10 things i couldn't live without this week

1. well i guess that it's official enough to share and get excited! so this little house momma is going back to work! i recently fell in love with a salon and made it my job to get a job there.  after a few meetings and  getting to know some of the staff, i was invited to become a part of the davidk space team.  i am so fired up about all the new educational experiences, opportunities, and having a reason to wear cute clothes and make up! haha
2. the hubs finally took that vacation that he's been needing and deserving! we decided to stay home for our vacation and really focus on some things around the house (as well as spending as much time possible at the beach).  boy oh boy have we been up to some serious DIY-ing.  we built a table, refinished my craft desk as well as adding a storage hutch, we've got some art projects under way, and i do believe there is a refinished shelf in my future for today.  not to mention we have also rearranged a ton of the art in the house.
3. speaking of new art!!!!! the hubs surprised me with a piece that i have been dying over for quite some time! it was supposed to be a christmas present, but neither on of us can keep a secret for that long.
4. along with delivering my new art, brandon mclean (the artist) came over for an evening of digging holes at the beach, reading books to the boy, and a pulled pork feast!
5. we have had some amazing beach trips this week.  the hubs has started a tradition of digging the most insane hole possible each time we go.  this may sound silly but a lot of research and trial and error has gone into perfecting the hole.
6. went to a friends going away party the other night. crappy-e-oke. very sad to see bob leaving, but very excited about his future work opportunities.
7. i missed a lot of ballet last month. so to make up for missed classes i've been taking a contemporary class right after ballet.  i was really worried that i was going to make a fool out of myself, but it turns out that i really love the class! i have a few more make-ups to do so over the next few weeks i am going to decide if a switch is in order.  i'll keep you posted.
8. the hubs finally strong armed me into having the yard sale that i have been planning for months.  the back hallway between the kitchen and the car port had turned into the holding cell for all potential yard sale items.  as the mountain of crap grew the more frequently the hubs told me i was becoming a hoarder.... haha.  so saturday 6:30 am came and it was time for the sale.  we sat and waited and waited and waited for people to come.  sold some random stuff, but none of the things that we assumed would sell did.  so after a few hot and sweaty hours our hopes of success dwindled and we called it a day.  we loaded up the car with all the left overs and dropped them at our local consignment shop.  this is the first time i've done the consignment shop thing, i usually just head straight for goodwill...we will see how it goes, if we make any money at all.  haha.
9. our old friend kelly and her adorable little boy kaleb stopped over for a short visit this weekend.  it is always so good to see her and share stories of motherhood.  kaleb is now 6 months old and about as cute as a button!
10. really looking forward to family date night tonight! we are going to rocco's tacos (which i have been dying to try!) with the serey's....can't wait! margarita's in my future....i think so!

i want that art: uncorked

i was drooling over pictures from a friends recent trip to portugal and came upon a picture of a cork bracelet that she had gotten there. i fell in love. i have always been a huge cork fan. i love its imperfections and its texture.

after looking at those pictures, i put two and two together and was pleasantly reminded that cork doesn't just come from a factory. this is information that had already known, i guess i just had to see the pictures of cork forests to wrap my head around the idea.

well i headed straight to etsy to do some research and i found one of the coolest stores! uncorked is the brainchild of the very talented Cat Ivins. her store features handmade jewelry made from all sustainable and repurposed materials, and each of her unique pieces are packaged so beautifully. these are some of the lovlies i can't stop staring at:

octopus

nature lovers

cat was kind enough to do a little interview for us, enjoy:

t.v. why cork?

c.i. what i love about cork, besides the fact that it is tree bark so its a wood that does not harm the tree when harvested properly (it grows back), is the fact that it is so imperfect. i love the concept of wabi-sabi and finding the perfection in imperfection.

t.v. what about cork inspires you as a jewelry designer?

c.i. handmade will never be perfect and that is what gives handmade it's poetry - it will never be pressed out of plastic and sit on a shelf in a target store, all pretty and perfect and cheap. cork is always flawed, but always beautiful - i haven't found a perfect piece yet - it totally inspires me.

t.v. can you explain the importance of sustainability in your life, not just in your business but in your everyday life.

c.i. sustainability is a big part of my business. i really strive to use industrial materials that serve another purpose and recycled and earth friendly materials. i could get almost all my materials for less money or faster or use new pieces instead of used pieces that need to be refurbished, if i didn't outsource the way i do. lately i have been thinking though about just how unsustainable this type of personal making and selling can be... all of the time required of us to create a niche in such a huge marketplace as the internet is not ver sustainable... in the beginning i just did one thing - i made something. and then i did another thing - i marketed it. and then i did another thing - i shipped it....even when you are not doing the selling/shipping step - all the other steps are taking way too much time and it becomes unsustainable. the truth though is that the unsustainable part is what forces us to prioritize and to change things and to grow - to get things back into balance - to make our lives more sustainable - all good things.

t.v. how do you balance your creativity, productivity, and motherhood?

c.i. i'm not sure i do. i think that amazing things are created with passion and it is very hard to be passionate with one eye on the clock and that guilt-inducing pie chart that says we need to balance out time into equal chunks. i think when we are making - our crafts, art, dinner - we want to be totally in that space doing that thing, and when we are with our kids we need to be 100% with them. i'm not sure we can spend too much time being creative or too much time being moms, but we can absolutely spend too much time on production - production overload leads to burnout and burnout kills productivity and creativity and makes for grumpy parents. some days when i am brazing for example or cleaning car parts (for my polarity shop) i get totally in the zone and it is like a meditation. i love the idea of a balanced life and know the pitfalls of burnout, but it is a process and easy to slip up. i think when our businesses are slow, instead of doing more and more to make things happen, we should take that time to slow ourselves down - enjoy the tide being out, trusting that it will be back in.

thanks so much to cat for spending some time with us and letting me pick her brain a bit. stop by her shops and also check out her great blog on sustainability called olive bites.

surprise...

i received a package in the mail from on of my favorite artists/friends, brandon mclean. you may remember a post i wrote about his art a few months ago. i can't wait to get these framed and hung up! thanks again brandon, you know that these pieces will be well loved. here are a few links if you want to check out more of brandon's work:

elus1v

my hungry year

i want that art.

oh wait...i already own all of it, because all of this is done by the hubs. i have been so proud of him for getting his hands back in the paint lately. he's had a sudden creative spike and i love it. he asked me to take some new/better pictures of some of the permanent pieces in the house. hope you love them just as much as we do!

this is the hubs most recent project.

this ninja turtle lamp was made of all the hubs old collection.

it's perfect in the boys room.

this is our family portrait wall.

i want that art.

(source)

RAWR JSGD! (that means "i love you jsgd" in dinosaur)

JSGD is a creative collaboration that focuses on branding, web design, and overall awesomeness. in their spare time they make these adorable prints which are available in all different colors and dinos (here). i am just in love with this print for the boys room - he just loves steggy.

you should check out jessica and her team. they are nice. and funny.

oh and did i mention daucus carota? this blog is as esthetically addictive as the rest of their work! check out their blog for a 20% off code for their etsy store! gotta love that!