Until Next Year...

As the (oh-so-proud) owner of a brand-new MacBook, I'm pretty confident that I'll be able to post here and visit you all much more often, and I am so excited. I feel like a whole new world is at my fingertips, even if my fingertips will have to re-train themselves to use a few new key combinations.

In the meantime, my friends, I wish you the very best in the
coming year. I hope it is a very happy year for you all, full of
delight and magic and incredible adventures. Thank you for making this year so wonderful.

A Joyful Holiday Season...

It's been a month of exciting madness, with a wonderful onslaught of orders in my Etsy shop and the start of a new job, and because of those two things -- which, really, started on the exact same day, I know I've been very behind on both blog-posting and blog-visiting, but I just want to take a moment to wish you all the happiest of Christmases and holidays.

I promise I haven't forgotten you, my across-the-country and around-the-world friends. I'll be stopping by again soon. In the meantime, I hope that the rest of December is filled with glitter and starshine and wishes come true for you.

Merry Christmas!

Once a story-teller...

I hereby nominate artlife's thread on the Etsy forums as the best Etsy forum thread ever. She asked sellers to make a story from their items. The posts are hugely entertaining, and I hope people will keep adding to this thread, because I want more stories to read! Go check it out...

Mine is:

paintandink says:

Last year, we went for a voyage on our little schooner: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=7465581 To track the migration pattern of the orange-scaled sea serpent: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=8262492 but the magnetic pole shifted, and we got lost: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=8229254 and were shipwrecked on the perilous rocks of a forgotten island: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=7463247 where we found lots of treasure and ate mangoes until we were rescued by a brig: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=8055634 and dropped off in the Realm of Good Cheer: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=8275028 where we bought ourselves a new schooner: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=8261430 and some prime real estate, too: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=8187242 And that's what I did on my summer vacation.

In other Interimaginational Institute news, it's been a whirlwind few weeks... one of my treasure maps (similar to the one here) was featured in the Etsy Finds newsletter (what an honor!), which set off an unexpected cascade of sales and kept me bustling on the afternoon of the very first morning of my new part-time job. It was quite mayhem-ish and sleepless here in the studio, but it was also oh-so-wonderful to feel so loved.

There are still plenty of wonderful items in the shop, though, and I'm working busily to replenish the "shelves," so please stop in and take a look. You may just find the perfect gift for your favorite swashbuckler, buccaneer, pirate, prince, princess, troubadour or story-teller.

Twenty Years Ago Today...

... and about 13 hours ago from this moment, I was 12-going-on-13, sitting in a chair in a hospital room, finishing a Sweet Valley Twins book, waiting for my brother to arrive. I was lucky to be there when he was born.

And I am still lucky to have him for a brother. He's a lot taller than I am now, but I'm still proud to be his big sister. Happy Birthday, Vinnie.