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I spent a large majority of last weekend working on some designs for my shop. I was incredibly productive in one day and came up with some stuff that I absolutely love! With Mother's Day approaching sooner than later, I've listed some new cards for such occasion.



I came up with a few paper cut note card sets.



I worked on a set of thank you notes based on a hand drawn image.


And finally, some save the dates, that are super simple and fun.


The save the dates have already been popular with one order in the works. You may have seen me tweet about progress with this order since the color scheme is just slightly different. I love the new colors just as much!

How do you like all of the new designs? What sorts of projects have you been working on lately?

This past weekend Andrew worked away at installing maple panels in our half bath. Wood paneling doesn't always sound so lovely, but remember this post about our final goal to have a Frank Lloyd Wright bathroom? This is what we're going for. Not that old 70s wood paneling you're thinking about.

In order to get a clean, nail-less look, the first step in the process is to mount something on the studs called a z-clip (because it's shaped like a z).



After these lovely clips were installed, Andrew used a router to create a reveal that would show between each panel. Yes, he bought a ridiculously expensive router just to do this. (Cue in Tim the Tool Man Taylor grunts and sounds). And there's a back story about this router that I won't get into that may or may not have been the reasoning behind these flowers. But in order to spare him of anymore embarrassment, I'll leave it at that. Plus, I'm getting way off topic.

So next is to screw the other half of the z clip onto the back of the panel. Then the panel just locks into place. These clips are supposed to withhold some ridiculous amount of weight and help create a seamless look with no putty holes-- a definite bonus.



Two more rows of panels will be added along with a final cap on the top row. The next step will be to stain and finish the panels. Once all of that is done, the sink and toilet can go back in, freeing up space in our living room. Though as I've said before, the sink and toilet hanging out in our living room right now sure makes it looks classy.

And of course, none of this work would be getting done if it weren't for our stealthy contractor, Finn.


I've yet to witness it, but I've heard he's pretty handy with a hammer. What do you think of the progress thus far?

We didn't decide to turn our spare bedroom into a studio and reading room for any old reason. Sure, working on stationery, cards, and architectural drawings in a dingy basement is certainly not good for getting the creative juices flowing. And curling up in a comfy chair in a bright, sunny room is the best way to indulge in a good book. But I forgot to tell you the real reason we decided to make this room what it is. Maybe it's not my reason, but Finn would sure like to argue that it's the best reason. I mean, with sun like this and comfy chairs with lots of pillows and cozy blankets, the real reason was for Finn to have an excellent napping place.




It's no secret that this is his new favorite place in the entire house. And with cute little paws like that it's hard to think his reasoning about our studio space is wrong. Has he convinced you? ;)

Right now our studio/reading room is a bit messy while we work on getting rid of some things we've had in storage since we moved into our house. We're doing better than our last move. At our old apartment, we'd been there for a little over two years and had boxes that had yet to be opened. For now, we're one step closer to finishing this room as I work on transitioning my huge collection of paper, shipping supplies, and other such things into this empty half of our closet.


And see that lovely pile of crap in front of the closet. That's off to Goodwill. It feels amazing to purge the stuff that's been sitting around for a few years. In the meantime, remember this half bath project? Andrew has been diligently working away at this the whole weekend. Things seem to be going a bit more quickly today than yesterday and hopefully I'll have an update for you soon! In more important news, maybe the toilet and sink that have been sitting in our living room for the past six week will finally find themselves being reunited with their appropriate space.

At the beginning of the new year, I made ten goals that I wanted to accomplish by the end of this year or throughout the year. Seeing that we're almost halfway through March, I thought I'd check to see how I was doing. I know that there are some I'm not doing so well with, so I revisited my list to find out if I'm at least making headway with some of them.


1. Have 200 designs in my shop.

This has proven to be a bit more difficult that I had thought. Since a lot of my note card sets are one of a kind sets, if I sell one I'm not making progress forward in this department. Rather, I take one step back and have to replenish the one that was sold. In addition, a lot of my sale items sold during my February Sale Event, so that didn't help me out with my goal of 200 either. I'll soon be adding some more made to order designs which hopefully will help me out!


2. Double my sales for the year with 400 sales.

I'm making good progress here thanks to this Valentine's Day card. I sold about 100 of them and since the beginning of the year have had about a total of 150 sales. So that means I'm about a third of the way to reaching my goal.

3. Complete my first craft show.

This hasn't happened yet, but I probably won't be able to work on this goal until summer vacation comes around.

4. Design a website other than Etsy to sell my cards.

Nope. Still haven't looked any further into this. And still wondering what others use for their websites if they have one.

5. Design at least one new design per week.

This is a bit spotty. On average, I probably design one thing per week. Some weeks I just don't have time, other weeks (like this one) I design five or six things in one day. Either way, I feel as though I'm staying on track with this one.

6. Finish setting up my studio.

I haven't given a studio update on my blog for a while because there hasn't been much going on in that department lately. Last weekend, I emptied out the closet in that room in order to provide space for my paper, crafting supplies, and shipping supplies. I'm hoping to continue working on this today and tomorrow. There is progress happening and I'll be updating you soon!

7. Complete at least three blog posts per week. (I'm trying not to let this blog fall between the cracks).

I did a great job with this in January, blogging almost every day. Then February came around and it was an extremely busy month, socially. One week I even realized that I had spent 6 of the previous 10 days with other people. People overload. This month I've been able to balance the social life with personal time and have gotten a little back on track with the blog this week. I'm finding that making lists of blog ideas in a notebook helps me stay on track.

8. In that same grain, I want to work on gaining more followers-- maybe up to 300!

Right now I'm at 91 GFC followers and 98 subscribers. However, I'm realizing more and more that this doesn't matter a whole lot to me. I'm going to blog no matter how many people are reading (I've done it for the past year or so haven't I?) so if I end up at 300 by the end of the year then it's just a bonus! :)

9. Create a new packaging concept for my cards and stationery-- something that looks more professional than just a cellophane sleeve.

Progress is being made here. I have some clear boxes that I've been using as trials for larger sets of stationery and so far, I like the look. I want to work on making some labels for the boxes next.

10. Create one treasury per week to amp up exposure.

I think I'm going to scratch this one. In the new year, I've made 2 treasuries and that's it. I've realized that I'd rather put my energy into something else that feels a little more worthwhile. Thinking of something to replace this goal... hmmmmm.

Did you make goals for this year? Are you making progress with them? Also, and I'm open to any suggestions you may have to help me improve on some of my goals. Sometimes all we need is a good swift kick in the butt! :)