Jan. 12: Artists and inspiration

When I signed up at Instagram, I found and followed some of my favorite artists. It wasn’t an intentional effort to make Instagram my go-to place for happiness and cheer on social media, but that’s exactly what has happened. I not only enjoy seeing previews of unreleased projects and glimpses into their personal lives (OMG, Curly Girl’s twins!!), but they’re also a pretty reliable source of inspiration for me in creating my own art.

Mary Engelbreit – her style’s a bit cutesy for me nowadays, so while I don’t decorate around her art, I still appreciate and admire her work. The color! The lettering! Everything is hand-created and shows her incredible talent. On Instagram, ME occasionally shares snarky pieces from her unofficial “Engeldark” line—so unexpected and fun.

Curly Girl Design – I have loved her mixed media art for ages, and was crazy-excited to meet Curly Girl herself (Leigh) when she did a little open house at a gift shop in West Linn a few years back. She autographed a bunch of the stuff Sunshine and I bought—those be treasures.

Kelly Rae Roberts – what a surprise to find that this beloved artist lives in Portland! She sometimes posts photos of works in progress—mixed media is a fascinating process.

Katie Daisy – another Oregonian, Katie creates from the Bend area. Although I like her lettering best, she paints gorgeous shots of nature. Katie also posts lots of pics of her studio and the views from her studio. I think there would be so many more artists in the world if we could see what she does.

Emily McDowell – she does hand-lettering that’s just AMAZING.

Em Dash Paper Co. (Emily Poe-Crawford) – Another hand-letterer, beautiful work.

Robin Plemmons – this woman’s sense of humor is fabulous. I’ve ordered several of her cards for friends, and just recently acquired this piece.

The shipping envelope, hand-addressed by Robin, is a work of art in itself. Would it be weird if I framed that too?

Lisa Kaus – I bought a canvas of hers because it was adorable and the right colors for our bedroom, and THEN searched her up and found out she’s a Portlander too. What is with all these Portland artists??? I know what it is: in the right proportions, Portland weather + Portland coffee + Portland beer + Portland donuts = extraordinarily creative people.

When I find an artist with whom I really connect, I feel like we kinda share part of our souls. And on Instagram, especially, I so enjoy the photos they share as I scroll through my feed every day.

Jan. 5: Sharin’ some Etsy love

For some reason, a bunch of the ads shown to me on Facebook and Google lately have been for items with “I love you, a bushel and a peck” printed on them. It’s been ages since I’ve actually searched for anything like that, so why the ads are showing up now is mysterious. Maybe old cookies somehow surfaced? Is that a thing?

But YES, I’ve searched for the phrase before. It’s a song that both my mom and dad used to sing to me—though never at the same time, that I can remember—so it’s especially special to me. In fact, there are only two songs I can think of that both my parents sang over the years; the other is “A, You’re Adorable.”

One of the coolest things about Etsy is being able to find handmade items with semi-obscure phrases or song lyrics. Today I want to share a few of the fun things I’ve found on Etsy, only some of them lyric-related. If you’ve never shopped Etsy before, let this be a very brief intro to the wonderful goodies available there! (Not to mention the beauties of Dear Girl ~ Jewelry with Intention. Ahem.) Click the image to visit the store and get more info on the item pictured.

So, yeah, Etsy is pretty much the best place ever. You’re welcome. :)

Sep. 22: Where do you shop?

It’s Day #22 of the blog challenge, and I think I’m getting a little tired of being told what to write. Today’s topic:

Where are your top five places to shop for you or your kids?

Easy answer:

1. Amazon
2. Amazon
3. Amazon
4. Amazon
5. Amazon

For realsies, whenever I Google an item I’m interest in purchasing, 90 percent of the time I find it for sale on Amazon.  Shoes, makeup, housewares, food, electronics, gift items… it’s all there. The free two-day shipping with Prime makes it’s almost as fast as shopping at the mall, but with way less hatred of humanity. (I really really REALLY am not a fan of the mall.)

But since I’m on the subject of shopping, I’d like to share a few more stores from which I’ve recently made purchases. I don’t shop at any of them regularly, but I check out their inventory often enough that sometimes I’m able to find exactly the thing I didn’t even know I was looking for.

• craftcuts.com. I wanted an “M” for the picture wall in the living room, but not just a plain ol’ “M,” a pretty one. Craft Cuts offers letters in a gazillion sizes and thicknesses and fonts, unfinished or painted in your choice of a color. Here’s what I ended up with (‘scuse the blurry and slightly crooked pic):

• Fonts for Peas. Cutest fonts EVER, and they’re free! You can even get your handwriting made into a font. I love this little “store.”
• Audiko.net. Ringtones and alert tones for your phones. So much to choose from, and you can even make your own.
• A new (to me) site I’ve been checking out lately is Zulily, which has some adorable stuff and a little bit of everything. They recently featured an Anne Taintor collection of items I hadn’t seen before—so fun! Other similar shopping sites are Fab, Brickyard Buffalo, Jane.com, and Rue La La.
• BookBub. Choose your favorite genres of books and get an email every day with a short list of free and discounted e-books.
• Since Mother Mary and I started getting creative with beekeeping supplies last year, I’ve been looking for just the right containers for the different potions we’ve created. The Jar Store is an excellent resource, whether you’re a crafty type or not.
• If you like containers, there’s The Container Store, of course. But have you checked out Poppin and See Jane Work? Get ready to drool.

What are your favorite shops? Assuming you occasionally shop outside of Amazon…

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If you’re a blogger and want to do our blog challenge with us, let me know and I’ll send you our list! Otherwise, tune in here (and on Sherilee’s happy little blog) every day in September.

Apr. 4: Daybook

First and most importantly, happy birthday to my dear friend The Lovely Deanna Gutierrez! Today I send you my very best wishes for an utterly enjoyable day.

Today…

Outside my window... I see rain, rain, and more rain. Pffft.

This weekend, I… had lots of down-time. My throat is hurting so much that it makes my whole body hurt. For the last several days I’ve awakened thinking I NEED TO STAY IN BED TODAY TO GET BETTER, but every day I find a reason to get up and go out and make my body fight harder. This is not good.

One other thing I did this weekend was watch Deliverance. I’d never seen it start-to-finish, and I was flipping channels and it had just started, so I settled in. What a disturbing movie—me no likey. I can see why it was such a big deal at the time, though. This afternoon I ran across an episode of SVU in which Ronny Cox played a physician, and I felt kinda sorry for him even though he was a bad guy, just because of what happened to his character in Deliverance.

It’s OK if you’re doing this right now:  

I deserve it.

I am thankful that... the kids’ report cards that came home last week show they’re both doing well in school. Proud momma.

I am working on... art projects in my office. If I feel they’re complete enough this week, I’ll post pictures.

I need to tell you about something I love: the iPhone app iAssociate 2. It’s a word association game and really fun.

I am kind of excited because… this weekend is my 25th high school reunion. Actually, the class of 1986 is celebrating in October, but it’s alumni weekend at the school so I’ll play along. And by playing along, I mean that I might go into the school building around church time on Saturday morning but there is NO WAY I’m going in and sitting down for the actual church service because, well, me sitting in church could very well start the apocalypse. Our class is meeting for lunch at Spaghetti Factory, and because of Lisa’s and my very delinquent planning, it’s most likely going to just be me, Lisa, and April there. At least I know we’ll have fun.

A few plans for the rest of the week: work, port flush appointment, lunch with Kim F’n and other fab friends, and a tour of the school Katie will be attending next year.

Here is picture for thought I am sharing: It made me giggle.

Have a good week, my pretties.

Want to blog your own Daybook? Here’s the info: The Simple Woman’s Daybook.

Mar. 14: Daybook

Today…

Outside my window... the sun is shining. Happiness. It’ll be overcast later, but I plan for the happiness to continue.

This weekend, I… worked on my office a little more. Did I mention that I painted it last weekend? I did. So now comes the fun part of putting it all back together. We moved two of the bookcases upstairs and Victor secured them to the wall (he doesn’t trust that I’d get out of the way if they fell over, I guess). I filled up the shelves with a selection of books. As I organized the books (by genre, not by color—I tried; I can’t!), I kept asking myself if I really needed them… so I made a stack of “fine, I’ll get rid of these books!” The stack wasn’t nearly as big as it should have been, but I filled up a large box for Goodwill. That’s at least a shelf’s worth. Yay me!

Oh yeah, this weekend I also met Curly Girl!

I am thinking... about going to Medford for a few days next week. We have no plans for spring vacation. How dumb is that? It’s like it just suddenly snuck up on me, six days off school to try to keep the kids ocupado. Vic has to work all week, so it’ll just be me and the kids traveling, which sucks, but it’ll still be more interesting than staying home all week.

I am thankful that... last week’s tsunami did relatively small amounts of damage along the west coast. Considering how hard Japan was hit, I’d say the long term effects of our suffering is MUCH smaller.

I am working on... a nervous breakdown with all I’ve taken on lately. I’m only kind of joking about that. I need to take advantage of my free time to refresh my soul, and my busy time to optimize productivity. Oh, and the Law & Order: SVU marathon. Can’t miss that.

My favorite word/phrase lately is... “crap on a cracker.” I especially like to yell it: CRAP ON A CRACKER!! Hey, it’s better than dropping an F-bomb in front of the ever-alert pre-teens in my house.

And speaking of crackers, I need to tell you about something I love: Cracked Pepper & Olive Oil Triscuits. This is kind of a big deal because I HATE regular Triscuits because they’re like eating shredded wheat cereal without milk (which I also hate, duh). Sunshine had mentioned these new Triscuits many times and I was kinda YEAH WHATEVER THEY’RE DRY AND GROSS but then I tried them once and now I love them. With a thin slice of sharp cheddar? Mmmmm. Or maybe a little melted cheese? Oh yes. Very yummy.

A few plans for the rest of the week: a work meeting, a fun meeting, a Silpada party, a PTO meeting, a basketball game, another restaurant night at CPK, and probably more high school reunion planning. Oh, and RECRUITING! Have y’all joined my Relay for Life team yet? You oughta. Right now there are just five members—my family and Val. I need more than five.

Here is picture for thought I am sharing: It’s art from Curly Girl Designs. I’ve decided I can’t pick a favorite, but there are definitely some that touch me in a special way, and this is one of ‘em.

Want to blog your own Daybook? Here’s the info: The Simple Woman’s Daybook.

Mar. 12: We met the Curly Girl girl

This afternoon Sunshine and I went out on a date. It was more fun than a lot of dates I’ve been on lately, and I didn’t even have to put out. We went over to West Linn to meet an artist. I know that doesn’t sound all that exciting, but the artist is the one behind these designs:

Now you can see why we were so excited, right? I love this girl’s stuff. “This girl” has a name and it’s Leigh, and this is her web site and here’s her blog. Now you can know everything about her. We got there just as she was setting up, and I asked, “Are you Leigh?” She said yes, and I blurted out, “We LOVE you!” Yes, I get flustered when meeting talented people whom I admire (remember how I tempted Pamela Ribon to take out a restraining order against me?). I brought a magnet that Sunshine gave me (the snorting one above) for Leigh to sign, and I also bought some new art. We chit-chatted a little. Then it was Sunshine’s turn.

Sunshine had a 2010 wall calendar and showed Leigh all the appointments and important dates she’d marked. They talked about how people don’t write on calendars anymore; Sunshine’s all OLD SCHOOL and Leigh was super-impressed. She especially loved that Sunshine asked her to sign the calendar on a day where she’d written “pap smear.” That was pretty much my favorite part too.

(I know this photo’s all blurry and bad, but it was right after Sunshine asked Leigh to autograph “that” day. LOVE. IT.)

The store (Dragonfly Greetings & Gifts, one of the cutest stores EVER) had tons of different Curly Girl Designs products. I’ve always thought Hallmark had a decent selection, but Dragonfly had a bazillion different things. It was hard to choose what I liked best; everything Leigh makes is absolutely adorable. She even had drafts of some new Curly Girl designs that will be coming out in May. I can’t wait to get this one:

The store carries lots of other items, of course, and we couldn’t help shopping around. Sunshine got the “Table Manners” art below, and I bought the “Moms Rock” plaque for my newly-painted office/momma cave.

Yeah, we totally messed up their display with our purchases. They didn’t seem to mind.

A little somethin’-somethin’ at Willamette Coffee afterward, then a little more shopping. It was a perfect day with my Sunshine Girl.

Mar. 10: Truth

(Click the text to see what else this fab artist sells in her etsy store. <singsong voice> Love it!)

Sep. 24: IDCEAYWTPFriday

It’s Friday, and that means you get a post called I Don’t Care Enough About You to Write in Transitioning Paragraphs Friday.

• This has been my Week o’ Val™. We went out to lunch Monday, she was my chemo buddy Tuesday, we sat through a meeting together on Wednesday, chatted (felt) each other up yesterday after school, and we’ve got Happy Hour plans for this evening. How lucky am I?
• Answer: (very lucky!)
• We held our first PTO meeting of the year the other night and had amazing attendance! We board members were quite happy about that. It’s exciting to start the year out with lots of interest, and it makes us feel like all our hard work is worthwhile. Yay! Next up: Back to School Night, Donuts with Dad, and the big-big-biggie: Jog-a-Thon.
• I wrote a few weeks ago about Loveliest Lori’s emergency medical situation that scared us all half to death. I’m pleased to say she’s doing better now and recuperating at home. I know I’ve mentioned that her brother-in-law is the drummer for a little band called Journey, and here he is, serenading Lori at her home in Salem. She’s trying very hard not to cry throughout his performance. I cried just watching the video—not sure how she held back the tears.

• You know what’s funny? I can ask my husband to do a little Internet research on very specific Jog-a-Thon stuff and he does it for five minutes and gets bored. But I tell him one of my friends is looking for info on a trip to Walt Disney World and he’ll spend two hours on an email to her. Of course, I do not have a point in stating this fact. Nope. (Also, Ms. Secretly-Planning-a-WDW-Vacation, you can expect that email later today.)
• Remember when I got bit by a dog? I took a picture of the bite a few days after it happened and even though it’s all blurry, you can still see the weird bruising and spots where that friggin’ little dog’s teeth broke the skin. It’s taken forever to heal, too, since my immune system is in less than tip-top shape. This is a little smaller than actual size:

• I know, right?
• Speaking of dogs, Oliver’s suddenly doing much better with the potty training. Yay! He’s becoming a bit of a barker, though—he’s kind of freaked out by people he doesn’t know. It’s weird. I’m doing my best to make sure he gets familiar with people who come by often, because the last thing we want is more of the insane barkiness we already have. If you’ve been to our house, you know of what I speak.
• For my best girls, if this weren’t totally inappropriate to hang on the walls of our homes, I would get it for each of you. I’m just not sure we want to deal with hearing our kids say it to all their best friends:

• I was never all that amused by Keyboard Cat, but somehow DJ Kitty made me LMAO. See if it makes you LYAO too.

Tons of things to do at school today. I need to get out the door. Have a great weekend!