My first professional banner!

After months of hemming and hawing, I finally came to the sad conclusion that our shop has outgrown my banner-designing abilities. I searched and searched through all the wonderful banner designers at Etsy, and, after seeing her work on the gorgeous banners of fringe and Leaves of Glass, I settled on Abby of Mavora. Abby designs the most gorgeous wedding invitations as well, and she is so talented! Within 48 hours, she had provided four designs to choose from, including these two finalists:

Each on was beautiful and exactly what I had hoped for (though couldn't quite articulate), but I settled on the one on the top.

If you decide to splurge and spruce up your shop, I highly recommend working with Abby!

Self Portrait Thursday

...of the FUTURE!

Hee

see famous look-a-like faces

New Stuff

Just listed...

Butterfly

Vamp

Bloom

New Stuff

Actually got it together to make and even list some new ring designs today:

Perch

Bird on the Run

Escape

Melissa - Vegan, Eco-Friendly Plastic Shoes

Perhaps I'm late to the party, but I've just discovered Melissa shoes--a Brazilian company creating amazingly whimsical designs in recycled plastic. There's so much to love about the brand:

* Socially Responsible: high wages, extended benefits
* Cruelty free: no animal products at any stage of production
* Eco-friendly: 99.9% of factory water and waste is recycled, overstock styles are recycled into new styles

But none of that would count for much if the shoes weren't gorgeous, which they are! In addition to their own designs, Melissa has also partner with a bunch of different talents, from fashion designers like Vivienne Westwood to product designer Karim Rashid.

So wonderful, and they're affordable, too!

Swoon

I've been watching alot of dvds lately (new to the area=I have nothing to do outside the house), including rewatching the original The Evil Dead. I love it so much!* And it totally reminded me of the wonders of Bruce Campbell. And he was never any finer than he is right here:



Except maybe here:



*this love does not extend to Evil Dead the Musical, which I sat through not once, but twice. They were serving shots in the aisles and I still had a miserable time.

Cape Cod Coyotes?!

I have recently discovered that along with squirrels, chipmunks, and all manner of birds, I'm sharing the Cape with the Eastern coyote. At the risk of sounding dumb, I never knew there was such a thing! While I'm totally fascinated, and love the thought of much an interesting neighbor, I'm now obsessed with the idea that Nessa and Mugsy will soon become bite-sized puppy nuggets for them. According to a couple of my neighbors, sometimes the coyotes can be seen wandering the nature trails behind my house--where I walk the dogs. Suddenly I'm in the Wild West!

I've also just discovered the dismaying truth that the coyotes aren't thought of too kindly here and that there is an annual hunt...although apparently Massachusetts offers the most protection of the species (there are much bigger hunts in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont).

In any event, I really am kind of excited about this. Now I really, really want to see one!

Cape Cod Living

If you've been past our Etsy shop in the past month or so, you know that we've been in the process of moving, which is hellacious. No one should ever move--wherever you are, my advice is to stay there forever.

But we're sorta, kinda, settled in-ish here in beautiful Cape Cod. And it really is ridiculously beautiful. I'm looking forward to getting truly settled so that I can explore some more, but we've gotten in the habit of hitting the South Cape Beach every couple of nights at dusk, which is amazing, and reminds us why we moved here in the first place.

Also, I've become addicted to grilling. I may never cook indoors again. I have a sad feeling that there are going to be many posts going forward about grilled food.

But it feels good to be getting back to normal business. And, as you can see above, Mugsy the monkey dog seems happy in the sun. :o)