cyber monday deal

Today in honour of cyber monday (really?) I'm offering free worldwide shipping on my Dutch birthday calendar today only. Sale ends at midnight PST. I only list one at a time, so if it's sold out, just look in my shop for another. Thanks!

over and done, phew!

Well, the One of a Kind show wrapped up this past weekend and it seems all the work paid off. Not only did we sell lots of stuff (+ garnered a few interesting contacts + met many rad blog and twitter followers), we also won for best booth! We had no idea there was such a prize, so needless to say, we were blown away. There's a few photos of us over at Poppytalk if you want a peek.

Want to know more about me? I've been interviewed by my small business idols, Emira Mears (and Lauren Bacon too) over at The Boss of You. If you haven't read their book, The Boss of You: Everything A Woman Needs to Know to Start, Run, and Maintain Her Own Business, go out and do it now! It's filled with practical and inspiring advice about running your own business (and it ain't just for the ladies).

Also, I've updated my shop with tons of my new cards, so please head over to etsy and take a peek!

the first batch of new cards

I've been uploading some new cards on etsy this week, though there are plenty more to come. I've been scribbling like a mad woman working on new illustrations for the One of a Kind show, which means lots of new variety in my etsy shop. Though I have to say, my favorite designs are still to come. You'll just have to wait it out with me (these new cards haven't been to the printers yet). Exciting!

Oh yeah, and I even have a sale on some cards to make room for all the new goodies coming up.

shop update & email newsletter perks

It's been a busy couple of weeks, so I'm trying to catch up on all the action going on in my etsy shops. Yes, there's action! In my Small Joys printable shop, I created a new design for an art printable: Take a picture. It'll last longer. I felt I needed to do something with my old busted up Pentax Spotomatic (broken light meter) since it was just gathering dust - so I drew it!

In my card shop, last Friday, I held a super secret summer sale for my email subscribers only and it was a blast! An amazing response from so many wonderful customers that I was busy on Saturday preparing packages to ship out. Off to the post office I go this afternoon with a sack full of goodies to send. If you haven't yet signed up for my email newsletter, what are you waiting for?

thank you's & shout out's

(above photo by wolfie & the sneak)

I've recently been featured on a few blogs and I'm so grateful for the nods! So thank you very much to wolfie and the sneak for featuring my Good Morning Sunshine art printable in her blog. If you aren't familiar with wolfie and the sneak, you should take a look at their etsy shop which always has some lovely posters. I even own the very lovely Pods poster which will soon find a permanent home in our bedroom.

I was also smitten to find that Modish wrote a post about my printables. What's even more awesome is that Modish also featured Bliss in a Teacup. Becka & Richard who make up the dynamic duo of Bliss in a Teacup are my neighbours! Not only do they live in Vancouver, but they live in the same co-op building as we do....just one floor down. We've recently gotten to know them, and they are stunningly awesome. So how exciting that we are featured right after the other in Modish?! Amazing.

Today I was emailed by the very talented English Muffin who just featured The Beautiful Project on her blog. It's funny because I had stumbled on her etsy shop a week or so ago and loved her prints. I think it was her ice cream prints that fueled my gelato cravings last week!

busy weekend ahead

Today I'm going to get out and do a bit of gardening. This picture was taken a few weeks ago when I didn't have much on the go, plant-wise. Things have gotten much, much better, but there's still quite a few seedlings yet that need to find there way into some cool, dark earth. I was lucky to pick up a couple of free herbs (calendula & sage) from the Strathcona Community Centre this week, along with a few free strawberry plants and other green things that I've been stalling over. Soon our space will look lush and green, black thumbs aside.

I also will be at Got Craft this weekend at Little Mountain Gallery off Main Street @ e26th Ave. So come on by and check out all the great crafty local peeps! For those who can't make it to the fair, be sure to check out my summer sale in my etsy shop. It's still going strong! Must make way for new items to come!

i'm having a sale!

I rarely have sales in my etsy shop, but I've got to make room for new items that will be arriving later this summer. You can choose from 8 different designs at a reduced rate or purchase 3 cards for just $8. And these are some of my most favorite & popular designs, so take a pick from these sweet cards:

• Rah Rah Sis Boom Bah
• Picnic Manners
• Be Free
• Hey, Thanks a Ton
• Greetings from All of Us
• Bon Voyage
• Happy Birthday Rooster
• Thank You

Must I remind you that all of my cards are professionally (& locally) printed on gorgeously thick 100lb - 110lb card stock? So not only are they illustrated by yours truly, they are top notch in quality too! Happy shopping!!

calling all vancouver craft-addicts!

The Got Craft fair is coming up on Sunday May 3rd!!! I'll be there along with a ton of other fabulous local crafters, so make sure you stop by and say hello. Get more craft fair information on their brand spanking new website (logo & website designed by yours truly).

And in other news, the lovely Got Craft people are bringing to town the documentary, Handmade Nation! The screening will be at the Ridge Theater in July but you can buy your tickets now.

everyone needs a pick-me-up

This afternoon has been devoted to working on my taxes. Unlike our neighbours to the South, we've got a few more weeks left to get our taxes done. I spent today compiling receipts for The Beautiful Project and adding them to my spreadsheet before they can be handed off to our accountant. But I've finished the crafty portion of things - all PayPal fees, Etsy fees, postage, supplies, printing costs, etc, etc, etc, have been calculated. Tomorrow I'll work with my husband to get our other business stuff gathered. Phew!

So I felt like a needed a creative break, so I quickly drew up some waves and fishes and threw up a new sign for my U Pick deal: 6 cards for $20. Cute? I think so. Let's hope it catches a few nibbles.

super cute new note card set!

Hippity-hop! I've got a brand new note card set available in shop. 4 different illustrated cards. I think they are simply adorable and very sweet. I got these printed up a while ago but waited on them before adding them to the shop. I'm completely smitten. I hope you are too! Who doesn't like a cute girl in bunny ears....right??

damaged goods give away: the beautiful project

Uh, didn't I say something about a give away a while back? I did! The thing is, this give away is about damaged goods...stuff that I don't want to sell because the paper had a weird brown bit embedded in it or their was a crack in the fold or the printing wasn't totally perfect. What could I do with the rejects? Just because I don't want to sell them doesn't mean that someone doesn't want them for free, right??

So without further ado, here's what I'm giving away: 4 cards (damaged goods) + 1 perfect card from my shop (who knows which card it will be...except it will be a surprise!). And look, one of the reject cards isn't even available yet in the shop! To enter, just leave a comment below letting me know what is your favorite card available at my etsy shop. Please include your name or a link to your blog (so I can contact you) by this Friday March 20th 5pm PST and I will pick 1 random commenter.

new card in the shop

Yesterday I picked up a bunch of new cards from the local print shop. You look beautiful today is now available at my etsy shop and I have a bunch of new cards that will make their debut in the coming week or so. I also will have my very first giveaway! True. So stay tuned next week.

In other news, I've finally got into Twitter. I had an account but didn't really use it. Then I installed TwitterFox (for Firefox) and, oh boy, I'm tweeting! I also have a Tumbler account too. I have to say I love Tumbler. So much easier than blogging and who doesn't love looking at pretty pictures? Follow me on Twitter or Tumbler or both! If you guessed I spent way too much time online, you are correct.

pink + black

A new card for my shop. Actually, it's an old one that I've re-tooled and I like how it turned out. I also got this one printed a couple months ago and it has only made it's online debut today!

It's not even 10:30 am yet and I've been busy. Sent off designs, got approvals and got rid of some nagging emails in my in-box. Phew! I have some errands to run this afternoon and I've got my ipod charged and ready. Lately, I've been more into walking than biking and I blame my ipod since it's nice to enjoy the views while listening to some loud hopping tunes rather than speeding by and making sure I don't get killed in traffic.

right on right on

A new card for my shop. It's actually not that new. I got it printed in December and then promptly forgot about it. I was checking out my card inventory this morning when I spied it alongside all of my other hand sign cards. Oops! I guess it's time to put it on etsy.

Everyone needs a thumbs up and a bit of Right On, and today I'd like to dedicate this card to the weather because today was warm, sunny and totally right on. Spring is definitely a-coming!

holy craft fair weekend, batman!

There's a lot going on this weekend in Vancouver, but if you aren't in this city, don't worry, you can see what I'm up to on my etsy shop! Take a look at The Beautiful Project for super cute Dutch-themed birthday calendars, holiday cards, gift tags and general greeting card perfection! Order now for the holidays and beyond!

On Friday night (6 - 9 pm) and Saturday afternoon (11 - 5 pm) I'll be at Toque, a fund-raising craft sale event for the Western Front Gallery (303 East 8th Ave.) Friday night will be a bit of a party atmosphere, so come on by either Friday night or Saturday afternoon and get your holiday shopping done from great local artisans!

And because I love craft fairs, this Sunday I'll also have a table for Got Craft at the Royal Canadian Legion (2205 Commercial Drive) from 11 - 6 pm. There will be a ton of local crafters out at this event and it should be a lot of fun. Plus, the first 30 people will receive a swag bag filled with goodies! What's not to love about that?

Don't wait until the very last moment to get all your shopping done! C'mon by to either fair and say hello. I'd love to meet you!

new cards in shop

Everyone is out there making babies! Send your knocked up friend/partner this card. Spread the joy with a bit of an evil grin.

I love balloons. So I finally did a card with balloons. Happy Birthday. Simple enough.

And once again in pink cuz balloons always look better in pink.

total spazzzzzz

So earlier this week, I was ready to send out my email newsletter for The Beautiful Project. But then, I realized that I hated the design...not just of the email but of the whole dang website. I've hated it since the moment I designed it (it was designed & coded in one hour this past summer and you really do get what you pay for!) So earlier this week I designed a whole new website (which isn't ready to go live yet since it will require all kinds of fancy features like online ordering for retail shops), but I did redo the site to the more current design so everything is nice and branded. I also re-coded the eletter and it will be ready to go out live next week. Have you signed up? Go now and do it! Did I say I was a spaz? I really, really am.


I'm also featured in the local free entertainment weekly along with a host of other Vancouver bloggers. You can read the interview here.

We're also heading to Portland tonight with friends for the long weekend. On our last vacation we went there with the same friends and had a great time, so I'm sure it will be a blast. King Khan and the Shrines will be playing there this weekend and while it seems funny to be seeing a Toronto band in Portland, I think it will be a great show.

oh, i forgot....

My birthday calendar got a mention on design*sponge this morning!!!

craft fairs are fun!

All my fears about taking part in a craft fair were silly. My friends came out, I met lots of great vendors, and lots of people who came out because they read my blog! Seriously, who knew that I had fans :) It was fun and I look forward to taking part in more fairs around town. If you came out, thanks so much for your support! It was really appreciated.

My new calendar was well received and I had a lot of other new items. Take a peek at some of the new things that are now in my shop, including these cute teddy bear gift tags, new holiday Christmas cards, retro holiday cards, and adorable acorn gift tags. The birthday calendar will come this week!

all about paper

After seeing this post on Poppytalk, I decided that my husband and I just had to make this paper craft. Cornelius has always been a fan of these little paper-cutting adventures and has lots of experience building them. Me, not so much. But it was super easy and fun to put together and now we have a cute little Parisian newsstand! I love it.

In other paper related news, I've been working on this calendar all summer long. It's a birthday calendar that you can keep for years and years...it never goes out of date! I kept it dutch-themed since this calendar seems to exist in every dutch person's house that I know. It's a dutch tradition, I guess. We have one too (Cornelius is dutch) and we keep it in the bathroom with a pen handy so that guests can write down their birthday. This way we never lose track of important dates! Keep it in the kitchen or bathroom and let your friends and family write down their birthdays or just keep it for yourself so you don't lose track of important dates. It will be in my etsy store very soon!

Also new in my shop, are these modern Eames chair gift tags (sold in a set of 6). Perfect for any occasion! More gift cards will be at the I Heart Crafts fair this Sunday. I'll be there too this time, I promise.