I'm trying something new today.


I've been insanely jealous of Design Seeds and how she makes her breathtaking photos with matching palettes of color. I've searched the internet high and low and can find a few people who do something similar (but never as nice), but I was really having trouble finding out how to make one of these things.


I finally found one gal who says she uses Aviary to upload a photo and make her palette. So, I went to Aviary, uploaded my photo into the Toucan Color Editor, made my lovely palette and it was really fun and easy. But then I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to get my photo and my palette together in such a nice way as they do. I was hoping it would just magically happen, that there would be a button at the bottom of my palette that said "put these two lovely things together and it will look great" but there wasn't.


So, I figured that it has something to do with my nemesis, Photoshop. I actually have never used Photoshop (haven't wanted to fork over all that money for it) so I've been trying to teach myself to use Gimp, which is like photoshop, only free. I gotta tell you, it's a struggle. I use it so infrequently that each time I try it, I have to relearn everything and it takes me forever.


As it happens, Aviary also has a free Photoshop thing called Pheonix, and my first impression is that it's a little easier than Gimp. That doesn't mean that it didn't take me, oh, about 4 hours to come up with that picture you see at the top. It's nowhere near as pretty as Jessica's pictures, but that's ok. It's the best I can do for now. I definitely owe a special thanks to my friend Kelly for her smarts! Once I finally got the hang of it I couldn't stop and I've been changing all of the main photos in my Etsy shop. Take a look and give me some feedback - Do you like them or not?

New Day, New Bag

I've been toying with the idea of a bag with ruffles for some time. I want something flirty and feminine, without all the straight lines most of my bags have. This is my first attempt and I'm really happy with it. I just took the basic shape of the Meredith bag, added the ruffles and took out the stiff lining that gives the original bag it's structure. The result is a slouchy, casual bag with a girly attitude. I just might add ruffles to every bag I have!!

I'm in the mood for School! And Apples!

Evan should bring this apple to his teacher on the first day of school, but since he has a 2 out of 3 chance of having a male teacher this year, the odds are pretty good that we're not going to be gifting this bag when September rolls around. I've been holding on to this fabric for at least a year, looking for the perfect mates, since it didn't come with any coordinating prints that I liked. I finally ordered the green leaf print last month and the red/black dot pattern jumped off the wall into my hands at my favorite local quilt store. I'm so happy with the results!

A Mary Bag for Mary

Monday was my dear friend Mary's Birthday.

Mary and I met almost 19 years ago at my future husband's Grad School graduation. She was an alumni from the same school and was there for a mutual friend who was also graduating. We shared a few hours in a crowded college bar and I remember that I liked her immediately but never considered that I would ever see her again after that day.

Three months later, Steve and I had comfortably relocated to Madison and were busy getting the hang of our exciting new city. In a crazy moment of some type of divine intervention, Mary and I bumped into each other at the local mall and the rest, as they say, is history.

And what a history it's been. We are lucky to have the kind of friendship you read about in a really good book - two women who have shared hours of side-splitting laughter and buckets full of tears, only getting better with age and the wisdom we pass from one to the other.

Mary has become much more a sister to me than a friend. I am so thankful and so happy to be on this journey with her, where our story will most definitely have a happy ending.

Happy Birthday, my friend!