Blackbird LetterPress

I adore Blackbird Letterpress.  This is a company that I have been paying attention to for a little while now. Their cards are simply beautiful. Maybe, I am so in love with it all, because I did printmaking in College?

I have an appreciation for running things through a press, for pressing patterns into paper and the feel of it in your hands as it comes out the other side. The sensation in your fingertips as they gingerly touch the depressions in the paper. Or, what it feels like to peel back the layers of padding, to see how your print has turned out, after inking it for the first time.

I love paper, I love pressed paper, it gives your chosen item a vintage air and these cards certainly have that.

The yellow grizzly bear looks as if he has crawled out of the pages of your Grandmother's photo album as a memento she stuck in from their family Summer trip to Yellowstone. There is just such a simplistic beauty to these cards. I don't know if I would be able to give them away to someone; they would have to be another lover of paper items, like me.

I plan on getting a few of these and framing them to hang around my house, because one's house should never be without a fox and a grizzly bear adorning the walls!

(All images copyright: Blackbird Letterpress)

Ice-Cream Treats

I love these waxed paper cups from Paper Treat's Etsy Store. Although, no longer available they look too cute not to share!

What is it about ice-cream in a waxed paper cup that screams: Summertime, happiness and childhood? It makes me dream for a waxed paper Dennis the Menace cup from Diary Queen, a dipped one of course!

I adore their cones, but if you get your frosty treat in a cup, there is always more of your dipped flavour of choice pooled around and frozen in the bottom of the cup, little mountains of chocolate chunks, waiting for you!

I loved going there when we were little. On hot Summer nights, my parents would load us up in the car and we would head out for an evening ride, usually ending up at Dairy Queen for a dip cone. It was such a hard choice to decide between the chocolate dip or the cherry one.

Did you dip vanilla ice-cream or chocolate? Oh, the tough choices you had to make when you were little! The choice of dessert was usually the most important decision you possibly made all day, except of course a peanut butter & jelly or a ham & cheese sandwich for lunch!

But, Dairy Queen does not exist in England, so in this hot day today, it will have to exist simply in my dreams....

**UPDATE: Thanks to SuzieButton for letting me know, these are back in-stock in Paper Treat's Etsy store!

Another Dream Come True (and it's just a pair of used boots!)

I have looked far and wide --- I have scoured Ebay & Etsy for years trying to find hiking boots that would fit this one weird idea(l) in my head.... this idea of tall & cute knee high military style canvas boots that had good shoe soles for gripping the ground while walking in these mountains.
I finally have come to my hiking boot climax after all this time!
The title of these boots (pictured) from Etsy says it all... i mean really, it ALL! Like every keyword i have ever used trying to find something just like this:::::

"Vintage Denim and Leather Boots Canvas Hemp Buckle Combat Retro Knee High Riding Boots Safari Hiking Boots size 6"

I am gonna confess my enthusiastic girlie-ness for shit like this, when I find a sweet pair of boots I need badly and happen to also be hot to trot (freakin' sexy with leather straps), i am totally taken back in time to my mom's shopping bonanzas where she would have us model our score for my dad when we got home from the Lakeside Mall. He was not thrilled ($$$), but we felt awesomely adorable & prepared for all the events city life may throw our way (catholic church on sundays, school functions such as bingo night, seeing my boyfriend on the Westbank, going out to eat at Impastato's with my parents).

Confession #2 : I will wear (now as an adult) high heel cowgirl boots when hiking in the woods, and walking miles along the road. Why? Cause I like them, they are so pretty I can't take them off even when it's an inappropriate terrain.
These old canvas boots I found are gonna save me from this reckless fashion love/consumer zombie/ hurtin' shins fate.

BTW- these are used/vintage boots I got, I haven't bought brand new shoes in over 5 years. I try to stick to an eco friendly plan when buying footwear cause usually the thrift stores, ebay and etsy are full of amazing footies for alot cheaper. And much more interesting looking. Don't ya think?
Xoxo

Thank You Mr. Postman

My Jolly Postman rapped at my door a few mornings ago now with his cherry red bike in one hand and this in the other:

And what was inside this adorably wrapped tube? It was this:

My sweetie surprised me and had ordered this print I had been pining away for on Etsy.  It is by the very sweetly named Katie Daisy.

I believe very much in this quote, I am wandering, I think I might have found a new path (more to come on that), but I never felt lost.

Go look at her gorgeous page and her other wonderful designs. I love this one:

And this one:

And so many more...

Click on the image below to be taken her to Etsy page:

(images of mailing tube and business cards by J. Michie, all other images copyright Katie Daisy)

Things I Do (think & find) While It's Snowing

See me there in the pic above... I know it's hard to tell because my alpaca wool gloves are so hairy and thick, but I am shooting my middle finger up at the snowing sky. Fu@k this winter! Me and Snow, I don't know if we can be friends anymore... they are being a little clingy since like December, coming over too much, always hanging around my house like a stalker, ruining my plans, just plain smothering me. They scare away the animals too, and that's just messed up. Basically the snow is an emotionally abusive co-dependent self absorbed freak, only good for magically fertilizing the earth with rich nutrients.

I was thinking this morning as I woke up to more snow, that a great horror film (yet to be made) would be an Alfred Hitchcock style suspense thriller called "SNOW"... the plot would be simple: Snow keeps on comin' down, at first they predict 10 feet, but it dumps 100's of feet burying everything alive - people would live their last days under tunnels of white they can never dig out of.

um.... anyway... so while it is snowing I found these two things that are aestheically nice and nothing I need. Only want.

Organic Cotton PANTIE & BRA SET! yeah, it's hawtness - and normally yellow bothers me but right now yellow is looking like fun in the hot sun. :) You can click the link or the pic to see more organic cotton goodness.
Vintage OWLS! I have a thing for owls. Ever since one came and lived in my wood stove a few years ago I have been loving owls, especially the screech owl. I had named him Scratchy and when he died, i clipped his wings to keep and buried the rest of his body in front the cabin.

PS- those black owls pictured are at my friend's vintage store on Etsy, called SOUGHT. Remember when I wrote about a woman named "Sandy" who wanted to F' the president... that's her. I don't think she wants to F' him anymore, but i'm not sure.

Xoxoxoxo

The Hungry Caterpillar

I loved this story when I was little. I continue to give it to friends for their children. I am the book gift giver. I think books are very important, especially instilling the love of reading in a child at an early age. My parents always read to us.

We loved being read this story when we were little, sticking our fingers through the little fruit holes and wiggling them around like we were the tiny caterpillar munching away.

I especially loved the picture where has was fat. He looked adorable.

While looking on Etsy (I need to really work on setting up my shop soon!) I came across Sara Carr, who is a beautiful knitter.

And, as I was scrolling I saw "Kevin the Caterpillar" and I could only think of being little. He is adorable! This alone would make you want children to be able to dress them in little caterpillar scarves! I am crazy, I know. He is just too cute!! Check out her Etsy page, she has a lot of other amazing little animals she has created as well!

There is even a plush Kevin with little knitted caterpillar legs!

You Spook Me!

I love pouring over Sarah Jane's Blog. If you haven't heard of her, she makes the sweetest illustrations. She has created some very cute cards for Halloween, the "You Spook Me" series are in her Etsy shop.

Her work is just whimsical, adorable, bright and happy! She is someone who inspires me and gives me hope in that she has worked hard on her own, starting small and through Etsy and her Blog she is now recognized worldwide. I am not looking to get recognized worldwide, I am just aiming to pay the bills by doing something that makes me happy.

My next goal is to start selling on Etsy, I think it would be a real opener to more opportunities for me. I read an article recently in Country Living and the woman who wrote the article, Katy McColl, has also written a book entitled: "Should I do what I love? (or do what I do, so I can do what I love on the side)".

The title alone made me smile, I have stopped being in the rat race and although I have been looking devoutly for a job in the Art world, I am continuing on this path that feels right as things continue to fall into place on my road to happiness. I am doing the best that I can do with what I have and that is all you can really ask of yourself.

Click on the Image above to visit her Blog.