fun with tagboard

newest editions to the shop!  i discovered reproduction paintings printed on heavy tagboard make excellent book covers...

like so:

the Decant journal

the Sylvan journal

the Apples & Oranges journal

a print called "Fellowship" on half a book cover

this year

i know it's not even christmas yet, but while i was cutting up chip board for a bookcover, i realized just how many lovely things have happened this year-


this year i have...

moved two states away
gave up wheat AND dairy due to bodily protest (yes, it can be done :)
lost like 5 pounds because of it
got to know God more
got to know ian and his fam more
had a car stolen
went from renting to thinking about buying (so stoked!!!)
went from baker to full time artist
experienced a miraculous healed relationship with my dad and his wife
slept on a boat for the first time
started my own business (however small ;)
got a hand-me-down drooly, lovey cat
got real health insurance thanks to ian
saw a fledgling bald eagle take its first flight
lost my only two wisdom teeth

overcame my fear of...

cloudy and rainy weather
precision in art (like using razor blades and rulers... refer to first sentence of post)
cities
piano (kinda)
forgiveness
people (ok.  not fully.  i'm getting better though... not all the way there yet...)
failing in art
music
giving up dairy and wheat


what a wonderful, morphing life my wonderful God gives!

leave a comment!  what has happened in this last year that you are super stoked or blessed by!  list as many as you can! :)

new journals and vintage hymnals

busy busy busy time of year!

here's what i've been up too THIS week:

The Groundswell Journal

The Yorker 1830 Journal

Vintage Sunday School Hymn Book

The Othello Journal

The Step Verdantly Journal

stay tuned for a free give away comin' up!  :)

(p.s.... want a tip?  you can get 20% off in my shop all through December by using the code HIPPOPOTAMUS   :)

christmas craft time :)

alright, i admit.  i love nerdy christmas crafts.

behold the mini snowflakes drying from their dip in the polymer bath:

80's stationary and stolen cars

how could you not love this little number:

the top of it reads "wish we could share this day together."

UNOPENED 80's stationary- gotta love it!

Also, our poor honda randomly got stolen last weekend... such an odd thing.  you never think something like that would happen to you (and to an old, ugly honda) and then all of a sudden you get off the foot ferry from a couple hours of looking at museums in the next town over and 

*POOF*

car is gone.  just like that.  broad daylight.

i lived all my life in crime laden California, but had to move up to Washington to get a car stolen.  ay yay yay.

they recovered it on wednesday and the inside was totally thrashed- the entire contents of the glove box strewn everywhere... the dashboard literally imploded on itself from them forcing the stereo out of it... it was vehicular rape.  so sad.

people think the God of the Bible is so harsh when He gives people commands to live by, but if you've ever had anything taken from you and abused, you realize just how LOVING those simple commands are- 

"You shall not steal."

but God uses everything for the good (literally "advantage") of those who love Him and are called to His purpose.  Pretty comforting.  so we didnt fall apart over it.  i love serving a God who is so rock solid when everything around me is hologram and/or hurtful.

new upcycled journals in the shop!

a hybrid watercolor/sketch journal...

a life and laughter watercolor/sketch journal...

a girl who looks kinda stressed out journal...

and a blue zephyr journal.

Nummy.

birds and wee books

eagle (cool, huh?)

honkers 

(practice from pics off the internet)

my mum in law has written a kid's book about geese, so i am working on some illustrations for it.

little signatures for little books

sketches and advice

life is quiet and simple these days, and i quite prefer it :)

garbage goose

i have made a lovely etsy friend who has let me trade me some stationary sets for a pair of lovely earrings:

thank you garbage goose!  :)

paint and potatoes

in art, even cleaning up is fun:

ah, pigment.

last night ian dug up this potato from his mummy's garden patch:

(he's got such a fantastic grin, doesnt he?)

one time at sally loo's, danielle took a red potato and attached some carrot pieces to it with toothpicks and made it look like an alien baby and then went around scaring people with it... good memories :)  

we weighed that puppy.  3 pounds of spud.

 washington has a knack for producing huge, big, healthy plants from it's frigid soils

a nativity of notebooks

new journals in the shop.  handmade like the dickens.

felted blazer and grocery bags

used book and sealed envelopes

70's acrylic painting and little kid's "learn how to cursive" paper

brown grocery bags, coptic stitched.

ele-prints are up!

bernice, that rebel elephant, is up for sale in the shop!  woohoo!

a traditional prayer

found this here

amazing.  just amazing.  how come no one did this sooner?

p.s. ele-prints are ready to go (in turquoise...arent you EXCITED??).  just waiting for cellophane bags to get here.  booya!  they'll be in the shop next week!

ele-stilts

tomorrow i'll be printing all three of the "escaping elephants" series (i actually havent figured out what to name them yet...)

look for them in the shop next week!

this is so much fun i cant even stand it :)

pretty bird

gotta do a print of this...

do you think people will buy it?

and if you don't remember who 'pretty bird' is, ask your neighbor :)  here's a hint: that's not a scarf.

flying elephants and sampson in a drawer

another elephant lino print on the way.  they'll go up in the shop as soon as my harder ink roller comes in.

do you ever feel like these elephants (and the one in the boat)?  kinda in between... and kinda alone for it... but deep down you're glad for a different route and a different destination?

in other news, our friends sara and evan gave us their cat due to moving circumstances.  we're pretty stoked about it!  his name is Sampson.

i thought i had lost him this morning until i found him like this, the little goon:

how does he make that look so comfortable?  i love how cats are total hedonists.

soon in the store...

linocut prints... like this one:

3" by 4"

word to the wise journal

whipped this out yesterday morning, seemingly from outta nowhere:

this journal is composed of a handful of vintage vacuum bags

i love when the creativity comes out so crisp and unruly,

and for a couple sublime hours i am very much with God.

see the journal here. 

i want erika's crochet skills

she made us mason jars cozies.

there is nothing cooler than that.

because of this, we had to model them very dramatically.

ian is so cool to take funny photos with me :)

conclusion?  erika rocks the house.

messy

sign of fun.

sweet lorna sue

just published a few of these stationary sets today.

named after one of my favorite women :)

Leeside studio is up and running!

well, FINALLY got my etsy site up....

it took a lot longer than i thought.  very exciting though.

here's the link!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/leesidestudio