rain scenario. I had grand plans to do an awesome giveaway today, but with the storm here I lost my !@#*&%! post I  so laboriously put together, gah! I have every intention of re-creating it and posting it later this afternoon and I do hope you come back to play. Until then Bella and I will be shaking our fist/paw at the sky, uttering a phew choice swear words and getting back to business as usual.

My husband and I have been trying to explore our new hometown spending little to no money.  It has been an interesting challenge for sure. We weren’t big spenders in Los Angeles, but we did enjoy a meal out a few times a week. We have been Googling like it’s going out of style to get the lay of the land.  For anyone that just moved to a new city in the U.S. there’s an interesting forum called City Data that you can pose questions to about everything from finding a new yogi to the cheapest farmers market in your area, it’s how I found my wood working class. I don’t know about other areas of the country but the City Data for our area is really active. We were notified that blueberries are ready to be picked and where to pick them, I love that!  We looked up hiking trails close by (not spending includes gas to get some place).  We found a trail that was relatively close to our house, free parking and miles of walking, biking (or even horseback riding) to be had. I brought my honking camera and promptly regretted it as it was heavy and I was sweating profusely from the moment I stepped out of the vehicle.  I consider myself active, but I don’t work out so I figured we would walk a mile and turn around and eat lunch.  Have I mentioned that my husband is obsessed with working out?  After each mile he would request we do, ‘just a half mile more‘.  I haven’t worked out for about 7 years so each additional mile was torture and when we finally stopped I knew we would have to turn around and do more. I ended up walking six miles in oppressive Southern summer heat. I think I sweated the equivalent of my body weight and would like to tell you that I look like a waif now but heat also makes your body parts swell so my hands and feet look like they were incased in sausage casings, my bright red face was a sight as well.  Good thing my husband thinks I am the bee’s knees because I would have scared off a lesser man. Another good thing was that I was too pooped to flog my husband for not turning around at the one mile mark.

Since both you and my husband have been asking, ‘What exactly did you get at Ikea?’ I feel obliged to share and justify my purchases. I bought the wrong Expedit as mentioned, I was under the very wrong impression that I bought the one that you could use as a room divider, it’s fine that mine is smaller I have to go with an alternate plan for it now, but I could use the storage space. I also bought the smaller version that I plan to turn horizontally and put on casters. Oh, you don’t see casters in the above image? That’s because in my haste and stupidity I didn’t buy them so the caster idea is out of the picture for now. I do want them though because this piece is being put in my shipping corner of the studio and with the casters on it, it can double as a tabletop for packing.  Without the casters it’s just a low bookshelf.  I also had intentions to buy two large versions of the industrial lamp shown, I have the perfect high ceiling to put them in and currently the ugliest (okay, not prettiest) fixtures up there now.  When I drove the 3 hours to Ikea they only had one which just wouldn’t work.  It’s fine because I think I changed my mind (surprised?) and will be adding plain industrial ceiling fans. I got the smaller plug-in version to go in the packing area.  I have carpeting in the studio, not my fave at all.  It’s not hideous it’s a nice neutral color, although it is plush (again not my favorite).  I got the Tarnby rug (the seagrass looking one) to go under my desk it hides the carpet nicely. I thought about adding the Flokati somewhere, but I think I had low blood sugar because there’s not one spot it would work in the studio–I think it’s going into the bedroom. Where’s the desk?  Well, I had a diy go awry.  I decided to do a variation of this desk.  I didn’t need it as long so I bought an unfinished door which would make it 80″ long. The door was hollow so I figured I would glue two pieces of pine with super strength Gorilla glue to the underside of my door and then drill the legs into that. I stained it a dark walnut and kept the legs the stainless steel. I was all smug with my innovative self when after I brought the desk upstairs the legs proceeded to rip from the underside.  I can still use it and I am (for now) but it is rather wobbly and feels like it will collapse any moment. I just need to replace the top with something more substantial but I am diy weary right now. The Ikea assemblers should arrive any moment now so we can cue the angels singing. Almost there…