Did you hear?!?

Let's just come out and admit it, blogging is addictive and a great way to procrastinate. There, I said it.  So I'm sure you can understand why I have been oh-so-diligent in avoiding perusing my fave blogs for the past couple months. When you are planning a cross-country move, you don't want to be distracted or procrastinate.

Well, I finally decided that today is the day that I return to the land of blogs and enjoy catching up on everything I've missed. Which is A LOT. And how I ironic and serendipitous is it that the first blog post I come across happens to be from Design Sponge and their new upcoming book! Book?!! A Design Book?!? Well, my little heart just skipped a beat!

 

I love this blog and more amazing, I just learned more about it than I have in the past two years of following it from the simple, cute promo video.  I have a feeling folks that Grace Booney just might be our 21st century Martha Stewart.

Prints, prints, and more prints!

I am busy prepping and researching for what I hope to be a new found love.

Printing by Hand by Lena Corwin. Arrived this week!

The Printed Pattern by mother-daughter duo - Miss Print. Just released a couple of weeks ago.
Must order this today!

Lotta Prints: How to Print with Anything. I get this book for free thanks to my boyfriend. Yeah!

I can't think of a better springtime project to work on this weekend! To say the least, I have sooo many ideas brewing in my head about what to print. I have a tendency to want to go really big when learning a new project which isn't always the best idea. So I have to remind myself to start small. I'm thinking journals and cards.
Wish me luck!

My Reading Wish List

Today my co-worker gave me the heads up about a new embroidery book that will be coming out this August by the woman behind the amazing blog, Posies Get Cozy. This lady has such a charmed life! I dream of the day where I can stitch and create all day, while working on my newest publication, and in a lovely Portland home, none the less!

Alicia Paulson's new book titled Embroidery Companion: Classic Designs for a Modern Home sounds like it will have a wonderful variety of new designs. I get the impression that it will have a nice combination of updated classic embroidery designs that one would find in folk art inspired needlework. I'm imagining lots of floral designs that you could stitch onto just about anything! Want to know more? Read about the upcoming book HERE. You can also pre-order it from the same page.

Another book you may want to check out is Redwork from the Workbasket. I found this book while browsing the shelves at Powell's bookstore in Portland. It really is quite phenomenal. The price was a little steep so I decided to wait on purchasing it, but I can't wait to add it to my collection.

The book includes a few wonderful embroidery projects for you to try as well as a cd with JPeg images of some of the featured designs. All the designs come from a craft magazine started in 1935, called Workbasket. You can browse a few pages of the book on Amazon for free. My favorite design is the horse head which you can view on Page 7 with Amazon's "Look Inside!" feature.

Now if only I had some free time to actually stitch up some of these designs for myself.
Sigh . . . . .

Etsy Items: Bookworm

I love crafting, and I love my little business but it has one major negative side effect: it consumes all my free reading time! I love curling up and reading a good book. I also love libraries. I can spend hours in them just wondering around, browsing the shelves. Since I sit at a computer all day, my library perusing is limited, so what do I do? Browse Etsy. It's not the same but you can still find lots of bookish items on there.

Click on image for a larger view

From left to right:

1) Jane Austen necklace from Cosmic Girl, 2) Anne of Green Gables Book Handbag by Spoonful of Chocolate Hope, 3) Book Love Print by Marmee Craft,, 4) Librarian Bear Journal byPickle Head, 5) Trip to the Library Necklace by Kylie Perry, 6) Mini Green Book Earrings byAntico Valore, 7) Library Card Journal by Lollipoop Designs, 8) Librarian Bookended Print by Miss Bridgette, 9) Bookplate Stickers by Sunshine and Ravioli

Have you had a chance to read any good books lately?

If so, what are you reading?