in my (sometimes) humble opinion

Check out my new virtual home here, and be sure to let me know what you think! :)

Added a bunch of these lovely fabric tags to my shop, they’re so cute tied to a present or just hanging from an inspiration board.

I’m thisclose to getting the new corikindred.com up, including a fancy new blog. So excited, now I just have to pay my smokin’ hot web guy (insert inappropriate sexual innuendo here. How ‘bout: Thankfully we share a bed so that shouldn’t be too difficult. ;)

I’ve discovered that overcast Oregon days are perfect for polaroids. Plus you gotta love that instant gratification. Anyway, I’ll post soon when the new site’s up!

Some random stuff:

• I did a shop update (finally!), put some fun little paper heart garlands up and a few cool new mixed media pieces. (also, check out the new banner)

• It’s been kinda grey around here lately (except for today!) and I got so tired of taking crappy pictures in the dark, so I threw together a table top photo studio (with halogen lights from the hardware store). Made it in an hour and so far it’s been a big help.

• Wanted to mention E Soule, she takes the coolest polaroids and puts the prints onto big wood frames. I got to see them on display at Sydney’s Cafe. Elizabeth’s fun shop is here.

• Just finished the mini-series Long Way Round (thanks for the recommendation Kiera!) about Ewan McGregor and his friend riding motorcycles from London to New York City. EAST. So much fun, definitely worth a watch.

• Last thing: my family has a (private) blog which has been so great as we’ve become spread out over the years, but I designed a new home page for it that I’m excited about. My family rocks.

Abby’s “Beautiful Film Week” inspired me to do a quick post about an amazing movie: The Diving Bell & The Butterfly. This film broke my heart into a million pieces, I adored every single beautiful second of it. I don’t want to say the O word but I’d be shocked if it didn’t win at least a handful. Watch the gorgeous trailer here, or better yet go watch the movie. I promise you won’t regret it.

I am loving winter in Portland. It’s just like I imagined: wet and cool and ridiculously green (as opposed to dry, freezing [or more accurately, way below freezing) and brown - yep that’s winter in the midwest]. And no, I don’t miss the snow. I’d much rather have green plants year round. LOVE IT.

Now the downfalls: not much light to take photos in (I’m going to have to invest in some lighting or I’m going to go crazy - I literally had to tape that necklace to the front of my house because there wasn’t enough light inside - in the middle of the day!) and it barely feels like December, as in I’m having a hard time getting into the Holiday Spirit. But my sister and her b-f will be here soon for a nice, long visit, hopefully they can help me decorate, etc.

I found this huge (as big as my hand) mushroom uprooted in my neighbor’s yard so of course I had to get a picture of it. It was so spongy and luscious I wanted to take a big bite out of it. But I didn’t. ;)

I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned my talented (and super cute!) friend Jade Scott before but her lovely jewelry was featured on Decor8 last week! So proud of her. Also, my brother-in-law Brett’s band has a new website, and their awesome cd is now available on cdbaby and iTunes! A very exciting time for them, and they totally deserve it.

And just in case you suspected otherwise, You Are Wonderful.

What a crazy, busy, lovely month! Had a bunch of visitors: my brother-in-law’s band Never*Mind (whose cd I seriously am listening to constantly), my sister Trina and her little cutie Ava, and our best friends from Iowa who just moved to Eugene. It’s sooo great having them here, now I just need to convince my family to move and it’ll be perfect!

Just got my new favorite book by one of my favorite artists - The Art of Personal Imagery by Corey Moortgat. So cool to be able to flip through an entire book of her gorgeous collages, and to see how they were made. So excited for her!! What else… oh, two of my pictures are featured in Ali Edwards’ Mosiac Monday today - quite an honor! :)

ps - the top pic is of a lovely vintage jewelry box I found to put my fragile finds in. I thought it was so pretty I had to share.

I’m back! Two very different weeks in Europe, and I loved them both. I’ll write more later (have to post pics of the fun things I brought home from the Marché aux Puches [flea markets] in Paris)! The top image is some of the gorgeous seaglass I found on the beach in Barcelona, the middle is from the Tour Eiffel (see it large here), and last is some lovely Paris street art. It’s good to be back (even if it did take 26 hours). More later!