in my (sometimes) humble opinion

Winter has finally arrived in Iowa (it's -3 degrees and sunny with 4" of snow on the ground) which is a great incentive to move somewhere warm(er) and tropical (ha)… like Vancouver! :)

Been busy thrifting for stuff I don't need (but love anyway). My new friends Anthony and Ben were kind enough to take me to their favorite little flea market in Des Moines where I found the most amazing treasure: a 35-page "Herbarium" from 1912 full of pressed flowers and plants. Ridiculously gorgeous, every page is an earthy vintage collage. You can see more of my thrifty finds here (like these beautiful teacups for $.25 each).

Enough shopping, time to get to work! Kris and I (aka Bedhead Bazaar) are sharing the stage at the next Craft Saturday (Feb 10th) with the brilliant jeweler Jade Scott, so we've got a lot of room to fill. Should be a great time though!

Just wanted to say thanks to Jessica for making my shop a Funky Find today! Also, Mike from Mudpuppy started a Best of Etsy blog, which he was kind enough to include me in. Thanks for all the etsy love guys!

Just added a bunch of stuff to the shop, including this card (one of my favorites), some hilarious album cover notebooks, and some cute fabric flags. Woohoo, I'm up to 2 pages of stuff for sale! :)

I just received this gorgeous letterpress calendar, bought off Etsy of course. Speaking of, I added a few cute magnet sets to my shop. Some fun links: Ali Edwards' latest minibooks, Celine's latest projects - inspiration everywhere!

There's something about the sun being out that just inspires productivity (we'll see how that works when we move to the notoriously overcast Pacific Northwest) . Today I designed custom receipts to go with my shop orders, finally posted on Tag Sale Tales, whipped up that cool flickr thing on the right, discovered I've had 21 pictures on Explore (I had no idea! Why don't they tell you these things?!), took some pictures, and made those fun new sections on the right there (I have friends! you can find me places!), all without leaving the house. And now the sun's starting to set. Well, that was nice. Happy new year!

ps - some fun links: Fernworks nature-inspired fine art, Leigh Wells' retro collages, Johanna Wright's fun paintings (via Tina), An Incomplete Manifesto for Growth.

I had a request to explain how we did the "photobooth" at Esther's surprise baby shower. We started with a black velvet curtain, Liza added the stars (I'm so glad she did, they added a lot) and set a bench in front. As far as the camera, we put it on a tripod with the LCD screen flipped around so people could see themselves. My camera (Canon G3) came with a wireless controller so people used it as a remote to take their own pictures (on the self timer setting, black and white). Otherwise you could just have it set on self timer and have them push the button, or have someone else take the pic. It was so much fun, especially because people could take as many pics as they wanted, and they could see how it turned out immediately. If anyone tries it I'd love to see the results!

Just wanted to share some fun links: Lorena Siminovich's beautiful collages on wood, Dana Robson's lovely nature pieces, Mike's new Best of Etsy blog (hey look, I'm on there! :) Also, I created a set of the photos from Esther's baby shower.

Life is finally getting back to normal around here, which means it's time to clean (yikes!) and restock the fridge. By the way, I've discovered another benefit of Etsy: trades! No money involved, just finding something you like and seeing if the artist would like something of yours. I love it! (what, I'm supposed to be making money not accumulating more stuff I don't need? pish posh, you can never have too much art)