Angela

Found: Lee Coren handmade bags + accessories

December 7, 2015 by Angela

If you’ve shopped on Etsy for awhile, you may have seen Tel Aviv designer Lee Coren‘s products pop up every now and then. I know her landscape clutch as been on my favorites list for way too long now. Lee has owned her textile business for three years now, an accessories line that’s designed, sourced, and crafted locally and ethically. Today she’s sharing a peek into her creative studio by Aya Wind + a few amazing bags from her current collections. Take a look… [Read more…] about Found: Lee Coren handmade bags + accessories

Winter tablescape idea from friendsgiving

December 1, 2015 by Angela

Need an instant mood booster as a creative? Make something beautiful, and spend the afternoon photographing it. There’s really no better way to spend a day, particularly, a holiday. Charity invited us over to her house for Thanksgiving, where she had a new-old table to gather around, so we decided to put together a winter table for our friends. I wanted to craft all week long, but had *the worst* (I think I always say this) cold, which made me pretty useless until the day of. But everything came together with her decor, foraged pine cones (I’ll need to head into the woods sometime soon to get my own), our candle collections, and handmade napkins her mom mailed for us to use. [Read more…] about Winter tablescape idea from friendsgiving

5 Reasons to Start a Journal (+ an announcement)

November 23, 2015 by Angela

So I’ve had an idea to start a journaling community for a while now. Last week, I wrote out my tips for starting a daily practice of journaling and why I decided to change the way I journal. One thing I want to be more open to is sharing. Not sharing usually takes the pressure off, as I’m pretty private (believe it or not), but it’s not worth missing out on the community that forms when you share what you’re making. Not only do I want to create a space where that’s possible, but that we encourage each other to keep creating. I plan to set everything up for a successful community that shares via blogs + social so we can start the new year off with a fresh approach to creating. I think it will take me about 1000 blog posts to share all my feelings about this—there are SO many reasons why a different approach to the typical journaling practice will help me (and all of us) in our creativity, wellness, and even businesses—but let’s start with why. Why should you journal? It’s about more than simply having “someone” to talk to when our friends aren’t around. [Read more…] about 5 Reasons to Start a Journal (+ an announcement)

Holiday parties + holiday plans

November 21, 2015 by Angela

Call it a side effect of working in social media, but essentially every time I leave the house now, it’s second nature to take my iPhone out and document what I see. Lately I’ve zeroed in on my projects a bit more, and don’t need quite *all* the photos I end up with. Take the events I went to last weekend, for example. Hanging out with Charity who actually had been photographing one of our festivities for work, I just couldn’t put away the camera myself. Might as well share ’em if I have ’em, right? Anyway. Holiday activities are seriously the best. I feel so warm and happy when enveloped in the merriment. Living 1200 miles away from my entire family and many people I’m close with, I have to make an effort to get in the holiday spirit. Especially with the bursts of 80 degree weather sprinkled throughout the months. Charity and I both are in the same boat when it comes to far away families and missing the PNW this time of year, but our date spent painting the town red (and green) definitely helped. [Read more…] about Holiday parties + holiday plans

100 places to shop small for gifts online

November 20, 2015 by Angela

Shopping season is here! I love it. I love it so much that as a kid I used to pretend I ran a gift shop and could find gifts for my family whenever I wanted. (Yeeeah.) But nowadays I’m at odds with myself because as much as I love shopping, I want to make conscious decisions with my purchases. Everything makes an impact, and I want to be sure that impact is on the positive side. Well, living consciously doesn’t mean avoiding gift giving or sale shopping completely. It just means rethinking how you do it. I don’t think I’ll ever stop decorating for Christmas or handpicking (or making) meaningful gifts for my friends and family. It’s a gesture that’s as nice to give as it is to get, and there’s definitely value (the non-$$$ kind) in that! So I rounded up a huge list of 100 of my personal favorite online destinations for gift giving this season (and all year). [Read more…] about 100 places to shop small for gifts online

Not a masterpiece but a pretty mess

November 18, 2015 by Angela

Whenever I’m stressed out, Kevin’s go to suggestion is to do arts and crafts. A lot of times, I come up with an excuse. There are a lot of problems (insert relaxation method) doesn’t solve. But solutions sometimes aren’t what we need. Change, however small, can be the answer. We went to an art sale at the park the other day and on the way back stopped by the art supply store, me finally heeding his advice. It’s one of those legit art stores. Nothing crafty about it. I mean, I love paints but those tubes of color are intimidating. I thought I’d try my hand at pastels, like I have many times before, one of my favorite materials as a kid… Second only to watercolor. [Read more…] about Not a masterpiece but a pretty mess