Sneak Peak

Want a sneak peak of something new for the shop starting in January?

I would love to list them now, but I have a few minor details to work out yet. I've also decided not to list any work until after the holidays in general because I'm just enjoying time with my family, especially my sweet little WALKING baby boy.

He took his first steps today!

Best early Christmas present ever!

Now back to that sneak peak:

What do you think!?

Colors will be customizable, so that they will match any room :)

Flickr Favorites - That Time of Year

1. a 'whatnot' gleeful tree..., 2. Day Three Hundred and Fifty One, 3. Untitled, 4. Taft

It's that time of year.

A time when I feel like I am racing against the clock everyday. With the holidays come a surge of holiday orders, putting up our small collection of holiday decorations, lots of baking, visiting family, and having family visit us.

Sorry to have neglected this little space, but every holiday season I have to pick and choose where to spend my time. This year my number one priority has been spending time with my little man. He's going to be 1 in two months and that has been hard to swallow. I feel like I only had him yesterday. Rest assured after the holidays I'll be back here with regular posting and lots of new work! For now I am just keeping up with sales, and spending time with the ones I love.

Want to see more flickr favorites?

Head on over here!

Flickr Favorites - Art

1. Organic shapes (porcelain), 2. Leaves, 3. Self-Preservation, 4. A Winter's Tale

"A work of art is the unique result of a unique temperament."
Oscar Wilde

It's the first Tuesday of the Month so we have a them for our flickr favorites! If you couldn't guess, our theme this month is 'art.' A fitting theme from Miss Artmind I think! I could get lost on flickr browsing through all the lovely photographs of art. I tried to pick out a few of my current favorites for you to enjoy!

Mr. Reliable

I'm back from a wonderful holiday break with some new artwork:

He's called 'A Reliable Friend' and comes in blue, pink, green, and orange.

These mix and match critters were some of the very first things I sold on etsy and I still love making them all these years later. I love seeing what color and animal combinations customers come up with. Even when I think something is not going to look good together, I get it printed out and more often than not I'm surprised at how much I like the grouping. I think these big guys are going to be a nice addition for the mix and match.

What do you think!?

Flickr Favorites - Time of Year

1. Doily wall art, 2. New Year's Eve, 3. Untitled, 4. rust 30s british

It's that time of year again.

The holidays are upon us! It's time for baking, packing, and traveling to be with family and friends. And it's the first year I get to celebrate the holidays with my sweet son!

He has a thanksgiving outfit, and a Christmas outfit that I wish he could wear now. We don't do fancy outfits with him crawling and exploring every second of the day. For Thanksgiving he has a simple onesie which reads 'thankful for daddy' and matching brown and white striped cotton pants. Christmas will consist of a PJ set in gray with santa, trees, and reindeer all over them. And a matching Santa bib of course!

For now I must take care of the baking and packing part and wait another day for the traveling to see friends and family.

ps. Dear Artmind. I don't really like baking, but every year I find I enjoy it just a little more than the year before. This year I am going to attempt making a peppermint bark with toasted almonds. Wish me luck! :)

Want to see more flickr favorites?

Head on over here!

Gift Wrap Alternative

A bunch of new bags were recently added to Pine Hill Forest, and I am in love!

I love the different combinations of fabrics combined with the unique felted brooches and zipper pulls.

It got me thinking about the various uses for the bags. There is the obvious pencil case, makeup bag, purse organizer, etc. But what about using them as an alternative to gift wrap? I would love to see one of these bags peeking out the top of a stocking with a pair of pretty socks inside, or a new set of markers for a child who loves to draw. The possibilities really are endless, and instead of throwing paper away afterwards you'd have a beautiful bag to keep using!

Here are some of the recent additions which I love:

Poodle Bag

Fresh Poppies Bag

Bubble Blast Bag

Swimming Sisters Bag

Poppy Bouquet Bag

West Hills Horses Bag

Lindy Leaf Bag

You can check out these bags and more here.

Do you have a favorite?

Mine is definitely the Fresh Poppies Bag. I love the color combination, and the beautiful handmade felt zipper pull.

Flickr Favorites - Me Time

1. It's not you, it's..., 2. Bunny birthday cake 2, 3. secret garden, 4. Rococo Knit Shawl - 100% Organic Fairtrade Cotton

This past week I made some space for 'me time.' Not much mind you. There is a not-so-little 9 month old boy who keeps me on my toes at all times. But still, I did something I haven't done since that little boy entered my life.

Knit.

And not only knit, but knit for ME.

I'm working on a shawl. It's simple, but beautiful.

And when it's completed I'm going to tackle the gorgeous Rococo Shawl (picture four). I recently discovered that the pattern is available on Etsy through AtelierTPK. I can't wait to start it! It's getting a little cold in the year to be using just a wrap, but I hope to have it done for spring time use.

Boy it feels good to knit again!

ps.

The bunny picture is for my son.

He is obsessed with rabbits and was laughing when I brought the picture up on my computer.

I think I found a first birthday cake idea :)

Want to see more flickr favorites?

Head on over here!

I'm so excited to show off my newest alphabet print!

I made the original individual animal alphabet prints a few years ago, and have been adding to them ever since. I have seven letters that have more than one animal, and always wished I could use them in other projects.

So I decided to do another poster/print with the animal prints, but utilizing some of the animals that are not in the original animal alphabet print. I love how it turned out! I decided to go with a horizontal orientation as well, just to change it up some.

Here they are with the 123's print:

What do you think!?

Flickr Favorites - Food

1. valentine's day to my baby, 2. Homemade Baby Food - Carrots, 3. Baby food, 4. Baby Food

The first Tuesday of every month is always a theme for our flickr favorites.

This month that theme was food! Great theme, right!?

I could have talked about my favorite foods, least favorite foods, or how in the last few years I've actually gotten somewhat decent at preparing food. The possibilities were endless!

But when you ask me about food these days it's usually in reference to what the little man is consuming. I never knew people were so passionate about how, and when, you should feed your child! I got a LOT of flack for choosing to formula feed our son, a choice that was made in the best interest of him and myself. It was a personal choice and one that to this day irritates the heck out of me that people try to 'scold' me for doing.

Fast forward to four months when I decided, along with his doctor, that we would start foods. Oh the horror! I had mom's from all over telling me how they waited until 6months, 9months even, and would never consider feeding their baby any food at 4months! I listened to these women, who have all raised healthy, happy children. And went on giving my little boy sweet potatoes, carrots, green beans, etc.

And all was well until those carrots. By the third day of carrots we had a full body rash on our hands. In the back of my mind were all those nagging mom's telling me what I was doing was wrong. We took him back to the doctors and discovered that it's not an allergy so much as a food that flares his eczema. We were told to stop carrots, and retry them down the road.

And on we went. One new food after another. 19 Fruits, 12 Veggies, 3 meats, and a host of various wheats later our only other hiccup was pineapple. About a week ago (just shy of 9 months of age) we tried carrots again and had no problem!

We only recently, as in 3 days ago, introduced him to the little baby puffs to help him learn about solid foods and self feeding. While many people do this sooner, we did it when we felt it was time.

So to summarize:

1) Baby food does not taste as gross as I thought it would.

2) If you were expecting a post about my favorite foods it would be: eggplant, anything spicy, and italian food

3) Least favorites? Anything that can get mushy (think bread with condiments on it), sandwiches made on sliced bread in general, and peanut butter.

4) I've learned to take in advice from other parents, but at the end of the day I should trust myself. I've raised a happy, healthy little boy just like the other moms, and I am proud of that.

Want to see some other flickr favorites?

Head on over here!

Flickr Favorites - Keeping Time

1. Metronome, 2. Watches, 3. Calendar Card - February, 4. Vintage Retro Clock

Since I had my little boy life has been an evolving schedule.

When he was born our days were segmented into two hours time slots. Change Baby. Feed Baby. Have an hour to clean or sleep. Repeat.

As he grew the time in between feedings grew, and we are in a good groove. My child was born without the need for naps so fitting in time for work on etsy has been tricky. I'm lucky if he takes a 20 minute nap these days, so most work is done once the other half comes home and can take care of the wee one.

The main thing I had been focusing on was actually time related as well! Finishing the calendars for my card shop was my main goal. I went all out this year creating five different calendars. And because I am so happy with them, I decided to offer free shipping on them for this week only. You can read all about it here!

Want to see more flickr favorites?

Head on over here!

2012 Wall Calendar

This year I made not one, but five different Wall Calendars for my card shop.

I decided to try out some new sizes and themes (all birds, all flowers, etc.) instead of just using a mix of images.

I am so pleased with how they turned out!

If you like them as well now is the time to get one. For one week only I'm offering free shipping to anywhere in the world on my 2012 Wall Calendars.

Here are your choices:

2012 Patterned Wall Calendar

2012 Wall Calendar - Mix

2012 Wall Calendar - Mix II

2012 Wall Calendar - Floral

2012 Wall Calendar - Birds

Click on any of the links above to go to my card shop to see more pictures of each calendar.

Enjoy!

Changes

The other day I mentioned I was updating all the tags in my print shop. I've been going section by section and updating photos and tags. It's dull and tedious work, but necessary work none the less.

One thing I've really wanted to do amidst all the updating was edit the colors for my wild & woodland animal prints. As my shop has evolved I began using the same set of colors for my prints thus making them easier to mix and match. The Wild & Woodland prints mix and matched with each other, but not with anything else. So say you wanted to get a 123's print, and a hippo print they would not match.

But now, they do! Some of the color changes were minor, and others were not so minor. I really went back and forth about doing it, but in the end I felt it was a change for the better.

The Before Colors:

The After Colors:

All of the animal prints that were altered:

Livin' Large

A Hardy Fellow

Teeny, Tiny, Hoot

This is For You

Prickly, Bristly, and Full of Love

The Weather is Nice Up Here

Spike & Curly

Steady as We Go

The T-Rex, The Brontosaurus, The Triceratops, The Apatosaurus, & The Stegosaurus

Up Up and Away

What do you think of the change?

Do you have a favorite animal? (mine is the Rhino!)

Have any ideas for another animal that would look good with these wild and woodland critters?

Flickr Favorites - Tedious

1. xoxo., 2. Spiral Staircase, 3. Math is teeeedious. [24/365], 4. Week 39/52: Imaginations come and sweep the shores of my mind

I've been spending the last couple of days updating the tags for the listings in my print shop, as well as updating some of the prints themselves (more on that, with photos, tomorrow). I feel like I am going blind from staring at the computer screen for hour after hour. But it is worth it. Some of these listings had the original tags I used, and desperately needed updating!

Speaking of which, I should be getting back to it while the baby boy naps.

Want to see more flickr favorites?

Head on over here!

Ornament Love

I'm so happy to see all the happy little ornaments back over at Pine Hill Forest. I love all of them and am happy to say a little collection of animals makes its home on my tree every year. We have a possum, squirrel set, some foxes, and one rabbit. I love looking at all the embroidery on the dresses and vests. It is something I wish I could do, but just do not have the patience for.

Here is the complete collection:

Happy Animal Ornaments

And my top three favorites:

The Owl Ornament II

The Opossum Ornament

The Piggy Ornament II

Do you have a favorite?!

Flickr Favorites - Common Things

1. can the world stay this color all year round?, 2. I want to ride my bicycle, 3. Untitled, 4. 3/365 1.3.09, 5. words to say, 6. Untitled, 7. circles, 8. Hello Autumn I have been expecting you, 9. Free

"The art of being happy lies in the power of extracting happiness from common things"

- Henry Warn Beecher

Taking time to enjoy these last days of autumn before winter comes sweeping through! Lots of bike rides, walks in the woods with the dogs, and watching our little boy discover more and more every day.

Life is good.

Want to see more flickr favorites?

Head on over here!

(Another) New Birth Print

This is actually more a rework of a birth print I already had, rather than a completely new birth print. Still, I love the new options and wanted to share it with you on here!

Originally I had designed a dinosaur birth print using only the stegosaurus. I liked it, but felt over time that the stegosaurus was too small on the print. After going back and forth for some time I ultimately decided I would be happier with a different layout. And while I was at it, why not offer more dinosaurs to choose from?!

The finished prints:

Dinosaur Birth Print

The stegosaurus is still my personal favorite, but I love offering up the option to have any of the four dinosaurs be on the print.

What do you think?!

New Birth Print

I'm so excited to get back to sharing my new work with you!

After a super busy 2 months, things are finally slowing down around here. I couldn't be happier about that. I'm ready to get back to enjoying the quiet moments with family, instead of jam packed days leaving me wondering where time is going.

So back to the new work.

Today I have a brand new birth print to share with you!

Butterfly Birth Print

This print features a pretty little butterfly, and would be a lovely addition to any nursery or playroom don't you think?

This is not to be confused with my Butterflies Birth Print, which is a more modern take on the butterfly. I wanted this one to be a happy, cute, little animal since it has been a while since I could sit and draw a happy little critter.

What do you think?

Flickr Favorites - Bright

1. Girl in Party Dress and Dancing Shoes on Dresser, 2. bracelet, 3. Juquila Mexican linen maxi dress, 4. Jewelry/Cosmetic Bloom. Darling Jardin Bleu.

It's the first Tuesday of the month so Miss Artmind has selected a theme for us to go with. She wanted to see a bright colorful group of pictures, and the ended asking if we like to wear said bright colors.

Yes. Yes I do.

There are a couple things I love when it comes to clothing.

1) Dresses

2) Color

Light, bright, dark, patterned, you name it. I own it and I love to wear it! If only the weather allowed for year round dress wearing!

Want to see more flickr favorites?

Head on over here!

Flickr Favorites - sCAREd

1. scared, 2. Scared, 3. Moltas -The Scared out of focus shoulder cat (tsoofsc), 4. Scared

So it feels like my whole scary illness thing happened a lifetime ago, but actually it's only been 2 months. That is definitely long enough to be able to put it behind oneself and get on with life. Which is just what I had been doing until I realized I have a doctor's appointment today with a specialist. An appointment which is going to inform me how the rest of my life will be.

Whenever I feel the butterflies in my stomach getting too strong I just pick up my sweet (big) baby boy and get some slobbery kisses. That makes everything better :)

want to see some more flickr favorites?

head on over here!