Drumroll....

So...I disappeared again. Dangit! I was being so good about sticking to my promise of posting every week and also creating at least one new listing a month...until I wasn't. Sorry to have let you down, yet again!

Where were we, anyway? It's been so long I can't even remember. I know that I had you all on the edge of your seat waiting to see the reveal of that one room we were working on repainting....oh! and you probably want to know how our yard is coming along, right? Well, good news! Both of those projects have been tackled!!!! Wanna see?

Okay! Let's start with our den, or extra bedroom, or whatever you want to call this room. We (I) debated over a long time over what color to paint it because we wanted it to feel cozy and also coordinate with the rest of the colors in the house. We finally settled on a lovely blue color.

Here is before..

And after!

Voila! There it is! It's such a cozy, quirky little room and I just love how it came out. How about all of that natural light pouring in? And those shelves and glass door knobs? How charming are they?? :) We ended up painting all of the shelves, all the trim, and both sides of each door. My plan is to continue on into the hallway and freshen up all the trim and doors with a new coat of paint.....but! For now, let's just admire how pretty this room is.

Oh, and you know what?

See that sliding glass door? Want to see what it looks out onto? Not a concrete track anymore because guess what...IT'S GONE! :D

Isn't that amazing? I swear, sometimes I wish the clone stamp was something I could use outside of Photoshop because it really would've saved us a lot of work here..like weeks and weeks of work and wheelbarrows and wheelbarrows full of dirt. But really - LOOK at that grass!! :D

And so the grass isn't lonely... the past several weeks, I've been going a little plant crazy...like I can't stop buying flowers and plants because they are just so lovely. Also, just being in a giant plant nursery and walking around is so relaxing. Strolling through aisles and aisles of flowers and greenery, being surrounded by bright, vibrant colors and discovering new fun plants, and smelling their pretty fresh, floral smells and seeing other people walk around enjoying themselves...it's really hard to be upset about anything in that setting (and also makes it hard to care about spending a bunch of money).

So..as a result..I've planted some hydrangeas (originally on the right hand side of the dirt track, but it was too sunny there, so moved them outback more), some blueberry bushes, hung lots of flower baskets, planted some lilies, daisies, and some other perennials and! we even planted our first little veggie garden. Tinkering around in our yard has become my new absolute favorite thing. (Okay, not really - the cats are still my most favorite thing). It's so peaceful and we just love it! <3 So...this is why I have stepped away from the screen lately. We get so little sunshine and nice weather in CNY, I've been trying to make the most of it. I hope you have been, too!

Okay, that's enough for today. I hope it was worth the wait! :D

-- Alison --

TIO's 2nd Birthday!

Happy April 29th, which is not only one day closer to when I can start planting things in my garden.....it's also my 2nd Etsyversary!!! How time flies, amirite?

My goal for this year was to reach 300 orders. As of today, the total is 317! I can't even believe that. Remember when I was hoping to get to 20? Seems like it was just yesterday...not two YEARS ago!

Now that this goal has been reached...it's time to set a new one. I think I've already mentioned this in a previous post, but I'm going really big for the next goal - 550! Eep. That's a big number and I really don't know how realistic it is, but I feel confident that maybe we can at least get close? .......... Maybe?

The past several weeks have been really crazy over here. I've had the opportunity to work on some really awesome custom orders because my customers are the most creative, fun people out there and they all have AMAZING ideas! One of my favorite projects lately was designing an invitation for my BFF's bridal shower next month. I just mailed them out yesterday, so will wait until next week to post the design so that the surprise isn't ruined. Here's a sneak peak of Moose helping me put them together...

He's such a good little helper, isn't he? Charles was also lending a paw, but it's really hard to get them both in a photo...they're quick little guys.

Thank you to everyone who has helped me along the way, to my customers who have kept me busy and allow me to keep the shop running, to my friends and family who I annoy with talking about invitations all the time, and to Sam - for not only making me a special Etsyversary breakfast this morning, but to always giving me advice on new designs, promoting the shop, and mostly for giving me reassurance when I'm constantly second guessing myself, and also - you're pretty handsome and are always there when I need help opening a jar.

So - YAY!!!!! Today is a good day! Enjoy your day, friends!

-- Alison --

Musicians for Shriners

Over the past couple of years, I've come to learn that during April and May, the shop really picks up. I've been super busy with orders lately, including some really awesome custom orders that I can't wait to share with you! 

We've also been working on the house some more....or well, trying to. We started painting that one room, all of the walls are done, but we haven't done the trim yet...oops. In the process of painting this room I've learned a few things: #1 painting paneling SUCKS, #2 anything that involves putting down or peeling up painter's tape also SUCKS, and #3 money trees can't withstand cold temperatures... yup I killed my new awesome plant by putting it out on our sunroom while we painted and then we got a second winter. What's funny is the weekend we bought that plant, we won money on the superbowl and then the weekend we killed it we had to pay a bunch for taxes...coincidence? I was able to find another one though... but still haven't received a large sum of cash. What's up with that, money tree?

In addition to painting that room.... we've started working on the two big projects for the backyard. #1 remove / get rid of / replace fence and #2 demo concrete / get rid of / plant grass seed where there was an in-ground pool filled in. We are...sort of...or well, totally in over our heads with these projects. Turns out, breaking up concrete is REALLY hard. What's even more difficult is trying to figure out how to get rid of it. Look at this mess we've made:

Fortunately, we have a friend coming over this weekend to try and help us come up with a game plan for this. We're determined to get rid of it! I'm hoping to have a nice green backyard and also plant a little tree out there this spring / summer so we can watch it grow as we live there. I know, I'm so cute.

One last thing for today. My dad is in a band, isn't that fun? He's going to be one of several bands playing at a benefit for the Shriners Hospitals for Children this summer and asked me to make a poster to promote the event. Here's what I came up with:



So if you happen to be in the area, you should come check it out! A great event for a great cause!

Until next time,

-- Alison --

"Movin' to the country, gonna eat a lot of peaches"

So all this talk of spring has jinxed us. You know that lovely flower in my last post? Well... it no longer exists. It snowed again. Like... a foot. It has since melted, but it was just enough heavy snow to squish all the daffodils that had popped up. Sad face.

I'm so over this gray, dreary, cold weather...come on warm weather, you can do it! You know what one of the best parts of the spring / summer is?..... PEACHES! It's rare to find a really, really good peach, but when you find one...oh man. I can't even.......... They are just so good.

Speaking of peaches, there is a new invitation in the shop! You can find it here.

Since we've been trapped inside and unable to do any work outside it has forced me to shift my focus back to painting that darn room. So, good news! It's been primed and we bought the paint..finally! Going to paint this week. I'm super excited to get that room back together and hang up the last box of pictures we haven't unpacked yet.....we are slackers.

Not only has priming that room kept us busy, I've been busy working on several orders and projects outside of the shop. I'll show you a cool poster I designed for a fundraiser my dad is involved with in my next post! :)

-- Alison --

Okay, NOW Spring has Sprung!

It is now officially spring according to both, the calendar and THIS!!

That's a photo of the very first flower in our yard! :D Isn't it adorable? I can't wait to see what else pops up over the next several weeks!

If that's not enough to be excited about........here's something else

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Have I made you wait long enough? Is the suspense killing you?

OKAY here it is - I have officially hit 300 orders!!!! Actually, as of today it's 301! WOOHOOO!

In the spirit of setting huge goals for myself this year, with doing things like registering to run a half marathon when I've never really ran more than 6, maybe 6.5 miles, why not go big for my next Etsyversary. How does 550 orders by my next Etsyversary (April 29th 2017) sound? Overambitious and scary? Yup, I thought so too....but that's what I'm setting it at. Go big or go home!....?

That's really all I have for you now. I'll check in again later this week, as I'm going to be posting a new design to the shop! Stay tuned!

Do you have any flowers popping up in your yard? Tell me about them below in the comments!

-- Alison --

Spring has Sprung!

Well, we did it! It's officially spring! Woohooo!

I'm hoping you'll be so happy that it's now officially spring and forget the fact that I totally didn't write a post last week? How about I do two this week to make up for it?

So, I mentioned in my last post that we were going to start painting that one room. Welp. Guess what...we didn't. We did buy primer and paint supplies, but I just don't know about the color. I'm undecided if I want it to be a sunny, bright room or a cozy, darker room. Decisions, decisions...

Instead of painting we spent several hours Saturday and Sunday doing yard work. You know those brown paper leaf bags at Lowe's? Well, we filled up 21 of those bad boys with leaves and sticks and also a large garbage can. I'm happy to report that the town took every single leaf and stick and finally took our Christmas tree that's been on the curb since New Year's Day! In their defense...our tree was pretty pathetic this year, they may have confused it with an overgrown weed or something.

Now that it's getting nicer out, I have much less interest in doing anything on the inside of the house and have started a long list of things for the outside. At our apartment, we had a tiny yard that wasn't very private so didn't spend a lot of time out there. We're super pumped about our new yard and all the things we can do with it. My over ambitious list includes larger projects such as fixing up the sunroom, putting up a new fence, and jack hammering out a concrete sidewalk leftover from a pool being filled in - to smaller projects like putting down grass seed, filling in random holes in the yard, planting flowers, and attempting our first veggie garden. All of this is exciting, but what's more exciting is that I might even get a tan while doing all of this!

You know what else happened this weekend? I started reading a blog called RunSelfieRepeat and was so inspired that I registered to run a half-marathon.....Yup. One time I thought I ran 9 miles, but after mapping it out in my car, it ended up only being 6.5. That was my farthest run ever. Not sure how I'm going to pull off 13.1 miles. Why do I do these things?

The run is in October and my new running role model has a training plan on her blog that I plan on using to get ready for this. You should really read her blog (runselfierepeat.com), she's awesome, but you've been warned...you might end up signing up for a half, or even a full, marathon as a result.

If that's not putting my 'get fit' resolution to the test, I don't know what is.

Remember when I said I'll do two posts this week? Well I should stop writing now so I have some thoughts left for that...but first.... let me leave you with this:

My goal is 300 orders by April 29th - My second Etsyversary.

I'm at 299!!!!!!

Hopefully we'll be celebrating 300 in my next post!

-- Alison --

I survived!

Happy Thursday! I don't know about you, but this week has been great and I blame it on the weather. Yesterday it was 70° and today is 60°! If you aren't from NY, this may not seem as exciting to you, but around here... that's like short shorts and halter tops kind of weather. Dare I say that spring might really be here after all...???

In my last post, I mentioned that Sam and I would be attending a 1920s themed birthday party for one of Sam's coworkers. Here we are with some fellow 1920s folk having a blasty blast! I went as a flapper and Sam was a little newspaper boy who even made his own custom newspaper. Ain't he clever?

This photo is not only proof that we went to the party, but also proves that I survived the Shamrock Run! Woohoo! It was an exact repeat of last year... I ran the whole way (slowly) until the last giant hill/mountain...where my Pandora started playing Lana Del Rey (whom I enjoy, but that's not exactly 'GET PUMPED!!!!' type of music..more like...'heyyyy girl, you ran this far...time for a nap' type of music) So, I walked for a hot second, long enough to switch my Pandora over to Ween radio - now THAT will get you pumped! I finished the race at 48 mins, which is really slow...but hey, over 700 people finished after me so I'm not that upset.

Aside from these events, I have also been quite busy with the shop! As of today, I'm at 294 orders...which means I'm only 6 away from my goal of 300 by April 29th!!! My fingers are crossed, maybe cross yours too?

Over the next few days, I hope to stay busy with orders and also start painting! I have many paint projects in mind for us, starting with one of the spare bedrooms. Maybe you could also cross your fingers we chose the right colors...

Hopefully in next week's post I'll be able so share a before and after photo of that room. Excited!

-- Alison --

But I thought it was almost Spring...?

So, I'm not sure how this works, but last weekend I was outside with short sleeves and a rake in my hand and now this week it's back to layers and a shovel. I guess all that Spring stuff I mentioned last week jinxed us. Sorry guys.

I'm so anxious to get outside and enjoy our yard. The yard is the perfect size. Plenty of room to play bocce, set up a volleyball net during barbecues, and maybe even try our hand at gardening, all without being too large to mow with a push mower. Maybe in a few more weeks...maybe!

Did I mention how much we love our house? ::Swoon::

Speaking of looking forward to things, this weekend is going to be something else. I can tell you there is one thing I'm definitely looking forward to and one thing I'm definitely not looking forward to. Saturday morning, I'm getting up bright and early to put my "get fit" goal to the test as I participate in the 4-mile hilly Shamrock Run at Tipp Hill. 4 miles is not that long, but the hills make it very challenging...for me. There are lots of people on the sidewalks cheering you on and some of them are even wearing kilts and playing bag pipes, so that helps make it a little less sucky. After the run, a couple of beers will be had at a local Irish pub which will make the run seem worth it (kind of).

Following this, Sam and I have been invited to a 1920s themed birthday party for one of Sam's coworkers and I'm super excited. Costumes are required, so I will be transforming into a flapper (without the dance skills) and Sam will be transforming into a cute little newsboy. Drinks will be served from that era and the music will also be from the era. They are going all out! Don't worry, I'll have a photo for you next week.

In other news, I don't think I ever told you my goal by my 2nd Etsyversary (April 29th) was to reach 300 orders, did I? When I set this goal last year, I thought it was a stretch as I was at about 150 orders, but it turns out it may not have been. As of today I'm only 10 orders away, so keep your fingers crossed! :)

-- Alison --

Spring Things

Spring will be here so soon, at least that's what's been getting me through the last week, and that's what the groundhog told us.

In honor of spring coming up, I decided to launch my first Facebook ad and am super happy with how it came out! In case you haven't seen it on your news feed, here's what it looks like:

Sam and I had lots of fun during this little photo shoot and had some extra images that I wanted to do something with, so decided to make a gif. I'm excited to share that with you, as well!

PS turns out I love making gifs, so be prepared for lots more of them

In other news, this past week I added a new wedding invitation set to the shop, and you guessed it, it's a spring / summer invitation featuring greenery and wildflowers. I'm trying to be seasonally optimistic, ya dig? You can find the new invitation here.

And, one more little goody for you in case you missed it on my Facebook page. Now through March 21st, I'm offering 10% off with this coupon code:

Until next week!

-- Alison --

That time we bought a chair off craigslist..

Well, here we are, a week after my last blog post! Are you shocked? I am.

Since my last post, I've tried to work on my goals for the year. If you need a refresher, they are:

- Weekly blog posts - starting last week
- At least one new invitation a month

- Get fit / eat healthier

- Work on the house

I posted a few new listings last week, which is super exciting! One of them is a baby shower invitation to continue on with my "sweet little" series. This time, I went with a sweet little pea.

This invitation is not only super cute, but perfect if you are planning a gender neutral baby shower! You can find it here.

A while back, someone had asked me to change the starfish on my beach bridal shower invitation to an anchor and I loved it so much that I decided to put it in the shop. You can find that set here.

Let's see, what else...oh yeah... get fit. I registered to run a 4-mile hilly run in a couple of weeks and have managed to run 4 miles on the treadmill (aka dreadmill) without stopping a few times since then. That's only when I've been fortunate enough to get one of the good treadmills with a tv, so I can watch Fixer Upper as a distraction. Maybe I can ask Sam to run ahead of me holding his phone out playing cat videos on YouTube for the actual race?

As far as working on the house, we haven't really done anything since last week except purchase a "new" chair. I decided that I needed a wingback chair with an ottoman for my office, so began searching the internet only to quickly become discouraged by their $500-$800 price tags. So, I decided to check Craigslist and wouldn't you know it, a wingback chair with an ottoman for $100 in excellent condition! I batted my eyes at Sam and asked real nice if we could get it and he said "What's a wingback chair?"

We arranged to pick it up Sunday morning, so we hopped in the car and headed out 35 minutes south into the middle of nowhere. The main roads were nice and clear, so we figured this would go off without a hitch and were only concerned about possibly getting murdered by this stranger. That was until we reached their road...aka hill...aka giant hill...aka mountain. We started to drive up it in an suv that apparently has no 4-wheel drive and the road wasn't plowed, just sanded. We were going along alright, until we weren't. The car couldn't make it up and we started to go backwards. Nothing Sam tried stopped us, so we eventually just slid off the road. Thankfully, nothing happened to us or the car and we were able to get out of the foot of snow we landed in.

The owner of the chair ended up meeting us at the bottom of the hill and ended up being the bees knees. He said he would've plowed us out if we were stuck there and also mentioned how he was a grandpa, so my grandma chic chair is in fact a grandma chic chair. The chair made it home, after we barely fit it in the car, and I just love it (but not as much as the cats do).

Do you have any fun Craigslist stories? Let me know in the comments!

Until next week,
-- Alison --

Zzz

Today you might be feeling a little off after staying up watching the Superbowl / drinking / eating way too many snacks / spending too much money on squares / wondering what the heck happened to the commercials this year, so I figure I'd brighten your day with a blog post!

Last time, I left you with saying things have been crazy lately after buying our first house and the holidays and all of that. Well, turns out I also said I'd be providing a list of my resolutions for the new year. After realizing I totally failed to deliver on that, I figured I'll share them now... better late than never?

Here are a few:

- Weekly blog posts - starting this week!
- At least one new invitation a month

- Get fit / eat healthier

- Work on the house

So far, we have already done quite a bit to our house (hence my absence on the blog... who am I kidding, I'm always absent on the blog), but the list is still quite long.

A lot of the projects we've done have made a huge difference to us, but I don't think you'd find them very interesting (for example, laying new insulation in the attic, installing a new dryer vent, or fixing the sump pump). I'll share some more interesting things when we get to them.

I have decided to post weekly blog posts and at least one new invitation a month. I have also decided to share that with you so I have some accountability. And, why not also add on there to get fit and eat better? I go to the gym/run outside regularly and I don't think I eat too unhealthy, but there are always areas to improve here. For example, I'd love to be able to run farther / faster, so that's something I'm working on. 

What about you? What have you decided to work on this year? How is it working out for you so far?

This post isn't the most exciting read, but I may have also stayed up too late watching the game and eating too many snacks. Zzz.

Stay tuned for next weeks' post! 

-- Alison --