Links to the Past

• I know Christmas is over and whatnot, but if you missed it you absolutely must looks at EPBOT’s Harry Potter themed tree. HOLY. FRICK. Amazing. I want one to leave up year round.

• IGGPPC’s blog, +5 Charisma, published this article all about codebreaker Joan Clarke. Very cool to learn more about such an amazing woman, who played such a huge role in WWII codebreaking.

• Speaking of awesome women in wars, this 93 year old British secret agent is finally accepting recognition for her heroic acts during WWII. And by heroic acts, I mean such things as parachuting into Normandy in order to obtain information to use on D-Day. Seriously amazing stuff.

• 9 things I wish people understood about anxiety is an amazing article. While directed towards people who don’t suffer from it themselves, it is a wonderful, if a bit heartbreaking, read. As something that is so close to my heart lately, I highly recommend reading through it if you struggle with anxiety yourself, or if you know someone who does.

• Felicia Day wrote a book! Which you can learn a bit about and preorder. While she seems to fall into the ‘love her or hate her’ category, I have always admired Ms. Day. She never seems to be afraid to be herself, and that is something I really respect.

• Scrawny Girl had a great article about her first year as a small business owner. As someone who plans to open an online shop this year, it was great to read such an honest account of someones first year of having one.

April 1AM Promise + Good Luck!

Well, I planned on posting this yesterday, but ended up spending a lovely day celebrating my birthday and totally forgot! So today it is – this months indie buys! Originally, I was planning on only doing one purchase for April instead of my trend of two this year, as I splurged massively and bought myself Adobe Lightroom 5 at the beginning of April as an early birthday present. It is glorious; I do so love to edit photos! In the end, I made two indie purchases this month anyway – so worth it!

My first April purchase was actually bought at the very end of March! But, I bought it early on purpose as it was an Easter basket gift for my little, and wanted to make sure it had plenty of time to arrive.

I ordered this adorable little amigurumi lamb from Crafteroni and Cheese! I just love him. So stinking cute!

Isn’t he just the cutest thing you’ve ever seen! I couldn’t wait to give him to my little miss.

So excited to find him in her basket!

Had to take it with her everywhere.

Even had to buckle him so “he would stay safe!”.

Needless to say, my daughter adores her new little lamb. Go check out Crafteroni and Cheese‘s other amazing handmade things!

As you know, I just can’t resist stuff from Scrawny Girl. She had a completely ridiculous sale in her shop on Record Store Day (this past Saturday), and I had to snag some awesome swag! Three new prints, and a new sticker pack. I am a happy camper – can’t wait til they arrive in the mail!

Along with my purchases, I also had some amazing luck in a few handmade giveaways. Two shops I follow (Violet’s Buds and Lu and Ed) were having shop anniversaries, and a giveway to celebrate. I managed to score things in BOTH of them!

I won this absolutely fantastic Divergent ring from Mystigail Adornments.

I mean seriously, how fab is that?! A handmade, handstamped ring dedicated to one of my favorite books? YES! It’s one of my new daily wears. Mystigail Adornments offers beautiful handstamped jewelry. I will certainly be ordering from them in the future!

And next, I won a prize from Crafteroni and Cheese in Lu and Ed’s giveaway! I was lucky enough to snag these two little mini amigurumi monsters!

They are SO CUTE! Not gonna lie, I totally kept these for myself. I have a love for amigurumis, in fact I’ve decided to start collecting them, and these are just so flipping adorable. They have their own special spot on the nerd shelves: on top of the MTG box tucked in front of my Doctor Who print. Perfect.

I haven’t even started thinking of May’s 1AM Promise – good thing I still have plenty of time to figure it out!

– Kayly

Blogger Portrait #7: Meet Shawna of Scrawny Girl

Back on with Monday Blogger Portraits!

Today I’d like you to meet Shawna of Scrawny Girl!

This is another double whammy of blogger/indie biz owner. I had lots of fun doing her portrait. I left her sweater and hat unblended to add in some texture, and I like the results. As usual, a ref that was filled with personality. Plus, purple hair. Love it!

As you may have seen from my previous indie shopping posts, I’m totally in love with Shawna’s business Scrawny Girl Shop. Her shop is full of stickers, cards, and prints of her hand drawn illustrations, all of which have such a blast of personality to them.

How cute would this print be in an Easter basket??

I own this card, and still love it. Fits me to a tea! (See what I did there?? Yes? . . . .Yay bad puns!!)

I’m running out of spots to put her stickers, but I still want more. She has such a great style of quirky kawaii characters, and I think her art is just fabulous!

Both of these packs are on my wishlist.

I found her shop before her blog, but her blog is equally great! Shawna posts about shop updates, and life with her adorable little one. She has a Tarot Tuesday series which I always enjoy reading. I myself haven’t done Tarot in many years, but you can always get a little insight about life from reading her Tarot posts.

Another post I really liked was her Bright Hair Don’t Care post all about the products/upkeep of her fabulously bright haircolors! As a hair/makeup/girly dunce, I always appreciate tips and tricks on things of that nature, especially since I love bright hair colors myself – even more so now that summer is right around the corner!

Make sure you stop by Scrawny Girl shop and blog, leave some love, and maybe even do some Easter shopping! Another portrait next Monday!

-Kayly

1AM Promise: January

I just realized we’re a week into February and I haven’t posted my indie purchase(s) from January! My goal is to keep to the 1AM Promise every month this year (what is that? Click here to find out!). So month one: check!
I was Miss Indecisive with buying last month. I browsed my Storenvy multiple times and just couldn’t decide on what I wanted. The combination of too many awesome things to choose from and not really sure what my budget was going to be made for a lot of browsing and zero decision making. In fact, it was down to the last week before I could finally figure it out. But then this product fell in my lap.

Meet the Unsponge, handmade and sold by Nature Junkie.

Image via Nature Junkie

I am part of a crafty handmade group on Facebook, and she happened to post a set in there, and I immediately knew it was going to be my purchase. What is an Unsponge you ask? It’s a reusable, machine-washable, totally awesome sponge! All the cleaning power of a regular sponge, no skanky germs, AND eco friendly. How can you go wrong?

I ordered a custom set to match my kitchen (which is yellow with mostly black accents).

I’ve had them for a week and adore them! They really hold soap, which is great as I use less per load that way. And they don’t STINK! That is my absolute favorite part – I can not stand the horrific moldy sponge smell that seems to happen after just a couple uses of a normal sponge. The Unsponges don’t have too much scrubbing power though, so I still keep a Scotch-Brite pad on hand for those times when my pans need a little extra elbow grease. But all in all, they are a sturdy well made product, and definitely one of my favorite buys! I love supporting an indie business, and if I can do so while getting a completely practical item, I am a happy mama.

That same week I ended up making a second purchase for January – this totally awesome sticker pack from Scrawny Girl!

Image via Scrawny Girl

I’ve been in the ongoing process of decorating the cover of my art/idea journal, and these stickers were a MUST for me. I love her illustrations, and the minute I saw them listed, into the cart they went! If you haven’t seen her work, check it out – it rocks! Upon receiving my package, I opened it to the complete surprise of extra goodies!! Needless to say I did a total happy dance in my kitchen. I even got a hand written thank you note (which I’m discovering is not that uncommon in the world of indie shopping).

All my loot from Scrawny Girl.

Still not sold on indie shopping? Well, stay tuned this month for February’s 1AM Purchase and I’ll convert you yet!

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