Check it out: new buttons!
Louis CK looks super Irish on this button, eh? Like a tiny little leprechaun! And with my new puppet photo shoot earlier this spring, I finally had a good picture to make an Omar button. Lucky orderers of either of these puppets can now look forward to one of these button goodies in their package and I’ll have them for sale at the Indieana Handicraft Exchange in June, too.
Ben’s 30th birthday was last Thursday so we spent the weekend having a joint birthday/Mother’s Day celebration, doing some of each of our favorite things– brunch at Nana in Bridgeport, Wolff’s Flea Market (yes, again), watching baseball and 50% off day at the thrift store. One of my favorite activities of the weekend was visiting the garden store for our annual plant purchasing– flowers for the pots on the front porch, a tomato plant and a couple of ground cover plants we’re experimenting with in the hopes of eventually going grass-less in the backyard. I’m a little sore from our push mower (that thing is a workout!), but it’ll be worth it to have bright colors, fresh tomotoes and, someday, no more mowing at all.
Print by Tae Takegami
Double Merrick is Merrick Angle, an English designer who’s work skillfully walks the line between vintage and modern, fun and sophisticated. Looking through his prints, I couldn’t help but start calculating bare walls in our house that needed some love.
See more here.
Hey friends! Thought I’d share a DIY post I did over on the Busy Beaver blog for making your own scratch-off buttons and magnets. The process is based on a tutorial from the Dainty Squid, and since buttons already have a shiny surface they’re ready-made for adding a lotto ticket-style scratch off layer. It’s a super easy project, and would be a cool giveaway for a contest or raffle, or for a super ambitious save the date or something.
Click here for the full tutorial.
Extra glad I got that Simon and Garfunkel record the other day because I’d forgotten how great this song is. Happy Friday, friends!
Nothing makes a good vacation great than someone awesome to share it with. One of my customers, D, recently road tripped from Milwaukee to the West Coast with her beloved Ira Glass puppet in tow and shared the photographic travelogue of their adventures together. 
D reported that she and Ira have been close for a while and she’s been known to take a random photo or two of him before, but decided that having Ira as trip mascot would be a fun way to share her vacation pics. While on the trip, D said “I’ve been getting a few goofy looks as I’ve been taking photos but get a laugh when I explain. Most people seem to know who Ira Glass actually is, except a few teens.”
Stocking up on some supplies this afternoon. It’s too bad the popular colors aren’t more interesting, huh? I should take a picture of what $70 of felt looks like but so far I’m too lazy to unload it from the trunk of my car. It’ll make it inside eventually : )
Good to remember. For life, and for days when it should be spring but doesn’t really feel like it.
Image via Society6.
I visited some friends back in Indiana on Saturday and made a quick stop at Goodwill on my way out of town. While there are plenty of favorite thrifting locations around Chicago, there’s nothing like a good ol’ Indiana thrift store for some treasures. So while I didn’t get to celebrate Record Store Day at an actual record store, I’d say this was a close second.
Much Loved is a collection of photographs by Mark Nixon that perfectly captures the saying, “Love is blind.” Capturing the tattered and deformed shapes of well-loved stuffed animals, you can’t help but think think how terrifying these creatures would be out of context. But thinking back on the years of love that brought them to this state, it’s actually really touching.
For my own part, I’m fairly certain that the bear above is the same one as my own Teddy, who’s been in my possession for close to 30 years. My brother and I got identical bears on year when when the local grocery store had a promo and sold them in a towering endcap display for months. My brother never got very attached to his but we still have it somewhere and that pristine bear has always been a sort of bizarro world contrast to my now flat and balding Teddy. I bought Henry a special stuffed dog for his birthday and wonder if it’ll someday end up well loved like these creatures.
Via Flavorwire.
