her blog

2 April 2007

happy sunday

in addition to the happy root beer float cupcakes i made this weekend included dinner with syndy and colleen and checking out syndy's new work. i've never seen her work in progress. i've only ever seen finished pieces - i have to say it was pretty inspiring. she's getting ready for a show at uncommon ground and was also just accepted to looptopia. she rocks.
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i also started my screen-printing class and made printed these happy puffy clouds.P1050155

and then the icing on the cake of my weekend...

earlier this week shawn & discussed the need for me to have more studio space. we've lived in this house for almost 4 years and i've definitely outgrown my space. and for about 3 and a half years he's suggested i swap room's with shannon & phil (the guest room) and i've resisted. partially because that room is perfect - there's really nothing i would change if i could. there was also the enormous amount of work involved. so, while having this discussion shawn grabbed a tape measure and figured out that shannon & phil's room was about 2 feet bigger than my current space, although it looks much bigger. he then suggested we swap our bedroom with my studio which would give me an extra 35 square feet.

i'd like to take this moment to tell you something about shawn. he is the BEST HUSBAND A GIRL COULD ASK FOR. look up supportive guy in the dictionary and there he is. not only was he willing to give up the big bedroom, he was willing to help with the move. unthinkably supportive. the bomb really...

so, we started this "little" project about 10:00 yesterday morning, worked until 11:00 last night and then finished up today. and it is amazing. both rooms look beautiful. shawn says our house got 3 times cooler. happy making for sure.

a few of my favorite features in my new studio

  • a ton of light
  • room for two people to work at my table at once and for a third to hang out on the chaise
  • all of my supplies out and visible
  • the "surfer" blue that we painted the walls and i hated in our bedroom is now my most favorite thing

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a few of my favorite features of the new bedroom:

  • the rich purple walls look amazing and are dark and cave-like while sleeping
  • a total lack of clutter (there's no room for clutter!)
  • the display shelves

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and both rooms look like we've lived in them forever, like it was just meant to be.

i also discovered amy winehouse this weekend. why didn't anyone tell me just how amazing she was?

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2 April 2007

sewing machine blues

so, the saga of the sewing machine continues. shannon was kind enough to loan me her huskystar for a bit. i am going to eventually have to return it to her and well, that's a bit of a problem. FOUR places have told me i shouldn't bother fixing my machine. i refuse to accept that. its worth it to me. i like shannon's machine a great deal but its not mine. it sounds different, it feeds differently, it threads differently... i want my machine!

the problem is that it was a $200 machine and i've already spent $100 on repairs in the year and a half i've had it. so, i understand the idea that its not worth it to fix it. i do. but it beats buying a new machine. i don't have the money right now and honestly i wouldn't want to. when i buy a new machine i want to do it thoughtfully - try out a few machines, see what i like and what i don't. i want it to be a machine i'll use for years to come. i don't want to be forced into a decision because noone is willing to fix my machine. that just sucks.

in the meantime i did finish this amazing little tunic-y baby dolly-y number with shannon's machine.

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thanks shanny. you, like your brother, are the bomb.

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2 April 2007

BLOWOUT SALE!

since i've got this fabulous new space to work in i've decided its time to clear out some old stuff... everything dated 2006 or earlier is on sale now in my shana says etsy shop. AND if you buy before april 15 i'll be donating 20% of that sale to the louisiana spca in memory of sanders...

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7 April 2007

too much matzah

we had seder tonight (shawn's cousin just came to town today) and i ate tooooo much. but i laughed a lot. and shawn, his cousin noah and their grandpa are pretty adorable. after all that matzah i was pretty happy that my two dessert attempts failed miserably.

so, i leave you with this. happy easter, passover, spring...

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9 April 2007

a new way of looking at easter

i think grindhouse warped my brain yesterday because today i keep thinking of easter as zombie day. i know, terrible.

and apparently i'm not the only one with zombies on the brain this easter. look at what teena & sara made...
Easter_zombies

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10 April 2007

if only

i hate chicago. its cold. there's snow in the forecast for the next couple days. its april people! the first day of spring has passed. weeks ago actually.

since spring is refusing to come, lovely danielle of the vintage dragonfly has hosted a swap - "spring has sprung." here's what i sent off...
Shana_hampton_spring_has_sprung

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11 April 2007

birdies don't like snow

its snowing. SNOWING. there  is snow coming done vertically and blowing horizontially. not cool. what is cool however is that my silly little birds seem to be making people as happy as they make me. this girl is flying away today. hopefully to a warmer climate.
Sky1

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13 April 2007

pout pout

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13 April 2007

too funny

Catastrophe

he stayed up really, really late playing with photoshop making dizzy's sincerest dream of melting monkey's brain with his laser gaze come true...

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13 April 2007

happy mail

i spent the evening making and packing up my package for my vintage button swap partner. i have to say this is a package i'd definitely want to receive. i hope she likes it!

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16 April 2007

uber-productive

this weekend i made 4 purses - 1 which sold mere hours after i posted it to etsy. happy right? plus i had screen printing class. learned lots but was to sleepy to execute anything. cut a skirt. pinned my dress. packaged orders. it was good. and really, how could a weekend that included something this happy be anything but good?
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17 April 2007

speechless

the world can be a scary, bad place. this week has illustrated that point perfectly. the news is beyond horrific and i can't get some of the images that survivors have painted out of my head. my heart goes out to everyone touched by monday's events.

at work on monday, before we'd heard the news, we were talking about two families who were having a dispute about something and it was looking more and more like we were going to have to mediate.  i dramatically joked that if these two families couldn't make it work, how could there be peace in the world? when i thought about that later, in light of the news, i realize how much i absolutely believe that. we all need to be nicer, more accepting, more tolerant in our day to day relationships and interactions because... well, because there are people who aren't. and we need to outnumber those people. and kill them with kindness. because although the world can be a scary, bad place its also quite beautiful.
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