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I have long been a fan of Shabby Apple dresses. Their style is exactly what I love … classic vintage dress styles with a whimsical modern twist, all while keeping it modest. *swoon* So I am completely honored to be able to host a Shabby Apple giveaway .. and tickled for you to get the chance to win something from their beautiful brand. Also, I thought this really ties in nicely with the “Looking good … despite the holidays” series I just started. What a way to kick things off, eh? (People who know me in real life know that … Read more

I don’t know about you, but when we’re in the middle of a summer heat wave I don’t feel like turning on the oven and eating a hot and heavy meal. Something cool and refreshing sounds soooo much better. This meal idea is something my sister-in-law served one summer while I was visiting, and it fit the bill for a delicious meal on a hot summer day so perfectly. It’s kind of a coleslaw-meets-Waldorf-Salad-meets-chicken-salad dish, with a refreshing flavor mix of lime and thyme that my family has nicknamed Summer Thyme Salad. I’m including a printable of the recipe at … Read more

I love maps. And I love when customers give me great ideas for new prints to offer. 🙂 I had someone request a custom map art print to give as a gift to a young couple to commemorate the location where they got engaged! It was such a sweet project, that I thought it would be nice to offer custom map prints for others as well. I made this as an example if you wanted a print to show your home state, or it could also show the place where you got married, or where your child was born, or … Read more

As the gift-giving season approaches, sometimes it can be difficult to know what to get for people. When I design a new piece in my shop, I usually have a specific type of person in mind who would like it – for instance, I’ll make something to appeal to gardeners, or a design specifically for a bibliophile, or a print that I think guys who cook would like, and so on. So I thought it would be helpful to break down into categories some things I have designed that could appeal to certain types of people on your gift giving … Read more

So, as many of you know, we are trying to move to Boston! As you also may know, besides my art prints I also sell some vintage items in my shop as well. What you probably DON’T know, is that I have a huuuuge inventory of vintage stuff – much more than is in my shop – and I do NOT want to move it all to Boston! So … the number of vintage items in my shop has been growing – and I want to have a sale on all vintage items in my shop: 30% off all vintage … Read more

Well, our weekly adventure challenge continues! (If you haven’t seen the challenge post yet, you can see it here.) Last week I shared our pirate nature scavenger hunt, and it was geared more specifically for small children. This time for our second adventure we did an activity which isn’t targeted at any specific age, and can be enjoyed by pretty much anyone. (Although, confession – I cheated a little on the “weekly” this time. I’ve been posting the week after the adventure, but we didn’t go on an adventure last week due to sickness, we are doing two this week … Read more

I was at a restaurant a while back and I ordered an omelet – it came with a rich and creamy tomato sauce on top and plenty of fresh basil. I looooved it! The omelet was good too, but the sauce was spectacular, so I went home and experimented to make this recipe to be served on pasta instead – a thick and creamy tomato sauce. My family loves it, and it is so easy to make! Unlike regular marinara sauce which often needs to cook for a long time to get a good depth of flavor, this sauce develops … Read more

Drumroll, please… So, the winner of the poll I put up for you to be able to vote for the next challenge is finished – and the Handmade Biz challenge is the winner! I think the timing of this is reeeeally good, because if you have a crafty or creative business, right now is is when you should really be putting work into your shop to be ready for the holidays. I’m planning for it to be a 6 week series, which will take us right into the beginning of November. In the last challenge (the blog redesign challenge) I … Read more

Ok! So it’s time to start a new weekly challenge. I’m excited! This has become a feature here on my blog, that Fridays are the day I post my “weekly challenge” post. Basically, I set a goal of something I have to do every week for about 10 weeks, and then post about it here on Fridays. I’ve done three challenges so far… The first challenge was the Adventure-a-Week challenge, where each week I had to come up with a new family-friendly out-of-the-house under-$10 activity each week. Next was the “Hack Challenge”, where each week I had to take some … Read more

It’s week 3 of the hack challenge! And I must admit, it was a close call this week to get a project done. But, ta da, here it is! I wasn’t quite sure how I was going to get any project finished for this week’s post done while we are out of town … I had a back up plan in mind, but I’m glad I didn’t have to use it because I wasn’t terribly thrilled about. Fortunately, my sister in law up here in New England was having a craft night at her house this week, and I realized … Read more