Worth Celebrating

This has been a weekend of birthdays. My mother's birthday was Saturday, and being the lady that I am, I will not disclose her age, but I will say that she doesn't look it. Not at all. I will also say that the pressure was on when it came to wrapping her gift. Now, normally I would just pass this off as self-imposed ridiculousness, but this was sister-imposed. When Katie saw the photos of my amelia mae packages, she (only somewhat jokingly) pointed out that the expectation had been set for all future gifting. So here's what I came up with:




I made the tag especially for this package, and added the yellow ribbon as it is my mother's absolute most-favorite color. She was pleased. Which is all that really matters.

We also celebrated my boss's birthday at my bill-paying job. It is, I think, an unspoken addition to my job description that I make cupcakes for everyone's birthday. It's been penciled in. Now, I am a little ashamed to admit that I typically make them from a box. Not that anyone seems to notice, as they are always met with gooey, icing covered smiles and sugar-induced exclamations of glee and gratitude. But as this batch was for my boss's birthday, I thought I would make them from scratch. So I made Mexican Chocolate cupcakes. They're vegan. And extremely rich and delicious. You can find the recipe here, if you'd like. The recipe is actually for a cake, but it works perfectly for cupcakes. I just changed the cooking time to 18-20 minutes. It calls for chocolate covered strawberries on top, but because I knew these would be sitting out all day I substituted for Emily's Organic packaged ones instead. Delicious:



Also, as part of the birthday festivities, I took my mother to see Becoming Jane. We have a mutual affinity for Jane Austen. There were a few things I didn't like, but overall I thought it was quite nice--fluffy and romantic and full of Austen-esque trials and what-not.

Between all the celebrations, I did manage to squeeze in some work-time:



I still have some cleaning up to do before it is completely finished.

So overall, not a bad weekend. Full, but happily so. Have a wonderful Monday!

xo,
Amy

Lulella Shop Update

I'm a little short on time this week, so I will have to leave the longer postings to a little later. However, I do have an update on AHOPE donations.

A few posts ago I mentioned that Katrina from lulella was donating a portion of the profits from this doll to AHOPE. Well, Katrina has added a second item! She will be donating 20% of the profits from this lovely to the children of AHOPE:



Check out those wings. Adorable. Thank you so much Katrina for your enthusiasm and for supporting such an amazing organization!

Okay. I hope you are all doing well. I hope to be back in a couple of days with a bit more.

xo,
Amy

Etsy Poster Contest

A few, what--weeks, maybe--ago, Etsy held a poster contest in an effort to create something other than the usual freebies to give away at conventions and craft shows, and so on. The goal was to create collections featuring the wide assortment of handmade goods found around Etsy.

I didn't submit a poster for the contest, and my work isn't included in any of the winning posters, BUT Project 8256 was one of the top 1000 sellers featured overall. Meaning that of all of the posters submitted (winners and not) in the contest, my work was featured a total of six times! And my "I Carry Your Heart Print" was featured in one of the posters that won an Honorable Mention:



(Ignore the white space. There was apparently some sort of a mishap.) Lovely, don't you think? It was created by seabones. If you would like to take a look at the winning entries, just click here.

OK, much to do. More later.

xo,
Amy

curiouser and curiouser...

A big thank you to Ez at Creature Comforts for blogging today about The Curiosity Shoppe. I had not yet heard of this treasure trove--and I am completely smitten. A few of my favorites:



Clockwise from top right:
1. Bird Tray Set. Yeah, I'm still not over the whole bird trend. Sorry.
2. Letterpress Art Print. So pretty. And so incredibly affordable.
3. Red Dogwood Apron With Rickrack Trim. I'm not entirely sure if it is my previous time as a shopgirl at Anthropologie, or my somewhat befuddled (and yet not fully realized) domestic tendencies, but I think vintage-style aprons have a certain sweetness to them that I find really appealing.
4. You're Swell Card. If only it came in a set with a "magical" or a "goodness gracious" -- it would come frighteningly close to totaling out my vocabulary.
5. Gothic Dessert Plates. Silhouettes AND unbreakable melamine. Delicious, indeed.
6. Alabaster Stag Head. This is about as "outdoorsy" as I get. Especially in August in Oklahoma. Yuck. But I think this is truly lovely.

Other good news for the day is that it is the middle of the month which means I am granted more e-music downloads. This is excellent news. I just downloaded the new Waterdeep album "Heart Attack Time Machine" and, oh yes, it is very good. As expected.

A good Monday for you? I hope so. I hope it is a most excellent start to a wonderful week.

xo,
Amy

ups and downs

I've had a hor-ri-ble day. Not for any particular reason, really. Nothing catastrophic happened (thankfully). It was just -- bad. But, luckily, a couple of nice little moments happened, so all was not lost:

1. I had, quite possibly, the greatest-conversation-ever with, quite possibly, the most-adorable-six-year-old-boy ever. He had a hard time saying his s's and couldn't say his r's at all, which I think just piles on the cuteness. It was one of those conversations where every single sentence starts with "Hey! Guess what!". But at six, there are a lot of really, really exciting things going on, apparently. Like--guess what--he has a new little baby sister and she already has her first tooth, and he has alll of his. And--guess what--he's about to start first grade and he even got a card from his new teacher and he can spell his whole name, even though his first name has a silent 'e'. And--guess what--he only got to swim a little bit this summer because his dog chewed the bottom of his kiddie pool and now it won't hold water. You get the idea. Pretty adorable. And certainly a reminder to celebrate the little things in life.

2. I went to Blue 7 today, (the local boutique that is so generously giving Project 8256 some floor space and not taking a single dollar) for my fortnightly restocking of prints. I have to admit that I have been feeling a little bogged down lately, but knowing that there is this other aspect to Project 8256 that requires so little effort on my part is this ridiculously huge weight off of my shoulders. Really incredible. You should go shop there. And buy lots and lots of things of which they do make a profit.

Here are some other little things that make me happy:




1. I treated myself to some new shoes. Maybe a little ridiculous, maybe not so practical. But I like them. And don't worry, they will be worn exclusively with jeans. No skirts.

2. My friend Lauren lent me her copy of Flower Drum Song. We have a mutual, nostalgic, love for a movie musical. I haven't seen it in so long. And I know it is so full of cliches and stereotypes on many levels. But oh, man. My sister and I were raised on this stuff. I only vaguely new about New Kids On The Block, but ask me to recite allll the lyrics to "Gypsy" or "My Fair Lady" or, really anything by Rogers & Hammerstein and I could deliver. What weird kids.

3. Packaging for amelia mae. I printed it on graph paper. And graph paper makes me really, really happy.

I've also really been enjoying St. Vincent's "Marry Me" album. It has a lot of layers and textures, which I really like. But not in that over-produced "my seventeen-year-old brother just hooked me up with his casio keyboard and his new "killa beats" cd" kind of way. If that makes sense. I especially like the title track, Your Lips are Red and Landmines. So check it out. If you want.

Okay, so my day is seeming a little less gloomy now. Plenty to be thankful for. Hopefully for you as well.

xo,
amy

a day of rest

Oh my goodness. I would love to be able to say that there is something new and exciting in the Project 8256 shop tonight, but I have to admit that my work week was absolute chaos, and has left me with little left. I got up this morning, went to church, came home and sat down hoping to really get something accomplished, and instead found myself curled up in bed for a little nap. Which I actually really needed, so I'm glad I was able to do so, but I didn't exactly get to check things off of my list. Tomorrow, perhaps.

I seem, lately, to be getting emails and comments from individuals who have found out about Project 8256, and find themselves wanting to do something similar but don't know how to go about it. I think that just the idea that someone would stumble across this and be somehow inspired to action is really, really amazing. Humbling. But I think that it's really important for me to point out that I was, and am still, very much in that same sort of place. I certainly never thought that this is what I would be doing with my time. This project came from a very strong, and deeply personal need. If everything had gone according to plan--to my family's plan--this never would have existed. But that wasn't God's plan. And so here I am now.

There are some things that arise in your life that, under the circumstances, you have no other choice but to step up. Rise to action. Do what you can. Those times, those seasons, may be few and far between. They are unplanned, unscheduled. There are other things that I think are unique to each person. These are the things that you feel tugging at you off and on, the things that seem to have a very deep, profound affect on you. These are causes and needs on which you can, if needed, have a planned, strategized affect. But I think this is a lot harder to do. It is for me, at least. This requires listening, waiting, patience. And maybe the answer is some sort financial support, but maybe it is simply action, behavior.

One of the things that I am the most thankful for in my job is that it has given me the opportunity to work with so many young women. And over the years I have witnessed so many struggling with eating disorders, poor self-image, low self-esteem, addiction and so on. I am certainly not exempt from many of these same struggles, but I am continually heart-broken to see so many vibrant, talented, beautiful girls who are hurting so much. My point is that, in this instance, the answer is not financial support, an event, something scheduled or planned. The answer instead is to listen, to encourage, to uplift.

So I guess my answer to those that want to give but feel as though they don't know just how to go about it, is to look deep within. What is important to you? What changes need to be made? Maybe giving financially to something is the answer. Maybe it is sharing your time. Maybe it is simply making a change in your own behavior. I am certainly no expert at this. But I do know how rewarding it is, how exciting it is, to have something for which you are truly passionate. It makes the hard work, the droopy eyes, the late nights fully worth it.

Be blessed.

xo,
Amy