new digs

Today I get the keys to my apartment! ahh! I'm a complete bundle of nervousness and excitement right now. I picked out my paint colors and I'm planning on tarping and blue-painters-taping the whole place tomorrow so it's ready to paint Thursday. They actually told me it was fine if I painted as long as I put it back to white before leaving. Honestly though I would have probably done it anyway... I can't even imagine living somewhere without color surrounding me like a big happy hug.

However! I am actually leaving my studio area white (gasp!) I settled on white chalkboard paint after seeing it on A Beautiful Mess a little while ago. This way I can still add pops of color whenever I want (imagine the possibilities -- snowflakes all over in the winter, easter eggs in the spring, etc.!) but wipe it away for a plain white photo background whenever I need one. Plus I'm planning on having colorful furniture to counterbalance the plain walls, and the trim is going to be pink! :D

I've been obsessing over my dream home board on pinterest all week, soaking up ideas and inspiration and, frankly, getting a little overwhelmed by the many things I want to do when I can't possibly do them all! I want wallpaper somewhere, giant statement art (I already painted a huge portrait of Dwight Schrute for my hallway!) family photos, colorful furniture, white furniture, pastels everywhere but also bright colors? I think I'm going to end up meticulously planning some things (like my kitchen design is already pretty solid) and then letting others evolve as I live there for a while. My bedroom took years to end up exactly the way that I wanted, and I'm sure my apartment will be the same way. But I think that's part of the fun! Waiting to see how rooms grow to suit your ever-changing needs and tastes!

Anyway, these are some of my absolute favorite pins that definitely represent the direction I want to take. Pastel, feminine, slightly kitschy and kind of retro. The photos link back to the source (except for two that I couldn't track down.)

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apartments and laptops

First things first -- I got the apartment!! ahh! I was a complete nervous wreck all day yesterday waiting for them to call me. I've been feeling under the weather a bit the last couple of days and I think the anxiety might have pushed me over the edge into "actually sick" territory, but knowing I got the apartment makes up for it lol. I get to move in REALLY soon, too! I'm already planning paint colors (they said I could paint as long as I change it back to white again before I move out. yay!) and layout schemes. I'll finally be putting all these pins to good use, ha!



In non-apartment-related news, a little while ago I got to try out a sample of a caseable laptop sleeve. They're handmade cases made in Brooklyn, NY from green materials, and you get to customize them with your own images! So I uploaded one of my vintage bedding patterns that I designed for Kitschy Digitals, and I absolutely LOVE how it turned out! The design looks even better on the fabric than it did on my computer and the blue zipper matches perfectly.

It's a nice substantial case, too, so I feel like my laptop is actually protected. And it fits over my pink speck case! I've gone through three laptops in the last five years because of accidents so I feel like I need all the extra protection I can get!



If you want to try making your own case you can get 20% off with the code "brilliantpromo" You can upload any photos or patterns that you want to make it your own (how cute would it be with a giant close-up of your pet?!) -- or if you're interested in having the exact same case as me, you can get that one here! It defaults to a macbook air 11" since that's what I purchased but you can edit the size that you need in the drop down menu :)

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mail time

I've received some exciting mail in the last week or so that I wanted to share! First up is Flow magazine, which featured some of my flapper doodle reading-related drawings in an article spread! My copy of the issue was waiting for me when I got back from Disney World and it was so neat to see it in person!







Mental Floss is carrying some of my Puns Intended art prints in their handmade shop at the moment, and I was absolutely tickled pink to see that my artwork is in an ad they're running in the November issue!! It's cropped but there it is in the bottom right corner! My painting! In Mental Floss!! It's my favorite magazine so I'm ridiculous giddy.. it even says my name above the painting. My name is in Mental Floss. *dies*

ps. The prints are available here if you're interested!





My artwork isn't in this one, but it was something I wanted to share just for it's pure awesomeness! Modcloth released their first fall catalog and it brought back so many memories of flipping through delias catalogs when I was younger! As much as I miss inflatable furniture and denim platform clogs (sadly I'm not actually being sarcastic here, I really miss them) it's even BETTER when all the things featured in the catalog are adorable and sweet, like pretty much everything modcloth sells.

The catalog is available to view online here! Oh! And I forgot to mention this earlier so it's really last-minute but if you've been eyeing something from modcloth and are thinking of making your first purchase from them you can get $20 off ($20!!) any order over $50 if you visit using this link! The offer is good until October 2nd (really last minute, oops!)

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something awesome happened yesterday...

First let me rewind to April when I got a message in my Puns Intended etsy shop from Mental Floss asking for wholesale pricing for my prints. I almost had a heart attack right then and there. I *love* Mental Floss. It's actually the only magazine that I read regularly... I even have the Mental Floss board game. For the last three months I was sure something would fall through and it wouldn't actually happen. It was just way too good to be true! When exciting opportunities are presented to me they hardly ever seem to work out.

Anyway! Yesterday morning my Mental Floss store newsletter hit my inbox and what did I see at the top of the message?! My paintings!! And an incredibly glowing write-up that makes me sound at least 200x more awesome than I actually am :D I'm still pinching myself because this just has to be a dream, right? There's no way my artwork is being sold on the Mental Floss website, right??

Oh, but it is. IT IS!!

ps. I'm sure some of you might be like "wait.. I thought you did Flapper Doodle and Sweet and Lovely? What is this?" because I don't usually mention this artwork as much on my blog. But yup, I have a third shop where I sell prints of my punny paintings! You can check out the other paintings (including my favorite, "Jackson 5" with five Andrew Jacksons) here! :)

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the office wrap party - part 1

This was the best weekend of my entire life. I know everyone is probably sick of all of my Office-related posts by now (at least if you don't watch the show you must be) but I just have to do a few more so please bear with me :) We got in late last night and I just woke up (and have a ton of things to do today, eek) so I'm going to keep this post short and share more pictures and details tomorrow!

How this particular photo came about is a VERY long story but basically on the last night of the event, the entire cast was tending bar downtown at the Backyard Ale House and me and my brother were behind the bar with them. YES. That happened. I still can't believe this is real life.. I keep looking at the pictures to make sure I didn't dream it all up!!

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modcloth blogger of the moment! eep!

Do you know how hard it has been to keep this a secret?? ahh! To say that I'm beyond thrilled would be the understatement of the century. I mean, in these photos I am wearing a modcloth dress that is literally named after my blog. I am so honored to have such an incredibly pretty namesake dress! I have more than my fair share of lacy frocks and this one just puts the rest to shame. I'm not sure what I like better -- the sweet little embroidered flowers, the fact that this is totally swooshable (swooshable- adjective; meaning the skirt swooshes easily whilst dancing around your bedroom) or the fact that it is named after my blog (!!!!!)

You'll know that this is an exciting post for me just by the fact that I've included not one -- not two -- but SEVEN photos! I know, very unlike me... but I was pretty darn excited to be taking these pictures and couldn't resist including more than I usually do! :D





I love that it can easily be dressed up or dressed down, too! Of course my first inclination was to pair it with the most pretty pastel items in my wardrobe! Mint tights, shoes and a belt, a fuzzy peach cardigan and my sweet and lovely rainbow sweater clips! I have so many outfit ideas swirling around in my head though.. I already have a "three ways to wear it" post planned for next week!

If you buy the dress and wear it in an outfit post please send me a link! I'd love to see!! :)





Of course getting a dress named after my blog isn't the only perk to being Blogger of the Moment! I also got to do a fun interview over on the Modcloth blog! yay! You can find out my favorite way to eat a potato (seriously!), check out my 60's movie recommendations and see how I would style this dress with other Modcloth items for a "Trip to the Natural History Museum" over here!

It has been so surreal typing this post. I actually have goosebumps!

dress- c/o modcloth | cardigan and tights - h&m | shoes - c/o bait footwear

rainbow sweater clips - sweet and lovely | belt - asos

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my super exciting no-longer secret news!!

I've been working on this for almost a year and hinting about it for months and now I am FINALLY ready to spill the beans! You guys, I am so excited and nervous about this I could burst. I hope you're as smitten with it as I am :D

Today I am launching my new shop, Sweet and Lovely!



My goal for this shop is to share my love of all things pastel, rainbow, frilly, dainty, sweet, and lovely. The store is stocked to the brim with accessories, jewelry, and a new line of mini paintings I created exclusively for Sweet and Lovely based on vintage photobooth pictures. I've also merged this store with The Book Fair, which you'll now find in the Nostalgia category!

I'll be doing several posts over the next couple days to share everything that went into the shop, but to begin with I want to highlight a few of my absolute favorite products! :D



Hands down, this is my favorite. I've had the idea in my sketchpad forever and I was so excited to finally make it a reality! I make the clouds from lightweight clay, and then connect them with five strands of pastel plastic chain to create a quirky sweater clip set! I made one for myself that I've been wearing constantly... it was so hard to not wear it in every single outfit post lately but I wanted to wait until the shop was ready! :D



This product is the most important to me. I took a pencil portrait that I drew of Hypatia and had it silk screened on cotton tote bags. The bags themselves are pretty awesome (I may be biased since she's my cat, but I'm pretty sure her face --basically any cat's face to be honest-- is objectively adorable) but even more awesome is the fact that $10 from each bag is going to be donated to the animal rescue group that saved Hypatia (and Chloe and Hubble!) Animals in Distress.



My constant attempts to get Hypatia to pose with the bag have been futile so this was the best I could do at getting a shot of her with the tote bag lol ;p



Last but not least, here is one of my new mini paintings! They all measure 3" x 3" and feature classic vintage ladies with fun colored hair. I have 14 available to start with, and I'll be adding more soon!

This has been such a labor of love, and I really hope you're as excited as I am! :) I feel like this shop reflects my own interests & personality more than anything else I've ever done before, and I have had so much fun working on it! I want so badly for it to be something I can work on and improve upon for years to come :)

PS. A huge thank you to Dana at Wonder Forest for coding my shop design and making it everything I hoped for and more!! :)

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exciting news!

Rachael from The Paraders has launched a vintage-inspired clothing line that will bring tears to the eyes and cause goosebumps on any girl with a soft spot for retro flair. I'm not kidding when I say that my jaw literally dropped when I saw the samples she posted on her blog earlier this week. They are STUNNING.

Basically it's like stumbling upon the most amazing vintage items on etsy, only they're brand new and available in your size. Not only is the design true to period style, but even the attention to detail is something that's usually only found on a very special vintage piece. Things like covered buttons, flattering darts and pretty pockets *swoon* .. Seriously, look at these:





Absolutely amazing, right?! And that's just two of the items.. there are 5 more!!

So far the patterns & samples are finished and all of the fabric & notions have been purchased. All that's left is to assemble everything into a line of completed pieces. And that's where we come in! Rachael has started a kickstarter campaign to raise the funds to complete the production.

Each pledge amount comes with a different reward -- and (more exciting news!!) the first 10 people to pledge $35 or more will get a paper doll designed by me!! :D A paper doll also comes with every pledge of $50 or more, too!!



I already pledged, and I really hope you will too! I think this is the most beautiful independent line I've ever seen, and I hope so badly that it'll be able to be put into production. Even if you can't pledge, please help spread the word and support a fellow vintage-loving gal! :)

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eep!

Last month I did a little interview for Vogue Girl Korea, and today my issue came in the mail! It's so cool to see myself (and Mr. Hubble!!!) in a real magazine! My mom was even more excited than me, though... she actually SQUEALED when I showed it to her, lol!!

Since it's in Korean I have no clue what the article actually says, so if anyone out there could translate it for me let me know and I'll upload a scan! :)

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