A collection of photos taken back in September during our little vacation down by the coast 🌊
weather at the end of September is really a coin toss ’round here, so we were pretty lucky to get decent temps, even if we did get quite a bit of clouds and a few passing showers
It’s been a while since I’ve done a #fitcheck, but it seems that I’m quite deeply entrenched in my natural-world-aesthetic era, and so this vintage Talbot cardigan was a Christmas gift to myself 🍄
When I fall in love with something online that is either a) expensive, or b) not easy to return (or sometimes both), I do a good ol’ Google search on the product.
I paste the picture of the item into the search bar and I scan the world wide web to find other retailers, product pics, or pictures from other people who’ve purchased it.
a.k.a. I do my research.
I bought this cute tote bag for my and my family’s vacation down to the coast last September. It’s super cute, a great size, and it zips on the top, so it was perfect to bring along on most of our adventures!
We got our first real snow on December 4th. We were only supposed to get an inch or two, but when I woke up and looked out my window it was a winter wonderland! There’s such a specific feeling to going to sleep with no snow and waking up to this beauty, and it cannot be explained. The fact that I have a friend who lives in New Zealand and has never seen snow in his life still boggles my mind.
Of course it was very heavy, wet snow which resulted in us losing power for a few hours, so I went outside and built a little snowman while we were left in the dark. He had a face on both sides: one for us and one for everyone driving by. The faces didn’t end up lasting long (the eyes very quickly started to melt out), but the snowman [incredibly] lasted for days. He defied all logic — and gravity — by bending completely over, while never losing his head. By the time he melted, his head was almost touching the ground, while still remaining firmly attached to his body.
I truly magical snowman.
when you wake up in the night to a snowplow going by your house, you know that you’re going to wake up to something beautiful in the morning
I’ve been giving a lot of energy to my Etsy shop lately, and creativity is going in multiple directions. One day I’m spending hours in front of the sewing machine, the next I have a paintbrush in hand. I’ve also been creating videos to add to many of my listings (adding optional videos to Etsy listings is a fairly new feature on Etsy, but I’ve never used it until now). I feel like my shop looks really good right now, and is successfully reflecting my current creativity.
The hardest part for me when it comes to listing new items in my shop is still setting the prices for them. Does it ever get easier!?
My first reaction is to always think that I’m pricing things too high, because you can pick up things much cheaper from Target, T.J.Maxx, and Walmart (although those are all mass-produced items, unlike everything found in my shop).
But when I deduct the shipping cost (I offer free shipping on everything, so I pay $4 – $12 shipping on each order, depending on the items sold), and the Etsy fees (6.5% of each sale), and the taxes…don’t ask how much I’m left with for the time I put into my work.
Finance can get tight when you run your own business (as they are for me right now!), but this is really all I want to do, so I make it work, and I’m excited to keep branching out!
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I didn’t have the idea to make any Halloween items for my shop until super recently, so yes, it’s too late to actually have any of them for this year’s holiday. But I figured that the real Halloween stans wouldn’t care.
I keep my Christmas lights up ’til March, so I’m not here to judge other people’s favorite holidays, or how long you choose to celebrate them for ✌🏼
I haven’t made any pillows in a few months, ever since I listed the first ones in my shop, but I’m back in the zone and I have a million ideas (winter/Christmas ones are next, but I also want to do some more non-seasonal ones: dogs, cats, seashells, mushrooms, etc.).
The newest additions to my shop are extra festive — two Santa Claus sweaters have been added, and they’re super warm, heavy, and cozy for all the cold days heading our way!
Both of them are sewn from thrifted cotton blankets and they have a true classic Christmas™ vibe to them.
The first one is super vintage-y with this doll-like Santa, holly down the front, and gold/black/white fringe.
Click here to view the listing!
My blog may be pretty quiet as of late, but surely I couldn’t let spooky season go by without a themed photoshoot 🕯🍂
I was originally thinking of doing a more specifically themed Halloween shoot (think: turning space buns into two little ghosts on the top of my head), but then I had this crazy amazing idea to craft a crown out of dried leaves (and other organic matter) that I collected outside.
Y’all, it’s give Pinterest witch.
To say that my creativity has been flowing lately would be an understatement — I’ve been having so much fun making things for my own enjoyment (Christmas quilts for me and my family!), and for my shop.
I’ve started to add a few new items to my shop (with more to come), some of which are quilted throw pillows (using my new favorite FPP sewing technique!).
every color on the butterflies — including all the small black lines — is an individual piece of fabric that is sewn together to create them!
I’ve expanded my Etsy shop! Now alongside my classic custom pet portraits, I also have some cardigans/sweaters, and spring coats for sale! I’ve been enjoying making these so much, and I have many more on the way.
The hardest part of this entire new endeavor has been setting prices. I’ve always tried to keep my prices as low as possible (to my detriment — I’ve never hit the minimum wage mark with my custom work!), but with this project I needed to actually start charging for my time and the material (the prices are still low for the amount of hours put into them).
this long, boho cardigan is currently my most expensive piece; from the material cost to the hours I put into washing and combing the vintage cotton trim, and putting it all together. The design, material, and color combo is just gorgeous!! I imagined it being used for something special, like an elopement wedding 🤍
I painted my room pink.
After years of debating, I did it, and I couldn’t be happier with the end result. It’s a pale, light pink, but the paint color is called lavender moon, so it has a subtle lavender undertone which makes it super soft 🌙
looking cute in one of the outfits I finished this year (although 90% of the time lately I’ve just been in comfy shorts and an oversize t-shirt because I’ve been workiiiiiiing)
art by jordan rae 