Taking Care of Business & Away for a Bit

Ok, first of all, I have to bid you all farewell for a few days. I am going to Hawaii for a friend's wedding and a needed vacation. I am also hoping to get lots of good inspiration and photographs which will hopefully lead to several new items in my etsy shop (like my tropical tree design above :).

On another note, my new cards arrived this week (pictured above)! Something a little different that the typical business card format. Will focus on some offline promoting when I return...

Aloha and thanks for reading!

Sarah

More New Stuff

The orange and brown design from my Hand Sketched Foliage Series now in my shop!

Plus a set of 3 hand illustrated miniature plant pots with some new sketches!

I hope you stop by and check them out! I'd love to hear what you think!

Tutorial: Falling Leaves Paper Lamp

Ok, it's really hot again in San Diego, but let's pretend fall is in the air! Learn how to make this falling leaf lamp by Patricia Zapata over at Craftzine.

Free Robot Downloads

Kira over at Tangarang is offering these great Robot themed downloads. They were designed for back to school, but I think they work for any occasion. Domo Arigato Kira.

More New Stuff

It's been a productive week and I keep creating like I'm actually selling items :) More goodies with my Hand Sketched Foliage Series designs in my shop. I hope you stop by and take a look!

A plate with my favorite, the Orange & Brown design, coming soon. Got feedback on these new items? Post a comment here.

One more thing! You might have noticed my etsy favorites in the left column of this blog have changed. I selected some small or tiny treasures, with the help of etsy forums, as my latest favs because they are all perfectly sized to fit in my new flour sack bags. Check out these little treats handmade by talented etsy sellers!

Craft Swap

I was so excited when my new piece of art arrived in the mail this week. Ren Adams of Plastic Pumpkin Designs offered to swap one of her Chinese Brush Painting Prints for my Mini Glass Tile Push Pins. This was the first craft swap I've held on my blog as kind of a social experiment slash way to learn about other artists and crafters, and I was quite happy with the results. Ren offered to let me choose from the wide selection of Prints on her etsy page. There were so many great ones, but I just could not resist these jellyfish!:

Some of my other considerations:

Ren offers both original and prints in her shop at reasonable prices and is currently holding a personal challenge for herself with her "30 paintings in 30 days" experiment. Read all about it on her blog. Good Luck and Thank You Ren!

p.s. I'm cooking up another swap and would love to hear from you if you are interested.

Latest Creations & I've decided I want a Sewing Machine

I love Flour Sack material. So I was bummed that when I set out Sunday morning to make some napkins out of flour sack towels with my freshly carved lifegaurd tower block, the fabric paint just did not want to cooperate. But hey, sometimes you get an idea that you never would have thought of when things don't go as planned. I ended up with these flour sack bags and some new illustrations:

3 bags, all created without a sewing machine. Oh the possibilities if I had one!

So, there you have it, my weekend creations inspired by plants I photographed during my last trip to Sequioia Kings Canyon or while hiking in San Diego.

See them in my shop at www.simplyprettyprints.com

Fabrics, Hold the Cheese

I think a small part of the reason I haven't learned how to sew is due to the overwhelming amount of cheesyness that used to hit me when I walked into most fabric stores. Okay, maybe I'm being harsh here, but until recently, I just don't think there was a large a selection of great patterns to choose from (or at least that met my taste). Fortunately with the internet and resources like Etsy (and even improvements at fabric stores), there is now a plethora of great fabrics at our fingertips. The website MoreCloth makes it super easy to sort fabrics available on Etsy by color groups. Just click on the color bar of your choice and watch it generate fabrics to match. Pretty cool.

My Favorite Color

Peacock Blue, Teal, whatever you call it, I am diggin' it these days and happy to see it in the catalogs!

(photos from CrateandBarrel.com)

Gerrit Greve Painting

I saw this painting at a local boutique here in San Diego probably well over a year ago and it really struck me. I liked it so much, I wrote a note to myself in my phone. Well it popped in my head yesterday when I was reminded it was the closing day of the horse races (a big San Diego event, held every summer at the world famous Del Mar Racetrack). Gerrit Greve did an amazing job of capturing movement in this painting title "Speed". Photo from Amazon.com

In the Studio: Simply Pretty Prints

So I'm trying to make my own block prints for the first time. I bought some materials a few weeks ago and this is what I have so far.

If anyone has any ideas as to what to print this lifegaurd tower on, let me know. You might just see it in my shop one day!

p.s: new Ginkgo Thank You Cards now available in my shop and free shipping this weekend only on all paper goods/stationary items!

Delicious Soaps

Feeling thankful for my fist etsy sale, I am featuring a shop in need of their first! Using the Pounce feature, I stumbled upon seller Angelic who makes soap that looks good enough to eat.

Check out all of Angelic's treats at Angelic.etsy.com !

More Wedding Color Inspiration

For those of you not yet convinced that blue and yellow go well together, check out the collage I made below. I must be hungry, because I did it all with wedding cakes. mmmmmmm.

(photos from the knot.com & marthastewart.com)

Like this color combo? Check out my Ginkgo Bridal Shower invitations in Sky Blue and lemon. And my free coordinating downloadable items!

Have a great long holiday weekend!

Download Free Circus Inspired Bottle Labels

This has been quite the week for downloads! Download these sweet little Circus Inspired Bottle Labels over at Creature Comforts. Design By Lisa Rupp.

Free Bridal Shower Ginkgo Collection Download

To promote my new Ginkgo bridal shower invitations, I'm offering coordinating items to download for free! Just click here to get matching Gift or Favor Tags, Favor Box Decorations, Registry Cards, And Menus. Perfect for those of you planning a bridal shower or party planning & gift giving in general. (For personal use only. Not for commercial use or resale. Design copyright simplyprettyprints 2009)

Love it? Hate it? Makes you smile? Makes you feel sick? Comment please! If you do use these, I would love to see pictures.

Ok and a couple more things while I have your attention :) You can now share this and every other post of mine on your favorite social networking site! So get your tweet, digg, stumble, and facebook on now! And finally, I'm still collecting votes for your favorite Simply Pretty Prints design. Ginkgo is not yet included, but you can just comment here if you like it the best. See Poll to the right of this blog.

Free Lemony Downloads

Summer is not over! Download these "spiked" lemonade goodies at dandy bread and candy or an all ages friendly version here. Just in time for a Labor Day party.