Under $50

I've been asking around on Twitter and Facebook a fun question just in time for the holidays:
If you bought yourself a handmade gift for under $50, what would it be? Here are a few answers so far:

POAST house wanted by Toil and Trouble (Ana) 
Suite One Studio bowls wanted by Made in Lowell (Liz)
Stone and Honey tiny triangle rings (2 at $20 each) wanted by Megan Charland 
Forged Copper Gingko Leaf wanted by  Trowel and Paintbrush (Kathleen)
Bird Brain Tile by Rob Ryan wanted by Bugs and Fishes (Laura)

So, how about you? If you bought yourself a handmade gift for under $50, what would it be? Leave a comment and include a link!

links worthy of collecting

A few nice links to kick off the new week:

Wolfie and the Sneak are part of the new Poppytalk Handmade market. Come check us out, the prints are linked to shops that have them in stock (hooray for easy shopping!)

Sprout (Dispatches from Three Gardens) follows three gardeners through their plant exploits.

A Seed Company That Helped Presidents And Immigrants Garden Falters: If you haven't ordered a D Landreth Seed Co. seed catalog you're truly missing out. Equal parts drool-worthy seed selection and educational gardening information makes it quite a treat.

I saw a link to this Kickstarter and thought it was a link to this past weekend's music-heavy Prairie Home Companion. It kinda is, but without Garrison Keillor {which might make it even better to many. Oops, sorry Gary.}

links worthy of collecting

If you're interested but don't know where to start learning about what SOPA/PIPA could mean to you, this is a great article.

La porte rouge makes me want to draw and paint horses in snow.

I guess I'm a little late to the OldBrandNew party, but I'm so glad I made it!

Since we're knee deep in cold and flu season, the Numen site has a beautifully simple site full of herbal remedies and resources for natural approaches to healing. (Thanks so much for the link Shari!)

My Simpler Life's Declutter Calendar makes decluttering your entire house a doable task in tiny little time segments. 

Not a lot to say this morning, the weekend was fun and {as always} too short. We need more play time around our house. But after a weekend of renewed interest in the work we do, I have a brief thought to start your week:

Do what you believe, believe what you do, and maintain a natural curiosity all the while. 

Do you take this approach to life? How so?

these are a few of my favorite things

art supplies that provide little disturbance to the beauty I try to capture {Belly of Flea watercolors and inks}
navy skies filled with twinkling stars {Christine Buckton Tillman nails it with screen print}
blue-gray transitioning to the peachy tones of sunsets - the hues of Sandra Juto wristworms

Just what I want

I was reading Lizzy House this morning and came across this little morsel to chew on:

Are you living the life that you want? Are you taking steps to make what you want so? Is any of this really as complicated as we make it?

I don't think it has to be complicated, except for maybe deciding the path to choose. Since Good Magazine tweeted a similar question* I've been thinking lately about how incredible my life is. I love making things without the pressure of income. Sometimes I wish I had more time to garden (or to garden more, or to learn more about gardening or to learn to be a better gardener...you get the point) or cook. Sometimes I wish our house was organized and spotless, or we had fancy furniture and more refined taste. Sometimes I even wish I had blond hair. Often I wish I had more endurance to run, a better understanding of CSS and the ability to wow people with dazzling conversational skills.

But really, when it boils down to it, I'm surrounded by amazing people. I have a decent job with health benefits, and though it's not the most exciting job in the world it is a good job with good people. I have an amazing family (not just limited to, but certainly including C + M), and I have the time and the means to do my hobbies. I have found many things that I love, things that enhance my life and all of these things--the people, the animals, the activities--keep me on a path of contentedness.

There are amazing times and terrible times, but as long as the majority of the time is somewhere in between, well, my life is just what I want it to be.

*from @good Q: If income didn't matter, what job would you pursue? #GOODasks

breathe the fresh air

Anything that transports me from my desk to the dirt is alright by me. Enter tend. It's an absolutely beautiful collective of gardeners tending their plants and sharing gorgeous pictures that make you feel like you're right there with them.

Go breathe the fresh air and find inspiration.

Tend is:  Shari, Natalie, Julia, Heather, and Amy.

lists and things

I always check out who favorites me on etsy, and today I saw that someone named macyd had favorited a couple items. Upon further investigation, (ie clicking on her profile. . .) I found her blog, and it's super fun groupings of cool objects, usually themed for the day. Check it out here: Poesia, but hide your wallet first, 'cause the girl has a great eye for design.

Also, vote for the Craftiest Bastard! (Might I suggest Jaime Zollars? Her work is A.A.A. or Always Above Awesome)

Bored out of your gourd? One Pretty Thing has a list of tutorials that will fill up your to do list faster than you can say "Those are the prettiest thank you letters I've ever seen!"

This weekend I'll be doing 3 days of Habitat Steward Certification; two days in a classroom, one day in the field.
As described on the National Wildlife Federation website, I will be fulfilling these goals:

Habitat Steward™ Volunteer : Help people in your community to create and restore wildlife habitat. There are two levels of involvement: Steward and Host.
Stewards take the intensive, hands-on training facilitated by the Host. We ask that Stewards make a commitment of providing 30 hours of service to NWF within a year of completing their training. A small sampling of the projects Stewards have accomplished includes:

• Consulting with neighbor about filling habitat needs in their backyard
• Speaking at civic association meetings about the importance of wildlife habitat
• Writing articles for local newspapers
• Distributing habitat information at a local festival
• Helping volunteers at a local school to certify as a Schoolyard Habitats® site

* * *Are you ready for a big drum roll? It almost seems anticlimactic to unveil something so exciting at the end of this post, but I can't keep it secret any longer, so here goes: * * *

But that's not the only super special project I'm working on. For the past several weeks I've been curating a coloring book of magnificent proportions. 25 artists, 25 self portraits, and I'm ready to say they're available for preorder! I'll be unveiling the artists this week, and you will be amazed with the list involved (including the 4 sneak peeks above: Lisa Solomon, Jessica Gonacha, Frances Hawthorne, and Julianna Swaney also known as Oh My Cavalier!).

I have a feeling this will be an ongoing project, I think there are so many artists I'd love to have involved in future volumes.

Honey Sweet as Mustard

I'm on day 8 of an unintentional no sugar kick. It started with eating local and seems to be doing me a whole lotta good. Perhaps the lack of sweetness is causing my insatiable love for a more savory color: mustard.

Some of my most recent loves:

lovely capture of a Japanese garden in Portland, by Miss Modish herself!

hold jar by nesting emily

moodswing and mati rose team up for absolutely breathtaking jewelry for you and your home.

J Jill shirt in just the right hue--pretty affordable, too!

exactly where I'd like to be today, gorgeous photo by etsy seller Unravelling, via indie fixx galleria.

crochet table at CB2--on sale and really hard for me to resist.

I told you I'd show up with some links!

I guess you can tell what I'm thinking about--cooking and planting, and the wonderful combinations that follow.
These rough cut bowls are so heavenly.
Crocks from Perch would be perfect for my fresh butter (can you imagine living the sort of life that allows for fresh butter from a crock?!?)
I don't have enough orange in my life.
These pears are fleshy and minimal all at once. The shape and form make me feel like they would be so comforting to cradle in both hands.


Happy Birthday Design Milk! You're a blog of eternal inspiration and clean design.

How many times can I link to You Grow Girl before I just give up my own blog because Gayla has all the good ideas and finds anyway?? This planter is such a beauty. Click the link, see the sign, be constantly amazed.

here's a little sneak peek (hmmm, not so much a peek as a full on unveiling?) of the pieces for the Songcatcher show.

Something similar is in the works for the Uppercase's Old School show. If you're interested in purchasing the catalog for the show, they are now available here.

We're getting geared up (haha, bike humor) for another car free weekend. An experience that has taught me the luxury of not driving.

Some of my weekend plans will be posted to Modish later (and don't forget! the Modish shop is closing soon, so buy up and save--and get entered in the great giveaway she's got goin' on!)

If I can talk Charlie into it, we just might make it out to tonight's Critical Mass ride (meet up is at the Common Market in Plaza Midwood).

And to risk sounding like an extrovert, tomorrow I'm going to meet the lady that spearheads the Matthews Farmer's Market and check into some volunteering.

If I preach so much on community but stay well-hidden in my comfort zone, what will I learn? So wish me luck and the absence of panic attacks and I'll see you on the flip side!

rolly pollie

these days I'm peddling (wares), petaling (garden), and pedaling my bike. in the spirit of the latter, I thought I'd share some bike-ish goodies I've been drooling over lately, as well as some other goodies related to 2-wheeled wonders.

Bonjour Mon Coussin pillow via Bloesem

not really a bike, but i can pretend it is, the red form on the bowl by Ninainvorm is quite bike like, don't you think?

beautifully calm photo by Lili Lemieux.etsy.com

me + c ring (I should probably avoid the use of c and ring in a sentence since I already get weird search result visitors looking for things like "sneak" + "sex" and throw in another random kinky word to make it even creepier)

Since we're riding 'round town for every last errand, I deserve a hat to cover helmet hair, don't I? I'm eyeing this one, $40 from Piper and Paisley. Of course, I've also had my eye on Terry Graziano's hats for a while, too. Maybe with the money I save on gas I can treat myself to both!

* * *
other bike lovin' inspiration in no particular order

velocouture on flickr

jena rose bag on modish (sold out, of course!), but the same print is available on her site as a pillow, hat, fabric storage bucket and as other items. as well as the chunky bicycle bracelet

critical mass

we'll send it soaring. . .

drum roll please!

Miss Jess and I will be offering these 2 5 x 5" prints this weekend at ICE!
They're $25 for the set, archival and printed on heavy, beautifully velvety cotton paper.

The clincher? $5 from each sale goes to supporting wind power research (hence, the kites. . . see how clever we are?)


Now Mr. Unicorn would like to show you something:


(if you want to see the map a little bigger, just click on the image)

after the show, we'll be shoe gazing the night away to Damien Jurado and Jeremy Enigk, but only after I've downed a couple size-of-my-head glasses of sangria, at which point the only wind power will be the vast amounts of knowledge (or filth? actually, probably just a lot of politics) from the mouth of a tipsy girl feeling on top of the world!
um, have you noticed I don't get out much?