I’ve loved the clean and classic ceramics from Pigeon Toe for a couple of years now. I love to give them as gifts, because they are beautiful handcrafted products that will certainly become an instant heirloom. When I received their Spring 2013 catalog, i was not disappointed. They have added some new product types, each as beautiful as the last. Here are some of my favorites:
[pendant]
[stacking vessels - not new but always catch my eye]
What instant heirlooms are you coveting these days??
Today’s installment in our awesome people series are Andie and Emily from Assemble Shop, friends and fellow crafters from Seattle.
I met Andie through our mutual friend Maggie at a Christmas party a couple years ago, and we met Emily shortly thereafter when we took our scrappy quilts class at their former brick + mortar location. Since then, they’ve transitioned to online only in order to open up opportunities to bigger and better things. They still teach workshops around Seattle (they taught me how to crochet just a couple weeks ago!), but now they also get to teach online classes, develop custom crafting kits, and expand the reach of their awesome inventory. They also wrote an article for this month’s Uppercase magazine, lending their insights to
The development of their custom kits has really been fabulous to watch. They have developed detailed instructions and video tutorials for each project, and the branding/packaging is spot on! But, do you want to know the MOST awesome thing of all? Right now Andie and Emily have a Kickstarter campaign going to turn some of their fun symbols of craft into new rubber stamp kits. Fun, right?
Over the last couple of years, Andie and Emily have turned into our friends, so we share their story with the utmost support. They are SO CLOSE to funding their kickstarter project - just a couple more backers will do it! Could that be you? (you’d be helping me out, too, since I’m a backer and I already can’t wait to receive my stamps 
Their story is so inspiring to me: knowing when was the right moment to take a step back from the status quo and go in the direction that would truly be valuable for their business. Its a lesson I can really take to heart when I’m making decisions about whats next in my creative pursuits. These ladies are amazing, visit their shop, blog, and the kickstarter page and say a little hello.
Do you have a favorite color? Do you wish it was socially acceptable to dress head to toe in that color?
Yesterday I logged onto banana republic to check out some sale items and was greeted with this image:
Looks like I can finally wear turquoise on teal with some aqua accessories. woohoo! This is how you’ll spot me this spring 
Are there any other tone on tone outfits or home designs you’ve been coveting this season of bright colors? There are some others in my dwelling and wardrobe pinterest boards.
Hey everyone, its finally feeling like springtime, eh?
Did you guys see my contributions to a post over at The Stationery Place last week? Lyndsey and I chatted all about places to find eclectic postage stamps, both new and old. I’m not content with standard american flag forever stamps, so I always like to peruse for whats fun via USPS and also in the vintage realm. Go check out the links that Lyndsey shared in her post.
This morning I was actually perusing through usps.com to see if there was anything new and exciting. I think we’re going to get these kaleidoscope flowers for our Save the Dates, and I wanted to see if anything else caught my eye. And catch my eye something did:
Aren’t these so pretty? The colors and theme fit perfectly for our spring 2014 wedding. I think i’m going to preorder a bunch of these and supplement with some blue/green vintage stamps depending on how heavy our invites end up getting. You never know what you’re going to find on the post office website, I always encourage people to check it out because the physical post office very rarely carries any of the most fun options!
{ps – another tip for buying wedding postage? make sure to buy enough to cover sending pre-wedding thank you notes from showers and bachelorette gifts}
Alright, now that everyone should have received my Valentines from the 2013 Handmade Valentine Swap hosted by our friend Lyndsey at The Stationery Place, I can share them with you! Didn’t want to ruin the surprise for my valentines. I can’t WAIT to share the creativity that came from my swap partners early next week
My initial inspiration came from these two rolls of wrapping paper I found in the dollar section at Target just after the new year (is there any better shopping place anywhere than the Target dollar section?!). I had also recently stocked up on some fun scrapbooking papers and also had this heart globe stamp from Banana Fish Studio that I’d been dying to use! So, with a little collage action, I made up these globetrotting valentines:
But I knew I also wanted to tuck a little thing or two inside the card (and I was glad I did, my swap partners sent some serious swag!). I remembered I had these awesome brightly colored toothpicks leftover from the engagement party, so I made little heart bouquets.
Which I tucked into some glassine bags from Daiso (our local Japanese dollar store). I love the sayings on the packaging from Daiso!
(Here’s a secret: Those “Love” stickers were page markers from the Boden catalog that arrived the day I was assembling these. Work with whatcha got). The scrapbooking paper I used was double sided, so the inside had this jaunty pattern which happily matched the little bouquets perfectly. A few conversation stickers and a friendly “Hello from Seattle” to match the globetrotting theme.
Tucked happily in their envelopes with a little heart adornment and they were off to places near and far (my partners were in Seattle, San Diego, North Dakota, and the Philippines!
Every year this is SUCH a fun project and I love seeing what I get from around the world. I highly encourage everyone to participate next year and send a little love
