#SPSH2015 Reveal Day!

Hey everyone! I know I have been neglecting the blog but...my boyfriend and I have been in Vegas!  I'll do a separate post on that but I'm glad to say we survived - even though my boyfriend came back with an upper respiratory infection.  Ouch.  More on that later, though, because it's Secret Pen Pal Scavenger Hunt Reveal Day!

I had a wonderful art blogged named Lorraine (who you can find here) and she is insanely talented! Here's the spread I sent to her:



Check out more after the ol' jump!

Weekend Adventures: Gem Jam + #SPSH2015 Outgoing/Incoming Mail!

An impromptu trip to Phoenix and Dragon and a lot of $$$ later, I came home with these beauties!  I've had most of these on my list for quite some time and now, these babies are mine!  I got a Selenite that had the most beautiful colors when you hold it in a certain way.  It's amazing!  I also picked up a small Desert Rose.  I had never heard of it until Caroline and Contessa showed some on their YouTube channels and I was so smitten, I knew I had to have my own.  This one was calling my name!  I also picked up a few Black Tourmalines, a couple of Rose Quartz pieces, a few baby Citrines and another gorgeous Lapis Lazuli.  The big purple one in the center is a beautiful polished Amethyst that - no joke - vibrates in my palm.  That has never happened before!  Usually I feel a little sensation like heat or a loving feeling but never vibrations like this before!  I wasn't planning on getting anything from the bin  it came from (because they were bigger, more expensive stones) but once I picked this baby up, I knew I HAD to have it!  She's beautiful!



My boyfriend and I accompanied Lauren to the Sara Rachele show at Smith's Olde Bar on Saturday. That's Chandler on the drums!  We had a great time and Chandler played amazingly (as always!).  Lauren's parents joined the fun, too!



On the left is the package I sent out and on the right, I have the heart tags from my incoming Secret Pen Pal Scavenger Hunt package!  I know I've posted a preview of some things I sent out on my Instagram but I cannot wait to share everything!  The package I received was an amazing set of goodies from Melina and I can't wait to post the photos!  She sent the cutest things and I'm so thankful!  I can't wait for my swap buddy to post her items :)

I hope you're having a great week so far!  What did you do this weekend?

Incoming / Outgoing Mail + SPSH2015!

That's right! Fab is back at it again with the Secret Pen Pal Scavenger Hunt 2015!  Have you signed up yet?! I did and I can't wait to participate again!

 

Isn't this the cutest?! My friend Rachel sent me the prettiest scalloped heart valentine!  I started assembling some valentines to send out but, once again, I'm behind.  Story of my life lol.  It also didn't help that I was terribly sick last week...



Here is the prettiest mail from my friend Kathleen!  I always love getting her letters.  They make me so happy!  And she has the prettiest calligraphy :)



I signed up for Veronica Varlow's International Valentine Exchange and I went on a Googling spree for the name that I drew.  I hope I Googled the right person because I dragged my BF on an extreme Steam Punk hunting expedition looking for anything and everything Steam Punk for my recipient - based on what my Google searches told me.  The result was the gears and sprockets necklace above plus a few other things.  The "Hello Valentine" watercolor was based on this piece from Alexis at Persia Lou.  I love it!  I used Lindsey's method for watercolor jewels to get my lines all pretty.  I hope she likes it!



My friends and I took a break from playing my new favorite card game to get creative. The result: a marbled clay ring dish for my new apartment! I haven't had much experience with bake clay (not sure if this was Fimo...) but B coached me through it and helped me get this pretty marbled result. I love it!

How has February been treating you?

Incoming Mail: Lucky Dip Club + Gem Party!

The lovely Leona of Lucky Dip Club has done it again - this time, with the Think Happy Ice Cream Parlour box!  I squealed like a maniac when I saw the parcel in my mailbox and squealed even more when I opened it to reveal all the wonderful goodies inside!  What always gets me is the customization. I freaked out when I saw the ice cream cone necklace with my name on it!  It was absolutely perfect!  everything about this box was wonderful and cute and it puts the biggest smile on my face every time I use the items - especially the wonderful Sundae Girl bag!  The Think Happy notebook fits right in and I have been carrying it around with me ever since it arrived!
If you have missed out on any boxes, check out the shop and either order past boxes or put in your order for the next surprise box!  You will NOT be disappointed!
*PS - sign up for the mailing list!  September's Magic Forest box sold out in 4 hours!




After watching all of Contessa Miller's awesome videos about crystals, I took it upon myself to load up on some.  I ordered the lot above from Etsy seller Isva Stones about a month ago so I had completely forgotten what I had filled my cart with!  It felt like Christmas morning when I opened my little parcel!  I had forgotten I ordered so many things - like two Chakra pendants, a Rose Quartz pendant, Chakra stones, tumbled stones, a Quartz pendulum, an Amethyst energy booster and a Quartz pyramid.  In my defense, a bulk of it was a Treasure Lot so it wasn't like I went totally nuts, right...?  I've been wearing my gorgeous Chakra bracelet every day since.  I even followed a lot of different advice for cleansing and energizing my stones - I let them sit in salt that W and B gave me that was direct from Hawaii and I saged them right before I put them on (the bracelet and the Chakra pendant on the left side of the photo above).  I love them all!  I even have them energizing on my windowsill so that they get enough sun and moonlight to charge their energies!  All I need now is a chain for the gorgeous Rose Quartz pendant because it is just begging to be worn :)

Happy Monday!

Incoming Mail + Blog Break

I finally made the sign up deadline for the wonderful Pet Parade Box from Lucky Dip Club!! Everything about it was awesome!!!  We were asked to tell Leona what our favorite animal was and because I love me some mythological creatures, I said my favorite animal is the unicorn but if I had to stay with "real" animals, dolphins are my favorite.  To my surprise, the cute little celebration balloon had BOTH my favorite animals!  Score!  This was such a treat to receive in the mail and I can't wait for the Think Happy Ice Cream Parlour box for next month!  I have gotten so many compliments on the kittens in a basket necklace (you can kinda see it in the middle photo next to the balloon), so I can't wait to see what the Ice Cream Party will have in store!  Be sure you sign up for the newsletter so you can order yours before they sell out - and they sell out SUPER FAST!



The other sweet meal treat was my cute little package from Fashionology.  I took advantage of a pretty big sale to get my hands on two gorgeous rings: Malachite and Lapis Lazuli.  Once I took the box out of the packaging sleeve, I could immediately feel the intense love!  I grabbed some Sage and put them to work.  The Lapis really spoke out to me and kind of prompted my little (BIG) life change...

With that said - I'm sorry for the blog hiatus but there are some important bits of life happening right now and I think I need to focus my energies there.  I won't be posting much for a little bit but I hope you'll understand that I need this time.  Things are aligning, there are some scary (but awesome) things on the horizon and I think I just need to take a breather so that I don't live in a constant panic mode.

Happy Friday and I hope you all have a magical weekend!

Incoming Mail: Monster Cookie Heart Squad!

It's official: I'm a member of the Monster Cookie Heart Squad!  "What in the world is that," you might ask...  Check out the mission statement!
I'm so happy this came in when it did because I'm starting a (long overdue) self-love journey that has been totally amazing so far!  Care to join?

*Want to join the growing list of awesome members?  Click me!
**Check out the blog here!
***Want some stuff?  Click here!
****Want to meet the beautiful person behind MCHS?  Click here!

Happy Friday!!

Do you have any fun plans for the weekend?

Weekend Adventures: Dino-corn + Summer Swap!

1. American Dino-corn is ready to paarrr-taaayyy! // 2. I accompanied the old man on a photo walk adventure around Alpharetta and snapped an Instax of this alterations place that has been there forever! // 3. My super sweet summer swap with Marisa! // 4. Some Rifle-inspired watercolor experimentation

I hope everyone had a great weekend! We celebrated the 4th of July and it was...hilarious!  My dad took over pyrotechnic duties (as usual) and lit up the sky for us to enjoy and it was a lot of fun.  I got to showcase my Baby Whisperer skills with my Dad's girlfriend's daughter's daughter - try saying that 3x fast!  I keep being told I'm great with kids and while I enjoy hanging out with kids, I don't see any in my future.

Marisa and I also did a Summer Swap!  Here's her post with all the items I sent her!  I sent her some Instax photos, some watercolors, a dinosaur (!), a cute little pouch I picked up at H&M, some camera stickers for her journaling, the flyer for my sister's store opening and some other little odds and ends that I thought she would enjoy!  :)
She sent me a Quartz with Amethyst (which I'm charging on my window sill), an address book - which I was totally planning on getting (!), some wonderful pens and pencils, a flower, bow tie stickers and some other super-awesome stuff!  I flipped out when I saw the 9 of Swords tarot card in there because: 1) That particular deck has a unicorn theme, 2) How did she know I'm learning the tarot?!, and 3) It's a sad card, apparently.  I feel like it is representative of her current situation and it could also be representative of mine at the same time.  Weird, right?!  More on that later...

In order to calm my mind, I picked up some watercolors and attempted to try my hand at some Rifle Paper Co. style flowers.  I think I did a good job but there's always room for improvement.  I also need to develop my own style, but I'm doing that another way.  More on that later as well!!

I hope your weekend was fun and full of adventures!
Have a great week!

Sweet Incoming Mail + Calligraphy WIPs!

It has been a long time since I did one of these but things have settled down enough for me to finally write an Incoming Mail post!  Marisa sent me a lovely card with cute things for my SMASH*book, Fab sent me a cute little package in response to the one I sent her and Erica sent me her adorable version of Creepy Hearts Club hearts!

I was so happy to see these on Monday because Monday was a crappy day.  My computer kept crashing, I was troubleshooting all day and my producer kept checking in on me every 5 minutes.  Very nerve-wrecking.  My Avid station is still down, unfortunately, but while I'm monitoring an archival file transfer (that is taking forever, btw), I'm staying busy by practicing my calligraphy.

I was inspired by this post at The Postman's Knock.  I have always loved Typography Art in some form (like my chalkboard art) but I didn't really have the desire to pick it up again (on a smaller scale).

Taking inspiration from the "Greetings from..." post cards I collected in Florida, I drew this on my wall at work (before the crash)



Then I saw the Typography Art post at TPK and freaked out!  I didn't need clunky chalk in the way, I needed the needlepoint preciseness of my mechanical pencil (or just a really sharp one)!  I quickly came up with the sentiment of "Wish you were here" because my best friend in the entire Universe landed in Atlanta yesterday morning and I was thinking it was appropriate :)


UPDATE - the "Wish you were here" quote is all inked up and ready to be scanned in and prettified by the ol' Photoshop!

But because I'm a spazz and I only brought the arrow section home with me to work on with my favorite tools, I altered it just a little...



I was so proud of my efforts that I experimented in free-hand! Let me tell you - this worksheet is a great tool to follow!  Download it!  You'll be so glad you did!  I always use it as a base for my capital letters.



For the "Thank you" above, I used TPK's style of "faux calligraphy" - which I picked up in this post.  You might remember this from when I did some envelope calligraphy for my Christmas cards last year!  I wasn't the best at it then but I'm feeling a little more comfortable now!

I hope you're having a great week!

Happy Wednesday!

Incoming Mail: Flowers from Jess + Tattly Temporaries!

They arrived! My Tattly veggies have finally arrived!  And they also included a bonus typography bike tattoo!  Hooray!  The veggies are part of an on-going prank series we're pulling one someone at work.  It will be revealed in time.

In the mean time, check out Jess's pretty cotton candy pink morning glories!!  How pretty are those?!  How pretty is that anchor stationery?!  So cute!  I really need to step it up with my stationery :)  She included some wonderful tips for starting an indoor garden.

My want of an indoor garden started with Nicolette Mason's posts about having fresh flowers in her apartment, the bouquet we got to keep from Lauren and Chandler's engagement brunch, the birthday bouquet I got for my Mom, and this wonderful succulent toolbox DIY from Alana Jones-Mann.  There's only one problem: I'm TERRIBLE with plants.  I don't know how we managed to keep my orchids from Valentine's Day alive for so long.  They're gone now but they lasted for quite some time!

Jess told me to start with succulents, air plants, and cacti.  I mentioned to her that I wanted to have a spot for cacti in our house because the old man really likes them but, knowing my clumsy self, I'd probably get injured trying to water them!  Jess had some great words of encouragement and I thank her so much for that!  It was just the right kind of motivation I needed to start putting our plant display shelf together :)

How's your week going?
Happy Thursday!

Incoming / Outgoing Mail: Creepy Hearts Club + Ryan Gosling

 

It was a fun incoming mail day the other day! My awesome Ryan Gosling shirt came in! 

Funny story - the other night, I was having a dream that Ryan Gosling and I were at a party, hit it off and quickly became best friends! What a dream, right?! When my alarm went off, I somehow opened up Instagram - honestly, I don't know how that happened - but it hadn't refreshed from the day before and it just so happened that Shop Jeen's most recent post from the previous day was the Ryan Gosling shirt! I took it as a sign and promptly ordered one!  Maybe next, we'll run into each other in Atlanta and become best friends for real??!?

The other 3 photos are very special outgoing packages. The first one is a package I've been trying to send FOREVER and I have finally assembled it the way I want it!! I can't wait until I've dropped it off and the recipient has picked it up!!

The next photo is a stack of something fun I've been working on with my little Creepy Hearts Club friends! You can kind of see it in the last photo there. I snapped a little Instax to say "Thank you" to a very special friend of mine! I can't wait to share it with you!  I'm trying to figure out when those bad boys are going to be released...I can tell you - it will be very soon!

I hope you're all having an awesome week!

Happy Wednesday!

Incoming Mail: Nancy Drew + Creepy Hearts + Instax Cactus Stacks!

I almost caused a ruckus at the post office when I opened my mail box.  Why?  Because of the awesome Nancy Drew envelope that was in my PO Box waiting for me!  How cool is that?!  Once I got to my car, I had a total Zoolander moment because I saw that the envelope was the letter!  WHAAAAT?!  Super cool!  Inside was a super cool Instax cactus stack (that totally made me think of Mustache Cash Stash from Regular Show) from Jess!

Next up, a really awesome set of Creepy Hearts Club hearts from Laura in the UK!  I love them!!!

I had commented on the cute flower cards that Marisa acquired and I totally got one in the mail!  Hooray!

And finally, my best friend, Lauren is getting married and the Save the Date finally arrived!  It's so cute!  I saw the comp a month or so ago and the printed version is way prettier than I could have ever imagined!  It's very Wes Anderson-y (in a good way, of course!) and totally them.  Love it!  I was going to put it in my SMASH*book but I think I'm going to frame it instead.  Hooray for more wall stuff!

How is your week going so far?
Happy Wednesday!

Incoming Mail + The Prettiest Handwriting + 3 Things

Yesterday was such a wonderful mail day! I know I usually post my "Incoming Mail" posts on Wednesdays but I've been getting to the post office a day later because of reasons so I've been a day behind.  I'm kinda glad, though, because I was able to take the time to take lovely photos of all the goodies that came in the mail this week!





 This awesome pin-up postcard and collage (which is totally getting framed!) comes from Roberta all the way in Denmark!  I sent her some Creepy Hearts Club hearts and she sent this back as a thank you!  So sweet!  I've got a little something cooking for her, too!  :)



This sweet card (and super cute envelope) is from Rachel.  I told her about my 10 hour adventure in the car in January and shared in my pain.  And guess what?  She's also a video professional!  I love that!  I'm totally going to geek out in my next letter to her!  I hope she doesn't mind :)



This next package is from sweet Kathleen in Australia!  Last time, I sent her an origami heart and some other little things and she was sweet enough to send me some gorgeous origami papers from Japan!  Also tucked away in the cute card, there was a C.S. Lewis quote (which I can't wait to frame), 3 things about her and a Mail Tag with 3 prompts for me: A spritz of perfume (I know just the one!), my birthday, and the best thing about Georgia.  I found a cute little note card in my stockpile and filled out my 3 things already but I'm saving the perfume spray as the absolute last thing I do because I want it to last the whole trip to Oz!

I was so happy to see such a bounty in my P.O. Box yesterday and I realized I have two half assembled packages that need to be sent out!  Ugh - I've been such a space cadet lately.  One of them can be delayed a little but the other should've been sent out ages ago!  I'm hoping the recipient doesn't mind its tardiness!

I'm hoping you're having an awesome week!
Happy Thursday!