who wants to help send me to amsterdam?

a while back i mentioned that a few of my paintings are going to be featured in an art gallery in my friend's tattoo shop in amsterdam. i am so incredibly flattered that he asked me to contribute. his shop is called The Dark Arts and the opening is october 31st. his exact words were "i think your paintings will really brighten up the gallery." so needless to say, i'm excited. also, he used to be neighbors with some members of death cab for cutie (awesome, right?!) and they've agreed to play at the shop's opening. how cool is that?!

well... i've decided that it would be very silly for me to not be there for the opening. however, round trip airfare to amsterdam is quite expensive, and being the recent college grad that i am, i'm broke. so i'm selling most of the paintings that have been hanging up in my bedroom for the past two years (at reduced prices, too!) so this will hopefully bring in some extra cash so that i can afford my plane ticket AND free up some wall space that i'll have to fill up with new art.

so please please please, visit my etsy and help me get to amsterdam! i would be forever grateful :]


i'm off to the bay area to celebrate my birthday tomorrow. hope you all have lovely weekends and thank you so much for all your support, it means the world to me :]

new sotb challenge :]

there's a new challenge up on the scrap outside the box blog. i got to pick the prompt this time, and i had to go with book pages. i've been using these in almost every layout (i think i'm addicted) since i got this little paper pack from red velvet art.
i love the selection of fun vintage papers, they're so colorful! i use them all the time :]

things have been a little crazy lately, with moving and trying to find a job, sometimes i freak out over it all. i added this to my favorites in flickr a while ago, and when searching for some inspiration i rediscovered this phrase, and felt that i need to take a few moments in my days to just breathe, and know that everything will be just fine.
go check out the new challenge and if you have anyyy layouts with book pages of any kind on them, post a link in our comments on the blog or upload them to our flickr group. the winner of this challenge will receive a copy of the first issue of scrap outside the box magazine :]

long summer days.

it's been a long week of hot days, and it's nice to finally sit back and take it all in. the weeks are going by in countdown mode, only three more left here in davis. i've slowly been moving my life from here back to the bay area, all while trying to have an amazing time while i'm still here. it's a rough balance. i'd be lying if i said i wasn't going to miss this place.

these are a few of my goals for this week:
update etsy (like, for real this time)
scrapbook
finish reading The Double Helix
transfer files to my new external hard drive
apply to more jobs
learn how to make granny squares (i'm thinking this will be a new project for when i move back)
spend as much time with monica as possible (she's leaving this weekend and that makes me really sad)

well that's really all i have for now. at the end of the week there will be a new scrap outside the box challenge (my choice!) so check back here. hope you all had a great monday :]

the retrieval project

i just found this on rachel's blog and couldn't help but read the entire thing. basically, this cute little couple (and their four children) had to move back to the bay area from minnesota with only what could fit in their two cars. after moving two times in six months they can't afford the trip back to retrieve the rest of their belongings. so they started the retrieval project, where they are selling their [amazing] artwork in hopes of raising enough money to be able to retrieve the rest of their belongings.

to read their story, click here.

to see how it works, click here.

and to see how you can help, click here.

i think this is such a creative way to solve their problem, and i cannot wait to see what beautiful things they create. pleeeease check it out and spread the word :]