Flickr Favorites - Shhh...

"secrets are made to be found out with time"

-charles sanford

1. Valentine, 2. detail, 3. spring sailor girl, 4. Grey Bunny, 5. I'll travel with you, 6. VINTAGE BEADED TRIVET, 7. Sweethearts On Parade Necklace, 8. I'm here. :), 9. Flower party, 10. love is priceless..., 11. { thank you, flickr friends! }, 12. my favourite..., 13. teacupflowers314. Not available15. Not available16. Not available

Sorry I've been absent for so long! Things have been crazy, but slowly we are getting back to normal. I'll be getting back into the swing of things around here, with new work being posted tomorrow!

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?

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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!

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! :)

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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 :)

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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?

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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?

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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?

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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.

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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?

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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!

Flickr Favorites - Quilting

1. Dream On Quilt, 2. Farmdale Quilt - B, 3. Floral Bouquet Quilt - on bed, 4. Community Kitchen Quilt

I do not quilt.

I have no desire to learn how to sew or quilt.

But I really want a queen sized quilt for my bed.

And so begins the long process of begging the one quilter in my life to make this for me. She makes beautiful quilts, but they are primarily baby quilts. I'm positive she can make a queen sized one, with some matching pillow cases of course, but all I've heard so far is N.O.

A little time and some designer fabric as a bribe and I'm pretty sure I'll get a beautiful hand made quilt to go on my bed with my almost finished queen sized hexagon blanket (that I made). Pictures of that once it's done :)

Want to see more flickr favorites?

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Flickr Favorites - Chill Out

1. Crocheted heart ornament, 2. Just chill out, 3. thinking along the same lines, 4. Bennett

Life has been chaotic these past few weeks.

I spent basically the entire month of August recovering from an illness which landed me in the hospital, and from which I am still dealing with the medical world until at least the end of this month.

My sweet boy has learned to crawl, stand up, and destroy everything he can lay his tiny little hands on. Never a dull moment around here. Never.

A feature on heartsy caused a big increase in sales, a happy increase I might add, challenging me to balance chasing after said wee one, writing customers back in a timely fashion, mailing packages, and taking care of two dogs and a home.

Throw in a major move for my little brother, who is currently using my home to store half of everything he owns, and my life is one big chaotic jumble!

I've never spent a night away from my baby boy before, but I'm thinking that maybe, just maybe, a long weekend to relax, and unwind might be a good thing in the coming weeks :)

(Could I really relax without him near me though? Probably not!)

want to see more flickr favorites?

head on over here!

Flickr Favorites - Itty Bitty

1. Red Riding Hood Papercut :), 2. Miniature X-Acto knife :), 3. itty bitty strings..., 4. Lovely infant foot with little white daisy

This is the first Tuesday of the month, so we get a theme to make our flickr favorites by. This month the theme was to create something teeny, tiny. The first two photos are from the same person. I just couldn't help but include both of them though! Elsita, has some of the most intricate paper cut designs I've ever seen. And that exacto knife!? What!? Once the little man goes down for his nap I'm going to investigate her shop in more detail. :)

Want to check out some other teeny tiny flickr favorites?

Head on over here!

Flickr Favorites - Decorating

1. Untitled, 2. Alice Through the Looking Glass..., 3. Untitled, 4. for the love of ercol...

I have been in decorators mode for the last week, as my brother prepares to move into a new apartment. He's going from a tiny studio apartment to a spacious 1 bedroom and there is a lot of furniture he's lacking*.

While helping him find what he needs I've been day dreaming about having a completely fresh palette of my own to decorate. I absolutely love being able to transform a blank space into something that is meaningful, and cozy. If only I had the time to do a little redecorating around here!

*the mosaic is what I love to use for redecorating. My brother is going with a manly red/grey/more grey theme. :)

Want to see some more flickr favorites?

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Flickr Favorites - Never Ending

1. [116:365] You've Got Butterflies? Well So Do I..., 2. spreading the love, 3. blackandwhite, 4. 031/365 ... Flu diaries day 2 : Tea anyone?

Still sick?

You bet I am. This has to be about the third flickr favorite I've made talking about how there is a lot I want to post, but just haven't because I've been under the weather.

Turns out I am more than under the weather. A week ago landed me in an emergency room and scared out of my wits. A week later I'm still sick, still scared, but on a month long road to recovery.

When I feel sad and sorry for myself I need only look at my sweet son and immediately there is a smile on my face. This is one of the hardest things I've ever endured, but I'll get through it knowing his smiling face is there to greet me every morning.

And I PROMISE to start showing off some of the work I've been doing these past few weeks.

Here's a Sneak Peak:

This is just a few of the calendars I will have for sale over in my card shop. I've always enjoyed making them, and this year I went to town creating a bunch of different sizes and styles.

I hope you like them!

Check out some more flickr favorites here.

Flickr Favorites - Don't Bring Me Down

1. 042*/365 ... It was the best of times and the worst of times, 2. Under the Weather, 3. beau-tea-ful, 4. Sick

I believe it was a mere 7 days ago I said I was back in action on this blog of mine.

And it appears as though 7 days have gone by without my posting a single thing!

I forgot I was traveling to my hometown, getting my son's 6 months photos done (six months old! where has time gone!?), and taking my sweet puppy to get a tooth pulled (when he we rescued him he came with a full set of bad teeth, requiring constant care).

On top of all of this today happened.

It started off like any other day. I fed and changed my sweet baby boy, and got around to making a little breakfast for myself. Only, I didn't feel quite right, so I skipped breakfast. Fast forward to lunch where I manage to feed the sweet baby again, as well as get a little something in myself. Only now I'm feeling positively awful. Flu awful.

I found myself wide awake at 1 in the morning, and unsure what to do with myself, when I remembered I had once again missed a flickr favorites. Well I may be an hour late, but darn it, I still managed to get one in flu and all.

Here's hoping tomorrow (or later today rather) looks a little brighter.

Flickr Favorites - Where I've Been

1. Yucatan beach, 2. Valldemossa - Mallorca island, 3. Where I've Never Been - Blue and Yellow, 4. Cycling through the rain

I wish I could say I've been away on vacation.

Honestly, I do.

Vacations are great. You can sleep in. Explore. Do Nothing. Take on Everything. Leave as a family of two, and discover when you return that you will be a family of three (Exactly what happened to us after our trip to Ireland last year).

The choice is yours on vacation!

But, I've actually been hard at work these last few weeks, and most definitely NOT on vacation. Early in July I was featured on Heartsy. This was awesome of course, and I loved every second of it! However it meant that 100% of my time was devoted to increased sales in my shop, and taking care of my sweet baby boy. I had to let some things go to the way side, and my poor blog was one of them. But things are calming down, and I am back! I have so much new work to share it's not even funny. Check back soon for a peak at what I've been up to!

Flickr Favorites - Scared!

1. I'm Not Scared!!!, 2. Ö_öh...look!someone dropped a quarter…♫ wildlife from bali ♫, 3. Ben's Lizard, 4. lagarto de bicicleta

I wish I could say I am fearless.

Unfortunately that is just not true.

I am absolutely afraid of frogs, salamanders, lizards. . .you know all those scaly, hopping, slithering type creatures! When someone asked me why on earth I was afraid of frogs as a kid I told them it was because I never knew what direction they would hop. What if it was towards me!?! And I still feel that way today.

Here's hoping I don't influence my little one with these fears!

Want to see other flickr favorites?

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Flickr Favorites - First Smile

1. .future cowgirl. {explored}, 2. the boy, 3. { sweet slumber } +1 sweet smile in comments, 4. Tinley..., 5. Sweet Smiles., 6. .sweet love., 7. Now smile for the camera..., 8. Big Smile...., 9. Is solace anywhere more comforting than in the arms of a sister.

My sweet baby boy is almost 5 months old.

Can you believe it? Because I sure can't.

I can remember back to when he was just a new little thing and the only time he would smile was in his sleep. It was the most adorable thing. Then one day he smiled at me, and that was the end of me. I am so hopelessly in love with this little boy! He smiles at me first thing in the morning, while he rolls around on the floor, while he eats his little half jar of baby food, in the tub, and of course when he's getting his little diaper changed. (the boy loves to be naked)

I hope he smiles at me forever :)

1. Eating Carrots 2. Eating his Burp Cloth 3. Eating Green Beans

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