New Zine!

Last year for my dads birthday I made him a mini-book/ zine. So this year I wanted to make another one! Its called The Unfortunate Reality of Being a Cactus! I was in the shower when I thought the whole thing up. I spend the weekend sketching and scanning. Now all I have to do it edit them in Illustrator and cross my fingers that I can figure out to print the darn thing. For the life of me I will never figure out how book signatures work. I mess up pages numbers at least 5 times until I get it right! But I'm super excited about me new little book so I thought I'd share!

I hope all of you are having a lovely weekend! And hopefully you got at least one self indulgent day! DECEMBER ALREADY! I can't believe it! Let the season begin!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello my lovelies! I was laying in bed today and thinking how much I just wanted to sleep in and not get up. But then I realized that I was being silly because I have the best family in the world. Why would I not want to hang out with them?! Sure they drive me crazy but I'm pretty sure thats what family is suppose to do! I wasn't going to post today but then I got thinking so I got myself out of bed and drew this instead. I'm so selfish in the way that I often take my family for granted. I forget that theres people out there that never see their parents or don't have siblings OR just don't get along with their family. That concept is so obscure to me because I'm stupidly close to my entire family. I'm just so incredibly lucky. I realized that Thanksgiving is all about what you're grateful for and today I'm insanely grateful for my crazy family and all the love they give. It seems silly that I needed a dumb holiday to remind me of that, but I guess thats why we have it! 

I hope you are all filled with love, comfort and kindness on a day like today! Happy Thanksgiving.

Song and Doodle #36

My newest favoritest song for this week is Proudest Monkey by Dave Matthews Band. I guess I should say new old song! I was having a pretty crummy day this morning and put on the Crash album by the end of it I was feeling better and this song was the last track. First off you can't go wrong with Dave Matthews. Its automatic feel good music. I was listening to this song and I found it to just be so incredibly eye opening beautiful. It feels sweet and silly because its about monkeys! After listening to it I realized that we are all at one point the proudest monkey. We all take these amazing journeys in our life and constantly look back and question ourselves. But we continue on anyways. Pushing forward and trying our best to learn and open our eyes and experience life and reach for life and love and personal satisfaction. For today, I am a humble monkey. 

"I'm stuck,like the other monkeys here
I am a humble monkey.
Sitting up in here again, but then came the day
I climbed out of these safe limbs, ventured away
Walking tall, head high up and singing"

Lovely Things: Black + Gold

I was digging though my bookmarks this morning and here are some things I've found! I didn't realize how many things I had book marked! I was originally hunting for some really cool sparklers that I thought I had seen online once upon a time. I didn't find those but instead I found these cool gold and black things! Two of my favorite non-colors!
These are pretty much amazing. (Him & I)
I love this bike! I miss bike rides at night! I think I need to get some lights! (source)
Amazing hair tutorial! I wish I didn't have bangs that would mess it up. Maybe if I pin them first? (Frankie Magazine)
I've been looking for a new planner for the new year! I think I might have to snatch this one up! (MiGoals)
This dress is way to sparkly to justify buying, but only because I don't have any occasions to wear this too. But its just so cool! (deLoom)
Is it too early for wrapping paper? This pattern is so pretty! (Normans Printery)
Gold embellishments! I need a craft room so I can fill it up with lovely crafty bits! (ink kit)

So much lovely not enough money! 

Don't Forget!

Today's lovely reminder comes from the wonderful artist Cat Coquillette! I'm trying to get into water coloring so I'm super head over heels for this print! I think the world needs more positivity I know that I'm particularity good at being negative. I probably should be less proud of that fact, but I'm working on it! I need some positivity today cause the day seems to keep dragging on. The nice reminder that the future is bright is very helpful! I know that I am definitely thankful for tomorrow! (Especially so since its a Saturday and I can self indulge myself in projects with out worrying about "life".) Hope you have a wonderful chilly weekend my lovelies! 

Song and Doodle #35

Todays song and doodle is from a new found favorite song Holy Ghost by Mavis Staples. I think that Mavis Staples has been around for quite sometime, since the 50's I believe? I need to do more googleing, but I've come to quite love her newish recorded stuff. A lot of her music has a gospel undertone which I really like. Inspirational songs with out being creepy or in your face about it. Insightful, warm, deep music is just what I need right now for some reason. 

"Some holy ghost, keeps me hanging on, hanging on. 
I see feel the hands, but I don't see anyone, anyone." 


Making Mail Documentary.

One of my favorite pen pals was in a documentary and now you can watch the whole thing online! Snail mail and mail art is one of my favorite things in this terrible world. This movie is so inspiring and definitely makes me want to step up my mail art game! I always feel like a big nerd when people ask me about my hobbies. I normally get a crooked look when I say I like to write letters. Then the question that follows that is "to who?" People of the world of course!! Mail art is just one of those things that is greatly unappreciated. I know that everyone wants to get mail, especially beautiful artsy mail.  So i'm surprised that more people don't write and send letters to loved ones and strangers. This documentary captures the feels that I get when I write letters and shows people with the same enthusiasm as me and I don't feel like a big nerd after all! 
After you're done watching it go write some letters! I know theres a friend or a family member that would love a letter from you! Mail is wonderful so why not send some love? You can check out more about the creators HERE and as always if you'd like me to send you a letter go HERE or if you want to see some of my mail art go THERE


Lovely Things: Mint + Gold Wedding?

I've had weddings on the mind a lot lately. (Its a long story!) But I never wanted to have a wedding. I'm just not a party person and I hate being the center of attention. For some reason I always thought the guy I'd marry would want a wedding. So in the back of my mind I've been planning this mint and gold wedding. I've spent a lot of time with Zoei looking at wedding stuff and annoyingly having an input to her wedding board ideas! In the case that I don't elope and I do have a wedding here's a few random bits that I thought would be lovely!
The first thing I think a women dreams about is her dress. I adore this gold sequins tulle dress! Even if I don't have a wedding I might have to get this dress and create my own random fancy occasions! 
I love succulent and cactus plants so I about died when I saw this awesome bouquet! Although I imagine that it gets quite heavy. But then again all bouquets are heavy! 
I love this glittery gold rustic style cake! I think I might need that for my next birthday! 
Such a cool idea for wedding favors! I bet it makes your insides sparkle! 
Beautiful photo booth idea! I love these kinds of backdrops! So pretty! All it needs a bit more gold! 
I'm pretty sure I'd have to hand make all my invitations but gold polka dot envelope lining is screaming my name! 
It wouldn't be Remi flavored if it didn't have bees somewhere involved! Such cute tags! 

I know, I know this post seems a bit out of place. Especially since its not wedding season and I'm not going to be getting married soon. BUT it was on my mind and I wanted to share! I hope this randomness is at least a bit interesting! 

Collages!

I've been trying to catch up on some snail mail. So I made some collages to write some letters on! I still have a lot more to make if I'm ever going to get all caught up with my reply pile. I'll probably just make a few, but so far its turning out well! 

What are your favorite kind of homemade stationery?


Skinny Mint Tea Tox!

A wee bit ago the lovely Zoei came across this thing called Skinny Mint. When she was first saying it was a weight loss thing that was a huge turn off for me. I hate anything that wants me to be "skinny". Healthy and good for you is one thing but "skinny" errr..bothers me. BUT after reading about it my idea changed a bit. It seemed like an all natural thing to promote a healthy body. I suppose they just use the "skinny" as an advertising technique. Any who long story short Zoei and I decided to give it a go! We're only 2 weeks into it but I just wanted to share with all of you my thoughts so far. 

List of thoughts about the teatox: 
1- Tastes great! But then after the first week and a half you get kinda sick of it. 
2- Helps to remind me to eat breakfast. We NEVER ate breakfast before but I noticed that if I had the tea on a empty stomach it made my tummy upset the whole day. But I like eating early it helps me feel better all day. 
3- Night time tea is yummy. It seemed to affect Zoei more then me. I don't like that if I drink it just before bed then I'm up in the middle of the night using the bathroom. So I just need to remind myself to drink it right after dinner. 
4- Gave me energy for the first little bit but not so much after the second week. Zoei still seems to get a lot of energy from it, but her metabolism is also way faster then mine. Caffeine has also effected her more than me. 
5- The price is a bit steep for tea. BUT I'm not at the end of the 28 days yet so I can't say for sure if the money is worth it or not. After 2 weeks I'm feeling doubtful, but who knows. I've also spent a LOT of money on fancy teas before and so I can't help but compare the 2. When in reality thats not very fair. I guess I'll have a definitive answer at the end of the 28 days! 

Phew! Go read about it HERE! Let me know what you think or if you'd tried something like this before. I alway love stories and opinions! 

Lovely Things: Kickstarter!

This weeks lovely things are fresh off of Kickstarter. I love Kickstarter and I'm sure everyone by now has heard about a project or two. So I wanted to share 3 projects that I'd love to back. That is if I had enough monies. So instead of backing I'm just going to share with all of you lovelies! Well I might just have to splurge and back one of these! 
Print isn't Dead publication! People of Print is one of my favorite blogs/sites to read. Now they're putting out the second edition on their magazine. They have TONS of amazing artists based around printing. Its also incredibly inspiring.  Check out the kickstarter HERE!
I really want this planner! Adamjk is a hilarious and clever graphic designer. I love all the funny stuff he makes! Check out the project HERE
Curious Ruby has some amazing water coloring skills! I'd be stoked to see one of her amazing pieces on a scarf. Check out the project HERE!

Incoming Mail

I got the most amazing package from one of my favorite pen pals the other day! This girly always makes the best collage cards. I wanted to share the amazing-ness with all of you and make you very jealous muahahaha! 
Awesome instax photos and papery bits! 
 She also sent me an awesome book for documenting my weekend adventures! Also a disposable camera for our camera project! I'll post more about that once I get the photos developed.
I also got a neato beetle in a cube and a teeeeny bottle with a tinnnny message! Its filled with lavander and I love it! 
 Amazing collage booklet! Filled with awesome quotes and sayings. I feel like a lot of these are just what I needed to hear!








The book stretches out accordion style. A new surprise around every corner! It was too long to photograph. So just imagine what it looks like. Its AH-mazing!