*blush*

I've been featured on the excellent blog of Little T Jane! I'm beyond flattered! Be sure to check out her blog of fun things! She has the cutest picks daily and I actually bought a cute teapot set she featured yesterday! :)

bunny treasury on etsy!

That Something made a lovely Treasury West on Etsy that includes my sweet bunny painting! Thanks so much! :D

I also just noticed that the number one spot is another Asheville Etsian, urastarhouse! Hooray!

New Etsy Stuff!

New Etsy listings this week!

Hot Chocolate Weekend

It's finally Friday! This week has seemed super long, and unfortunately I had a case of the severe grumps for the first half of the week. I started my fiddle classes and sadly, I don't think they're the right kind learning environment for me. It's a pretty large, crowded, loud class, I can't hear what I'm playing (or not playing), and I have no previous musical experience so I'm utterly lost in the technicalities like how there can be two G notes played on different strings and things like that. I'm not a patient person, I don't like large groups, and I have to really work to be able to play things -- it doesn't come naturally to me like it does to some. I'm going to try to drag myself to at least one more class before I give up completely, but I dread it so much that I think I'd rather eat the money than go back. I may look into one on one classes, which I think would work much better for me. I'm not sure I can keep up in a group class environment.

This weekend I plan on finishing up a custom etsy order, making some homemade hot chocolate, volunteering for Animal Compassion Network (I hope the adoption day is indoors this time, because it is COLD out!), and making some more Valentines! Valentines Day is my very favorite holiday, and it's less than a month away! I try to send everyone I know a handmade Valentine, and every year I'm up til 3 a.m. at the last minute trying to get some more Valentines made! Hopefully this year I've given myself plenty of time to be done ahead of time. I also need to test some new bread recipes. I've been trying to make all of our bread from scratch, and no, I don't have a bread maker, but lately I've been stuck on this one really easy white bread recipe. I need to branch out some.

I've been having a lot of fun with my etsy store lately! I've gotten two custom orders, one of which was a trio of bunny paintings! It was super fun to do, but also stressful! It was my first custom order, so I was super paranoid that I make it as perfect as I could!


I've also been working on scanning in the Holga shots I hand developed in my tiny little makeshift darkroom! I'm only doing negatives right now because of lack of space/time for a full blown darkroom, but maybe someday I can make prints again. Anyway, here's one of the shots that turned out okay. I have a Canoscan flatbed negative scanner, but it's tricky getting it to read the full negatives with the sprocket holes and all because the 35mm carrier covers up the sprocket holes, so I'm having to find a way to scan them without using the carrier. Tricky Tricky.

One more update, my lovely friend Kandi has started listing prints in her etsy shop, and I highly recommend you check them out. She's an amazing photographer and has been published and recognized a ton lately for her images. More info here: http://superkantastic.com

I hope everyone has a great weekend and stays warm during this cold front!

Maybe this Christmas...

Yay for it almost being Christmas! And I get Christmas fun a little earlier than most because Jeremy and I are having our family Christmas this Sunday since we have to drive to Arkansas to have Christmas with our families there. I have no idea what he got me, but the box is huge. I don't remember mentioning wanting anything that big, so I really have no idea what it is.

I think I got all my Christmas shopping done -- finally! I got a very nice Christmas bonus at work, so I was able to get everyone what I had really wanted to get them and not compromise on it due to finances, which was very nice. I don't usually go and buy everyone something for Christmas. We usually make cookie baskets and stuff, but with us being so far away that wasn't really an option this year as I'd have to make it so far ahead it would probably get crumbly and not so fresh, not to mention the 11 hour drive in a car full of luggage, gifts, and a stinky pug dog. I did try to get as much as I could from local shops and from etsy.com, so I don't feel too bad about my consumerism. I bought probably 17 or 18 things from etsy in the past month or so! It was soooo fun and it's going to be hard to stop once the Christmas season is over. Valentine's Day is coming up, though, and that's my FAVORITE holiday! I can't wait! I wish Kandi would come make Valentines with me some weekend!

I listed this little cupcake last night, and (sloppily) edited the photo to make it look like it's floating! Fun! I do need to work on my photoshop skills, though. There's a community class at AB Tech that is fairly affordable, so I should take it. Or do some online tutorials.
I'd like to give a shout out to the creators of my latest etsy purchases, all of which I LOVE so much:

The Early Girl for her adorable apple sweaters! Great little gifts for anyone on your list.


Toybreaker and Cyberoptix Tie Lab for their AMAZING, hand screenprinted ties. And the packaging is wonderful and perfect for immediate gift-giving!

And last, but definitely not least, Eventual Invention for this perfect little felt apple snail named Walter. I ordered him as a gift for myself and he is divine! Eventual Invention's packaging is so lovely and fun to open! I really did feel like it was a special gift, and the quality of Walter is so great I think my real apple snails think they have a new friend! I'll try to get some pictures of him with my real snails.

Happy Holidays everyone! Be safe if you're traveling, and I hope everyone has a great time seeing their friends and family.

new grey cardigan! yay! it was on sale for $3.

today is a rainy day again. the clouds over the mountains are so amazing! sometimes i miss the cotton fields in arkansas, but the mountain views here totally beat out the field scenery. i've been lazy all week. i haven't cleaned a thing, can't upload my etsy stuff because of the camera situation, and have just been sitting around watching tivo. it's pitiful. i did manage to get some groceries yesterday, though, and david is coming for dinner tonight, so maybe i'll get off of my butt.

i'm gonna make some hot chocolate. mmmm..

sometimes i wish i were a pug. particularly on cloudy, rainy, sleepy days like today. at least there's coffee with hot chocolate mixed in to make it at least a little better. for some reason nocci was super excitable last night and this morning, so after a 1 a.m. walk and eventual 2 a.m. settle down, i was sadly awaken by a jumping, snorting, excited pug wanting a walk an hour earlier than usual this morning. a pug wanting a walk while you sleep is no easy thing to ignore. i literally got my head sat on and a wet puppy nose on my eyelid until i got up.

unfortunately, jeremy accidentally took the camera battery charger to florida with him in the laptop case, so i can't take pictures of my etsy stuff so i can list it. :( I did get this one bunny painting listed, but i had to take the photos super quick! i also have another mustachioed cupcake painting to list, and i'm working on some mixtape paintings.


Old Crow Medicine Show was great at the Orange Peel the other day. they always put on a great show, and they were filming this one for a dvd, so they probably played even harder than usual. i have a love/hate relationship with the Orange Peel. i love some of the acts that play there, but i feel like they sell more tickets than they should to fill the venue comfortably. i'm totally sick of going there and being smashed up against drunken frat boys and angsty, crying 16 year olds (that was the conor oberst show - go figure). i told myself i wasn't going there again because i always regret it once i get there, but how am i supposed to pass up seeing an artist i love? i just wish they'd all play the Grey Eagle instead.