Happiness

Happiness is a difficult thing to settle in. Its hard to attain because we are always 

looking for more, and a lot of the time you get so lost in seeking it that you don't 

realize you are actually living it.

Lets be honest, we are all occasionally guilty of dreaming about all of the things that 

we don't have that we wish we did. Maybe for the weekend, we could focus on what 

we love about our life, those who we love in our life and all of the decisions that we 

have made to get us here. And by doing so we can find some sort of clarity amongst 

all of the daily 'i wishes' and see that we really do have something to be happy about.

I for one know I am. xoxo

Happy Friday. 

image via

Tea Cookies... Brilliant

Great Idea. So adorable for a Tea themed Party.

via

In the Spotlight for a Minute

Yesterday I felt lucky to be in the spotlight over at Melissa Blake's fantastic 

lifestyle blog, 'So About What I Said'. Included in the interview are details 

on my etsy shop, the inside scoop on how I got started and my favorite 

illustration to date. 

Read More on Melissa's Blog.

Illustration Inspiration Featuring: Erin Stead

Yes! Its Wednesday again and here we are back at our Illustration Inspiration feature! 

I have been looking forward to spending my morning diving deep into the illustrative 

world of another illustrator since last Wednesday's post about Matt Phelan. 

Today I am featuring Caldecott Medal winner, Erin Stead. In order to tell you a bit 

about her, I hopped over to Seven Impossible Things and read their interview. I got 

totally swept up in reading about her unique process. (Its a long one with really great

 pictures so check it out for details.) Basically she adds all of her color using wood block

 carvings. And it is only after all of the color has been blocked in that she draws on 

top of that with pencil. I am actually a really big fan of that Pencil Decision. I feel that the 

gray tone of her drawings gives them all a familiar vintage look. 

Can you feel that too?

May I also add that her husband Philip Stead is also an illustrator. {SO much fun!} 

And they created this book together. This was her first illustrated book and was 

named the New York Times Best Illustrated book in 2010 {Wowsers, Go Erin!)

Design Templates for Paper Folding

Discovered this book today by Trish Witkowski that offers comprehensive

Formats, Techniques and Design Considerations for Innovative Paper Folding... 

Kind of a cool idea... I had to share. 

BONUS: it includes a CD with 40 digital templates {!} 

Advice from Joanne Goddard

I have always admired Joanne Goddard of Cup of Jo for the honesty and vulnerability 

that she includes in her blog posts. She posted a bit about her favorite advice and I 

thought it was worth passing along. Thoughts like these are really good to keep in 

your back pocket. 

This snippet of advice was featured at Refinery29. 

The Just Love Project

The Just Love Project is a Design Project that posts a new design every month about love. 

Above are the poster designs for January through March. I can't wait to see April's! 

Wouldn't it be cool to get one for July, when we get married? I love the colors! 

You can buy them each month or in packages. Check it out here.