BigCartel shop

I opened a new shop on Big Cartel. Right now it's a test run, to see if I should open a permanent account there. I hope it'll go well.

{The Time Is Now on bigcartel}

October Giveaways winners

October is ended and November is begun. So is the rainy season in my slice of the world. And my picks for the winners in my October giveaways!

The winner of my October Bear Giveaway is a very lucky buyer. She's getting a gift-boxed bear just in time for the holidays. I think I'll have another giveaway in November, what to you say? That way two people will get a gift-boxed bear in their christmas stockings or under the tree... how does this work? I don't know.


I picked the winner of my The Bright Side Project giveaway this morning. The response was great. Many people replied with their remedies for feeling blue. I learned that many people use food to comfort, everyone still love snail mail, and that listening is the best way to show you care. I picked Garcia G., who said:

Compliments! I am constantly giving people whom I know and love (and even some strangers), compliments on anything and everything. Hearing someone tell you your hair looks great or that they have some redeeming quality makes anyone feel good about themselve. I don’t think people, especially women, give enough compliments to others. It’s a simple, yet wonderful thing to do!

I admire the randomness of it. Brightening the Day isn't just for friends and family, it's in all our relationships, as brief and impersonal as they are. I like to think it has a domino effect, and those stranger she compliments will pay it forward, to their loved ones and strangers.

She'll be getting a custom-made silhouette portrait of whoever she chooses, cross-stitched!

Letterpress Series: Heroes & Criminals Press

This is an artist that if I didn't gush about I'd have to kick my own ass. Yes, I am partial to books --wonderful, pretty books-- and my Book As Object teacher would seriously love her work too, but there's no staying indifferent to this one.

Jessica of Heroes & Criminals Press is not a stationery letterpress studio. Oh noez. She's an illustrator. And she feels just as strongly about telling stories as I do.

My favorite work of hers is a book called The Bad Sparrow, which she made in a scroll format, 9 inch high by 25 feet long. Letterpressed, and hand-colored. Now that's an artist book.


According to her site, the book synopsis is:

"The story is about two groups of animals gathering to wage war. They're fighting over something that the sparrow said, but when they arrive to battle, no one can quite remember what they're fighting about. No matter - the machine of warfare cannot be stopped, and the combat continues."

I find this so funny, and the illustrations are so adorable (especially of the little bunnies and squirrels marching off) that I simply couldn't resist and I bought a copy.

Well, the smaller digitally printed version of the book. I know, I know, of all the times NOT to have a money tree in the backyard!
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Official website
etsy shop

You Better Think

{shop update}

etsy rec: Victorian Doll Houses

Doll House

I want this house!

I and my sister used to build those small furniture sets for doll houses. We thought it was a fun change from straight-forward puzzles (we put together and dissembled so many puzzles). When I saw this house I called to her and she immediately told me she wanted to build this with me.

Victorian Doll Houses on etsy.

The Bright Side project

The Bright Side Project is one of those amazing mags I salivate over, reading religiously. The concept is fabulous: the mission of the project is "to bring you sunshine every day with themed, daily giveaways", in their own words.

I'm honored to participate in their October theme of Home Sweet Home. I will be giving away a custom cross stitch silhouette portrait. A long name for a small thing, I know, but the name length fits its impact. Just imagine that on your wall!


All you have to do to win is answer my question. I will read all the answers and pick the lucky winner. The competition is open by Friday, Oct. 30 so go over to The Bright Side Project to enter.

You can also enter my own October giveaway for a chance to win one of my hand-painted bear brooches!

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The Bright Side Project
The Time Is Now on The Bright Side Project

Letterpress series: Pearl & Marmalade

I'm an illustrator. And while I can and do admire the wonderful compositions that can be created with clean font work the beauty of detailed illustrations has a hold. Add a cheeky message to it and the charm is on!


Pearl & Marmalade are one of those letterpress companies that really looks at letterpress stationery as an art form. But no reason art can't be fun.

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etsy shop
official site

Etsy rec: Papercut Julene

Now, there are plenty of beautiful inspirational quote posters around. Not many are paper cut, though!


Julene is available for hand cut custom work too!

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madebyjulene etsy shop
Official website

of books and things

I think I've started recollecting stationery again. Did you do this when you were young? I remember going to grammar school with a bag of Care Bears and My Little Pony stationery (scented, too! - oh, I miss those scented pages, don't you?) to haggle and barter over with other girls. I think my favorite were the kawaii strawberry ones.

I must have threw that collection away sometime, which I regret now, and moved on to collect other things. Like pencils, and pretty notebooks, and books. I love well designed books. I do judge a book by its cover, I'm afraid.


{The Time Is Now shop}

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The October giveaway is still going strong.
Today I mailed the cross stitch portrait to the winner of the Pikaland giveaway.

And while I was looking through my pictures folder I was reminded of the used books sale I had back in July. Those that didn't sell are now packed up in boxes. But I figure I should give another chance to people looking for design books to purchase one. Most were sold off, as I said, but there are still a few (including the one pictures above) up for grabs.
{See pictures & prices of books}

Elsita papercuts shop

Elsita opened a brand new shop dedicated to her original papercuts! In it she offers original and ready-to-hang delicate papercut artworks in prices ranging from $100-$400, in lieu of her more expensive gallery works. She opened it 4 days ago, and it is of course already sold out, but hopefully she'll replenish the shop soon.
Elsita's original papercuts shop

Oh pretty, pretty package!

There's nothing like a well-thought packaging to elevate one's gift. Or purchase, in this case.

Yesterday I received my order from Simplesong Designs in the mail. and let me tell you: in the year or so I've been active on etsy this is by far the best package I've ever received. So, so beautiful, I still keep everything in the box. I don't want to take anything out!


The packaging is so well thought out, and so charming. It promises an experience for the receiver, and the contents don't disappoint. Simplesong succeeds in mailing a lifestyle together with her goods. The charm isn't just in the photos, and that's real magic right there. You get the ambience in which the stationery was created as well as if you stepped into the carefully stylized brick and mortar shop and bought your letterpress treasures there!




And to this I say: Awesome.

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This week's giveaway at Oh, hello friend is also all about achieving that charming package. Enter by October 19th for a chance to win a gift wrap set from hooray design. Double awesome!

Where the Wild Things Are

No doubt the news of Spike Jonze's adaptation of Where The Wild Things Are have made the circuit. The trailer, with its amazing imagery, has successfully re-ignited everyone's love of the imagination.

Not least of all Lane's, which is making Wild Things Wolf Pajamas for kids and adults.

Book covers

My two book cover suggestions for Lamiel's Lord of the Ring's fanfiction This Present Darkness

boy girl portraits

New in the shop

Letterpress series: Calendars

I'm working on producing my own die-cut calendar, and in honor of that, I've decided to look for letterpress calendars on etsy. For sure, there are amazing finds out there, in poster format and otherwise. It's that time of year, after all. I have a feeling many more will pop up (at least, I dearly hope so) by December.

My two favorites are:
Missing Q Press wall calendar

& design Diapason pocket calendar


* You Are My Fav posted this about letterpress clubs. If you're looking for a gift that keeps on giving year round, check them out.

If you found letterpress calendars and planners comment here with the link. The more the merrier!

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Missing Q Press official website

Pikaland Giveaway

Amy from Pikaland has always been an avid supporter of new illustrators and fresh shops. She's the first illustration collective blog I found, by a happy chance.

I'm participating in one of her special super- exciting giveaways! Enter by Oct. 13 for a chance to win my Antlered cross-stitched silhouette!


Have you seen my October giveaway?

I've been invited to participate in the Renegade Handmade Embroidery Spotlight Show. Try to say that 3 times fast... My fingers are itching to go! stitch stitch stitch

New Book!

Those who know me who follow me on my personal blog already know that I am sort of, kind of, a Robert Klanten stalker. There's hardly a book of his that i don't crave - Nay! need to have. I have credited him in the past with the shaping of my aesthetics.

Today I received an email from Amazon, one of those annoying promotion emails that I never read but never get around to cancel, announcing 37% discount on the new Robert Klanten title "Papercraft: Design and Art with Paper"!


Thus, I have another book to covet. Looking at the preview spreads on the die Gestalten site, it's so pretty I want to weep.
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Amazon page
Publisher's site

Bear GIVEAWAY!

Hello friends!

I'm announcing an exciting new giveaway. This time the lucky winner will receive one of my hand-painted wood bear brooches! (worth $14) They even come in a pretty gift box and ribbon!

For the month of October, anyone and everyone who make a purchase in any of my shops (and this includes commissions from artwork viewed on my flickr page and custom orders) automatically enters the giveaway and a chance to win the brooch!

And check this out - the more you buy, the bigger your chances of winning are! So, if you buy 1 item you get 1 'raffle ticket', as it were. If you purchase 2 items, you receive 2 'raffle tickets', and so forth.

So check out my shops for original illustrations and crafts, and who knows, next month you might get a beautiful handmade brooch in the mail!

The Time is Now
Antlered Kitsune

Gal Shkedi

My DIY Superga, originally uploaded by gAL sHkEDi.

An Israeli illustrator extraordinaire.

Israeli illustrators seem to have that humorist edge to them that no one else can copy. Everything looks so fun and sarcastic.

I'm so jealous of whoever bought these shoes:(

Letterpress series: Simplesong Designs

This is the 2nd installment in my letterpress series. And not a moment too soon!


Simplesong Designs is an amazing letterpress shop that I only recently found in my passion for nostalgic stationery. Their style is typographic and oh so sweet, with plenty of hand-written fonts for that 'I did it myself!' touch.


My favorites are the correspondence gift set (I want to buy it in bulk and mail it anonymously to everyone!), the everyday notecards & especially the Yum gift box set!


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