vacation...

these are our place cards. pinecones with rusty red embroidery thread holding the tags in place.

as of today, i am taking a blog break! tomorrow is the rehersal and then sunday is THE day.

i still dont know what im doing with my hair. haha. i mean i have some ideas, but....hmm. it is difficult since i have bangs. i think im just going to wear my bangs like normal and then part my hair to the side and tease it and put it up...it all depends on how crappy of a job the haircut lady did last night. haircuts and i dont get along. so i only go to get it cut about once every 1-2 years. well, i guess i love a good haircut, but how would i know really...ive never had a haircut that i like. but whatever...its only hair. anyway, i will figure SOMETHING out for my hair. if not, thats fine too. at least i know how to apply makeup now...something i just learned a week or two ago. err, at least i think im doing it right- haha.

okay well its back to bed for me, folks. today will be a SUPER busy day followed by 2 more really busy days.

take care, all. good luck to everyone who has store openings, exhibits, new design releases, interviews, and all that good stuff in the next couple of weeks. i will be checking in on all of you around october 3rd!!!

....

aaarg! sooo, we cant find pine cones ANYWHERE! we need them for the wedding...in one week....ah, well...i'll figure SOMETHING out, im sure.

===============================

i leave you with this:

tada

OKAY! the parade of pictures like i had promised this morning!!! finally i have a new digital camera (thanks mom!!!).

new pocketbooks! slowly being listed on my etsy site.and my newest thing- illustrations!

and some wedding stuff!

my bouquet:
our unity candles:

cake topper! squirrels!

our card box...tree!

okay, so something is weird with this camera, my pictures are looking fuzzy and its not cool at all. i used it the same way i would have used my old camera. and i noticed that the "white balance" is not...balanced. hmph. maybe i will just have to mess with it more. man, i hope everything turns out to be good with this thing. wish me luck!

yay!

i finally got a new camera! my life is finally back to normal again!!!

etsy, here i come!

ive been busy making things. all kinds of things. there will be a parade of photos tonight if blogger cooperates. lots of them! i have SO much to show you!

i want to show you guys my dress but its at the tailor. i had joe take pictures before, but thats when it broke! but now my dress will look even better than it did before! so it will be great. i am picking it up tomorrow. we'll see if we can get some pictures.

okay i am off to run some errands my friends. stop by later on tonight for the parade! (wouldnt it be cool if i could throw you candy through the internet? dang.)

its too early in the morning.

hello friends! sorry i have been away, but blogging without pictures is so boring to me, and ive run out of things to say without using pictures. well, and i guess ive been kind of busy here and there, but you know.

anyway, everything will return back to normal after we return from our honeymoon. or at least i hope things will be semi normal again!

what to expect in october:

-new journals, and LOTS of them!

-tons of new pocketbooks

-hundreds of tags

-new designs!

-monster related things

-new moleskines

what to expect early november:

-my holiday card line (im super excited about this one!)

-gift bags, perhaps (i used to make all of my giftbags by hand, i might start again)

-more journals.

-tree ornaments!!! i wanted to do this last year and ran out of time, but im shooting for this year!

-and a few things i cant tell you about yet!

dont forget, i have things that i want to show you from before my camera died, so maybe those will be on here soon too.

take care!

so lately ive been pondering a few things. i would like some input if you have any to offer. im trying to become more green friendly, as some of you may know. lately i cant help but feel almost guilty about binding journals. i absolutely love the crisp 80# drawing paper i use for the pages, and i have received a lot of great compliments about the thick paper. but knowing that the paper i purchase is not recycled is starting to bother me...there goes another tree. i havent checked into recycled paper all THAT much yet, but i did find some large artist pads that were recycled (i cut all my paper to size from 18"x24" paper) but wow, they are expensive. i think this one was $12 more than the ones i use now. i get approximately 5-6 journals from one pad of paper, so each journal would have to be at least $2 more. im already raising my prices since i value my time more now than ever. not a huge price jump, but im thinking of going up to $26-$30 per journal, without the recycled paper, so that would actually be $28-$32 bucks each if i did start using it. do you think there are enough eco friendly people who would understand? i know many crafters are into this, but i really dont see this appealing as much to the people who live in downtown chicago. or maybe they are even MORE into it since they have use of public transportation and everything? i dont know. i guess im not asking if its worth the "risk" of switching. but more along the lines of will enough people appreciate it and not be set off by higher prices. hmmm.

today i started making tags for art vs. craft! yay! im starting my christmas cards soon too! i have new designs coming soon, which include more autumn inspired things- a cornucopia, feather, mittens, a campfire, acorns, etc. followed by more winter things- hot tea, snowflakes, icicles, and more.

i am also making christmas ornaments this year, HOPEFULLY, to sell at the fair. i have a lot of ideas for those, but the most exciting ones are the japanese craft book inspired ones- little fabric sachets with my designs printed on them. i cant wait for those, i really hope i can make time for them!

anyway, i have to get to bed now. its getting late and i have a bunch of stuff on the agenda for tomorrow.

oh guess what! my brother finally fixed my bike (something i could have done myself, but im not the one who left it behind the car!) so i will be able to take long rides now! and visit the horses too! :)

im back

im back from the trip! it was a nice relaxing weekend. i cant wait till we have a house with a fire pit! we spent many hours in front of the fire.

i have some good news- i have been accepted for art vs. craft in milwaukee! im really excited about this, i started making stuff to sell today. im having a hard time figuring out just how much inventory i should bring. i mean, i know i should bring as much as possible, but i dont know how much that is. i am dropping down to 3 days a week at my "real" job as soon as we return from the honeymoon, which will give me enough time to make make make.

not much else is going on...the fan on my hard drive is acting up- uuugh. we got a speeding ticket on the way home vacation. he cut us a break, but its still going to cost almost a couple hundred bucks. damn! well, i wasnt driving, joe was, but i am going to help him pay it since i know i would have been doing the same speed limit if i were him!

our wedding is in 19 days. i should be freaking out but for some reason i just dont even care at this point! it sounds terrible, i know, but its just a day...right? ha ha.