hello

back from our camping trip.

i didn't get too many photos...i never do.

more to come in a few days.

5

Yesterday marked 5 wonderful years for us.

To celebrate, we went downtown.

{The Old Fashioned}
For pre-concert drinks
And intermission shots

{Concert on the Square}

What would a celebration be without champagne?
{bad pour}

{card made by shona. it was perfect}

{after a few drinks}
Leaving for our camping trip tomorrow.
See you soon.

Hello

Oatmeal and blueberries for breakfast today.

My new favorite.

Today I'm going for a morning stroll and then working on Yellow Canoe stuff.

After that I'm heading downtown to the art store for some supplies and then coming home to print more bees.

Class tonight.
Swimming tomorrow.
Solo camping trip on Friday.
Out of town to visit friends this weekend.
Working at my paycheck job on Monday and Tuesday.
5 years for Joe and I on Wednesday.
Packing on Thursday...
...for our 8 day camping trip that starts on Friday.
Joes birthday in 2 weeks.
And then July is pretty much over.

Did you know that we get up to 6 more hours of daylight in the summer than in the winter?

I can't stop thinking that winter will be here soon and that we have to get as many walks and camping trips in as possible.

So far there are 5 camping trips planned, including my solo one.

Can. Not. Wait.

Save the Bees, Please.

What's new?

For me it's this:

My first test print with the first linoleum block I've ever carved.

It will be available soonish, maybe sometime next week, and a percentage of the proceeds will go to honey bee research.

They need all the help they can get right now.

I made the print for my printmaking class. My 4th class is tonight at 6:30.

I have paper to cut (oh, how I miss cutting paper for journals) so I should be on my way.

Hope all is well.

Some Stuff

Yesterday and today Joe was out of town on business, which left me without a car for a bit.

I took a 6 mile walk and this beauty was fanning her wings on the sidewalk.
I went to the Farmer's Market in town and got some strawberries.
So for dinner I had strawberries and cheese and a sourdough English muffin with honey.
The cheese was from a different farmer's market last saturday.
The muffin and honey are both local as well, but I didn't get them from the market.

{my small container garden}

Tonight we are going to a Mallard's game for Joe's company picnic.

Usually I would be gung-ho about free beer, but I have been exercising and eating healthy for a bit now and I don't want a few beers to mess up my hard work! I'm sure it will just be Budweiser or Miller products, anyway, so I wont be missing much. BUT on the off chance that they are serving Capital, I will be all over it.

Capital is my new favorite brand when it comes to beer.
The neat thing is that Capital Brewery is less than a mile away from where we live.
You can go there and sit in their beer garden and listen to live music, and then you carry in your own food, which I think is pretty cool in this day in age.

Anyway, keeping this short because I have a few things to do before we head out...if Joe ever gets home from his business trip. He's in Oshkosh and I don't think he has left yet, meaning he'll be over an hour late! I predicted that...he never leaves work when he is supposed to.

Hope everyone is well.

Happy Birthday to You

Get out your party hats, Creature Comforts is turning ONE!

To celebrate, the lovely Ez has teamed up with a bunch of really great artists for a Birthday Giveaway Extravaganza!

Check it out!

So I don't have a whole lot to write about today but I want to share a few cute things I've found on Etsy recently.

{Yellow}

Lion Ring by Helis
$16
Sparrow and Hawk by Cole Gerst
$15

Wonderful Wisteria Pendant by DesignOptions
$38

Springtime Slipper Socks by CaitiJo
Sold, but they were $12

Moonlight Pods by SweetAnnieJane
$25

I'm very picky with my rings, but when I see one that I like, it must mean that it's really great...I love this lion one.

I already have this print by Cole Gerst, so I would really love to get this other one I mentioned as well.

I've been swooning over the wisteria pendant for so so long now.

The slippers are perfect. I almost bought them and then realized that I was waiting for 2 payments to clear from some buyers in my paypal account, so I figured I'd wait till they cleared. And now they are gone. I hope she makes more.

And since I love all things nature and all things block print, the moonlight pods print really called out to me.

Speaking of block prints, my printmaking class starts tomorrow night! I'm really excited.

-----------

Onto the next...

So I was contacted by Natural Home Magazine a little while back about the shelf that we painted and they wanted to know if they could use it in their publication.

Of course I agreed. But I must say that it was pretty difficult for me to get a copy- I went everywhere in town to find this magazine and nobody sells it. I actually thought they were going to send me a copy since that seems to be the customary thing to do, according to a journalist I know who used to write columns for a popular magazine.

I finally found a copy on Ebay, though, so all is well.

Close up here.

Well that's all. I have to finish cleaning the apartment now- I just wanted to slip out onto the balcony for a bit to enjoy this beautiful day we are having. It's been awhile since we've had weather this nice!

Hair

Okay so this is my new hair that's actually not new anymore...it's grown a little bit since I got it cut.

I wear it a little different every day.

Today I didn't do anything to it since I didn't have to go anywhere.

But this is what it looks like...

Okay that's all. I'm off to bed now!

No new post for the OPC blog today, but I did post over at the Yellow Canoe blog.

I still have to show you my new haircut, though! I chopped all my hair off about 2 weeks ago. Something I've been wanting to do since 8th GRADE. Oh well, that only took 9 years. Short hair is so much better, I am never having long hair again!

One of a Kind

So, I have come to the conclusion that planned posts feel more like a chore than anything else...which is why I've been absent.

I will just have to go with the flow and post when the time is right, rather than a set day.

Since I don't have much of a schedule or weekly routine, my days are all kind of meshed together.

I decide which days I want to work, at what time, and what stores I want to do (it's a merchandising job.)

On the days that I don't have to work, I am either cleaning, bumming around online, running errands, or working on Yellow Canoe stuff.

But sometimes I like to make stuff for us, too:

I bought the hooks from Pier 1 about 2 months ago.

I made the design specifically for us, but of course, I couldn't just keep the design for us...2 days later I was printing new key racks and necklace holders for Yellow Canoe.

Joe saw what I was doing and said "But I thought you made that for us..."

I felt so bad! I did say that it was just for us. I should have asked what he thought about me carrying the pattern over to the goods.

I made sure it was okay with him about 15 times before I listed the new pieces in my shop.

Looks like I will just have to make a different print that is just for us- REALLY just for us.

I've gotten a ton of requests for this rack- lots of people want this exact one with these exact hooks...something that I have to keep saying no to (plus, I can't get the hooks anymore.)

Sometimes you just need something that is only yours.

The bedroom is almost finished.

I'll post photos when it's ready to be seen.

Mostly Photos.

Finally got a dining room table and chairs.

From IKEA.

Table is the "Mella" Table.
Chairs are "Umbra" Chairs.
New grouping of art, I haven't had a place for these until now.
{Newly framed} print, by Jaime Zollars.
Art Card by Jaime Zollars.
Tickets piece by me- I needed something to balance out the works and wanted something quick. So I glued kraft paper to a piece of birch that was too damaged to use for Yellow Canoe and then added the 3 tickets.
I made up a story for the tickets- the girl and the bear on the card use them for unlimited rides on the mountain lift.
Of course, the whole ensemble was missing something, so I ventured to my "small things" toy box and found exactly what I was looking for.
A horse and a pig.
They don't have names yet.

Joe joined the WWF and we got 2 of these adorable reusable bags.
I cannot get over the baby polar bear pictured.

2 new pillows.
Left: Jamtartbaby
Right: Olive

That's all for now. I have more to post on Wednesday, though!

Some Stuff

Hi friends,

I don't have a whole lot of time for words but I thought I could at least show you a couple things I've been up to.

I'm always on a quest to decorate the house with high quality goods on while sticking to a small budget.

I came up with this piece a couple of weeks ago.

It's a frame that I thrifted which used to be a dark blue color and the picture was absolutely hideous. I had the frame for awhile and was just keeping it until I found something that would fit in it. I was walking down the aisles of target and saw a cloth napkin for $2.99 by Dwell Studio. I knew right away that it belonged in a frame. It was the last one they had, so I figured it wasn't meant to be a napkin any longer, since it couldn't be sold in a set.

So I went home and cleaned up the frame. Threw a few coats of brown on it, added a matte finish, and this is the end result:

I saw this post on design*sponge awhile back and thought it was perfect for my space.

So I got a roll of cork board and came up with a design. Since the cork board wasn't thick enough, I ran out to the craft store and bought a piece of foam board which was also cut in the same shape. I glued the cork to the foam board, attached some sawtooth hangers, and now I have a great space to hang my inspiration pieces:

I went with Joe to Chicago because he had to go for business.

I saw these beautiful flowers in the park.

I want to plant some of the purple ones as soon as we get a house. Hopefully in about a year.

On the way home from Chicago, we stopped at IKEA. I will show you guys what we got next time I post. I also want to show some of the great things I've gotten from Etsy recently! More in a few days.

Thanks for stopping by!