Wednesday, November 11, 2009

two months!



good lord, two months not blogging here?
truth is, i am maxed out in life. i don't really have a lot of opportunity to make stuff anymore! i've also started blogging at tumblr because it allows me to make short (sometimes thoughtful) posts, rather than feeling super anxious about writing a big ol' post here.

so!
go check it out at http://juliepeach.tumblr.com !

Monday, September 14, 2009

school school school school

all i want to do is make things. but i do school, school, and more school. and then work. and the brief time i have to myself is usually spent catching up with orders.

let's just say i'd pull my hair out, except...

Thursday, July 16, 2009

lovely art links!

okay, so this second summer session is BORING. macroeconomics and business law! snoooore. it's totally on the other spectrum of art classes & environmental science classes. i just am ready to move onto my major courses...
i'm also having a hard time finding time to make stuff... no surprise there. but i am fortunately making time for good things otherwise-- volunteering at paws has been awesome, i can't wait to go back tomorrow! i'm also transforming my room veeery slowly into a more grown-up (see: not all generic ikea) space. exciting! i'll have picture updates of that soon.

i just wanted to post because i have found some VERY inspiring artists this week, and i want to share them with you!

by spread the love

and jon klassen's website, http://www.burstofbeaden.com/ , is really amazing to go through. you can get some of his greeting cards at red cap cards, i got this guy to frame up!


i also got three cards, including the one above from gold teeth's etsy page. really cool silkscreened cards- i'm going to frame them up, too!

so you can see what i mean about having a more grown-up room-- framing pictures is a big deal for me, i almost never do it even though it makes everything look so much better. exciting!

Monday, July 6, 2009

back to school...

second half of summer session began today.
i always overwork myself, but i don't think i could handle not doing my very best in school. so i will probably be a little MIA for a bit again while i tend to my studies...

here are some of the pillowcases i added to the shop last week- lilly seems unimpressed.

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

islands in the stream

hi guys! i'm on day one of my four day summer. I AM SO HAPPY. i have been making things & watching movies all day (house bunny, what a way to go, steel magnolias, and now 1776 the musical). i've made lots of hand printed fabric yards, and some pillow slip covers that i'll photograph tomorrow when the sun is up. did i mention how happy i am? i really wish i took off the second half off the summer from school... :(



welp, i'm off to finish my movie and read a little more of dolly parton's autobiography. :) i think the video below is such a great example of what an extraordinary performer she is! did you know i love her, like, a lot?

Friday, June 19, 2009

catching up!

you know, for as much time i spend holed up in my room doing homework, i sure do have the feeling that i'm always on the go. i think it is just an issue of constantly having obligations and errands to tend to, even when i THINK i have time to myself. but i am getting a little better at sorting out my life and working on those goals i recently posted about... i think i would REALLY be in good shape with everything if it wasn't for dang summer classes. what was i thinking!
plus, my sister came through and stayed two days with me the other week, so i gt a little behind on everything. but other than my aunt & uncle, she was the first family member to visit me up here-- i've lived here three years now!

anywho- finally made some new stationary sets with that new (well, month old) block! i had so much fun coordinating colors & making fun palettes. i now cannot wait to test the block on fabric!




i also finally tackled my giant box of paper... recycled a bunch, sorted by size/whether it had been printed on, and finally made use of tinier strips. i made a bunch of new gift tags for the shop! really easy & fun. there are tons of styles in the shop already. :)



well! i have to get going. a dear friend from home is coming to stay with me a few days next week (with her boyfriend), so i'm trying to get all of my huuuuuge final papers done as soon as possible. first summer session is officially over monday the 29th! my nantucket travel plans with my lovely auntie fell through, so i'll have that entire week off before starting the second half of classes. looking forward to the time off! does anyone have any good holiday weekend plans for then?

Monday, June 8, 2009

a new month!

oh lord- so there i was thinking i had all the time in the world ahead of me to get busy and post/work. but it never works out like that, does it?? soon after writing my last post i carved a new linocut and... i have no idea what happened thereafter.


while my summer classes aren't TOTALLY consuming, the laziness that results between the hours of 1pm-5pm is. if i'm not working for philapets, i end up napping, running errands, going to the laundromat, munching, catching up on blogs, and doing puzzles. i guess that isn't so terrible, but i have pages and pages of ideas that i somehow have not gotten far into because i can't seem to find the right chunk of time to work. and that is seriously a shame!

but i had a little epiphany this weekend that, okay, i don't feel guilty for catching up on sleep (especially considering i've been going through a new ferretin/iv drip treatment for 2 weeks already)-- but i'm over it. in the coming weeks, i have some really fun summertime goals for myself:
-start a new exciting workout regimen! on top of borrowing the roommate's trainer and biking in my room every AM, i am doing a little research about what yoga videos people like. i have heard amazing things about yoga and i feel like it's something i really want to incorporate in my life. any suggestions?? a little speedy inside bike ride, yoga, and my usual 2+ miles of walking 5x a week... sounds so good to me!!
-read dolly parton's autobiography! the title "my life and other unfinished business" made me remember to update my blog, believe it or not... ha! i grabbed it on half.com for $5 along with...
-jane fonda's autobiography! yes!
-stop letting 3 hours of classes in the AM interfere with the productivity of the rest of my day. AKA no naps missy!
-rephotograph basically everything in my shop. i'm also seriously considering moving over to foxtrotting.etsy and having a whole new chic style. my current shop just feels so cluttered and i want to start over sorta. eek.

that's that. i SWEAR new stuff soon.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

two months later!

wow, so i haven't updated since my spring break back in march. that has a LOT to do with the fact that, once school started back up my work load tripled. i was coming right home to sit in front of the computer doing homework about 6-7 hours every day. i usually gave myself off friday nights and saturdays from homework, but was so burned out by the weekend that i just relaxed or spent time with ryan and friends.
two months later, i am TOTALLY ENJOYING LIFE. it has been raining here all week, and i haven't once started to pity myself on the soaking walks home. instead i've just... enjoyed it. i've enjoyed the warm rain, i've enjoyed the fact that having short hair means little to no humidity issues, and i've enjoyed the fact that everything seems to be falling into place.
i am feeling so dorky and gooey-- this past week was my "study week" and beginning of finals. i am almost done with the semester from hell! a few weeks ago, i had sort of an epiphany that maybe i'm not in the right major (yes, again). i spent some time thinking about what i really wanted, and in a single conversation with my roommate realized just how long i've been saying "well what I really want to do is..." - and now i'm going to do that! i'm switching to marketing, which i feel like is the right thing. i'm realizing now that it doesn't mean i am abandoning animals if i'm not running around in the jungle saving them (though that wouldn't be a bad fate). it's just what i need to do, and i'm exploring outlets to continue to help animals any way i can. but i think it's important to follow a career that feels natural, and makes you happy.
the change of major actually didn't make me any more behind! hooray. but to catch up with my 2010 graduation, i am taking summer classes both sessions, which means up at 7 and home at 1, 4 days a week. but i am so looking forward to my new path in life that i can't even complain!
i am also happy that: i love my jobs. both of them. how did i get so lucky? they don't even feel like jobs. i love my boyfriend, yeah gag i know but it's true. i love my dopey cat. i love my living situation and this apartment/my roommate/her crazy cat. i love my new major, and feeling confident and excited about school again. i'm just really very happy with everything right now!

while i was nuts with school, i put my shop on a little hiatus. now that i'm back, i wanted to come back into the scene bearing gifts. sooo! i was approached by a lovely lady who is having a series of giveaways, and through that you could win one of my tulip block print notebooks!
Go to: http://tinyurl.com/peachgiveaway
It's also worth checking out the other items up-- as well as her blog itself! That's candacetodd.blogspot.com

I hope EVERYONE is as happy and dorky as I am... I'm about to sort through some old school notebooks & cut out doodles that I want to incorporate into new designs. Lilly is in the window, in the warm sun watching the rain. It's weird weather but I love it. :)

Monday, March 9, 2009

hello! gloomy day

oh lordy lord. i had this crazy, crazy long post written on my one-year etsy anniversary/spring break last week, but was waiting to upload some pictures to add to it. then i got totally immersed in art orders, then school started back... so obviously, by now it's gone. i have no idea where it went but here's basically what it said:

- i am so happy in the new place. my room is over twice the size of the last place. my roommate is totally perfect/fun/considerate AND shares interests. we had a fun party our first settled weekend, & i hadn't gotten to play host since like 2006? other good things: having people over while i do homework, and remembering how much i love sitting in livingrooms on a couch instead of holed up in my room all day. "craft night"s turned lazy fun girl night... with so many more to come. oh lord i don't even know. it's just a great place! i love my room, my huge closet, my giant bathroom, my helpful landlord (who just shoved his hand down our disposal because we were too scared to), kailey's kitten (who is asleep on my leg). i even love that it means i'm back to walking a minimum of two miles a day again, between getting to the subway, from the subway to classes, and back. this is a good way to start spring!


- alllthough. i miss blogging, making new things, taking pictures, did i say making new things? i've been so, so busy with this semester and will NEVER take this many classes at one time ever again! unless one is just a wonky easy class at least. i just registered for my summer classes and that's pretty exciting... the idea of 9-12/9-2 days and walking as many doggies as possible! but for now, i've got to stick this out and get through it. i still haven't gotten to use my sticker maker, and any time i have to make things goes to orders.

- which brings me to my one year etsy-verssary. :) i am just so thrilled to have gotten on etsy. while i still don't take myself and the things i make too terribly serious, it is incredibly exciting that i hit 130 orders in one year. the day of, i had just mailed out a huge custom invitation order, a wholesale card order, 40 notebooks to one shop, and trying to figure out how i was going to get another 40 to a different shop. i'm just so shocked & happy about how many consignment/wholesale orders i had a chance to do, and a wedding i got to make 125 notebooks for, and however many households are using my napkins at their dinners! i'm just SO very thankful. it allowed me to get by doing etsy & philapets (love my jobs!) instead of having to work at a job i hate again. and it isn't like i wouldn't be making all of these things in the mean time, at least now they are going somewhere!


i am actually going to end this now. i have lots of really fun things in the works- like maybe a livingroom reorganizing two-girl party with kailey this weekend (ha!), hopefully spending a few months in guatemala/costa rica/SOMEWHERE with a fam next summer learning spanish & volunteering (POTENTIAL DREAM COME TRUE), and a huge purchase to allow me to fulfill one of my dorky art dreams (!!!)
so next time, i will cover all of those things and bore everyone to death.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

i'm moving!!

in ONE WEEK! i am moving!! i'm so, so excited. i am a little worried about how i am going to make it work, on top of etsy/work/school-- but working a little harder to get packed and moved in the midst of crazy life is totally worth it.

i found this GREAT place with a girl named kailey- it's $100 under the budget we were working on, central AC (this NEVER happens in philly), 1200 sq ft, huge livingroom & great bedrooms... and we EACH HAVE OUR OWN FULL BATHROOM. it's insane! she's also great and artsy/crafty and has wonderful kitchen appliances, so our domesticity is going to be in full bloom. the place is a totally great find, and if i hadn't happened to skip 2 classes for the first time at temple last monday, i wouldn't have seen the brief, non-detailed craigslist post with no pictures... it was literally a whim, but i have this goofy belief in fate when it comes to finding places. i couldn't believe how big it was, how cheap, and how nobody had snagged it yet. the week from seeing it, until now, has been incredibly stressful because i *just knew* something had to go wrong, that it was tooooo perfect. but we signed the lease today, and the official move in date is next weekend!

more room to work, more windows for lilly, really close to the grocery store (finally)... i am so happy :) i'm actually going to take this boring saturday night at home as an opportunity to get ahead on homework for next week, so i can transition more smoothly!

i hope miss lilly doesn't mind yet another move, esp since she's going to have a new boyf/roommate in a week. she is a well-traveled (but very agreeable) cat. i think she's going to love having another girl around, and having an opportunity to snuggle more strangers/guests. ahhhh so you probably won't hear from me, or see anything new, for like two weeks. but i promise new apartment pictures, pictures of lilly staring out her new windows (i'm stocking up on birdseed), and THEN new arty work. :) hope everyone's 2009 is turning out this exciting so far in!

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

whoa.

good. lord. i cannot believe how nutty i am with school work. i average 7 hours a night of hard work on homework from mon-thu, then take it easy friday and saturday with light reading for school on sunday. i'm also trying to turn sunday into a little more productive than snuggleday with ryan. i managed to complete some orders, as well as design & assemble (much needed) new packaging for my paper goods.



i am also, very excitedly, house/apt hunting with a girl named kailey. i think it is going to be a great new start, especially after we gushed about arts & crafts today. the goal is a little more space to work, a great kitchen, and having our two cats, and not spending much more. so far we have met some criteria, though not all at once. :( ideally, i'll get a callback from a house down the street tomorrow with the news that they are willing to let us have our cats. otherwise we have found a really funky/cute/totally unique place with great, sunny bedrooms and a cute roof deck. it isn't ideal for hosting lots of people at a time, but everything else is a wonderful size and close to the subway. okay, i'm gushing. i have moved 4 times since 2006 and i kind of enjoy the process of it.

in case you were wondering:
it's all out & starting to re-grow! i'm still almost completely bald in the back, so i wear hats constantly still... but this thick healthy regrowth is so exciting. i think my hair (color, texture) is coming back totally different.


other than that, i'm just trying to keep up with any orders that trickle in. i'm talking to a shop in old city about doing consignment there, which for once i'm totally going to follow through (i almost always talk myself out of it, if only because i hate the idea of giving a cut away) because i need to make more of an effort of an income whenever i have the chance.

hope everyone is doing lovely! ideally i'll have new things to post in the future... but it might not be for a month, when my spring break starts. eek!

Thursday, January 22, 2009

back to school, yuck

tis the season for books and short nights of sleep and sore bones from being bent over homework. i opted to take an additional class beyond what i essentially took last semester, forgetting that the math & chem i had then was super easy basic material... so i'm pretty much feeling flustered already. while i love homework, i've been much more beat than usual lately. it doesn't help that i had to go to the doctor today (what else is new!), which resulted in my first missed class of the semester... three days in! i'm hoping this semester will be a lot less, hm, health intensive, so i can keep my work on track. i had a dang b+ stinking up my grades and can hopefully get ALL a's this time around.

so basically, if you think of lilly as homework and scuz as me, this is a pretty good metaphor for my week.

(there is a whole series of these, taken by my poor roommate, that i've posted on my flickr)

i am hoping to do some silk screening patterns on fabric soon... when i can scope out the time. hope everyone is enjoying the last handful of days of january!

Monday, January 12, 2009

zzz

i so miss my healthy sleep schedule. i am still getting as many productive hours in the day, and normal amounts of sleep at night (a hearty seven!)-- though it has shifted about four hours later. this may be inevitable over any college winter break, but it makes me nutty!

speaking of... this has probably been one of the best winter breaks i can remember. a nice (but, whoa, so short) trip home for a week+, the laziest/best week ever with Ryan while he was off for new years/birthday, the most productive week EVER all by myself last week, and then... well... not sure what this week is shaping up to be, outside of preparing for the new semester. i got to see a lot of friends (as well as 3 doctors, and one more next week!). i'm now sitting warm next to lilly, enjoying the golden girls for the first time since my mysteriously free lifetime went away.

hope everyone is having a good 2009, and that those of you doing any school shopping will hop over to my etsy to pick up some notebooks to jot your notes/homework in. :)
here's some of the new stuff! these are notebooks with hand drawn patterns that were scanned in, then printed on glorious card stock. i added little clay ornaments and a few paintings, too!


Monday, January 5, 2009

and hellloooo 2009!

a new year. love the idea of it, a clean slate and all! 2008 was very serious and very rough- though i did teach myself lots of new crafty things and started up my etsy. i had this vivid memory last night of when i used to sit on my tiny couch in my old tiny apartment, carving linoleum and rubber for the first time. i would be blanketed up, very serious, and watching golden girls. it was a very safe feeling! i love that old apartment, i know i say it all the time, but it had so many good memories and nothing beats living alone. (well, with a cat and a part-time live-in boyfriend)

in 2009 i'm hoping to:
first and foremost, stop losing hair
grow hair and keep it
go on one great adventure (hoping to make it to france to visit liz! but i'm poor)
maybe get some more space to work, whatever that means
take some summer classes and be 100% on track to graduate 2010, since i'm behind from transferring
continue with my etsy, and double my sales? :)
finally have a real website! i'm talking to my fav illustrator san about doing some stuff for it, and having ryan put the actual site together. the idea is really exciting!
meet some more friends, and maybe actually have more than 2 girl friends?

sounds ambitious, but there's a whole year ahead of me! when i start to think that 2008 went by fast, i go back and think of the big changes, accomplishments, and decisions i made. it was about time to be over. as i said, new slate. love it. happy new year!

here are some more new notebooks in the shop.