Thank you and Taking a Break

*Customer appreciation shot of 'Bastian' and Mr. Whiskers in Switzerland courtesy of Severine*

Hello!

I've decided to put my Etsy shop and blog on vacation for a bit because I have more on my plate than I can handle at the moment and must reflect and reassess how to manage it all. The adage, 'when it rains, it pours', certainly rings true for me presently. I feel incredibly blessed that so much that I have hoped to be successful at and that I have put out into the world is so valued by others. Thanks so much to all of you for your continued love and support!

I have almost too many Sasquatch orders than I can make right now and with a demanding full time job, a homeopathic practice and of course my most important position, that of mother, I am really challenged to make it all work. Hence why you haven't been hearing from me here a whole lot lately. So, I must retreat for a time to rethink how I am doing everything and how I can continue to do all that I love to do. I will certainly keep you posted.

Be well!

♥ Andrea ♥

What I've Been Up To Lately...

We may have ended up back in Niagara Falls again.


This time we went to the Guinness World Record Museum. Have you been? I do love Guinness World Records but the museum in Niagara Falls is completely lackluster. I liked this big image of some world records that was at the exit of the museum though. It makes me think of The Twilight Zone.


I made these Johnny Cakes (posted by my friend, Christina) for the family as a special brunch treat last weekend for Canada Day. They were particularly delicious. I kind of love anything with cornmeal and I couldn't resist making Johnny Cakes for my Johnny Cakes :)


I spent two hours putting together this cardboard skeleton for Eamon last weekend. He tried to do it himself but this thing was complicated. It didn't help that the pieces were all numbered on the sheets they were attached to but they all got punched out and scattered before the assembly got started. I took photos because I knew this wouldn't last long. It didn't make it through the day! But it was well played with and even went to bed with him that night.


Here's Elycia's new baby, Milo! Isn't he so little and sweet! The kids and I were delighted to meet him this week and to visit with the happy new family! I am just so happy for them.


I made up an herbal sitz bath for Elyica last week. You can see the post partum herbal sitz bath recipe on my homeopathy and natural remedies blog if you like.


I also made a few little cats for Milo to play with.


Finally, I learned how to make my own amazingly delicious raw chocolate. I think this could prove to be very, very, very, very, very dangerous.

Have a wonderful weekend!

♥ Andrea ♥

Homeopathy Business Design Process

I promised you a little while ago that I would share some of the design inspiration for my homeopathy business with you. I just got my cards a week or so ago and I'm so happy with how they turned out.The brown turned out a lot darker than I expected but I quite like it.

When I graduated from homeopathy school in 2001, I really had zero concept of my 'brand'. I just knew that I wanted to use homeopathy to help people and I had an idea of the kind of clinic I hoped to be in.

Now, after many years of practice, I am in a new clinic and I really wanted to take this opportunity to re-think my relationship to homeopathy and take a closer look at myself as a practitioner and think more deeply about what I offer to people now that I am more experienced. I asked my friend, Shell, to assist me with designing a logo and feel for my homeopathic business that is a true reflection of me. I really had a block design-wise when it came to my homeopathic practice. She suggested that I create a Pinterest board and I'm so glad that she did. The process of doing this has helped me to see visually what I like, what I feel my practice is and has even helped me to gain a greater understanding of who I am as a practitioner. The board I created is a secret board that I just shared with Shell so that I could feel completely free to put whatever I wanted there. Have you ever created secret boards on Pinterest before? This was my first one.

I thought I would share with you some of the pins on my board that helped me to visualize my business better....

This image was from my Lavender Oil Recipe post from last year that I've moved over to my natural remedies blog.

*image courtesy of vtwonen*

*image coutesy of wholeliving.com*

*image courtesy of Design Seeds*
*image courtesy of DesignSponge*
*image courtesy of Bonnie and Bell*

Before creating my board, I had no idea what my cards would look like. After pinning all of these images and some others to my board, I was really excited and ready to design my new business cards and logo on my own. I drew inspiration for them primarily from this vintage botanical pull down German school chart of primrose. It's so beautiful. 

Also, I was really inspired by the new clinic I am practicing in as well....

I also got some stickers and mailing labels made to match. I'm putting the creation of the website on hold for a little while because I just can't do everything at once, although I'd love to. I'm really excited to work with Shell on creating my homeopathy website. And now I have a clear idea of how I would like it to look and feel. In the mean time, I've just pointed my domain name at my homeopathy and natural remedies blog and that will do for a while. I finally got a Homeopathy Facebook page set up too!

So, what do you think? Maybe if you've been struggling with branding a business, this helps to provide you with a bit of inspiration.

Okay, I'm off to the gym. Have a good Monday!

♥ Andrea ♥

Long Weekend

We had such a great weekend. The weather was absolutely amazing for this year's Victoria Day long weekend. I got to do some of my favorite things and see some of my favorite people. I really couldn't have asked for more. I hope you had a fun weekend too. What did you do?

This week I'm back to work crafting like a maniac again preparing for the upcoming Springtime Marketplace on June 1st. Things are coming together but it always feels like a mad dash to get everything done on time. And the whole time I find I have to readjust my wild expectations (I'm just a bit of a dreamer). There is so much still to do and less than two weeks to go. Here's hoping a whole lot of fluffy things get sewn in the next few days!

♥ Andrea ♥

Work Your Cares Away, Dancing's For Another Day

I've had a lot on the go these last few days. One of them is this drawing. For a long time I've been meaning to enter a Threadless design challenge. When I saw their Fraggle Rock challenge come up recently, I knew it was the one for me. I loved watching Fraggle Rock as a kid. We've been watching some episodes as I've been working on my drawing. It's been really fun for us to share Fraggle Rock with the children. I've got to finish my design today so once I've entered the contest, I'll share my completed design with you.

There are so many other things keeping me busy these days as well. I'm happy to tell you that Teetoo is going to have a table this year at the Toronto Etsy Street Team Springtime Marketplace on June 1st. I've been doing a lot of preparing for that. I hope you will be able to come and see me at the show. I'll post more about my prep for the market in the coming weeks. Another big thing I have yet to tell you about is that we are moving back to Toronto this summer. So, we've been looking for a place to live.

Anyway, have a fantastic weekend!

♥ Andrea ♥

What I've Been Up To Lately...

This week I sent a few packages of handmade things out to places around the world. Also, I bought myself a new fancy sketchbook and we've been reading and watching a whole lot of Adventure Time.

I've been listening to Austra while I've been working this week. If you haven't heard them and you're into electronica, you might like to give them a listen. This album is Feel It BreakI highly recommend it.

This is one of the little bees I sent off this week. I love how they look when I flip them right side out after stitching them up. It's like meeting them for the first time and seeing what their little personality is going to be like :)

The kids picked a bunch of the daffodils that were in the garden. We're enjoying them very much.

I made this tomato, cucumber, avocado and cilantro salad last week. It was very delicious. 

The deer are coming to visit us almost every morning and evening these days!

And I caught a wild turkey in the garden a couple of days ago. They totally crack me up.

Have a great Friday!

♥ Andrea ♥

What I've Been Up To Lately...

I'm still working on this project that is taking a very, very long time. If it's not done this week, well, I'm just not sure what I'm going to do. It simply must get done this week.



I've started working on a little something new :) I'm looking forward to sharing it with you soon.



My studio is feeling extra cozy and well organized these days.



A pile of Baby Stars ready to be sewn. I've had some requests for some recently and I've been meaning to make more for the shop for a long, long time.



John took a ton of photos of the skull we found belonging to the doe we lost a year and a half ago and made a 3D scan of it to make a replica for the kids to play with. They are very enamored with the skull and we don't want the real one to get damaged.



I am totally in love with our bread maker.



I got this little handmade nest brooch from Mel. I wear it on my coat everyday.



I'm particularly enjoying my home brews lately. This one was nettle, oat straw, lemon balm and fennel.

We had an amazing time this weekend, first at the Ontario Science Centre in celebration of our wee man's 6th birthday, then a wonderful night out at Massey Hall to see Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. The kids were a little young for the Game On exhibit at the Science Centre so, unfortunately, I didn't get to play nearly enough video games. But it was neat to see all the old favorites, learn about other games I wasn't familiar with and to see the development of the industry over the years.

It was really fantastic for Johnny and I to get out on our own for a night and see Nick Cave. It was a wonderful show. He played a bunch of the old favorites that a fan would hope for; Deanna, Red Right Hand, From Her to Eternity, Stagger Lee, Tupelo, The Mercy Seat, The Ship Song, The Weeping Song and I was so happy to hear Love Letter as well. They did a bang up job on Stagger Lee. That song in particular was fantastic to see live and Nick Cave was just as grande and sinister as you might expect. Oh and it was a lovely and unexpected surprise that some local children performed backing for him on several songs. All in all, a great show and a perfect weekend.

I hope your weekend was perfect too.

♥ Andrea ♥

I've Been Tagged: A Few Things About Me

*Me, circa 1983. Man, I miss those Underoos.*

Trisha, of Veranellies, kindly tagged me. Thanks Trisha :) Usually, I don't play nice with others (just kidding, kind of) but this time I have decided to play along. Here are Trisha's questions for me...

What is the strangest talent you have?

I can make my tongue into a clover shape. And though my memory for important things isn't always very good, I can usually remember the lyrics to songs remarkably well, even years after hearing them only once.

Do you take shampoo and soaps from hotel rooms?

No, not usually because they are often full of chemicals that I don't use on my body (I'm a soap snob). So unless the hotel soaps are natural and amazing like the ones for sale here, I won't be taking them home with me :)

Do you have any phobias?

I have both a fear and fascination with spiders. I am more comfortable with them since we have lived in the forest but I don't like to be caught by surprise by big hairy ones.

What is your favorite movie?

There are too many great movies for me to choose an absolute favorite but me and the whole family are really, really, really loving Hotel Transylvania right now.

Were you ever a brownie or a girl scout?

No.

When is the last time you wrote a letter on paper and mailed it snail mail?

Sadly, I have always been in the habit of writing letters that I don't send. And then the time passes and the news in the letter is old and outdated... I sent a little present and note in a card to my mother at Christmastime, does that count?

Ever have deju-vu?

Often.

Have you ever won any contests or awards?

I won an art award in high school. And a few prizes from some Jack & Jills, oh, and a coffee maker and a gift certificate from the Heart and Stroke Lottery. I think that's about it.

Where would you go on vacation if money were no object?

I'd love to visit many places. To pick a few, I've always wanted to visit Mexico (in particular the Mayan ruins), Japan, Greece and Tibet.

Do you believe in ghosts?

Yes I do. I have had many ghostly encounters.

Do you have a collection of anything?

I am a serial collector. As a kid I collected cat pictures and figurines, Archie comics, Sweet Valley High books and records. When I got older, I collected CD's and vintage clothes. Now, my husband (who is also the collecting type), and I, still collect music and we have a fantastic collection of original artwork and photography prints as well as some animation cells and books. We also have a small collection of curiosities, insects, bones and fossils. But just so you know, we really do try to not collect things.

Thanks for tagging me, Trisha. This was fun :)

♥ Andrea ♥

Teetoo Featured on Veranellies

Today I am delighted that the lovely Trisha, of the blog Veranellies, has chosen to feature Teetoo in her Buy Handmade series! Trisha asked me some great questions and I just loved being included in her fantastic series. Please go over and take a peek,

Buy Handmade Vol 40: Teetoo

Thank you so much Trisha!

♥ Andrea ♥

Birthday Loot and Silliness

*image courtesy of ♥ Elycia*

Well, a month has passed since my birthday and the fabulous day Elycia and I spent at the thrift store and getting up to a whole lot of other trouble fun. And I promised to share some pictures of our thrift store finds and us just goofing off though I expected to share them a lot sooner than now. Anyway, here they finally are. I got my polyester shirt and skirt and Elycia her sweater along with a whole bunch of other stuff that day at the thrift store. Also, my handsome hat was handmade by Elycia for my birthday (thank you sooo much).


Once we started shooting we got silly and brought out one of Elycia's Blythe dolls.

*image courtesy of ♥ Elycia*

A couple of other things I found at the thrift shop that day, these great little shoes...

And these two lovely dresses for $5 a piece! I really can't believe my luck with these dresses. They are so well made and they fit like a glove.

Also, I wanted to show you this beautiful hummingbird skull pendant. It was a birthday gift from my dear friend, Helen (I adore it, thank you ever so much).

The last thing I want to mention about my birthday is that Johnny and one of my best friends, Madisyn, thoughtfully arranged special adventures for me that I appreciated so much. I feel so fortunate.

Anyway, that Teetoo giveaway I was speaking of last week is going to happen this coming Tuesday. So come by here and Elycia's blog to see the brand new and totally adorable Teetoo 2012 Christmas item and enter for a chance to win a Teetoo gift certificate.

I hope you're having a fun weekend!

♥ Andrea ♥