vol.25

New art and a sale!

I just finished this little guy yesterday, and I'm loving the positive thinking that he inspires. :)  Kind of reminds me to look at the glass half full, you know? :) Anyhow, he is now available in the shop.

Speaking of looking at the glass half full, the buy 2 get 1 free sale is now live.

DETAILS

This sale applies to all 5x7, 8x10, 11x14 and 16x20 prints. If you buy 2 of the same priced item (or another higher priced second item) you will be eligible for a FREE print, of equal or lesser value. Just be sure and let me know in the message to seller upon checkout which print you would like as your free choice, and I'll include it with your order. Please DO NOT add your free print to your cart. :) Sorry, sale does not apply to already discounted print sets, or customized prints.

Sale EXPIRES: NOVEMBER 9th

Feel free to e-mail or convo me with questions. :) contact {@} vol25 {.com}

I think I am going to be placing another order for more of the larger paper... I realized I'm only going to be able to print about 20 prints before I need to order more, and I definitely do not want to make anyone wait on a shipment of new paper. :)

How was your Halloween? Ours was just peachy... the weather was perfect! Wasnt too chilly, and not a drop of rain in sight... :)

Well, I am off to bed... but I'll be back bright and early with a quote for your monday, and I will have a SUPER big surprise tomorrow, that I think you might be a little excited about. :)

 

16x20 canvas paper now available!

Are you as excited as I am? I sure hope so... even if you share a third of my excitement, that would still mean you are pretty over the moon about this new larger size. :) When I began researching new printers, I knew that I wanted to buy a printer that would print up to 17" wide, and it had to support roll paper, AND it had to be somewhat easy on the wallet... I found all that with the epson 4880. I bought it when they had a pretty good rebate running. I did have some issues with my first printer (yep, I am actually on my second!) but epson happily replaced it free of charge for me, and I am totally totally loving this new one!

There was some kind of magic happening today... images that I have printed hundreds of times, felt new, fresh and exciting in this larger size. I never would have guessed that the impact would be quite this magical. :) But, I was seriously grinning from ear to ear as the printer happily reproduced my art. I took waay too many pictures too...

The printer tray actually does pull out for the larger paper, but it made the whole process a little less dramatic I thought, so I opted to leave it at its standard size. :)

The unicorn image has been a favorite of everyone's lately, so I thought it may be safe to go ahead and print it as a 16x20. If anyone wants it, this sweet couple is ready to go. :)

Monday will mark the start of a Pre-Christmas buy 2 get 1 free sale. The large paper will be eligible, so if you are considering purchasing 2 of them, I would suggest waiting until monday! :)

16x20 UNcustomized print available here

16x20 customized print available here

If you guys have any questions I would love to hear them! :)

p.s. Happy Friday!!

16x20 canvas paper making its way to the shop!

That's right! :) I am suuuper thrilled to offer 16x20 sized prints on canvas!! I'm working on the listing tonight, so I should have the paper available in the etsy shop sometime Friday. I will of course update the blog when I DO have the listing up. The 16x20's will be priced at 50.00. 11x14's are still priced at 30.00, and the 8x10's are still 20.00. So, the 16x20's are still a great value!

p.s. There just may be a buy 2 get 1 free sale going live in the shop on monday... ;)

Office inspiration from Johanna Parkin

I'm planning to revamp the little computer space that I have here in our kitchen, so I've been looking online for inspiration... and that is how I ran across these beautifully styled photographs taken by photographer Johanna Parkin. I really love the wall covering idea in the top photo. The whole space has a real organic feel to it. :)

The last photograph also has an organic feel to it. I think I am most in love with the hanging lightbulb though. :)

Well, it is Wednesday! I'm slowly working away at organizing our utility room, better known as "the catch all storage room..." It is BAD, I just know that one of these days I am going to trip over something while carrying a load of clean laundry... and it will NOT be a pretty picture... :)

Here is a picture I took of the utility room when we put our house on the market last fall.

Since then, we have scooted the washer and dryer to the right and hung sheetrock on that back wall. We do still need to tape and texture the sheetrock, and we REALLY need to replace the 70's style floor that is in there now.  I'll try and take a better picture of the room before we start changing anything. Ideally we would like to replace the washer and dryer with an energy efficient front loading washer and dryer before the tax credit is gone... and I will be SOO excited to finally be able to paint the room. I've even posted about wanting to finish the room like 2 years ago....

So, keep your fingers crossed that I can motivate Jaydon to start this little (big) project! ;) At any rate, I did purchase storage for the room when we went to the Seattle Ikea a couple weeks ago. Out of sight out of mind right? That is what my hopes are! :)

Hope Is Like A Road In The Country... A new print!

I finished up another print this morning. :) I was needing to come up with a new bicycle print for a company interested in licensing some of my work... so I decided to create a new one for the shop too. :) The original quote was a bit different, but I ended up changing it up some to fit more appropriately.

Just like my original bicycle print, it is available in 2 colors:

I think the charcoal is my favorite... but then again you know how much I love yellow and gray! :)

I have really been hit with quite a bit of inspiration, and I am hoping I can turn that into several new prints within the next week! I have something special I am trying to prepare for... in addition to just trying to give you all bunches of new prints to choose from for Christmas. :)

Anyhow, you can find the new print here. :)

I'm not sure if it will pan out... but I am brainstorming ideas for more boys themed prints. :)

Wow, two posts in one day!!?

a quote for your week chap 48

It is Monday again, and it seem so hard to believe that October is literally flying by. This quote I found this morning really made think...I KNOW, isnt that amazing? Me thinking... :) ANYHOW, I tend to be the "lets just get there" type of person, and Jaydon tends to be the "lets take our time and ENJOY getting there" type of person. He has kind of rubbed off on me a little over the years, and I do take time to enjoy things a little more so then I used to... finding this quote was just one more reminder that sometimes wasting time, really isnt wasting time. :)

I've been working on the new art series, and I think I finally have a vision and a plan... hopefully it turns out how I am expecting. I'll share a peek as soon as I can!

Collecting inspiration: Hollywood glam

Hey everyone!! :) Thank you so much for all the sweet comments about my seattle pictures. Totally put a smile on my face!

So, last Friday was my niece Jada's 5th birthday... she is on the left in the picture below. :)

My sister has been wanting to fix up her room, and we've decided on a Hollywood glam meets little girl princess look. I am sure the room will happen in stages, but I'm collecting inspiration and coming up with ideas. It has been fun! They are renting and she still hasnt received the okay from the landlord to paint the walls... but we know we want to try and work in a dressing screen/curtain for them to play dress-up. I'm thinking it would be really sweet to have a rug/runner to work as a runway for fashion shows too. This would totally be up they're alley! :)

My mom and my sister are planning to pick up some key items for the room tonight, so I thought I had best start brainstorming... I figured you may enjoy seeing the whole process come together... :)

Here are a few pictures that I am pulling inspiration from. Of course, we are on a suuuper tight budget, so our room will look NOTHING like these gorgeous rooms... but I hope we can get it somewhat close... ;)

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I think we will stick with a solid color comforter and accent with zebra print pillows, zebra and curtain panels.

We need to pick up a twin bed for her still and come up with a really glam looking headboard. I think we will diy an upholstered headboard. It sounds really easy! But the bed will have to wait, for now we are focusing on setting up the dressing area. It should be fun. :) I'll try to share some pictures when I can.

So, how was your week? Are you ready for Halloween? I picked up the kids' costumes last week. Like every year, Trin declared she wanted to be a princess. I told her she is always a princess. She smiled and said I know mommy, its because I like being a princess. Well, this year we compromised and she is going to be an indian princess. I just grabbed they're costumes from wal-mart and I am planning to keep things super simple. :) Journey is going to be a pirate, she was very excited about that!

Our trip to Seattle in pictures

  I took a BUNCH of pictures... and really wanted to share quite a few of them, so be prepared for a really big picture heavy post. :) So... it was sunny ALL weekend! What a nice, totally unexpected surprise. :)

We rode the monorail from the Space needle to Westlake mall, and from there we walked EVERYWHERE... :) I was doing okay until we left the pier and had to hike up a gazillion flights of stairs. (See the bottom right picture to see the SECOND set of stairs)

Seriously I about died, and my shins and my calves hurt like crazy. I was soo sore and stiff the next morning that I could barely walk. Because of this we kinda changed up our plans and skipped the science center. Instead we slept in and took our time getting ready. We checked out and ate lunch at a resteraunt on the corner called McMinemans... it was really yummy. The hotel staff had recommended they're sweet potatoe fries, and after trying them I can say that they were definitely GOOD. I'm actually craving some right now...

 

But wait, I am definitely getting ahead of myself... on saturday (directly after the treacherous stair climb) we walked what seemed like 10 blocks from the market to Yellow leaf Cupcake Co. It was definitely worth the walk...

We bought a dozen plus 2! :) We made it in kinda late so a bunch of they're flavors were gone... no salted caramel for me. :( boo hoo... My dissapointment didnt last long though, because this red velvet cupcake was AMAZING. The cream cheese frosting had amazing flavor. Jaydon picked Mexican Wedding Cake, and it was just as good. It tasted like a sweet caramelized pecan. mmm, yummy! :) We picked out 6 different flavors and grabbed 2 of each. My parents and the girls really appreciated them when we got home. :)

I know a couple of you mentioned Cupcake Royale, and I was all for giving them a try... but because we were walking everywhere... they were just a bit too far away. :( Maybe next time we can plan it in!

I bought some brown boots before we left, I was really needing a comfortable pair of shoes and I am so glad I did. They were really comfortable. The bottoms of my feet never got sore... although the right boot had a seam or something that rubbed against my ankle, which was NOT fun. On sunday I actually wore 3 pairs of socks in my right boot for padding against the seam. Other then that though, I really love them!

We did stop in at the Original Starbucks store. That was kinda a neat experience... although it was PACKED...

We found this antique shop closer to the water... it was loaded with lots of vintage eye candy. Everything was pretty pricey, but I walked away with loads of inspiration!

That evening we decided to eat dinner up at Sky City the restaraunt at the top of the space needle. I am so glad we did... the view was amazing and the atmosphere was perfect... and the food was really good. I ordered the Seafood Fettuccine with the truffle sauce, and I loved it! Jaydon ordered the ribs, in a chocolate type sauce. Super yummy too... but I liked mine better. ;)

The bill ended up being around 100.00 (this also included our ride up to the needle) which was more then we've ever spent on a meal together. :) It was totally worth it though, I would definitely do it again!

We were both very happy with The Hotel Maxwell. The staff were super polite, the rooms were really clean and modern, the hotel itself was quiet and it was SO close to the Space Needle and the Science Center...

I would definitely recommend it, and we're looking forward to coming back in the spring... with the kiddos this time! :) I think they would really enjoy the Science Center.

Well, that is our weekend in pictures! Thank you again to everyone who recommended places to eat, and things to do. I wish we could have had time to do it all. It was definitely like a treasure hunt. Whenever I would spot something that someone recommended I felt like I had found a treasure! :)

p.s.: I'm experimenting with more photo collage templates for the blog ! :) What do you think?

7 years!!

As of yesterday Jaydon and I have been officially married for 7 years. :) It seems so hard to believe, it has literally flown by... but at the same time the both of us have grown so much as a couple over the last 7 years. That is the benefit of marrying your better half... a little bit of them begins to rub off on you, and vice versa. :) I am soo thankful that our paths crossed when they did. I honestly believe that I could never find anyone who would be as perfect of a match for me. If I am pumpkin pie he is my cool whip topping... or if I am peanut butter he is without a doubt chocolate... or jelly... but I prefer chocolate, so we'll stick with that. :) I went through the photo album of our wedding pictures, and found a couple faves. Jaydon looks soo young!
You'll have to excuse the quality of my photos. They are just scans. :) Our trip to Seattle was awesome! Suuuper relaxing and tons of fun. I've been working on the pictures, but I still have a few more to edit. Here is one of my faves of Jaydon...

The weather was BEAUTIFUL... not your typical seattle weather!! :)

Anyhow, I also wanted to apologize for neglecting the blog so bad these last couple weeks... I've been busy with so many little projects that I've neglected posting! The good news is that I am going to make a conscious effort to do better... promise! :) I'm going to edit the rest of those pictures RIGHT now... so that I can post them tomorrow. :D

How was your weekend?!

p.s. I havent announced it officially for fear I would fail... but I am trying to lose enough weight to get back into my wedding dress so we can schedule a fun photo shoot! :) I am more then halfway there. I've lost 10 pounds and have about 7 more to go! :) Wish me luck!

 

 

My brother and his wifey...

Happy Wednesday! I hope your week is going great. :) I've finally finished editing the pictures I took of my brother and his wife last saturday. After doing that I was inspired to finally create a few photo collage templates for the blog... making it much easier to share a bunch of photos in a creative fun way. :)

I've been sketching for the new photography based art series... mainly cameras. The two you see above were created for that series... but at the last minute I thought they would make cute props. So I printed and cut them out. Roman and Shaela humoured me... they are always so good about doing that. :)

  I have even more to still share, and I've been writing this post for the last 3 days now. :) I'm afraid I am going to have to cut it short though... Jaydon and I are leaving for Seattle in the next hour! :) Yay for that! Thank you SO much for all the recommendations for touristy things to do in Seattle, I have a HUGE list. Hopefully we can check a few things off the list! ;)

I hope everyone has a great weekend. I'll be back next week with some pictures. :)