One of my YouTube subscribers (and repeat customer) threw out the idea for me to design a bag that he could toss a few books into; something simple to throw over his shoulder, made from upcycled denim, with a touch of birds (yes, this subscriber found me through Riley Mae’s beloved bird channel).
At this suggestion, my brain instantly went 💡
these bags look small and compact, but are big enough to comfortable fit an 11″x9″ notebook into, as well as a few books!
I hope that you all had a cozy Valentine’s Day; I certainly did, which means that I spent the day at home celebrating the completion of my Valentine’s to-do list (and starting on my next projects!).
Now I shall dump an excessive amount of red-pink-and-white photos into this post, please enjoy my 5 DIY Valentine’s Day Projects 😌🎀
just look how cute this is; the perfect backdrop for all my videos!
I can’t believe that January is already over. I know it drags on endlessly for a lot of people (and I’m often one of those people), but it really seems like it was here and gone this year.
And not only did I succeed in making all twelve monthly wraps last year (you can find the whole playlist of them here), I started all over again for 2026. It’s too much fun to watch the changing year through them all!
I’m happy to report that winter has been very wintery here in New England. Multiple winter storms have arrived, and the last storm we got (Storm Fern) dropped a good 16″ inches on top of us. We now have snow-blown paths winding through the yard leading to all of our important destinations (the barn, the wood shed, the compost, the birdfeeders…).
One of my newest creative projects has been shadowbox making.
I knew I wanted to make some as Christmas gifts, and I had already had this idea (and had pinned a whole bunch of inspiration onto a secret Pinterest board!) before we went on vacation.
I also knew that vacation would be a perfect time to collect some items; down by the coast there’s plenty of lovely pieces of nature, and of course the cherry on top is that much of it came from some of our favorite places.
Exciting news: I’ve partnered up with Riley Mae and Mom to design some bird merch for Riley Mae’s YouTube channel, and yesterday we official launched it 🎉
I was excited to get to design some simple, straightforward birds that are now being printed on t-shirts, mugs, pins, hats, and more.
All of these designs were drawn directly from some of Riley Mae’s photographs, and then painted with black acrylic paint before I scanned them onto my computer and turned them into transparent PNG files that can easily be uploaded to all of our projects.
carolina wren, ruby-throated hummingbird, sanderling, blue jay, northern cardinal, northern flicker, turkey vulture
February was a really happy and fun month for me.
There was a ton of creativity, inspiration, exciting news, and talking to good people.
Although the winter blues have definitely been a problem for me in the past, I’ve thoroughly and completely enjoyed these cold months this year. I don’t think I’m ready for the world to get loud and active again as the weather warms up, but the first little snowdrop greens poking out of the frozen ground have definitely made me excited 🤍
(top left) February 10th, the nearly-full moon; (top right) February 28th, many evenings have been spent sewing and watching old episodes of Sex and The City; (bottom) February 25th, a juvenile hawk hung out in our yard for a while, Riley Mae identified it as a red-shouldered, and also got some photos of her own
Technically I started making this quilt when I started on the fam’s quilts…last spring.
I just finished it a couple weeks ago.
But to be fair, I have definitely not been steadily working on it. In fact the butterfly squares sat antennae-less in a drawer for many months completely untouched (but not forgotten), just waiting for me to pull them out again.
I’ve finally taken the time to master sewing internal pockets into pants.
I don’t know why I waited so long to try this, because it was incredibly easy, and it really would’ve come in handy many times in the past.
But oh well, I can now add this to my resume.
I did a nice double seam on my back pockets, and to make the corners clean and neat I used this sewing hack and it worked perfectly!! So excited to use this for every corner ever
Aside from watching the flowers grow, I have also been succeeding in catching every illness that Taylor brings home from the office (she hasn’t caught a single one, she just gives them to me). Which has meant that I’ve been making my health my #1 priority, since my immune system is obviously struggling at the moment (I allowed too much stress into my life, and it’s left me compromised). I’ve just survived a not-as-horrible-as-it-could-have-been-but-still-very-not-good case of what I suspect was strep, and thank God for essential oils and Epson salt baths.
But despite my body testing my patience, my mental health has been doing pretty well.
I’ve had to take a little break from work over the past few weeks (what’s new), since sitting hunched over my desk all day has exacerbated all my symptoms, so although I’m still taking orders (and have some patiently waiting in the queue), there will be a slight delay before I get to starting on them.
And if you find yourself starting to wonder: don’t her parents care that she’s not working?? Just know that I was originally very uncomfortable with taking more time off work (and also living with a much smaller income), and it was my dear mother who suggested it and encouraged it, because health and happiness are of paramount importance in our house.
it’s hard to pick a favorite, but the goldfinch is definitely one of them
art by jordan rae 