"If you want to be a painter, paint everyday."

Thumbs way up for this little piece of advice. The quote came from a great interview on Rifle's blog.

Pumpkin carving this weekend. You in?

Do it!

I'm not even going to look at the last time stamp on my entry. It's bad. I know. Guess what though?! I got/started a job. It's great (really!). I'll tell you more about it another time.

I've been doing everything possible to enjoy every minute of free time I have. You should too. This weekend, Pumpkin Festival and apple orchard. Ay-oh!

How's the wife and kids? It's been awhile.

P.S. Let's not even talk about how much type is in circles around here. It's embarrassing. I need to get it out of my system!

PUT YOURSELF IN MY SUITCASE

I just got back from a much needed mini-vacation to Chicago with one of my best friends, Leah. I had no idea what to expect, but was pleasantly surprised. The lake was beaaautiful. And guess who got to go to the American Girl Store? THIS GAL.



In the past few weeks, I've become mildly obsessed with the simplicity (and cuteness) of tangrams. This little foxy fella is the first of a small series that I'm working on. They won't all be traditional tangrams (read about them here), but they're certainly inspired by them. Each little shape is cut out of a different fabric swatch, to ensure maximum cuteness and cuddleability (...do you not cuddle with your paper products?).

Any animals you'd love to see? I'm working on a bear, giraffe, turtle, an elephant, and a rabbit.

THANK YOU FOR BEING A FRIEND

Every time I have a reason to send out a thank you (which is often... I have much to be thankful for), I absolutely MUST design a new card. So! Here is this week's thank you card! Super fly!


Things I am Thankful for Today:
1. Puppies
2. Kittens
3. Blueberry Muffins (we've eaten nearly all of them)
4. Unicorns
5. Books
6. Sisters
7. 90's Alternative Rock

IGLOO LETTERPRESS AT NSS!

This past week some of my favorite folks in Columbus made it to NYC to take part in the National Stationery Show. It was Igloo Letterpress's first year out there, and I was so happy that Little Aviary got to be a small part of it! Allison Chapman and Sharon McMullen (amazing designer, definitely check her out) did a FANTASTIC job putting together a great booth. I'm so proud of my Worthington Family. Hooray Igloo!

Photos from Oh So Beautiful Paper, Paper Crave, and Poppytalk.

HEY MOM

I just wanted to formally announce to the entire worldwide interweb that my mom is awesome. The best. So thanks mom. Thank you for always supporting me. I love love LOVE you!

ZOINKS, JENKIES, YOWSA, ETC.

Hello stranger! It's sure been awhile, hasn't it? These past few weeks have been a doozy. In just two weeks I'll be graduating!

With everything quickly wrapping up, I've been left with my head spinning. I have some extremely exciting news that I'll hopefully be sharing with you next week, but until then I'd like to show you my little branding packets I've been working on. They each come packed in a little muslin bag (with a cute tag of course) and have a mini resume, a business card (not pictured), a birdie notebook (you can see the set a few posts below), and a Little Happiness Card. Fun stuff!

I'll see you soon! Things should be slowing down shortly. Wish me luck!

I HEART B&

A tiny idea for your Tuesday! My family is very musical. We're always singing, dancing, or playing an instrument (or all three at once!). And honestly, as geeky as it sounds, marching band is what I miss most form high school. A few years ago my youngest sister, Rebecca picked up a saxophone and has been playing ever since.

I'm going to turn this design into a silk screen for her and her girlfriends to put on t-shirts and tote bags. Just because we're band geeks doesn't mean we can't be fashionable!

AVIARY LETTERPRESS NOTEBOOKS

One of the many things I've been working on lately is this series of mini books. They're tiny (about 3.5 x 5'') and are (in my opinion) damn cute! I printed the covers in letterpress (at my dear Igloo Letterpress in Worthington) and then digitally printed and glued the blue strips on top. They read "Good Ideas Can't Be Caged", "Onward & Upward", and "Prepare for Lift Off"-- all as a sort of homage to my upcoming graduation. It's time to spread your wings, dear Rachel ( eh eh?).

If anyone is interested in having a set, let me know in the comments! I'll shoot you an email when they go on sale!

VALENTINES GIFTS

Have I ever told you about how amazing my family is? They're pretty amazing. I have two younger sisters (Randi and Rebecca) who I miss insanely while I'm in Columbus. I wanted to send them a Valentine's gift but was stuck on what to get them... until I saw these great little letter locket charms. Perfect! I snagged three... one for each of them (and one for myself of course!). I wrote a little note for both of them and illustrated them with some little fingerprint hearts (my pinky is still red... I didn't realize the ink was so permanent! They'll be in the mail tomorrow so they can have them in time for Valentine's Day!

Part of my amazing fantastic family - Left to right, The Marvelous Mom, The Rebecca, The Randi (this was her high school prom), and yours truly.

VALENTINE GIVEAWAY ON POST GRAD HAIRCUT!

Almost forgot to mention! I'm giving a set of the mini Valentine's away here on Sam's blog, Post Grad Haircut. If you're in the mood to win some cute cards for Valentine's Day, head over there and comment to enter!

MOTHERHOOD VIDEO

Can I get a giant "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!!". The amazing Katherine Center created a video essay all about motherhood for the Mom 2.0 Summit coming this February. Aaaaand I just got an e-mail from my wonderful stepsister Jenny letting me know that they had included one of my Bit of Happiness Cards right at the beginning of the video. It reads "you are beautiful".

I really have no words... a huge thank you to everyone out there who has been reading. Your comments have encouraged me to keep doing what I love!

BOOKIN'

So! Things are happening! I've (mostly) been a total nut case since last Tuesday, but things have been good. I took a little time tonight to relax a bit, watch some Gilmore Girls, and paint my nails (it's the little things in life, right?).

You may remember that I've been interning at Igloo Letterpress with the amazing Allison Chapman. We've been extremely busy getting things ready for the National Stationary Show this coming May. This weekend was spent printing Valentines on the press and sitting in on a Book Binding class where I made this little beauty! I think I'll be using it as a sketchbook for this semester...

Igloo's actually got quite a few really awesome classes coming up in the next month or two. If you're in the Columbus area and you're interested in learning letterpress or book binding, you can find the upcoming class schedule here.

MAY THE CHAOS COMMENCE!

Tomorrow begins my last first day at Columbus College of Art & Design. How bittersweet! Wish me luck, and be sure to check back tomorrow to see the new Little Aviary Valentines!

FEATURED: Love. Obsess. Inspire.

Thanks to Lexi of Love.Obsess.Inspire. for featuring the "Bit of Joy" cards on her amazing blog yesterday. It sure did put a smile on my face!

As always, you can find the cards she featured on Little Aviary's Etsy! I think I might do a Valentine version soon as well, so check back if you're interested!

SNOWED IN

Balloon Alphabet Print available on my etsy, o' course!

I'm taking the day off today to spend some much needed time with my family.

My puppy and his beau at the lake.

My little sisters and my mom (elementary school principal) are off from school today due to the massive amounts of snow covering the ground, so we're taking the day to go play outside with the puppies. Sledding? Possibly. Hot Chocolate? Obviously.

And I almost forgot to mention...! Last night the blog got a much needed makeover. I'm itching to tell you all about my whole plan for the Little Aviary family, but I'll save that for another day. Hope you like it!

Everyone have a smashing weekend! Stay warm!

LITTLE AVIARY

As this is my last true break before I graduate, I've been really working my tail off trying to get everything ready.

So! This week I've added a few super duper neat designs to Little Aviary's etsy site! The Balloon Alphabet Posters are up along with the One of a Kind Prints. In the next week, I'll be putting up three more designs that I think you'll love.

This has been a long time goal of mine that just kept getting set aside because of school work... so it feels extra good knowing I've accomplished this little thing!

(The photo is from a mini shoot I did with my lovely sister Randi last winter.)

PLACES TO GO, PEOPLE TO SEE

Things have been wildly eventful! We're down to the final week and a half of the semester, and boy are they keeping us busy (or... busier than usual, I should say!). The holiday was wonderful though... we had three birthdays (mine, my boyfriend Mike's, and my lovely mom's! Much fun (and much much food) was had! Limited time and zero budget means you work with what you have when it comes to gift wrap, so kraft paper was what they got...
I took a few days to just visit with my family (my sister Bec and I saw New Moon... so geeky girly glorious) and play with our pup.

And now I'm back to the grind! I presented my concept to the Columbus Food & Wine Board yesterday. The wine bottle was a little extra idea I had... since the event hosts 25+ local restaurants, I proposed branding a wine bottle for each of them to display in their restaurants as a shout out that they're participating and to advertise for the event.
The next 12 days will be wildly wild... but as soon as the semester is done, I'll be starting a few new (hopefully amazing) projects that I think you guys will love! Stay tuned and wish me luck!

LITTLE AVIARY ETSY SHOP!

I had a bit of free time tonight (I'm lying about the free time) so I decided to join Etsy and attempt to start selling some of my designs. I've been wanting to for a veeery long time, but I never had the confidence (or time) to sit down and do it.

I bought my domain name last week (a story I'll save for another time) and I think it's time to bite the bullet. Just in time for Christmas, right? And honestly, I've been trying to add to the "Get Rachel Through Her Last Semester in College" Fund. I've made it this far, and there's no way I'm not going to graduate in May just because of money issues!


Right now, I'm only selling the "Little Bit of Happiness Cards" (more photos in the previous entry), but after finals week, I'll start adding more to the shop. I've got some neat ideas up my sleeve, so be ready!

You can find my new Etsy shop Little Aviary, here.

A LITTLE HAPPINESS, PLEASE

Yes, I've been completely AWOL, I know. There is no excuse. This has been one of the most difficult (yet exciting) semesters of my life. I'm attempting to pull myself together for my May graduation (by the way I'm SO EXCITED about that). I've been working on some amazing projects though that I know you're going to love.

So please, I beg of you, bear with me. I have some marvelous things to share with you in the next few weeks.

In the meantime, I've brought you this tiny project. I (like everyone else) have been loving the bunting flag trend, so I decided to do a quick and fun project with them. I have a weird feeling I recently saw a project like this, but I can't put my finger on what it was or where it was from... I know it will come to me eventually! Ah well... on with the show...





I love how a simple fill in the blank can make a card instantly more personal (and more fun!). I think I might sell these in the near future.