A few weeks back I finally bought my first issue of Uppercase Magazine. I’ve been enjoying the magazine through other readers online for a while. I really love the style and materials used to put together this publication, but every time I saw a copy of the cover online I thought it looked like a paper sample book. The book is printed and produced entirely in really nice quality, heavy weight, flat, non glossy, papers. Below are pictures of what some paper sample books look like, not all are spiral bound.

I work for a printing company and paper vendors always give out paper sample books and they look JUST LIKE Uppercase Magazine’s cover, only smaller. Funny thing about that is that I was surprised to see the size of the magazine when I first bought it. I pictured it to be smaller like the paper sample books.  Also, the inside of Uppercase is obviously a real magazine while the inside of a paper sample book has staggered papers of all different colors and weights, etc. I brought the magazine to work and everyone agreed, it looks just like a paper sample book. One of our sales reps asked where it was published and I saw it was in Canada. Well, apparently a lot of the paper companies are also in Canada.

The magazine has a tagline “For the Creative and Curious” and is filled with great interviews and wonderful artwork. Each issue has a theme and call to artists to submit work based on that theme. I would really love to submit some work some time.  When I bought it I only read a few pages a day because I really wanted to savor it. The magazine only comes out quarterly, I think and costs $18, so it’s a bit pricey.

This poster idea has been in my brain for years and I am sooo glad to have finally executed it and now offer it in my etsy shop.

The idea began back in 2009 when I started my ongoing series of polaroid pogo prints, which you can read about here.

Do you know how hard it is to find good moss, let alone a large enough area that is consistent? Well, it took me since 2009 to find it. I’m glad that I kept hunting though. I think this poster would be a great piece for a nature themed child’s bedroom, or even the classroom. That being said, I also think it would go great in a living room, as that is where mine has been, not that I’m prejudiced or anything.

This poster is 16″x20″ which is a standard poster size, so frames this size are readily available. I bought the wooden frame in the photo above for only $12. The poster itself is professionally printed on matte photo paper. Please check out the listing on Etsy for more information.

I hope you like it. I’ve had poster design on the brain for a couple of years now and this is my very first, with hopefully more to come.

Fast forward to recent times. Right before Easter, Matt had a dream where he was eating a lot of vegetables. Normally he’s a MEAT-EATER, so when he woke up it got him thinking and he started doing some research about vegetarianism. He set himself a goal to see if he could go meat free for one month. (Insert My Big Fat Greek Wedding joke here). I am not a vegetarian, but this really has been wonderful. Suddenly he is being very open minded and trying (and enjoying) all sorts of things I couldn’t get him to try before (hummus, soy burgers, etc.) and together we are exploring all sorts of new meat alternatives (seitan, TVP, etc.). It’s been well over a month now and he’s still going strong. With all the new variety brought into his diet he hasn’t even missed real meat.

We’ve been eating out at this local pita place where we first discovered the glory of seitan (seriously, the good quality stuff, how is that not meat?). Then my friend Gail posted on facebook that she has become obsessed with this same pita place’s falafel. My friend Gail went to culinary school, has worked as a pastry chef, and has her own soup company. Her recommendation was all I needed.

We did a little research and decided to order a falafel pita with all sorts of veggies and tzatziki as well as tahini and voila, it was awesome! It was different than I expected, but in a good way. I didn’t really expect it to be like a meat substitute, but it really was. Instead of being bready, it was more like grains and legumes, but with the right seasoning and texture, it tasted much like veggie burgers do.

Here are some links for decorating your keyboard 1, 2, 3

I liked the image that I first linked to at the top of the post with fewer taped keys and rough shapes, rather than trying to perfect each key. I have been wanting to get my own washi tapes for a while. For my birthday my sister got me a few that look like old newspaper and I bought a couple on etsy, BUT Heidi Kenney just posted that Target has a small line of tapes, 4 for $5. This is a huge savings, since you could probably spend that much on just one small roll online. I just more than quadrupled my collection. I’ve been wondering when American markets would catch onto this mostly Japanese trend and start offering their own lines.

Also, check out pinterest for a plethora of boards devoted to all the cute things you can do with these paper tapes.

edit: Amanda Kavanagh shared with me this link of another inexpensive source for decorated paper tapes.

Sunday is for gardening.

More on Sunbonnet Sue’s history here.

I found a set of Sunbonnet Sue dish towels at my parents house that belonged to my grandma. Each towel is the day of the week with a different chore and I thought I’d post one each day.

Saturday is for cooking and baking.

More on Sunbonnet Sue’s history here.

I found a set of Sunbonnet Sue dish towels at my parents house that belonged to my grandma. Each towel is the day of the week with a different chore and I thought I’d post one each day.

Fridays are for cleaning. Yeah right. This week has been a doozy and the last thing I plan on doing is any cleaning.

More on Sunbonnet Sue’s history here.

I found a set of Sunbonnet Sue dish towels at my parents house that belonged to my grandma. Each towel is the day of the week with a different chore and I thought I’d post one each day.

Thursday is market day, and that’s what I’m gonna stick with on this one.

More on Sunbonnet Sue’s history here.

I found a set of Sunbonnet Sue dish towels at my parents house that belonged to my grandma. Each towel is the day of the week with a different chore and I thought I’d post one each day.