fff vol 21

Favorite finds from the past week:

1.  Small pouch belt:

Small pouch at Christinas on Etsy

I am in love with these pouches that you can slip on your belt (she sells the belts too). I never use a purse, and usually am just carrying around my wallet in my pockets. But this is just too cute, and WAY cuter than an 80's style fanny pack! Might have to get one with my birthday money. Plus be on the look out because I have booked her for an up coming Etsy feature

2. A new blog I have stumbled across:

The Salad Days

Pacing the panic room might just be one of my new favorite blogs. I sat the other night reading months of posts. The writing and photography just draws you in. Please go check it out if you have never been before.

3. Please can I move in?

oasis in NY

I love houses that are so bright and white. Some day, when my house is renovated, this will definitely be the look I will style it in.

4. Cherries are in season..

Cherry Hand Pies

You would think that my love of pie and the love of my favorite fruit would mean I have made many, many cherry pies in my life. But you would be wrong. I've actually never made a cherry pie, mostly because anytime I get cherries, they are gone within the hour. But tomorrow, my quest will be to buy cherries at the Farmer's Market and make up some yummy hand pies! 

5. This tee shirt please..

Super Mega Fun

I had a pretty good birthday, made it through without a breakdown. I'll share some of my goodies in another post. I've just been sort of MIA. I have a big project planned for the weekend (if the weather cooperates) We are slowly removing siding off the house and exposes the original clapboards (who would cover up clapboard with hideous siding?!) so it's a couple step process - removing siding - sanding down the old paint off the clapboards - fixing a few rough patches - and painting. I've taking down the majority of it, the only stuff thats left are in areas too high for me to reach with the ladder I have. I'm going to have to ask the neighbor to borrow her crazy big ladder.

Any plans for the weekend? It's supposed to be hot and I don't want it to be! I soooo hate hot weather. Alright. I have today off, so I need to get some planting done before the morning hot sun comes out! I have to move everything I planted the other weekend because Polly and Ella have wrecked most of it. The poor hostas have like one leaf left on each of them. They have decided they want to run and play in there. OI! Lola is the only good girl that starts to run toward them and then change course and get to the steps. 

old lady..

So..this week I am turning a year older. I don't feel very happy about that. Remember when you were a kid and how excited you would get about your birthday? Planning your party and deciding on what kind of cake you wanted, picking out and giving a list of birthday present ideas to your parents? My birthday is in the end of June which meant I always had a pool party. Growing up we had a really nice inground pool, I was a fish, swimming every day during the summer. My mom used to yell at me to get out half the time because I was in there so much. Ah..summers of being a carefree kid. 

Even in my early twenties I was pretty excited about my birthday. I think 25 is where I decided I didn't like getting older. I kept gauging myself.."I should have been doing this by now.." "I should have been at this stage in my life" "I should have had a career I was happy in.." "I should have..." 

I wish I could turn that off in my brain. I wish I could just be happy with where I am at and be okay with that. I don't know if anyone ever really is truly happy with every aspect of their life at any given moment. I have hope that it exists. I could list off the things that would make me happy right now. They are very much different than the list I would have given you at 25. I am very content with the small things and am not materialistic whatsoever. I don't dream of the McMansion, the gas quenching SUV, the 2.5 kids and the white picket fence. 

My dream is simple. A teeny house (under 1000 sq feet) and an art studio in the middle of the woods (Colorado or Maine would be the ultimate), an old beat up micro car (i'd take a 60's fiat or mini), my husband, my dogs, and the ultimate dream of working for myself. This is definitely a very feasible dream. I never have wanted to be a millionaire - what do you do with that kind of money? Well, I guess I would travel just simply everywhere and I would randomly buy people all their groceries when I went to a market. K thinks I'm crazy because we were actually just talking about this over the weekend - I was at the market and the cashier asked if I was all set, I guess the guy behind me had moved the marker so he wanted to make sure his stuff wasn't mine. The guy simply said, "Oh she can pay for this if she'd like too!" and I looked very sad, and said "Oh, I'm sorry." He started laughing and asked what I was sorry for. I said, "because I can't afford to pay for your items as well." He looked at me, eyes wide, like I was crazy. He said , "Honey, you are supposed to say, 'I'm not paying for his stuff!' and turn back around". I said, "I'm sorry. But really, if I had the money I would have paid." He kept laughing and shook his head. I actually felt bad. Why on earth should I feel bad for not buying someone else's groceries for them?! I don't know. But truly, if I was wealthy (not even wealthy) but if I had no debts. I really would do those sorts of things just because I really like helping other people out. I mean, seriously, how awesome would that be to be in line and the person in front of you turn to you and say - "I have their bill as well." I really am going to do this some day. And do it often.

So back to turning a year older. Because of this and the crankiness I'm sure I'll be feeling on Wednesday, regularly scheduled posts will be on hiatus for the week. I just want some "me time" and some time to just think and plan my life so by next year, I am one step closer to my goal of my simple life.

So here's to turning another year older...

Buy Handmade vol 11

This week we are visiting North Carolina -

Name: Heather Knight
Age: 34
Occupation: Ceramic Artist/ Vintage dealer
Etsy Shop: elementclaystudio/elementvintage 

Tell us a little about yourself. 

I have been working with clay on & off for almost 20 years,which sounds crazy to me, and I feel so blessed to have been able to follow my passion and make it into a viable career. I finished my second round of college with a BFA in Ceramics in 2006, opened a group studio in 2007, and thanks to Etsy, was a full time ceramic artist by 2008. 

    

I am an overachiever of sorts, compulsively clean, organized & detail oriented. I live with my husband and two dogs in Asheville NC and am blessed to have a beautiful studio in the River Arts District right next to the best brewery in town.

When did you start creating and how long have you been on Etsy? 

I have always been creative, I have done a lot of drawing & painting since I was very little, and discovered ceramics in high school. I committed to ceramics when I went back to college and started my etsy shop in the summer of 2007. 

How did you come up with your business name, is there any special meaning behind it?

I was working in the kitchen at a local restaraunt and my friend James & I went back and forth on names while chopping vegetables one morning. He asked," is there a part or peice of machinery that you could use? " And I declared, "ELEMENT" --- the coils that heat up the kiln. It was magic and perfect! Element Clay Studio was born.

How would you describe your creative process?

I rarely come up with new stuff, or if I do, it may stay in my head for years before I successfully exectute it. I would call my creative process slow & gradual. I collect imagery and ideas and let them marinate over time. I try not to rush things, and as much as production can get me down at times, it allows me the freedom to create new work slowly. 

Where do you get your inspiration from? 

My inspiration comes from nature. Everything I see has the possibility of being translated into my artwork. What always surprises me is what I can become obsessed with, the variety and randomness of it. I am currently in love with exotic mushrooms and the centers of flowers. 

I usually collect imagery from the internet after I get an idea, but i have bowls of stuff I pick up on my walks all over my studio. You have never seen so many seed pods and sea shells in your life!

What is your most cherished handmade item? 

I have tons of them. My ceramics collection is pretty expansive, and each piece tells a story. we have a greenhouse window in the kitchen and its filled with my mug collection. I can tell you who made each one, when I got it, and maybe a little factoid.... about the maker or the trade I made. I can't ever have enough ceramics.

Apart from creating things, what do you like to do?  

If I am not in the studio you can find me hunting for treasures for my vintage shop, cooking something delicious on my 1970's stove, or decorating my house. If I am not doing any of those things, I am most likely on a walk.

What are your future goals and where do you hope to see yourself in 5 years? 

My big dream now is to keep growing my business while growing a family, I want to find and capture that ever elusive life/work balance and keep it! And of course, I want people to know, within 5 years, that Element is the place to go for fine, hand crafted porcelain.

Do you have any advice for anyone thinking about opening their own shop? 

One of my professors in school had a saying, "time on task".....meaning In order to hone your skills, in order to succeed at anything, you must spend your time doing it. The more time you spend, the better the outcome. This for me, as an Etsy shop owner, means that I should spend time on my photography, marketing, customer service, business plan, and my products. It takes work, discipline and dedication to become a successful Etsy seller, but I have never done anything more rewarding in my life. Etsy has enabled me to make a life doing what I love to do.

ELEMENT

fff vol 20

My top five tee-shirts for this week come from Gama-Go. The mister and I have many of our tee-shirts from Gama-Go. I love them for so many different reasons. One top reason is that the shirts are so, so soft and really comfortable. Plus it's always awesome to have something that is limited edition. I love that I don't see other people locally wearing the shirts I have, it gives me the satisfaction of feeling unique and that this shirt is JUST mine (hahah I know they aren't but when you live in a small community I know that I won't see anyone wearing the same thing and thats a cool feeling, especially when people are envious of my collection! hahah)

Tall drink of water

Racoon Cap

Bird Cat

Heroic Heron

Paper Blossoms

Peacock Tree

(okay, yes I picked 6, but thats because I couldn't narrow it down!)

If you have never stopped over to GAMA-GO, check them out. They have lots of fun stuff (they are also the only company I buy my wallets from).

Hope everyone has a great weekend, I have another amazing shop to profile on Sunday so please make sure to come back and check it out. Any good plans for the weekend? 

gw vol 10

This weekend I worked on the back yard a little bit. How to describe the back of my house...

Ok, so the kitchen is in the back of the house and there was a door that led you down to either the basement or through another door out to what we lovingly called "the stinky room". "The stinky room" was this extra room, with a platform, leading down to a dirt floor and then taking you outside. So in order to get into our backyard, we always had to go through that area. It was basically a lot of wasted space because of the way it was laid out.

Last year, K decided he was going to convert "stinky room" into his motorcycle workshop, and block off the door going into it so that it would only be accessible from outside. Because of him taking over the "stinky room", we needed a new way to get out to the backyard. We were able to find a really fun Dutch door at an antique shop and he took out one of the windows on the back wall, cut a hole in the wall and installed the door. The foundation of our house sits up quite high so we had to buy dirt and make a big dirt mound and built in stone steps (all the stones were actually found buried, yes buried, in our yard!)

Moving on! So the dirt pile was starting to just breed lots of weeds. It was getting to be quite a mess. So this weekend..I started operation clean up. 

Here are the steps following lots of weed picking - i did not pull the ones on the right side of the picture because that side scares me! Right now it drops off to go down into the basement. My luck if I went over there I would have fallen in. So anyway..steps without weeds..and including an Ella butt.

The little ground cover you see all over the left side of the picture I had gotten to fill in for the steps, then realized it would look dumb and get completely wrecked with the dogs running up and down the stairs. So I moved it over and went out to my side garden (that has been completely taken apart) and stole a bunch of flowering, creeping thyme. I love this stuff..hopefully it takes.

Next we had bought three hostas, seriously two years ago and never planted them. They were still alive and definitely ready to be planted! I lined the steps with those and then mister reminded me there were a bunch that were growing in our front yard behind our lilac bushes. I went up there- and to my surprise found a lot!

I also had bought a few cool succulents and planted those as well..

Polly decided she didn't like the watering can and flipped it off the stairs. Can you believe how many hostas I had and didn't even know about!? I just need to get some mulch and this weekend I'm also getting some flowers from my parent's house. She doesn't know what they are, but I saw them when I was there Sunday. They are taking over a spot she doesn't want them to be and told me to have at them. So I thought they would look really neat in between all the hostas because I don't care if they take over the entire mound. I'll take pictures of them this weekend after getting them maybe someone can identify them for me.

So it's slowly getting there. It will look tons better once I get the flowers and mulch combined in. Our front yard is COMPLETELY crazy right now. I promise to take pictures and updates of the new stuff that is currently open and will go back and update you out front next weekend. I need to get back out there and get building my potato boxes. I just can't really move anything else right now because its just too hot and don't want anything to die on me. So my progress has been a little halted for the time being. 

Happy mid week everyone! 

Market Monday hiatus

Sadly, I had to work this past weekend, so there was no Farmer's Market venture for us. There could have been but we would have been super rushed to get all the way out there and we didn't really need too much stuff because we had quite a bit left over from the week before. So no veggies to gawk at..however, yesterday being father's day. I did bake up some whoopie pies which are my dad's favorite.

It was so hot they seemed to flatten out a bit, but they still tasted oh so yummy! Here was the fun card I made him from some paper stock I had.

 

(totally random side note - I write upside down. My normal handwriting is very small, anal and extremely neat. In high school I was always jealous of other people's handwriting because I love messy/artsy handwriting. While I am very artistic the anal, type A personality that I have takes over sometimes, no matter what I did I could not make my handwriting look messy and the way I wanted it to! So, me being a weirdo, I started writing upside down. I can write VERY fast upside down, just as fast as someone writing, well, normal. People used to watch me and still say out loud, "Are you writing upside down?!" Seeing that you are WATCHING me write - I think you know the answer to that! Anyway, so yes, just a random fact about me, when I want artsy, quirky handwriting I write upside down. I can also read upside down like its no ones business too. Go me for having random, useless abilities)

Oh yeah! I'm always the hit at the family get togethers. haha Well if you consider my entire family usually just shaking their heads at 95% of the things I say and do, I think it's considered a hit. Hey, at least I bring the entertainment.

I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend. Mine, as usual, went way too fast. I also worked both Saturday and Sunday mornings. The next few weeks I'll most likely be putting in some more overtime so my posts may be sporadic and some of my weeklies may not get to go up simply because of me working and not being able to do much else. (so thats my fair warning!) However - I will definitely not skip a beat with my Sunday Etsy features. I just love them and getting to see a little bit into the lives of all the artists.

Alright, let the week begin! 

Buy Handmade vol 10

Behind the scenes is in California for a second week in a row!

Name: Hannah

 

Age: 41

 

Occupation: owner/designer/screenprinter/patternmaker/seamstress/etc at Made with Love by Hannah (madewithlovebyhannah.com)

 

Etsy Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/madewithlovebyhannah

 

Tell us a little about yourself.

 

I live in sunny Los Angeles with 2 cats, a fish and a bunny. I love cute knick knacks.

 

When did you start creating and how long have you been on Etsy?

 

I always liked making things. I started Made with Love by Hannah in 2004, and have been doing it full time for about 7 years now. I started my website before Etsy was born, but I've been buying there since it launched and started selling there in 2007. At first I just sold my knick knack art there, then later added the skirts and tees.

How did you come up with your business name, is there any special meaning behind it?

 

Everything is made with love! By me! I was thinking of those corny 'made with love by Grandma' labels you can buy at the fabric store. I'm a little corny myself.

 

How would you describe your creative process?

 

Usually when I come up with an idea I'll sketch it out right away, so I don't forget. Then I let it simmer until I get a chance to make the actual artwork for it, figure out what style garment I want to put it on, how many colors, how many colorways, what material I want to use. Once I figure that stuff out it's pretty smooth sailing in terms of making it into a finished piece of clothing.

 

Where do you get your inspiration from?

 

Cute knick knacks (my Schwarzwalder Skirt and Dutch Treat Skirt are drawings based on some of my knick knacks), miniature golf courses (which are really just like a bunch of giant knick knacks, if you ask me) and old kitchen textiles like dish towel, apron and tablecloth prints. I am also inspired by traditional folk handicrafts and fairytales/folklore.

 

 

Do you also sell your work at craft shows?

 

No, everything is pretty much made to order so I don't usually have enough pre-made stock on hand to do shows.

 

 

What is your most cherished handmade item?

 

My great-aunt gave me a tablecloth that she embroidered when was 12 or 13. It's pretty amazing.

 

Apart from creating things, what do you like to do?

 

These days mostly working on the house, or working on the cars, or working in the yard. I know it sounds like all work and no play around here, it kinda is, but I like it that way.

If you weren’t an artist, what would you be and why?

 

A handyman. I like fixing old stuff.

 

Five years from now you will be…

 

Doing the same thing, hopefully in a little more streamlined manner. I definitely work more efficiently now than I did 5 years ago, but still could use improvement. I would also like to print fabric to sell by the yard, but don't have the space for setting it up now. Hopefully within the next 5 years I will be able to do that.

 

Describe yourself in five words:

 

hard working/lazy, happy/cranky!

 

 

Carrying on with the five theme, if I were to turn on your <insert whatever type of music player you use here>, what five artists/songs would I see on your recently played list?

 

I've been listening to the 'Girls in the Garage' compilations pretty much non-stop lately.

 

 

Lastly, do you have any advice for anyone thinking about opening their own shop or participating in craft shows?

 

Make what you love, it shows. And if you love what you make, don't be afraid to put it out there!

 

 

 

Fun & Sassy Handcrafted Clothing!

www.madewithlovebyhannah.com

 

join me on facebook!

www.facebook.com/madewithlovebyhannah

MADEWITHLOVEBYHANNAH

fff vol 19

This week has flown by (I'm not complaining!) Have you ever had so many things to do, you get this insane overwhelming feeling and just can't even move so you don't end up doing anything?! That's how I feel this week has been. I think it's a mix of overwhelmed by the amount of things I want to get accomplished and then mix in a little bit of frustration that there are things I am thinking in my head but are not coming out the way I want them to. Practice and patience, I know!

So anyway, this weekend is father's day! I love my dad, he's the coolest. He has just the right mix of sarcasm  and wit. He also can make and do anything. He's amazing. Saying all this, he is also impossible to get gifts for. He is always doing things for everyone else and never wants anything for himself. I wanted to make him something (but that was one of the "things in my head that didn't come out as well as I wanted") so I'm at a loss. My mom is always super easy..my dad..not so much! Is anyone going to be hanging out with your dads on Sunday? If so, are you getting them anything or doing anything for them? I need suggestions on what to do for the impossible person to shop for!

So moving into favorite finds. I think I may change it up a little this week (and maybe weeks in the future). I am a tee-shirt and pants type of girl. No joke, I have well over 100 tee shirts and everyone is always commenting on them and asking me where I get them. "You always have the coolest shirts" gets said to me on a daily basis when I go into the office. So..I thought I'd share five tee shirts that I would currently like to add to my ever expanding collection. This week I'll keep it simple and tell you they are all from Threadless. Now, if you don't know what Threadless is, my question to you is "Is today your first day on the internet?"
But well.. For those that are new to the internets?! Threadless is an awesome website in which you submit in artwork, people (ie YOU) vote and if you have enough votes, your tee shirt goes into production.

Alright..so top 5 tee-shirts I want this week!

"Lemon Aid"

"Birdphabet"

"Bareback" (this one is awesome because the picture wraps around from the front to the back of the shirt

"Koohii no hito"

"Steampunk 1852"

So head on over to Threadless and see what you've been missing. I wonder how many of my shirts are threadless, I'm thinking well over 40-50? Yes, I have a tee shirt obsession haha

Have a good weekend everyone! 

gw vol 9

I feel like I am letting everyone down with my garden posts. Because of our situation we were unable to have the gardens ready to plant the veggies for this season. So my intention with Wednesday garden posts was going to be showing you what yummy, tasty treat was brewing up in the front yard. Instead I have an out of control front yard that totally needs to be rearranged and is VERY slowly getting moved around. But it seems like NY weather right now only knows two different settings; HOT and Humid (like over 90+ hot) or cool and thunder storms. I definitely prefer the cool and rain. But I can't do much work in either weather condition.

Lately my life has been working on recipes for my new upcoming venture. Making, testing and tossing. It's a bit frustrating but it's also exciting coming up with my own formulations. Currently my "testing lab" (ie my kitchen) has been coming up with a deodorant formula. I have tried so many variations. The results have been so-so. The best working so far, has actually been the most simple and basic recipe. I love it. But of course there is a but, or I would be done with the testing stage! It works awesome. Seriously. I was outside working in the garden on a day when it was almost 100 and came in and still smelled like lavender! Now thats a good deodorant! Here's the "but" it will melt and is definitely not a consistency that people are accustomed to putting on their armpits. I was able to get it into a deodorant mold/ push up container. But when it got super hot - it seriously liquefied! Nothing popping it in the fridge wouldn't cure. But I don't think that people want to keep their deodorant in the fridge all summer!

So I went back to the drawing board, changed the recipe around. I can now get it to be more of a solid by the addition of beeswax. However, the combinations I've come up with have just not worked as well and didn't leave me smelling so good by the end of a hot day, or following a work out. I've made about 8-10 different variations in the past two days and all have been tossed. I'm hopeful on this last one I just completed. It's looking really good - tomorrow will be the test to put it on and see if it can withstand my morning workout! I really hope this one is the winner and I can move on to another product to test.

I've also got a winner for my lip balm recipe! That one was a little easier than the deodorant, only went through about half a dozen before I found a combination I really liked. I let my friends and my mom try it and have gotten the thumbs up. So that recipe is a keeper!

after I find a deodorant to pass my test, I will move on to my healing salve. This one I'm already pretty sure I have a combination in my head that will work. I have a super great name for it! haha and it will be for scrapes, bruises, burns and TATTOOS. No more buying "tattoo goo" for this household! I'm already wanting to market it to the tattoo shop we frequent. That would be exciting if they'd carry it there instead of selling Tattoo Goo. we'll see, lots of recipes are in my head. I just need to keep banging them out and getting  them perfected before i even think about opening my shop.

Seeing that I went totally off topic and distracted you all. I will bring this back to what you were all expecting.. here's a little garden picture of whats happening in my front yard currently.

Happy mid week everyone!

Market Mondays:steaming..

Sorry everyone for not posting until later in the day. I had a busy weekend and it just seemed to be gone before I knew it. Next thing I knew it, it was 10:30 Sunday night and I hadn't written my market post. Frankly, it was too hot and I didn't feel like leaving my air conditioned bedroom to go get my laptop and type something up. I don't have much for today anyway.. it's hot. Like over 90 degree and HUMID hot, which makes me cranky! I HATE hot weather - seriously HATE it. I would be in pure bliss and glory if I lived some place where the highest temp was 65 and overcast and breezy. I love wearing sweaters and hoodies. I know many of you are saying that I must be crazy. But that is my ideal. I simply just hate hot. So please, if someone knows of a place that ranges between 35 - 65. Let me know and I'll pack my bags. 

Pretty crazy though, the weather. How mild our winters have been and how hot and steamy our summers are. Oh well. World is ending and all that, right?

So on to more exciting news..the farmers market. The weather was actually perfect! It was rainy/misty and only in the 60's! I was in my glory! haha It was also nice because not a lot of people were out. Which meant there was only one time we had to walk through the grass because the "too important people" were standing in a group of about 6, totally oblivious that they were in a public space and taking up the entire sidewalk. We also got a free loaf of bread! So that was awesome! Free is always best in my book!

This week the peas were out, so that will be yummy. We also got some steaks, but you can't see them - they are under the ground beef. 

Last night was pork chops, yellow squash and those mini potatoes- turned into french fries. We sliced them in quarters, boiled them for maybe 10 minutes (don't want them mushy!) and they fried them up in a little bit of oil in a pan - Mister then takes kosher salt, pepper, and granulated garlic and mixes it in a bowl - Then once the potatoes are done - sprinkles them with the concoction. So so so tasty! 

Tonight is hamburgers and I'm making my macaroni salad. (my favorite!) Maybe I'll share that recipe next week. It's pretty simple but oh so yummy on a hot day!

Ok, it's hot - i have to finish up here in the kitchen and then I'm going to hibernate in the bedroom for the rest of the night! Tomorrow should be better - only forecasting for the 70's and rain. 

Buy Handmade vol 9

Name: Sonja Salinas

Age: 40

Occupation: Artist

Etsy Shop:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/LittleSonrisa

Tell us a little about yourself.

I want to say I am a mom and an artist, but I don't like to separate the two, because I have to be quite creative to keep my daughter entertained and I get many ideas by playing with her.

When did you start creating and how long have you been on Etsy?

I have always been into arts and crafts. At first it was mostly kniting and sewing, then computer graphics, then illustration and about 5 years ago I started playing with oils. I now like to paint.

I opened my shop in 2008, selling leather clutches and accessories for a little while. Then I closed the shop for a few years. About a year ago I started selling prints of my illustrations and now I am starting to sell paintings.

How did you come up with your business name, is there any special meaning behind it?
Sonrisa is short for Sonja Rosa Wieser, my maiden name, and also my mother's name, who was the one who taught me how to knit and sew. The name Sonrisa was taken on Etsy so I went with Little Sonrisa. It fits, because my art is very whimsical.

How would you describe your creative process?
For my digital illustrations I usually go through my sketchbooks, because I often have new ideas for old drawings. I then edit and color the scanned drawings in Photoshop.

When I paint I try to stay away from the computer all together. I improvise and keep changing things as I am working on them.

Where do you get your inspiration from?
The work of other artists. The fact, that they do what they love inspires me.

What is your most cherished handmade item?
I have a crochet blanket I bought for a dollar at a flea market. It has the most vibrant psychedelic colors. I love it.

Apart from creating things, what do you like to do?
6 weeks ago I became a mom. Now I spend all my time with my daughter. I can't wait when she is ready to draw and paint. I love children's art.

What are your future goals and where do you hope to see yourself in 5 years?
In 5 years I would like to be doing exactly what I an doing now. As long as I get to play I am happy. I don't know, what creative outlet I will pursue then, but I know, that I will be making some form of art.

Do you have any advice for anyone thinking about opening their own shop?
Don't expect any miracles and don't compare your shop to others. You are doing your thing and if you truly love doing it, it will work out fine. Have faith in your work.

LITTLE SONRISA

fff vol 18

Another week down, no special plans for the weekend. Just the normal market run for Saturday morning. Hopefully the rain holds off and we can get some more work done in the front gardens. What a long project it has become!

In other news Polly got into her food bin during the week while I was at the dentist. The mister was out in his moto shop in the back so we aren't sure exactly how much she ate. But it was definitely quite a bit. Her tummy was pretty bloated and she laid around moping and pouting. OI! I came in from the dentist to the girls all scattering in different directions and the bin turned over. I don't think the two little girls got much, if any. But Polly definitely had lots of mouthfuls! She didn't get punished. Her tummy ache was punish enough. 

Nothing else to really report..so we will move on to some awesome finds I have stumbled across through the past week...

This artist is simply amazing. I am in love with all her work that it was really difficult to pick just one piece to show. But this one spoke to me and I am just smitten. I will definitely be getting in touch with her to ask if she would like to have a Sunday feature...so in love.

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Mister used to have a yellow beetle when we first started dating and we had looked into getting a little travel trailer to tow to go on adventures. This was one of them we had looked at. Wouldn't it have been perfect? I had forgot all about these mini trailers because we just never had the money to buy one (and still don't) but came across them again this past week... ah this just looks like the perfect scene...

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Oh my goodness!! All I can say is "Yes, Please!!" (perfect to try out and make in my new pretty pyrex dish)

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I've been so busy just researching and researching for my upcoming venture that I haven't done much "exciting" searching around the internets to share anything good. I think you may all become very bored if I just posted all pictures of soap! So I'll end this short this week so I can get back to my research. Exciting things in the future!!

Have a great weekend everyone!