SHIM + SONS

studio craft

I am SO excited about this upcoming trunk show! If you are in the Portland area, please stop by and say "hello". More information here.

let's rewind a bit, shall we?

Did you miss this little guy? Gosh, has it really been 3 weeks since my last post? What have I been up to? Here's a little run-down:

• Spent time with my sister, brother-in-law and adorable 7-month old nephew.
• Finished up some freelance projects.
• Had a good ol' time at this shindig. [Hannah and her family are SO cool! They need to move to Portland--I mean, really, could Arlo + Baby J be any cuter together?]
• Met up with Toni + her beautiful family at the Rose Gardens. [I wish Toni lived closer by. I know I could learn a lot from her--she's a mother of five and just about the most graceful + peaceful person I've ever met.]
• Spent approximately 45 hours in a rented minivan driving through Oregon and Northern California.
• Visited with old friends.
• Ate some really good food.
• Went fabric shopping.
• Did some more shopping.
• Had dinner with the very talented + cool Lisa. [Well, what can I say about Lisa? She is so genuine + kind + smart + [insert every nice adjective you can think of]. Everyone needs a friend like Lisa--you just can't help but feel inspired when you are around her.]
• More photographs from our road trip here.
• Returned to beautiful Portland [home sweet home].
• Caring for two sick little boys [running noses, coughing, vomiting, you name it!]

I wish I could say I feel well rested from my "break", but I don't. Projects are piling up and my studio is begging to be organized. Hopefully once the boys are healthy again I'll be able to get organized and spend some quality time with my sewing machine, creating things for my little online shop and upcoming trunk show. While we were in California I had several "sitting-in-the-car-waiting-for-the-boys-to-wake-up-from-their-nap" moments, so I whipped out my trusty notebook and started sketching away--new designs for bulletin boards, desktop organizers, stationery and my good ol' patchwork wallpockets. Speaking of my patchwork wallpockets, over the last few weeks they have been featured on simplehuman's blog, ReadyMade blog and Whip Up. I'm very excited to have an opportunity to sell them [as well as some of my other handmade goods] at a really cool store in Los Angeles [more details later!].

Oh, and do you remember several months ago I held that little "housewarming contest"? Well, Hannah finally received her prize, along with a belated birthday gift. Here is her custom wallpocket and personalized stationery.

She brought me some really cute fabric + books for the boys [they read them over and over again while we were driving in the car]. [Thank you, Hannah!]

I'll wrap up this way-too-long post with a little link-y montage of some sweet packages I've received or sent off recently.

• Jen hosted a photo swap. I received these lovely photographs + goodies from Joleen. I sent these photographs + goodies to Mary Catherine. What a fun swap!
• A little something for my lovely friend Molly.
• Sweet buttons from Mo.
• Handmade cards from Toni.
• Gift + fabric from Lisa.

Have a wonderful week!

looking back + looking forward

<---

spending time with my sister + her family :: celebrating Appah's birthday :: eating ice cream at the beach :: watching Baby J eat his favorite fruit :: listening to rocks being thrown into the river over and over and over again :: relaxing on Labor Day

--->

meeting project deadlines :: road trip to CA :: wholesale opportunities :: opening little online shop this fall :: meeting this crafty mama in a few days :: organizing trunk show :: dinner with this talented artist in SF :: new "to do" lists :: cleaning my studio :: enjoying time with my little ones

I'll be taking a bit of a blogging break to work on the list above. Hopefully I will return in 2-3 weeks with many things to share. You'll still be able to find me over here.