This is one of my favorite photos of all time. I was 20 years old, roaming the streets of Rome with my father who had taken me with him on one of his business trips in December. We passed this alley way and there it was, the perfect Roman holiday scene. Lined up vespas, a tiny fiat, surrounded by enchanting old buildings with graffiti on the walls.... with a living tree decorated in white lights so slight of hand. Like a Christmas magic trick.
This Christmas Eve was so unusual. We unexpectedly went 4 wheel driving on the beach, a very Oregon thing indeed. This time though we found ourselves avoiding all of the scattered tree logs and driftwood that had washed up from the recent storm. So many foreign things on the beach we'd never seen before. Clouds of weird foam bubbles were gliding over the wet sand as if they themselves were living too. While the sandpipers skipped over them. It was a little alarming, but there was also something that felt truly wabi sabi about it, when the sun began to set.
Before we moved up here, I had read stories of beachcombers finding interesting things after a big storm like, messages in bottles, and lost cargo fallen off of ships. So, Shawn kept teasing me, "now go find the rich stuff"! (Rotten luck, not even one Nike.)
Last week we were hit by a very emotionally unsettling storm here on the coast, that created a ton of havoc in our area. After five days with no electricity, or outside phone service I'm still stumbling to catch up on everything as this mess is getting cleaned up and the flow of living around here is beginning to get back to normal. It's been a tough ride, that's for sure.
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But on the flip-side... What I've been longing to jump on here and tell everyone, is that in a very sudden twist of fate we've been getting ready to move our life down to Ashland(in southern Oregon) next month. I'll be working and sharing a studio space with Anahata Katkin, at PaPaYa! creative abandon full time. So many exciting design projects are already in the works. It's going to be an amazing way to kick off the new year!
(So disappointed I missed the ugly sweater x-mas party though. After last week's stress I could definitely use a few mojitos!)
I was up late wrapping gifts to send to my nieces and nephews last night. Her cherry blossom Santa goes so well with Paper Source polka dots, don't you think?
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It's time for me to get packing, so I'm going to take a little break. I'll also be closing down the liquid shop temporarily, and will re-open it with new handmade pieces after we're all settled in. If you'd like to be in the know about it's return, I'll be announcing it here, through the mailing list, and myspace. Huge thanks to everyone who bought cards and jewelry this winter, and for all of your lovely emails... you're the best!
I know it says paper, but I see the name Amy Butler and my mind instantly thinks "FABRIC", that's how the idea came about to sew it. I'm so addicted, these oversized gift envelopes only take 5-7 minutes to whip up. This time of year, there's so much going on... it's definitely my kind of project!
I also added a few fun embellishments like eyelets, ribbons, sometimes a sticker from my moo book to seal them, and the cherry on top... hand glittered cards and loveletters tags from PaPaYa! Creative Abandon.
