WIP Wednesday: MWM

Looks like I'm just going to sneak this WIP Wednesday in before the day is done! I've been out and about all day, ending with being caught in some kind of crazy rain and windstorm and coming home totally saturated! This was remedied with warm slippers and a delicious cauliflower and sweet potato curry though, so all was not lost!

I caught a glimpse of these paintings earlier today via my lovely friend Anna (who will hopefully be joining us here on the blog soon, hooray!) and was totally drawn to the shape and movement of them. And the colour! You would not know it by looking at my wardrobe (I really do try to break free, but I just love black and stripes so), but I have found myself more and more drawn to vibrant colour and pattern lately and this Crystal and Lasers series by Matt W. Moore totally fit the bill. If you click through and read a little more about the series you'll some of the awesome inspiration he found while visiting Paris for the installation. I love that he went there with no previously made art or idea of what he was going to do and then came out with this beautiful and cohesive body of work. I also love/am in awe of the fact that it's all done with spray paint. People using spray paint never cease to amaze me, I just can't imagine how you have enough control to come out with anything looking even halfway decent, but the crispness and precision of these pieces is stunning.

Darling Heart Vintage

Thank you so much for all your well wishes and congratulations on my last post! I have serious love for the handmade and blog community, and knowing that there are people out there who support and love what we do makes this gig all that much more satisfying. So much so that we're going to open another store? Why, yes! I've been thinking on opening up a small vintage store for awhile now, and now that I've started thinking more about moving and what can and can't come with us I realise that not everything I've collected over the years will be able to come with us (this hasn't always been an easy process. I mean, why not take hundreds of mis-matched tea cups half way across the world?). So, I present to you Darling Heart Vintage, a little bit yard sale, a little bit treasure trove.

As tough as it is not being able to take everything we own with us, I'm pretty happy knowing they'll be well loved somewhere else. Also, it makes me feel a little less guilty/justifies my continual thrifting despite knowing we're leaving the country, ha! There's more to list hopefully over the next few days, and I think I'll just keep it up slowly as I thrift for myself. There's also going to be a range of household and clothing items, with a range of sizes in the clothes. As a plus size gal, I know how difficult vintage shopping can be so I'm hoping to dig up some good second hand stuff for us curvier gals, and as that's where I predominantly shop for myself I think you can be sure it won't all be teeny tiny. Not that there won't be teeny tiny, but there will be clothes for everyone. Let's not leave anyone out!

I hope you're all having a fantastic day, might I suggest this Lo-Fi Ladies mix to keep you company? I listened to it last night as I replied to emails and ate chocolate chips straight from the bad. Shh!

Etsy-versary!

Hello! First of all, I wanted to say a big thank you to everyone for all of your wonderful Portland tips! The train ride down was absolutely beautiful, and I completely fell in love with the city. Unfortunately though, Richard woke up extremely sick on our first morning there and had to spend the rest of our holiday in bed! It was such a bummer as we'd planned so many fun things to do and also because it really is horrible to be sick in a hotel room. I did venture out to see a few things, but mostly played nurse, and while it bummed us out it has made us all the more excited to head back down there sooner rather than later! I'm going to do a little Portland in review style post in a day or so once I get my film back that I took there. Our point and shoot has pretty much given up on us so sadly I have nothing yet to show for our visit.

On a more exciting note, it is our one year Etsy anniversary! Secretly I think it might have actually been a day or so ago, but oh well, I'm going to find myself a cupcake to munch on later on in celebration. It's crazy to think we've been in business for only just a year when it feels like so much has happened. We have been overwhelmed by the support of the handmade and design community, and to think that we're now beginning to wholesale and the like is really exciting. Giving up our day jobs are still a ways off, and I'm not even sure if that is where we'll end up, but having some autonomy over our work like and doing something that we both love is something that we're both extremely grateful for!

So to celebrate and say thank you, we're going to be giving away 3 custom buntings! Each winner will receive the bunting of their choice, either one of the pre-written ones in the store or one with a message/name of their choice. They of course will also be able to choose the colour bias tape they would like, and I have some lovely new colours that will hopefully be available in time. They will also receive a bookmark of their choice, and some little added extras that I will rustle up to fill out the package.

All you have to do to enter is to leave a comment on this post! The winners will be drawn Sunday May 23rd at midnight and announced the following day. Please feel free to spread the word, and good luck!

Rose City

Portland has been high on my list of places to visit for quite some time now and I'm excited that we'll finally be heading down there bright and early tomorrow! I have a few places in mind that I'd like to check out, Powell's Books, Voodoo Doughnut, many brew pubs, the Laurelhurst or Hollywood theatre and many other (surprise, surprise) food related places. I'd love to hear your thoughts on places to check out if you've been to or live in Portland, the more tips the better! Keep in mind we won't have a car, so easy-ish places to get to please!