happy holiday season!

i'm officially back in action after my little thanksgiving getaway! i hope everyone had an absolutely wonderful week! i can honestly say that i stuffed myself to maximum capacity and that's what it's all about right? so here we are, in the thick of the holidays once again and i can't believe it! where did this year go?

anywho, i'm really feeling the holiday decor this year and i've decided that evan and i need to have a little tree of our very own. we've never had one before for many random reasons, but this year things are a changing! i'm feeling festive and i wanna decorate, so in the spirit of my holiday itch, i thought i would share some of the adorable christmas tree goodies that i've got my eye on.

happy little acorns from angel dog designs

adorable matryoshka dolls from kims crafty apple

oh so cute apple & pear from minxden

super sweet deer from bubble dog

quirky little deer by raw bone studio

and last but certainly not least, these adorable silly little sweet tweets by claraiuribe

they're all sure to make any tree a little happier!

oh, ps... i've got a little holiday sale going on in my shop for a few more hours. in honor of black friday/cyber monday i'm offering 10% off your entire order when you enter BLACKFRIDAY at checkout. sale ends tonight at midnight. happy shopping :)

adios amigos!

yippyyyy... the holidays are finally here! well at least for the mr. and i they are. tomorrow morning we're heading up to ohio to be with evans family for thanksgiving. this is easily my favorite holiday so i'm pretty darn stoked about it. we've got the tofurkey all set to come along with us and we'll be cooking up a vegan feast to impress. two of evan's nieces are vegetarian so it's always nice cooking delicious treats for them. i myself fully plan on curling up on a couch and watching the entire thanksgiving day parade with some hot tea and a comfy blanket. this is the relaxation i live for all year long. it's definitely tough to be away from my family on this particular day, but it's hard to be too down when i've got evan's extremely large, extremely animated, family to spend the next few days with.

well i thought i would share with you, before i head off for a few days, a little craft that my bud steph and i did a few nights ago. inspired by THIS POST on creature comforts, steph and i decided to try our hand at a little wreath making. i must say, it was the perfect craft to do while watching a moving and having a drink. we do crafting right!

so here's my little number...

we even repainted our front door for a snazzy new look.

so i fully recommend curling up with a good holiday movie, and busting out one of these. so super easy to do and even makes an excellent handmade christmas gift! hope everyone has a great week. happy thanksgiving and remember...

SAVE A TURKEY... EAT TOFURKEY!

Rock & Shop!

mark your calendars folks... dec 4th i'll be toting my goods up to durham, nc for the 11th Rock & Shop market. i'm really quite excited about this venue, as i've never shown any of my work in the raleigh/durham area, and from what i've heard it's rather handmade friendly! so if you happen to find yourself round them parts on dec 4th, stop on by, have a cold one, listen to some live music, and get a jump on that christmas shopping!

hope to see you there!

if you wanna see more about this event you can follow along on twitter, facebook, and flickr too!

happy harry potter day!

happy day one and all! today is the world premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. the mr. and i decided to watch all of the previous HP movies to freshen up our brains, and get fully stoked on the newest addition. fun, fun!!!

in honor of todays big event one of my favorite blogs, heartmade, did a little shout out to Harry in the form of handmade goodies. such an adorable idea!

recognize that little stitched dagger? it was handmade with love by yours truly :)

so are any of you lovely folks going to the premiere tonight. i myself will be avoiding the craziness and waiting a little longer. evan and i have plans to attend this fabulous little event instead! so if you're in charlotte tonight, and not going to see Harry, come on out for a great cause!

also, feel free to take a peek at the original etsy treasury HERE!

etsy treasury find!

i love how easily i can stumble upon a new favorite shop on etsy and become suddenly obsessed! this morning while going through messages i was contacted and told that my little brooch had landed a spot in this lovely white christmas treasury...

while the entire treasury if fabulous indeed, it's this little sleepy puppy pillow that won my heart!

so if anyone out there feels the intense need to get me a present, here's the perfect little thing!

:)

shop update!

in my time away last week i concentrated mostly on work, work and more work. keeping my mind busy at all times seemed to be the best way for me to deal with the sadness of my passing kitty. also, with the holidays just around the corner, it's always nice to have lots of new and exciting goodies to offer up to return customers. i've still got quite a few more to add, but here is a little taste of the new items from Monkey & Squirrel thus far...

productivity always feels so good!

time away...

i took a little time away from blogging last week. i wish i could say it was for some grand happy reasons, but that just wasn't the case. evan and i lost a member of our little family last wednesday. one of our cats, juan, quite unexpectedly passed away. he's was a chatty, silly, big chubby kitty, and his absence is greatly felt in our home. so juan, here's to you. you are terribly missed...

the silver lining...

this past weekend i took part in a little holiday craft show. the show kinda ended up being a bust for me personally as far as sales went, and that's the sad news. as it turned out, it wasn't exactly my target market, with the buyers mostly being interested in more traditional crafts rather then the indie variety. to each his own! however, one fabulous thing did happen... meeting ashley & joel of this paper ship! that is indeed the good news!

ashley & joel are a super adorable, multi-tasking, husband & wife team specializing in illustration, graphic design, wedding paper goodies, and even wedding photography. they are fairly amazing and i can easily say that i have some big time crushes on every one of their prints! well, we basically all ended up being in the same boat last weekend, with shoppers not really being the right ones for us. so what do you do when you're bummin' at a craft show... turn to trading! the fantastic thing about having mutual respect for another artists work is that you're as equally excited for them to own one of your items, as you are to own one of theirs. so here's the sweet swag i scored...

the mr. cooked me amazing dinners every night after the show, so i got him this awesome little ship in a bottle t-shirt as a thank you. he's a big fan of vintage ships and just loves it!

my other incredible score is this darling print of an adorable little country gal in the midst of a big city. the boots, the freckles, the chicken on her head... i can't help but smile whenever i look at her!

she's the perfect addition to our home!

anyone who has done craft shows knows that each and every one is a gamble, and you take a little chance with every new one you do. i've learned the important lesson to always research the market you're showing in, and just because a show is in a wealthy area, doesn't mean the folks with money are looking to spend it on you. in this particular case i was just happy to break even and more then happy to have meant some wonderful fellow NC artists.

you can shop This Paper Ship HERE!

music monday!

getting a slow and chilly start to the day, and one of my all time favorite songs is feeling just right about now...

let the holiday fun begin!

this weekend if you happen to find yourself in the charlotte, nc area why not come on out and get an early jump on that christmas shopping!

i'll be selling some of my handmade goods and would love to have some visitors :)

rainy day bum out!

it's cold grey and rainy here in charlotte today and that makes me just want to dress like this...

actually, i can not tell a lie, most days i just want to dress like this!

raising vegan...

i wanted to share this little blog entry i just read and found to be pretty interesting because of a recent discussion evan and i had. though we don't have any children just yet, we know that when we do we will definitely be raising them vegan. i know people often think that raising children vegan is unhealthy, but that just tends to be based on a lack of information. though it is admittedly more work, in my opinion there is no question as to whether or not it is worth it. i am a healthy vegan, my husband is a healthy vegan, and our child will be a healthy vegan.

anywho... evan and i are in no doubt that our home will remain an all vegan home even with little ones running around. however, the point we don't quite see eye to eye on is what will occur once they are old enough to make their own decisions. evan thinks that if we're completely open and honest with our kids right from the start, then they'll understand why veganism is so important and seeing as they've never known any different, they won't have any desire to stray from that path. i however tend to think that they'll often feel left out of certain things, like cake at friends birthday parties, and candy on halloween, and will eventually choose to stray from veganism. then i read this post...

“I am a 14 year old girl and have been vegan my entire life. People always ask me, 'Why are you vegan? Isn’t it so hard?' But the truth is, it’s so easy to be vegan. Maybe that’s because it’s been my lifestyle for 14 years, who knows? Sure, there have been times when I’ve walked past a dessert store and have seen delicious cakes, but I know that if I took one bite of any of those cakes it wouldn’t appeal to me. I think that’s because I grew up without that kind of food, and I’m not used to it, so it just doesn’t sound good to me.

So many people say things like, 'I could never be vegan, because I hate soy milk and fake meat,' but I think that those people think that way because they’re not used to those foods, the same way that I’m not used to dairy-filled cakes.

People always think that as a vegan, your food options are so minimal, but that is because those people haven’t actually tried to be vegan, when in fact it’s so easy to find vegan options.

As the holidays come around, I am asked the same questions. Especially around Halloween, kids wave around Kit Kats, Snickers, Hershey’s chocolate bars, and other various sweets in my face saying, 'Oooohhhh too bad you can’t have this stuff!' But the truth is, I have no cravings for those sweets, and there are so many other options – much healthier options. On Halloween, parents always think that it's OK to let their kids eat all of those sweets, because it's just for one night. But one night can change a life – there are poisons and chemicals moving throughout the body as people digest these unsafe treats.

I spend my Halloweens just like any other kid, going around to each house, asking for candy. But at the end of the night, instead of eating all of that candy, I give it to my friends.

It is so easy for me, and it’s my own personal life choice – my parents aren’t forcing this lifestyle on me; it’s my decision. I remember when my dad sat me down once and said, 'Sweetie, if you ever decide to go another direction with your diet, just tell me first.' He was probably saying that so that he would be able to talk me out of it, but now I see that I won’t need to have that conversation with him, because it’s my life choice, and my life choice is to be vegan."

well, obviously i was proven wrong in this case, and i'm rather glad that i was too! i guess because i've never known anyone who has been vegan from birth, i don't have anything to base my opinions on. once i started hunting around a bit more, i noticed that there are quite a number of young vegans out there who are really excited and motivated about remaining animal product free. i guess with any parenting decision you can pass along all the information and facts to your children and just hope that some of it sticks. i suppose only time will tell..

so here's to all you young vegans out there!

music monday!