new pattern: nordic snowflakes

inspired by my illustration from yesterday, i created this nordic snowflake pattern. i'm really loving drawing these round patterns, layer after different layer. i think i could just draw layers forever and make the biggest knit-inspired pattern ever....

new illustration: winter is coming

Wow, all of a sudden it's FALL in Atlanta-- We left the living room window open last night and when I woke up this morning I was cold! Which meant I got to put on my snuggly white robe, which is music to my ears. In fact, I'm sitting here in my robe drinking a cup of hot coffee right now, and it's still dark outside. I love it.

So, winter is not that close, but the title of this illustration is still 'Winter is Coming.' I am digging it. I think I'm going to be on a kick of incorporating more hand-drawn patterns into my illustrations, like this one.

I've put this one in my shop, too, because I think it would look nice on a wall somewhere. What do you think?

creative mission statements...?

Good morning and Happy Monday!
I've been doing lots and lots (and lots) of thinking lately-- about my business, my life, how they intersect, how I want to present myself to the world, and on and on-- and I want to make some changes. I want to get focused. I feel like I'm not really sure why I'm doing all the things I'm doing, or what ties it all together (maybe that's a better way of saying it), which has gotten me thinking about mission statements.

I know, I know, just the sound of those words feels all business-y to me, too, but I'm really in love with the idea of a creative mission statement for my business and my life, to help me focus on what it is that I want to give to the world through what I do and who I am.

What if I could encapsulate the ways I want to be in the world, and what I want the purpose/function of my art to be, in a concise and inspiring statement? What would that statement be?

Do you have a mission statement?

Here are some mission statements that I find particularly inspiring:

Chris Guillebeau: "My mission is to help people live unconventional lives, make their own choices, and change the world."

O, the Oprah Magazine: “With this magazine we have an opportunity to make a real mark. To speak and connect to women in a way no other publication ever has. To help women see every experience and challenge as an opportunity to grow and discover their best self. To convince women that the real goal is becoming more of who they really are. To embrace their life.”

Google: "Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful."

Here are some resources that I am finding useful:

- The Five-Step Plan for Creating Personal Mission Statements
- Translating Inner Purpose into an Authentic Mission Statement

Do you all want to join me in writing a personal mission statement? Please do! I'm going to work on mine this week, and then next Monday I'll post what I've come up with so far. Please leave comments! Ask each other questions, give us resources and ideas-- let's help each other! Also, feel free to email me this week, and we can work together, mastermind style.

Let's pinpoint and take charge of what we want to put out into the world!

liz tran

Aren't these mixed media pieces by Liz Tran gorgeous? I discovered them yesterday when I was browsing Khristian Howell's blog, Parapluies & Soleil, and I had to post them here.

I love how rainbow-y they are, but without feeling rainbow-y. Does that make sense? I have a hard time using all those colors together without making it look too rainbow-ish and cheesy, but Liz has it DOWN. Perfected.

Check out her website for more loveliness-- and have a terrific weekend!

things i am loving...

I've been coming across lots of things I love on etsy lately, so I thought I would share some of them this morning.

I would like to own everything above. In a bad way. Like, one or two of them might be making their way into my etsy shopping cart in the next minute or two... uh-oh!

Here's a list of everything that's pictured above:

1. Pink iPod Cozy, by On A Roll
2. Sewn Paper Raindrops by Kate Greiner
3. Chunky Lemon Ring by Muse Glass
4. Breakfast at Tiffany's Sleep Mask by Lovely Art
5. Ireland High Neck Warmer by While They Play
6. Custom Antique Victorian Glass Button Ring by elseetee2
7. Recycled Lunch Bag by The Craft Pantry
8. Little Blue Horse print by Blanca Helga

* Have a marvelous day! *

Maria Raymondsdotter

These illustrations by Maria Raymondsdotter are killing me this morning! Those ice skaters above.... oh my god, it's just too great.

I found her over on the Central Illustration Agency website, and now I'm having to resist looking through each and every image on the website. I need to get to work this morning!

You can see more of Maria's work over at CIA and also on her website.

new painting....

...almost done!

(sorry for the blur- i was too lazy to take a real photo with my camera.)

floods in atlanta

As some of you may know, there is massive flooding happening in and around the Atlanta area right now-- I swear, I've never seen so much rain in my life. Luckily there is no flooding in our immediate area, but yesterday a light fixture in our living room sprung a leak, and our ceiling started leaking! Also, we've had water seeping in through the floor, since the ground is so super-saturated. So, we have some soggy floors on our hands. No real damage, though, thank goodness, which is more than I can say for a lot of people around here. WOW.

They say this flooding is of historic proportions, and you can see in these photos from the CNN website that it's quite crazy around here right now. There are some videos on their website, too, showing the extent of the flooding in some neighborhoods. And they say there's more rain on the way... eek.

Here's a little video of our sweet kitty, Anika, begging to go outside in the pouring rain. Crazy cat! She loves water. She escaped into the bushes outside in the rain a couple days ago and got soaking wet. She didn't seem to mind one bit.

reminder: calendar giveaway!

Hey kids! (Can I call you kids? I just think it's cute.) I wanted to write a quick reminder about my calendar contest that ends on September 30th-- anyone who buys a calendar from my etsy shop during the month of September is automatically entered into a contest to win one of 2 free calendars that I'll be giving away. Cool, yes? That way you can keep one and give one away- who doesn't love a pretty calendar?


You can find all THREE varieties of the calendars in my etsy shop-- each month features an original pattern designed by yours truly. (See above.)

So, you have 9 days left to enter-- after that, you can still buy a calendar, of course, the free ones will just be all gone. :)

danielle laporte

Hola, my friends! Happy Monday morning to you. I'm socked into my house right now-- it's been raining raining raining for days now here in Atlanta, with no signs of stopping, and now we have a flood warning in our town! Thank goodness we do not live on the floodplain, but it makes for some excitement nonetheless.

Despite the rain this weekend, I had a busy and fulfilling weekend, and I want to introduce you to Danielle Laporte if you don't already know who she is. I had the privilege of attending Danielle's group Fire Starter Session on Saturday morning (as well as a cocktail talk with Danielle on Friday evening). Danielle's website is called White Hot Truth, and she writes/speaks about living an authentic life. She works with entrepreneurs to fire up businesses and dig deep into how you want your life and work and to exist in the world.

She says: Our jam sessions are one-off think-tanking conversations for surfacing opportunities and zooming in on strategies. I am not a business or career transition coach. I’m an opinionated, highly intuitive, pragmatic maven of inspiration and information. Fire Starter sessions are sacred brainstorms packed with practicality.

So, as you can imagine, it was quite the inspiring and thought-provoking Saturday morning! And if that wasn't enough, all that was followed by a party at my friend Michelle's house, where I unexpectedly connected with someone I'd never met before and made a new friend who I'm really excited to spend some time with. More on that later, but I think our friendship will involve music. MAKING music. In a previous life (aka: college), I was a singer/songwriter. This is a part of my life that I left behind long ago, when I decided to give being a full-time artist a go, and I've longed to re-incorporate it into my life for years now. It scares me a little to pick up my poor, neglected guitar again (I'm absolutely and completely out of practice), but thrilling at the same time.

Anyway, more on that as it develops. Perhaps this blog has a musical future of some sort.

So, back to Danielle. CHECK HER OUT. Read her posts. Follow her on twitter. Book a Fire Starter Session. Read her book, Style Statement. You will love her.

OK, I hear sirens outside. I'm off to check the weather websites to see if the flood is coming!!

knit bangles (+ tutorials!)

Last year sometime I saw these knit bangles by Scrumptious in Australia and was head over heels. Did I buy any? No. Why not? I have no idea. But now their etsy shop seems to be gone, and their bigcartel shop doesn't have the gorgeous variety of bracelets I saw last year.

So what is a girl to do?

Learn to make my own knitted bangles! One thing that is on my list for fall is to start knitting again, and since the only thing I can knit successfully is a scarf, I figure this project might be just my speed, because it's essentially a knitted rectangle wrapped and sewed around a plastic bangle. Easy!

So, a simple google search resulted in some tutorials for knitted bangles, and I couldn't be happier!

If you are interested in trying this yourself, here are a few useful links:

-Knitted Bangle Tutorial from Cloud Hopping (first image)
-A great tutorial from See Mi Knit (second image)

- Plastic Bangle Refashion from Jo So & Sew (third image)

Now I just need to get myself some bangles. I'll keep you posted on my progress!

Illustration: André Gribble

Oh my goodness, I LOVE these illustrations by André Gribble! They're funny and crazy and the colors are fantastic. I'm so into that mustard color right now-- I want to knit a scarf that color. (I need to remember how to knit first... that's on my list of things to do this fall!)

André's blog and tumbler page have many more amazing illustrations to check out-- need some Thursday inspiration? Head on over.

Calendar love

My calendar was featured on Print & Pattern on Monday!!

Check it out. It's one of my favorite blogs.

I'm back!

Good morning! I tricked you last week and said I'd be back to the blog on Tuesday, didn't I? Well, I had every intention of blogging yesterday, but I was experiencing complete exhaustion from the crazy weekend that was Renegade. Thus, I could only complete the bare minimum of tasks yesterday. I was tired!

And somehow, I managed to not even take one photo of my booth or the fair in general. That's how busy it was. Solid people for 2 days straight-- I tell you, that show is amazing!! So, I have nothing to show for my time in Chicago. Ha ha, sometimes I'm such a dummy. I can show you this, though:

It's a print that I bought from The Small Object, and I adore it. I'm going to put it up near my desk. Their booth was one of my favorites that I saw. (Sorry for the terrible photo. It's all I can do this morning to motivate myself.)

In other news, my truly incredible wedding photographer posted a bunch of amazing shots from Ryan's and my wedding on her blog a couple of days ago. Here is a sampling:






I love them so much!!
You can check out the rest of the photographs on her blog here and here, and if you need a photographer for any reason, you should probably hire Ashley. She is incredible.

Renegade Craft Fair THIS WEEKEND!

Good morning! As you are reading this, I'm on my way to Chicago for the Renegade Craft Fair, and I'M SO EXCITED!

My friend Christy, her hilarious husband, and I left at 5:30 this morning to drive from Atlanta to Chicago. We'll be meeting my friend Kurt (who is also my boothmate) there, and then having a rockin' weekend at the Fair.

Are you in Chicago? Close by Chicago? COME SEE ME! I'd love to meet you. Plus, I'm going to have tons of goodies for you to oogle. :)

If I don't see you in Chicago, I'll meet you back here on Tuesday, with stories to tell and pictures to share. Deal?

Have a great weekend, and cross your fingers for me that the rain doesn't drown us again like it did last year!

yana kapeli accessories

Israel-based designer Yana Kapeli makes the most gorgeous clothes (which I wrote about once before), so I was very excited when she sent me some images from her new accessories collection. Aren't these amazing? She calls them fabric necklaces-- I love it.

They are incredibly affordable, too, and I have my eye on that top one. Make sure you visit her shop to see the rest of the collection. I doubt you'll be able to leave it without purchasing something!

stephanie nance

Ummm, where have I BEEN? I know I've seen Stephanie Nance's work before, but I never really noticed it until this morning. Now I can't stop oogling over it. Seriously! I think it's amazing.

Her etsy shop is full of steals (and I'm contemplating these notecards becoming mine), and her website is just lovely.

How am I going to get any work done with beautiful things like this to look at this morning? Goodness.

urban spark

i received an email from uk-based accessories company urban spark recently, pointing me to their website/shop, and it's totally cute! don't you love the illustrated front page?

i also think that starfish bracelet below is pretty sweet. (plus, i want that girl's hair. badly. i wish my hair looked that cool.)

check out their website, and you can also follow them on twitter and find them on facebook!

new printables in my etsy shop!

If you are like me, then you like sending out cute and colorful birthday and thank you cards to your friends and family. Which is why I designed these two cards over the long weekend-- 2 cute cards for 2 important reasons!

The best part is that I've listed them in my digital etsy shop (called Shadow Juniper) as printable files-- so if you want to use these, all you have to do is buy them from my shop, then I'll email you the files, and you can print them to your heart's content. Fun, right?

I'm totally crazy about them, and now I want to make a whole bunch of matching cards for all occasions... Congratulations, Happy Anniversary, Get Well Soon... any other suggestions?

Head over to the shop if you want. They're waiting for you. ;)