Rediscovering a Medium

As you've likely noticed, I've been taking a bit of a break from my Etsy shops.  It was a tough decision for me to temporarily close them, but I'm glad I did, as it has given me a chance to focus on creating, and not worry about all of the other tasks associated with running a shop.  So what have I been creating?  Paintings!  I hadn't painted in years, but suddenly felt inspired to take it back up again.  Fortunately I still had some acrylic paints and brushes packed away, and after a quick trip to the craft store to get some canvases, I was ready to dive in.  Also fortunately, my daughter loves to paint too, so we have been spending quite a bit of time every day painting together, which has been wonderful.  Here's a little glimpse at some of the paintings I have been working on:

 

I have been thoroughly enjoying painting again, and can't for the life of me figure out why I ever stopped! I haven't yet decided for sure when I will reopen my Etsy shops, but I will keep you posted.  In the meantime, I'm planning to keep painting, and hopefully give silk painting a try again soon too!

Developing Drawing Skills

Being an artist myself, I find it so exciting to watch my daughter's drawing skills develop.  Over the past year, her drawings have evolved from just scribbles, to somewhat identifiable shapes, to quite detailed depictions of people and objects in her life.  For example, this portrait she recently drew of my husband:

While he does have more than two hairs on his head, I was pretty impressed with the fact that she included eyebrows and even his goatee!  Overall, I thought that was a pretty spectacular drawing until she drew this:

When I asked her what she had drawn, she replied, "A stroller with toes and hands and hair."

Hello blog!

Dear blog,

Just a quick note to let you know that I'm still here and I haven't forgotten you.  I know I haven't been around much this spring, and please believe me when I say it's not because I didn't want to be.  I've just had a lot going on, and haven't had time to update you as frequently as I would like.  Hopefully that will change this summer.

Sincerely,
Me

PS:  Please say hi to my readers for me.  :)

New MHC issue + EtsyKids Summer Shopping Guide + a day job = chaos!

As I'm sitting down to type my first blog post in over a month, I'm realizing that the past month has been kind of a blur. But I thought it important to come post again for a couple of reasons. First, I've spent many a late night working on the summer issue of Modern Handmade Child, and I'm thrilled to announce that after a few technical glitches on Saturday, we published on Sunday! It's filled with lots of fun activities, fashion trends for summer, some easy recipes for cool treats, and much, much more. I'm also super excited to say that my husband contributed a song for this issue, so be sure to check that out - you can download it for free on our website and find the lyrics are on page 73 of the magazine:

Now that the summer issue is all wrapped up, it's time to get busy on the Summer Shopping Guide on the EtsyKids website. I'm hoping to get all of the great new summer stuff up by the end of next week, so stay tuned for that.

Things are also starting to pick up at the florist (there's usually a bit of a lull after Valentine's Day). This week and next are two of the busiest weeks of the year with Mother's Day, proms, and the start of the wedding season. Which brings me to the other reason for this post. I will be putting my Etsy shops in vacation mode for the next two weeks, until hopefully the chaos of my day job and finishing up the EtsyKids shopping guide dies down. I plan to reopen sometime the week of May 17th, and hope to list some new stuff shortly after.

Bye-bye hair!

I'm not usually one to keep my hair long, as I often find it a bother to deal with.  Plus having a toddler who likes to yank on it all the time is, well, just plain annoying.  So growing my hair out has been a challenge, and I have been eagerly awaiting the day when it would finally be long enough to cut and donate.  Well, I'm excited to say that the day finally arrived!  

I was planning to make an appointment for a haircut here in Portland, but hadn't had a chance to yet.  So when I was recently visiting family in Kansas City, my mom booked me for a haircut with the stylist I used to go to when I lived there.  Perfect! 

Since I was planning such a drastic change, I thought it would be a good idea to have my daughter come along to see it.  She kept entertained by taking some pictures:

Now on to the cut!  This is me before:

Here we go....

Chop, chop!

Ta Da!

My hair is now 10" shorter, and feels about 10 pounds lighter too! 
Now I just have to mail it off to donate it.  Hooray!

A big thanks to Joe at Lulu's for a fabulous cut!  You rock, Joe!!  :D

Whew!

What a whirlwind month this has been!  I keep waiting for my life to calm down, and it only seems to be getting more and more hectic.  I've been super busy with a couple of side projects, and haven't had much time to devote to my crafting or my blogging the past few weeks.  The first was a special mini-issue of Modern Handmade Child celebrating motherhood:

I love this issue, and I'm sure you will too.  Be sure to see my article on page 21 about the Etsy Baby Shower.

The other big thing I've been working on is EtsyKids.  When I recently returned to work at the florist shop full time, it quickly became increasingly difficult to keep up with everything that I have been doing.  The EtsyKids Team has grown so much over the years, and I feel like it's time to get organized, and get lots of help from our amazingly talented team members.  So we did a team survey, and I have been sifting through hundreds of thoughtful responses from our members.  It's a super important task, and also an incredibly time-consuming one.  But the end result (finding a bunch of enthusiastic people to help out with various team related tasks) will definitely be worth it.  I guess it's like they sometimes say, things will get worse before they get better.  Or in this situation, busier before they get calmer.  But when that day finally comes, I will appreciate it even more.

I'm not blogging, I'm just typing text on a screen

Recently little g has become the queen of euphemisms.  It all started when she threw something she wasn't supposed to, and I told her not to throw it.  Her reply?  "I didn't throw it, I just passed it."  From there we moved on to, "I'm not hitting, I'm just patting" and "I'm not biting it, I'm just holding it with my teeth."  I know laughing at this behavior will only encourage it, so I do my best to hold back the giggles when she says these things.  But today I just couldn't keep from bursting into laughter with the newest euphemism.  I was laying on the sofa when she climbed up and sat on my belly and started bouncing.  When I told her not to bounce on me, she said, "I'm not bouncing, I'm just sitting up and down."