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!

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.

the christmas kitten story

soooo, over the weekend i was watching the MST ADORABLE bull terrier named buster. i actually was really scared of this breed for a long time, until him. he looooved me! his owner had never been away from him before, and had me coming 3x a day for walks. eventually he learned to hop up and hug me when i said "up! hug!". i totally spoiled him.

ANYWAY, last sunday was probably one of the coldest, windiest days i have ever experienced. it was just-- bitter. the streets were empty, as everyone was trying to stay in as much as possible. after my very last walk, in the pitch dark of 830pm, i was heading toward broad street (big busy main street in philadelphia) when i turned to my right to see a tiny kitten huddled in a recessed store front stoop. he(?) looked sooo cold, as i think the wind chill had it feeling 20 degrees colder (something like 8? it was just miserable). and i just exclaimed, "oh! kitty!" because it upset me so much. and he IMMEDIATELY hopped out and started rubbing on my legs, purring, trying to stand up to get me to pet him. i initially didn't touch him because
1. i have gotten attacked by a few strays here that SEEM really nice and purr-y and then just flip
2. i didn't want to take anything home to lilly & scuz
but he was relentless. i mean, nicest happiest cat ever. and i said, kitty, no no i can't take you home. but i knew he was freezing so i took off my scarf and tried to wrap him/make a bed in the recessed store front... to no avail. he just kept rubbing on me and trying to get me to pet him. i tried to walk in circles to see if he would go anywhere, or if he had a notion of home... and he followed me. i mean, right behind me. purring, meowing, and marching behind me like we were a team. i had nooo idea what to do, because scuz is INCREDIBLY violent and would probably flip out and hurt us/the kitten if i brought him home. plus, again, i wasn't sure if this cat potentially had illness or anything. i was near my friend carolyn's, so i gave her a call to see if she had any food or anything i could bring back. kitty, of course, followed right behind me the block and a half there. i wasn't talking to it or encouraging it, and was in fact getting more and more stressed about the situation.
i knew i COULD NOT leave the cat in weather like that, but that i couldn't take him home.

so i got to carolyn's, who didn't have anything but some water, and the cat just rubbed all over her & her roommate. he was so happy, and so nice. when a big gust of wind came, he would sit and wrap his tail around himself and shiver. i mean, it was just so sad. i said goodnight to carolyn and tried to figure out what to do.

my plan was literally to walk around until someone showed interest, or the cat would run off to wherever he had been living (most cats stake out a territory and get fed by the same people)... but no. he followed me for almost half an hour. i was so desperate i was thinking about knocking on doors and asking people if they wanted to adopt a cat.

well. i decided to at least feed him, and walked over to walgreens. he sat and waited, watching me, as i crossed the busy busy street. when i came back out, he was trotting after a woman i had just seen come out of a pizza place. i yelled after her, is that your cat? and she laughed and said no, that he just started following her, too! so i stopped and opened the can... he was totally famished. and i started talking to the woman, and she said she also had two cats and seemed just as torn about the whole thing. she eventually said, i can't leave him, i just can't. my boss has been looking for a cat for his store (lots of places around here keep store cats, often fat and spoiled and happy, to catch mice)... and she decided to take him home and temporarily keep him downstairs, then give him to her boss! i said, well, great! do you want any help? and she laughed and said, no, i think he'll probably just follow me. she picked up the can of food, and sure enough, he trotted after her all the way home.

sorry that was so long! it was seriously soooo heartwarming. poor ryan had cooked us dinner and was waiting for me to get back, but i couldn't just leave that cat. some strays are obviously just happy being strays. but this cat wanted a home, and was so so full of love. did i mention he was a little tortie like lilly, and had one half ear? like typical cartoon stray cat. he seemed totally healthy otherwise, and was just so so cute. i came home and hugged lilly SO TIGHT. every animal is a treasure, and i am glad there is one less on the street.

whew! i love this season. it was just magical. :)

now, a break from words, some of the finished notebooks from my digital patterns. !




alright, back to studying for finals. i cannot believe the semester is over, and that i will be in GA in a week and a half.

winter shop update!

ahh! i can't believe i totally forgot to update this with the new winter/holiday stuff in my etsy shop ! i didn't even do anything this weekend-- in fact, besides some homework and papers it was the laziest weekend i've had in many many months! but yeah, i got this stuff in the shop last week but who cares because it was just so nice to take time to myself to create winter-y fun stuff. i do think that i will include some of 'em in gifts to family this year.

i cannot believe that thanksgiving is ten days away-- and going home to visit is only one month & three days away!! i can't wait. i only wish i wasn't going to be TOTALLY BALDY the first time seeing friends/family in over a year and a half :( ! i am sooo excited, and have already started the bulk of my xmas shopping through etsy. i can't post links for obvious reasons, but i have found some GREAT stuff ! and only on etsy could you get someone to ship to "JULIE CHRISTMAS DO NOT OPEN" at your mom's house in georgia. :)

anywho! here are some of the things i got to make last week...

two block, four color hand-pulled linocut merry cards! these were lots of fun to doodle, but a real pain to carve out !



block printed winter wonderland cloth dinner napkins!



winter wonderland notebooks (few other colors available)


hope everyone is well, and adjusting to our SUPER EARLY SUNDOWNs (it's dark at 5pm here! sad)

i can't believe i'm a phillies fan.

let's see... quick update... midterms this week, one year anniversary with ryan this evening (although, he and i cannot agree whether it's today or tomorrow), trying to find time to start over on my loom, being very very broke ever since etsy sales went completely stagnant for the first time in months (sigh!)

i am very much hoping to get to boston/salem/lexington the weekend after this one, and have kept my eye out for super cheap last minute hotel deals... ryan and i went last year, and sort of want to make it a special tradition (and hello! salem at halloweentime is totally magical!), though i can't afford to pay for one of the night's right now... so if you've been thinking of buying from me, now is the time :) ha!

hope everyone is well. i am loving this warm, warm, light-sweater weather. lilly is faaaaast asleep next to me while i am finishing up some homework and trying to schedule time to craft this week... buh. here are some of the cute things i added to my shop last week-- lots of mailing labels/gift stickers & stuffed autumn ornaments (block printed on cloth with my original linocuts!)

warm monday!

i am in the best mood-- again! i love the transition into autumn. not to mention my room is sooo much brighter since ryan took out my huge clunky AC unit from my only little window in my bedroom, and i love having a real breeze slowly drift through. my old apartment had more windows than walls, and i really miss it! it also had a berry tree right outside of one of the windows, and lilly loved to sit all day and watch the birds feed. here in my new place (new? i've been here four months!) there really aren't too many birds that come around. so as a treat for lilly and me, i went and bought a huge 6 lb bag of bird seed and sprinkled it on the roof and windowsill! i have seen one or two, and i hope they tell their friends so that i can start listening to bird songs while i work, rather than distant city buzz. she has already perked up a bunch and has become even more snuggly than usual (as if that's possible!)

here are some finished gocco prints/handmade notebooks that i did last week. i am increasingly nervous about making new gocco screens since, apparently, the production has shut down for real this time. so now that i have a little scheduled craft time, i'm scared to use it! ack.





i am finally about to go use this great loom my aunt sent me-- it has some really wild and traditional plaid scarf patterns in it, and i cannooooot wait, i have been thinking about it all day! i loved using the small loom we made when i was a fibers student, and this one is 100x nicer! so i am going to pop in season one of big love and start watching that while i work- yayay! and then ryan is heading over after work/before going to NJ so that we can fry up these last two green tomatoes my new school friend brought to me! what a good monday! hope you are also in great spirits-- and don't forget to check out my etsy shop so i can afford a little weekend getaway to boston (hope hope!) for me and ryan's 1 year. :)

hellooooo october!!

i am in the best mood right now! i have had a strange week so far, but i honestly can not find the feelings to complain oneeee bit. i budgeted my time away from school & work to not only make a really fun custom napkin order this week, but make TWO new gocco screens!! here is a sneak peek of one pattern i made up-- i am going to make lots of notebooks and cards from the prints tonight. :)



i think now that i have a good routine with school (and completing thu-mon's homework by every wednesday night! i am such a dork, but i LOVE not having hw on weekends-) that i can start crafting some more. i think that the lack of art time (as well as my awful steroids, ugh!) were contributing to me being a real negative grumpy butt for a good two weeks there. but! i have cut back on my medicine and i have loooots of new hair growth, so i am a happy healthy girl. not to mention these 60-something temperatures on the ten day weather forecast. yay!

aaaaand! announcing the winner of the blog giveaway: congrats to toria munoz! i've given you a heads up, girl, so once you get your contact info to me i'll get either the pendant or print right out to ya! thank you EVERYONE for participating! i found some greeeat new blogs as a result :)

i hope everyone is enjoying the beginning of the new month, considering all of the craaaazy things that are going on in the world/US right now. just remember to keep looking forward and that you will always have those who love you as that one stable force in your life. !

whew!

okay, hi! i have been a little off the radar... just trying to get my school stuff sorted out (all at once! it has been SUCH a nightmare), doctor's appointments, placement testing, and exciting pre-job stuff. not to mention squeeeezing a little summer out!

i FINALLY start my job tomorrow-- i am a dog walker & cat sitter! i know it sounds dorky that i'm soo excited about it, but there are real paychecks, totally customizable schedule, insured company, and better pay than i've made in any other job i've ever had. i cannot waaaaait to get started after training tomorrow. i will have a double-income, PLAYING WITH ANIMALS and MAKING BAD ART! i like the direction things are heading.

hello!! is anyone else having amazing weather? it has been hovering under 80 degrees here... it makes me feel soooo dreamy for autumn weather. we also had another great, stormy sunday-- and there's no better excuse to lay in bed at watch TLC with your other half & fat cat than a thunderstorm.

i haven't made anything tooooo exciting lately-- i had a few custom orders that i really, really wish i had photographed! like a really interesting color combo set of napkins, and a huuuuge custom stamp. i just packaged them up before i remembered to take pictures.
but! i did find a use for all of the thin scraps of paper i had been hoarding (I KNEW they would be good for something)! i made tons of little notebooks with perforated pages-- perfect for whenever someone asks for a scrap (and you don't want to destroy your planners!) for notes or gum or whatever. i'm already loving using my own, which comes in use since i have a gum-fanatic boyfriend.


detail of the cute perforated pages

sunset at national park in NJ

last post in july

eep. just a few more hours left before it's august! if my birthday wasn't in august, i think it would be my least favorite month... in august, the summer really, really tries to get its hottest, most humid days in before the fall. no major holidays. it's just hot and blah and awful and you know that september (omg, i cannot wait) is around the corner.

i can't believe i just said that. september is around the corner. but it is!

here's a little gocco goodness... my newest print. in order to use one screen and two VERY CLOSE colors, i did some intense ink blocking (see first pic). which still allowed a little seepage and mixing, unfortunately, but still achieved the main idea.





i also had a very promising interview today... for my dream job... so hopefully if i mention it again it means i got it! if i don't say anything, that means i didn't get it and my life is basically over because i want it sooo bad.
ho hum, getting the last of school stuff together too. which feels very weird. transferring has been the biggest hassle of my whole life.
i hope everyone had a great july! i have no idea where it went. it was very sleepy and art-ful and hot. but good!

-- ohh! almost forgot. if you want to get to know me (as an artist) a little better, diffraction did a GREAT interview that you can check out at dif-fraction.blogspot.com/. the blog itself is really neat, with tips & tricks for etsy'ers as well as other great interviews. i can't get it to load on firefox on mac and have to use safari, but that just might be me-- you have been warned, though!

almost august!

it is SO humid out today, but i managed to take a trip to the park with mistie & pick up some groceries anyway... by the way, you truly haven't lived in a city until you've had to carry 40 lbs of groceries at least ten blocks. i, luckily, have been able to get ryan or my roommate to take me in a car whenever i can... but before them, it was just par to make that trip weekly. i have the world's strongest shoulders (just ask my boyfriend, he thinks they are creepily muscular)
also, you truly haven't been a crazy cat lady until half of those 40 lbs are a huuuge stash of canned cat food. eek!

less words! i just wanted to share a little color with you today.



embroidery detail for a towel i made & sent as part of jessica gonacha's art swap


cute rainbow screen windows in dirty south phlly


alright, now i'm going to try to get some pictures of new gocco works that need to be posted in the shop tomorrow. they are CUTE. i hope :)

good week

+ MOST AMAZING ART TRADE PACKAGE EVER from jess gonacha-- showing it off to everyone that comes over
+ walking home at 630AM after a night at mistie's, and realizing even south philly can be beautiful at sunrise
+ 5 calorie (splenda!) fla-vor-ice for $1 a box at walgreens
+ glorious thunderstorm getting rid of the heat wave
+ $10 shorts. i love them.
+ gocco success!!!

blog crazy!!

sooo! after reading SO many forum posts on etsy from wholesale buyers looking for new accounts, and etsy sellers looking for wholesale buyers... i took a HUGE plunge and opened up a blogger account to organize all of the etsy sellers offering wholesale/consignment!

i now have over 200 sellers tucked away in a list, and about 50 of them posted. i did the design in about half an hour, so it needs a lot of work, but i am so excited! i know it's kind of nuts, but it was something that DESPERATELY needed to be done. and what's done for the good of etsy is done for the good of the individual seller. i'm hoping i will have a little more visibility, but if not it's fine because i, too, am on the wholesale list. i don't have any intentions of putting my name and link all over it, because i want to be fair. but! if anyone gets super thankful and wants to buy from my shop, hullo, they are more than welcome :)

ooh here's the link! http://etsywholesalelist.blogspot.com

sorry if i sound really frazzled! it's because i am! i decided to do this like three hours ago and have been manically working on it ever since, taking only a few breaks for house chores and filling orders. yay filling orders!

btw! last night i had my first bike ride ever! well, i'm not sure if it's EVER but the first bike ride i can remember in ages. i had a (full size, dorky) scooter as a kid and used to ride that alongside my sisters on their bikes... anyway, it took me HALF AN HOUR (or so!) of struggling in the alley just to LEARN to ride a bike! so scary! then we had a good ride down the bike lanes on snyder and s. columbus... scary, busy streets, but the only ones with bike lanes! plus, it was the evening so there were fewer cars out.

anywho, it was really terrifying and idk when i'll get the nerve to go again- but it's going to be part of my lifestyle so hopefully i'll go again soon! plus, my bike is SO CUTE! here are pics, finally!





cuute details! the frame is some obscure vintage local NJ brand(?) called "general". but it's suuuch a cute vintage frame. ry sanded, primed, painted, and top-coated it for me. he let me pick out the seat from one of his grandpop's dozens, and i got the cutest one! the back wheel was a trade for yuengling from my friend matt-- so it's a little mix of lots of parts, but more importantly, lots of love.

i should be zzzz ++gocco rambles!

so with the creative funk & all, i still was cranking a few things out. i made a neat new textile stamp that i'm actually crazy about (of course it's not pictured yet--) and worked on an art trade package & a bday present... so my sort of stifled creativity didn't necessarily result in a total standstill, but it was pretty close.

i think half the reason i was going nuts is because i ordered a print gocco last saturday at like 3AM... ahhhhh!!! i have been looking at them for, ohhh. i want to say nearly a year but i know that's impossible. it's more likely just months and months of dreaming! well, i was just aching for one and i finally decided to take the plunge, but i didn't really have the spare money. after calling my mom and being reassured half (?? idk maybe more-- regardless, she is really great as far as me being impulsive and never waiting until my birthday ever) will be "reimbursed" as a bday present. i initially asked her to order it but then realized 1. i start school super soon after my bday 2. my mother would probably never be able to figure out the wacky sparse gocco dealers' websites. eep! i'll be turning 20 and i still treat my bday like a baby.

the whole thing was pretty lucky, considering the site i found with the cheapest pg11 ++ extra pack had an announcement that they got a surprise shipment in... and the monday after i ordered they were all sold out! whew!
ANYWAY it came today!!! it's all i've been thinking about and now that it's here i'm sooo nervous to even use it. i read the manual & watched dozens of tutorials today but all of a sudden i feel like my sketches are unworthy... like i'm going to hate everything i do! i guess we'll see :) i'm trying to talk ry into playing with me the first time buuut who knows-

last weekend was great, this weekend has also been great-- very summery and full of friends. spent today with ry's family for a (lateish, but lovely) graduation party... sooo many cute babies and toddlers! he's got a great fam, so it was nice being surrounded by that in the suburbs rather than being surrounded by smog in the city--

anywho! here's a linocut print that i FINALLY pulled after carving it like two weeks ago... and i'll leave you with that-- have a good weekend!

(psst that's two colors on MLA Format handbook)

inspiration standstill

wellllll. after getting so excited about the block printed napkins, i'm experiencing a little craft blah. i've embroidered a little the past couple of days for pleasure, and am still working on custom orders/consignment-- but as far as feeling like creating something totally new (or maybe just creating new something to sell??) i'm kind of burned out! i think it's partially to do with it being a rough week, as far as family/ex-landlord/school stuff... but i'm trying to keep a smile on my face and be somewhat productive.

my bike is downstairs, it's amazing. brakes aren't ready (yes, i am about to totally destroy my boyfriend for letting me SEE it while it's still not usable) but i go down and oogle it all the time... pictures soon! and that sonova-you know what better have it ready sooooon.(.. ha jk!) i can't complain much since it's a DREAM BIKE and it was totally free, except for a few odds and ends i had to pick up at the bike store.

hmmm, what else? lots of birthdays coming up. wish i had more of a real job so i could go overboard shopping... i finally got my resume/app to my *DREAM JOB* turned into a pdf (again, i have a useful, wonderful boyfriend) and sent out... ooh i hope that turns out. in the mean time, it's more applications & resumes being dropped off with fingers crossed. booo hoooo.

ohhh! i remember why i was posting now! i want to start a featured artists blog, but with a 50-states theme. i've already registered the name, i just want to know what people think/hear suggestions of artists before i go starting something new and crazy. i basically just want to show a few thumbnails, where they are from, fav. galleries/restaurants in their hometown, maybe an art piece of theirs in particular that has been inspired by their hometown? i think that, after assembling the 50 states and beginning to double up on states, it would be cool to have a clickable art map. anywho that's far in the future-- just wanted some input on the idea.

no pictures this post! hope everyone is having a good evening.

happy fourth!!

that is SO FUNNY and idk why. the bear just cracks me up!

sooo, what's new? finally finished all of my cloth napkins (and one towel)!





...much more on my etsy and flickr-

well, i'm applying for my dream job again but don't want to talk about it in case it doesn't work out... my bike is all done, except for the (white!!) handlebar tape. umm, i am talking to a consignment shop in west philly, as well as planning a thank you package, trade package, and some birthday packages. i am also recovering from a 4 mile walk to sephora and back with mistie! idk why we get these ideas, it was such a nice day but my flats were behaving horribly! i'm just being young, happy, and shocked it is july... whew-

anyway, happy fourth everyone! be very, very safe! i'll make a real update later.

bzz bzz bzz busy bee!

not much to say- other than i am jess gonacha's biggest fan. c: on top of the fact that she is sooo crazy good at everything she does, she was the biggest help with fabric block printing drama. we are talking about doing a trade (i know, i really feel like i've lucked out and that she is out of her mind) so i will have a fun update of that when it happens-


i finally completed the wholesale order for 3 sets of undersea notebook sets (each set = 4 undersea creature notebooks) yesterday- this was a particularly fun project, as it resulted in three new cute animal blocks (i'll show them later! it's a turtle, sting ray, and blowfish along with the jellyfish one i've already posted)... the girl who runs the shop (Splendid Little Shoppe in Petaluma, CA) suggested i make little name plates(?? idk what to call it) for the back of the notebooks- she also suggested i make an artist's bio to put on display! ry designed it for me, of course, and even though he was a big negative nancy about the final i LOVE it. i made a little stand out of folded cardstock so it's freestanding! dorky but fun.


the "bio" says: "Julie Malone is a 20 year old artist from Atlanta residing in Philadelphia, PA. After attending art school for two years, she realized her true calling and transferred to Temple University for Wildlife and Environmental Sciences. Her love for wildlife shows in nearly all of her work through reoccurring linoleum cut
animals. She works primarily with printmaking techniques to produce hand-pulled prints and one of a kind paper goods, but occasionally dabbles in other mediums."
IT'S FROM THE FUTURE! i didn't want to put a lot of "almost" and "is going to", but for the record i won't be 20/attending temple until august. big whoop! I felt a little silly writing that up, since I still don't take my stuff serious as "art" or anything- it's just a lot of fun that I have been doing lately, and I hope it never ends!


lastly, here is a sneak peek of a super fun project i've been working on... my cloth napkins! as i said, jess was a HUGE help with some problems i had on my first attempts last night. this was about an hour into it, and i spent the rest of the afternoon being a craft machine and pumping out a bunch more! i'll post those as i finish the sets... i'm trying to sucker ry into doing the bellyband design but i might end up winging it myself.

eek okay so apparently i had a LOT to say! but that's it, i swear! i just had half a cup of iced coffee forgetting it's 1AM and will probably be all crazy for a few more hours.

ice cream parties

i just love summer. ryan has been cooking out nearly every night we eat together, so i'm getting veggie burgers or fresh grilled veggies at least 3 nights a week! i'm also loving how late it stays light out- i think it helps night people like me stay totally focused & productive for many more hours! (and not feel so bad for waking up inexcusably late every couple of days, ack)


lou & i had some friends over last night for an ice cream party- it was suuuuper gooey sugary sweet fun! i had made a joke the night before about putting lucky charms on my ice cream, and lou went out and bought a box! ha. so we had chocolate syrup, whipped cream, lucky charms, m&ms, and my super embarrassingly large sprinkle collection to choose from. above is a little photo collage of everyone's ice cream masterpiece! i think i missed a couple but they were all pretty similar... lots of toppings!


ohh! speaking of food! my dad USPS'd me a box of green tomatoes! it was totally unexpected & kooky (he does strange things like that sometimes) but i fried them up and made tons and tons of fried green tomatoes... now i have this lingering craving for them all the time. i've GOT to get back to juliette, GA (sight of the classic movie) to the Whistlestop Cafe (!!) for more. that was like the best southern meal i've ever had, period.


also, of course, i've been keeping up with my linocut stuff. it's so strange how much i'm enjoying it, that i haven't gotten tired and moved onto a new medium. i'm usually gung ho with stuff for a few weeks or months, then feel very obligated to the medium and move on- or worse, experience a total inspiration dry spell. i think because it is a pretty vast medium & it's given me the courage i've never had to start attempting to illustrate things. the image above was a quick, two minute doodle and 15 minute carve.



that tangent actually reminded me, last summer around this time i got some money together and bought everything i needed to start casting resin. that lasted about 3 weeks or so when i became discouraged after i realized how easy it is for everything to come out looking really kitschy and cheap (which, oddly enough, would be how i endearingly describe my paper goods style). welp, the other afternoon i found a bunch of pieces that i actually like and i went ahead and drilled them & started attaching wire so they could be pendants. i literally stopped mid-posting the last paragraph to try to get some nice pictures while there is still some daylight left in my room- maybe i'll post a few pictures here. & i would love honest feedback, my feelings won't be hurt since this was a medium i never took the time to learn about. are they ugly? are they something you would wear, or even a kooky relative would wear? i would love feedback because if i keep holding onto them i'll eventually trash them like everything else. (there's not supposed to be a cat hair in the second! i didnt notice it until after i uploaded the pic, & it brushed right away.)

that should be about it for today, i think. i'm going to try to be a little better about smaller, more frequent posts rather than these massive ones. ohhh but be excited! this time next week i should have some sets of cloth napkins ready! i am sooooo excited about fabric block printing- i'm going to start practicing tonight on scraps. c:

a very etsy post

so i survived that nasty heat wave we had last a week ago or so- it was like 100 degrees and unbreathable humidity. nuts! today, though, it was like 78, sunny, breezy wonderful. so i recruited mistie & we ran some errands back and forth, then walked into the area i used to live to go to pearl... ugh it was sooo nice out! we easily walked about five miles the whole trip, and it felt so so good out that i hardly noticed at all. i hope we have at least a few more of these days before summer humidity comes in full swing, yucky.


let's see, what else? still leisurely crafting. made two pretty big linocuts last week- a jellyfish and a set of coral. made some new stationary & books with them, and one of the jellyfish hello cards is listed at the bottom of an etsy front page article! (http://www.etsy.com/storque/section/thisHandmadeLife/article/etsy-world-tour-bermuda-with-lusciousnaturals/1977/) super cool. did i mention that a few weeks ago i made etsy front page itself? that was pretty fun, too! not that the admin really hand pick each item to be on the front page, that comes from treasuries.

aaaand speaking of, i finally had good enough timing to snag a treasury and get some of my favorite items out there! i'm really hoping it makes front page because i really, really want all of the items to sell for these artists because they are pretty amazing. you can view it at: http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=13341
clicking on the items helps the chances of it hitting front page, i think, i'm not really positive how the admin pick particular lists. but anyway it's totally worth sorting through because they are crazy amazing.

alright well check those links if you have time! etsy sure is fun. i'm going to go work on a super secret corn dog crest linocut... ha! but really i am. let me know how you're doing in a comment, i love to know who actually keeps up with this. c:

warm thoughts

so although i was listening to this album nonstop a few months ago, i sort of forgot about it recently -- even though now the weather is really suited for it. anyhow, just saw this video about two minutes ago and it was so heart warming (plus! oh! that little apartment made me so sentimental feeling) that i wanted to show it right away



other things:
picked out paint for my bike today- the bike itself was a real (lucky! saved me tons of $$!!) fluke and i couldn't be more excited. ry found it along with some other bikes his grandpa owned when he did repairs? and/or built them? it's very vintage and petite and i cannot wait until it's all updated and ready for me! the paint i picked out tonight is the dreamiest creamiest ice blue! and i'm going to get peach or yellow handlebar tape, depending on how light or dark the paint actually turns out after sanding/priming/painting/top coating.

summer looks good, so far, already. the bike is a big, big plus because i'll be able to head over to my old stomping grounds more frequently, and i can finally ride around the park with ryan. and mistie just got the most adorable bike, too! so we can add that to things to do together.


cats are behaving a little better, although we dealt with a bit of a traumatic situation earlier when (and we're still not positive how) scuz fell out of the second story window! he is totally fine and actually seems unphased, but he hit the awning and then the ground. our assumption is that he got spooked by lilly and/or she chased him, and he jumped into the window harder than usual and popped the screen out (it was practically mangled into the awning). here is the handsome devil, just hours before the whole thing went down.


it hardly looks like 125 but it is! 20 pages each, = 40 front and back

i finished the wedding order! it took me three days (day two, i made 76 IN ONE SITTING) and now i'm not sure what to do with myself! i worked very hard to get it done, since their wedding is the 13th- but i feel a little sad that it is over. what an adventure! they chose the two patterns & color scheme. i kind of wish it were silver ink, because it's so much subtler but i think this matches their wedding and looks pretty nice anyhow.

one bbq and then (ack, mustache) party tomorrow, very exciting- tonight was a rather impromptu bbq. it was short and sweet, basically a group dinner, but it got me excited for more (planned out) ones. ++ ice cream party?? hopefully??

(i am drinking about two of these a day)
i'm really happy in this house. i was so sad about leaving my apartment, but i couldn't be in a better place. and! for the first time in like two years i have a full-sized refrigerator AND ice!! as a result i am making massive amounts of iced coffee (which i served alongside the veggie burgers/veggie hot dogs ry cooked tonight, so weird! but good) the only thing is my dang roommate gets to GO HELP WITH A PAULA DEEN PHOTOSHOOT ON SUNDAY as part of an internship and i think i couldn't be more jealous of anything in the world, besides like my best friend sleeping with bobby flay or ryan leaving me for giadda delaurentis (btw how creepy is it that i spelled that right the first try?).

it's so late! hopefully ryan will get back soon so we can play his wii for the first time in forever, and get some sleep in a cool room before it hits in the 90's tomorrow. ! hope everyone is having a great weekend, and special thoughts to dear san on her birthday.

gaining my footing!

it's amazing how hopeless everything was like a month ago- i mean, truly, absolutely terrified hopeless. i didn't let on much here because i didn't want to degrade this into a ranty blog, but i was so upset and scared all the time.

and now, with (only a few) boxes packed and FOUR giant bags to donate to philly aids thrift (i'm like the antipackrat)- everything is just looking up

i went to lou's block's memorial day bbq on sunday... it was so, so sweet & fun. i wish i had taken pictures, but i could not be more excited about those people being my neighbors. OH i don't think i've mentioned it, that's my new living arrangement! i am moving in with my good friend lou, who has basically been one of the like 4 totally true & reliable friends i've made here. i'm gonna be in a sweet safe south philly neighborhood with a bunch of old people and charming italian people. i am super excited (even with the loss of my teeny sweet cozy love love apartment :[ ), and everything should be really great as long as his cat (scuz) and my lilly get along.





so anyway, i am writing this now on a breathing break. i made a bunch of animal "hello" cards with the SIX new linocuts i made this week- so far they are what i am most excited about, and it kind of makes me want to empty out my entire etsy of the junk i made when i was first learning. ha!




(chickadee, bear, capybara, and anteater!)

everything is going to get real nuts real fast. i move out THIS weekend, hopefully in one day, and then i have to immediately get started on making 125 NOTEBOOKS FOR A WEDDING! i am so nervous & excited about such a big order! it is going to be really exciting to see everything laid out, what a massive number! i also have a small boutique order of stuff that i think is all already made & ready to be handed away. then! hopefully! a "real" job ASAP- i met/spoke to/handed my resume to mistie's boss at the bean exchange. he said he wished i applied earlier, and when i told him i did in january he acted really bummed that my resume never resurfaced- so anyway, if two girls there that are "on notice" end up leaving i could have a job there. if not, i'll be a little disappointed but there's always trying at philapets after i get a bike, or even doggie style. soooo lots of changes, but they are positive exciting ones.

sorry i am sooooo wordy but i am experiencing that high that comes with new, exciting things ahead. yay. hope everyone else is doing well!