Look what arrived yesterday!!!!

If someday down the road someone asked me to write a book about opening a new store from the ground up I know the first advice I’d give; get your logo designed first, then get your sign ordered about two minutes after you sign your lease. Forget about setting up bookkeeping (but not forever!), contacting vendors, and buying furniture, it will all just be sitting there looking pretty while people drive by you day after day and not know you are there and your hands will be tied in regards to doing any print jobs or advertising. In many ways I lost four weeks of potential business because I did things in the wrong order.

I have to give a quick shout out to my friend and fabulous designer, Chris Ford. I met Chris online about 5 years ago or so on a now defunct scrapbooking site dedicated to scrappers who didn’t fit the stereotype of what the scrapbooking world expected. I’ve admired her mad digital design skills ever since. I was happy to finally get a chance to work with her on designing my logo (and soon a redesign of the website.) Sometimes working with a friend really does work out.

 
Last night we sat in the upper level of the high school in the finally spring-like heat to watch MiniMe walk with her class for 8th grade graduation.

I’m resisting the urge to write a bunch of sappy stuff about how fast she’s grown up and how proud I am of her. I’ll save that for four more years. (Don’t get me started at how ridiculous the concept of a full-on ceremony for 8th grade graduation is in my opinion. Or how over the top some of the girls went with their dresses, hair and makeup last night. I’ll be nice.)

I’ve been doing a lot of web surfing lately looking for cool projects to try (and to share!). In my quest for all things cool and eclectic I’ve found some new blogs and other websites that I’d like to share with y’all.

First off: True Up: this is a relatively new fabric blog dedicated to fabric and nothing but fabric. If you’re a lover of all things fabric, this is the place for you. Somedays she features new fabrics offered by the hottest new designers, other times she shows fabulous vintage fabrics, and then other times she inspires us with ideas of becoming a designer ourselves!

Looking for awesome apparel fabric? Gorgeous Fabrics is just what their name states. I found Ann and her site via Project Rungay, she’s a regular commenter and “Friend of Emmett.” If you are a lover of all things Bravo and fan of fabulosity, you must read TLo!

I’ve had a thing for aprons for years. I bought my first antique ones at a church rummage sale back in the early 90s and began looking for them at yard sales and antique stores ever since. I struck apron gold a few years ago when we still had a vacation house in western Illinois and had the opportunity to shop some tiny rural antique stores along the Mississippi River. How excited was I to find The Apronista blog! And with a tag line like; “Life, Love and the pursuit of Ric-Rac” I knew I had found my peeps.

Last but not least; 5th Street Studio in Nebraska. I’ve gotten a lot of inspiration from these ladies. They are creating the kind of local community of artists and crafters that I would like to bring together here in the Fox Valley. Lots of fun classes, tons of eclectic messiness, and a fabulous community of people working together. Reading this blog and seeing what they are doing at their studio makes me want to put $80 of gas in the Volvo and take a road trip to Nebraska.

Edited to Add:
As soon as I hit post on this entry I clicked over to Google Reader and saw the latest from WhipUp and read a very cool tutorial: Recycled Dog Collars. Heidi and Shadow may be getting new high fashion neckwear soon.

I encourage you to go visit these sites and leave a comment.