+ with 30% woolfelt
+ new, nosey, face
+ new Creep Mouse labels
and up in the shop soon, well, June 15th.

real quick

+ congratulations to my big, little brother
+ what am I going to do with the 5 avocado pits from my vibrant guacamole? Why, grow some avocado trees -- an illustrated how-to is in the making...

Here's the first doll I made with the first pattern I've drawn up in the past few days... there are a few things I'm going to change (mostly arm + leg related) but otherwise I'm content!

My brother's high school graduation went smoothly yesterday -- the student speaker in their class of 2008's speech made an analogy between life and Harry Potter ("grab that snitch!"), the principal played keyboard and sang! (which he did not do at my graduation...), and nobody fell.

Tomorrow is the graduation party and then after that it's just getting prepared for the move to Madison and a lot o other things that I've been procrastinating...

Well, I hope the weather is less horrible and muggy tomorrow, for the sake of the root beer floats I'll be sipping on all afternoon at the party, yum.

I can't believe I hadn't shared these yet!

Up before 7 am again, and the rain is pooouring outside -- which actually might be for the best to keep me inside and work on unpacking + sorting my things in all those boxes!

Well, unlike today, yesterday was beautiful.  Here are a few photos of my puppies, Bentley (black) + Cooper (brown) I snapped while they were playing around with each other that I thought turned out really well. 

Well, I'm going to try and get some more sleep to battle this jet lag -- then hopefully get sorting!  But first, a sneak peek of my newest addition to my craft supplies.  Fourteen dollars at Goodwill AND it's completely + fully functional -- an all metal, antique J.C. Penney, commercial strength, sewing machine!  It's sort of a happy birthday present to myself, 2 weeks early...

In addition to faces I've also been testing the waters of stationary -- sort of. 

For the Summer High Noon Craftacular (June 28 in Madison!) swag bags (filled with goodies from vendors + others) are awarded to the first 50 customers at the door -- so for MY contribution my mom + I made these little "jot-it-down" journals.  They're a quarter-page in size and contain yellow legal pad paper.  I'm really happy with the way they turned out and am looking forward to continuing the stationary route a bit, as well as perhaps the addition of prints and such.  We'll see! 

Also I wanted to share this adorable book that I picked up at one of my (oh, three?) trips to Goodwill in the past 2 days I've been here... (I was at the doors yesterday when it opened, ha).  Anyway, it's called The Fire Cat by Esther Averell. 

(this next one is my favorite out of the whole book...)

Même que la France me manque (Even though I miss France)... I'm not ashamed to admit that I am so happy to be home for the sake of my fashion outlet opportunities.  Most all of my things are packed in boxes from moving home in December still, but here are my current favorite pair of kicks -- fresh with a new pair of laces from Montpellier. 

Well, now I'm off to a bleaching / dying party (new shorts!).  So, stay tuned and I'll be posting a special something dedicated to my wonderful dogs tomorrow as well as, what I find to be, an extremely exciting + recent purchase.  Good day!

Here's the view from the last flight I had from Chicago O'Hare to the Eastern Iowa airport.  I'm happy to say that all my travels went extremely smoothly and all my baggage was under the weight limit AND made it all the way home with me which is always wonderful.

Although my mom was disappointed with the petiteness of her Welcome Home poster I was happily surprised and grateful for the effort.  Thanks Mom!

Despite the my little 10 hours of sleep in the past 2 and a half days, I've been rather productive, I think!  Here's a few sneak peeks into my craft productions... 

First I'd like to introduce the new gocco'ed face of Creep Mouse Toys (formerly Poor Lost Bread), for the croissants, baguettes, etc. They're printed on a high quality felt too, 30% wool I believe.  Exciting!  I printed 60 faces yesterday... they're taking over the entire living room so when I move into my efficiency I'm going to have to drape my entire place in faces and avoid the place for a day or two... ha.

Et voila!  My long anticipated personalized labels (sitting atop a new piece of fabric scored yesterday at Crowded Closet--I love that place)!  Saved me soo much time since I'm no longer making me own, oh economics.

Since nobody likes goodbye's I'll say "see you soon" as I pack my last bag tonight in order to have tomorrow, my last day in France, open to do as I please.

As you can see in the photo above that I took only hours ago -- France isn't making it easy to leave with such beautiful weather, but I suppose it's good I leave before it gets TOO hot...

Anyway, a few more photos of my favorite streets in Montpellier, and next time I'll be writing here I'll be back in the states (although still busy with my brother's graduation and my entire family being in town).  BUT very soon I'll be posting photos of current and upcoming products so keep checking back and have a wonderful beginning of the week!

I woke up early this morning to ensure I didn't compromise my final chance to visit the Sunday flea market at Mosson.  Although I seem to have lost some  trims out of my sac during my trip home -- I'm still happy with the results.  (A few more goodies were found but they're to be given out so have to remain secret for now.)

A sweet pair of chef salt + pepper shakers.

An entire BOX of floral - pig pins.  The man at the booth explained that the cochon (or pig) if a sign of bonheur (or happiness).  So with about 300 piggy pins I'm ready to spread some happiness... I'm just nervous about pricking myself before I have my doctor appointment next week at home (I'm overdue for a Tetanus shot.. yikes).

When I arrived in England it was warmer and clearer than it had been earlier that day in Montpellier!  After lunching and visiting Chartwell (which was beautiful!), we arrived at Jim and Angela's.  Where a little Socks (the fox) was waiting for some supper.

We took a hike through some fields inhabited by sheep (this bull was on the other side of the fence), to the seaside at Birling Gap.

Angela also hunted down this blue bell forest that she'd heard of.  Since it'd been so unusually warm and dry a lot of the flowers were crispy -- but there were still so many blue bells!  It's hard to capture in just one photo, but I think you can get the idea.

The weather was beautiful every day until the last (which was only gray in the morning -- and I spent the day in London inside the Tate Modern anyway).  I especially love the beach-side houses where people keep their water + beach supplies...