CPSIA

The CPSC has granted a one year stay of testing and certification requirements!! (Details here.) I don't have to close my shop!!! Man, that's good news for all of us, and just in the nick of time. Hope you're having a good weekend :)

Cape

I mentioned the other day that I made a cape for our friend and photographer, Rachel. And here it is! Check out her posts here and here for more beautiful pictures. Yep, once again, Rachel totally rocks.

Names

This sweet thang just landed in my shop, along with a few other additions.

I thought I would post a bunch of the less traditional names that have gone out on my elephants' tails. It must be awesome to have a name like Luai or Fritzna and actually get something personalized. I think Finley might be my favorite.

Cole
Alana
Luai
Zoey
Holden
Francesco
Elias
Emmett
Logan
Fritzna
Brooklyn
Finley
Shepherd

And now, I promise, I'll quit gabbing on about elephants for a while!

Feature and Shop Update

Wowzers, another feature!!! My shop got picked up this morning by Cool Mom Picks! Check out the post here.

As I clear out my stash in preparation for closing, I'll be posting a large shop update this Saturday, January 24, at 3:00 pm EST. Check back then for loads of (completely non-toxic and lead free) sweetness!

Lush

I had a friend in my undergrad days, Heidi, who used worked an after-school job back home in a bridal salon. How cool is that? She knew everything there was to know about wedding dresses. One afternoon a bunch of us girls sat around and dished about our dream weddings. Heidi had some amazing dress picked out for each of us. I remember she described her wedding as a dramatic and glamorous winter affair, with hundreds of candles and a dress with a monster train. Funny, she's a professional opera singer now. How's that for glamor and drama?

This cape reminds me of her dream wedding. It's this deep, rich red velvet, lined in ivory satin, and it's intense. The thing probably weighs 10 pounds. The pattern is Butterick 4377, and their picture is just about exactly how mine came out. My pictures won't ever do it justice, so I'm not even going to try. But there's hope, cause someone else's will . . .

I made this sucker for my friend and photographer, Rachel. She's planning an art/bridal shoot, something wintery, snowy if there's snow, maybe a little antique-ish, and this cape is a part of that. I'm glad I was able to help her with this one, and I'm excited to see what she gets out of the shoot! Links to come, when she posts the results on her blog. Her pictures will be worth it!

Featured

My little shop is featured today over at Everyday Etsy!! I'm so flattered. Thank you Robyn!

Randy and Helen

About this time last year I made a whole slew of wedding invitations for our friends, Randy and Helen. They just got married on the 3rd in Hawaii, and I realized I never showed you the invitations!



We were working with a "pikake and pearls" theme. Pikake flowers grow in Hawaii, where Randy is from. I've never been to Hawaii or seen pikake flowers, but I hear they smell amazing! So Helen drew the pikakes, and we added tiny stick-on pearls at the flowers' centers. The stripe is this awesome fuzzy flocked paper we found at the Paper Source. All in all there was a lot of gocco-ing, a whole lot of cutting, and a ridiculous amount of pasting involved in putting these together. But I love the way they turned out!!



And now, the most recent news. Randy and Helen play with Waitiki, a group described as "classic exotica and tiki for modern listeners." Go, check it out. They're pretty fantastic. I actually recorded a piece with them a couple of months ago in which I got to portray an octopus. On my horn. Yeah, it was awfully cool. I'll be sure to post a link when the recording comes out. Anyway, they recorded an album to give as favors to their guests. (That must be the coolest wedding favor idea I've ever heard of.) And our collaborative invitation design became the CD sleeve!!



Wow! Yep, I'm pleased as punch. And many congrats to the newly weds!!!!