of my winter trip (part 1)

The radio silence here is for a very good reason. I am in Texas for a bit, visiting family and friends and

making new friends of squirrelies

and ducks

trying to obey the rules (it is quite warm here- comparatively.)

In Lewisville I got my

kitty fix, and met up with an old (great) friend for fantastic veggie enchiladas.

Then in Austin I got my fill of

lust for midcentury furniture

arrogant driving dogs (they never obey the signals)


uppity (and urban) tweeter twits


and a sadly revised Austin skyline.








I still love it, though.

(edited 1/20) I just noticed that most of these photos are squashed. Well, I was working on Patrick's stupid pc laptop, and got the wrong dimensions. I'm leaving it to remind myself how much I like have my Mac and appropriate software. Sorry for the squish.

so have a freebee

To celebrate my first sale, the upcoming holidays, and the fantastic sunny day we had today, I will be including a lovely free letterpressed bookmark in the orders that go out before the holidays. You can use this as a gift tag for any of your bookworm friends, or use it yourself (when you're reading Twilight on the airplane).

of my winter cheer

As promised I've added holiday designs to the shop- these are my favourites thus far! There are also gift tags to match the holiday cards. If these strike your fancy, be sure and order soon, as the shop will be closed Dec 15 - January 1.

So, There.

As of last night my shop- So, There - is up and running. Take a look! I'm excited by the cards, and the quality of the ink on the 100 percent cotton paper... It just can't be replicated.

I have two Holiday designs, in cards and tags, that will be going up on the shop this afternoon. I'll post more pictures soon.

I heart games.

Sorry I haven't posted in a little while- It's because the shop has been taking up all my time. (That's right, click on the link for a sneak peak before I start announcing it to the world.)

I had several setbacks in the shop setup, including the realization that my camera just wasn't going to cut it. So I got a nice, new Rebel, and now I get to figure out how to use it. Learning curve!

Last night I was playing games with Patrick and our friends, and I took this shot, which is OKAY... but it's gonna take some practice for sure.

Have I mentioned how much I love games? Maybe there's a future career there....

(Shot is my skyscraper on low-cost purples. Mega Monopoly is mega fun. Mrs. H does not agree. )

and I am getting organized

One of the most difficult and satisfying things I can do with my time is using it to get organized. When I finally figure out a method to keep up with myself, I usually get more done and forget less. I used to have a daily calendar at my day job, and I've been looking for a replacement to-do list. I tried a digital one, but that doesn't work for the day-to-day tasks I need to juggle.

So, voila, a little daily to-do pad. I printed out 26 weeks (half a year), trimmed, and stapled the pad.

Oh- and I've uploaded the file here, just in case it will work for you, too. (Click on your preferred color below to open the pdf.)

of paper scraps.

Have I mentioned I am unable to throw anything away?

After printing an trimming massive quantities of cards, I was left with a treasure trove of cotton, cover-weight paper strips.

I sat with them a while and made a couple of simple Christmas decorations, but, at the suggestion of my dear husband, quite a few of them turned into little critters and plants.

(click here to see it larger.)

My favourite part was finding a photo of something and trying to recreate it with the strips, using just glue and the natural resistance of the cover-stock.

I really like the way they all look laid out together. I've been really interested in patterning lately, and I think it was a nice exercise all-in-all.

Now what the heck am I supposed to do with them?