okay, so i may be a little pencil-crazy ;)

i can't help it - every time i sift through my hundreds of sheets of washi paper, i find another design (or two... or three...) that absolutely need to be made into a pencil set!

when you're passionate about something, you can't help but immerse yourself in it.  fortunately, my passion is being rewarded by all you lovely customers - i have sold over 700 pencils through my etsy shop and my wholesale and consignment vendors since i introduced them 3 months ago.  i've made over 1000 total pencils (that's a lot of pencils!) at this point, and i'm still loving it!

this pencil set is my favourite of all:

'beauty at sunset'

i made this one to replace the limited-edition 'autumn arrival' set that i am sold out of (i'm trying to get that paper back in stock, but in the meantime, feast your eyes and fingers on this!):

'autumn afternoon'

and this one is just plain fun for artsy people and fall-lovers alike:

'within the branches'

thank you, thank you, thank you, fabulous customers, for allowing me to earn a living doing what i love!

♥,

melissa

nine inch nails!

okay, so i've been really busy with finishing up this semester of college to tell you this, but i am soooo excited!

i got an email the other day from the nine inch nails website (i'm one of those suckers that paid $65 for an annual membership to 'the spiral', the fan-club type thing), saying that there will be a u.s. tour starting this summer! the last time mr. trent reznor did a u.s. tour was 2003-2004 for the 'with_teeth' release. i went to the concert in austin during his first round, but wasn't able to go when he came back around about a year later. so i went to my first nine inch nails concert in may of 2003, and was completely blown away. for those of you who don't know (and you probably wouldn't know it from looking at me), i am one of the biggest nin fans out there, so you can imagine my excitement at the prospect of going to another nine inch nails concert!

presale tickets went on sale tuesday at 5pm, just before i had to get ready to go take my literature final, but i managed to grab 2 tickets! this is quite an accomplishment: tickets sold out soon after that (my order went through at 5:02, haha). the concert is august 16 in houston, which is about 4 hours away from me, but it's on a saturday, so brandon and i are going to make a fun trip out of it. oh my god, i'm so hyped!

well anyway, in celebration, you know that print i have for sale in my shop of trent reznor? in celebration of my ticket-grabbing skillz, i am selling this print for just $1! i can hook you up if you want more than 1, no problem.

in other news: ugh, i am so glad this semester is over! i'm pretty sure i got all a's. so far, only my literature grade has been posted, and i got an a- in that, so that's good.

this summer is going to be so awesome! here's what's planned:

• june 7 - eddie izzard at the paramount theatre in austin


• trips to schlitterbahn (huge waterpark about an hour from where i am), six flags fiesta texas, and a trip to natural bridge caverns


• wedding stuff - buy my dress, book the catering, pick out a cake, get ahold of a ton of sparkling cider, have our picture taken as gifts for the guests, and have my bachelorette party!


• august 9 - brandon's birthday


• august 16 - NINE INCH NAILS!

i'm sure i forgot some stuff, but yeah, this summer is going to rock. then of course there's the wedding on october 9, and we got tickets to see jim gaffigan on december 6, as well :). it's a great year!

as far as my shop goes, i've got a lot of really cute ideas for new items planned, so be on the lookout for that! of course, you'll hear it first here, on the blog.

well, gotta run! now that school's taken care of, i have to make 40 pairs of earrings to fill my first wholesale order!

♥,
melissa

contest: name my squidlet!

as i mentioned in an earlier blog, this is my new squidlet. he's basically the cutest thing ever, as you can see. well, i have a problem that i hope you can help me with: i need a name for him! sure, i could name my own squidlet, but then i wouldn't have a mildly-amusing premise for a contest, would i? ;p

here's the deal:

• you name my squidlet. i don't care what kind of name you come up with, just whatever you think he should be called! enter your name ideas as comments to this blog entry. enter as many times as you like. sunday, april 20, i will look at my comments and decide, from your entries, which name i like best for my little squidlet. if i pick the name you suggest, you win a $15 gift certificate towards anything in my shop (you can apply it towards shipping, too)!
• but that's not all! depending on how many people participate, i will give out a FREE pendant necklace (coin or tile, your choice) to the person who gives my second favourite name suggestion! you see, i am planning on adding to my squidlet collection (hoping for a pink one and an orange one), so i can save your name ideas for later :).
• that's basically it. this isn't a super-fancy, rulesy contest. it's just for fun! and you could win some pretty cool stuff, so give it a try!

good luck to everyone! i think you can see my personality pretty well through these blog entries, so come up with something you think i'd like to name my squidlet!

♥,
melissa

strawberries, meatloaf, and a shopping spree

i have a lot of things to share with you today, the internet!:

• my honey-pie brandon did a super-sweet thing for me a few days ago. while i was in my history class all day, he went to the store and bought me flowers, strawberries, whipped cream, and a cute card for a nice romantic surprise! this is a rare indulgence, as brandon doesn't usually do this sort of thing. the flowers are alstros, one of my favourite kinds of flower because they're so delicate, colourful, and (best of all) inexpensive! last night, i chopped up some of the strawberries and served up this tasty treat for us:

i stuck a raspberry-flavoured chocolate ball in the middle of his whipped cream, and an orange-flavoured one in mine. can you tell i like to create cute food presentations? haha. anyway, that was really sweet of him to do.

• my friend wren posted this piechart in her blog yesterday, and i almost died laughing:
  

meatloaf: he'll do anything for love, but he won't do "that". i wonder what "that" is? hmm.

• following my etsy friend tizzalicious' lead, i went on a crazy shopping spree! i mainly bought things for my best friend, sarah, who is my maid-of-honour. i came up with a really cool idea for a "thank you" gift for her, so i went on the prowl around some awesome etsy shops (and some non-etsy shops, too) to gather the goods. unfortunately, i can't share what i bought just yet, because she might read this blog and then the surprise would be ruined, but once i give it to her (in october), i'll share a picture of the completed gift with you!
  

of course, i didn't just buy things for sarah... i got some goodies for myself, too :D. here's what i got:

^this is from 'curious by design'. they have all different kinds of collages, and they're all really cool. i also liked the gypsy ones a lot. i'm not sure what i'm going to do with this yet, but i'm excited to find out!


^ these cutecutecute stickers are from my etsy friend fromjapanwithlove. i like to check her shop every few days to see what new kawaii things she listed :).

and finally,



^ i bought this as my wedding day purse. goldish-yellow isn't one of my wedding colours, but this tote just screamed "wedding!" at me, so i got it :). i love the little dragonflies that are on it; perfect for a japanese-esque bride!

so yes, i was naughty. but what else could i do when there are so many great sellers on etsy?! :D

<3, melissa

rex day

the cute puppy hanging out with brandon in this photo is rex, our neighbour's dog. he is the sweetest dog ever, and we love when he comes to visit. once a week or so, we see him run up to our patio, so we go outside and play with him for a bit before walking him back home. yesterday we were fortunate enough to get 2 visits from little rex :p. i guess his owners don't care that he wanders over to our house, because they don't ever seem upset that he ran off in the first place when we return him to his home.



isn't he a gorgeous dog? we love you, rex!

<3,
melissa