Holiday Shop Update & Giveaway!

I've updated my Etsy shop with vintage paper goods, vintage Christmas ephemera and embellishment packs and vintage mixed-paper recycled journals and scrapbook mini albums.  Yay!  Blog Readers, enter code BLOG2011 at checkout for a 20% discount on your order!

I absolutely love vintage Christmas cards.  The one above is a sweet angel, embossed and made to look like a patchwork quilt.  I could see this in one of my holiday journals or used as an embellishment on a scrapbook page.

I've restocked the Christmas journals/mini albums.  Each journal/album comes with a little stash of goodies tucked into the back pocket so you are ready from day 1 to start recording those holiday/everyday memories!

The journals are filled with my favorite vintage paper: pages from holiday books and kids workbooks, ledger and graph paper, as well as current favorites such as brightly colored scrapbook and handmade paper.

 The journals also come in shades of wintry blue for those who prefer a more subtle winter pallet.  Pages are also embellished with labels and stickers from the Cavalini sticker tins.

And these are my favorite!  Precious packs of my favorite embellishments, perfect for holiday crafting!  Each pack has a glittered gift tag, and an assortment of vintage and new paper and ephemera.

here's a more detailed photo of what is in the ephemera packs: patterned scrapbook paper, handmade paper, vintage dennison seal, scalloped cardstock, glittered Christmas tag, vintage green-and-red playing card, vintage book illustration images.  Each pack comes tucked inside a glassine envelope.

Well I am excited for the holiday season to begin!  

Have a Happy Thanksgiving (if you're in the U.S) and have a wonderful weekend!  I'll be drawing a name from the comments on Tuesday, November 29th.  One lucky commenter will win a mini journal and ephemera pack of their choice!   All you have to do is leave a comment and tell me, what are you most thankful for?  

cute colorful etsy treasuries

what do you do to pass the time with a sick child in the middle of the night?  you create an etsy treasury, of course!  these are just a few of many from my favorites list.  get well soon, little one.

special coupon code for my blog readers (yes, that's YOU!)

just finished my first round of holiday updates for my etsy shop. and i wanted to give you, my lovely blog readers, an early christmas gift (or, if you don't celebrate christmas, an early birthday present!). and that goes for first time visitors (lucky you!) and those who are too shy to comment (you're here with us in spirit and that's what counts!) ;)

if you go to my etsy shop, and enter the coupon code: BLOG20, you will receive 20% off your entire order. this is good through Monday, November 29 (11:59pm PST).

i've updated the shop with holiday themed mini journal/scrapbooks in red-and-green (for the traditionalists) or a wintry blue-and-white for something a little different.

this little journal made it into my first Etsy Treasury!

all my journals come with ephemera tucked into the back pockets so you are ready to go as soon as you receive it. ephemera may include stickers, labels, vintage and scrapbook papers, tags, etc.

i also have ephemera packs that go great with the journals or you can create a card or ATC (artist trading card) and mail it in the glassine envelope that is also included! perfect for art-on-the go, mail art, or stocking stuffers for your favorite artist (or just a little treat for yourself!)

ok, it's waaay past my bedtime. i think i might just watch the sunrise on this fine Thanksgiving morning!

happy turkey day, everyone! and thanks again for stopping by. i love your comments and i do try to visit everyone who leaves evidence that they were here. i hope wherever you are, you are happy, creative and surrounded by love and loved ones.

xo,

nicole

ETSY shop update & it's finally feeling like FALL!

i've been working on some new upcycled mini journals for my etsy shop. i finally am getting into the holiday mood, so the new journals all have a wintry and festive feel to them. lots of red-and-green (brights and muted) as well as cool, snowy blue-and-white.

i've packed these journals with my most treasured vintage, handmade, and recycled paper. for vintage paper, i use music sheets, atlas pages, children's books & workbooks, coloring books. recycled paper includes used and unused ledger pages, "junk mail" (my favorite are the paper source catalogs. the colors are bright and the paper is thick!), and graph paper (which also falls into the vintage category, too).

i'm loving all the color combinations. i've also never been an either-or kind of gal when it comes to colors! i really love traditional christmas colors as well as more off-beat brights and more muted, vintage tones.

most of the christmas images came from an old magazine called "christmas ideals." it was full of wonderful images, poems, stories and songs all printed in blue or green ink. and i also recycled holiday catalogs (it feels good putting "junk mail" to good use!)

i have a lot of old children's books and workbooks from the 5os & 60s but the paper is too frail to include in my journals as pages. so i made some high-quality color copies on my printer on the back of my favorite scrapbook paper and, voila! i was able to include some of my favorite images, plus the copies retained the aged and textured look of the originals.

i've got a christmas tune in my head, but the words are changed to: "it's beginning to look a lot like AUTUMN!" there are leaves of all colors sprouting on trees and scattering in the wind like butterflies.

when i go on an afternoon walk with the girls, i hear the satisfying CRUNCH of dried leaves beneath our feet (although, since it's california, we're still walking around in flip flops! an odd sensation, but i love it still!) the smells are returning, too, like sweet, smoky fires, rotting pumpkins, wet leaves in the gutter. it's like a second spring of sorts, but with smells of decay and death instead of blossoms and life.

we took a little walk today to get some lunch near the university. we stopped for photos in the late afternoon sun and i played with my new point-and-shoot camera (it's a sony cyber shot dsc-t99)...still unsure if i like it or not! :(

(i love pictures of my girls, though! they are fun subjects!) most of the images, though, i have to do a little touch-up in i-photo (mostly with getting the color to look right).

maybe i should just read the instructions. i've never been a by-the-book kind of gal, i really like to just feel out new technology on my own (it should just be totally intuitive and user-friendly in my opinion, anyway!). but i was able to take some great photos! :)

and on another slightly-related topic (it has to do with journals, at least!), i received the mother of all art journals today! (it's 11.7" x 16.5"! the regular moleskines are about 5" x 8") i recently attended journalfest and i saw someone with the most amazing journal in one of my classes (orly avineri's "mapping me"). it looked like a super-sized moleskine and i immediately thought, "i must have one!" i asked where she bought it and she said Amazon.com! so after a little searching, i found it! it comes in regular drawing/sketching and watercolor paper! they are about $26 each (free shipping on Amazon!) but totally worth every penny, in my opinion! my quest for this amazing journal also lead me to the most wonderful blog, notebook stories. it's about, well...JOURNALS and the people who love them. if you are a fellow journal junkie like me, i suggest you check it out!

ok, that's all for now. the monkeys are getting restless and it's time for dinner. oh, and i keep meaning to blog about our homeschooling adventures, but i'll save it for another day.

everything is working out good so far! maya is loving her new educational environment (her home, and the whole world, really is her "new classroom.") and little sureya is getting in on the act, too, emulating her older sister by "reading" books and "doing homework." so cute! :) i've heard when you homeschool, the younger ones start in on the learning really early. i remember that from when maya was 2 or 3 and she would want me to assign her "homework" because she would see her older brother and sister doing their homework after school.

well, that's all the fun for now. i'll be updating the shop tomorrow AND i'll be attending the cavallini & co. warehouse SALE this saturday. i will be sure to post ALL the goodies i find! :)

Etsy Treasury: All Souls Day

I LOVE curating treasuries on etsy. it's like window shopping and creating an inspiration board all-in-one. i typed in "soul" and found some interesting items. then narrowed it down with a black-white-and-orange theme. hope you enjoy some halloween inspired goodies! check it out by clicking HERE. happy fall!

ok, i'm ready for fall!

i'm usually the last one in flip flops and summer dresses, desperately clinging onto the last few drops of sweet summertime. but after seeing everyone around blogland getting ready for halloween, i am officially ready for fall to begin! :) i forget that my favorite holidays start just around the corner after i've splashed my last cannonball into the deep end of the pool. (actually, we didn't do much swimming this summer. it was one of the mildest summers i've ever experienced here in the past 10 years! brrr! and when i mean brr, it's the california gal in me, going, "it's 65 degrees out? turn up the heater! where's my fuzzy socks??)

peek-a-booo! halloween mini stitched journal/album available in the shop!

anyway, i've been a busy bee and i've added some more items to my shop. halloween-inspired mini journals. perfect for jotting down little notes or tucking in sweet photos of loved ones. i always sneak little goodies into the pockets and folds of every journal i make. kind of a fun little surprise. and a way to get a little creative jumpstart!

kitschy kid costume fun!

birds of the night sky. great old book page from an old children's book on birds

i've sent laurie her mini journal in the mail today, hurray! and i'm getting started on sally's custom made journal this week. sally was the big winner of the giveaway--winning her very own custom made journal. yay! i'll share a couple of behind-the-scenes photos of the work in progress. ;) and if anyone knows ejmom, please let her know i'm lookin' for her! (she won the collage pack! if i can't find her within a week, i'll have to re-draw the prize.) these three ladies are our winners from my 100th post giveaway. if you missed out, don't fret. i'll be having them frequently! we'll have another one coming up pretty soon to kick start the fall/halloween fun! stay tuned...

whooo doesn't love owls?

pages inside a stitched mini journal

would make a great back-to-school gift! ;)

more mini journal pages. i LOVE old paper!

pumpkin themed page! found in the halloween mini stitched notebooks

we are still enjoying mild summer/early fall weather here. which means we can still run around in flip flops and bare feet and eat popsicles for lunch if we feel like it. took the girls to the park today and they had a blast. sureya loves the slide! she loves climbing up in her little bare feet and sliding down on her back and then doing it all over again. she is my little daredevil. today, in fact, i walked out of the kitchen only to find her sitting ON TOP of the dining room table, shaking both the pepper and salt onto her feet. cute, but kind of terrifying too! she is a quick little one, i guess the baby gates are going back up! she only had a few seconds lead time on me, but that was enough time to get into trouble!

hope you are enjoying these last few days of summer before the smoky fall air and cool nights wrap around us like fog. i'm looking forward to it. finally. i'm not dragging my heels like i was in years past. maybe because i avoided michael's where they start putting up halloween stuff in july. i really don't like to be forced to do anything (who does?) and i really don't like to hurry through anything as precious as life and the everyday "little" things like the passing of seasons. after all, there will never be another day quite like today.

dirty face and feet: evidence of a great time had at her friend mo's 2nd birthday party!

Etsy Treasury

The Sound of Music

I love making Etsy Treasuries. I've only made two so far, this being my second attempt. So much fun to see beautiful items grouped together in some kind of theme. Go check it out on Etsy.com and make one of your own! It's like making a little inspiration board to share with others. You can pick your favorite items or search for a specific theme. The one above was inspired by the music note ring and then from there I just typed in "music" and then added "black" and "red" to narrow it down. Fun fun! Of course, Etsy can be a dangerous place for artists (for anyone, really) because there is everything anyone could ever want (almost!). I will have to share my latest haul with ya'll, but that will be for another post. ;)

Art Angels

wow, just when i think, "i give up! i can't do this artist/mom thing anymore--one of us has got to go!" art angels come to my rescue. whether in the form of kind and encouraging words from fellow mom/artists or sweet handmade artmail gifts (see above! thank you, catherine!!), the timing couldn't have been more perfect. and the message is clear: i am a mom and an artist and i cannot separate one from the other. and there will be a time when i can spend endless hours in the studio, but that time isn't now. now is the time to enjoy watching my children grow and enjoy and savor the best moments and saving them to memory so i can get through the rough spots. and if i have a few minutes here and there, i can sew a few pages in an art journal or jot some ideas down in an idea book to save for a future me (again, thank you, catherine!) ;)

or make some pretty post-it note mail labels (ala julie of the adventures of bluegirlxo)

or if i'm just in a rut and feeling kind of blue, i can make a treasury on Etsy (my first one! they're hard to get. if you don't want to stalk the treasury and wait for a spot to open up, you can always make a practice one here)

art will always be here. but these days of chubby toes and giggles and first steps will be gone in a blink of an eye. i will always have time for art but i won't always have these little bitty babies (my oldest are already in high school and my middle child, my first baby, is in second grade going on middle school!).

a little triumph tonite: sureya went to bed at 9 without much fuss! let's see how long she stays asleep (knock on wood!) here's to relaxing art-filled evenings and babies who sleep through the night! (10:17pm...i hear some crying, i spoke too soon!..maybe she'll just go back to sleep? ah, the joys of motherhood! can't a mom just be done at the end of the day and "clock out" like everyone else?)

i know, she'll be all grown up before i know it. and some days, i feel like it couldn't come sooner! here's to another long night. but i know there's light at the end of the tunnel. and a little baby that needs her mama right now.